THE 2007 BATTLES ARE OVER. CONGRATULATIONS TO DR. MAXIMILLIAN RHEINHARDT!

what the hell is a laptop battle?

The laptop battle is a competitive event for laptop musicians to match their skills against one another.

Battles are chosen randomly and conducted in 2 or 3 minute rounds. A panel of judges decides which contestant advances to the next round, double elimination style.

It's fusion of sound design, composition and stage performance, and a chance for laptop musicians to prove their skills in battle and develop techniques and strategies.

Battles are held throughout the United States during the year, culminating in one final competition in Seattle every December to crown a National Champion.

Atlanta is sending one representative to the National Finals, along with over $1000 worth of software.

could it be you?

the rules:

There are two (2) qualifying battles and one (1) final battle.

Each battle is a double-elimination tournament.

There are three (3) judges per battle.

Judging is loosely based on these criteria:

Judging Guidelines
- EMOTIONAL IMPACT - It's hard to judge on a thing like originality, so we need to break it down to the basics....are you feelin' it or not? This is a laptop battle, a punk soundclash delivered via a little silver box that's been programed to destroy. Ya'lll are producers and know what to look for. For me, it's that moment where my blood starts to rush to my head and i break out in a big smile...
- PERFORMANCE - It's not easy to "perform" with a laptop. Each contestant is allowed 1 Midi controller, which allows them to interface with their music software via knobs, faders, buttons, keys, pads, etc. This is their weapon of choice, the way they have chosen to interface with their musical creation...you want to see 'em workin' that shit!
- SONG DEVELOPMENT - Hooks,builds and breakdowns. Sounds, patterns and movement. How well they are fit together live will be your decision.
- CROWD RESPONSE - Crowd response could be described as how loud the audience cheers for one contestant or the other. Or it could be their reaction to the battle on the dancefloor as the track is played. Perhaps an exodus to the bar? The crowd is like a barometer, it predicts the obvious outcomes, but isn't always right. Other times, there is a contestant with a bunch of fans who are there to be heard. Ultimately, you make the decision. Remember: There are no rematches.

Each contestant is allowed to bring ONE (1) laptop, ONE (1) external sound card, and ONE (1) external "controller" (MIDI, extra numeric pad, etc.)

Each preliminary battle is capped at 16 contestants, and consists of two (2) minute rounds.

The top four (4) from each qualifying battle will return to compete in the 8-person, 1 champion final battle.

the when:

There are two (2) preliminary battles:

- Monday, July 9 at Lenny's Bar
- Monday, August 13 at Lenny's Bar

There is one (1) final battle:

- Thursday, October 18 at Lenny's Bar

the prizes:

- a slot at the Championship Battle, December 2007 in Seattle

- Ableton Live "Sampler" Instrument

- Native Instruments Reaktor, Traktor or Massive

- Tracktion recording software from Mackie

- Sonic Charge's µ-tonic drum machine VST plugin

- Fab Filter's "One" synth VST plugin

- Fresh gear from Soy Clothing

- Replikant VST plugin from Audio Damage

- Phoscyon VST, by D16

- M-Audio - Mid Air 25 MIDI controller

questions, comments, and feedback may be directed to threv

thanks, and good luck.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Battler Bios & Contact Info

Josh Clayton
Hearing his first electronic music compilation at age 14, Josh Clayton fell in love with the unlimited possibilities offered by sampling and synthesis. He immediately began building a sample collection. Experimenting with creating crude edited songs in wave editors, Josh steadily improved his knowledge of, and skill with, his passion. By becoming increasingly motivated to create new textures and sequences in Impulse Tracker, he progressed to more advanced digital audio workstations to quench his thirst. Today Josh holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Tech, a DJ residency with WREK 91.1FM's The Mobius, and a steadily increasing knowledge of synthesis, psychoacoustics, and flat out destroying a crowd.

Dr. Maximillian Rheinhardt
Dr. Maximilian Rheinhardt is the unpredictable and unstoppable alter-ego or Larvae founder Matthew Jeanes. Freed from the boundaries of style, expectation, and good taste, the evil Doctor consistently attempts to push the boundaries of live electronic performance. Whether he is producing hip hop tracks with 8-bit synth emulators or splicing epic power metal with break beats, his only goal is to entertain. Dr. Rheinhardt first surfaced at the 2007 Atlanta Laptop Battle preliminary and since then he has been honing his craft by experimenting with a variety of controllers, effects, and performance tricks. There are no plans for a recording and Dr. Rheinhardt does not have a Myspace page--he lives only in the realm of live music venues.
www.zeroplate.com

El Hadron
EL HADRON / SOCIAL SECURITY:
http://asstaco.com/ss/

Poodleface
Poodleface /pud leɪ fɑ ʃeɪ / desalinates familiar icons of the past through the osmosis of bizarre pop music. His latest CD is called The Great Directors, featuring songs about famous film directors played only on a Casio VL-TONE. His losing Ric Flair rap video from Atlanta's first laptop battle ("Custom Made"*) has been viewed over 150,000 times. Lovers of EBN, Negativland and synth-pop will feel right at home.
http://www.poodleface.com.
Videos: http://youtube.com/results?search_query=poodleface

pH
http://myspace.com/0x7048

Graham Coleman
Graham likes to play music, cook soup, and hold talent shows on his birthday. Graham improvises live in ChucK, alone and with his co-conspirator Mark Luffel. He is the creator of Mused, and a member of the Athens-based nerd-rock duo the Men of Science. He just started working on his PhD in Music Technology, but he's putting the relationship first.

Chris Choyce
http://resonatormag.com

Citizen Green
http://www.myspace.com/citizengreen
Citizengreen has been learning the ropes of electronic music composition for five years and has never looked back. Fusing many different types of music, citizengreen hopes to embark on a sonic fingerprint all his own.

Andrew Provine
www.myspace.com/prosizzle
www.connectatl.com
www.myspace.com/1randomrabbit

Charlie P
www.myspace.com/charliepazinets
www.connectatl.com
www.myspace.com/1randomrabbit

Judge Bios & Contact Info

Host:

Threv
Matt Simpson is a native of Atlanta, with occasional stops in South Florida and the farms of South Georgia. Graduated 2004 from Georgia Tech with a B.S. in Computer Engineering, Co-Chair of Nophi Recordings, local organizer of the 2007 Laptop Battles, 2006 Atlanta Laptop Battle champion, former member of The Secret Life, current member of Harmaline and PASSWARDSZ, and 5-year DJ of WREK 91.1 FM "The Mobius". Raised on a healthy diet of 8-bit sounds and FM synthesis, Matt has been a rabid consumer of all things audio since his earliest sound experiments at an early age (from jumping on the hardwood floor of his home to rhythmically skip Michael Jackson's "Thriller", to tossing a plush parrot with a record/playback device embedded, timing the 'oof's and 'ahh's with every hit of the stairs). Trained on the keyboard and viola, Matt has made computer music since 1996. Matt initially learned on DOS-based trackers, and has steadily built a project studio that today encompasses nearly 30 synthesizers, drum machines, circuit bent devices, toys, and self-built miscellanea.
The Secret Life has just released their debut album, The Great Book of Mysterys (and how to solv them) on Nophi Recordings.

Judges:

Tricil
Music with a defined soul - A certain baroque beauty combining pop sensibility with a bombastic live show and ever present electronics and guitars.
In 1998, John Jacobus aka tricil released his debut, the Face EP. The sound was dark, electronic and heavy.
It's Been Worth It followed in 2000, bringing forth a more moody, sound design-oriented approach while concurrently becoming more melodic. For the four years that followed, John attended college and continued writing music, as well as playing guitar for State of Unrest.
2004 saw the release of the Severed EP, which brought Jacobus back to the guitar and would later be expanded into an album called The Secret Life, and eventually beget a wildly acclaimed project of the same name.
Tricil was the Runner-Up of the 2006 Atlanta Laptop Battle Finals.
In 2007, after a successful month-long national tour with the Nerd Parade, tricil released his first EP in three years, Esoteric Drift. A culmination of the past, present, and future stylistic leanings, Esoteric Drift travels forward from shoegazing guitar to crunchy IDM to danceable electronica and even a bizarre funked-up synthpop/metal hybrid. Esoteric Drift is available for free from the pelican dump.

www.myspace.com/tricil

www.lastfm.com/music/tricil/

Jason Freeman
Jason Freeman (http://www.jasonfreeman.net) uses new technology and unconventional notation to break down barriers between composers, performers, and listeners, creating music that “stands as an example of the Web’s mind-expanding possibilities” (Billboard) and helps to “bring composition into the Xbox age” (Wired). His music has been performed by the American Composers Orchestra, Speculum Musicae, the So Percussion Group, and the Nieuw Ensemble, and his sound art has been exhibited at the Lincoln Center Festival, the Boston CyberArts Festival, and the Transmediale Festival. Freeman received his B.A. in music from Yale University and his M.A. and D.M.A. in composition from Columbia University. He is currently an assistant professor of music at Georgia Tech.

Omar Torres
Omar Torres has been writing music and designing sound for well over a decade.
Starting in 1989, he curbed his study of “grammar and boring mathematics” and
instead committed himself entirely to the study of music, sound and synthesis. One of
his earliest musical projects, GOG, gained notoriety in Tampa as an opening act for
industrial music legends Nitzer Ebb, Front Line Assembly and Alien Sex Fiend.
However, when partner Bunny left to join the infamous Rabbit in the Moon, Omar
launched into an intense exploration of all things mixing and arranging. That was only
the beginning. Over the next four years Omar amassed a wealth of knowledge and
experience, drifting into more melodic work while at the same time regaining
inspiration for more eclectic and experimental electronic music. This phase spawned
several releases that are still seeing turntable action today. After years of modestly developing as a musician, Omar is now recognized as an accomplished producer unique unto himself. His influences have ranged from a widely diverse range of artists including experimentalists like early Stockhausen, Locust, and Eno to legendary producers like Flood and Quincy Jones and more recently improv jazz kings Bill Evans,
James Spalding, and John Coltrane as well as 80’s funk of the New York / Detroit variety. Because of such a unique mix and appreciation for music, Omar’s work defies all possible description. In addition to programming and writing for Skinny Puppy's LP, “The Greater Wrong of the Right”, Omar has works-in-progress for experimental labels Warp and Schematic. Lastly, there’s his melodic Hologram project on Joe Clausell’s Natural Resource imprint, and his futuristic Latin house as Soulrider has found a home on the Hallucination Limited imprint. Omar also manages to find time for design ventures in film scoring and and commercial music, as well as producing and engineering for other artists.
Hi latest projects include sound-design collaboration work with NIN’s Danny Lohner for Sony Picture’s Underworld, music for a special DVD documentary titled “Revolutions”, a special on the making of “The Matrix” and music score for EMB Filmworks “The Land of the Free” by director Edmund Banuel Jr.
Regardless of the medium, Omar’s extensive mixing experience and love for an array.

Omar recently completed mastering work for The Secret Life's debut CD on Nophi Recordings,
The Great Book of Mysterys (and how to solv them), as well as providing a remix (flood - aquia nandala mix
by hologram and harmaline)

Richard Devine
Richard Devine is an Atlanta-based electronic musician. He is recognised for producing a layered and heavily processed sound, combining influences from old and modern electronic music. Devine largely records for the Miami-based Schematic Records. As a result of praise of his music from Autechre as well as a remix of Aphex Twin's Come To Daddy, Devine recorded an album for Warp Records which was jointly released by Schematic and Warp. Devine first started using computers for composition around 1993. Don Hasslier, a professor at the Atlanta College of Art, got him interested in computer synthesis, introducing Devine to CSound and other powerful computer-based applications. Devine also coded a couple FFT applications in SuperCollider, an environment and programming language for real-time audio synthesis. “It’s interesting, because you’re doing things to sound that just aren’t physically possible.” Devine also uses Native Instruments (NI) software. His favorite NI applications are Reaktor and Absynth. Reaktor is a very powerful modular system, similar in many respects to classic modular synthesizer systems but also capable of performing low-level DSP sound processing. Devine has also designed sound patches for NI’s Absynth. He has also scored commercials for Nike and Touchstone Pictures, and engineered and performed his own music worldwide.
www.richarddevine.com
www.myspace.com/richarddevine

Travis Thatcher
Early Modern Witch Trials
Judi Chicago
Recompas

Randy Garcia
http://www.randygarcia.com/
www.thenerdparade.com/
Nophi Recordings
randy garcia averages about five hours of sleep each night. These short hours are turbulent and often plagued by abstract impressionist dreams of video games, animals and space travel. In the waking hours, Randy tries desperately to recreate his slumber-land visions through the interrogation of instruments, microphones, computers, and his own bedraggled voice. At random points during the year, Garcia releases documentation of his musical thrashings in the form of singles, EP’s, and full length recordings.

Friday, December 14, 2007

SL CD Release Party Flyer

Thursday, December 13, 2007

one last thing

we couldn't have done this without the help of some amazing people.
thanks to all the judges who spent the battles working to ensure
fairness and supporting this fledgling idea.

thanks to the competitors who truly made this event what it is,
and introducing new people to new sounds. the community grows
stronger because of all of you. many are repeat battlers, and
the fact that you do not grow jaded speaks volumes - rather, you cultivate
your abilities with the battles and breathe new life and consistent
support.

thanks to the fans who supported your friends and supported the
concept of the laptop battles. there is great potential here,
and all of you are to thank for it.

thanks to kris moon and the rest of the promoters across
the country for joining forces to creatively advance electronic music.
your work pays off immensely, and the networking is second to none.

last, but possibly most of all, thank you to matt jeanes for believing
in the laptop battles in atlanta. without your guidance, support,
and invaluable assistance, none of this would have been possible.
you have been a constant source of inspiration and guidance and
an irreplaceable mentor. thank you for the images, the text, the
lessons in running a proper bracket, and the love of music and atlanta.

i am humbled by the atlanta laptop battles.

-threv

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

2007 Atlanta Laptop Battle Finals - the conclusion

holy shit I'm late as hell posting this.

dr. rheinhardt

The 2007 Atlanta Laptop Battles were overall a raging success. Big ups to all the folks who came out & supported their local electronic scene, and huge thanks & kudos to those brave souls who took the stage, showcased their talents, and showed atlanta
what laptop music is all about. it's no easy task to condense what you do to 3 minutes and 1 controller, and perform competitively, but everyone brought their A-game every time. I can't thank everyone enough, and I might add - holy hell, there is some _serious talent_ in our local bedrooms & basements. Folks - get out on stage more often and strut your stuff!!

andrew provine

pH

The final 8 back in October (wow it has been a while) were absolutely incredible. The judges were Jason Freeman, music technology professor at Georgia Tech; Randy Garcia, head of Nophi Records; and Alex Hofelich, music fan extraordinaire. The matches were incredibly close, and everyone impressed the crowd to no end. The fabled Random Rabbit battle between Charlie P & Andrew Provine proved intense; battle stalwarts pH & Poodleface brought more juice than they ever had before (poodleface debuted new wrestling videos and even mixed drum & bass into it); newcomers Citizen Green & Josh Clayton brought entirely new life into the battles and showed their future dominance; last minute addition El Hadron (aka phat joe) brought his best compiling skills, even compiling his software not just 5 seconds before his battle. The night, however, belonged to Dr Max Rheinhardt (aka Matt Jeanes of Larvae) It was his combination of stage performance (DDR Pad oopma loompa remixes and playing wizard metal blindfolded) and amazing musicality put him over the top, eeking out Mobius DJ Josh Clayton in the final battle.

citizen green

poodleface

dr. rheinhardt

Congrats also to Dr. Rheinhardt for placing 2nd in the National Championships.
www.laptopbattle.com

charlie p

Congrats to *everyone*
SEE YOU NEXT YEAR

josh clayton

el hadron

oh! one last thing:
the national finals for 2008 will be held in the city of..

ATLANTA.

battlers and attendees - keep your eyes peeled on this space to check out the schedule for next year. we'll start signups & promotion spring of 2008, and we encourage everyone to sign up again & keep the battles growing ever stronger.

plus, we gave shirts to all the competitors & battlers. check the logo on the top of this page - put that on a black shirt (courtesy black star print), and you have a fine gift for a true warrior.

PICTURES:

all pictures taken by missy limina (also a former battler!)
http://gtf.org/pixivixen/main.php?g2_itemId=2669

MP3S:

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Congratulations to Dr. Rheinhardt!

Our very own Dr. Maximillian Rheinhardt placed 2nd in the National Laptop Battle Championships.
Local hero Dave Pezzner eked out an insanely close victory, grabbing it from the jaws of death
in literally the last minute. For my money, Dr. Rheinhardt *dominated* the competition, but sometimes
the cards don't fall as expected.

Thanks everyone for the support over the year, and we'll see you next year!

-Threv (in Seattle)

Friday, October 19, 2007

THE 2007 ATLANTA LAPTOP BATTLE CHAMPION IS...

Dr. Maximillian Rheinhardt

BIG CONGRATULATIONS to All the battlers, including The Mobius' own DJ JOSH CLAYTON who provided some of the sickest bass this side of Mick Harris.

who faced off against matt in the final battle in what was, to me, the closest battle of the night. Josh, pH, Citizen Green, Andrew Provine, Charlie P, Poodleface, and El Hadron all brought their A-game

LOOK FOR THESE FOLKS IN YOUR LOCAL VENUE! SUPPORT YOUR FUCKING LOCALS.

way to go everyone

mp3s & videos & links to battlers individual projects will be up next week at:
www.nophi.net/laptopbattle

The 2007 Atlanta Laptop Battles are sponsored by:

Nophi Recordings
and
WREK 91.1 FM's The Mobius