iTunes 10 Years Too Late?
Found an interesting, if slightly depressing, article about how one record label executive sees the industry going.
“The labels fully understand that recorded music, streamed or downloaded, is going to be free in the future…CD sales continue to decline by 20% per year, and the only thing that’ll stop that trend is when those sales reach zero. Nothing will replace those revenues.
They also understand that recorded music will largely be little more than marketing collateral, meaning that the Internet services being sued today for copyright infringement will be embraced in the future as ways to get the word out on hot new music. These services pay for the privilege today (either through high streaming rates or in court), but in the future they’ll be the ones getting paid by labels. Think radio payola at a whole new level, and there won’t be any more talk about social networks giving stock to labels and artists. Money will flow the other way, as it should.”
According to the article, this point of view is from a major label executive. For those too young to know what payola was, heres some info that will shed some light on it.
Read the rest of the article here…
If this is the way things may go, what are your thoughts on this as it does affect you?
One train of thought is that if the industry had embraced the internet as a means of distribution earlier instead of watching it consume their business we wouldn’t be in this position.
Drummers and Tempo…
Some analysis, although a bit pointless really, on drummers and click tracks/post-tracking quantization..
http://musicmachinery.com/2009/03/02/in-search-of-the-click-track/
Tracking Franz Ferdinand
Good article on tracking Franz Ferdinand with some strange recording techniques.
Video Diary of Super Furry Animals Recording Session
Studio footage, lots of stuff here that might be of interest. Check the size of the farfield speakers!
Muxtape no more, here’s 8Tracks…
As an alternative to the now-defunct Muxtape, 8tracks operates along the same lines although restricted to 8, rather than Muxtape’s 12, tracks to create a mix.
More organised than Muxtape, listeners can search through mixes by artist or genre and stream the audio. Additionally, there is a small aspect of social networking in that you can follow people and their mixes, provide mix descriptions and artwork, and publish a personal webpage. It also allows for the upload of MP3s as well as being able to select tracks from the 8tracks library for the creation of playlists. One key aspect that differentiates this from other streaming sites is that is is apparently legal according to the website blurb.
8tracks believes handcrafted music programming trumps algorithms. Think radio in the 1970s, mixtapes in the 1980s, and DJ culture of the 1990s through today. DJs share their talent in taste making, providing exposure for artists. Listeners get a unique blend of word-of-mouth sharing and radio programming — long the trusted means for music discovery — on a global scale.
Here’s the link…
RND Announce FIREQ & FIREQ LE
RND, formerly Elemental Audio Systems, formally Roger Nicol Digital have released ‘FIREQ’, another EQ touted as being suitable for mastering purposes.
Based on the original ‘Frequal-izer’ code (which was basically a re-skinned ‘Firium’ from the EAS days), and being marketed as ‘Frequal-izer 2.0’, FIREQ offers the same set of tools and features as its predecessor(s) in terms of being FIR, 62 bands and offering a cloning option for capturing the audio fingerprint of a source file.
In their own words…
Finite Impulse Response Linear Phase Mastering Equalizer with Analysis and Matching
Is it worth buying? Probably not if you have Frequal-izer already. If you currently have Firium, it might be worthwhile if they have sorted out the problems with the artifacts being fed-back into the signals…
New Proposals from Apple for Audio
Apple is proposing a new way for auto-adjusting the volume playback of a ring-tone or audio playback based on the ambient noise surrounding the outputting device itself.
112dB Redline Monitor
Software developers ‘112dB’ have released ‘Redline Monitor’, a plug-in pitched as “a listening, mixing, and mastering tool. It replaces the extreme stereo separation that is characteristic for headphones with the detailed stereo image of near-field monitor speakers”.
From the marketing blurb…
Its proprietary algorithm performs a sophisticated combination of filtering, frequency-dependent delaying, mid/side processing, and room simulation to create a convincing acoustic soundstage that allows you to properly localize sound sources. It also adjusts the relative levels of panned sources as they appear on speakers, and moves the soundstage from an indeterminate location inside your head (with headphones) towards a clearly defined location in front of you.
Now you can accurately judge levels, stereo placement, and overall balance on your favorite set of headphones–anywhere, anytime, and without ear fatigue even after prolonged listening. No more night long headphone sessions that turn out lifeless and with too little reverb and separation on speakers. Redline Monitor makes mixes sound identical on speakers and headphones.
Available in RTAS/VST/AU format for Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and up. Introductory price of €69 (Europe) / $69 (worldwide) is valid through April 21, after which the regular price becomes €99/$99.
An unrestricted 60-day evaluation is available so it could be worthwhile trying this out if you mix extensively on headphones.
Audiowire 