Check out this old school footage of Junior Vasquez DJing at the “The Sound Factory” in NYC. Shot in 1993 for MTV (according to the video’s creator), this is chock full of amazing ’90s era outfits, dancing, and other general after hours-ridiculousness. Stick around to the 7:00 minute mark for an brief interview with Vasquez, including a bit of explanation about the flashlight craze.

Listen to Junior Vasquez on dancetracks.com »

Hungry for some synthesizers? Get your fill here as the trio behind Kraak & Smaak walk you through their studio, highlighting the most important pieces of their synth arsenal, culminating with their highly impressive original Jupiter-8 from 1979.

After the walkthrough, the group gives a nice demonstration of what goes into the Kraak & Smaak creative process, showing off how the analog and digital parts of their music come together to create a track. Keep an eye peeled for more of these Eclectic Cooking videos, as this is but the first in a series of videos appearing on Dutch music blog Eclectro.nl.

Listen to Kraak & Smaak on dancetracks.com »

Created using some of his favorite YouTube clips, producer Kutiman’s “My Favorite Color” video mix is a mesmerizing look into the kind of musical (both amateur and professional) talent on display online. Watch it now and see if you pick out just how many “collaborating” artists are featured in this mix.

Listen to Kutiman on dancetracks.com »

Watch more of Kutiman’s videos on YouTube.com »

Created by composer Alexander Chen, this video is part of an interactive project where you can use the New York City subway map (circa 1972) to create your own chamber music. We originally spotted this video earlier today on Create Digital Music, where Peter Kirn has an in-depth interview with Chen. We highly recommend you follow the link below and read it in it’s entirety. To play with the music/design tool yourself, simply follow the second link provided below to view “Conductor: MTA.me” on Chen’s website.

Music Made with NYC Subway Schedules; HTML5+Flash, Q+A with Artist-Developer (via CDM) »

Use “Conductor: MTA.me” »

This one falls directly under the category of “so stupid it’s hilarious.” Unfortunately embedding has been disabled on this video, so click on the screen shot above to watch Jean-Claude Van Damme demonstrate how to both dance and fight to Dubstep. It’ll make you feel better about pretty much everything in the world. (Originally found via SBTVC.com).

Watch “How To Dance To Dubstep CASE 74: Jean Claude Van Damme” (video by SaladUK) »

It takes until about the 40 second mark for this DIY sample song to really get going, but once it does it makes you wonder how much possibility lies in your every day objects.

Read more about how this video was made by following the link below.

“Sampled Room” by Mateusz Zdziebko »

iPad music-makers take note: this coming Thursday, February 3rd, Create Digital Music & Tekserve NYC are proud to present a unique look into the ever-changing world of music creation. The event is the 5th performance of Tekserve’s ongoing “Future of Music” series, and will specifically cover the topic of the iPad as a music-making tool, and how it can be used in conjunction with your current music tools.

Not only is this event of incredible value to those of us who use iPad for making music, but the list of panel guests is pretty impressive in and of itself. First off, the discussion will be moderated by none-other than the original Media Assassin himself, Public Enemy’s own Harry Allen. The panel itself will include musician and writer Oliver Chesler (aka “The Horrorist”); television, film, and video game composer Steve Horelick; platform engineer Joshue Ott; and the big brain behind CDM himself, Peter Kirn.

This is a free event, so if you’re looking for learning but operating on a budget, we highly recommend you make your way to Tekserve in NYC on Thursday, February 3rd at 8:30pm. They are even serving complimentary refreshments!

For more information on “Future of Music V: The Craft of iPad Music-Making” follow the link below to Create Digital Music announcement. To register for the seminar, follow the link to the official Tekserve website.

Read More About Future Of Music V on Create Digital Music »

Register for “Future Of Music V: The Craft of iPad Music-Making” on Tekserve.com »

This, our dear dancetracks friends, is what a turntable looks like when stripped down to the core. The turntable, known as the “Turnstyle,” was designed by a man named R.D. Silva and features nothing but the bare essentials: motor, platter, arm, stylus, on/off & volume controls, and small amp. How’s that for DIY?

Want to know how and why he made it? Easy. Just follow the link below for more on the Turnstyle by R.D. Silva, including more on the project itself and a few shots of his design sketches.

The Turnstyle Turntable By R.D. Silva, via YankoDesign.com »

(Originally spotted on Gizmodo.com)

Ever wondered how to make Ableton Live work with Traktor? Wonder no more! Thanks to the always-informative team at the Dubspot DJ school in New York, now you can know how to do it for free. In the video above, Mike Henderson aka DJ Endo lays it all out in easy-to-understand language. Follow the link below for the original post, which contains a transcript of the video tutorial.

How to Sync Ableton Live & Traktor »

DJ Tech Tools managed to catch a little face time with the one and only Richie Hawtin at last week’s NAMM show, and to the surprise of nobody, Hawtin had a lot of interesting things to say about the state of the DJ-controller business over the past ten years. It’s pretty sobering to hear him talk about the reaction they got when they first introduced DVS, but stick around for a little bit of positivity on the future of the market. (Found via the Feed at Resident Advisor)

Richie Hawtin Interview - 10th Anniversary of DVS (via djtechtools.com) »