Posted by jessica on October 28th, 2008 |
0 commentsUnsigned Artist Wins $24,000 24 Karat Gold Keyboard
Austin, TX — Now that the event has ended, Open Labs has calculated the Beats ‘N Treats Music Festival to be a successful business venture. The two-day festival at the Mohawk in Austin, Texas from Oct. 24 through Oct. 25 featured the Gold Rush beat competition with the grand prize a 24 karat gold NeKo LUX. After six rounds of one-on-one competitions, each contestant played their beat through an Open Labs MiKo until the final contestants played early Sunday morning. The grand prize winner was Austin resident JJ Robinson, also known as “Y2JJ” of Philiez Beats. Y2JJ prevailed against Russell Lee for his sixth beat of the event, and was awarded the gold Open Labs instrument worth over $24,000 and personally owned by Open Labs co-founder and chairman, Victor Wong.
“I’m very pleased with how the entire event turned out,” said Victor Wong. “We had some incredible producers travel from all over the country to participate in this event. New York, L.A., Washington, you name it, they came down for a chance to win my NeKo LUX. These musicians’ material was completely professional, and just as good as anything you hear on the top ten charts today.”
Open Labs CEO, Hank Coleman, concurred. “We put a lot of time and energy into the Beats ‘N Treats Festival, and it was by all means worth it,” said Coleman. “Most music festivals have a hard time getting off the ground on their first year, but this one exceeded our expectations.”
Y2JJ was in awe about winning the NeKo LUX. “I’m kind of speechless,” said Y2JJ. “It’s a blessing, It was almost like destiny to get this. After the first round I was confident, but after hearing the other contestants I went back to the drawing board that night, and it turned out for the best. I mainly focused on hip-hop, a lot of guitar, and made sure my bridges were all guitar leads mixed with symphonies. I wanted to make sure I kept that live feel, and then bring it back into hip-hop based on the crowd’s reaction. I’ve taken off the next week of work to spend some time with my new NeKo LUX.”
After the contest ended, Victor Wong decided to donate a Timbaland Special Edition MiKo to the second place contestant Russell Lee, for displaying a fierce competition, and providing professional music.
“Although Y2JJ won a fair battle, we couldn’t just let Russell Lee go home empty handed,” said Wong. “He worked really hard, displayed some incredible talent, and had a great reaction from the crowd.”
The entire event was broadcast live on the Internet by multiple HD cameras. The broadcast featured live bands on the inside stage for both days, and the outside stage featured performances by Mickael, Bavu Blakes, Mike and Ike, Union Cartel, Komodo, Perfect Strangers, and Pointbender. With a noise meter displayed on a projector screen on the back of the stage, each contestant was judged by the crowd’s reaction. For both nights, several hundred attendants filled the Mohawk’s multi-level layout, which also included an Open Labs demo booth and an Art Institute of Austin booth on the rooftop. Sponsors for the event included the Art Institute of Austin, The Austin Chronicle, Austin.com, Do512.com, Hot 93.3, Independence Brewery, Hey Cupcake!, 5th Street Studios, Treaty Oak Rum, Sample My Melodyz, The Onion Pizzeria, Pita Pit, and Vitae Med Spa.
About:
Headquartered in the heart of “the live music capital of the world,” Open Labs™ develops customized, computer music keyboards suited to fit every studio and stage need imaginable. With a single piece of Open Labs gear, Open Labs’ customers can play any organ, piano, synthesizer or virtual instrument on the planet, create any beat, tone or sound imaginable, manipulate every parameter, record it in a multi-track system and burn it to a CD/DVD. That’s just the beginning of what Open Labs products can do.
With the advent of their products, the NeKo and the MiKo, and the compiled A-list artists that use them, Open Labs has become the industry standard for producers, composers and musicians of every genre.
