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Cakewalk's Top 5 Live Performances of 2009

HOB BostonWith the return of U2, Madonna and AC/DC to the stage, 2009 was another successful year for performance venues nationwide. The Cakewalk staff had a busy year as well, attending all sorts of concerts and festivals. Continuing on our quest to name our favorites of 2009, here are our choices for the ‘Top 5 Live Performances’. You can see our picks for the Top 5 Singles of 2009 in a previous post.

Anthony Conte: Ben Folds with the Boston Pops, Aimee Mann, Pete Yorn, Matthew Sweet, Cake

Carl Jacobson: Oneal Armstrong @ The Middle East (Boston, MA), DJ Z-Trip & Chuck D at the Shepherd Fairy Exhibit Party @ ICA (Boston, MA), The Pat Martino Trio feat. Tony Monaco @ Scullers (Boston, MA), Kokayi @ CMJ Showcase (NY, NY), Some traditional Appalachian band from West Virginia on the streets in the Mission District of San Francisco in September 2009

Keith Albright: Third Day, Casting Crowns, and Natalie Grant @ SoulFest (Gunstock Mountain, NH), Michael W. Smith, Todd Agnew

Tara Zanett: Journey (and Heart!), No Doubt, AC/DC

Steve Cox: Stevie Wonder at the 25th Anniversary Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame Concert @ Madison Square Garden (NY, NY)

Josh Langberg: DJ Hell @ Resolute Warehouse (Brooklyn, NY), Skinny Puppy @ the Palladium (Worcester, MA), Raster-Noton, Alva Noto & Byetone @ Make It New (Middlesex Lounge – Cambridge, MA), Nitzer Ebb @ the Paradise (Boston, MA), Xanopticon @ The Armory (Somerville, MA)

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Cakewalk's Top 5 Singles of 2009

kings of leonMore than half of Cakewalk’s employees are musicians, many of which record and perform on the side. They’ve come to Cakewalk from different musical backgrounds, sharing their experiences and tricks of the trade as they go. It’s no surprise that those behind the scenes at Cakewalk have a wide range of musical tastes from electronica to hip hop, punk to country.

We thought we’d share with you our choices for the ‘Top 5 of 2009’. In no particular order, here are our picks for the ‘Top 5 Singles’  released this year:

Anthony Conte (VP of Sales): Fireflies – Owl City, Meet Me At The Equinox – Death Cab for Cutie, I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris – Morrissey, Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) – Jay-Z, 1901 – Phoenix

Carl Jacobson (VP of Marketing): 1901 – Phoenix, Ancestor’s Call – Huun-Huur Tu / Carmen Rizzo, Scars (Featuring Kelis) – Basement Jaxx, Scumbag Blues – Them Crooked Vultures, Money (Feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip) – N.A.S.A.

Keith Albright (Software Engineer): Heaven Is The Face – Steven Curtis Chapman, Until The Whole World Hears – Casting Crowns, He Is – Mark Schultz, Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming – Sting, Magnificent – U2

Tara Zanett (Event Coordinator): Love Story – Taylor Swift, That’s Not My Name – Ting Tings, Already Gone – Kelly Clarkson, Use Somebody – Kings of Leon, I Know You Want Me – Pitbull

Matt Koelsch (MI Accounts Manager – Worldwide): Use Somebody – Kings of Leon, Kids – MGMT, 1901 – Phoenix, Sleepyhead – Passion Pit, Hometown Glory – Adele

Dave Malaguti (QA Engineer): Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nothing to Worry About – Peter Bjorn and John, The Wanting Comes in Waves – The Decemberists, While You Wait for the Others – Grizzly Bear, Oh No – Andrew Bird

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The Musician's Digital Audio Workstation: SONAR 8.5

seth_kelloggIf you saw our ads for Guitar Tracks Pro 4, then you already know that 3 out of 4 Cakewalk employees are guitar players.  In fact, many Cakewalk employees are also full-time musicians, using Cakewalk products to record, mix and master their own projects.

When it came time to design the new features in SONAR 8.5, we focused on what we felt would be the absolute best enhancements to help us all be more creative and produce better sounding music. We added new beat creation and arrangement tools, a new drum instrument loaded with stellar sounding kits, enhanced audio quantizing, new multi-stage effects plug-ins, and much more.

To honor the new and improved version of SONAR,  we’ve added the Created by Musicians page to Cakewalk.com to share with you our own musical talents and favorite features in SONAR 8.5.