Escute mais Música!

Listen More Music!

Museu Smithsonian Lança Site para os Fãs Postarem Fotos de Seus ídolos

Smithsonian launches music Web site for fan photos

NEW YORK (AP) — If you've got any rock or rap star photos stored on your iPhone or stashed somewhere in your attic, the Smithsonian wants to hear from you.

On Tuesday, Smithsonian Books and Smithsonian Media launched rockandroll.si.edu, which will feature images taken by fans along with words and pictures from such musicians as Graham Nash and the Flaming Lips and from Roberta Bayley and other professional photographers. The Web site currently includes links for rock, rap, alternative, punk New Wave, heavy metal and folk rock.

A book by Bill Bentley is planned for fall 2017. Bentley told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he had been brought in by Smithsonian project director Matt Litts.

"We talked about how it could be completely far-reaching in terms of those allowed to contribute, and hopefully help expose all kinds of musicians and periods," said Bentley, a music industry veteran who is currently senior director of A&R at Concord Music Group. "There really are no boundaries in the possibilities. I'd like to help spread all styles of music to those who visit the site, and show just how all-encompassing the history of what all these incredible artists have created over the years. What better way than for people to share their visual experiences, no matter on what level, to the world at large."

SoundCloud Finalmente Fechou um Acordo com a Universal Music

SoundCloud has finally inked a deal with Universal Music Group

Berlin-based audio sharing platform SoundCloud and Universal Music Group (UMG), have finally reached and announced an agreement.

The startup, which boasts 175 million users and more than 100 million tracks on its platform, will - and we quote - "benefit from UMG’s roster of emerging and established recording artists, as well as songwriters signed to Universal Music Publishing Group" as the company preps to roll out advertising and subscription services in the US and other markets later this year.

In addition, UMG’s labels and publishing company will gain access to SoundCloud’s promotional tools, analysis and data to help recording artists and songwriters connect with fans and sell more music and related products.

Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud co-founder and CEO, says in a statement that the 'majorty of the music industry' has now partnered with the company.

There's some truth to that, but it sure wasn't easy.

At the end of last year, SoundCloud announced that it had signed a key licensing agreementwith PRS for Music, the music rights holder that launched legal action against the Berlin company in August. In June 2015, SoundCloud inked a similar deal with licensing agency Merlin, and negotiations with others are ongoing. The company signed Warner Music Group in 2014.

SoundCloud has raised over $120 million in VC from the likes of Union Square Ventures, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners. Last time it disclosed revenue, in 2013, SoundCloud announced a $29 million loss on $14 million in revenues.

Last year, SoundCloud raised at least €32 million in debt funding as it struggled to secure licensing deals with major labels and other music copyright holders, and generate revenuesimultaneously.

The Revenant - Uma Dança Vasta de Músicas e Efeitos

The Revenant

A Wilderness Dance of Music and Effects 

Hugh Glass is a revenant, a ghost, but he is no benevolent revenant. He is a revenant of revenge.

Set in the remote American wilderness of the 1800s, the harsh environment acts as another adversary in the film. The sound of wind is used to help the audience feel winter’s pervasive presence. Skywalker Sound’s Randy Thom, a supervising sound editor/sound designer/re-recording mixer on The Revenant, says director Iñárritu prefers rough-sounding wind full of rumbles and even distortion. “It’s that sound you hear when wind blows across your ears,” Thom says. “We used a lot of that in addition to every type of whistling wind and moaning wind you can think of.”

Custom-recordings of wind were captured at Point Reyes Peninsula near Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif. “It’s always windy there, and there are many different surfaces for the wind to blow over, like trees, rocks, limbs, wires, and brush of all kinds,” he continues. “You can get wind with lots of different tonalities.”
Having tonal wind options was important as director Iñárritu often encouraged the post sound team to design elements that were musical. Additionally, the film’s composers—Ryuichi Sakamoto, Carsten Nicolai (aka Alva Noto) and Bryce Dessner used musical elements that could easily be mistaken for sound design.

“One of the interesting things about this film is that sometimes you can’t tell what is music and what is sound design,” notes Thom. “I love that, when you can’t necessarily tell which department a particular sound came from. As long as it does the storytelling that it needs to do, that is all that is really important.”

Cutting music in conjunction with sound design is an approach that started for Hernández and Iñárritu last year on Birdman, where Hernández built tracks by cutting takes of Antonio Sanchez playing the drums. “We discovered that a good amount of sound design can come just by cutting the music, and treating and changing the music to fit a scene,” says Hernández. “Alejandro is driven by pieces of sound, and pieces of dialog, and pieces of music. The storytelling aspects of sound are very strong for him. Everything that happens in sound has a natural correlation with the image, but it’s not isolated. In many ways, it is one and the same thing,” 

That passion for realism carried over to the sound. He sought out Thom, who specializes in creature vocals, to craft a realistic bear attack that comes from an entirely CG bear. The bear displays a range of emotion, from being nurturing with her cubs, to being aggressive during the attack, and afterwards, being injured. Starting with Skywalker’s extensive sound library, Thom pulled a variety of bear vocalizations. For the injured bear sounds, Thom built its heavy breathing using recordings of horses with respiratory problems. And since the library didn’t have recordings of a bear attack, Thom admits, “I had to resort to using my own voice a couple of times, too.

Montaño, who mixed Iñárritu’s Birdman with Taylor last year, notes The Revenant’s soundtrack is a delicate blend of dialog, music, and nature that all move in a non-traditional way.

“The camera is always moving to some degree, and sound follows,” Montano says. “Our goal was to always have enough movement without being distracting and having the audience lose focus on the story. Alejandro is always exploring how picture and sound feel together; it may be a literal-sounding scene or a subjective-sounding scene that has the correct impact to create the right feeling for that moment, and that’s when he says, ‘We got it.’” Every possibility was explored.”

“Alejandro is making a very different film,” Hernandez concludes. “It’s very different from Birdman, and it’s very different from his other films. So for him it is a discovery process and it’s an ongoing process that’s still changing. Being a part of that discovery process is very satisfying, but it can be very challenging. When something you did feels like it belongs and really helps to tell the story that Alejandro wanted, that is very satisfying. It really pays off for all the hours you put in.” 

 See more at: http://www.mixonline.com/news/films-tv/

16 Observações de Tocar em um Estúdio é Diferente de Tocar ao Vivo

16 Ways That Playing In The Studio Is Different From Live

I've talked to a number of musicians lately who are used to playing live, but have been having some trouble adapting to recording. I've posted it before, but I thought that this excerpt from The Studio Musician's Handbook might be appropriate. It's about the 16 ways that playing in the studio is different from playing live.

"You’ve probably had a lot of experience playing live, but playing in the studio is a distinctively different experience. The thought process is different, the mindset is different, the approach is different, and the chain of command is different.

In an effort to contrast these two different experiences, let’s move from the most simple differences to those that are, shall we say, a bit more subtle.

1. Repertoire - Most live gigs rarely change repertoire without rehearsal. A session musician has to be ready to change material on the fly. Not only are they are expected to learn it “on the fly,” but also come up with the appropriate parts that will help make the song not only as memorable as possible but as accessible and pleasing to not only the artist and producer but to listeners who may make the song part of their lifetime’s musical soundtrack. No pressure!!!

2. Scrutiny - On stage whatever you play is gone as soon as you play it. In the studio, what you play is under a microscope and will likely be analyzed, dissected and reorganized all in the name of making the performance stronger.

3. Equipment - The gear you use on a gig won’t always translate to the studio. You choose the gear for a gig based upon versatility, durability and general ruggedness. The only thing that counts in the studio is the sound. While one size might fit all on a gig, it usually makes for a boring recording, especially if you’re recording multiple tracks or more than one song. The studio requires a wide range of sonic possibilities, so you’ll need to bring different guitars, amps and pedals to get there.

4. Leadership - On a gig you have a bandleader that calls the songs, counts them off, possibly may direct the solos, and ends the songs. In the studio you’re answering to a hierarchy consisting of the producer, artist, and engineer (in cases of sonics). The producer is the ultimate decision maker, with ultimate authority over everything you play.

5. Nuance - The little things count in the studio. Everything you play can be critical so nuances are just as important as the body of what you’re playing. When you play live the nuances are usually gone in the wind, overcome by the the stage volume, acoustics and attention of the players and audience. In the studio, everything you play is scrutinized and that’s too much pressure for some players. In the studio, you’ve got to be great every time, every take.

6. The Live ‘Feel” versus the Studio ‘”Feel” - Players well versed in both idioms tend to exhibit more finesse and restraint in the studio and cut loose in a different way. The studio requires the musician to play to a whole different set of variables created by the signal chain after the instrument and the needs of the session.

7. Etiquette - You can get away with being a jerk on a live gig since the other players usually will put up with you (up to a point) as long as you perform well or the audience loves you. Not so in the studio. If you make someone feel even slightly uncomfortable for any reason, chances are you probably won’t be asked back. 

8. It’s hard work -  That’s not to say that playing or singing on a 4 or 5 hour gig isn’t difficult, but you play a lot of different songs every set and get the glory of audience feedback. In the studio, the only feedback you get is from the producer, artist and maybe the engineer, and 99% of the time they’re analyzing how you can play a part better rather than singing your praises. And the level of concentration is definitely up a few notches. On a gig you can breeze through the music, almost losing yourself in your playing. In the studio, every note counts and requires your utmost attention.

9. Preparation - Live gigs almost always require sufficient rehearsal. Most recording sessions happen with little or no preparation. As a result, a session musician has to be highly adaptable and be able to learn music on the fly.

10. Approach - Studio musicians can be asked to change their approach in the middle of a take! Not so in a live performance.

11. Pace - Early in a session, studio musicians often hear, “We really like what you’re doing but we don’t like the sound. We’re going to change a few things in here.” Rarely, if ever, do live performances stop to tweak sounds, but it’s very common in any recording context for those on the production/engineering side of the glass to stop mid-take and say “You’re doing great but we have to fix a few things.” A session player needs to always be ready to move at the pace determined by the environment. Things may change on the fly from breakneck speed to time-crawling meticulousness.

12. Creation versus Interpretation - Live musicians are usually expected to re-create a pre-existing repertoire, where the studio cats create the repertoire. 

13. The Required Skill Set - For rhythm section players, there’s a whole different level of musical literacy required. Not only should one be able to read music well, but the top session musicians can access a variety of styles and feels on a moment’s notice. It also takes a really good set of ears and musical taste buds to make it to the top of the session musician hierarchy. 

14. Artist vs. Entertainer - Live musicians entertain, studio musicians create entertainment. It’s like the difference between going to see actors in a play and actors on the silver screen. Both achieve the same end, but theater changes from performance to performance while film is a one-time document meant to stand the test of time and to weather repeated exposures.

15. Venue Variables and Studio Situations - Live performance almost always presents the same circumstances for the musician. His or her instrument(s), collaborators, and set list (see Repertoire above) will usually not change much or without fair warning. Not so in the studio. Except for the great studio bands of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, studio musicians are used to seeing new faces frequently, almost always play new material, and although the venues change, it’s not in the ways live venues do. The session musician learns to expect change at any moment since the tune can morph and he may be asked to play a different part or instrument.

16. The Live Wolf Pack and the Studio Lone Wolf - Most live performances require a group and a sizable supporting cast, unless you’re a DJ or a solo singer/songwriter. Recording musicians usually convene at a studio, arriving on their own, so a different camaraderie exists than the “We’re all together on this bus!”, mentality of live work. Recording musicians are independent and can work with different people every time they play music. Not usually so for the live players."

Read more: http://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-01-11T06:00:00-08:00&max-results=12#ixzz3xyzbyQ4O
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Follow us: @bobbyowsinski on Twitter | bobby.owsinski on Facebook

Escute um LP Feito de Concreto

Listen To A Record Made From Concrete

Vinyl sales just seem to keep growing, but the concept of information stored in grooves doesn't have to be confined to just a piece of plastic. Here are a couple of examples of records made out of concrete that actually play.

The first was created to showcase the features of Ultra High Performance Concrete by German engineer Ricardo Kocadag and actually sounds pretty good. You can hear it on this Facebook video. Read more about it here.

The second you can hear below and was made by Kulish Design Company for the 2015 World of Concrete exhibition.

I don't see concrete catching on as a storage medium any time soon, but it does show the technology isn't limited to plastic.

Read more: http://bobbyowsinski.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2016-01-11T06:00:00-08:00&max-results=12#ixzz3xyxrINgL
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Follow us: @bobbyowsinski on Twitter | bobby.owsinski on Facebook

Fender Lança Novos Fones (in-ear) Que Podem Custar o mesmo Preço das Guitarras

Fender's New In-Ear Headphones Can Cost as Much as a Guitar

The guitar manufacturer Fender has launched itsfirst ever range of in-ear headphones—sorry, Pro In-Ear Monitors—and they cost up to $500 a pair.

There are five models to choose from, which range from $100 to $500 in price. They’re made by a brand called Aurisonics that Fender has recently acquired, and some of the new models are actually updated versions of existing products.

The cheapest set come with a semi-transparent grey casing, and are said to be suited to being “driven by a smartphone, making them ideal for offstage listening.” The more expensive models are cased in colorful metal frames, 3D-printed into a shape that was created by scanning thousands of ears. Fender claims that they fit “95 percent of ears like an expensive custom-molded monitor,” making them suitable “for long playing sessions.”

The guts of each of the headphones varies with price, so it’s worth investigating the range to find out which ones might be most suitable. Or you could buy a new guitar—your call.