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.

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If you’ve listened to pop music at all in the last fifteen years, you’ll know the distinctively spacey, minimalistic aesthetic of Pharrell Williams and his Neptunes production outfit. Hailing from Virginia Beach, Virginia, a region known for its involvement in aerospace engineering and research, Williams was intrigued early on by space exploration, the studies of Carl Sagan, and of course, the Star Trek series that inspired his own label’s name.

In the most recent of a series of interviews conducted by Pharrell called ARTST TLK, Williams sits down with Leonard Nimoy, who played the humanoid character Spock in the original Star Trek series. An intrigued and bright-eyed Williams pegs the sharp-witten Nimoy with questions about developing Spock, his time spent in the army, and a directorial endeavor that may have been well ahead of its time.

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Check out more of the ARTST TLK series on YouTube.

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Online article aggregator (and sifter) site Digg is known for posting informative, entertaining, and eye-opening articles on their cleanly organized sites and mobile apps. Marking the end of a successful 2013, (21,303 stories,  25,088 Tweets, and a 627% increase in readership) Digg has posted an interactive infographic of their year’s highlights in articles, videos, data visualizations, and editors’ overall picks. With categories ranging from “Most Dugg” to “Best of NSFW” and “History Of” posts, it’s certainly a good opportunity to catch up on some the year’s most interesting watches and reads.

The post Digg’s “Year In Digg”: An Interactive Infographic appeared first on SoundCtrl.

by Brian Parker

In September, Digital Music News publisher and founder Paul Resnikoff published a wildly popular article on the state of music industry called “The 13 Most Insidious, Pervasive Lies of the Modern Music Industry…” which has racked up over 34,000 likes over the last few months. The article lists thirteen purported misconceptions about the industry and the implications of trying to establish a career as an independent artist, with fiery statements on labels, publishing, touring, crowdfunding, and of course, the highly debated topic of the season, streaming services. Music industry sage Thom Yorke gave the article his full approval, and comments on the Digital Music News website poured in for about 2 months.

When Resnikoff asked independent musician and writer Ari Herstand to contribute to DMN, he agreed to do so under one condition: that he would “not going to censor [his] opinion – even if it’s completely opposite of  [Paul's].”  Herstand’s “Why Thom Yorke and Digital Music News Are Completely Wrong” debunks several of the “lies” that Resnikoff presented, citing personal experience as evidence for his claims.

Herstand specifically addresses the money he earns touring and selling merchandise, the promotion he’s received through streaming services, and the funding he has earned on Kickstarter. Herstand is a self-proclaimed “middle-class musician” who, like many others, makes a living through “touring, TV placements, sponsorships, session work, co-writing royalties, scoring, music lessons, and freelance gigging,” shedding light on a shifting, but not necessarily crumbling music industry.

You can read the two pieces and decide for yourself whose take is more accurate, though I think there is a good deal of truth in both ends of the spectrum. It’s never been easier to be cynical about the industry, but we should find ways to change, rather than constantly criticize an evolving business.

Thanks to Digital Music News for spurring healthy debate on these topics, as cultural (particularly music) publications often filter their opinions for “consistency.” And be sure to check out Ari Herstand’s blog Ari’s Take for great insight on how to be successful as an independent artist.

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By Brian Parker

Apoorva Kiran and Robert MacCurdy, graduate students and researchers at Cornell University’s College of Engineering, have used 3D printing technology to create a fully functional loudspeaker, reports the Cornell Chronicle. Every component of the device was created through 3D printing, using multiple materials including plastic housing, a conductive coil made of silver ink, and a magnet made of a specially crafted blend of strontium ferrite.

Hod Lipson, associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering believes that 3D printing is only in its nascent stages, despite the recent trend of 3D printers that only print “passive parts.” The challenge in getting this type of 3D printing into homes is building 3D printers that allow for printing several materials at once that require varying temperatures and setting times. However, once the technology is fully realized, consumer-level products will require less outsourcing at the production level and ultimately lead to faster, cheaper products.

Watch the video of the process below:

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By Michael Valinsky

This past fall, British sculptor Anish Kapoor and Japanese architect Arata Isozaki collaborated on the world’s first inflatable concert hall, Ark Nova. The name refers to Noah’s “Ark” and “Nova” to “New.” From the outside, the structure looks like a large purple elastic shell. From the inside, a glowing, multi-colored space in which 500 to 700 people gathered to listen to music as part of the Lucerne Festival 2013.

The installation, or venue, travelled across Japan, around the areas affected by the 2011 earthquakes and tsunami, and hosted a series of concerts, workshops and other performances. The team  in charge of the project wanted to restore morale to devastated communities through the strength of art and music.

The space was constructed to be as mobile as possible, allowing for installers to dismantle it quickly and move it from its original location, Matsushima, to the next ones. For a harmonious and acoustic flow of sound formed by acoustic reflectors and chairs, the artists gathered cedar wood from the Zuiganji Temple forest with the approval of Forest Owner’s Cooperation Association of Miyagi Chuo and Ishinomaki Laboratory. As a result, the space takes on a size of 30m in width, 36m in length and a maximum height of 18m.

Check out a video from the festival.

Let us hope that an event like this will one day repeat itself, perhaps in the United States.

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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.

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by Brian Parker

CanOpener is the impressive new app from audio engineer Devin Kerr and software engineer Rob Stenson, which optimizes the spatial balance, equalization, and sound pressure level for listening to music in headphones. CanOpener uses Kerr and Stenson’s proprietary crossfeed algorithm ,which corrects the discrepancy between listening to music in headphones and listening on loudspeakers.

Music produced on loudspeakers is specifically mixed so that the audio coming from the left and right speakers in a stereo channel are experienced by both ears. However, in headphones, music from the right channel goes only to the right ear, and music from the left channel goes only to the left. This leaves a significant angle of sound out of the mix, without which music lacks a level of depth and wideness.  CanOpener’s Crossfeed function allows you to adjust this “wideness” to achieve a more accurate listening experience. Furthermore, CanOpener allows you to pick your headphones (or any other output device) from a list, allowing optimization for specific models.

CanOpener also sports a beautiful equalizer with various presets and spectrogram skins, making the interface both functional and appealing. The app volume is adjusted based on SPL in decibels, rather than Apple’s typical, arbitrary click-and-drag volume slider. An additional feature of CanOpener is the dosimeter, which measures your exposure to sound level over a period of time, meaning you can keep an accurate tab on the safety of your ears during listening sessions.

We had an opportunity to ask Rob Stenson a few questions about CanOpener’s background and functionality, as well as how he and Devin envision the app for the future.

SoundCtrl: When did you develop the concept and prototype of CanOpener? What were your backgrounds before this project?

Rob Stenson: Devin is an audio mastering engineer with a background in sound engineering and psychoacoustics. He developed CanOpener’s core crossfeed algorithm and equalizer as part of his masters thesis on spatial audio processors at the University of Michigan. I’m a software engineer specializing in interfaces, although my background in college was architectural history. Before starting work on CanOpener, I was a software engineer at Twitter, working on the twitter.com interface.

We started work on the iOS version of CanOpener in January of this year, after a mutual friend put us in touch; he realized we had complementary skill-sets, and a shared interest in music (I’m a banjo-player when I’m not writing code). From there we just started widdling away at the app you see now. Here’s a visual history of the app, from the first prototype to the current release.

SC: In the future, do you see CanOpener supporting streaming music apps?

RS: While we do hope to integrate a streaming service — like Rdio, Spotify, or Bandcamp — we’ve been unable to contact those companies to work out licensing deals. We actually have an in-house proof-of-concept that streams directly from Spotify, and it’s a blast to play around with. But, at present, our hands our tied by the various companies API’s and terms-of-service agreements.

SC: Will CanOpener ever function as a mobile device’s complete EQ/audio enhancement system for all of its audio?

RS: We would love to make this happen, but apps on iOS and Android are highly sandboxed, meaning it would be quite difficult (probably impossible without major changes from the device manufacturers) to pull off this level of integration. Something like Audiobus comes close, but that’s more focused on music-making rather than listening. Of course, if Apple did make some changes to their audio system (recent changes in iOS7 hint at this), we would definitely take advantage.

SC: At what stage in the iPhone’s audio chain does CanOpener process sound?

RS: We access audio files in the same way as the stock Music app on iOS, so our app handles everything from reading samples out of a file to passing them directly to the audio output. All of the CanOpener DSP is applied right before we send the samples to the hardware, so it’s the last thing to happen in our audio chain.

SC: Is CanOpener available for both iPhone and Android?

RS: At the moment, CanOpener is iOS-only. We’d love to support Android (and we’ve had quite a few interested customers ask us for an Android version), but a few factors are working against us: Android’s audio system is less sophisticated than iOS’s, and there are so many Android devices out there that we’d have to measure in order to provide the level of quality characteristic of CanOpener on iOS. The major reason though is that we’re only a two-man operation. (Hopefully there are some Android audio programmers reading your post, we’d love to get in touch.) That said, CanOpener is available on Mac OS X as the FHX add-on to the the Fidelia app by Audiofile Engineering.

SC: What are the next stages of updates that you’d like to develop for the app?

RS: We have some very cool in-app purchases planned for 2014, as well as some overdue features (like iPad landscape-orientation support). We’ve also started work on a few other apps, including Speaker+ (currently in beta tests).

CanOpener is currently available on the iTunes App Store for $2.99. Stay tuned to the Good Hertz website for new mobile audio apps, and CanOpener via Twitter @CanOpener.

The post [Interview] Rob Stenson of CanOpener appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

Now in it’s twelfth series, the BBC Sound Of poll has released its 15-strong longlist of candidates for the Sound of 2014. Last year’s polls were sharply accurate, predicting the successes of HAIM, AlunaGeorge, Angel Haze, Laura Mvula, and Chvrches. Here are the contenders in the running this year, with audio clips from each:

Banks

Chance The Rapper

Ella Eyre

George Ezra

FKA Twigs

Chloe Howl

Jungle

Kelela

MNEK

Nick Mulvey

Royal Blood

Sampha

Say Lou Lou

Luke Sital-Singh

Sam Smith

BBC will publish the rankings of the Sound of 2014 poll in January.

The post BBC’s Sound of 2014 Longlist (With Audio) appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Kira Grunenberg

The waves keep rolling for Ireland-based Soundwave, the real-time, global syncing, music discovery app. The last major boost for Soundwave was just released in September, embracing the power of iOS7. It gave the app a significant functional and visual overhaul, greatly exciting its worldwide user base.

Less than three months later, the company’s next move to improve now involves the integration of music videos from YouTube. One of Soundwave’s biggest draws is its “hands free” strategy. After signing up, users need to do nothing more than play music in order to appear active within the Soundwave community. A non user might on the outside might see the concept as less engaging, but it’s actually just less invasive: people can use the app at will, instead of being forced, in order to build their library and app presence.

In order to optimize this method of engagement, Soundwave is constantly working to ensure that as many music players and streaming services as possible are capable of being detected, and their song plays captured. The more players that are included, the more natural a user’s music activity will be, as users won’t be inclined to shift sporadically between apps. The new addition of YouTube is a huge advancement for Soundwave because it opens the doors for an entire listener demographic, which would otherwise may be underserved or limited, based on users’ “underage” statuses. Soundwave Founder and CEO, Brendan O’Driscoll, explains:

“Younger demographics…use YouTube like a streaming service. A lot of these guys aren’t old enough to have extensive mp3 collections stored on their hard drives and they don’t have credit cards to purchase streaming subscriptions – so YouTube becomes the one stop shop for music consumption.”

One recurring issue with YouTube integration is whether an app can discern between quality media and the mass of impertinent videos of cats. Since Soundwave is only after music, filtering is a priority, and the app pulls it off with painless fluidity. Utilizing the capabilities of YouTube’s own tagging and content sorting system and in-house filtering, Soundwave HQ is able to bring the music in and keep the memes out.

This update is certain to bring a boom to the overall number of plays and pin drops on the Soundwave globe, especially from the tween and young teen demographic. Its inclusion may lead to an increase in YouTube-exclusive releases, or, releases from independent artists not working through outlets like Spotify, Rdio or Deezer, already synced with Soundwave. With a longstanding success and more than six billion hours of video played each month in 61 countries, YouTube will only bolster Soundwave’s growing global momentum.

Whether you want to get right to updating, or are only hearing of Soundwave for the first time, you can download the new version from the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store now.

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

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By Jason Epstein

Recently, music streaming service Spotify released data revealing that each song play nets rights holders somewhere between $0.006 and $0.0084.  Yep, a fraction of a fraction of a cent.  Doesn’t seem like much, does it?

However, Spotify generates an average of $41 per user, which is significantly more than the $25 that Spotify says the average U.S. adult pays for music each year.  Last year, the company lost $80M, but just last month, gained $250M in new funding, which brings the company’s value just above $4B.  One million plays on Spotify will generate between $6,000 and $8,400.  Compare that to $3,000 on YouTube, or between $1,300 to $1,500 on Pandora, or $41 on a radio station, and Spotify’s payout doesn’t seem so bad.  The difference is that Google has a billion YouTube users and Apple has 600 million iTunes users, while Spotify has just above 24 million users, about a quarter of whom are actually paying for the service.

In 2013, Spotify says it will have paid a total of $500 million in artist royalties, which is half of the entirety of their payouts since the streaming service was launched in 2008.  This information is part of the new Spotify Artists page, a sub-site where rights holders can track performance using various analytics tools.

Although troubled by artist backlash against low payouts, Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek recently mentioned that the company is trying to usher in a revolution, moving physical music to the digital space and “selling access, not ownership.”  Of artists, Mr. Ek says, “All they see is millions of streams and they see, you know, not millions of dollars in the end, but thousands of dollars, and they think that a million streams is compatible to a million downloads, which it obviously isn’t.”

Spotify says that the more subscribers they have, the bigger the payouts will be, but what’s not clear is if they mean to project an increase in listens with an increased number of subscribers, or if there will be more listens per subscriber as the streaming service becomes more widely accepted.  This seems like a placation, and a dodging of the real issue at hand.  Spotify does, however, plan to launch the ability for users to buy tickets and band merchandise beginning in 2014, which could provide a more effective means of diversifying artist revenue production.

To read up on past coverage of Spotify news, check out articles here and here.

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By Michael Valinsky

London-based party starters Urban Nerds has teamed up with London Warehouse Events to host the 2013 New Year’s Eve Mix Competition.  December 15^th marks the deadline for musicians to submit their mixes. Win a chance to perform a 1-hour warm up set in London alongside Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Breach, Bondax, T Williams, Breakage, Kry Wolf, Monki, Diamantle and many more. Submissions are to fall between the House, Bass, Garage and Techno genres. The selection process is based on the number of plays for each mix, but each mix only needs a minimum of 50 plays to guarantee a listen from the panel of judges.

You can check out some of the competition here, and be sure to read and follow the submission guidelines.

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by Carolyn Heneghan

We know apps can play, stream, store, share, identify, and even recommend music—but could they also be responsible for predicting the next hottest songs, artists, and albums?

Earlier this year, Billboard announced its Streaming Songs charts, which take into consideration the top picks from services like YouTube, Vevo, Spotify, Muve Music, Rhapsody, Xbox Music and more. These music apps play a part in delivering information about the current top spots for songs and artists. But instead of simply proving which are global favorites based on plays, purchases, and other aspects of big music data, some music apps are beginning to use that information to predict future favorites.

Shazam claims they can. The song identification service just announced its Top 10 Breaking Artists of 2014 based on “user curiosity,” and Billboard seems to back its viability. But how can Shazam be so sure of its predictions?

When Music App Predictions Have Hit the Mark

But let’s back up a bit. Before jumping into next year, we can look as far back as 2011 to see where some of Shazam’s music predictions did actually hit the mark. In short, Shazam identifies music based on short clips of the song it hears through your Shazam-enabled device, so the app’s biggest pool of data comes from the songs identified the most. They use this song tag data to formulate predictions for the next hottest song, artist, or trend.

One of Shazam’s earliest predictions was that hip-hop would dominate 2011. While Top-10 lists can be extremely subjective, MTV’s list does in fact confirm this prediction, with half of the top 10 being hip hop artists. Hip hop also stood for about 30 percent of Billboard’s Top 50 songs of 2011. While hip-hop didn’t sweep the Grammy’s, Shazam did hit on the right notes, so to speak.

In 2012, Shazam released another set of predictions, this time for the summer jams of 2012. At the end of May, the service predicted that, based on song tags from its users, Gotye, Usher, Maroon 5 ft. Wiz Khalifa, Calvin Harris ft Ne-Yo, Rick Ross ft. Usher and Nicki Minaj would be among the top summer artists for 2012. Again, while top music lists are entirely subjective, many of these hits appeared on many lists released throughout the rest of the summer season.

With 2013 came both a more definitive judgment of these big data predictions plus a little friendly competition. Just before the big awards show, both Shazam and music streaming service Spotify released their Grammy predictions based on their own user-generated data sets. The results were surprisingly close and surprisingly similar.

With correct guesses for four out of six categories, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Country Song and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Spotify made out with 67 percent accuracy. Shazam went for even more predictions, and having correctly surmised 11 out of 16 categories, its accuracy percentage won out at 69 percent.

What about SoundHound’s accurate predictions for some of the 2011 Grammy nominees? Or Pandora’s ability to predict more music you’d like based on hundreds of musical attributes for each song? Shazam isn’t the first to harness big data in light of the future of music, and it certainly won’t be the last.

What This Means for the Music Industry

Armed with endless data points, Shazam and other music apps have found a way to become a bionic ear to the ground for the music industry. While not perfect—and what prediction could be in light of the subjectivity of music—these predictions are often eerily accurate. And what’s more eerie, perhaps, is that organic human tendencies and preferences can be so astutely broken down and processed by big data and computers.

Imagine where the music industry would head if some of these apps combined their sets of data points. What if Pandora could take Shazam’s predictions for the top new artists of 2014 and then analyze each artist’s musical attributes to come up with another set of even farther-reaching possibilities for top breaking artists of next year?

To take it in another direction, what if music industry leaders, such as record labels and producers, take Pandora’s analyses of those top artists’ attributes and create songs that embody those very qualities—turning those predictions into the next manufactured set of top-40 hits? Could boiling down music into tiny bits of data end up killing the creation process and churn out the music that a set of programs tells music listeners they want to hear? If we’re afraid that much of top-40 is already manufactured as it is, what kind of harm could ultra-specific data sets do to rig the sways of popular opinion regarding music as we know it?

It isn’t all doom and gloom—when it comes down to it, no one is ever going to squash musical intellect and innovation. But it begs the consideration of what it means for music when it becomes more digitized and thus more removed from its original organic art form.

While big data has granted these apps the ability to make informed predictions about the future of music, it hasn’t enabled them to be right all the time (see Grammy predictions 2013). However, as big data gets bigger and pieces of data get more refined, you may see these predictions becoming even more scarily accurate over time.

The post When Music Apps See the Future: How Big Data Predicts Music Trends 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! 

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By Carolyn Heneghan

Picture a world where the deaf and hard of hearing can enjoy music just as much as an uninhibited listener. While scientists have made progress toward that goal by enabling the ability to hear and understand speech in quiet environments, hearing music is not yet perfected. But researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have developed an algorithm for cochlear implants wherein music sounds pleasing, rather than like a jumbled bunch of sounds.

Music in the Cochlear Implant 

According to the University of Washington website:

A cochlear implant is a small, electronic device that lets a person who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing perceive sound. One piece is placed on the skin behind a person’s ear, while another portion is surgically inserted under the skin. The implant works by directly stimulating the auditory nerve, bypassing damaged portions of the ear. The implant’s signals are sent to the brain, which recognizes the signals as sounds.

The standard implants use a special algorithm to categorize sounds into high, middle and low frequencies. The problem with these standard implants is that the algorithm is too stiff to properly hear music. Regular sounds such as speech are audible, but music’s shifting pitches and the instrumental timbres are too complex to hear. Furthermore, implant users can only hear one voice at a time, as background noise and multiple voices produce a cacophony of sound—another reason why the combinative instrumentation in most music would be difficult to hear.

“If you sing ‘Happy Birthday to You’ to someone who has a cochlear implant, they’ll have no difficulty understanding what you’re saying, but if you play a version that is devoid of lyrics or rhythm, they can’t tell the difference between that and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,’” explains Rubinstein, a professor of otolaryngology and bioengineering at the Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center.

He continues, “The other thing they can’t hear is timbre. So we have several instruments play the same five-note sequence and ask them to say what’s the guitar or what’s the piano. Someone who has normal hearing will do this test virtually perfectly, but someone who has a cochlear implant will score very poorly.”

The Researchers’ Laudable, Audible Results

The new algorithm developed by the university changes all of that. Whilst wearing cochlear implants embedded with this music-decoding algorithm, the average implant user scored a 45% on the timbre test, and the test subject who performed the best in the experiment reached nearly 90%. In terms of pitch, the new algorithm could expand most of the test subjects’ recognition of a single octave to three octaves.  This advancement coupled with the ability to interpret rhythm and words through natural speech comprehension are pieces of the puzzle to eventually fully hear and understand music.

“If they are hearing a single guitar, they can hear one note,” said Atlas of current wearers. “If a person is playing fast, they can hear that. If a person is playing slow they can hear that.”

These findings suggest a striking improvement in music perception and success in the realm of music listening for the deaf and hard of hearing. According to many researchers in the field, if music becomes audible to a cochlear implant user, then so will virtually any other sound, meaning a huge step forward not only in music-listening for the deaf but also in their abilities to hear background noise or multiple voices.

The next step of the project is to enable listeners to interpret melody, which is currently difficult even with this latest algorithm. The researchers also specifically catered their algorithm design to update existing cochlear implants, so that users could keep their old implants.

Implications of Music in Cochlear Implants

One obvious implication of this new algorithm is that the deaf and hard of hearing will eventually be able to listen to music as a common form of interest and enjoyment. The enrichment that music brings to people’s lives will finally be accessible to those who could not previously perceive it. As the quality of sound from these algorithms improves, the level of experience and relationship that the deaf can have with music increases along with it—a breakthrough that could ultimately change or  affect their lives tremendously.

With the ability to hear music comes the ability to create music. While there have been musicians who were hard of hearing, this algorithm and its future improvements will open the doors for millions of people to be able to listen to and create their own music. Can you imagine the works of Beethoven if he had his full sense of hearing? The implications of allowing such a huge new group of people into the music industry will be astounding, and the creativity of those artists may introduce an unprecedented wave of new music.

There also comes the possibility of musicians making music with specific optimization for cochlear implants. This music would be tailored to each level of music comprehension as these calculations are perfected, so that the deaf can too develop the  musical skills of someone with full hearing abilities. What this music might sound like can be left to the imagination, but it would not be surprising for musicians to appreciate and become involved with this scientific breakthrough.

The research, findings, and implementations of Les Atlas, Ph.D., Jay Rubinstein, MD, Ph.D and Kaibao Nie, Ph.D at the University of Washington represent huge advancements in cochlear implants thus far, and the potential capabilities therein will be exciting as they are realized in the future.

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As with buying any new technology, the purchase of new speakers comes loaded with questions and thoughts of potential buyer’s remorse. Is it compatible with my MP3 player or smartphone? Can I link it to those devices through a Bluetooth connection? Does it come with a remote? And, of course, the biggest of them all: Am I getting the best bang for my buck?

I’ve thought long and hard about all of these questions while deciding on the right wireless speaker for me. In my case, I’m a recent college graduate in need of something relatively wallet-friendly, sleek, and sure to fill  my apartment with sound. After trips to various stores and trying out plenty of options, I found that these five were the best picks. A few are well outside of my price range, but maybe they’ll be the best fit for your setup!

Jabra Solemate

Right out of the gate we have the cheapest option of the bunch at $150 or less. The cutely named Solemate will certainly do the job if you’re looking for something affordable and able to withstand your favorite tunes and calls on speakerphone. The main downside is that the bass isn’t really present at all. That means it’s not the best option if you require those deep kicks coming through and rattling your walls during dance parties, or listening sessions. Still, it’s a powerful lil’ sucker and it’s got some other great reviews out there, just in case the lower price-tag worries you. It can be connected over wireless or Bluetooth, though there’s no remote included.

Jawbone Big Jambox

The Jambox is right in the middle of these picks price-wise, and was the most enticing after I read up about it on Verizon’s blog, The Mobile Life. They spoke with a Latin artist who used the Jambox as his main speaker at a party and sure enough, it worked great for the occasion. After testing it out myself, I can concur. It’s got a great battery life, which means you won’t have to worry about it turning off mid-party. The only thing is that you shouldn’t play it too loud if you’re listening to bass-heavy music, otherwise those kicks will get slightly distorted. It supports wireless and Bluetooth but doesn’t come with a remote. The price (usually between $250 and $300) doesn’t hurt either.

Klipsch Gallery G-17 Air

This Klipsch speaker caught my attention after I read this glowing review over at Digital Trends. I just had to check it out and hear the purportedly great sound quality. After listening to it pump out music for a good 10 minutes, I can agree that it’s a superb piece of equipment for its size. Prices can get out of hand (closer to $500) if you don’t look around enough, so do some snooping online. Unlike the others, though, it doesn’t support Bluetooth but it does have a wireless remote.

Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II

The Bose brand name is clearly a huge draw here, but as any audiophiles know, it can also mean a huge price-tag. Luckily this one can be found at around $300, which isn’t that bad given its solid sound and speakerphone capabilities. It also can handle any low-end that you throw at it, so don’t be afraid to crank the volume if you’re listening to bassy songs. Also, it supports both wireless and Bluetooth, though it doesn’t come with a remote.

Bowers & Wilkins Z2

While the Z2 looks fantastic and has killer sound, it was the one that was too far out of my price-range to consider a purchase at $400. Still, I had to test it out to hear the quality described in this Wire review, which nailed it in terms of describing the sound as “bright and full.” The worrisome bit, however, is that it’s really only for people using Apple products. And as we all know, not everyone is invested in iEverything, making the Z2 a miss for plenty of folks. Still, if you’ve got the deeper pockets and need a strong speaker with sharp aesthetics, this is a fine option. It doesn’t support Bluetooth, but it does come with a wireless remote.

Hopefully this roundup of wireless speaker reviews is as helpful for you as it was for me!

Kevin Gannon is a contributing writer and recent college graduate who enjoys covering topics on music and technology. He specializes in industry trends, album reviews, and music accessories.

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By Simon Brown, Publishing Manager at Lemoncake.com

When you hear a catchy tune or song on an advertisement, you rarely forget that product. Whether or not the product is something that interests you specifically, a track that plays into your emotions will make for a memorable ad. Carefully selected music attracts the audience and contributes to the entertainment factor, as well as ensuring an ad lives on in ones memory beyond its 30-second length. Tying music together with the narrative of an ad will help to create something truly special. If it is successful, viewers will be left humming the jingle, with the brand’s information and slogan well and truly drummed into their memories.

British retailer John Lewis’s marketing team is renowned for getting their advertisements exactly right, and their music choices for Christmas advertisements never fail to impress. In 2010, Ellie Goulding’s version of ‘Your Song’ complemented a heartwarming piece about sneaking presents past loved ones, attempting to giftwrap awkwardly shaped items, and hanging stockings out for pets. More recently, Gabrielle Aplin’s cover of ‘The Power of Love’ beautifully accompanied a snowman’s search for the perfect present, and also topped the Singles Chart. 2013 sees the return of Lily Allen covering Keane’s ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ in an emotionally charged ad titled ‘The Bear & The Hare’.

Whether it’s a gorilla smashing a drum kit to Phil Collins or a Pavarotti parody, memorable tunes are ideal in accompanying the visuals in ads. From iconic rock songs, to 70s anthems, or simply a price comparison site with a ridiculously irritating jingle, advertising music proves hugely influential time and time again.

So how do you choose the right music for your advert?

Deciding on an appropriate track for your advert can be challenging and time consuming, not forgetting the added expense and process of  using copyrighted tracks or new commissions. Check out a few of our simple steps to help you get ahead in finding the right track and making your advert a success.

1. Consider your audience: Who is the product aimed at? Ensuring the music appeals to the viewers will contribute to the advert’s success.

2. Choose a genre: By considering a variety of genres and subgenres, you are sure to find a style that best suits your advertisement.

3. Match the tempo: Coordinate a fast beat to a quick paced video, and make sure a more relaxed advert is complemented by a slower tempo.

4. Convey the mood: Whether its happiness or melancholy, choose music that evokes the same emotion as your advert.

5. Represent your product: Ensure the music is an audio portrayal of the video, so choose something intense for a serious product, and match chilled-out music to something lighthearted.

6. Coordinate with the video: Whether your advert is simple or elaborate, make sure the music maintains the structure and theme.

7. Finalize the advert: By taking the simple but key decisions above you should be closer to knowing the style and feel of music you wish to use – so go ahead, put it together and enjoy!

If choosing the right track is still proving to be challenging and costly, a music production library might be the right choice. Lemoncake.com is a new production music library and publisher featuring innovative search options to help find the perfect track for your advert. Unlike other production music libraries, the music is free at the point of use, removing frustrating financial restrictions.

What’s your favourite advertising music of all time? Get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.

Simon Brown is the Publishing Manager at Lemoncake.com, a revolutionary music production library and publisher. Visit www.lemoncake.com to learn more about it. 

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Virginia native Pharrell Williams is no stranger to the spotlight. As a producer and songwriter for the biggest pop acts of the last decade, recording artist, bandleader for N*E*R*D, fashion designer, and overall curator of taste, he has effortlessly redefined “cool” whenever the opportunity has arisen.

Yesterday, he debuted the music video for “Happy,” a spritely, funky track from his soundtrack for the animated film, Despicable Me 2. “Happy” is a looping music video for the song featuring a slew of random participants and some celebrities, including Jimmy Kimmel, Miranda Cosgrove, Odd Future, and Jamie Foxx. They all dance along to the borderline-cheesy, but entirely enjoyable record on an interactive video site, which allows you to shift between various times of the day. The video loops continuously, and is honestly a surprisingly pleasant distraction from a busy day. You can navigate through a full day with the song’s star, proof that Pharrell is likely leading the happiest life in the world.

Check out “Happy” when you get a spare minute or hour, we’ve shared some screenshots below:

The post Pharrell’s “Happy,” 24 Hours of Musical Bliss appeared first on SoundCtrl.

By Brian Parker

It charges in five-minutes.

That’s an easy selling point for Helium, the new, revolutionary powered speaker by Portland-based boutique technology company Blueshift. Helium is the first speaker powered by supercapacitors, an upgradable and infinitely repairable source of power. Supercapacitors charge (and discharge) faster than lithium ion batteries, and they don’t use the same environmentally harmful chemicals.

Blueshift’s design for Helium doesn’t stop with the power supply–the rigid bamboo construction is a  great acoustic housing for the full-range speaker cones, which run efficiently to allow Helium to run for up to six hours on one charge. Helium also supports Bluetooth connectivity and has an auxiliary jack for plugging in phones, mobile devices, and anything else with an audio output.

Blueshift founder Sam Beck began implementing capacitor power in a design for portable bicycle speakers back in 2009. As capacitors became more affordable over the years, he shifted focus to a wider speaker production that now includes Copper, a speaker that requires power and audio sources, and Helium. Blueshift’s design philosophy is based on open-source hardware, a new trend in technology that follows the openness and availability of software developers’ codes and programs. With this philosophy, the circuitry of newer technologies can be adapted and improved upon in a variety of ways, and will help reduce the rapid onset of technological obsolescence.

However, Helium is only in the prototype stage. Currently undergoing a massive crowd-funding campaign on Crowd Supply, Blueshift is raising funds to get approval for FCC compliance and to put the device in full production. Within the campaign, several pledge levels guarantee early adopters a range of rewards, including DIY capacitor kits, the Copper speaker, and pilot versions of Helium Mono and Helium Stereo.

With 28 days to go, you could be a lucky recipient of some truly groundbreaking technology!

Keep up with Blueshift on Twitter and Facebook.

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Formerly NARM and digitalmusic.org, the new Music Business Association (Music Biz) is a non-profit membership organization and community committed to the full spectrum of monetization models in the music industry.  Music Biz holds the annual Music Startup Academy to offer insight to entrepreneurs who work in the industry or are looking to utilize resources in the industry. The Academy has a specific focus on startups and new technologies, and is intended to reduce barriers of entry into the music business for ambitious businesspeople with innovative ideas. Now in its third year, the Academy will have seminars on development, label and publishing structures, app development and marketing, and music operations, delivered by a number of professionals and experts in the field.

As a media sponsor, SoundCtrl is partnering with Music Biz for a $25 discount on tickets.  Simply enter soundctrl25 at checkout, and be sure to buy your tickets early as the event has limited capacity.

Some of the presenters will include:

- Bill Wilson, VP, Digital Strategy & Business Development, Music Biz

- Derrick Fung, CEO/Co-Founder, Tunezy

- Bill Campbell, Sr. VP, Digital Business, Global Digital Business Group, Universal Music Group

- YiPing Ho, VP, Global Digital Business Development, Warner Music Group

- Dan Kruchkow, CMO & Head of Digital Strategy, Crush Music Media Management

- Jon Landman, Owner, The Syndicate

- Josh Builder, CTO, The Orchard

You can hear past attendees’ testimonials about the program in the short video below:

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By Natalie Mantovani

Artists spend a lot of time producing their music, often devoting years to just one album. Yet when these albums are released, the fans only see the final picture – amazing songs that they love listening to over and over. One benefit of today’s quickly evolving technology is that it’s easier than ever to listen to your favorite music online, with music streaming sites taking over the way we listen to music. Seems like a win-win for both artists and fans, right?

Maybe not. Although an underlying issue for years, artist payout is becoming a bigger problem for many disgruntled musicians. At its highest, Spotify offers just $0.005 for each play, meaning that over the course listening to one thousand songs, an artist has the potential to earn between just $1 and $5. Months and years of hard work to earn less than $5 when people are listening to your songs countless times in a row just doesn’t cut it. With a breakdown of several different popular music streaming sites, this infographic shows Arena as having the highest payout, at $210 earned for every 1,000 songs listened to. Now that seems a little more like it. Though as a fan you might not think there’s much you can do to help out your favorite musicians, perhaps the method you choose to stream your music could make all the difference.

Natalie Mantovani is an aspiring journalist in New Jersey. She is passionate about music and the ups and downs of the industry. 

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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.

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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.

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LIVE: Tune into any of 30 channels of live parties going down in London as part of the Red Bull Revolutions in Sound night. Hosted by Annie Mac, parties are held in 30 capsules on a ferris wheel in London, each pod representing a legendary London club or night with its original resident DJs throwing down inside.  The  YouTube feed is below, but head over to Red Bull to tune into the events including Craig Richards, Todd Terry, Ben UFO, Green Velvet, Skream, Jamie xx, Giles Peterson, and more.

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