Yes, the snotsicle edition.  Someone in Colorado did NOT pay the heating bill. Seriously! As they say in Colorado:

Wait five minutes and someone will be complaining about something  new.

Or something like that.

Friendly Reminder

Electronic music should come from the soul.  With that said you can not possibly contain all your soul in your laptop. So keep your eye open for opportunities to expand your sound.  Here’s a step in that direction:

Ugly chicks have soul too!

The above image supports this article where they state:

Bit crushing, rate reducing, weird noises: DIY 10-bit effects/guitar pedal with an Arduino for lo-fi DSP.

In my words, a great way to “get out of the box”, a common mantra from me as an avid supporter of LivePa and post-processing. Included is a walk through and tutorial on building the processor.

Arduino is cool stuff, go here for the overview, go to Boulder to get parts from Spark Fun.

Faster, now, Faster!

Once again, the RPM challenge is here as CDM reports. In short, get a ton of coffee, make an album, send it in, you may win!

Play Fair(light)

Oliver posted this iPad Fairlight.  I dunno what to think.  Screw that, look at the other stuff, such as this item from Fairlight:

Full editing and integration. Hmm...love stable non lap/desktop DAW.

Features:

• Innovative self labeling key switches
• Lightning-fast push-button operation
• Dedicated transport buttons, Jog Wheel, Monitoring controls and number pad.
• Optional fader packs with full color OLEDs showing channel information and metering
• 230 into 72 mixer with full automation and monitoring facilities
• On-board dual-HD video recorder
• On-board audio recorder/editor up to 192 tracks
• Direct Link

Hmm…there’s more. Can’t afford this sexy beast and this also looks like a welcome addition.

Attn DJs

Gear Junkies reports on a little digital DJ controller beat down.

Lotsa knobs, but does it warp?

Bullsh*t?

[editorial soapbox warning] I try not to complain in this outlet, but this article is a reminder on one avenue that influences music in a “generally” negative fashion.  In short “Citigroup Inc buy EMI” – a little late to the game, hope they have buckets, the (big music) ship is sinking.

Why the bad tone? Simple – I learned recently about a fundamental shift in the music industry (a few decades ago) where label management (ownership) shifted form music centric people (producers, musicians, etc) and shifted to lawyers and bankers. This is part of a larger litigation-centric model where anyone of us can get the bejeezuz sued out of us for IP violation (remember Napster?)

Yeah, big shock huh? EMI, in particular, has an amazing history. I hope things continue to flow as desired for the group.  These changes are inevitable.  Musicians and the sort are sinfully horrible at management compared to lawyers and bankers.  Business versus art, business wins because they can break artists.  Artists can spit, but spitting don’t work against a phalanx style legal team.

These things happen. Keep doing what you do (everybody!). The music business is changing and the future is in our hands!

Women in the Recording Studio, YES!

Women’s Audio Mission is where it is going on! They state:

Changing the Face of SoundWomen’s Audio Mission is a San Francisco based, non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts.

Studio work is NOT all knobs. Building a workspace is seriously important and requires a depth in knowledge far, far beyond audio engineering.

Go to the site and check out the work they are doing.

LOCAL MUSIC!

Ben Samples “Skyscraper” is out on Soundcloud.

Also check out Samples and Crowdrock’s remix available on Addictech.

or here:

Ben Samples and Crowdrock remix available - nize!.

ProJect Aspect killed (aka won) the Live PA Battle and keeps on movin’.

David Henderson (think guitar+monome), from David “More mashing up electronics with rock and fusion here”

Bobby C is just churning out the tunes.

DJ Shares – keeps a busy schedule as well as a heavy mix output.

Mark Mosher is supporting another Patch Lab release. (aka free stuff!)