Music and Musical Gear

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…

Events, News & Features

IK Multimedia presents iKlip Studio Desktop Stand for 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! After announcing the iRig Pre microphone interface, now IK is back with the iKlip Studio, a fully adjustable stand designed to help musicians. Here is some more info: IK Multimedia is proud to announce iKlip™ Studio, the adjustable iPad desktop…

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…

News & Features

This Holiday Season Let Slacker Radio Be Your Soundtrack with 4 Great Countdowns

Some music countdowns are based on so-called experts picks. Others are created by fan votes. Slacker Radio took a different approach to determining the Top 50 Songs of 2011- they looked at what Slacker listeners actually LISTENED to, shared and “hearted”. In other words, their list of the top 50 songs of 2011 consists of the top 50 songs people actually listened to in 2011. How unique! They also have released Top 50 Indie Songs of 2011, Top 50 Country Songs of 2011 and the Top 50 Alt/Rock Songs of 2011. I’m enjoying the Top 50 Alt/Rock Songs of 2011…

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…

Music Diary, News & Features

Manchester Orchestra Wants YOU to Help Them Create a Special Version of ‘Virgin’!

Back in July I wrote about Manchester Orchestra putting up their Simple Math song for free as part of the release of their excellent album of the same name. Now they are back with a new way to connect with their fans – by doing a remix version of the song Virgin incorporating sing-alongs from fans! Here are some details from their site: Help Us Sing “Virgin” As the year is coming to an end we wanted to take a minute to thank you ALL. Simple Math is truly an album for the fans and we wanted to give something…

Music Diary

Secret On-Demand Music Deal Details Show Struggles for Profitability

Image courtesy DeviantArt Wow … just wow. We have known that the music labels and artists were skeptical of on-demand services and have made onerous demands on Spotify before allowing catalog access (and also on Apple for ‘iTunes Match’). But never before have we know the details of those demands. Now we have a full report from Michael Roberston, the founder MP3.com and founder and CEO CEO of MP3tunes and DAR.fm that details all of the stuff in those contracts that should cause some serious concern. Here are the gory details: 1.General deal structure: Pay the largest of A) Pro-rata…

Music Diary, News & Features

Random Cool Video: Bobby McFerrin and the Power of the Pentatonic Scale!

Although this video is a couple of years old, it is amazing in its power and simple truth – we have a certain musical instinct in us that is easily called forth. At a forum in the 2009 World Science Festival, McFerrin took center stage to show how by simply suggesting a phrase and an intervallic leap, the inherent musicality in all of us takes over and we find the correct note. He moves one step physically, we move one step musically, and so on. It is amazing to watch. Here is the description of McFerrin from the event: What…

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