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LL Cool J wants you to make music together – Metro US

LL Cool J wants you to make music together

LL Cool J’s dream came to fruition last week with the release of his new software, Future Sounds My Connect Studio, a Google Docs-meets-Pro Tools software that allows any two artists in the world to create professional-quality tracks together live.

The rapper said at the software’s introductory press conference last week that he wanted to use the Internet to break down the walls that had previously made recording music difficult. Traditional studios, he said, cost too much time and money, and digital collaboration was limited to unwieldy back-and-forth e-mails between him and his producer.

“I want to connect musicians everywhere so there’s no limitations, there’s no barriers to them connecting with each other,” LL Cool J said.

My Connect Studio comes from Boomdizzle, a social media site where musicians can collaborate, rate each other’s music and publish tracks to iTunes, which LL Cool J co-founded in 2008. Sony then integrated My Connect Studio as part of its Vaio E14P laptop. The software also interacts with Facebook and uses Microsoft Cloud hosting.

Would the rapper have used My Connect Studio as an up-and-coming artist?

“There’s no way I would let this opportunity pass me by, you know what I’m saying?” LL Cool J told Metro. “I’d use it for everything it had and try to make the best music I can make, let the chips fall where they may after that.”

However, My Connect Studio is not without its limits. Currently, the software is PC-exclusive and only available through Sony’s VAIO laptop, although LL Cool J said that a Mac version of the software was in the making, as well as mobile and tablet forms. Only two artists can collaborate in one session at a time, but LL Cool J said that project engineers were working to enable more people to work together live.

LL Cool J said that the use of the software would be free in the initial release period, and eventually users would either subscribe or utilize a pay-as-you-go alternative by the hour. Sony calls the 12-month subscription (with 10 hours of recording per month) included in the bundle a “$75 value” on its website.

A new album?

LL Cool J also coyly revealed that he’s been working on a new album, some of which will be recorded using My Connect Studio.

“I’m gonna do a little bit of the album on the ‘Studio’ and make sure that it’s official,” he said with a smile. “As a matter of fact, I started on my album, too. It’s authentic hip-hop. It’s the business.”