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With 2009 rolling in (Happy New Year to you, too), you can’t help but think about what great music will be coming out (because there’s gotta be a few good releases, right?). So I thought I’d put Google to use and pick some releases I’m stoked about and post whatever info I can on it. These albums are in order of when they will be released.

Also, be sure to click on the Hypemachine links I’ve included for each album. If you’re not sure what Hypemachine is, its a spider-like website that scans popular and not-so-popular mp3 blogs and links to new posts (usually with mp3s) for the artist you searched for. It’s a good way to stay informed on whats going on. But, like anything, please don’t exclusively use the site for new music. Continue to buy the music from the artists you love!

[January 6, 2009] Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

Wasn’t able to catch much information about who’s engineering / mixing / mastering this disc (not listed on Discogs yet), needless to say that as a fan of psychadelic rock/general indie hipster nonsense, I’m excited for this disk. Strawberry Jam was a good effort, so we’ll have to see what these guys are bringing this time. [Hypemachine]

[January 6, 2009] High on Fire - Live from the Relapse Contamination Festival

I’m usually not a huge fan of live recordings put out on CD or vinyl. I’m not really a big fan of live bootlegs, either. So why should you pay attention to this disk? Because its High on Fire, duh.

If you haven’t seen this band live yet and/or if you live in a corner of the world where HoF seldom tours, I’d suggest giving this a listen to catch just a glimpse of what you’re missing. It may make you feel better or worse, but it’ll still be heavy. [Hypemachine]

[January 19 (UK), 20 (US), 2009] Squarepusher - Numbers Lucent EP

Title: Numbers Lucent EP
Release Date: 19th January 2009
Cat No: WAP258
Format: CD, 12” & digital

Tracklisting:
01. Zounds Perspex
02. Paradise Garage
03. Heliacal Torch
04. Star Time 1
05. Arterial Fantasy
06. Illegal Dustbin

If you caught Just A Souvenir, you’re probably going to want to catch this. [Hypemachine]

[January 20, 2009] Atmosphere - God Loves Ugly (Reissue)

Granted this is a re-release, but if you didn’t catch it the first time around you should be paying attention to it now.

Released in 2002 and produced by indie-hip hop super-producer ANT, this really is one of my favorite Atmosphere releases.

The re-release will contain a DVD that was previously only available on Sad Clown Bad Dub 4. It will also contain remastered tracks of the original God Loves Ugly tracks, two hours of live performance footage (including backstage antics), three music videos, and some new art on the actual release. Sounds like it’d be worth picking it up, if only for the video footage. [Hypemachine]

[January 20, 2009] Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor

Everybody’s favorite vegetarian death metal crew is back with what will surely be a brutal record. Their “human as meat” imagery looks like its continuing with this album, which I can’t wait to hear.

The entire album was recorded and mixed by Billy Anderson in Oakland, CA at Sharkbite Studios. If you go to the band’s Myspace, you’ll get to see some “behind-the-scenese” studio footage of the band laying down some tracks. [Hypemachine]

[January 20, 2009] Diplo and DJ Blaqstarr - Get Off b/w Serato VLS

This is another release I haven’t been able to find much about, but…well, the presumable A-side is already leaked onto the almighty Hype Machine. It’s good. Very good. Diplo doesn’t seem to disappoint very often. The track is also produced by Switch (along with Diplo, he’s responsible for some M.I.A. tracks). Check the track out (and buy it when it’s out) here.

[January 26, 2009 (UK)] Bloc Party - One Mouth Off VLS

This single, which seems to be coming out as a digital and physical release, is taken from the band’s new album “Intimacy” (which is pretty good). If you own the album, you’ve heard the song. Otherwise, check out this YouTube clip or just visit the good ol Hypemachine.

[January 26, 2009] Lily Allen - The Fear (single)

No cover art for this, but the single was premiered on BBC a few weeks ago and has been available via digital fronts like iTunes for a week or two. The physical release (for the date above) is for the UK and, so far, no dates have been seen for a US physical release (would it actually sell?). I really liked Allen’s first album, Alright, Still, so I’m excited to see what she does with her new collection of tracks. Otherwise, check out this YouTube clip or check out Hypemachine.

[January 27, 2009] Johnny Cash Remixed

I’m not really sure what to think about people remixing Johnny Cash. It’s not that his music is holy to me or anything, but it’s Johnny Cash. His songs (most of them anyway) are classics and unfuckupable. So why would people want to remix them? This could either be interesting and range from decent to great or it could be an unbelievable mess. I hate to be pessimistic, but  cmon…

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So that’s it for January. Some pretty decent stuff coming out this month. I’ll be doing a post for each month (February coming at the end of the month) so stay tuned for that.

Daft Punk toured big in 2007. Justice toured pretty big in 2008 (right?) It’s always interesting to see acts like these play massive shows because, typically, when you see them in a big space they’re not doing DJ sets (Justice still does a fair number of DJ sets).

Keep in mind the kind of music these guys play: heavily formulaic, pre-recorded, processed dance music. I don’t fault them on the formulaic thing - 4/4 at 128bpm can sound really awesome and guys like Justic and DP are at the top of their game making dance music exciting.

But after listening to these guys’ music I had to wonder: how do they pull these things off live? This was, of course, well before I was educated on the staple of these two’s setups: Ableton Live.

That being said, there’s a lot more to their setups than just an instance of Ableton Live running on a MacPro, so here’s a breakdown of the gear and setups I was able to find for these guys.

Justice in Rio 2008 (originally from here)

3x JazzMutant Lemur (link)
2x MacBook Pro
1x Korg MicroKorg (link)
1x Korg ZERO8 Live Control (link)
1x Pioneer DJM800 (link)

Pretty amazing setup. Three Lemurs must be an awful lot of fun to play with, especially live. I’d like to know what they need to different mixers for (the ZERO8 and DJM800). I’m sure they need a few FX returns, right? But what else are being plugged into them? They clearly have labels, it’d be cool to see what they say, though!

Now onto what Daft Punk used for their most recent tour. Some surprising equipment, in my opinion.

1. ABLETON
“The show revolves around Ableton Live software on custom made super-computers, which we remotely access and control with Behringer BCR2000 midi controllers.”

2. SCREENS
“Next to the ethernet remote computer screens there are four Minimoog Voyagers, the classic analog synthesizers. They’re a 30-year old design.”

3. MOOGS
“We can mix, shuffle, trigger loops, filter, distort samples, EQ in and out, transpose or destroy and deconstruct synth lines. We keep some surprises on the side too!”

4. VISUALS
“There’s a direct connection between our rig and the lights and visuals of the show. The light and video engineers can also add or control layers during the show.”

5. SYNTHS
“Inside the pyramid are synthesizers and remote controls connected to the rest of the music equipment and computers, which are in rack-mounted towers off stage.”

6. TEAMWORK
“Working the music equipment, lighting and video equipment, and building the pyramid for each show takes around 10 people, including both of us.”

You may also notice a few Lemur’s, too. Seeing what these things can do live at AES, its very easy to understand why these will soon become to defacto controller of choice for any kind of sequenced, computer-based music. (Above picture and text originally appeared in Mixmag and was found on this site)

Everyone does a year-end list of their favorite albums, songs, and whatever else they’re into. Since I blog, and it seems like somebody is reading all of these lists, I figure’d I give it a shot. I may be a little later than most on this, but no matter. Here it is (in 56k friendly thumbnail form!) :

I have a 15th favorite album: Deadmau5′ “Random Album Title,” but was unsuccessful in finding cover art for it. Sorry! The albums are in no particular order, by the way.

Variety is reporting about todays Golden Globe nominees for all categories, but I’d like to post about the ones relevant to my (and your’s) interest.

Alexandre Desplat - “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button”
Clint Eastwood - “Changeling”
James Newton Howard - “Defiance”
A. R. Rahman - “Slumdog Millionaire”
Hans Zimmer - “Frost/Nixon”

Seeing names like James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer are expected…but Clint Eastwood? Did he really compose the score Changeling? If he did, he really is tackling all aspects of movie making, isn’t he?

Other not-so-common names (at least to me) are those of Alexandre Desplat and Bollywood-heavyweight A.R. Rahman. Click their names and check out their IMDB profiles for their credits.

“Best Song” category is rather boring.

“Down To Earth” from “Wall-E” - Music By: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman; Lyrics By: Peter Gabriel
“Gran Torino” from “Gran Torino” - Music By: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens; Lyrics By: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
“I Thought I Lost You” from “Bolt” - Music & Lyrics By: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele
“Once In A Lifetime” from “Cadillac Records”
Music & Lyrics By: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott Mcfarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street
“The Wrestler” from “The Wrestler” - Music & Lyrics By: Bruce Springsteen

Further proof that Clint Eastwood has his hands in some of the audio production for his films. Also nice to see Peter Gabriel on the list.

Aside from the slew of Golden Globe nods yesterday, I found some good news surround the Dark Knight “Best Score” debacle I previously wrote about. The Academy has reversed its decision thus making the Dark Knight eligible for the “Best Score” Oscar! As Reuters reports:

After reviewing the submission, [the academy] concluded that Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard were the main composers and deemed the duo’s work for Warner Bros.’ Batman blockbuster as eligible. The academy said that since ballots had not been mailed, the decision would not affect the voting process.

Good news for all the people involved with the score for the Dark Knight. So far, from what I’ve found, there’s no list of Oscar Nominees for 2009, but as soon as there are, I’ll post the “Best Score” nominees.

It should be no secret (by now) that I’m first a foremost a nerd. Whether it be recording/music gear, technology, or video games, I’m a nerd.

I’ve followed Blizzard and played their games since my Dad first intorduced me to Warcraft II. Since then, I’ve been somewhat of a Blizzard fanboy. I’ve purchased all the games, played them to death (I’m still playing World of Warcraft), and have always loved the music and sound design.

When I saw that the Echoes of War set would go on sale, I immediately pre-ordered the “Legendary” edition: 2 music CDs, 1 behind-the-scenes DVD, several art cards, and a pretty lengthy booklet containing information about some of the key musicians on the recording and some really nice commentary about the whole process.

So here’s what I think about the set as an audio engineer/normal guy and not so much as a musician/theory guy:

The Music: Well, assuming you bought either versions of this set, this is probably why. The music is amazing. Its moving, its epic, its huge. You can really tell, in listening, how much love, blood, sweat, and tears went into this project. From the scoring to the composition to the actual recording…its simply amazing. Being familiar with all of the universes covered (Diablo, Warcraft, and Starcraft), the music really took me back at times. I can remember being younger and playing Warcraft II matches against my neighbors on my awesome 56k modem.

Going back to the overall quality of the music and the recordings, you can tell that the musicians chosen for this project were some of the best in the world. Because, as you know, good players are the base of any good recording.

The music is amazing. It is the reason you should be buying this now.

The DVD: The icing on cake. It’s around 50 minutes long and full of awesome content. You get to meet a lot of the key players in this project: from the composer, to the arrangers, to some of the recording engineers behind the console at the studio. Its just awesome.

My favorite part about the whole DVD was the theme of “challenge.” None of what these people did is easy. From concept to planning to execution. Its all very difficult.

They even talk about the difficulties of an acutal recording session at times. The interviewees talk about recording for three hours and MAYBE getting ten minutes of music (and that’s pretty generous). Long days, frustration, and little-big-mistakes (turning a page too loudly while tracking) are all very good depictions of what real, efficient, professional recording sessions are all about. Not all recording sessions are Auto Tune and drugs.

The Booklet: This is a nice addition. I won’t go on and on about it, but it was really nice to read about the musicians who made this happen. It was packed with info about the songs and what game universe they’re from. It even contains some nice commentary from a one Nick Kolan. It’s not the best part of the package, but since when were the liner notes the reason you bought a recording?

Overall, this package proved what I already knew: the recording engineers behind this and all Blizzard products have my dream job. I want to do what they do…badly.

All jealously aside, this is an amazing project spanning quite some time and involving people from all around the World.

If you’re a fan of Blizzard and the music in the games, you NEED this in your life. You wouldn’t be a fanboy without it.

Go here to buy this. Now.

Man, Auto-Tune really is hitting a high-point of popularity. The above excerpt was taken from an early week edition of Conan O’Brein in which Kanye West talks about his use of the “Audio Processor.”

I wonder what corner of television Auto-Tune will show up next at.

On another note, happy Thanksgiving!

Personally one of my favorite SNL skits ever. Blizzard Man faces off against the King of the Re-Tune Setting, T-Pain. The skit is also proof of how mainstream programs like Auto-Tune (and to a lesser extent) Meoldyne are.

In case you’re not familiar with Auto-Tune, the “T-Pain Effect, or terms like “re-tune speed,” check out this video here. I think it does a pretty good job at illustrating what T-Pain does.

You can also read this hilarious gem which talks about whether or not T-Pain uses Auto-Tune or a vocoder.

If you want my two cents, I personally think T-Pain uses AT and he probably doesn’t know his own vocal chain (as suggested in the Gearslutz post)

So I jumped on the Twitter bandwagon (finally). From now on, any updates I do will be posted on my Twitter page here as well as on the right side of the site.

If you’re interested, follow me for updates.

Since my current job is in said industry, I figure’d I’d write a quick something about how to work with in-house hotel A/V companies (many of these things can be applied to outside A/V companies).

1. Please don’t bring in your own equipment and expect it to work. Typical scenario: client comes in; client wants to use In-House AV Co.’s laptop but has their own projector they like to use; presentation goes south; client mad. It may sound like a cheap sales-pitch, but PLEASE, if you’re going to rent something from an A/V company, rent everything. The reason being is that the techs for said A/V company tend to know their aresenal of gear better than they know your stuff: they’ve dealt with their gear plenty of times, know the ins/outs as well as all the weird quirks gear sometimes have. That being said, if you want to bring in your own stuff, see #2:
2. Be patient…at least for a little while. Problems happen with gear. It’s just the way it is. Techs are there to help you with your problems. So when your PowerPoint isn’t showing up on the tripod screen and you’re not sure why, give the tech a second to figure it out. I, and every other tech, understand that most meetings are stressful: you’re expected to give a professional, working presentation on-time to your guests. Just do us a favor: don’t get pissy right away, don’t offer up your own solutions (unless you really know what you’re doing),  and don’t ask us why it’s not working. Your problem will be fixed.
3. Respect Union boundaries. If a tech can’t run audio, power, or do something like that, ask them why. If it’s because the hotel you’re in has a Union presence, then leave it at that. Ask the tech if they would kindly call the electricians (or whatever other department you need) to run power, etc. Don’t yell at them because they’re not doing something they’re not supposed to do. We have to respect the Unions and the work they do, and you should too. There aren’t a lot of union-heavy hotels around anymore, but they do exist.

So there you go. A few small tips that might help you interact with your in-house/outside A/V company. Keep in mind, however, that the above tips should only be excercised if the tech you’re dealing with is a decent person. If they’re not, well, then I don’t know what to tell you.

And, a special tip for outside A/V companies working in a hotel with an in-house A/V company: don’t be dicks to the in-house guys unless they’re not treating you with respect. We all work in the same industry, we all have similar interests, we all have similar stories to tell. Put your bullshit ego aside, and hopefully the in-house guys will do the same.

Chances are, if you went to see a movie this summer, you probably saw the Dark Knight. It is, in my opnion, an extremely well crafted film from start to finish, and that includes the score within the film.

Problem is, while Dark Knight will at LEAST be nominated for a slew of Oscars (Best Supporting Actor and on), it will NOT be nominated for “Best Score.” Why? There were too many people involved with it.

There were five people involved with the score: Hans Zimmer (duh), James Newton Howard, music editor Alex Gibson, ambient music designer Mel Wesson, and composer Lorne Balfe.

The five above signed an affadavit citing that Zimmer and Howard were the two primary composers. But by adding Gibson, Wesson, and Balfe to the cue sheet, Zimmer and Howard ensured that all would recieve royalties acrued from the use of the score. However, the downside is, according to the Academy, there were too many people involved directly with the score thus disqualifying it from the Oscar nod for “Best Score.”

I wasn’t able to find out exactly how many people can be involved on a score while still keeping their work in contention for the Oscar, but from what I gather anything more than two is generally frowned upon by the Academy.

This wasn’t the first time in recent memory a score has been DQ’d: There Will Be Blood was unable to recive a “Best Score” nod due to the use of some pre-composed material within the score.

The moral of the story: by Zimmer and Newton not being total dicks and including the core crew invovled with the score, they ruined their chances of a “Best Score” Oscar this year. Oh well.