Story Index for Articles, Interviews, News and Reviews
COLUMN: Scott G offers a warning to musicians: the world says it wants originality, creativity, boundless imagination, innovation, and new ideas, but it just isn’t so. The fact is that you can go too far. Handcrafting your own CD packaging, for example. Or covering it with wax before sending it to anyone.
JAMAICA, N.Y. — The Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (JCAL) is pleased to present “A Jamaica, Queens Thing”: Rap and the Crack Era in South Jamaica, organized by guest curator Herb Tam. The opening artist reception takes place Saturday, April 14, 2007, 4 – 7 pm.
MADISON, Wis. — Sony Creative Software announced today the release of Sound Forge 9 Professional Digital Audio Production Suite. Sound Forge 9 new features include multichannel file recording, editing and processing, phase scope metering, and Dolby(R) Digital AC-3 export.
PFINZTAL, Germany — Hot on the heels of their 1.0 launch announcement in March, VirSyn has already posted a patch to their new chaos synth called POSEIDON – the Ocean of Sound, which updates the program with both new features and the expected minor bug fixes for a new product.
PORTLAND, Ore. — Zack Orr Music proudly announces the release of “Francisco the Man.” Francisco the Man is 12 songs, each coinciding with the months in a year. As the album progresses through the four seasons, the instrumentation and overall sound changes as well. Zack recorded natural sounds from each of the four seasons and arranged them as rhythmic beds and soundscapes throughout the record.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Power Arts Company, Inc. release a three album series for the Kindergarten and Pre-K crowd performed by a new cartoon band called The Blankies(TM). The songs not only overcome the “babyish” sound of most children’s music, they also address three important uses of music.
HOUSTON, Texas — Paid in Full Entertainment, Inc. released today the new CD from DJ / artist Mista Madd which is being distributed by Memphis based Select-o-Hits distribution. The new CD covers various topics and features Houston notables Paul Wall, Slim Thug, HAWK, Lil Flip, Chamillionaire, Shei Atkins and others.
COLUMN: Commercial makers are grabbing songs faster than ever before. Can’t quite remember the title of that oldie? Want to know who does that new techno funk dance groove track? Scott G is rather fond of some Web sites that help you out and let you help as well.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — Acclaimed jazz bassist Jay Leonhart will premiere his new one man-one bass show, “Nukular Tulips”(TM) on March 24 at Stage Left Studio in New York City. Leonhart, who has played with everyone from Tony Bennett and Marian McPartland to James Taylor and Queen Latifah, still seems to have enough time in between bass notes to allow him to take a good look around the world to see what’s going on.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — NOTION Music is pleased to announce that Inal Bilsel of London is the grand prize winner of the company’s first Realize Music Challenge, a competition that drew entries from composers across the globe.
COLUMN: CHAPTER ONE: The Basics — If you’ve read the introduction to this series of articles, you may have an idea of what a Podcast is all about, but now we’re going to start getting into the details; the specifics of what, where and how to listen to or build a Podcast program.
COLUMN: Writing about music is like knitting about sculpture. Sure, that’s a paraphrase of a more famous line, but isn’t that the kind of thing music critics do? Scott G is happy to disparage those pencil-neck geeks of the music press (even while his alter-ego The G-Man fears the result when his “Crazed + Dazed” album is released).
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Electronic artist The G-Man and country keyboard player Doug Colosio announce the formation of Golosio Publishing, a music licensing company which will supply songs for film, TV, games and commercials. “With six dozen new production music tracks and well over a hundred songs, we’re ready to create any type of sound you can imagine,” states Scott G, who is also the recording artist known as The G-Man.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the music industry’s benchmark in independent promotion and marketing, has recently extended a helping hand to many artists affected by the tragic events of Hurricane Katrina. A&R Select’s timely and heartfelt outreach is an important part of their vow to assist musical artists in underprivileged circumstances.
BOONTON, N.J. — Spending on digital rights management (DRM) software and hardware to protect entertainment, commercial software, and other information will exceed $9 billion dollars over the next five years, says a new market research report from Insight Research Corp.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two new CDs – “Spirit of America” and “She Dances” – have been released by Make it Happen Now (MIHN) Records, a new recording company in Memphis, TN. “Spirit of America” features original songs such as “We are Strong,” and “the Pledge,” to new versions of classics such as “America the Beautiful.”
INTERVIEW: Bringing indie artists together with fans is just the start for SoundOrbit. Their goals include creating a synergistic relationship between artists, agents, managers, record companies, distributors, producers, radio, film, advertising, and venues for live performances. The ideas come tumbling at you in this interview with SoundOrbit founder Alisa Mikeal. Scott G: How did SoundOrbit […]
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — It didn’t take long for music marketing website, SoManyMp3s, to become one of the most popular promotional tools for independent artists seeking to elevate activity on their MySpace page, say the project’s founders. The service has one goal: to help independent artists reach “MySpace Celebrity Status” by gaining friends, and with the help of plays and visits.
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Minnetonka Audio Software announces AudioTools(TM) Consult(TM), a workflow assessment, custom engineering and software development service designed to automate complex audio workflow processes.
MIAMI, Fla. — Sdoia-Satz Music Institute (The Husky Gang School), the prestigious, private music school in Miami with a reputation for outstanding musical excellence, is celebrating its 50th anniversary and is offering a $100 discount on its $250 two hour comprehensive aptitude test. This test evaluates the untrained sense of pitch, rhythm, strengths and weakness of personality and natural musicianship.
INTERVIEW (Part 4 of 4): Plug-ins, dynamics, compression, the use of maximizers, and so-called home mastering are all part of the aural landscape dealt with by mastering engineer Art Sayecki. In the conclusion of this interview with Scott G, everything gets fixed in the mix, including the controversial concept called artmastering.
INTERVIEW (Part 3): Are you recording on the right frequency? Mastering engineer Art Sayecki talks with Scott G about EQ, mixing, samples, wavetable synthesis, dithering, encoding, and what you may hear on sessions using 192 kHz. Yes, it’s an earful. Let’s talk about how an arrangement can help or hurt the mastering process
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Music lovers are used to ringtones on mobile phones but music from independent artists can be difficult to find. Free software on the BETA Records web site (www.betarecords.com) is changing all that.
MINNETONKA, Minn. — Minnetonka Audio Software announces AudioTools(TM) Batch Pro(TM), an out-of-the-box software application that will revolutionize the way the audio assets are managed and processed. Part of Minnetonka AudioTools structured workflow; Batch Pro is the industry’s first fully automated processing tool for audio assets.
MUNICH, Germany — Sonja Armisen, Tango Fusion Club founder, announces the release of a second CD, “TangoFusionClub Volume Two: Electronic Tango Flavoured Beats,” which has a distinctly refined, and electronic flavor. The decision to release this CD followed the amazing success of TangoFusionClub: Electronic Tango Beats Volume One.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Personifying the cabaret genre, Ute Lemper is known for her moody interpretations of songbook standards, laced with witty asides and knowing looks, weaving an atmosphere that draws in audiences like few other performers today.
HAMBURG, Germany — The Oscar winning film The Queen featured Nuendo throughout its post production processes, with all editing, rerecording and premixing done on Steinberg’s Nuendo Media Production System software. The audio for The Queen, which was nominated for six Academy Awards, was transferred through several studios all using Nuendo as their primary audio post platform.
INTERVIEW (PART 2): Getting superb sounding vocals, drums, and bass involves good recording techniques and proper use of equalization according to mastering engineer Art Sayecki. In an interview with Scott G, he freely provides advice to artists and producers.
LONDON, U.K. — ORCA from FXpansion is an experimental monosynth based on detailed and accurate models of analogue synthesizer circuits and components. And now Orca is available in RTAS (Pro Tools) and AU (Mac) formats, as free downloads. ORCA was previously released in VST format.
INTERVIEW (PART 1): An audio mastering engineer can be a secret sonic weapon for every artist and producer. Scott G interviews Art Sayecki of Art Mastering and the result is 9,000+ words in a four-part article that reveals tip after tip you can use to make your recordings sound better than ever.
COLUMN: INTRODUCTION — Podcasting is only the latest social and economic trend to be born on the Internet, which over the past decade has brought online shopping, auctions, dating, movie rentals, and blogs to individuals and businesses who need nothing more than a PC (personal computer) and a phone line to get access to this more-and-more interconnected global village.
SHERBORN, Mass. — Elias Fund, Inc. announced today that on May 5, 2007, ten bands from across the Northeast will perform in Acton, Massachusetts, to champion one cause known to thousands by one name: Elias. In honor of this Zimbabwean father of three sons, and on behalf of hundreds of other people and their communities, music fans with change on their minds will come together in Nara Park for EliasFest: The Voice of the Voiceless.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — One online record company, BETA Records, is inviting music fans to accept a paying job with their company. According to BETA founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel, you can become an A&R (artist & repertoire) representative and turn your love of music into cash.
Pfinztal, Germany — The latest version of VirSyn’s morphing additive synthesis virtual synth, CUBE 2.2, was announced today. The update comes with a vastly improved resynthesis for complex and inharmonic sounds. Also included is a free soundbank and some bug fixes related to pitch bend, and for both Ableton Live and Intel Mac users.
CHAMPLAIN, N.Y. — Kaysound Imports has entered into a new agreement with Chinese manufacturer CME for product distribution in the US market. The agreement comes after a successful showing of new CME products at the Winter NAMM show in late January and goes into effect on March 1, 2007.
NEWS: CME (Central Music Company) announces the U2 USB Cable Interface Series, a series of USB cables with built-in computer interfaces for easy plug and play connection of line and mic level audio sources and MIDI keyboards and controllers.
HAMBURG, Germany — Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH today announced an update to the Nuendo EuCon adapter module to version 3.2.2. The new version adds full MIDI functionality as well as numerous other enhancements, further empowering audio post professionals using Euphonix hardware to control Nuendo.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The seventh annual DIY Convention has set the schedule for its 2007 event, to be held in February in the heart of Hollywood. Panels on podcasting, licensing music, blogging, MySpace/YouTube success, book publishing, digital entertainment and showcases, screenings and parties are on tap for the DIY Convention.
COLUMN: The marketing ideas behind many of the commercials may have lacked brilliance, but the music in the spots was frequently outstanding. Scott G gets into the sweeping orchestral scores, the pounding rock rhythms and the ‘moderne’ sound of lounge.
COLUMN: There were approximately 9,000 minutes of advertising during the 2007 Super Bowl and a great many of them had very well-crafted music. Sure, some were awful, but most sounded very good. Scott G tries to ignore the marketing message and concentrate on the sonics.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — BETA Records and founders Chris Honetschlaeger and Georg van Handel are making it possible for independent musicians to take advantage of the communication and promotional advantages of ringtones.
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — How is great music created and produced? What do top music producers look for in an artist? How do you find, develop and keep artist clients? And how do producers handle challenges such as creative control? The answers can be found at the PRODUCING HIT SONG 5-part series, sponsored by the National Association of Record Industry Professionals, to launch on February 16th with special guests Harvey Mason, Jr. and Damon Thomas.
GEAR: This month, at the Winter NAMM, Roland announced its newest high-end keyboard offering which takes its well conceived, but not widely embraced, V-Synth platform and blows it up to a new level, with a far more powerful iteration of their Elastic Audio Synthesis Engine. It’s called the V-Synth GT, and it’s my next keyboard.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Author Dee Dee Phelps signs and talks about her memoir “Vinyl Highway” (ISBN-10: 1412073839) singing as Dick and Dee Dee, at Village Books, 1049 Swarthmore Avenue, Pacific Palisades 90272 on Thursday evening, February 8th at 7:30 pm.
GEAR: Yamaha Corporation of America expands on their top line of synthesizer workstations with the new Motif XS, featuring new sounds and new creative tools in a redesigned, intuitive user interface. The Motif XS includes new Xpanded Articulation sounds featuring 355 MB of wave ROM to inspire creativity.
NAMM REPORT: The developers, inventors, creators and programmers found at NAMM (formerly the National Association of Music Merchants) are a fascinating bunch of people. Some are geniuses. Some are certifiable. Some are both. And we must face the fact that some are electronic device zealots with an expensive hobby instead of a 401(k).
NAMM REPORT: The National Association of Music Merchants, now known simply as NAMM, held a lovely little party for four days in January. With displays of gear from 1,500 manufacturers and the hallways packed with 85,000 attendees, it was a show that was a sonic circus of electronic innovation.
INTERVIEW: In September 2006, Peter Frampton released his first all-instrumental album, called “Fingerprints.” For the project he was able to bring together not only many of his contemporaries and peers, but also a couple of his long time “heroes” and inspirations, Hank Marvin and Brian Bennett of The Shadows. The album showcases many influences, including […]
SYNTH NEWS: The new “KORG Legacy Collection – ANALOG EDITION 2007” was announced January 18th. The popular “MS-20” and “Polysix” from the KORG Legacy Collection are now joined by the “Mono/Poly.” According to the company, these are “classic Korg analog synthesizers newly reborn as software instruments in a powerful production package.”
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — A&R Select, the leading independent A&R firm in Hollywood, has announced it will be a participant in America’s leading independent film festival. A&R Select will sponsor an event highlighting “Music for Films” at the Sundance Film Festival.