AUDIO
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Making Your Microphone Placement Work – Basix10 March 2010, 8:00 am
Miking up an instrument isn’t an easy thing. It’s not like a digital camera where you point towards what you want to capture and then click. Super cool vacation photo! You might not end up with a great photo, but you can certainly make it better afterwards. Not to offend photographers, but in audio, if [...]...
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Quick Tip: Lock Your Chords to Your Groove9 March 2010, 11:53 pm
It’s easy to lock some piano chords to a drum beat or groove of your choice by using a few simple tricks. We’ll make a simple beat, paint in some piano chords and then lock them together so they groove together by side-chaining.
Side-chaining has been talked about extensively, but this trick is a good [...]...
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The Contemporary Musician’s Guide to Counterpoint – Audio Premium9 March 2010, 7:35 am
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Open Mic: Tell Us About the Musical Instruments You Play8 March 2010, 10:57 pm
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How to Introduce Variety In Your Basslines8 March 2010, 11:16 am
Unless you frequently experiment with a wide variety of musical styles and genres, it can be easy to fall into musical habits or patterns that prevent your songs from sounding fresh – or worse – can cause many of your songs to sound the same. Overuse of simple on-beat or off-beat basslines is one way [...]...
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Win Bobby Owsinski’s Book “The Drum Recording Handbook”8 March 2010, 12:41 am
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How to Use Reason 4’s Spider CV Merger & Splitter7 March 2010, 4:33 am
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5 Forms & Contracts Every Musician Needs6 March 2010, 9:28 am
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Redesign and Other Tuts News5 March 2010, 6:54 am
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Quick Tip: Use a Sustaining Element For Stability5 March 2010, 3:54 am
As great as pretty harmonies and soaring melodies can be, sometimes you need a much more raw and chaotic effect. If you’re scoring a chase scene you might want to have quick sharp stabs at unexpected and random times. Or perhaps you’re working on a free jazz album and want to give every player complete [...]...
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Which Program Should I Choose?10 March 2010, 7:11 pm
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Pixie Tea - Abcd Said10 March 2010, 7:05 pm
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Armin Van Buuren - In And Out Of Love10 March 2010, 6:15 pm
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[Request] Andain - Beautiful Things10 March 2010, 6:13 pm
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Reverse Reverb Effect10 March 2010, 6:03 pm
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Bronsk Beat And Cassandra Fox Acapella10 March 2010, 5:11 pm
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Playing 2 Different Vsti's From The One Keyboard?10 March 2010, 4:32 pm
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Cutting Up Vocals And Other Samples In Reason10 March 2010, 4:25 pm
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What Synth Creates This Sound!10 March 2010, 4:23 pm
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The "what Games Have You Been Playing Recently?" Thread.10 March 2010, 4:19 pm
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The Covert Operators “Clip Mapper”
I've been speaking with Bjorn of The Covert Operators on and off for the last few weeks about his latest Max4Live project, the "Clip Mapper." He described it to me in broad terms but I must admit that the details a were a bit fuzzy for me. I'm not a Max/MSP guy by any stretch [...]...
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Want Some Free Samples for your Multimedia Project? #twsfx
Matt Pacyga and I have teamed up to release some free sample downloads resulting from our respective field recording experiments. Matt has put together a superb set of crunches and splats which originally emanated from his kitchen and some very unlucky food items. The recordings are high quality and super-creative, so I highly encourage you [...]...
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Going the Extra Mile for Unique Timbres: Part 2
Continuing from the last post, let’s take a look at some more sound-shaping tools that will aid us in our quest to develop unique timbres. As usual, I’ll be using Ableton Live to illustrate when needed.
Gate Combined with Effects Automation
Although generally used as a corrective device to remove excess noise between sounds like drum hits [...]...
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Going the Extra Mile for Unique Timbres: Part 1
I thought it would be fun to put together a small list of useful timbral-shaping tools. They are presented in no particular order along with a few words on how I like to use them. I tend to refer to a similar list in my head whenever I’m trying to come up with a creative [...]...
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Letting Necessity Guide Your Sound Design
This time I’d like to focus on how an instrument or sound effect develops along with the composition. Last week I mentioned that many device presets contain too much frequency content to easily fit into a mix with other instruments. This generally means that judicious use of subtractive EQ is required to tame these complex [...]...
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Keep Your Mix Clean
Those who primarily use software to create their music often lack valuable perspective when it comes to composition, and this can have a detrimental effect on the resulting mixes. I count myself in this group, and I only recently (within the last 2 years) became aware of what I was doing. To get right to [...]...
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Creating an Abundance of New Sounds in Ableton Live
I used to have a rather idealistic reaction to the use of random elements in music, asserting that this was somehow less than artistically pure and that a finished piece that was any less than 100% the result of conscious decision-making was incomplete at best. As the years wore on, I realized that such a [...]...
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Writer’s Block? Read This.
I’d like to lay out some tips on getting past writer’s block in all of its ugly forms whether it be apathy, procrastination, or just a frustrating lack of inspiration. Staring at a blank sequencer timeline is one of the more miserable studio activities that I can think of, so let’s take a look at [...]...
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Keeping Your Composition Moving Forward With Freeze and Flatten
Have you ever run into overcomplexity while arranging your latest piece of music?
It happens to me all the time. It’s that phase of composition where you’ve got all kinds of automation going on, sweeping a filter here and increasing an effect trail there.
In addition to automation data, you may have a dizzying array of chopped [...]...
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Listening to Your Environment and the 3 Building Blocks of Sound
I’d like to touch on the importance of the artist’s experience of the surrounding world and how that experience informs their work. In short: Regardless of whether you compose pop music or generative ambient, having a grasp on how the world creates sound is useful knowledge when it comes to creating your own sounds.
So what [...]...
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Pro Tools – How to become an expert, and why4 March 2010, 10:26 pm
OK, I think it’s time to come clean. This may shock some of you, so brace yourselves…
I’m not a Pro Tools expert.
…I know ! How can that be ?!? I’m a mastering engineer, a pro audio geek and I write blogs on music production – HOW can I not be a Pro Tools [...]...
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Add a Dynamic Range Day banner to your site26 February 2010, 1:57 am
Here are instructions if you would like to add a Dynamic Range Day banner to your site. Please make all banners link to this page:
Dynamic Range Day 2010
We have three versions – the original on the right was created in almost no time at all, last night by diamond geezer Mister Matthew Vince.
If anyone would [...]...
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Dynamic Range Day – SHOUT OUT against the Loudness Wars24 February 2010, 1:43 am
Dynamic Range Day is March 20th, 2010
Join us in a day of protest against the CD “Loudness Wars” – more info below
Show your support – check out the Facebook Event
and RSVP to say you’ll “attend”
It’s easy to take part – just SHOUT (type in all caps)
ALL DAY, EVERYWHERE !
And when people ask, tell [...]...
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I’ve had an idea, and I need your help !19 February 2010, 11:39 pm
There’s quite a buzz at the moment about Derek Siver’s talk at TED, Leadership lessons from a dancing guy. If you haven’t already seen it, check out the video above – it’s fantastic !
Despite the great response he got to his idea of the “First Follower”, he immediately decided that he wanted to [...]...
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How to make your music loud16 February 2010, 1:58 am
ow to master a song loud - without compromising on quality. Techniques and tips for achieving competitive mastering levels, without damaging your music...
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Arena: Brian Eno – Another Green World9 February 2010, 12:41 am
This Arena documentary about Brian Eno is simply outstanding - partly because it contains plenty of interesting snippets for the enthusiast, but also because it's beautifully made and put together - fascinating, intelligently chosen visuals and audio accompany the interviews throughout....
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Home Studio Corner Production Club Open Again3 February 2010, 12:14 am
Regular readers will know that I rate Joe Gilder’s Home Studio Corner website very highly – if you want straightforward, no-nonsense information about getting the most out of your home studio, Joe is your man.
Last year Joe launched the Home Studio Corner ‘Production Club’ – and this week he’s opening it up again. (Please mention my [...]...
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The Production Advice Newsletter is here !27 January 2010, 12:42 am
Finally I’ve got round to setting up a Production Advice newsletter ! So, feel free to sign up using the form below : )
I’ll be offering a free eBook to help entice you to join soon, but at the moment all you get is the pleasure of being one of the first – [...]...
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5 Reasons to be cheerful about audio in 201014 January 2010, 11:06 pm
Happy New Year !
I’m sorry things have been a little quiet so far this year – it’s because there’s all kinds of stuff going on behind the scenes that I’m really looking forward to telling you about… soon : )
Meanwhile, regular readers might like to check out my latest guest post on the [...]...
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Band Aid: Do They Know It’s Christmas – in the studio20 December 2009, 11:04 pm
So, do you see what I’ve done here ? This video is:
About a classic piece of music
A little Christmassy (Although “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time” has to be one of the least Christmassy tunes ever)
About recording and production (At least, it includes some footage of people in SARM studios)
Thought-provoking (I think), and
Includes [...]...
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Licensing your music for film, TV, and video games9 March 2010, 11:46 pm
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Root Music Facebook app review9 March 2010, 2:08 am
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SXSW 2010 Free Music6 March 2010, 10:31 pm
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DIY Guitar Pedal Power Supply Instructable6 March 2010, 6:11 am
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Thinking out loud: how to legally sample famous songs for free5 March 2010, 7:45 am
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AudioTuts: How to mix drums3 March 2010, 10:24 pm
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From the crates: Donny Hathaway’s These Songs for You, Live!2 March 2010, 3:55 pm
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RPM Challenge fail!1 March 2010, 10:20 pm
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Designing Sound : Sound design resource28 February 2010, 12:21 am
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Computer aided composition that sounds like composers of yesterday27 February 2010, 1:26 am
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Music Game Revolution, Now Indie Friendly, as Rock Band Network Goes Live10 March 2010, 5:10 pm
They are the robots: Flight of the Conchords. Now, you are the robots, too, as Rock Band Network opens the indie floodgates to the music-distribution-as-game model. (And yes, you’ll get to sing along with the Conchords, too.) Photo (CC-BY-SA) kris krüg.
Music games Rock Band and Guitar Hero are simple enough in terms of gameplay, but [...]...
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This Week at the Game Developer Conference, San Francisco, Push the Button10 March 2010, 2:10 pm
What can you do with this? Game designers and artists find out this week at GDC. (Pictured: my own submission, up close.)
Why should Create Digital Music and Create Digital Motion (and, well, their editor) go to a game conference? This year, in particular, the annual gathering of game developers in San Francisco means a real [...]...
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OSC, Kyma, iPad, and Beyond: Your Networked Musical Future8 March 2010, 4:18 pm
Connecting stuff is one of the things musicians naturally do with gear. So, there’s really no reason that musical gear shouldn’t network as easily as Web servers. And yet a basic protocol, built largely on existing standards, meets with responses like this:
“We’ll support OSC when there’s hardware out there.” “Name one piece of hardware that [...]...
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Mu, Lemur + Ableton Live Integration, Revealed – and Other Lemur Sequencers6 March 2010, 5:05 am
We already knew that one Next Big Thing for the Lemur – the specialized multimedia multi-touch controller – would be Ableton Live integration. Having teased that coming functionality, JazzMutant has now revealed the name (“Mu”), as well as a video showing what the features look like. What’s funny to me is that the result is [...]...
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Renoise 2.5 is Here, Making Your Mac, Windows, or Linux Box an Instrument5 March 2010, 9:18 pm
“It looks alien at first, it looks scary … [but] it’s like, here’s your paper; be creative.” “A tracker basically turns your computer an instrument.” -Dac Chartrand, Renoise, trying to explain Renoise to those who haven’t yet gotten religion
Renoise 2.5 is here, for real – not a beta, a nice, golden, final release. The modern [...]...
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Musical Sewing Machines, Electronic Honky-Tonk, and Handmade Music NYC Monday5 March 2010, 5:11 am
Sewing together music: designer and techno-textile artist Lara Grant constructs music with a modded sewing machine and Max. Lara is one of the artists playing Handmade Music in New York next week; stay tuned here for more behind the scenes of what those folks are doing. Photo (CC-BY-SA) See-ming Lee.
Before evolutionary adaptation comes mutation. Some [...]...
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Émilie Simon, Making Homemade Sessions in Her Apartment4 March 2010, 3:49 pm
Émilie Simon is a fantastically-talented artist with a unique background: her work now falls clearly into pop territory, but her lineage is just as much experimental and classical. Conservatory training gave way to time at the avant garde nerve center of Paris, IRCAM. IRCAM’s Director, Cyrille Brissot, still plays alongside her – more on his [...]...
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A LEGO Sequencer, Imaginary Electronic Antiques, and Other Yoshi Akai Creations3 March 2010, 3:18 pm
Artist and design Yoshi Akai (no relation, as far as I know) treats analog electronics as an art form, a sculpture, an instrument, and an exercise in interaction design, all wrapped in the velour of vintage hardware design. For everyone who misses the deco elegance of meticulously-engraved surfaces and tastefully-appointed enclosures of early-century electronics, Yoshi’s [...]...
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Exclusive Free Soundtrack: Osmos, Featuring Gas, Julien Neto, Loscil, High Skies1 March 2010, 9:13 pm
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Through Friday, Making One-Button Objects, Chip-Infused Hackday Saturday1 March 2010, 8:34 pm
“Press play” … “button-mashing” … the very criticism of digital music is often directed at the button or switch, even as the cult hit monome spreads arrays of buttons like a virus.
Well, we’re still interested in what you can do with a button, so to fully focus you, we’re only giving you one button with [...]...
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Proper R.E.T.R.O.3 March 2010, 8:56 pm
Innotune aren’t known for reviewing all sorts of albums and releases from every corner of the world. When we like something – we put it in our podcast.
However, every now and then something special, different, and fresh pops up. That’s exactly what reached my ears today, and it’s called R.E.T.R.O. by the group mind.in.a.box.
It’s like [...]...
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Six months – The best so far1 March 2010, 9:18 pm
Our electronic music blog and podcast has been around for six months! Here’s the best of Innotune until now.
Top 5 most read:
Dj Mag Top 100 backstage
A video to cheer you up, posted by Håkon Lofthus.
When you put things into perspective
Marcus Schossow wrote about his everyday life as a travelling DJ. An interesting read for any [...]...
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Podcast 006 – With guest AN2121 February 2010, 1:52 pm
Drum’n'Bass, Minimal and Trance + House head AN21 in the mix. Here’s episode six.
Download with iTunes
Listen with Mixcloud
or subscribe.
Discover new EDM with another episode of the Innotune podcast. This month our crew have picked out 11 bangers for you, including music from Sub Focus, Hoaxx, Lusine and Mark Pledger!
The second part is as usual [...]...
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January blog roundup1 February 2010, 5:22 pm
Here’s top of the Innotune blog of January.
Get to know controllerism. Can we compare digital DJs and controllerists? Read on and share your opinion.
You may also read about sampling and pick up a few tricks from the Prodigy classic “Smack my bitch up”.
This month we gathered 20 great EDM music videos. Check out both part 1 and part 2.
Ableton and Serato [...]...
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Bang Gang putting out free MP3’s29 January 2010, 3:42 pm
Here’s an exciting label. The aussies in Bang Gang have released quite a few bangin Nu Disco tracks on regular music download stores. But unlike many others in the business, they are putting out parts of their releases for free download. They most certainly have adapted to the modern way of marketing music.
I liked “Fuck [...]...
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Trance producer + a game soundtrack = Frozen Synapse25 January 2010, 5:00 pm
What would it sound like if a trance producer did a soundtrack for a video game?
Paul Taylor, better known for his trance alias nervous_testpilot and his excellent work for Subtraxx and Bonzai related labels, is also heavily involved in the gaming and game industry.
He has done the soundtrack for the upcoming indie game Frozen Synapse, which [...]...
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Voice Band: Introducing mouth-producing22 January 2010, 4:16 pm
Just how easy should music making be? This iPhone app called Voice Band looks awesome, I’ve been dreaming about a feature like this ever since I was a kid.
The principle of using voice to control synthesis in itself isn’t new, but if this is available with all sorts of instruments, imagine how you could use [...]...
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The A&R guy: A true story21 January 2010, 2:32 pm
Thanks to Steve Angello for sharing this link via his Twitter, funniest video in ages. It’s a must see, and I’m pretty sure this will turn out to be a classic....
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Podcast 005 – Starring Thomas Sagstad20 January 2010, 8:01 pm
Another strong Innotune selection of new house, trance, techno and downtempo. And Thomas Sagstad in the mix!
Download with iTunes
Listen with Mixcloud
or subscribe.
Thomas Sagstad is one of the five bloggers at Innotune. In this episode he get’s the chance to show you his DJ skills. He has travelled all over the globe DJ’ing for his fans. [...]...
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Top 20 Classic EDM videos – Part 218 January 2010, 1:57 pm
Here’s part 2 of our “Top 20 Classic EDM videos”. Be sure to check part 1 packed with great music videos right here.
So let’s continue our excellent list of amazing EDM music videos
Antiloop – Start Rockin
Scandinavian duo, and you might recognize one of them: Yeah, it’s David West in his younger days. Would be so [...]...
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Interview: Motor City Drum Ensemble10 March 2010, 2:12 pm
It is February in Dublin. Danilo Plessow, a skinny white 24-year-old DJ from Stuttgart, spins vinyl to a tightly packed dancefloor in the Crawdaddy section of the Pod nightclub in Harcourt Street.
Now known as Motor City Drum Ensemble, Plessow has worked under several aliases including Hypster Wonkaz, Aphro Pzyko, and Inverse Cinematics (previously his most successful project and a joint creation with Joachim Tobias), before he launched MCDE last year.
Through a number of high profile remixes...
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Noisia’s Full Metal Racket10 March 2010, 11:35 am
We should warn you at the outset that this video is totally NSFM—not safe for mealtime, that is.
The Dutch heavyweights of drum'n'bass and electro, Noisia, test your gag reflex with their video for 'Machine Gun', which begins as a clever collage of abstract imagery and commences in a bloody orgy of mangled flesh and raw meat.
Watch this video on Beatportal
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Inside the mind of Wolfgang Gartner9 March 2010, 2:12 pm
Is there any producer with a keener eye for detail than Wolfgang Gartner? The meticulousness of the electro house producer from Austin, Texas, has made him a huge star within the genre, and helped him net eight Beatport No.1 records.
Whilst most electro house producers opt for simplicity - a big bassline and a simple house loop will do, won't it? - Wolfgang Gartner throws layers of synths and FX into the mix, resulting in tracks that offer a multitude of build ups, bass holes, and hand-raising ...
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Interview: Crosstown Rebel Damian Lazarus8 March 2010, 1:32 pm
Party animal Damian Lazarus recently launched a two month musical pilgrimage across the Americas, under his Rebel Rave banner.
With techno trouble-makers like Jamie Jones and Seth Troxler in support, the Rebel Rave tour will soon touch down in Guadalajara, El Paso, Houston, Montanita, and Miami, where it finally come to a sticky end at the Electric Pickle club during the annual Winter Music Conference at the end of this month.
The Rebel Rave tour coincides with a recent deal with Comcast (one...
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Villalobos, Luciano and Carl Craig on one release? Yep6 March 2010, 1:09 pm
Cadenza's new release 'SeventyNine Remixes' is a techno fans wet dream - Chilean masters Ricardo Villalobos and Luciano have contributed remixes of 'Tahktok', taken from Mirko Loco's recent album. Detroit legend Carl Craig has penned a remix of 'Love Harmonic'.
Ricardo's 20 minute minimal take of 'Tahktok' is suitably epic, with scatty layers of machine funk and broken beats layered beneath the vocals of children singing.
Luciano's remix is more uptempo, reworking the vocal into a hypnotic cha...
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Album of the Week: Andrew Thomas ‘Between Buildings & Trees’5 March 2010, 12:09 pm
From the cover art (see below, after the jump), you might guess that Andrew Thomas' new album, 'Between Buildings & Trees', was a release on ECM, the iconic jazz and classical label, home to the likes of Keith Jarrett and Arvo Pärt. From the minimalist graphics to the moody, black-and-white landscape photography, the sleeve is a dead ringer for the imagery favored by the Munich-based institution, which has established one of contemporary music's most clearly defined aesthetics in its 40 yea...
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The Murky World of Artist Pseudonyms5 March 2010, 10:00 am
In the beginning there was Jack—except that probably wasn't his real name.
Since the days of disco, aliases and pseudonyms have played an integral role in dance-music culture.
Often adopted for practical reasons—for instance, to allow artists under contract to one label to record elsewhere under a different name—they quickly became key factors in the ways that electronic-music culture makes meaning.
Read more on Beatportal
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Beatport Beach Party Line-up: WMC 20104 March 2010, 11:49 pm
Once again Beatport makes its annual pilgrimage to Miami to bring you one of the most sought out events during the Winter Music Conference. "The Beatport Beach Party", presented by Beatport, Pioneer and Armani Exchange takes place at Gansevoort Hotel's beautiful private beach and will feature over 25 of the world's best DJs, with no cover.
To ensure a memorable experience for all attendees Beatport has teamed up with Insomniac Events of Los Angeles and the Opium Group of Miami to showcase bigg...
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Minus Makes Contakt4 March 2010, 4:56 pm
Richie Hawtin's Minus label goes under the microscope with Making Contakt, a 90-minute documentary following the crew across 2008's Contakt tour. Celebrating the label's first 10 years of existence, the tour represented Minus' most ambitious undertaking to date, a dazzling (and daunting) fusion of minimal techno and state-of-the-art multimedia technology.
Hitting Detroit, Amsterdam, Rome, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and more, the effort also proved an unprecedented challenge, and Making Contakt, direc...
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Next Generation DJ Winner Announced4 March 2010, 2:45 pm
Next Generation DJ, the global DJ talent search, has announced its first-place winner: the sister duo Maya Vanya.
The Croatian-born, New Zealand-based pair beat out over 3500 competitors for the top slot in the contest, an initiative by Pioneer DJ, Beatport and DJ Mag, and hosted on the music and social networking platform Letsmix.com.
With more than 350,000 votes cast by over 190,000 people, the NGDJ jury—Deadmau5 manager Dean Wilson, Ultra Records' David Waxman, Sebastian Ingrosso, Bea...
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Audionowcast Podcast10 March 2010, 6:43 pm
Here’s a pro-audio podcast I just discovered while listening to SonicTalk. Audionowcast is quite similar albeit with a more USA centric accent. They are up to 80 episodes and if via the iTunes download page you can troll through some descriptions to see if you want to hear any older shows. Subscribe page: click here
“The [...]...
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Everyday Looper7 March 2010, 8:29 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzQLRPwZjIo
I’ve been having fun with Everyday Looper and it’s a good App. This guy makes it look great (in a French way)! About $5.
“I just spent two sessions with the Everyday Looper (5 hours and 3 hours, respectively) and I can honestly state that this $4 program gives my $250 looping pedal a run for [...]...
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Metasonix D-1000 Vacuum Tube Drum Machine7 March 2010, 12:40 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FlzATgziuY
Big City Music has released a good look at the Metasonix D-1000 Vacuum Tube Drum Machine. It’s unique and definetly sounds ancient in terms on electronic sound. Those who can appreciate the amazing soundtrack to Forbidden Planet (iTunes link) or some Aphex Twin will appreciate this box.
“The first drum machine made with vacuum tubes since [...]...
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Car Stereo in House5 March 2010, 1:07 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av9gp02XF7g
I often thought to myself, “This car stereo sounds better than anything I hear in my home.”. So here’s an idea… why not put a car stereo in your home? I know the car’s acoustics is probably a large factor in its sound but could this be another way to check your mixes? In the [...]...
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Free processed Jomox AIRBase 99 kick drum samples3 March 2010, 12:58 pm
A real analog kick processed by some monster hardware boxes. Record it 65 ways and give it away free. That’s what Wave Alchemy just did. Hey, it got me to their site to look around.
“65 24-bit 100% royalty free kick drum (Jomox AIRBase 99) samples which have been recorded through an A-grade signal chain including [...]...
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Gary Numan Interview2 March 2010, 11:43 pm
Gary Numan In Conversation from Machine Music on Vimeo.
I’ve always thought Gary Numan was highly underrated. Go back today and listen through his albums and see if you don’t agree. Honest loud real analog synths and interesting vocals. They don’t make them like they used to.
“Gary Numan (born Gary Webb on 8 March 1958) is [...]...
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Synthinetic Toy Box1 March 2010, 2:10 pm
Synthinetic from alexabreu on Vimeo.
If you want to turn your child into a future button pusher Alex Abreu & Ithai Benjamin’s Synthinetic box seems more fun than most things you can get at Toys R Us. I credit the fact that my father grabbed some old synths from the music department at the school he [...]...
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Xfer Nerve27 February 2010, 5:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxbx-fvvsGI
There are similar products to Xfer’s Nerve yet I am still interested. Mac/PC VST/AU. $199. What do you think? Is there something unique to Nerve that should be mentioned?
“Nerve is a software drum machine which brings powerful beat creation and manipulation to your Host Sequencer. Nerve runs as a VSTi or AudioUnit plugin. [...]...
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The RPM Challenge26 February 2010, 12:11 am
For years I’ve been thinking how great it would be to write a song a day or something along those lines. I write a lot of music but it’s in bursts and most of it I would never release. The RPM Challenge is an online get together where you basically record an album in a [...]...
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inkQuencer25 February 2010, 2:25 am
inkQuencer from Sebastian Thielke on Vimeo.
Geeky and cool.
“InkQuencer is a step-sequencer that plays music based on camera input. People can draw patterns on paper and then play back the pattern by holding the drawing in front of the camera. The program receives the images from the camera and draws a saled down, [...]...
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Careful Drink Placement9 March 2010, 4:30 pm
You know how a bad mix can really ruin a song?
Yeah, well a spilled drink can ruin a studio.
No, I didn’t ruin my studio last night, but I have come really close a couple times over the years. Nobody ever pays attention to the “no food or drink” signs in professional recording studios, until some [...]...
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EQ Before or After Compression?8 March 2010, 3:22 pm
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Which should come first, EQ or compression?
Feel free to state your opinion for both questions in the comments section, but this article will deal mainly with the second. (Although, you never know…)
Esse, one of my Production Club members, emailed me a question over the weekend. (Side-note: Esse lives [...]...
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Ask Joe #21 [First Official HSC Podcast!]5 March 2010, 3:00 pm
Image by DTGraphix
Today HSC officially has a podcast! You should be able to access it in the iTunes store now. Home Studio Corner…on your iPod…sweet.
Secondly, how do you like the “Ask Joe” logo? Very cool, right? Thanks to Dave of DTGraphix. He did an awesome job. He also designed the Understanding Pro Tools banners. If [...]...
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Getting Ready to Mix My Album [I Need Your Input]4 March 2010, 9:43 pm
If you follow me on Twitter, then you’ve seen me post about my album progress. I’ve spent the last two days recording background vocals and percussion. I’m getting ready to lay down the lead vocals, and I’ll be ready to start mixing.
I want you to be involved in the mix process. More on that in [...]...
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Ear Training Results: Acoustic Guitar3 March 2010, 4:26 pm
Here’s my follow-up video to yesterday’s round of ear training. If you haven’t checked out the audio clips there, you might want to do that before watching the video below.
Were you right? Wanna gloat?
Were you wrong? Wanna vent?
Leave a comment!
ShareThis
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Ear Training: Acoustic Guitar [Texas Hold 'Em Edition]2 March 2010, 3:00 pm
This whole “ear training” thing is pretty fun. Let’s do it again!!
This week we’ll take a look at acoustic guitar.
The Clips
I’ve got three clips for you. The first is the original acoustic guitar, no processing. The second clip has some processing. The third clip has more processing.
So the signal flow goes:
Clip #1 –plug-in–> Clip #2 [...]...
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2010 Goal Update: How Are You Doing?1 March 2010, 3:00 pm
Back on New Year’s Day I wrote a post about setting goals, and I also released my latest free eBook, Roadmap to Finishing Your Album. If you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, just sign up to my newsletter, and it’s yours.
In that post I talked a lot about setting deadlines for yourself, and how these [...]...
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Understanding Pro Tools Released!26 February 2010, 3:04 pm
Last night’s webinar was a lot of fun. For about an hour we talked about Pro Tools and some of the reasons I use it. I’ve got a replay for those of you who weren’t able to make it.
Understanding Pro Tools
I’m proud to announce my latest tutorial video series. It’s called Understanding Pro Tools, and [...]...
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Thoughts on Mastering, and DYNAMIC RANGE DAY25 February 2010, 7:18 pm
Do you master your own tracks? Do you really know what mastering is? Do you think it’s all about making your mixes as ridiculously loud as possible?
We all could stand to learn more about mastering. It’s a mysterious topic and, sadly, one that gets overlooked. Most people think that mastering is simply throwing a limiter [...]...
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What Are Your Favorite Plug-ins?24 February 2010, 3:00 pm
I talked last month about using the stock Pro Tools plug-ins. While the plug-ins that come with your DAW are usually completely adequate, it’s fun to explore other possibilities.
There are hundreds and hundreds of plug-ins out there. Some costing thousands of dollars; others are free. Both have their place in the home studio.
So, what are [...]...
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Cycles10 March 2010, 7:12 am
Yes! It is Cyriak, he of the Meow Mix...
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Source Music10 March 2010, 3:00 am
Anyone who works on film soundtracks knows what source music is, but for people who don’t I’ll let George Burt, author of The Art of Film Music, explain it: “Source music is introduced into a scene either visually or by reference. We see a dance band playing in a dance hall, or we see (and [...]...
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DUB45 Update10 March 2010, 1:03 am
Thanks to everyone who has been supportive of my little music project, the response has been fantastic! I didn’t have any short term goals other than getting it started but the project has only been online for a week and it’s already reached more people than I imagined possible. When I think back to last [...]...
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Detritus 319 March 2010, 3:14 am
>Congrats to Ray Beckett (production sound mixer) and Paul N.J. Ottosson (sound designer, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer) and all of the sound team for winning both sound Oscars last night for The Hurt Locker But the most momentus award must surely be to Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to ever win an Oscar [...]...
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Movies starring a Piano?5 March 2010, 7:21 am
This isn’t a movie but its kinda cute, so you should watch it anyway…
I think my favorite appearance of a piano starring in a film is in Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep – the first film he wrote & directed and in my opinion his best film so far… Have you seen it? Do [...]...
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Imagine this on an iPad!4 March 2010, 10:29 pm
ProLoop by Trapcode is available for iPhone
via CL516
“ProLoop comes bundled with many professional loops by Mokira (Andreas Tilliander), Håkan Lidbo, Kymatica and others. It also includes some demo sessions to get you started. But the real power comes by the fact that you can upload your own soundfiles to ProLoop through your web-browser!”
the manual for [...]...
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Music in three forms4 March 2010, 6:49 pm
Tectonic is a sound sculpture created in real time by earthquakes as they occur across the globe. A tightly integrated system between Max/MSP, Google Earth and Ableton Live processes a stream of real-time data that is translated into synthesis and sample playback parameters.
Braun Tube Jazz Band at the Japan Media Art Festival
I’ll definitely get this [...]...
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Ok Go’s new video4 March 2010, 2:14 am
This is the video Ok Go’s label didn’t want to make embeddable due to screening/royalty issues but they obviously resolved that debate or it wouldn’t be here… Wonder how many takes it took?...
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Two Steps Removed4 March 2010, 1:37 am
Reality huh? You don’t have to move too far away from it to start generating ideas… I came across a few sounds I recorded & messed with years ago for a scifi TV series which I did some of the weapons design for. One of the weapons was a laser that was worn on the [...]...
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Film as Cultural Identity3 March 2010, 3:09 am
Not wanting to get political but one aspect of film making which I believe is important is the idea of film as cultural identity. When I look at the list of films made in New Zealand there are some that could have been made anywhere, but there are many that could only have been made [...]...
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Mind the furniture14 February 2010, 9:03 pm
Photo by theothegrey
We’re doing a bit of remodelling around here at New Music Strategies.
In fact, remodelling is the wrong word. This is the online equivalent of moving into new premises, getting new desks and phones, ordering new stationery, and setting up for business.
It’s all a bit new: we’ve just expanded from a sole trader [...]...
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Brian Eno on records and blubber18 January 2010, 11:02 pm
This coincides nicely with a lecture I gave this evening at Westminster University to a group of MA Music Business Management students.
In an interview with Paul Morley, Brian Eno says:
“I think records were just a little bubble through time and those who made a living from them for a while were lucky. There is no [...]...
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Introducing… New Music Strategies15 January 2010, 5:17 pm
The team at New Music Strategies
For the past few years, New Music Strategies has been a blog about music on the internet. And the need for me to do that has changed as time has gone on.
As I’ve hinted over the past couple of months, it’s time for a transformation – and New Music Strategies [...]...
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Just checking in to say hi9 November 2009, 4:20 pm
Hi. How’s it going?
I’ve been getting some emails recently from worried New Music Strategies readers. Some of them asking after my health (there’s nothing wrong with my health – but people assume the worst), and others prompting for a return to the blog so they can read more content.
It’s been a good couple of [...]...
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This Is Islet: The making of a fan site5 September 2009, 4:07 pm
Islet live. Photo by @edhombre
I’m at Un-Convention in Swansea this weekend. Lots of talk with lots of interesting people about the independent and grassroots DIY music sector. It’s held in a cafe/bar called Monkey in the central city, and in the evening, bands play.
I’m here with a bunch of people I know from these sorts [...]...
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The Broken Record series2 September 2009, 2:39 pm
Goldsmith University MA students Nicolle Smith and Stefan Peters have just finished work on a short web-documentary series called Broken Record.
They interviewed me for the series, and there’s a lot of stuff in here that is pertains to my Music As Culture interests and the Deleting Music book as much as it does to the [...]...
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You’re looking at it wrong17 August 2009, 9:23 am
This great data visualisation from the NY Times comes to us via a really fascinating website called Information is Beautiful. It represents the sales in billions of today’s dollars of the various music formats over time.
They claim it represents the dwindling death knell of the music industry. That’s not quite right (even leaving aside the [...]...
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20 Things video podcast14 July 2009, 2:59 pm
The university I work at has put together a series of videos about my free e-book The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online.
This is not a video version of the book per se, but rather me talking briefly about each of the different sections of the book in turn.
Because these video podcasts are [...]...
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Outside the Box at Un-Convention3 July 2009, 10:40 pm
Steve, Amran, Abi, Stef & Caro in a church hall in Salford
Outside The Box @ Un-Convention Salford 2009 by Un-Convention
This is the audio recording of the panel session I chaired at Un-Convention in Manchester last month. It was about music that falls outside the indie rock band tradition you’d normally expect [...]...
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Tour Smart Top 58 June 2009, 4:20 am
Martin Atkins, drummer from Public Image, Killing Joke and Nine Inch Nails wrote a book called Tour Smart. He does a good bit of public speaking, and we’re on the same wavelength about a lot of stuff. In fact, people have described him to me as “New Music Strategies with swearing.”
He was on a panel [...]...
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I Can Make More Money For You Than I Can For Me8 March 2010, 7:30 am
Last week, spent a fascinating day in a room full of people who make a living (or part of their living) from music. It was facilitated by Andrew Dubber, as part of a research project for Birmingham City University.
One of the things that came up was a two-part conversation about how we define ‘success’ and [...]...
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Is It Good? Yes, It’s Good. Can I Make It Better? (New tune with Mike Outram)1 March 2010, 7:02 pm
…That’s what my brain is asking when I’m improvising.
A couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure and good fortune to spend a day recording with Mike Outram – guitarist extraordinaire. I’ve been a fan of Mike’s for a long time, having heard him in a couple of different settings with Singer/Songwriter Rebecca Hollweg, [...]...
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New Live Solo Tunes!23 February 2010, 1:29 pm
Recorded at Friday night’s gig at the Islwyn Guitar Club in Crosskeys, Gwent, South Wales, here are two new tunes that ‘emerged’ – they’re both improvs, but I like ‘em, so will probably have a bash at something like them for the new album…
The recordings are remarkably good considering they’re just on a little Tascam [...]...
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Solo Bass Word Association – Help, Please!22 February 2010, 2:14 pm
As y’all know, I’m a big big fan of Bandcamp - it is, at the moment, the best self-service MP3 sales platform on the entire internetz.
They’ve just implemented the option to have artists, albums and tracks tagged with genre, location and associated words… Making it searchable.
So, this is where you come in – I’m [...]...
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Warner’s Mistakes10 February 2010, 10:44 pm
So apparently Warner have decided that streaming services aren’t part of the future of music online after all.
From the BBC website article:
” Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr said: “Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.
“The ‘get all your [...]...
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Interview With Me For The Unconventional Guide To Art And Money1 February 2010, 7:00 am
Last week I was interviewed by Zoë Westof for the Unconventional Guide To Art and Money – it was a really fun interview to do (anybody surprised that I love talking about art, vocation, creativity, business and stuff like that??)
The eBook itself is a really interesting idea, in that with it you get a bunch [...]...
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Music Plans for 201027 January 2010, 2:56 pm
2009 was a fairly easy-going year, music-wise for Lobelia and I. We played a load of US shows in January, and a handful of other shows across the year, but it was mainly pretty low-key stuff.
Gigs:
2010 is already shaping up to be a much more musically-focussed year. I’m in the process of booking some solo [...]...
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Quick Thoughts On “Obscurity”21 January 2010, 3:17 pm
A few days ago, MusicThinkTank published this post in response to this post, pulling out the ‘headline’ that “in 2008, 1,500 releases broke the “obscurity line” (sold over 10,000 albums).”
The context for the quote is this (it’s from some bloke who works for TommyBoy Entertainment):
“So in the whole year only 227 of the artists [...]...
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Dear Rock Stars…6 January 2010, 8:48 pm
2010 is – rather tragically – shaping up to be the year when Rock Stars (and old-industry millionaires) complain about the state of music on behalf of ‘the little people’.
Here are three examples:
Peter Waterman, in an interview with The Times, said that Spotify was a terrible thing. It, he says
“devalue[s] our artists, they damage this [...]...
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Lawson/Dodds/Wood Album Available On Bandcamp.com3 January 2010, 2:19 pm
I’ve got loads of End of year/start of a new decade type blogging to do over the next week, but for now, here’s the Lawson/Dodds/Wood album, freshly uploaded to Bandcamp.com, for download sale, pay-what-you-like.
Number Five by Lawson/Dodds/Wood
If you weren’t around here when it came out, feel free to watch the documentary on [...]...
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Pro Tools Tip Of The Day: Pro Tools Video Output Options10 March 2010, 5:22 pm
The blog Pro Tools For Media has assembled an......
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Recording And Synth Nerd Links 3/10/1010 March 2010, 5:18 pm
We at Musformation read A LOT of blogs. Like,......
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If You Want Your News Shared On Facebook? Put It Up On The Weekend10 March 2010, 5:03 pm
One of the most interesting pieces of data that people......
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3/10/10 Music Intelligence (Or Lack Thereof) Dump - What What Wednesday 12PM Edition10 March 2010, 5:00 pm
What we are reading on the Internet that may......
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Cool DIY $100 Drum Pad!10 March 2010, 4:46 pm
...
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Sonicbids Giving Away $4K For SXSW Tour Support10 March 2010, 4:30 pm
...
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Live Lessons: Have A Backup Guitar Ready In Case A String Breaks10 March 2010, 4:00 pm
Much like sex, your live show depends a lot on......
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The New Vox AC15 Custom Amp Demo10 March 2010, 3:03 pm
The new 2 channel Vox AC15 Custom amp seems......
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The Secrets Of FM Synthesis Using FM810 March 2010, 2:52 pm
Brian of Trifonic is back with more detailed knowledge......
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3/9/10 Music Intelligence (Or Lack Thereof) Dump - Trifilin Tuesday 5PM Edition9 March 2010, 11:00 pm
What we are reading on the Internet that may......
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TC Electronic M30 reverb plug-in - FREE for 72 hours17 November 2009, 11:46 pm
Download
Fancy a free, high-quality reverb plug-in? Then act fast because effects giants TC Electronic are giving away a reverb plug-in for PC and Mac – but only for 72 hours. In fact, the clock...
Full article at youproduce.net
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free music and sound from franksspace7 November 2009, 3:46 pm
Franksspace just added a contribution to youproduce.net in the userblogs. Thank Frank!
Hi!
Here is my share and tribute to youproduce.net:
A special album in 3 parts. All for FREE
if you sign up...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Puremagnetik Waveframe6 November 2009, 8:35 pm
Waveframe is an advanced wavetable synth based on Ensoniq's unique Fizmo instrument. Utilizing the same "Transwave" concept, Waveframe contains a collection of pre-programmed patches, over 30...
Full article at youproduce.net
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EastWest QuantumLeap Symphonic Choir Video Tutorials (6 videos)5 November 2009, 2:50 pm
Did you ever wanted to know how to use these choirs really? Here you get a in-depth look inside into the working process by using digital choirs. At the end of the article you see the product of that...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Hans Zimmer Music Studio in Angels & Demons Blu-Ray and 2-Disc DVD Release5 November 2009, 2:46 pm
Caption
In cooperation with the highly renowned film score composer Hans Zimmer and film and television production company Sony Pictures Entertainment, Steinberg is proud to announce that the...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Native Instruments Kontakt 3.5 (Mac/Win) Review5 November 2009, 2:43 pm
Review
A new dawn for virtual sampler-based production has arrived with the release of Native Instruments' Kontakt 3.5. Its completely rewritten sampler engine gives a huge performance boost and...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Full Logic Pro 9 Review5 November 2009, 2:36 pm
Review
zettt wrote another great review about Logic 9 and its new features and changes.
In Logic 9 many things have changed. Especially the newly introduced “Flex Time” Modes let us assume Logic...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Free VST plugins download – Blue cat5 November 2009, 2:28 pm
Caption
All Blue Cat Audio freeware VST, Audio Unit and DirectX audio plug-ins gathered together in a bundle. It's here! Save download time and get them all in a single package!
The bundle...
Full article at youproduce.net
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Renoise Tutorial5 November 2009, 2:13 pm
Renoise tutorial for beginners. Basic workflow, create a pattern, and make a beat. Thanks to Ron from Indamixx.com for the samples. Count the amount of times I say "alright" and win...
Full article at youproduce.net
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How to make a Funky Beat in Fl Studio22 October 2009, 11:11 am
The user F.E. is a new on youproduce.net who loves making video tutorials. Therefore we publish his added tutorials on the news page.
{hwdvideoshare}id=209{/hwdvideoshare}
Subscribe to his...
Full article at youproduce.net
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