by Brian Parker

Berlin’s nightlife scene is notoriously one of the best, grittiest, and most highly regarded in the world. Clubs like Watergate, KaterHolzig, and the “techno mecca” Berghain are only a few of the venues that house the German capital’s legendary, day long, free-for-all parties. With a sharp rise in the popularity of electronic music (and rent prices in major global cities) in the last few years, Berlin is now a major tourist attraction and migrant artist destination, contributing to increased gentrification, development, and cost of living. Though the social issues are to be dealt with by Germany’s stricter immigration and renting laws, music royalty collection agency GEMA seems to be focused on turning Berlin’s international appeal into euros generated for the artists they represent. However, GEMA holds a monopoly on the music licensing market in Germany, and the government passed legislation that allows GEMA to collection royalties on any artist’s music unless they are specifically registered at “GEMA-free” works.

GEMA has had a relatively unpopular reputation over the last two years, beginning with 2012′s threat to increase performance royalty fees to up to ten percent of ticket revenues, with some major clubs paying up to €140,000 a year. The prospect outraged club owners, promoters, and music-loving Berliners alike, as the expenses are too steep maintain the underground’s integrity and commitment to quality and aesthetic. The fee structure sparked protests in Berlin, especially by those who frequented clubs that would be potentially closing. Furthermore, many of the clubs in danger of closure could be quickly replaced by new residential developments, which was the case for Klub der Republik in Prenzlauer Berg.

GEMA reached a deal last week that would increase fees slowly over the coming years, capping out at a 64% increase for larger clubs and posing no threat of closure. However, GEMA’s strict laws on YouTube streams, which keeps many popular songs from playing the Google-owned service, is another side of the organization’s poor reputation. Contested by the new Cultural Commons Collection Society (C3S), many artists plan to sign up for the service which gives options for multiple licensing structures, depending on where and how their music is being played. Registered with GEMA, artists aren’t always able to give music away for free, much less have it played promotionally without a venue being charged fees by the collection agency. C3S is still looking for funding and may not be functional until as far as 2015, but the society may bring new hope to German artists struggling to promote themselves on various media channels.

However, the current fee moderation by GEMA will likely help quell internal concerns about Berlin’s nightlife becoming too mainstream. Recently, Lady Gaga performed at Berghain, which was an antithetical booking to the club known for eight-hour long DJ sets and a notoriously selective door policy. Some cynics are losing faith in the structures that support the fringes of the music industry, but opening additional revenue streams could also be seen as beneficial to keeping the scene alive. Most Berlin nightclubs worth their salt aren’t particularly worried about attracting traveling fraternity bros on spring break and tactless partiers out for early nights–Berlin’s clubbing diehards maintain the community so long as the quality of the music doesn’t wane.

The post GEMA Makes Berlin’s Underground Pay Up appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Nicolas White, Editor-in-Chief at Rukkus.com

Where do you get concert tickets? Mull this over for a moment. It’s the kind of question that’s followed by a head scratch and a moment of hesitation, and then: “Well, I usually just…” but hold it right there. Has any convincing answer ever begun in that manner? Certainly not. So why does such a common question create such uncertainty?

It’s beyond comprehension that the most promising revenue source of the modern music industry (live music) also happens to be the least consumer-friendly. There’s no main forum like iTunes or Spotify to streamline the ticket buying experience, which leaves the disjointed, yet extremely lucrative market wide-open.

Consider this—more people are going to concerts than ever before; concert tours are the new LPs. Live music is booming and festivals are popping up like weeds across the U.S, as Woodstock is annually recreated in the desert of California and on a farm in Tennessee. But for ticket buying, the song remains the same.

It seems as though tickets are always purchased in a cloud of unknowing—you coordinate with friends last-minute, wait too long for prices to drop, buy on impulse, or even hear about your favorite artist playing after the show already happened. Quite frankly, it’s a nightmarish experience, and it hasn’t improved since the days of waiting on-line outside of a box office window.

Out of the depths of ticket buying inefficiencies rises a slew of ticket providers, not only on the primary market, but on the secondary market as well. While the primary space is still dominated by major players, the latter is becoming increasingly overpopulated. It’s gotten so confusing that most consumers don’t know the difference between a primary and secondary vendor, nevermind which one offers a better deal.

Despite its prevalence, there’s no rhyme or reason to this space, and fans are just as likely to find a good deal on one site and grossly overpay on another. With this inconvenience comes Rukkus, a company founded on the core goal to improve the fan experience, and shift the attention from ticket buying woes, to what’s most important―the music.

By partnering with dozens of primary and secondary market ticket sites, Rukkus possesses the largest ticket inventory on the web. Think: the Kayak.com of concert tickets. It’s a service built to give you the best deal, and get you closest to that guitar solo in the process, without the unnecessary hassle.

The truth is, there are great deals on tickets out there (many even fall below face value) but it’s far too time-consuming to scour the infinite places they’re found, and that’s where Rukkus comes in. The site provides a personalized experience based on the fan’s musical taste, and puts the focus back on the consumer, while others ignore them in favor of a bottom-line. Perhaps it’s because at the end of the day, Rukkus was built by live music fans, for live music fans.

Nicolas White is a writer for Rukkus, a revolutionary way to find the best deals on concert tickets. Visit www.rukkus.com to explore further.

The post Guest Post: A Solution to Concert Ticket Buying Woes appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Part 1 of Elliot Wilson’s CRWN interview with R&B crooner R. Kelly will be released Monday, as the next installment in the series. Until then, here’s a quick teaser of the talk (and some frenzied fans) that took place at The Cutting Room in New York City.

More of the WatchLOUD series can be found here at their website.

The post CRWN Episode 6 Teaser: R. Kelly appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Brian Parker

Whether it’s warmth, nostalgia, or simply tactile pleasure that’s spurring your hunt for a new piece of gear, there are plenty of new options on the market for the obsessive lover of raw analog sounds. This year saw an influx of new and reissued analog devices, each with their own distinctive sounds and control interfaces. While the laptop’s ubiquity represents an obvious domination of digital production and engineering, few software synths can accurately replicate the full-waveform sonics of an analog synthesizer. So here are our year-end picks for analog synths, including monophonic and polyphonic keyboards and drum machines from Elektron, Korg, Dave Smith, Arturia, and Moog.

Elektron Analog Keys

The newly released Analog Keys follows in the footsteps of Elektron’s powerful and distinguished Machinedrum, with hypermodern design cues from their current range of gear.  The Analog Keys supports full MIDI controller capability, and sports an assignable joystick, step sequencer, filter control, and CV/Gate outputs.

Korg Volca Beats

Affordable analog drum programming from the one of the world’s most reputable brands, the Korg Volca Beats is one device in a series of new hardware targeted to producers of electronic music, including the Volca Keys and the Volca Bass. While the word “EDM” in the description may turn off some discerning gearheads, the impressive demonstration video for the Volca Beats actually shows off the synth’s ability to create some very deep, locked-in techno grooves.

Dave Smith Prophet 12

Few makers in the current market can match Dave Smith’s accolades in the world of synthesis and engineering, and the new 12-voice update on his famous Prophet series continues the legacy some 25 years from whence it began.  The Prophet 12 is a powerhouse with 12-voices each sporting 4 oscillators and 12 sub oscillators, a “Character” section for wave shaping and sculpting, an array of modulation options and effects, as well as a 4-tap stereo delay and arpeggiator. Analog doesn’t get much better than this.

Korg MS-20 Mini

Back by apparently popular demand, Korg’s scaled-down version of the famous monophonic synthesizer places the company on our list twice. Featuring the original circuitry from 1978 and overseen by the original developers of the MS-20, the Mini is an exact replica but at 86% of the size (plus MIDI and USB connection). With the same VCO,VCA, VCF, and LFO patches, the MS-20 Mini can channel the iconic sounds of Depeche Mode, William Orbit, Aphex Twin, and Goldfrapp, to name a slight few.

Moog Sub Phatty

Moog’s newest synth in the Phatty line continues the brand’s flexible, iconic, and perfected analog devices.The Moog Sub Phatty is a 25-key monophonic synthesizer, packing a punch specifically for gritty, low-end sounds.  A “Multidrive” control can be cranked for subtle and extreme distortion on the dual-oscillator synth. The Sub Phatty is fairly straight forward as far as analog synthesizers go: you get the basic oscillator waveforms, filters and envelope control, as well as modulation for highly customizable sonic textures. And a pitch/mod wheel if you’re feeling risky in the  double digit frequencies.

Arturia MicroBrute

The French experts who continually crank out incredible software replicas of retro synthesizers have released a compact version of their Brute range of hardware keyboards. The MicroBrute packs a ton of features on a tiny piece of gear, including a powerful oscillator, syncing LFO, step sequencer (303-style bass lines anyone?), and a modulation matrix patch bay. As with all new releases MIDI and USB compatibility are a given, as well as the CV/Gate IO.

That’s our season’s edit on the analog market! Feel free to send in your suggestions and tips for new gear! 

The post The Synth-Lovers’ Wish List appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brandon Cook

Moog has announced their 4th Annual Circuit Bending Challenge with the coming of Moogfest 2014. Moogfest is a yearly music festival celebrating the spirit of innovation and the life of Dr. Bob Moog with concerts, panels, installations and more. As part of the festival, the circuit-bending challenge is the Moog Foundation’s way of paying tribute to the spirit of inventors and pioneers everywhere.

Many of the go-to, easy to use features of modern day synthesizers (and even software synths) were first developed by Bob Moog himself. Take a look at the synths in your studio, you may recognize some of his inventions on your own gear, such as ADSR envelopes, low-pass filters, and voltage controlled oscillators. By toying with some of the techniques used in Moog’s experimentation, you will most certainly develop a better understanding of circuitry and a more profound appreciation for his contributions to the modern day synthesizer.

It’s fairly simple to get started on the Circuit-Bending Challenge and only requires a small investment. In fact, participants are encouraged to keep their budgets small ($70 or less). Participants in the past have used drum machines, samplers, keyboards, effects pedals and even a Barbie guitar. You can check out some great examples of past projects on here. The opportunities are endless and the most interesting instrument modifications often produce the most interesting sounds.

The circuit bending process has grown in popularity in response to cheaply attainable electronics that can be easily transformed into a beautifully simple, incredibly spontaneous and completely random sound generators. It’s really as easy as cracking open an old or unused piece of electronic gear and connecting any two circuits. Next, just get creative! The joy of circuit bending is that you never know what sounds will result from the smallest adjustments. The calculated and controlled outcome of a Moog synthesizer could have never been achieved without this type of experimentation, so now it’s your turn!

Along with the opportunity to learn the artistry of circuit bending, this unique challenge offers some of the coolest prizes you could ask for. Competition winners can take home a genuine Moog Sub Phatty, Moog Slim Phatty, and a Moog Minitaur for first, second and third place respectively. Each prize also comes with 2 tickets to Moogfest in April 2014. Winning projects will also be featured in a display (maybe the beginning of your synthesizer career) at Moogfest for an estimated 50,000 attendees. Winners of the competition are chosen on the basis of functionality, craftsmanship, creativity, appearance, sound and popularity among the public.

If interested in entering the contest yourself you can visit Moog’s official website for contest rules, instructions and additional information.

Brandon Cook is a contributing music technology writer and cofounder of ToppleTrack.com, one of the web’s leading anti-piracy companies. Topple Track works with artists, labels and distributors to protect and monetize digital content.

The post Moog Announces 4th Annual Circuit Bending Challenge appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

After a year of beta testing, Reverb.com, a new platform for buying and selling musical instruments and gear, received a successful $2.3 million round of funding from musicians and seasoned startup investors. Reverb.com, which launched officially in June, was started in late 2012  by David Kalt, the owner of the successful vintage guitar dealer Chicago Music Exchange. Kalt’s frustration with eBay and Craigslist inspired him to create a marketplace for musicians that would challenge the existing methods of selling gear. Now Reverb is up and running, offering expert knowledge, user experience, free listings, low transaction fees, and accurate pricing tools, including the Reverb Price Guide, which functions like the site’s Blue Book.

Reverb.com has already drawn the interest of over 4000 dealers (including one of our favorites, Main Drag Music in Brooklyn) who represent the growing, $7 billion market for new and used musical instruments. Reverb’s interface is simple and bright, with filters including instrument type, brands, price range, year of manufacture, and staff picks. You can also sort your search results by city, making it easy to source and test instruments that may be too fragile for long-distance shipping. Listings are readable and informative with offers and shipping options in plain sight with links to the dealer’s stock.

Reverb.com certainly looks like it could challenge eBay and Craigslist for this speciality market, and rather than competing with local vintage dealers, the site partners with small shops and craftsmen to keep small communities of musicians connected.  Stay in touch with the Reverb staff on their blog or sign-up for their email list for news about deals and giveaways.

The post Reverb.com: A New Marketplace for Buying and Selling Gear appeared first on SoundCtrl.

It would be a discredit to Clams Casino to merely call him a hip-hop producer. The last few years have brought the New Jersey native into the limelight of a new wave of hip-hop that is informed by both the layered contexts of an internet-fueled subculture and by the unavoidable fusion of electronic, experimental, and indie music with rap and pop alike. Artists such as Lil’B, A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, and Blood Orange have all sought out Clams’ hazy, tripping productions, and his EPs and remixes have been Soundcloud hits.

To promote their new string of detachable laptops, technology manufacturer HP is collaborating with the young producer to show off his production prowess and their computers’ production power. Clams Casino will be producing “2Days Beat ft. Vic Mensa“ live on YouTube on Monday November 18th and Tuesday November 19th, taking directive cues from commenters as inspiration. The HP computer in use will be the the HP Split x2 Ultrabook, which functions as both a notebook computer and as a detachable tablet PC as a competitor to the Microsoft Surface.

HP posted a short video displaying the functionality of the dual device, as well as how the young producer incorporates the machine into his personal production setup.  Tune into HP’s YouTube channel to get in on the conversation.

The post Clams Casino Whips Up “2Days Beat” Live with an HP Split x2 appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Dev Hynes, also known as Blood Orange, has produced and written songs for a variety of artists including Solange, Sky Ferreira, Florence and the Machine, and Theophilus London. The past few years have seen him on a steady rise, with his signature composition style inhabiting the interstitial space between pop, R&B, and indie rock.

Ahead of his newly released Blood Orange album, Cupid Deluxe, Hynes delivered a lecture at New York University on Wednesday evening, discussing his unique synesthetic condition and how it informs his compositions. Synesthesia is a condition wherein different senses are mixed in the brain, such as hearing colors or tasting sounds. Hynes’ condition involves the fusion of his hearing and visualization, so he can “see” sounds. Hynes was invisible for the duration of the lecture, with the focus on an audio-visual presentation over which he chronicled his experiences as a musician with synesthesia. Hynes spoke about his childhood, including an anecdote about a music teacher who was the first to recognize that a young Dev had this unique condition. The projection displayed a color wheel spectrum that spun and fanned as Hynes described the textured and tonal “streamers floating around” that he experiences when listening to music.

Hynes took us through the colorful inspiration for his score to Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto, providing a look into the color palettes that comprise his musical sensibilities. He described his growth in accepting synesthesia as a unique composition tool, rather than a hindrance. In his days performing as Lightspeed Champion, his condition was often so overwhelming that he couldn’t visit loud bars or venues without feeling distraught. During this time, he relied on mathematical and algorithmic composition methods to compensate for the visual chaos in his mind. Now he composes by “starting with a solid base and mixing colors” for his ideas to have “a home to live in,” setting the environment and texture of an idea before seeing it through to arrangement.

Imagery of liquid dyes floating and spinning in centrifugal motion were a backdrop for the accompanying music, which culminated at the closing piece for Palo Alto. Hynes explained the creation of the environments for each of the film’s characters, and how each character represented a different color that functioned within the larger palette for the film. Hynes also admitted to purposely recapitulating thematic and melodic elements throughout some of his albums as Blood Orange and as a songwriter, and that some of these “palettes” work especially well for him musically and visually.

This is especially true on Cupid Deluxe where Hynes has incorporated some of the thematic elements from his last album Coastal Grooves into the fabric of the new release. Beyond explanation as a purely synesthetic impetus, Hynes winsomely informed the audience that some of these repeated ideas were simply because he “likes how they sound.”

Dev Hynes will be performing as Blood Orange tonight at 285 Kent in Brooklyn, for the Cupid Deluxe release party. Cupid Deluxe is now available on iTunes.

The post Dev Hynes Lectures NYU on Synthetic Composition and Releases “Cupid Deluxe” appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

Sean “Diddy” Combs’s new music television network Revolt launched last week, as the hip-hop icon embarked to create the central platform for music discovery.  Combs has frequently remarked on the state of the music industry, claiming that there is  ”no one outlet that represents music,” comparing Revolt to CNN, ESPN, MTV, and the trump card of all media institutions, Fox News. Combs’s fascination with social media, to which he credits his introduction to the wildly successful TV shows Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, extends to his intention to reach the millennial generation by using Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr as the network’s primary marketing channels.

Revolt’s success will be largely dependent on the brand’s ability to promote itself to the targeted market of adolescents and young adults. The shift towards subscription-based television and movie services and on-demand programming will give a young, 24-hour music television network a run for its money, not to mention YouTube offering a customized music video experience with playlists and recommendations…for free.  Revolt’s scope seems to be a bit vague, looking to establish itself as a large media institution while maintaining some sort of curatorial integrity.  Even a brand like Pitchfork, which claims to champion the causes of alternative and independent music, must resort to advertisements and undoubtedly lobbied reviews to maintain both its success and influence.

Revolt seems to have taken cues from Pharrell Williams’s creative and cultural venture i am OTHER , which makes use of the hashtag #iamOTHER to unite young underrepresented artists through social media channels. Revolt utilizes the rather unoriginal #IAMREVOLT hashtag to mark submitted content by artists, journalists, and entrepreneurs, which the network questionably uses as a means of promoting the contributor.

The Revolt network’s figurehead is notorious for outrageous publicity tactics and an unfortunately unwavering ego, and with a good deal of capital backing it, Revolt will likely stay afloat in the least. However, the thought that art of any discipline needs a single channel through which a homogenous stream of “content” is forced is exactly the kind of thinking that music industry has suffered for the last two decades.

The post Revolt: Against What Exactly? appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Dave Mainella

Music composition and performance has always been both a reaction to and a catalyst of technological innovation. thinkplay continues that tradition by introducing the first software for building, sharing, and performing with ePedals. By combining the mapping of audio samples, video clips, and effects with real-time instrumental performance, thinkplay aims to help facilitate the future of music creation.

We had the opportunity to talk with thinkplay co-founder and CEO Jesse Orshan about intuitive music technology performance, thinkplay’s relationship with other DAWs, and the future of ePedals.

SoundCtrl: How did you come up with the idea for thinkplay?  Are you musicians and did this develop out of a technical need to stimulate artistic creativity?

Jesse Orshan: I grew up my entire life playing the guitar, and I believe thinkplay manifested itself not from a pivotal experience, but from a variety of realizations about the transformations underway in musical composition, performance, and culture. I have attended many series of concerts, most notably Phish and Pretty Lights, whose juxtaposition in performances challenged my notions of musical talent. I saw instrumental technicality on the one hand, and a man standing behind a laptop on the other; yet they both struck me as spectacular. I believe this fostered the question in my mind, what could happen if these worlds found a bridge? Why do the worlds of instrumentation, hip-hop, and electronic music feel so disparate? The more I began to search, the less satisfied I became with any of the answers.

I first typed out a paper on a new concept known as ‘thinkplay’ roughly 2 years ago in my dorm at Cornell. Following that, my business partner Brendan and I recruited a team of engineering, design and business students from Cornell to begin developing the software. Playing an instrument was a requirement for joining our team, and this allowed us to foster a group that worked on pure musical passion. The goal of thinkplay is to expand conceptions about the capabilities of instruments. We know the artistic creativity to enhance performance value is out there and we designed thinkplay specifically for this purpose.

SC: Will thinkplay be released only as desktop software?  Are mobile or tablet platforms in the works too?

JO: Beta, scheduled for a closed release by the end of the year, will be desktop software. Although we have not yet developed mobile platforms, mobile features are on the horizon once the desktop version launches.

SC: Software tools for performing through digital effects, with live sound manipulation, and by triggering samples is common practice for a lot of artists.  How do you hope to differentiate yourself from platforms like Ableton Live or Cycling 74′s Max?

JO: Quite often, we are asked “how can thinkplay compete with a company like Ableton?” The question shouldn’t be “how will we compete?” but rather “how will thinkplay leverage what Ableton and similar companies already offer?” We see huge potential for a symbiotic relationship with these types of DAWs. thinkplay will allow users to bring in audio samples, loops, beats, etc. from any source. This means a practiced Ableton user can continue using Ableton’s software, and then import creations into ours. This applies for any other program. With that said, thinkplay brings its own value to the table.

First, a team of brilliant music-tech grad students developed thinkplay’s interface with the user and the user’s instrument in mind. The resulting design is intuitive and understandable. thinkplay allows artists to drag and drop audio and video samples of any length to specific notes (on an instrument) via a virtual fretboard on the screen. The concept itself is also intuitive: when a note is hit, a clip is triggered. Once brought over, the virtual fretboard interface makes it super easy to move and manipulate the audio and video clips.

Secondly, thinkplay has a second focus on the visual performance dimension. thinkplay allows users to upload video content and set video triggers to instrument notes. An artist can drag a video, or a portion of one, onto a note and trigger it the same way as an audio clip. The concept of live, video-sync triggering is so simple but has far-reaching implications. Visual music has become a major feature of live music and is no longer just for professionals.

Finally, artists can design and brand the look of the ‘ePedal’ that house their triggers and creations. These ePedals can be shared and/or sold to other musicians of various instruments through our PedalSphere. For example, if an EDM artist assigned a sample or track to a virtual keyboard, branded it, and then uploaded the creation to the online store, a guitarist can download and us it. Although the creation was mapped for a virtual keyboard, thinkplay can automatically remap the audio/video samples to align with a guitar fretboard. We envision the ePedal will facilitate sharing music between artists, and bridging gaps of instruments and genres. With the potential for a guitarist to blend dubstep or a rap vocal with traditional playing, there is also the opportunity for new genres of music altogether.

SC: The opportunity to share and sell ePedals is an interesting draw, creating a unique marketplace.  Are there any potential issues regarding copyright and the legalities of selling samples and triggers of licensed material?

JO: Like all platforms that allow for user-generated content, copyright legalities are a potential issue. With this in mind, we are utilizing the same copyright model as YouTube. Basically, if a user uploads any copyrighted material to thinkplay’s PedalSphere, the copyright owner can contact and request we remove the content. We are currently working with record labels to allow popular artists to build and sell ePedals with their own content in the PedalSphere. Though some thinkplayers will certainly use samples for inspiration, we expect that artists who build their own samples/tracks will be the ones who shine.

SC: How do users perform using the software interface?  Is there functionality with external controllers via MIDI etc?

JO: Think of the laptop screen as a new type of pedal board. The artist connects his/her instrument to the laptop and then connects the laptop to an amp and/or a monitor. The software will also work with any MIDI controller or keyboard.

SC: You have an upcoming Beta release.  Do you have a release date, and will that be available for everyone?

JO: The thinkplay beta will be in closed testing by the end of the year. Our team members will share copies with a few musicians and producers we believe will do great things with the software. This will help us better understand our consumers’ needs and perfect the software before releasing it to the general public. In the meantime, we are exploring partnerships with several high-profile artists in hopes of giving future thinkplayers inspiration, and a preview of how awesome the product truly is.

SC: What else does thinkplay have in store?  What are your next steps moving forward?

JO: You can count on us to continue releasing videos that blow minds and demonstrate the endless capabilities of the software. We are hoping to generate a buzz and strengthen our following so by the time we go live, we will have created a community of musicians ready to unleash their talent and creativity via thinkplay. We are so amped to share thinkplay with the world, and can hardly wait to see what people do with it.

The post [Interview] Jesse Orshan, Co-Founder and CEO of thinkplay appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Dave Mainella

All-in-one ticketing app WillCall announced its version 2.1 release today.  WillCall aims to simplify the ticketing process by curating a list of shows and providing an easy platform for ticket purchases.

Previously, we wrote about WillCall’s latest round of funding and interviewed WillCall co-founder and CEO Donnie Dinch, who elaborated on the product and the company’s investment partners.

The funding was put to quick use, as version 2.1 adds a new dimension: gifts.  “Like most of the concert-going public,” Dinch says of the new release, “we were tired of not having an easy way to give tickets to friends before a show. So we built one.”  WillCall 2.1 means anyone can gift a ticket to anyone else directly through the app.

After purchasing tickets to any WillCall show, a user sends tickets to anyone they want with just a tap.  The exuberant friend automatically receives the tickets and optional message.

WillCall is celebrating the release by gifting tickets for an exclusive pop-up show to over 300 loyal WillCall users.  The app is available for both iOS and Android.

The post Give, Receive Concert Tickets From Your Phone With WillCall 2.1 appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

The avatar-based DJ service Turntable.fm has taken quite a journey. Introduced to the market as one of the most hyped music startups of mid-2011, the company has since struggled to stay relevant. Now, the startup is adjusting how it taps into live & social with an elaborate re-launch: Turntable Live.

Turntable Live provides affordable, engaging, high-quality access to live music. The company makes a big bet on social, introducing smart, engaging elements that help break the screen barrier between artists and viewers. The expected inclusion of chat, tweets and photos are commonplace, but Turntable Live also allows the band to see their fans, making the experience more dynamic for everyone. The added luxury of a detailed list of viewers and their contributions can provide artists with great opportunities for post-show insight and interaction.

The team at Turntable HQ in Soho, New York personally creates and launches each show page through which tickets are sold. Artists set a goal and if enough digital tickets are sold, the show is on. The logistics of putting on the show are low stress for bands as well. After tickets get sold, the group just shows up at the Turntable office and all audio/video equipment is provided. Icing on the cake? Artists receive 70% gross revenue return.

Right now, the company has four scheduled shows held in conjunction with the also newly launched CBGB Festival in NYC, which started this past Tuesday and continues through Sunday, the 13^th.

We sat down with Billy Chasen, Co-Founder of Turntable.fm, to talk about this new transformation and where they’re headed.

………………………………………

SoundCtrl: What was the primary motivation for this relaunch?

Billy Chasen: One of the most exciting parts of turntable.fm has been when artists stop by rooms and hang out with fans. Fans love it and artists feel more connected from it.

But turntable.fm was never a product with live audio or video. We wanted to reimagine live performances online and bring something that connects both fans and artists without being at the same physical location. Something 2-way, expressive and highly engaging. We also wanted to build something that helps artists. Now that artists are touring as their main source of income, we wanted to give them a platform to reach more of their fans.

SC: What brought the Turntable team together with the CBGB Festival?

BC: CBGB is a NYC icon and we’re just a few blocks away from its original location. They were also intrigued by what we’re doing, so everything fit together perfectly.

SC: How has the reception and participation been for the first few shows during the CBGB Festival thus far? Is there a trend already visible for how fans are choosing to engage while listening?

BC: Yesterday was actually our very first show! We had several test shows over the last couple months, but our first public one was last night and it was a great time.

SC: A major strength I see with Turntable Live is the extra attention paid to social connection – the two-way mirror for instance. How does that feature help to bridge the digital gap?

BC: Nothing can replace being physically together with someone else. Skype is the next best thing you can do when apart from someone. It’s the same thing with concerts. It’s not just TV. People want more. People can send photos, ask questions, and talk back to the artist.

SC: Right now you stream all performances from your NYC HQ. Do you plan on eventually expanding to other music-heavy epicenters?

BC: Absolutely. This is our first studio set up, but the goal is to open them up wherever artists are.

SC: In addition to digital tickets, is there any interest in allowing a limited number of people to attend performances in real life at Turntable HQ?

BC: We’ve thought about that and it’s definitely a possibility. I think it would be more up to the artist.

SC: How does Turntable Live scale up? Bigger artists? Bigger venues? Bigger audiences?

BC: We’ve learned a lot from scaling turntable.fm and brought that to building Turntable Live. The key will be having people love the experience and that in turn will bring more people and bigger artists.

SC: If you could have any artists on Turntable Live, who would it be and why?

BC: LCD Soundsystem with secret guest star Daft Punk, playing at our house.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post [Interview] Billy Chasen, Co-Founder of Turntable.fm, Discusses Turntable Live appeared first on SoundCtrl.

Support Music Against Myeloma 2013 coming up on Oct 22nd in New York City.

Performance featuring Lindsey Stirling.

Please join us on Tuesday, October 22nd to help in our eighth annual fight against Myeloma. Enjoy musical performances, drink specials, the best cupcakes in NYC, gift bags and the official Cancer Sucks socks. Everyone knows someone who is been affected by Cancer, there has never been a better time to find a cure.

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE via the International Myeloma Foundation

Music Against Myeloma
Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013
6:30PM – 9:30PM
The Cutting Room @ 44 E 32nd St.

$60 Advance Tickets
$75 At the Door

Find out more at www.musicagainstmyeloma.org

The post Support Music Against Myeloma, Oct 22nd appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

Last week, Monome, the company known for its simple, open-source control surfaces, unveiled their newest device Aleph. Aleph, which upon firing up displays a bit-mapped form of its namesake Hebrew letter, is a programmable, adaptable sound-computer capable of just about anything from audio sampling to analog synthesis to USB control and integration with other devices and DAWs. The current Monome collection features a variety of grid and encoder-based control surfaces which are popular in the electronic and experimental music communities, with capabilities and success in audio-visual, programming, and science applications.

Designed and engineered by Monome creator Brian Crabtree and musician Ezra Buchla, the Aleph offers an alternative to performing live with a laptop computer running various applications, which can often be precarious and risky. While the Aleph is open-source, Monome and an enthusiastic community of Monome programmers have a variety of applications that the Aleph can run, including sequencers, samplers, effects processors, and digital controllers.

The Aleph can itself be controlled by other devices with options to extend its functionality to other the Monome devices, modular synths via 4 control voltage ins and outs, computers via USB connection and control, and even a footswitch or expression pedal via 1/4″ jack.

The “beautifully low resolution” grayscale OLED screen is lined by four assignable key switches on the bottom, and four analog gain stages with LED indicator lights on the top. Visually, the Aleph is bold and iconic without an over-designed interface. While simple and powerful, Monome includes a disclaimer that Aleph is not intended to replace a laptop computer, which can juggle lots of processes at once. Rather it performs a few processes simultaneously and very efficiently without noise or interference.

The minimal design of the Aleph is both limiting and liberating, in that the user can define the parameters of any program to perform simple operations while a more advanced user or programmer could create very complex combinations of applications in a whirlwind of code. However, the Aleph represents a return to standalone instrumentation and the overall future of electronic-based music applications and devices.

The Mac platform has long been and will remain a staple for creatives in music and the arts, but its convenient ubiquity can often seem like a creative burden. The Aleph is not necessarily the single device that will change the face of the industry, but it does offer a new perspective on streamlined music production.

The post Aleph: Monome’s Adaptable Soundcomputer appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

We all know what happens when light hits a crystal. The light is refracted and dances about, creating a visually pleasing physical reaction. Now what happens if you introduce colored LEDs, a wealth of crystal-simulated mirrors and electronic dance music courtesy of female producer-and-vocals duo Krewella? 2013 FlashFWD honoree for Best in Live and leading visual arts studio, V Squared Labs presents: the Volcano.

VJ and founder of V Squared Labs, Vello Virkhaus and lead designer Amanda Hamilton teamed up with fabricator and technical engineer Stefano Novelli to create this architectural masterpiece using reflection mapping to create the synthesized crystalline structure. At 30 feet by 18 feet, the Volcano superstructure is destined to travel to more than 50 venues across North America, acting as a visionary centerpiece for each explosive show.

Making of The Krewella Volcano from V Squared Labs Inc. on Vimeo.

This “Sketch to Stage” video features different chapters of what went on behind the scenes to make the superstructure a reality. “Design” features some of the original sketches and schematics of the Volcano in its early stages. “Fabrication” shows the incredible amount of effort that went into creating the structure itself, from constructing the framework and skeleton to manufacturing the crystals and light panels. “Building” demonstrates the assembly of each piece of crystal structure and the software that brings the Volcano to life. In “Rehearsal,” Krewella comes in to get a feel for the structure and rehearse their routine coordinated with the Volcano itself. The final chapter shows the duo performing live in Austin, TX, using their new and improved light show.

We had the pleasure of interviewing V Squared Labs’ Amanda Hamilton, the lead designer for the Volcano project, to learn more about what went on behind the scenes and what fans can expect from this state-of-the-art piece of lighting, made especially for Krewella.

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SoundCtrl: How was the idea for the Volcano inspired? Was there a specific moment or event that triggered it?

Amanda Hamilton: The inspiration came from Krewella’s Play Hard cover art, which depicts a crystalline explosion. Creating a volcano of exploding crystals became the premise of the design, so from there I studied the mechanics of crystal growth and their formation in nature. The mirrors as a material choice were to enhance the crystalline quality, and their explosive formation focuses your eye on the performers in the center. The crisp definition between the lighting effects outlines the separation of the crystal outgrowth from rocky cluster, and the LED screen acts as an overall environment and light source for the form.

SC: What was the process like transforming the Volcano from ideas to pen and paper and then to a physical centerpiece?

AH: So amazing. As an artist, having a client come to you with the idea of a “crystal volcano” is pretty exciting in itself. After discussing the circulation of the performers and necessary aspects of functionality, it was all form-making and light effects from there. Taking basic material ideas into physical experiments was the most fun, and getting to execute it at an even larger scale was a dream come true.

SC: What do you think is the most innovative and/or impressive aspect of the Volcano’s design?

AH: I think the complexity we achieved through very simple principles. Once we had a mock-up crystal made, we were able to grasp the light potential. There were minimal facets, and we tested it with just a few lights. After seeing the amazing effects on a small scale, we knew that a larger scale was going to produce even more intricate results.

SC: How did you make this massive structure portable for use on the Krewella tour?

AH: I worked with our fabricator, Stefano Novelli, on this aspect of the project. I knew the different configurations that the client desired, so I broke the crystals up into pieces that were small enough to transport while still making sure that the seams were corresponding with the configurations. Stefano made sure every joint and connection was feasible for a tour and simple and quick to assemble.

SC: How exactly will Krewella be interacting with the Volcano, or how will the Volcano interact with the music?

AH: The crystals hide various sets of stairs and platforms that they are able to move around and perform on. This allows them to look like they exist within pieces of the volcano itself. The exploding form is based around a central point which is also where their DJ booth sits. This is meant to draw the viewer’s eye directly to them. The different lighting effects inside and outside the volcano are all programmed with specific looks and colors based on Krewella’s set. Our VJ, LD and the music itself are responsible for the speed and rhythm of these effects.

SC: What reaction do you hope to get from fans who see and experience the Volcano live?

AH: I hope that it takes the music and performance to the next level. The entire structure is meant to enhance the music and aid the performers in creating the experience they’ve always dreamed of. Their fan base is so strong already, so in a way this gives back to the fans who have stuck out Krewella’s performances with no visuals whatsoever.

SC: Do you envision any updates or changes you might make to the Volcano either throughout the tour or after?

AH: We would love to expand upon the Volcano for future tours, maybe adding more pieces and platforms throughout.

SC: How do you plan to use the Volcano once the tour is finished?

AH: It is Krewella’s to keep! We only wish we could keep it here at the lab.

“My team at V Squared Labs and I are always pushing the envelope with existing technology to generate new forms of experiential visual art. The Volcano is our next experimental design integrating lighting, reflection mapping and sculptural form. We are very excited to bring the audience along on this amazing musical and visual journey.” – Vello Virkhaus, Founder of V Squared Labs

The post [Interview] With Their Stunning Crystallized Volcano, Krewella Hopes to Blow Fans’ Minds appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

Imagine this oh-too-common scenario:

You are browsing the internet, surfing Facebook, and a suggested post comes up about a new album and accompanying tour for one of your favorite bands. You are determined to go to one of the shows on the tour, even if that means having to do some extra planning.

More often than not, when fans want to see and hear their favorite entertainment live, or scope out a hot festival, there are many logistics involved. It’s more than just clicking “Buy” on the tickets and taking the night off to hear the concert or see the show. Sometimes, for that really special event, fans will find themselves needing to make flight plans, book hotel rooms; not to mention procure a means of transportation for moving about locally. Much of the time this means having to juggle information from multiple websites and services.

Young but vibrant startup, Fantrotter.com is the solution to this dilemma and the launch of their new Facebook app for performers and their fans is designed to create an even faster and more cohesive event planning experience. Performers of all kinds, from those who engage in music to comedy, sports, theater and other forms of entertainment can all utilize Fantrotter.com’s app and services. 

Fantrotter.com is “like Stubhub meets Kayak meets TripAdvisor for fans,” as they describe on their official Facebook page, and it has put together quite the useful system in just the short time since the company got up and running in April of this year. A free site that works in tandem with existing promotion platforms like Band Page, Bands In Town and Reverbnation, CEO, Michael Coletta has aspired for Fantrotter.com to be a one-stop destination capable of…

“streamlining event research, saving time for the devoted fan, providing a new
form of vacation inspiration for the casual fan, and saving everyone money in the process.”

While this setup is liable to entice frequent show-goers as is, the new “Fantrotter for Performers” Facebook app just sweetens the deal. Performers have a way to stir up more excitement and real-time chatter about upcoming events through Facebook’s already massive user presence, as the app will go right alongside any other main features performers have on their official pages. The flip side for fans is an easily accessed place where all the basic necessities for show attendance can be browsed, compared and bought without feeling any booking overload. Expedia and Stubhub, two more reputable and established brands, are just a couple of the go-to companies that Fantrotter.com has teamed up with and this just enhances the availability and options. People are not left to scrape the edges of the internet trying to line up a flight time through an unknown third party to make the show they want.

Performers wanting to bring together their show schedule and promotional information just need to include it in SeatGeek, the partner database for Fantrotter’s performer-users. Just like downloading the Fantrotter app itself, collaborating info with SeatGeek only takes a few minutes and a couple of clicks. Plans in Fantrotter.com’s near future will involve adding pricing information for airport departures outside of the U.S. so fans can also plan for shows abroad as well.

You can learn more about Fantrotter.com over at their official website and keep up with company news via their Facebook and Twitter pages too.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post Fantrotter Aggregates Travel Info with Ticket Purchase to Simplify Booking Flights/Hotels/etc appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

Event producer Live Nation has teamed up with Ford Motor Company to release a reality series called “The Rider Challenge” featuring The Lumineers, Kid Cudi, Fall Out Boy, Edwarde Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and Fitz & the Tantrums. It’s the first attempt by Live Nation to produce original content for the internet and given the rumored $5 million they’re spending on the 18 episode series, they’re betting high.

The show, which debuts September 30th and will run through November, follows six teams in a competition that spans from Las Vegas, to Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles. In each city, the teams race to fulfill a”rider,” a list of items an artist has requested be present in his/her dressing room. These items range from the expected – bottles of water, snacks – to the seemingly absurd.

If you can’t comprehend how absurd, check out Noisey’s list of “The Most Ridiculous Tour Riders in History.” Brittany Spears’ has famously requested items like Mcdonalds hamburgers (without the buns) and a framed photo of Princess Diana. Prince insists that all food be wrapped in clear plastic film, to be unwrapped only by him. M.I.A. prefers vitamins, dried mangos, a bottle of absinthe and “three women to dance on stage wearing bull body burkas.”

We’ll have to see how difficult the riders for the participating artists are – scenes from “The Rider Challenge” preview tease at tense moments with remarks like “I’m scared that they’re going to be there before we are,” and “We’re already far behind.”

For Live Nation, this is a chance to engage an audience of concert lovers and show them a unique look at what really goes on behind the curtain.

“The behind the scenes work that goes on at a concert is something fans rarely have the opportunity to see and we think it will make for exciting viewing on the digital and social channels available to us and Ford,” – Kevin Chernett, executive VP, Live Nation media and sponsorship. (via Variety)

Ford on the other hand is no stranger to content marketing – integrating their product directly into content rather than interrupting content to promote their product. Along with being a returning sponsor for American Idol, the company has already produced successful web-based projects such as “Focus Rally: America,” Fiesta Movement” and “Escape Routes.”

Ford’s original programming efforts have proved to be an effective method to engage with younger car buyers who already tend to establish their buying practices online. “The Rider Challenge” in particular denotes an interest to reach out to the highly desirable “millennials.”

“The new Fiesta is all about taking fun and efficiency further, and we feel that the tour lifestyle and this creative competition provide a great backdrop to bring the vehicle to life for music fans,” said Crystal Worthem, manager of brand content and alliances at Ford. (via Variety)

One reason why Live Nation is betting big on this series is that, unlike tour related marketing which can only reach so many people, original content has the potential to reach millions of viewers. The diverse bill of artists points to a decision to appeal to a diverse audience of viewers. The series is hosted on livenation.com where fans can also take part in the competition, answering the question “What’s On Your Rider” via Instagram for the chance to win a VIP concert package to a Live Nation event of their choice.

Even though the series has yet to debut, Live Nation says they’re already looking in to the next evolution of this idea. According to Russell Wallach (President, Live Nation Media and Sponsorship), the division has “two or three other shows we’re working on.” These will also likely capitalize on taking “portions of the incredible content and experience happening at a live event and sharing that with millions and millions of people who aren’t there.” (via NY Times)

Winners of “The Rider Challenge” will receive a Live Nation “All Access Pass” along with a new Ford Fiesta. You can check out the teaser, as well as enter the contest yourself, here.

The post With “The Rider Challenge,” Live Nation Bets Big on the Value of Original Programming appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

Mickey Hart, former drummer for the Grateful Dead, is exploring his brain on music.

Described by Hart as the “Rhythm Genome Project,” this project aims to validate the science behind good vibrations as a healing tool for illness, depression and dementia. Rhythm & The Brain: Superorganism is led by Dr. Adam Gazzaley of UC-San Francisco… check out the video below to see how they took the science (and music) on tour this summer, as well as release an album called Superorganism.

It’s a jam session… for your mind and body… literally.

The post Mickey Hart is all About the Brainwaves… So Psychedelic, Dude appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

Last week at the IFA technology trade show in Berlin, Philips and  Armin van Buuren announced a new portable device, the M1X-DJ System. Designed to function as both a DJ controller and a sound system, the M1X-DJ offers integration with the iPhone and iPad, allowing users to access their local files to mix on the go. Intended to be an affordable solution for beginning DJs who may not be able to afford club-grade equipment, the M1X-DJ packs an 80-Watt speaker and two jog wheels, cross-fader and channel EQs in a design that strikes similarity to the Pioneer CDJ-2000.

The M1X-DJ System comes optimized for the iPad, specifically for use with Algoriddim’s djay2 app. We interviewed the founders of Algoriddim a few months ago about the latest update of the award-winning app, which now includes a variety of features suited for beginning and professional DJs. The M1X-DJ comes equipped with Apple Lightning and Bluetooth connectivity, and can run for up to five hours on D-Cell batteries, should an outlet be unavailable.

The M1X and djay2 app are offering viable solutions to the mobile DJ looking to curate smaller parties on the fly. These small-format solutions will unlikely replace professional equipment in the near future, but they certainly help novices grasp the foundational elements of DJing without spending too much money. Though many DJs and producers are now partnering with larger corporations to make branded gear, the staying power of newer technologies like these will depend on the innovation and quality of the sound and design.  With the M1X, Philips has a unique chance at bridging the world of home and consumer audio with the popular and social atmosphere of electronic music.

The post Philips & DJ Armin Van Buuren Launch M1X-DJ Controller appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

As the summer festival season comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on what we’ve learned to improve our experience next year. Need to wear shoes that can get amazingly muddy? Need to bring ponchos or toilet paper next year? How about needing to consider using more wearable technology in the future?

Wearable technology is the next frontier after creating monster computers the size of your palm. This technology could be beneficial for everything from fitness to hands-free calls, but it also has some unique possibilities for use at music festivals.

Wearable Tech Already Put to Use

We’ve already seen wearable wristband tickets which can be scanned for entry and worn throughout a festival. While at times uncomfortable, these bands are one way to eliminate the need for paper tickets and paper wristbands that can wear and tear from normal festival use.

And what about the shirts that light up to the beat of the music? Those too have been around awhile, and they’ve grown in popularity as they’ve become more technically impressive.

These wristbands and fashion statements are just a couple examples of how wearable technology is already being put to use. But there are other technologies being developed that you’ll see more and more of at upcoming music fests.

Insider Band at Outside Lands 2013

About a month ago, San Francisco’s Outside Lands found itself to be a test drive of ClearHart Digital’s Insider Band. Esurance and ClearHart set up eight 14-foot towers throughout Golden Gate Park, each armed with NFC-enabled Nexus 7 tablets mounted on all four sides. To make use of these towered tablets, participants registered for a free wristband online, which they then connected to their Facebook accounts.

For all who registered for a band, the user would tap that band on the tower and would then be able to check in to that location, take a photo or send a message to Facebook friends who had also registered for an Insider Band. That data could then either be stored and accessed the following week or posted immediately to Facebook.

If a user’s phone died or had poor reception, all he or she had to do was visit one of these towers to complete at least some of the actions they would have normally performed with their smartphone, such as find friends or check in at a location, without worry.

As any test drive might end up, there were a few snags along the way, such as long lines to receive a functional Insider Band because of spotty Wi-Fi in the Esurance tent. But all in all, the project seemed to be pretty successful with 8,060 users who tapped 29,753 times and uploaded 4,780 photos throughout the festival.

Smartwatches

Smartwatches have been around for a little while now, but this month, the industry releases two new models, the Samsung Galaxy Gear and the Sony SmartWatch 2, with Apple reportedly on their heels for a smartwatch release in 2014. Besides telling the time, how can these smartwatches really help at a music festival?

The Sony’s SmartWatch 2 will have 300 apps released in tandem with the device itself, more than four times as many as Samsung’s Galaxy Gear at 70 apps. But if you’re a fan of checking in, tweeting, sharing Facebook statuses and uploading photos of all the action, both smartwatches will allow you to do that. The social network Path’s app also allows you to share photos, post locations and allow feedback, similar to its online site.

Have trouble keeping up or meeting up with friends? One of Galaxy Gear’s apps, Glympse, can enable someone to be tracked using the app, and you can figure out where that person is just by glancing at the watch’s screen. Those people will have to have the app on their smartphones too, but it could still come in handy.

The SmartWatch 2 hasn’t released a list of many of its apps yet, but there’s a good chance that some of the apps you might normally use at a festival will be on there as well—if not in the future, possibly by next year’s summer fest season.

Google Glass

While the commercial version of Google Glass is still not yet available, developers are creating more and more apps that may eventually be of some use to festival goers—as long as they can keep the glasses on while jumping around in the crowd.

Imagine a Google Glass app that allows you to pull up live Twitter updates from other users about a festival set while it is actually happening. Or a map app that pulls up the trackable locations of your friends onscreen and directs you exactly to the spot they’re at. Or a camera that snaps a picture with every hard blink, hands-free.

The possibilities are endless as Google Glass slowly becomes a reality. App developers will assuredly come up with uses beyond our wildest fest tech fantasies, and it will be exciting to see where it goes in the coming years.

Wearable technology for music festivals is still in its infancy, but it shows great promise. Let’s wait and see what tech companies have in store for us by summer fest season 2014.

The post Wearable Technology: Music Festival Edition appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

With soaring ticket prices and dedicated venues in major cities, music fans often miss out on experiencing their favorite artists’ live performances. Enter EVNTLIVE, an innovative digital venue that broadcasts HD concerts to your computer or mobile devices. Not only does EVNTLIVE offer high-quality streams of live and on-demand concerts, it also allows fans to customize their experiences, controlling camera angles, chatting with other concertgoers, and accessing exclusive content like backstage interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Though EVNTLIVE is technically still in its beta stage, it has already broadcast several concerts in the last few months since launching, featuring Bon Jovi, Wale, and The Lumineers, and the platform has been praised by the music and tech industries alike.

We spoke with Co-Founder & CMO David Carrico and CEO Judy Estrin last February (see that interview here) and caught up with Carrico yesterday about EVNTLIVE’s proprietary social features, the process of putting on a show, and what to anticipate for the future of the digital concert experience.

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SoundCtrl: How long has EVNTLIVE been up and running? How many concerts have you now broadcast?

David Carrico: We launched on April 15 2013, so we’ve been up and running for a little over four months now. We’ve broadcast about fifteen to sixteen shows in the last few months.

SC: In our last interview, you stated that EVNTLIVE wasn’t intended to replace a live concert experience. How does the platform bring in some of the elements of the highly social and communal atmosphere of a concert?

DC: The analogy that I like to use is that we know that being at a show is not a replaceable experience, but we do like to take the digital features that we have to make it as much like being at a show as possible. So for us that means while shows are being broadcast on EVNTLIVE.com, users are able to talk to each other using our own chat mechanism about what they’re watching during the show. Users are able to select their own camera angle, so in addition to the live directed feed they can watch one of the artists, whether it be the guitarist or the drummer, or the DJ cam or the crowd cam. Through iTunes, users are able to download music by the artist they’re watching without leaving the page, they’re able to read up more about the artist, and perhaps watch all-access backstage interviews or extra content that we’ve shot related to the artist or the story behind the show.

SC: What kind of technical specifications are required to have a concert streamed in terms of video and audio? How do you go about setting up the recording and streaming of EVNTLIVE events?

DC: Everything we do is incredibly high-end–we like to think of ourselves as a curated digital venue in the sense that we’re only looking at four to six shows a month. The majority of shows we’re doing are six to ten camera HD broadcast television-quality shoots. A lot of planning goes into camera placement and live direction of shows so they’re really the highest quality possible.

SC: Do those features carry over to EVNTLIVE on the iPhone or iPad?

DC: We don’t have native apps yet, but we will be releasing them. Right now the mobile and tablet versions are all HTML5, so you can watch on your cell phone, you can watch on your tablet, you can watch on your computer, and the content is the same on all the devices.

SC: Are you broadcasting primarily from a specific location, or are the concerts worldwide?

DC: The majority of shows we’ve broadcast have been in the United States but we’re talking about shows in the UK and other countries as well. And we’re always streaming those shows internationally, regardless of where they’re taking place.

SC: Will a breaking artist have smaller-scale options within EVNTLIVE where they can gain and grow fans?

DC: Perhaps. At this point however, EVNTLIVE is focused on bringing artists that are already incredibly popular to an event broader audience. There are so many people living in places around the world that a major artist simply won’t tour, since an artist can only tour so many dates a year. Yet there are so many fans internationally. So our goal is to give people who couldn’t make it to the show for whatever reason, be it financial, geographic, the opportunity to see their favorite bands and festivals.

SC: What is the pricing plan or subscription?

DC: At this time all the live webcasts are free. We have the option to offer pay-per-view webcasts but the idea of the business model going forward will be to partner with brands to have some integration in the webcast to help drive revenue for the artist.

SC: Are your relationships with the artists through booking agencies and record labels?

DC: Our relationships extend to agents, managers, and record labels. Typically to do a webcast, all of those parties need to buy in and be interested in participating. 

SC: You mentioned in the last interview that 3D would be a possibility for the future. Are they any plans you have to use new technologies to bring together artists’ fans in a live community setting?

DC: We have ideas about how we could experiment with translating the experience of EVNTLIVE in different ways. One of the things we’ve been interested in looking into in the future is that there are sports bars–why couldn’t there be concert bars? Why couldn’t there be places where people could congregate remotely to enjoy a show if they couldn’t be there across the world? So there are certainly lots of physical opportunities and social opportunities, as well as people just being able to enjoy from their tablets or smartphones in their living rooms.

The post [Interview] David Carrico, Co-Founder & CMO of EVNTLIVE appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Carolyn Heneghan

As technology progresses, so too do the possibilities of music creation. Music programs like ProTools and GarageBand removed the necessity of organic musical instruments for creating music, but now instruments controlled by motion are making music more accessible to anyone who wants to create music without having to learn traditional theory.

Sound on Intuition

One such development is Sound on Intuition, created by Belgian designer Pieter-Jan Pieters, a student at the Design Academy Eindhoven. Music schools denied Pieters admission because he could not read music, so he went to design school instead to find a way to allow people to create music without sheet music or traditional instruments—but instead by translating body movements into sound and music.

Pieter’s five motion sensor-controlled instruments can interpret a variety of different motions:

• Wob – Makes a wavy sound based on the position of your hand in relation to the device, mimicking the waving motion of your hand
• Heart – Picks up the rhythm of your heartbeat and translates that into its own sound
• Scan – Translates the movement over your hand-drawn work into sound
• Kick – Picks up the motion of you tapping your foot
• Finger – Picks up the motion of you tapping your finger and has a flex sensor that also changes the sound

The devices act like MIDI controllers and play any sound based on your movements in different areas of your body. For example, to play high notes, you can reach high. You control rhythm based on rhythmic taps with your body. And, of course, your sonorous heartbeat will, according to Pieters, will match the tempo of the beat of the music automatically.

Other Wearable Musical Instruments

Pieters’ Sound on Intuition wasn’t the first wearable, motion sensor-controlled musical instrument, and it certainly won’t be the last. Several other instruments and programs have similar abilities.

Leap Motion, for example, is a tiny, three-inch motion controller that senses how your hand naturally moves, which now has musical implications (read more in our Leap Motion feature). Pointing, waving, reaching and grabbing all produce sound in conjunction with music-centric apps, such as a few motion-based MIDI controllers, such as AirMidi, AeroMIDI and Geco MIDI, an air-based drum machine and an app that teaches piano.

Instrumented Bodies is a trio of motion-sensored cyborg extensions of the body that creates sound and music based on movement. The creators are Ph.D researchers Joseph Malloch and Ian Hattwick at the Input Devices and Music Interaction Lab at McGill University.

The three devices—spinal cord, visor and rib cage—are clear plastic and created by 3D printers, and their luminescence gives them a futuristic, sci-fi appeal, illustrated by the dancers the researchers used to test their project.

Fantasia: Music Evolved (Xbox One, Kinect) is a motion-controlled video game that allows you to create music through motion by conducting the songs, moving your arms, grabbing sounds and creating melodies. While not commercially available yet, there was a demonstration at this year’s E3 (read more in our E3 feature).

The Future of Music Creation

As music creation evolves, the process will become more accessible to people of all backgrounds, whether they know theory or how to read music or not. Anyone will be able to create music, which could mean an outpour of new music to consume and share online. People with no experience playing an instrument will be able to create albums’ worth of music without ever having to pick up the piano or guitar, while still creating music organically using their own bodies instead of just a computer program.

In addition to being more accessible, music will also become more intuitive. Raise your arms higher for higher notes. Make wavy motions with your arms for wavy sounds. Move your fingers quickly for quick notes and slowly for longer brushstrokes. And motion-controlled musical instruments will become even more natural with time.

You can see how far motion-controlled music has come since the theremin, and it will only continue to get better from here.

The post Wearable Musical Instruments: Create Music Without Knowing a Lick of Theory appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

Ever wake up from a dream where you found yourself right in middle of your favorite band’s concert and wish you could have that experience every time you listened to their music?

Set.fm, a combination online service and free app, is all about this scenario. They are ready and set to go, with today marking their official launch and the announcement of $1.2 million dollars in seed funding from Golden Venture Partners of Toronto to keep the high reception and momentum form their beta-phase running strong. Based in the heart of Austin, Texas, otherwise commonly referred to as the live music capital of the world, Set.fm has been in development since 2011 and since that time, has amassed a solid following of artists and music lovers who are passionate about live music and bonding over the live experiences in the venues around them.

These days, with smart devices and megapixels piling up, there is an accompanying fine line between enjoying in-person performance and wanting to cherish its uniqueness long after the show has ended, as emphasized by Matt Golden, a partner with Golden Ventures:

“You go to any music venue right now, big or small, and you’ll see blue screens raised toward the stage. Fans are desperate for a better way to capture the experience of a live show[.]”

What places Set.fm in a category apart from existing (and often slower) methods of distribution, is the one-two punch of its simplicity and reach. Artists who want fans to be able to re-visit live shows can record sets using Set.fm Studio, which serves as an audio recording platform and is optimized for both desktop setups (Mac and PC) and iOS devices.

The process for recording is made to be quick and flexible enough to accommodate a variety of venues and expected arrangements. It can be as instantaneous as creating a set with venue and date info through the website, loading a template from your Set.fm, plug-in equipped, DAW of choice and hitting the record button. Set.fm is already tested on several popular engines, including Pro Tools, Logic, Reaper, Garageband and Mulab. Furthermore, just to ensure artists can fully embrace Set.fm Studio to its best potential, there is even a guide available right on the website to advise what hardware is ideal to run Set.fm with, based on the gear an artist has and their playback needs.

Fans can patch into every second of the music recorded to Set.fm via the website or the iOS app. Music can be searched for based on 12 different genres or by venues in your area. A map with pinned locations highlights places from many places all over the US, as well as a handful in Canada. Each venue’s page provides address information, a link to get directions from Google Maps, a brief list of other venues close by and links to Set.fm sets recently recorded there. 

Including just the right amount of social involvement in their app and website, Set.fm allows registered fans to write comments about the shows and or venue, which is beneficial to other fans and the artists too. Purchasing the live recordings is a brief two-step process of entering one’s card and billing information and clicking purchase. The recording is then immediately available for playback through Set.fm or can be downloaded to your desktop or phone. The icing on the cake: more often than not, fans can find sets in excess of 30-60 minutes for no more than what one would be paying for the cost of a regular album. In other words: very affordable.

The appeal of this easy-to-use and fan-friendly interface has, and will likely continue to attract artists from all corners of the industry – from the neophyte intimate open mic player to Grammy recognized players like Jake Shimabukuro and Joseph Arthur.

You can find Set.fm in the iTunes App Store and connect via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ and YouTube too.

Kira is an old school music nerd with a love for all things creative; always searching for music’s common ground. She graduated with an M.A. in Performing Arts Administration from New York University. Drop her a tweet @shadowmelody1

The post With Set.fm, Fans Can Re-Visit Their Favorite Shows appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Dana Sedgwick

Sticky beer and sneaker skid marks. You know what kind of floor I’m thinking of. It’s Webster Hall after Japandroids play. It’s pretty disgusting. It’s also the setting for new music coming from Project Bootleg – from the creative team MaMa – Manuel Urbanke and Maximilian Hoch:

We produced empty vinyls recorded with silence. No music. No Sound. Before concerts we put them on the floor and people danced on them. After the live shows the records were scratched. These scratches made sound on the record player.We mixed this noise in the studio and created new tracks out of it.

We recorded the following concerts:
Die Antwoord, Gold Panda, The Roots, Apparat, Deadmau5.

The post Project Bootleg Mixes Music Made By the Crowd appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Michael Valinsky

This past Saturday marked the opening of the Museum of Modern Art’s first sound art exhibition: a group show comprising multi-genre work by 16 different artists. While the definition of sound art involves aural pieces (rooms filled with various sounds and noises), Soundings: A Contemporary Score does not limit itself to literal sound. Curator Barbara London organized the show with the intention of not just making available spaces in which sound was presented, but also spaces in which sound was represented. It is this representation of sound that is the most appealing, in a sense.

Susan Philipsz contributed an eight-channel sound installation titled Study for Strings (2010). Based on a 1943 score written by Pavel Hass in a concentration camp in the Czech Republic, Philipsz’s work is a perfect embodiment of memory. “Sound is materially invisible but very visceral and emotive. It can define space at the same time as it triggers memory,” says Phillipsz. Lost after the war, the score was recovered from memory by those musicians who had performed the piece and survived the camp.

Study for Strings (2010), Install Shot MoMA, Susan Philipsz

Haas performed his piece in 1944 as part of the Teresiendstadt propaganda film and he and many members of his orchestra were subsequently murdered in Auschwitz. Philipsz isolated the viola and cello parts of the score and undertook a note-by-note decomposition that is both eerie and beautiful – manifesting, through sound, the absence of these brave souls.

The work’s adaptation for the MoMA exhibition provides us with a form of absence that is repeated in the work itself. Though Study for Strings first premiered at Documenta in Kassel, Germany this past year with 24 channels, the show at MoMA only contains eight. Philipsz says that in order to hear the score in its intended order, one would have to listen to all twenty-four channels at once.

Absence itself seems to be one of the focal points of the Soundings exhibition overall…

Berlin-based artist Carsten Nicolai contributed a beautiful installation entitled wellenwanna lfo (2012). The piece is housed in a water tank, surrounded by mirrors, and animates ripples that come in and out of existence based on low-frequency sounds we cannot hear. Nicolai is interested in understanding this ‘rippling effect’ of inaudible sounds: “Even if we enter spaces which claim to provide absolute silence, our human presence negates it. Our body produces sound, our body is sound.”

Nicolai attempts to locate non-aural means of representing / perceiving the inaudible. In fact, although the sculpture’s sounds are inaudible to our ears, they are, nonetheless, physicalized and given form. The piece itself is extremely visual and captivating. Low-frequency sounds are typically felt in various parts of the body through their vibrations, and while this installation does not exactly vibrate, it hints at vibrations through the flickering, uncertain, back-and-forth light that it emits. 

wellenwanna lfo (2012), Install shot MoMA, Carsten Nicolai

While Nicolai intends to materialize the inaudible, Danish artist Jacob Kirkegaard’s interest stems in understanding inaudible sound. In his piece AION (2006), Kirkegaard placed recording equipment in four abandoned spaces near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Russia: a swimming pool, a concert hall, a gymnasium and a church. Each space was unoccupied and generated its own ambient sound. Kirkegaard would argue that each space is a living force with its own voice. He recorded the voices and the soul of each space. Very much in line with what Phillipsz would say, sound is the royal road to memory and history. In recording the emptiness of abandoned spaces, Kirkegaard opens up each space’s history and its sonic past, letting us picture what sounds must have filled up the space once upon a time.

While this historicizing may prove to be fictional and inaccurate, it still allows for each listener to create his or her own bond with the sound emitted. This is helped by Kirkegaard re-recording his recording, creating a multi-layered effect/experience. The re-recording aspect to the piece is, according to the artist, directly inspired by Alvin Lucier’s piece, “I am sitting in a room, different from the one you are in now. I am recording the sound of my speaking voice…”  Lucier recorded himself saying this sentence and looped it until it bent and deconstructed itself. The recording ends with a drone-like melody that we still understand because of its familiar sonic frequencies. The listener remembers the beginning of the recording and is not taken aback by the transformation of its sound. This is not a coincidence in the context of Kirkegaard’s project: the nature and function of the spaces he chose are oddly familiar to the average listener. 

Room as part of AION (2006), Jacob Kirkegaard

If Kirkegaard wants to show a universal familiarity within his work, Tristan Perich is more interested in creating a unique experience for each listener in his piece Microtonal Wall (2011). Perich put together fifteen hundred one-bit speakers over a twenty-foot wall to create a spectrum of sound. Each speaker is tuned individually, creating an array of fluctuating sounds. The nature of the whole piece changes according to the listener’s proximity to any given speaker. Perich says the variety of sound “opens the scope of the piece to the entire universe, since only from an infinite distance would we be equidistant to each speaker, though in that case they would also have zero volume, and we would be very far from home.”

Barbara London curated a show that not only defies the traditional definitions of sound but also repurposes them. This is a must-see.

Microtonal Wall (2011), Install shot MoMA, Tristan Perich

The post Soundings at MoMa: Exploring the Presentation & Representation of Sound appeared first on SoundCtrl.