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Native Sessions x ADE 2018

Check out our highlights from Native Sessions at Amsterdam Dance Event, where we brought together some of the leading experts and top underground production names to showcase the latest in technology and music making.

Over the course of three days at the Native Sessions’ Amsterdam Dance Event special, there were discussions about modern day digging, and sample pack curation; metapop hosted a live beat-making competition; synth legend Jean-Michel Jarre, and Imogen Heap discussed their musical legacies, and Boris Mezga showed how to create a free-form jazz sketch using MASCHINE MIKRO. There were plenty of artist interviews, Fabio Florido, and Barnt were on hand to show their workflow processes, Simo Cell and Batu spoke about all things REAKTOR, and Byron the Aquarius returned once more to show us how to create amazing beats on the fly. On top of all the that, Native Instruments were displaying the latest range of TRAKTOR, MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL gear, with product experts on hand, helping the users create music in real-time.

Watch our recap video below, and scroll down further to check out some the best panel talks, workshops, interviews, and photos from the weekend.

Best tutorials

In the Native Sessions room at ADE, some of our best product experts were on hand helping visitors create their own beats, tracks, and mixes. Some of these top musicians even went on stage, to talk about their craft, imparting critical advice about their production processes while demoing some of the latest Native Instruments gear. MASCHINE Lead Product Expert Boris Mezga kicked things off with a jazz sketch demo, useful for working on non 4/4 tracks, working with organic percussion sounds and rhythms, that could also be applied to more hip hop orientated productions.

Sound Signature’s Byron the Aquarius got on-stage to show the Native Sessions crowd his step-by-step approach to starting a track. With his KOMPLETE setup and MASCHINE MIRKO, the American house producer walked through some his processes of searching for sounds, selecting chords, synthesizing basslines and more. Known for his deep, soulful house productions, watch the video below to find out how you can get that rich vibe in your next production.

German electronic music producer Barnt knows his way around MASSIVE. Giving an in-depth walkthrough guide during ADE, Barnt shows he creates original pad sounds from MASSIVE presets, leading to his distinctive, yet unconventional type of music.

Best interviews

Berlin based techno DJs Rebekah and Paula Temple recently joined forces to create a tag-team duo that brought together their unique, sonic attributes. Taking at Native Sessions, the DJs spoke about how and they decided to start playing back to back, while overcoming some of the stylistic and technical challenges involved.

Production and synth legend Jean Michel-Jarre sat down in conversation with techno pioneer Dave Clarke for a long and in-depth conversation about the Frenchman’s earliest forays intro music, his first hardware purchases, and his experiences later on working with Edward Snowden. For those wanted more Jean Michel-Jarre, you can enter the metapop remix competition, featuring two of his latest tracks here.

Speaking of legends, no-one belongs more in this category, then electronic music pioneer BT. Talking about his new sample pack range for Sounds.com, the American musician touches upon his legacy to date, dropping some of his workflow and studio secrets along the way.

During an afternoon talk, Robot Koch, Catnapp, and Gladys Pizarro from Strictly Rhythm teamed up to share their thoughts and experiences in creating sample pack content for Sounds.com. Going into their studio processes and work, while also discussing their in-depth details in deconstructing their sounds, the three music makers reveal all in the following video below:

Through the weekend long sessions, music and tech adventurist Imogen Heap gave a  presentation on how the MI.MI Gloves, and applicable technology she helped develop, work with her performances and interact with various software applications, including REAKTOR.

During Saturday morning, Native Sessions brought together some of the leading names in underground DJ culture for a talk of digging in the modern climate. Anastasia Kristensen, Tijana T, DJ Bone, and Rex club resident Molly sat down with B.Traits, to share their experiences of record shopping, digital DJing, and promo downloading, you can listen to the panel in its entirety here.

Best tech talks

Underground dance music specialists Simo Cell (Livity Sound) and Batu (Hessle Audio) explained to the Native Sessions audience how they used REAKTOR and PRISM to get their unique sounds. Having made a career from making experimental beats for leading labels, the pair provided a lot of insightful tips for those looking to emulate their sounds.

Italian DJ and champion of the PLAYdifferently MODEL1 mixer, Fabio Florido highlighted the ins-and-outs of his TRAKTOR hybrid setup, and how it helped customize his respective own, instinctive stlye.

During the event metapop challenged any attendees for an on-the-spot, live remix competition. Using the latest Native Instruments gear, and the winning stems by DAENGZA, from the metapop remix competition for the Raiden track, ‘Always Find You feat. YURI’, the three competitors had one hour to craft their own unique, winning remix. You can check out how the remix challenge went here, and listen to the completed tracks below: