LL Cool J launches new recording software, hints at new album | Tech News

LL Cool J is a man of many talents: rapper, actor, father, husband, host, professional hat-wearer. Mr. Smith now looks to add “software entrepreneur” to his résumé, as the 44-year-old entertainment veteran has announced the launch of a new virtual recording software called My Connect Studio.

In a nutshell, My Connect Studio allows artists in separate locations to hold studio sessions in real time through the internet, which LL says will expedite and take much of the rigmarole out of recording with a collaborator who’s across town or in another part of the world.

“[Producers will] e-mail me the track. I’m e-mailing vocals. They don’t like something, I’m sending it back. We’re going back and forth and doing this dance,” he explains to The Boombox. “A lot of music is being created that way right now. What I wanted to do is be able to create music in real-time.”

The nearly 30-year music veteran worked with Sony to bring My Connect Studio to life, and hopes that the technology — which will also utilize social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter — will link talents who may have never met otherwise.

“You may get with a kid from London, you may get with a kid from Paris simply because you went on the site and visited the lobby and met somebody and went into a session and started creating,” he says. “This is the next level of music creation.”

That notion is not so far-fetched, as Little Brother alumnus and North Carolina native Phonte met Dutch producer Nicolay via social networking in the early 2000s, and the duo subsequently released four critically-acclaimed albums and was nominated for a Grammy as The Foreign Exchange. But while Tigallo and Nico used the “old-school” back-and-forth method LL detailed earlier, My Connect Studio would, in theory, make that road to potential stardom much easier.

LL also hinted at a new album during his talk with The Boombox, revealing that he used his newfangled software to record a few songs while recording others the traditional way.

“I’m going to be doing a little bit of the album on the Studio, make sure that it is official,” he says. “And as a matter of fact I started on my album too. It’s authentic hip-hop, it’s the business.”

My Connect Studio is currently only available for PCs, but will soon be compatible with Macs and mobile devices. The My Connect Studio Bundle will run you about $899.99. Visit www.sony.com for details.