Mixroom studios & Ryan Murgatroyd show the workflow on the Akai MPC Live
South African electronic music icon, Ryan Murgatroyd, gives us an in-depth tutorial on using the Akai MPC Live.
Ryan Murgatroyd has built a name for himself as one of the leading forces in the local dance music scene, his style is funky, unique and based extensively on deep and heavy synth sounds. Together with partner Mark Valleschi they run Mixroom studios in Johannesburg.
He has put together a video showcasing how to build a track on the Akai MPC Live, using recorded samples in a live situation.
Ryan runs through a couple of very handy tips and tricks for getting two laptops to play together, one running Ableton and one running Traktor, furthermore syncing that setup with the Akai MPC Live. We get an in-depth look at his workflow, how he sequences and creates sounds within minutes, and the power of resampling using a hardware sampler such as the Akai MPC Live.
The video also gives us a good example of what some of the built-in sounds and effects on the Akai MPC Live sound like, and to see it in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, in a live setting – makes all the difference.
Ryan’s setup is quite extensive…
However, these ideas can be achieved using a much simpler rig
It’s actually the second video Ryan has done on the Akai MPC Live, the first video was more of a review based in a studio – so it’s cool to see him actually make something on the spot using the device.
His setup might be a bit daunting at first, most beginners aren’t using multiple laptops and external synths, however he does explain in the video that the concept is actually very straightforward – as long as you can get audio into the Akai MPC Live, whether it’s a turntable, synthesizer or the output of a mixer, you can resample it and begin layering it into an arrangement.
Mixroom Studios
Watch the Akai MPC Live setup below and his previous review below that.
