Part of the joy of playing electronic musical instruments is exploring the unique banks of sounds inside. This month, we speak again with Francis Preve, a Top 10 remixer who also works as the principal sound designer for Ableton and a consulting sound designer for Korg. Hear how he creates the sounds behind the hits.
Normally, flow is a good thing. A lot of my time as an editor is spent trying to make ideas and words connect smoothly to tell a story. But while editing a recent podcast, I had an important realization: Sometimes breaking the flow of one element increases the flow of the whole. To hear a good example of this, listen...
One of the hallmarks of amateur podcasts and screencasts is extraneous sound in the voiceover. Here are two DIY solutions for making quality recordings on the go and on the cheap.
Clicking an MP3 link is annoyingly unpredictable. Will the file blank out the page? Will it start to download? Will it throw an error? You never know. So, inspired by Del.icio.us Play Tagger, I whipped up this one-click Web audio player.
I recently had the privilege of sitting in on an invite-only concert performance by two world class musicians, Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger -- who between them have sold in excess of 55M albums in their careers. They are also friends of mine. So it was a special treat to join them at MacWorld for...
At last year's NAMM show, Korg told me it plans to take over the world with its KaossPads. These slick X-Y touchpads now control everything from effect processors to mixers. I reviewed the current flagship, the KP3 KaossPad, for Electronic Musician last year and had a blast playing its synth sounds. So I was intrigued to read on Create Digital...
Here's an intriguing new site: FreeMusicSoftware.org compiles links to free samples, VST plug-ins, and, yes, music software. Apparently the work of a blogger named Crispin, it has a personal feel you don't get at more extensive sites like Don't Crack, with mini-reviews of the programs and even some tutorials. The list of free samples is one of the most extensive...
it all started with Vernor Vinge's keynote address at Austin GDC 2006. this fascinating lecture discussed current technology trends and probable future developments ... and got me thinking about the future of mobile audio.
There is a fantastic, informative article in the current issue of Wired (16.01) written by David Byrne, the former leader of the band The Talking Heads. David does a great job of providing perspective (by an established artist) on the changes that are taking place in the music business in recent years that allow artists to be more empowered, and...
While tracking down some cool songs I heard on the Space Music podcast, I found Kahvi.org, a huge collection of free electronic music in MP3 and (mostly) Ogg Vorbis format.
Once again, virtual instrument maestro Gary Garritan has compiled a collection of Christmas carols recorded by his customers. You can download all 19 MP3s plus cover art to make your own CD (or iTunes covers) from his Xmas page. I'm grabbing them right now with the handy Firefox extension DownThemAll. This year, Garritan's core software orchestral and band instruments are...
Sony just unveiled an affordable version of its $2,000 ultimate handheld recorder, and we just got our review unit. Which features do you want us to scrutinize?
Sometimes the best way to overcome annoyances is to embrace them and make them your own. To protest the way rampant commercialism has corrupted Christmas carols, O'Reilly author Michael W. Dean recorded "God Rest Ye Merry Bonzo." This "perverted Xmas music" mates a drum loop from Led Zep's "Bonzo" Bonham with vocals, bass, sleigh bells (!), and an e-mailed guitar...
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