Music Diary

Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder Reunite on New McCartney Album

It is hard to believe that it has been 30 years since ‘Ebony and Ivory’ ruled the airwaves in an unlikely but perfect pairing of two mega-stars … but in just a couple of weeks we will have a new chance to hear the two on a single from McCartney’s upcoming (and oddly titled) “Kisses On The Bottom”. The song is called “Only Our Hearts”. The release of McCartney’s new album, Kisses On The Bottom, sees them reunited on one track, “Only Our Hearts,” one of two McCartney compositions on the album, which is, for the most part, a collection…

Events, Music Diary

Mackie Brings 16-Channel iPad Powered Mixer to NAMM

Each year when I check out the news from NAMM I look at cool new stuff as well as what is happening with companies I already known and love. Mackie Designs is one of those companies. For a long time they were a mixer-only company, and about 20 years ago when I was transitioning from trying to use my Tascam Portastudio as a pseudo-mixer into having a real home studio, the Mackie 1202 provided everything I need in a well made, high quality package at a budget price – and it is still going strong today for myself and my…

Gear Bits, How to Do It Yourself!, Music Diary

A Few Cool iTunes Match and iTunes Cloud Things to Remember

Having used iTunes Match along with iTunes in the Cloud for the last few months, I have developed a few habits that I don’t even realize are new anymore! This weekend I gave my younger son my 4th gen iPod Touch to use as his own, as he was constantly pushing beyond the limits of his 8GB iPod Touch that was the pseudo 3rd gen that was really a 2nd gen model holdover. Since I almost never use it, I had no qualms since I’d rather it actually get used than sit idle. But while going through things with him…

Events, Music Diary

Fender and Roland Team Up for the G-5 Stratocaster with COSM Technology

Back in the early 90’s object-oriented technology was a happening buzzword, and Roland introduced COSM – Composite Object Sound Modeling – with their next-generation guitar synthesizer system, the VG-8. But rather than just a guitar synth, it introduced the concept of a ‘virtual guitar’. The thought was that rather than just playing Pat Metheny-esque lead lines, guitarists would be better served if they had a system that provided maximum flexibility of sound. COSM allows string-by-string tuning, processing, and pitch shifting. This allows for on-the-fly tuning changes, virtual capos, and the ability to emulate nearly any other guitar sound from a…

Events, Music Diary

Moog and Arturia Bring Mini-Monster Analog Synths to NAMM!

NAMM 2012 just keeps rolling … and more and more great products are appearing. Given that I grew up with analog synthesis and all of the good (the sound) and bad (everything else) that went along with it, I have always been amused by the fascination younger folks have with analog synthesizers. I still have a 90’s sound module that used a combination of digital sampling and waveform manipulation to provide analog-like sounds, but recently we have seen and heard much greater use of the massive bass waveforms by artists in electronica and dance music. This week at NAMM we…

Events, Music Diary, News & Features

OpenLabs Brings Loads of New Features In Music OS 3.1 Update!

Open Labs makes products I drool over – they incorporate full-spec Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 computers (some with keyboards) into their music production systems … and they are priced in accordance to their monster capabilities! One thing that has grown out of the awesome hardware and software they make is a product called ‘Music OS’ – a program with so many features and such flexible modularity it goes beyond the capabilities of most music apps. Now at NAMM 2012 Open Labs annouced a major new update: SoundCloud™ Direct Integration – With SoundCloud undoubtedly the ‘cloud standard’ for millions…

Music Diary, News & Features

NAMM 2012: IK Multimedia Presents iRig PRE Universal Microphone Interface for iPhone/iPad

This week is the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show, and as such a number of new products are coming out. Of particular interest are products that integrate highly functional musical capabilities and our everyday mobile products. Since that is what IK Multimedia does, I was not surprised to see some cool announcements from them again this week! The first is for a pro-level microphone pre-amplifier that hooks into your iOS device. Here is some more info: IK Multimedia is proud to present iRig™ PRE, the ultimate solution for connecting any type of microphone – from regular stage…

Events, Music Diary, News & Features

Alesis Brings a Trio of Awesome iPad Musical Extender Docks

Alesis is a company that came out of Rhode Island in the digital boom of the mid-80’s and after ups and downs continues to be a force of innovation in the music hardware arena. They have three cool new iPad-related products introduced at the Winter NAMM show worth highlighting. Alesis AmpDock •The first professional guitar processor to use your iPad or iPad 2 for signal processing •Works with GarageBand, AmpliTube, JamUp, and virtually any audio or CoreMIDI app •Includes a rugged pedalboard controller with program, effect, bypass, volume and continuous controls •Guitar Input 1 and switchable Mic/Line/Guitar Input 2; professional…

Music Diary, News & Features

Random Cool Video: That Famous Skrillex Sample

Ever wonder where Skrillex pulled the ‘Yes, oh my gosh’ sample from his most popular song ‘Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites’? Well, even if you never cared (or knew who Skrillex was for that matter) it is still a pretty cool thing. The song is largely an instrumental (typical of electronica in general and dubstep in specific) with a couple of reversed lyric lines and a break between the ‘scary monsters’ and ‘nice sprites’ sections of the song marked by a ‘YES, OH MY GOSH’ exclamation. The girl responsible for the exclamation is Rachael Nedrow, better known as speedstackinggirl on…

Music Diary, Reviews

Vinyl Re-Visions: The Who – Who Are You (Rock, 1978)

The Who – Who Are You OK, so I admit that I am cheating here – Who Are You is available on CD, and in fact I have owned it on CD for more than 25 years. But let me explain – I bought this album in 1979 after Keith Moon had died and I had seen ‘The Kids Are Alright’ for the second time in theaters. At the time The Who were really popular on rock radio, and actually there was a special cut of Who Are You for AM radio which asked ‘Who the heck are you’? But…

Music Diary, News & Features, Reviews

Vinyl Re-Visions: Steve Lacy – The Wire (Jazz, 1977)

Steve Lacy – The Wire When I first thought about doing a ‘Vinyl Revisions’ series, there were three records that came to mind: Anthony Braxton’s Five Pieces 1975, The Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Reese & The Smooth Ones, and this record. I already looked back at the Braxton record, and will soon finish my look at the AEC record, but both of those share something missing from this record – a digital release! That is right, Braxton’s record was released as part of a massive collection a few years ago, and the AEC record appeared for a very short time…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Random Cool Video: Daft Punk ‘Derezzed’ on Floppy Disks

Image courtesy abduzeedo OK, so making music on floppy drives is now ‘a thing’. Which is actually kind of cool for those of us who remember floppy drive sounds and feeling like there was a certain musical aspect to them. For myself and my family, the best part of the movie Tron: Legacy was the great soundtrack by Daft Punk. And so since Tron: Legacy is very much a machine-based movie inside a computer, it is quite appropriately that the ‘floppy disk’ treatment is applied! Here is Derezzed: Source: Neatorama

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Some of the Most Amazing Ukeleles Come from Celentano Woodworks

yes, that’s a ukelele! I don’t play the ukelele, but I do remember a couple of days spent learning how to tune one back in third grade music class; “My dog has feas“, anyone? When I think of the ukelele, this is one of the first images that pops into my head … umbrella drinks, anyone? via NY Daily News Followed by this one … Oh Myyyyyy! =P I have no intention of picking up a new hobby, even if Eddie Vedder has deemed the ukelele cool enough to release an entire album full of and entitled Ukelele Songs. And…

Music Diary

Random Cool Video: Roger Wilco and the Radio Waves

Have you ever had someone say something that completely transported you back through time and space and landed you somewhere in your own history, completely out of context with the original conversation? Today someone used the expression ‘Roger Wilco’ and BAM I was back in my fraternity house in the mid-1980s. A few of us had come in at the start of our sophomore year and almost completely turned over the make-up of the membership, and brought in a ton of enthusiastic freshmen looking to reshape and rebuild something and really make an impact. So gone was the appreciation of…

Music Diary, News & Features, Reviews

Music Diary Review: Dave Chisholm – Calligraphy

Dave Chisholm – Calligraphy I reviewed Dave Chisholm’s ‘Radioactive’ nearly a year and a half ago, noting: The thing I love about the ‘new big band’ music like Chisholm’s is that it combines small ensemble open-ness and intercommunication and large group harmonic structure and depth of composition. The title track is a great example – The opening uses the full effect of the large group to build the dramatic effect then breaks out to allow a nice collaborative improvisation until the main theme takes over. In fact, regardless of the size of my portable iTunes Library (I was restricting myself…

Music Diary, News & Features

RIP Free-Jazz Legend Sam Rivers at 88

Today we learned of another sad passing in the music world, of a musician and bandleader who was one of the most reknowned free jazz artists, Sam Rivers. Though he is not known outside of the relatively small creative jazz community, he made a large impact on the music of the last half-century. He is best known for a brief stint with the Miles Davis quintet after George Coleman left but before the ‘great second quintet’ was completed by the addition of Wayne Shorter in 1964. That produced the excellent live recording ‘Miles in Tokyo’ recording which was excellently remastered…

Music Diary

Wynton Marsalis ‘Music of Jelly Roll Morton & King Oliver’ Live Stream Tonight (12/29)!

The ability to watch concerts via LiveStream is definitely not as good as being there, but definitely better than completely missing the event. Wynton Marsalis has been great about sharing live performances, and today he is hosting a great look back at Jelly Roll Morton & King Oliver, two of the pioneers of jazz. Live From Dizzy’s Club-Coca, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York: Wynton Marsalis: The Music of Jelly Roll Morton & King Oliver Join us tonight at 7:30PM ET & 10:00PM ET on Facebook and Livestream Wynton’s first full week at Dizzy’s features Wessell “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Marcus Printup,…

Gear Bits, Music Diary

Random Cool Video: Lyle Mays Makes Rare Appearance

For fans of pianist Lyle Mays, best known as the keyboardist and co-composer with the Pat Metheny Group, ANY sighting or musical release is an event. This isn’t just because his music is wonderful – it is because it so rarely happens! His last album Some video just surfaced from a CalTech series early this year called TEDxCaltech where Mays appeared with a group in January. Here is a bit about the event: What is TEDx? In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring…

Music Diary, News & Features

University Report Attempts to Mathematically Describe ‘How to Make a Hit Song’

Do you know what it takes to make a hit song? Mathematicians from Bristol University in the UK purport that their ‘Hit Equation’ is extremely accurate at predicting what will and will not be a hit. They have a site called Score-a-Hit that describes all of this. Here is a snip: Mathematical Definition To quantify the hit potential of a song, we make use of the regression technique. Mathematically, the hit potential (peak UK chart position) of a song is denoted by a variable y and a set of audio features x of the song are also presented. A pre-trained…

Music Diary

Google Music Says … If You Make it Cheap Enough, They Will Come!

If there is one thing about Google that I think most would agree on, it is that people love their products their approach of giving stuff away for free. That creates a bit of an issue, since survey after survey finds that the same folks who like Google don’t view them as a trusted vendor that they want to use to buy their products. This certainly causes issues with Google Music, which launched with a whimper and lacking label support, an whose locker system has been universally derided for awful performance. But even if they have no clue about how…

Music Diary, Reviews

Music Diary Review: Ochion Jewell – First Suite For Quartet

Ochion Jewell – First Suite for Quartet As I have stated again and again, one thing I love about doing music reviews for Gear Diary is that it allows me to listen to and share great music by artists you might not hear about otherwise – but who really deserve the attention. Early this spring I specifically highlighted several of these recordings, including a release by bassist Sam Trapchak. So then Sam Trapchak tells a friend of his who has released a new CD to get in touch with me. As is always the case, I check out his website…

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