from on .
was just way, way ahead of his time. But if you haven’t already seen it making the rounds, you owe yourself a little video watching break to check out Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs, Inc., an audiovisual dreamscape in which disembodied heads form electronic drum heads and spin on turntables. The work is produced by of Partizan Lab, who has a striking resume of commercial spots and worked with folks like Lady Sovereign.
The good folks of Motionographer get the scoop on the production background, and interestingly note that the music is scratching away in Scratch Perverts’ weapon of choice, Serato. Be sure to spot that story, as well as the official film site:
[Motionographer]
If you have any interest in video turntablism, you won’t want to miss dj rndm’s detailed , which allows fluid scratching of video from the Serato digital DJ solution. Thanks to Todd, Josh Randall, and everyone else who sent this our way.
And yet no one has really produced modern Muppaphone technology. Shame. (Hint: get some friends, some socks, and don’t forget googly eyes.)
Logic has been a big box of sound toys for some time, but I think what decides whether you really build a working relationship with software like Logic is whether you like editing in it. And that makes Logic Studio 9 worth a new look – and a must-upgrade for fans of the tool. Its combination of subtle tweaks to the editing interface, the ability to edit inside takes, the incredible Flex Time for squishing around audio like Play-Doh, and easy conversion to sampler tracks makes it really fun to edit audio in Logic. You can read the full, detailed review I wrote for Macworld:
[Macworld.com]
The amps and such are fun, but to me the other banner feature in Logic 9 is the vastly improved MainStage, which adds backing tracks, ReWire hosting, and other features that could make it more powerful for live performance. Apparently MainStage has crept into some big-name live shows; I’m going to work on getting more reports from the field. (Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how I can rework my own live set so it requires less software, but that’s me.)
Oh, and one little improvement I didn’t fit in the review: there are some amazing special effect convolution impulses Apple threw in with Space Designer, which should give you more fodder for sound design experimentation.
The record industry may be dying, the planetary economy failing, and music technology elusively complex to most average musicians, yet competition in the DAW space just continues to heat up. I find it amusing that some claim Apple’s aggressive pricing is only possible because they sell hardware. I’d buy that, except for some of Apple’s own competitors. Digidesign will add a pretty powerful version of Pro Tools to a hardware bundle. Cakewalk’s SONAR, once a little more bare-bones in the extras department than Logic, now offers a lot of the same sorts of goodies to Windows users in its own (underrated, I think) DAW. And Reaper is a powerful, cross-platform option that costs just US$60, even for most commercial work (now that they’ve made the individual license more open). In fact, various tools are so good that I think it’s really hard to give people advice. Personal taste is more likely to dictate which you prefer, because the ineffable feeling of using these tools – as similar as they may look on paper – is very different. If I ever work out a good way to describe that in words – which does happen to be my job, whether I’m up to it or not – I’ll let you know.
Any tool you’re using is a tool that matters. And I know we have a number of readers using Logic. Later this week, I’m planning a Logic Q&A to fit some of the technical revelations that didn’t fit in the review, so feel free to ask more questions or comment however you like on the Macworld review.
It is for reals! Send us an email, leave us a voicemail, tweet at us!
This week, Nick and Steve are joined by the Resident Noob, Laura. Starting off the show, we address the age old debate: is it ON lot or IN lot? Hell, it could even be AT lot or UNDER lot…right? The general consensus is that ON lot is the proper terminology. Thoughts?
Once we have that settled, it’s time to discuss the real news. PHISH! It was only a matter of time before Joy was leaked onto the interwebs and it dropped today. Steve, Nick, and Noob Laura discuss the ethics of pirating music, especially from our beloved boys from VT.
Next up, we’re looking ahead to New Years Eve. What’s a jam band fan to do when there are 5 nights of Bisco in Times Square or (presumably) 3 nights of Phish in sunny Miami. Are Umphrey’s or moe. playing? What’s a fan to do?
Moving on to our voicemails, we learn a valuable lesson about going to a second location with a wook. The Joker from Coventry Music Blog is also kind enough to educate us about “The Triple Play”, something which all three of us are more than happy to claim noob status on.
Wrapping it up with The Noob Corner, bringing back the discussion…When is a noob not a noob? Why is there so much to say about noobiness?
Hope you enjoy our first episode. Let us know what you think and we’ll see you on lot next week.
It is for reals! Send us an email, leave us a voicemail, tweet at us!
This week, Nick and Steve are joined by the Resident Noob, Laura. Starting off the show, we address the age old debate: is it ON lot or IN lot? Hell, it could even be AT lot or UNDER lot…right? The general consensus is that ON lot is the proper terminology. Thoughts?
Once we have that settled, it’s time to discuss the real news. PHISH! It was only a matter of time before Joy was leaked onto the interwebs and it dropped today. Steve, Nick, and Noob Laura discuss the ethics of pirating music, especially from our beloved boys from VT.
Next up, we’re looking ahead to New Years Eve. What’s a jam band fan to do when there are 5 nights of Bisco in Times Square or (presumably) 3 nights of Phish in sunny Miami. Are Umphrey’s or moe. playing? What’s a fan to do?
Moving on to our voicemails, we learn a valuable lesson about going to a second location with a wook. The Joker from Coventry Music Blog is also kind enough to educate us about “The Triple Play”, something which all three of us are more than happy to claim noob status on.
Wrapping it up with The Noob Corner, bringing back the discussion…When is a noob not a noob? Why is there so much to say about noobiness?
Hope you enjoy our first episode. Let us know what you think and we’ll see you on lot next week.
I’m a Coldplay fan.
So before Vida La Vida/Death and all His Friends was released, I wanted to hear some tracks. I saw the apple commercial for Vida la Vida and thought there may be a live version of the whole song somewhere on YouTube. I didn’t find an official live version, but I did stumble on a cover by this band called .
I was impressed that they had learned the song before it was officially released because they knew Coldplay fans would be searching for it. I took a look at more of their videos and realized they were covering nearly every top 40 song there was. These covers were all generating over a million views and I wondered how their original music was doing. To my surprise, their own songs were raking in high views too, not as much as the covers, but higher than most unsigned/non-touring acts. They had sold 8000 copies of their original album on Itunes and they were selling their covers on itunes as well (obviously having to pay the copyright royalties, but still).
I left their YouTube channel impressed by their hard-work, but not really impressed with the music (but who cares, I’m not who they’re targeting anyway). I came back not so long ago to see what they had been up to and was completely stunned at what I saw. These guys had done a tour in the Phillipines and from the tour video they put up, they were greeted like they were The Beatles. No joke. These guys had thousands of fans screaming for them as they got on stage, they had billboards promoting their arrival, and were on several radio shows.
It was nuts! I couldn’t believe it
Anyways, I wanted to summarize what they did (and continue to do so) in a strategic sense for you.
1. Put up videos of what a lot of people searching for
These guys obviously want mainstream attention and thus, cover popular songs to increase their chances of being stumbled upon. It worked and continues to work. They aren’t pushing their music on people, they are pulling them in through their covers.
2. They built-up a long tail of content that’s continuously being updated
3. They are most likely building their tours around YouTube’s Analytics
They probably booked their Philippines tour based on the results of their YouTube views. There were probably several views from the Philippines, so they decided to go where the fans are and actually make money on their first tour out there. They are now promoting dates in Europe. Each video is promoting that tour! Talk about playing it smart.
There you have it. An example of an unsigned act, putting in some hard work, and bearing the fruits of it in a huge way. Regardless of the music, I hope this inspires you in your own promotional efforts. You don’t have to do top 40 covers if that’s not who you’re trying to reach. Come up with ideas that will interest your target listener.
I leave you with the video of their Philippines tour.
Take Control of Your Music
Hoover
I bought on the recommendation of a friend in Brooklyn NYC. At first I baulked at the price, well north of £100 at the time but in a moment of retail weakness and growing dissatisfaction with the default iPod headphones (they really are the weak link in a brilliant product), I gave in and bought them – having had to hunt in 3 different Apple stores to get them I add.
My concerns over price were immediately allayed. They sound fantastic. Takes a little while to get the right positioning (comfort and sound) by my goodness once you get it the sound is rich, to the extent that I almost felt like I was hearing some things for the first time, which in a way I guess I was.
So, the initial user experience was great. Expectation, matched by experience, overcoming the fear of price and making a mistake – small item and big price.
However, I used them all the time, and I mean all the time. In my iPhone, for my various iPods (no logical reason to own more than one, I just like them – another UX story!), plugged into my Mac at work, in the plane when travelling – just stuck in my ear without anything on the other end, brilliant for cutting out the majority of background noise = sleep!
By far the best earphones I used, no question.
That heavy use did lead to one thing – earwax. I know not nice to imagine other people’s earwax but hey like the Queen crapping, it happens OK? So, naturally after 10-12 months heavy use, I start to lose sound in one side (left btw). Now, I know not to stuff anything in there and break them but I can’t resist trying to loosen whatever was blocking the sound – it doesn’t take much. Pins gently wiggled produced some sound but not the answer.
What I had forgotten was the packaging – nice soft plastic pouch (so what) but as well as spare and alternate covers for different ears shapes was the very thing. A beautifully machined tool to pull out the inner cover (gently, gently) and two spares. Instant repair and a very happy consumer.
Now getting one great experience out of such a small item is great but two? Tremendous value.
My point is that the overall design (i.e. the sum of all its elements) of these headphones has been executed extremely well. From the peer review through to repair, each step and experience has been thought about and honed, except one.
Their website carries reviews from all the major titles and a nice pull quote etc. However, these simply do not convey the experience well and peer reviews are far more compelling (take this blog post for example). So, while the product is damn near perfect, the business execution and conversion has not had the same criteria and process applied, which is a shame.
All that to one side – Apple should simply package these with iPhones and iPod Touches, bite the cost instead of passing it onto the consumer and move the iPhone/iPod experience up a gear. Failing that, offer them as the default add-on purchase.
AFP - Music and Internet worlds merged on San Francisco's posh Nob Hill as insiders brainstormed about industry rocking Web 2.0 trends from social networking to smart phones with cameras.
