Battleship is an upcoming 2012 American science fiction naval war film based on the Milton-Bradley children’s game. The film was directed by Peter Berg and stars Liam Neeson and Rhianna making her acting debut.

The latest trailer features sound design and composition by Manatee Studio’s resident production team Superhuman.

Battleship is set to be one of the years biggest summer Hollywood blockbusters for Universal Pictures.

For more information about Superhuman, check out their Facebook page here.

The ‘A Team’ singer-songwriter from Suffolk, who released five independent EPs before achieving mainstream success, took the top spot from Example with first-week sales in excess of 102,000.

Ruadhri Cushnan’s success continues as he cements his status one of the UK’s finest mix engineers mixing 7 tracks on album at his studio at Manatee Studios

The success of Sheeran’s debut studio album follows the top ten singles ‘You Need Me I Don’t Need You,’ and ‘The A Team’.
Ed’s October UK tour has already sold out.

Ruadhri Cushnan mixed the entire album at his studio at Manatee Studios and has since established himself among the top flight of mixers in the UK. During the last three years he’s worked with the likes of the Maccabees, Lauren Pritchard, Corinne Bailey Rae, Seth Lakeman, Unkle and KT Tunstall.

A recent article in Sound On Sound – Secrets of The Mix Enginners features the techniques Ruadhri used in mixing the multi award winning album Sign No More.

The band’s rootsy feel and bluesy vocals have helped to draw a following in the US, augmented by their songs featuring in TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy. Sigh No More has also made it to number six in the US album chart. The band also received 2 nominations at this years Grammy Awards.
Interest in the band also gathered pace last year when they were shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, losing out to The xx.

Talented London DJ/production duo Alfie Granger-Howell and Nick Harriman moved into their studio at Manatee Studios Hornsey location earlier this year – find out what they have been up to since.

During the last 9 months Solarity have been busy beavering away on their highly anticipated debut album which is due to be released on highly respected Trance/Progressive label Anjunadeep

Headline names from traditionally separate corners of the dance music world have been championing their sound, including such diverse acts as Armin Van Buuren, Laurent Garnier, Nick Warren, and Dubfire. With a busy diary of releases and gigs scheduled, this duo are quickly moving up the ranks to become some of the brightest up and coming talents in dance music.

Since their very first release appeared in the record boxes (or CD wallets) of some of the world’s most popular DJs in July 2008, Solarity have been proving themselves as a shining beacon of innovation in an often stagnant musical world.

Alfie is also an accomplished composer of orchestral music and electro-acoustic soundscapes for adverts, TV and film – His recent syncs include Bacardi, TRESemmé, Aston Martin, AVG and Sky. More information and showreels of his work can be found at www.alfiegrangerhowell.com

Solarity Soundcloud
www.soundcloud.com/solarity

Solarity Facebook
www.facebook.com/solarityuk

Solarity MySpace
www.myspace.com/solarityuk

Solarity Twitter
www.twitter.com/solarityuk

Here’s a taster of there recent releases
Hunted by Solarity (Urban Torque)

Start by Solarity (Anjunabeats)

At some point in their careers, most musicians consider launching their own label. It’s what every artist dreams of: complete creative control, direct access to sales and royalties, and most importantly of all, the freedom to release what you want, when you want, and how you want. But in an over-saturated digital world it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract the attention of online distributors and take that elusive first step to securing distribution for your would-be empire.

First steps

La Bombe started its life a year ago. Our story is similar to so many others out there. We’d been putting out music on other labels for years but we’d grown weary of the time it takes to release music and get properly paid, and some of the decisions around the marketing of the music – like the designers and remixers used – were not the kinds of decisions we would have made had we had control of the product ourselves.
At the same time we knew now was about as good a time as ever to launch our own label. The music business has become a much more level playing field. Studio technology coupled with online developments have made it easier for artists to produce, mix, master and release a track in the space of a few weeks, and all from the comfort of a laptop.

The downside of this, and the key problem faced by the wider music industry, is that it is incredibly hard to make money through record sales alone. For that reason we adopted a 360-degree business model – working in tandem with publishers, merchandising and live touring to create a complete outlet for our artists and the brand.
We released our first track on Monday after spending six months building the brand to the point where we could secure direct online distribution.

Here’s how we did it:
Identify the marketplace
We’re a dance label, so we required the services of very specific EDM retailers such as Beatport, DJ Download and Juno Records. We don’t anticipate releasing album or compilation projects until 2011 at the earliest, so there was little sense in us embarking on the laborious process of getting on iTunes for instance. Right from the outset we knew the best sites for our music and the best way of getting our material onto those sites.

Look to the long-term

It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be represented by most major online retailers unless you have a long term strategy that includes at least three scheduled releases, complete with remixes, artwork, ISRC codes and some kind of promotion/marketing plan. Taking the time to get this together before you even approach the retailers will clear the first hurdle and convince most of them that your label will continue selling for a prolonged period. This was essential to getting a deal with Beatport, which operate a rigid policy for allowing new labels/artists onto their site.

Be wary of charlatans

There are many physical and digital distributors that do a sterling job of representing your catalogue across a variety of sites for a very small percentage. In many case they will also aid with your marketing, promotions, plugging and publicity. The trouble is finding a reputable one. Sadly, the diminishing returns in the music business mean there are only a few solid distributors left. Instead, most digital distributors these days act as ‘aggregators’.
Aggregators essentially do the job of a distributor without the marketing and promotional support. Usually they are faceless operations with vast catalogues. Because they deal with so many labels they are prone to making mistakes with artwork and track titles. Having a middleman in the way almost always means delays in payment and processing. Be wary of them: we were, and decided to approach sites directly rather than en mass.

Promote, promote, promote

So you’ve cleared the first hurdle, decided to control your own distribution and secured representation on the site(s) of your choosing. How then do you draw customers to your product? Our releases tend to stick to tried and tested artists/remixers with a good sales pedigree. Try to release tracks that have some form of radio or DJ support, so that even if your artists aren’t well known, at least your material has had some form of public exposure.
It goes without saying that you should try to maximise your social network following. Don’t spam or add random people who look as though they have little interest in what you’re doing. In most cases it’ll work against you rather than for you. Link to your sales page: banner your Myspace or Facebook pages and get blogging. Don’t be scared to do this – most artists who own their own label are initially shy to self-promote, but you’ll very easily sink if you don’t have some network for getting your message to the masses.
Although it’s tiresome, keeping a comprehensive database of (legit) emails that you can send newsletters to is essential. These are your fans. Don’t squander them.

Attention to detail

Your aim is a catalogue of great tracks supported by quality mastering, remixes and graphic design. In a digital world it pays to lavish as much attention on detail as possible. Customers – including the all-important DJ market – shy away from unmastered tracks, over lengthy or (too many) remixes and shoddy artwork. Moreover most sites – including opinion-forming blogs – don’t want crappy design to mess up their shiny front pages. Bear in mind that on any given week the number of new releases reaches into the thousands. Yours needs to stand out – or at the very least, not stand out in a bad way.
The music industry is evolution in action: only the biggest and best looking take the lead. Incidentally, this doesn’t necessarily mean spending wads of cash. Everyone has a friend who’s OK at design – or who’s a talented photographer. Get them on board. Email mastering studios to see if they can do an offer for you: many do for unsigned artists or during studio downtime. Working on a budget should not have to mean creating a cheap product.

Fight for your rights

Make sure your tracks are registered with public performance societies (PPL in the UK) and mechanical copyright protection agencies (MCPS in the UK). This will maximise your (and your artists’) yield over royalties. Every track sold legitimately via a distributor or online site will pay mechanical royalties directly to your label and/or artists. It will require registration with the relevant bodies and some advance notice of your distribution plans. Don’t fall foul of these guys. They’re the good guys in the business and you must make sure your artists are getting their necessary dues from them.

Don’t give up

In the days of over-hyped, overnight success stories and tales of rags-to-riches in a weekend, it can be easy to get disillusioned when your first release doesn’t hit the top 100, or even earn a Beatport banner. This should come as no surprise. With so many labels out there – all of which will be better known and more established than yours – you are a the smallest fish in a mighty pond. Bear in mind also that the bigger players – the Toolrooms and Defecteds of this world – will have close relationships with the owners of the key online distributors. It can seem like a cruel kind of members-only club in which a few high-earning players control the game. To some extent that’s true, but accepting this should not be dispiriting. Instead let it foster your drive for success.
You should expect to make little profit, if any, before release three, and more realistically release five. Yours is a new brand, and new brands take time to earn a reputation and build their name. So keep your head down, maintain the quality of your output – in terms of music, design and marketing push – and only start assessing the success or otherwise of your budding label when at least five releases have dropped. You owe your dream at least that much patience.

La Bombe Wesite
www.labombe.co.uk

La Bombe Soundcloud
www.soundcloud.com/la-bombe

La Bombe is an independent record label based at Manatee Studios, dedicated to every genre of electronic music. With a firm focus on dancefloor friendly ‘bombs’, La Bombe prides itself as a 360 degree entity, incorporating visual identity, live performance and music publishing under it’s artist-led umbrella.

Links…

La Bombe
www.labombe.co.uk

La Bombe Soundcloud
www.soundcloud.com/la-bombe

Sharooz – DJ Producer
www.myspace.com/sharooz

Check out the latest release from La Bombe
Opptimo – “Travellers EP” (Phonat Remix)

Teen whizzkid Opptimo makes his debut for La Bombe with the sample-slain, disco-infused Travellers EP. Already winning support of Mylo, Mason,Treasure Fingers, Blende, Andy George & Jaymo, remixes come from Sharooz and Phonat.

Ruadhri Cushnan is fast becoming one of the UK’s most in-demand mix engineers having recently completed mixing KT Tunstall’s latest album “Tiger Suit”. The album entered the Offical UK Chart at No.5 and is selling well.

A talented all rounder Ruadhri is working with some of the hottest names around at the moment, having mixed Mumford and Sons’ Mercury Award nominated double platinum debut album “Sigh No More” (iTunes No1). In addition to mixing the massively popular, previous Radio 1 Record of the Week, “Little Lion Man” Ruadhri has mixed their forthcoming single “Winter Winds”, which has also been Record of the Week on Radio 1.

Ruadhri also recently completed mixes for Tinashe, Seth Lakeman, Johnny Flynn and the Maccabees latest album “Wall of Arms”, as well as the Guillemots “Red” and Jeremy Warmsley’s 2nd record “How we Became”.

Here are a selection of Rhudhri’s recent mixes most of which where mixed at Manatee Studios

Panasonic is set to discontinue production of its famous SL-1200 turntable after 38 years of manufacturing, due to a lack of demand and the difficulty of finding components to service the iconic deck.

The SL-1200 is currently available in its ‘Mark 6′ iteration. It was the choice of turntable for DJs, mainly because it was tough as old boots and could withstand a good battering as you moved around from club to club to beer-soaked back rooms in dodgy pubs.
Yet the digital music revolution has finally seen the Technics turntable off.

With the plug being pulled on the Technics range of turntables, mixers and headphones, the analogue music era is, it would seem, officially over.
“Panasonic decided to end production mainly due to a decline in demand for these analogue products, and also the growing difficulty of procuring key analogue components necessary to sustain production,” a spokesman for Panasonic told The Tokyo Reporter.

Panasonic has sold around 3.5 million Technics SL-1200 model turntables since the original launch in 1972.
The announcement comes just days after Sony revealed that it would no longer be manufacturing and selling its iconic cassette Walkman in Japan.
Japanese DJ Tatsuo Sunaga (“The Record Chief”) told The Tokyo Reporter how he felt Panasonic’s announcement was unfortunate – “I’ve been using these products for around 20 years and rarely suffered a breakdown. This type of excellence is something not seen globally, and I think the fact that one doesn’t need to purchase subsequent models as being the reason for forcing the move.”

Loose Wind’s Head honcho Sam Sharp is a producer, composer, song writer and sax player.  He’s a graduate from the Guildhall school of Music and Drama and Leeds University, and specialises in the following areas:

• Live musicians and recording: particularly horns, vocals, woodwind, strings, rhythm section guys
• General production including beats / synth programming, remixes, remote mixes
• Genres – dance / electronica, jazz, funk, soul, pop, classical, R&B, folk
• Composition and arranging services
• Song writing, from scratch or song completion / working to a specific hook

Sam can work in any way, using his ear or with sheet music, and has a large network of musicians and fellow producers he can call upon for any given brief. He regularly provides live elements remotely, particularly horns and woodwind, which he records to a guide track and then send back the stems. He’s very keen to expand his work in library projects, sync work, original projects, and artist development.

Sam’s production company is called Loose Wind Productions, the website features show reels of his productions.

Other links…

Dekata Project (Live Soul / House Project)
www.dekataproject.com / www.myspace.com/dekataproject

City Jazz (Jazz Music Agency)
www.cityjazz.co.uk

Doshiwa Records (Record Label)
www.doshiwa.com

The writer of two top 10 UK singles for Sony, two EMI albums and countless themes for TV programmes, Hélène had not written a score for a full-length feature film before. However, her soundtrack for “Skin”, has already won best film score at the Moondance Festival and the Accolade Award for Excellence. It was also nominated for a Hollywood Music in Media Award.

Starring Sam Neill and Sophie Okonedo and directed by Anthony Fabian, ‘Skin’ is based on the true story of the hardship and discrimination suffered by a black woman born to two white parents in apartheid South Africa in the 1950s.

No woman has ever won this category so let’s hope Hélène picks up the gong at tonight’s prestigious event.

Check out the music and clips from the movie at www.helenemuddiman.com