“We want to hear Michael Jackson!” my kids say in unison.

Only days before I had uncovered my long boxed away copy of History.

“One of you chose big and the other choose small,” I say.

My son, the youngest, yells out “BIG” before I can finish the sentence.  My oldest daughter is too busy trying to deduce what big and small could refer to, to be bothered.

We head to the studio where I pull out the History box set.

“That doesn’t look like Michael Jackson,” my son says of the statue on the cover.  My daughter, having put the pieces of the puzzle together, has positioned herself next to the small button by the turntable.

“Can I put it on,” she asks.

“No I’ll put…” I start.

“I want to put it on,” my son interrupts.

“I’ll put it on the turntable and I’ll move the needle.  You’ll push the small button to turn it on,” I say to my daughter.

“And I’ll push the big button to make it go,” my son finishes.

“Right.”

Step by step we load the vinyl onto the turntable and turn it on, then I put the needle on the record.

“It’s our favorite!!” my son yells out as they rush out of the studio to their play area where it’s streamed to their speakers.  My son turns it up and the dancing begins.  She’s a modern and ballet dance student, choreographing steps as it progresses to match the varied intensities of the song. My son is the b-boy.  He likes to stay on the floor, moving fast between his hands and feet with the intermittent freeze.

I watch them with the hugest smile on my face listening to the words of their favorite song, and it hits me that I had to flip it.  For the next few days I work on a remix, then played it for my kids, watching their dancing, which matched the level of engagement with the original.  That was my goal and so now I’ll share it.

DOWNLOAD I LIKE MIKE

Through composition, production, writing, philosophy and technology Primus Luta explores the many facets of his chosen muse – music.   Brought up in the recording studios of New York City, Primus learned the ins and outs of music production hands on, at a time when studio technology was beginning to shift; the analog tools he was trained on were quickly replaced by their digital counterparts.  Since then Primus has maintained an interest in the ways that technology affects not only how we hear music, but how it is produced.

Primus is the leading voice on the art and history of sampling.  His work in the field has led to the creation of the first system for notating sample performance.  Primus’ expertise extends into computer music, as the first authorized trainer of the modular software environment Plogue Bidule.  As the developers of the software have noted his work is amongst the first to “build a complete instrument within Bidule.”  One of the highlights is Primus’ 4|5 ccls which turned the cycle of 4ths and 5ths popularized by John Coletrane into a performance controller.

In addition to his creative work Primus is a documenter and historian for the global Beat Generation scene.  In 2009 he created a mix, entitled Beat Construction, which traced the history of instrumental music around the beat from 1979 to 2000.  He followed this up in 2010 with a series of mixes entitled The Vanguard tracing the work of the Beat Generation in the latter half of the 2000′s.  Today Primus presents a monthly podcast on the UK site Rhythm Incursions, curating a monthly mix of the latest music from the various genres and sub-genres under the BeatGen umbrella.

Primus contributes his writing to the leading website for digital music production, Create Digital Music covering topics ranging from modular audio environments to live performance of electronic music to the history of the digital revolution in music technology.  All of Primus’ endeavors work toward his personal mission to ensure the history of the intersection of music and technology is documented in the cannon of western musical theory, inclusive of all of those who have participated in its growth and development.