Following weeks of rumours and speculation, Panasonic has confirmed that their Technics brand of turntables has been discontinued.

The Osaka-based technology company sent out the following statement yesterday:

Panasonic has confirmed that it ceased the production of its Technics-branded analogue turntables this autumn.

After more than 35 years as a leading manufacturer of analogue turntables, Panasonic has regretfully taken the decision to leave this market. However, Panasonic will continue to sell headphones under the Technics brand.

We are sure that retailers and consumers will understand that our product range has to reflect the accelerating transformation of the entire audio market from analogue to digital.

In addition, the number of component suppliers serving the analogue market has dwindled in recent years and we brought forward the decision to leave the market rather than risk being unable to fulfill future orders because of a lack of parts.

Panasonic employees who have been working on the analogue turntable range have been redeployed elsewhere within Panasonic – many of them continuing to work in Panasonic’s Audio Video Business Unit.

Resident Advisor recently spoke with JC Faxas, the main DJ Buyer for Guitar Center Inc, the biggest distributor of Technics products in the United States. Based on meetings with Technics’ vice president, he confirmed much of Panasonic’s statement, especially that a shortage of essential parts was the key factor in their decision. “Panasonic had been using some of the same parts manufacturers for over 40 years and most had gone out of business, so it would be very difficult and expensive to get some of those parts in production once again.”

But after working directly with Technics for over a decade, Faxas also thinks the brand could have survived if Panasonic valued it more highly. “In my opinion, if Technics was a stand-alone company and not part of Panasonic, then there would be sufficient business for the company to continue. I feel that Technics has always been pocket change to Panasonic, whose upper management never took the DJ business seriously. The question now is whether a manufacturer will step up with a suitable alternative since there will never be a true replacement.”

Wayne Fontaine – A New Horizon: Hot off the press, my first tech trance tune, open to comments and feedback please!

Ever wondered why your favourite producers’ kicks and basslines sound so gratifying? RA’s Jono Buchanan boldly crosses the low frequency minefield to tell you why.

Let’s be honest—at some point in our lives, we’ve all stood in clubs listening to mixes we admire and wondered why our tracks don’t sound the same. Somehow, by comparison, our own tracks sound thinner and less rounded and often, this comes down to the bottom end and how well integrated our kick drum and bass parts are. Through this article, we’re going to look at how easy it is to make a whole series of mistakes when it comes to programming and mixing bass-oriented elements and how we can turn those potential pitfalls into advantages and substantially improve the quality of our mixes, so that when it comes to the point of listening back on big club systems, those disappointments will seem like distant memories. Leaving things like compression aside for the moment, we’ll focus primarily on EQ and other such effect treatments. Follow the link befow for more: RA: Low end theory: EQing kicks and bass – Interview.

Good news for the fans of Armin van Buuren! Today he announced the full tracklisting for his new artist album ‘Mirage’. Expect collaborations with Ferry Corsten, BT, Nadia Ali, Sophie Ellis Bextor and others!

After his previous artist albums ’76′, ‘Shivers’ and ‘Imagine’ The 4th Armin van Buuren artist album ‘Mirage’ will be released soon!

Armin: “Mirage has been the biggest project I’ve ever worked on. There’s so many hours in this. Work started two years ago when I actually built a completely new studio for this project. Many new techniques were used and most of all I had so much fun creating this with the many people that are involved. It was a journey, an epic one!”

As the first single of the album, Armin chose ‘Full Focus’, an instrumental track set to fill arenas, clubs and scorch across the festival terrains set up for the summer of 2010. Armin: “The first track of the album has been a sure shot in my sets for quite a while now. I decided to come back with an instrumental trancer right before summer and all the big festivals. Half of my new album will be instrumental trance, but with the sound of 2010.”

Right after summer, it’s time for the full ‘Mirage’ album to take over. Inspired and influenced by many different types of music, ‘Mirage’ is more diverse than any other Armin album before. His collaboration with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, ‘Not Giving Up On Love’ is a perfect example of that, combining the best of both worlds. Armin: “The Nervo Sisters, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and me met up to write the vocals for ‘Not Giving Up On Love’. I was thrilled to work with them on this. We gave it a more analog feel with some real drums, to give it a pop-rock feel. We also put a piano top line on the track and then the vocals of Sophie, which I think is a win. It’s a lush summer tune with an epic vocal that gets stuck in your head and cheers you up!”

‘Mirage’ is filled with musical fusions and surprising interpretations, from the orchestral masterpiece of title track ‘Mirage’, deep trance track ‘I Don’t Own You’ and housy ‘Feels So Good’ to the eerie ‘Take A Moment’ and feel-good ‘Drowning’. 16 tracks that highlight how Armin has matured as an artist.

You can expect more collaborations on the album with people such as Ferry Corsten, Nadia Ali, BT, Adam Young (Owl City) and others!

Tracklisting:

Mirage will be in stores September 10th 2010.

via Armin van Buuren – Mirage tracklist announced!

15 killed in mass panic at Germany’s Love Parade Festival

A stampede inside a tunnel crowded with techno music fans crushed 15 people to death and injured dozens at Germany’s famed Love Parade festival on Saturday. Thousands of other revelers keep partying at the event in Duisburg, near Duesseldorf, unaware of the deadly stampede that started when police tried to block thousands more people from entering the already-jammed parade grounds.

Police are still trying to determine exactly what happened, but the situation was “very chaotic,” police commissioner Juergen Kieskemper said. He said police closed off the area where the parade was being held because it was already overcrowded. They told revelers over loudspeakers to turn around and walk back in the other direction before the panic broke out, he said.

German news agency DAPD reported the victims were crushed in the large tunnel leading to the event site and that emergency workers had trouble getting to them.

Duisburg city officials decided at a crisis meeting to let the parade go on to prevent more panic and another stampede, said city spokesman Frank Kopatschek. “The crisis meeting determined not to stop the event because at the moment there are too many people on the grounds,” he said.

The Love Parade was once an institution in Berlin, but has been held in the industrial Ruhr region of western Germany since 2007. The original Berlin Love Parade grew from a 1989 peace demonstration into a huge outdoor celebration of club culture that drew about 1.5 million people at its peak in 1999. But it suffered from financial problems and tensions with city officials in later years, and eventually moved.

via 15 killed in mass panic at Germany’s Love Parade Festival.

Dutch label Armada Music and German based Vandit Records announced the news that both labels will join forces!

VANDIT is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary with a series of releases and a worldwide arena tour, being the home base to artists including Paul van Dyk, Filo & Peri, The Thrillseekers, Kuffdam, Alex M.O.R.P.H., Jon O’Bir and Giuseppe Ottaviani. The first major releases after the joint venture will be the ‘VANDIT 10th Anniversary’ compilation, which includes Paul van Dyk’s ‘We Come Together’ single and Filo & Peri’s ‘This Night’.

VANDIT Records was established by renowned German DJ/producer Paul van Dyk in 2000 and has become a go-to label for electronic music fans. The label has released classics including Paul van Dyk’s ‘For An Angel’, Reflekt’s ‘Need To Feel Loved’ and Ralphie B’s ‘Massive’. 100 VANDIT releases and more than 200 tracks of the VANDIT Digital sub-label back catalogue will be exploited by Armada Music. Fans of the VANDIT sound have more than plenty of good stuff to look forward to.

Paul van Dyk, managing director of VANDIT: “Two power houses of electronic music join forces. The symbiosis of creative power, expertise and market impact by VANDIT and Armada Music will set a new milestone in electronic music”.

Maykel Piron, Managing Director of Armada Music: ”For 10 years, VANDIT has been releasing high quality music. It’s a great honour to continue building up this fantastic brand together with Paul and his team.“

via Paul van Dyk’s Vandit Records joins forces with Armada Music! | trance.nu.