3 (un)Necessary Gadgets for the Mobile Producer

Considering there are more music artists today than there are consumers, there might as well be an equal number of producers. Here are 3 gadgets that any self respecting producer would never rely on, meaning they’re perfect for that guy who hangs out with that other guy who always starts freestylin’ out loud when he steps in a crowded elevator.

3. ipod touch + “Spinning Vinyl” ipod app

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.2442136&w=425&h=350&fv=]

Not everyone can spin records, but everyone with an ipod touch can pretend they can with this new app. You can speed up and slow down mp3’s by spinning your ipod. So far there’s no support for scrathin’ and the app only works on the ipod touch 2nd gen because its curved back allows it to spin at decent speeds. Hopefully, the next version of this app will correct these minor oversights.

Rest of the list after the jump.

2. “Frequency” Seiko’s throwback drum machine watch

It’s a drum machine on a watch. Made during the era when an 808 and synthesizer was all you needed to make hits (see: theme song to Beverly Hills Cop) these are staring to spring up in retro watch shops, both in England and the US, and on eBay.

1. The entire studio

Designers Young-Shin Lee and Hae-Jin Jung must have had producers like J.Dilla in mind who can take any random sound and make a beat around it, when they created the Vivace mobile studio concept. It’s one part laptop and four parts mobile lab – including multi-function playback, recording and editing – with a sleek touch screen thrown in for sex appeal. So for anyone who hears beats in the noise of a passing subway trains the Vivace concept is for you. For everyone else, you probably shouldn’t be making beats in the first place.