Lightning in a Bottle 2016 adds an additional day plus 24-Hour Flash Ticket Sale starting Jan 4

Lightning in a Bottle - Bradley, CA -  California’s premiere boutique music and arts festival Lightning in a Bottle just announced that a limited amount of discounted tickets for the 11th annual gathering go on sale starting Monday, January 4th at 10AM for a 24 hour flash sale. General Admission ticket sales will follow on Tuesday, January 5th at 10AM.

World-renowned innovators of transformational festival culture blending music, art, wellness and sustainability, Do LaB’s Lightning in a Bottle 2016 will take place over Memorial Day Weekend May 25 - May 30 once again descending upon Lake San Antonio recreation area in Bradley, CA. Previous Lightning in a Bottle installments have played host to internationally acclaimed talent and rapidly rising stars such as Flume, Odesza, RL Grime, Chet Faker, Amon Tobin, Moby, Beats Antique, Griz, Shpongle, Rusko, Bassnectar, and Tipper, and 2016 will be no exception.

The 11th annual gathering also brings new early arrival options and festival additions. Inspired by their experiences at outdoor psytrance Boom Festival in Portugal, Do LaB has had the goal to extend the length of LIB for many years. 2016 gates will open May 25th to Early Arrival Pass holders giving opportunities to explore connections within the community before turning the music on for the full festival adventure.

Wednesday and Thursday of LIB 2016 will be primarily devoted to setting up camp, meeting neighbors, and getting the lay of the land. The Temple of Consciousness, Village and Learning Kitchen will be the main focus during the day on Wednesday, hosting speakers, workshops, yoga and classes with special celebrations in the evenings. The Grand Artique will also be in full effect on Wednesday with their signature brand of frontier trading and shenanigans. Music will be added in on Thursday via the Favela and Pagoda Bar with Friday opening up to the rest of the stages and festival activities. With so many participants already acclimated and fully reeling in the LIB vibes, Do LaB hopes the entire festival experience will be electrified with more connective energy than ever before.

Those who wish to take advantage of the newly-extended LIB 2016 experience will have the option to add on an Early Arrival Pass to a 4 Day Weekend Pass purchase granting entry at noon on Wednesday, May 25th. This pass will be available during the 24 hour flash ticket sale, and is expected to go quickly. With the Early Arrival pass comes first dibs on campsites in the brand new centralized High Grounds Camp, located directly across the road from the main festival grounds, featuring an incredible view of the festival and providing the shortest campground walk to many primary festival attractions. Car camping is available in the High Grounds camp with the purchase of a Car Camping Pass. Early arrival RV Camping Passes will be available for the RV Campground. All other venue campgrounds will open up with the gates on Thursday.

To get inspired for LIB 2016, watch the newly released Official Lightning in a Bottle 2015 Video created by Media Stranger, featuring cameos from RL Grime, Zion I, Goldroom, avant-garde electro circus troupe Lucent Dossier Experience, and live art installations by Jef Logan among beautiful moments of festival attendees and the land. The video is only a small testament to what lies ahead at Lightning in a Bottle 2016.

Also new to 2016, Do LaB is proud to premiere the visionary video series Lightning Talks carefully curated from 2015’s Temple of Consciousness, Village, and Learning Kitchen lectures, workshops and speakers including Dennis McKenna and Dream Rockwell of the Lucent Dossier Experience. In years past the only way to witness these magical talks was by attending the festival in person, now you can relive the talk that changed your life or listen to a speaker you were dying to see but missed. By signing up for Lightning Talks, you'll receive a new video every Tuesday from one of 2015’s highly talented presenters, sharing knowledge in the worlds of science, creativity, spirituality, love, media, healing, philosophy, and more! Sneak a peek at the first seminar from best selling author Neale Donald Walsch here.

Much wonder awaits in what will surely be the most amazing Lightning in a Bottle gathering to date!  Memorial Day Weekend can’t come soon enough.

Purchase festival passes starting at 10AM January 4th via the Lightning in a Bottle website. There will be a limited number of the new Early Arrival Passes available - get one while they last!  RSVP on the LIB Facebook Event Page to connect early with your Lightning in a Bottle tribe and be sure to stay in the loop with lineup announcement and other news by signing up for the LIB newsletter.    

STAY CONNECTED!

Lightning in a Bottle: Website | Facebook | Event Page | Twitter | Instagram

Do LaB: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud |Twitter

Antelope Audio Takes Interface Market by Storm with Two Thunderbolt™-Compatible Devices: Orion32+ and Orion Studio — Now Shipping

Santa Monica, Calif., December 16, 2015 — Leading professional audio gear manufacturer Antelope Audio announced that its new category leading interfaces, Orion32+ and Orion Studio, are both fully compatible with Apple Thunderbolt™ technology. Both interfaces, which were previewed at the 139th AES Show in New York City last month, are now shipping; during the remainder of December, customers who purchase an Orion32+ or Orion Studio at select dealers will receive a free two-meter Thunderbolt™ cable (a $49 value).

Both devices represent a significant evolution in audio interface technology, packing multiple channels of pristine quality I/O conversion and flexible routing options. Each unit also features zero latency monitoring and Antelope's legendary clocking technology — which provides the very best in sonic imaging.

Orion32+: A Constellation of Features, now with Thunderbolt™
Orion32+ follows the success of its predecessor, Orion32 — which launched three years ago as the world's first 32-channel interface solution in a 1U rack. Orion32+ is now Antelope's flagship interface, and features Thunderbolt™ compatibility, improved dynamic range, zero latency monitoring and Antelope's signature uncompromising audio quality.

The Orion32+ does what has never been possible before in a 1U rack space — delivering 32 channels of I/O, unmatched connectivity options, zero latency monitoring and 32-simultaneous channels of 24-bit, 192 kHz audio performance. The unit also delivers a vast range of connectivity options including Thunderbolt™, MADI and USB, making it suitable for use in commercial, home studio and live environments. The Orion32+ also incorporates ADAT and S/PDIF throughput, with I/O being handled by eight D-Sub 25 connectors and a pair of mastering grade monitor outputs — both capable of delivering 129 dB dynamic range.

Orion Studio: Set the Controls for the Heart of Audio Purity
Now with full Thunderbolt™ compatibility, Antelope's Orion Studio brings the very latest interface technology to a new universe of Apple Mac Book Pro users. Constructed in an elegant 1U form factor, Orion Studio delivers a massive feature set in a small package: the lowest latency AD/DA converter in its class, USB compatibility, custom routing flexibility of course Antelope Audio's renowned sonic depth and clarity — made possible by the company's proprietary clocking technology.

Suitable for both project studios, home recording environments and other applications, Orion Studio delivers uncompromising, professional grade audio quality and is capable of processing 32 channels of 192 kHz audio at dizzying speeds of 100μ round trip delay. With 12 commercial quality microphone preamplifiers, 16 analog outputs, two mastering grade monitor outputs and Thunderbolt™ compatibility, Orion Studio is the perfect companion to acheive the ultimate in sound quality.

" Orion32+ and Orion Studio deliver an enormous return on investment for producers, engineers and musicians who seek the very pinnacle of audio quality and workflow efficiency," commented Marcel James, US Director of Sales, Antelope Audio. "By announcing Thunderbolt™ compatibility for both of these devices, Antelope brings our best in class feature set and audio quality to an entirely new audience of users."

Powerful Onboard DSP and Advanced Signal Routing
Antelope's Orion32+ and Orion Studio interfaces are integrated with Antelope Audio's new onboard DSP engine, which is designed to run custom EQ, compressor and reverb plug-ins: including Antelope's recently announced AuraVerb.

Orion32+ and Orion Studio both ship with AuraVerb, and other plug-ins will soon become available to owners of these products free of charge. The new DSP, which allows simultaneous processing of multiple effects, utilizes Antelope's proprietary effects algorithms and significantly increases speed of workflow — no matter what DAW is chosen.

The accompanying software for Orion32+ and Orion Studio make it simple to operate, with a color-coded routing matrix, four separate mixers and intelligent DSP effects integration. The software application, which was created for Orion32 and further refined for Antelope's Zen Studio, is available for both OS X and Windows operating systems. Further, both the Orion32+ and Orion Studio are fully supported by Antelope's superior 64-bit Acoustically Focused Clocking (AFC) jitter management technology, which is present in leading mastering facilities around the world.

Orion32+ is priced at $3,495 (U.S.) and Orion Studio is priced at $2,795 (U.S.). For more information, please visit http://www.antelopeaudio.com.

Nigel Stanford has MOMENTUM: Music and Technology Wiz Combines Electronica and Science in Visually-Stunning Videos

Old Lyme, Conn., December 16, 2015 — Sennheiser's MOMENTUM campaign has highlighted dozens of unique sound stories from all over the world: stories about creators with MOMENTUM and people who push the world forward with their creative passions. These stories feature artists, innovators and entrepreneurs in the most authentic sense, and serve to inspire others to uncover their own unique MOMENTUM.

Nigel Stanford is the latest creative visionary to share his inspiring story. An electronic musician with a remarkable penchant for visualizing his work in video form, Stanford owes some of his unique perspective towards sound to his experience of synesthesia. “For me, bass frequencies are red and high-frequency sounds are yellow and white.“ His ability to ‘see’ sound has helped inform the visually compelling videos that marry scientific phenomena with his original musical compositions.

Hailing from New Zealand but based in New York, Nigel Stanford’s first LP came out in 1999. However, it was the 2014 video for his song ‘Cymatics' that blew the minds of millions of people around the world. Stanford, who tries “to make projects that are like mini-movies”, created a film based on scientific experiments, where each sound would be visualised through incredible, physical special effects. Deep bass frequencies sent shockwaves through liquids, synth stabs would ignite columns of flame, and an electrifying crescendo of sound would be made visualized as electricity though a Tesla coil firing bolts of lightning over Stanford’s own mesh-clad body.

Unlike most music videos, in the case of ‘Cymatics’ the song itself was born out of the video. Each filmed motion was created by whichever frequencies most successfully affected physical objects — these frequencies were then used to shape the underlying music of ‘Cymatics.’

In his most recent audio-visual opus, “Automatica,” Stanford has taken on the subject of the singularity—the point at which artificial intelligence itself will develop the next level of artificial intelligence—with a complex and challenging shoot utilizing industrial robots. “It was the most stressful thing I’d ever done in my life,” he said. Stanford achieves the feeling of AI evolution by having robots of the sort commonly seen assembling cars picking up and playing instruments. At first, Stanford is directing them. But as the film progresses, the robots begin adapting the instruments to better suit their own form and needs, or as Stanford describes it: “The robots I’m training to play music suddenly turn the tables and start teaching me to play music.”

Putting together the elaborate robotic dance of ‘Automatica’ tested Stanford’s mettle. “One set we had robots playing instruments, then we had a robot controlling the camera and then all of the lights were automatic as well. The programming of those three elements takes a lot of time and a lot of head scratching.” Aside from spending hours programming each individual scene, Stanford was also hands-on with prop and set design. “I enjoy getting my hands dirty and making props; I also get involved with the compositing,” he says. This approach is inspired by his belief that each component of his videos is a part of a cogent artistic vision. “All of the those things are equally important as the music, so I want to be as involved as I can.”

All in all Stanford will have spent about a year bringing the video to life, but cutting corners was never a consideration. “For me, I just want to make something that is up there with the best of the best. I want to make the best thing that I possibly can,” he says. Stanford’s MOMENTUM is his desire to create something more than pure entertainment. He sees his videos as helping foster an interest in science. “I think it’s great to make people really interested in science and show them another way of looking at reality,” he says. “It kind of feels like magic, but it’s just physics.”

About Sennheiser

Audio specialist Sennheiser is one of the world's leading manufacturers of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems. Based in Wedemark near Hanover, Germany, Sennheiser operates its own production facilities in Germany, Ireland and the USA and is active in more than 50 countries. With 18 sales subsidiaries and long-established trading partners, the company supplies innovative products and cutting-edge audio solutions that are optimally tailored to its customers' needs. Sennheiser is a family owned company that was founded in 1945 and which today has 2,700 employees around the world that share a passion for audio technology. Since 2013, Sennheiser has been managed by Daniel Sennheiser and Dr. Andreas Sennheiser, the third generation of the family to run the company. In 2014, the Sennheiser Group had sales totalling €635 million. www.sennheiser.com

Women’s Audio Mission Presents All-Star Producer Panel at the 2016 NAMM Show

With Sylvia Massy, tUnE-yArDs, Asma Maroof, and Terri Winston 

San Francisco, CA – December 10, 2015– Women’s Audio Mission (WAM), a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts, will be presenting an all-women music producer panel at the 2016 NAMM Show on Thursday, January 21 from 11:00am to 12:00pm in Anaheim, CA, the world's largest trade-only event for the music products industry.

Women’s Audio Mission trains over 1,200 women and girls every year in the only professional recording studio in the world built and run entirely by women. WAM will present a panel on “The Evolution of the Music Producer”, featuring an all-star lineup of veteran music producers who will discuss how the role of “music producer” has evolved over time, from the person who steers a recording project and brings out the best performance in an artist in the studio to a person who creates the electronic music and beats that shape today’s hits.

Panelists will include Sylvia Massy, award-winning producer, artist, writer and educator who has worked with major artists from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Tool to Johnny Cash to Prince; Merrill Garbus, the groundbreaking indie artist and producer behind the innovative musical project tUnE-yArDs, described as “astonishing” by The Village Voice and “ingenious and irresistible” by The New York Times; Asma Maroof (DJ Asma), producer and tour DJ for MIA and a member of Future Brown and Nguzunguzu; and Terri Winston, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Audio Mission.

“We’re very excited to be presenting this panel at NAMM this year,” says Winston. “Less than 5% of content you hear every day on the radio, on streaming services, on TV is created by women.  These amazing producers have a wealth of experience and a lot to say. It’s great to have a platform at NAMM to share this and showcase these very different perspectives and backgrounds in music production.”

Women in the music and audio industry, Women’s Audio Mission members, and NAMM attendees are all encouraged to attend the panel in January. 
https://www.namm.org/event/wn16/evolution-producer

SuperMegaUltraGroovy Introduces All-New Isolation Feature for Capo and Capo touch

Waterloo, ON - December 16, 2015. Today SuperMegaUltraGroovy released updates to their award-winning Capo product for Mac, iPhone, and iPad. Capo now allows musicians to isolate instruments or vocals in a stereo recording so they can more easily hear parts of the songs they wish to learn. In addition, Capo can remove individual parts, allowing users to play or sing alongside the original recording.

“Over the past few years I have researched and prototyped audio isolation tools for Capo, and I’m excited to finally share this new feature with my users,” says Chris Liscio, SuperMegaUltraGroovy’s president and the developer of Capo. “I named the engine Neptune, which is a very nerdy play on the word ‘isolate’." Neptune is the 8th planet from the sun, and is also known as Sol VIII.
SuperMegaUltraGroovy’s Neptune isolation engine uses a sophisticated method of determining the spread of energy across the stereo field. This energy distribution is visualized using a unique display that helps users locate desired sounds, and allows them to limit that isolation to a desired pan and frequency range.

“Capo’s isolation controls allow you to do everything from eliminating the vocals to isolating a hidden rhythm guitar part that isn't easily heard in a rich mix,” says Liscio. “Especially in older recordings—where stereo mixes were less sophisticated than they are today—you can extract legendary performances to study, now clearer than ever.”

Capo can also reverse the isolation effect and mute specific vocals or instruments in a song. This allows users to create play-along backing tracks to practice a solo with the original band recording, or create something entirely new by using the Mac version's ability to export slowed, transposed, and now isolated audio files.

In addition to Capo's new isolation feature, Capo allows users to slow down music without altering its pitch (unlike a slowed down vinyl record), or transpose music to other keys. Capo also detects chords in music automatically, and offers simple-to-use tabbing functionality on the Mac with support for Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Banjo, and Mandolin in various tunings.

Capo 3.4 is available for $29.99 on the Mac App Store, with a free trial available at http://capoapp.com/mac. Capo touch 2.3 for iPhone and iPad is available on the App Store for $9.99.

Exclusive Interview For Reaper by "A Sound Effect"

Asbjoern Andersen of, "A Sound Effect" recently did an interview with Reaper's creator, 

Justin Frankel.  

Read it here.

IK Multimedia unveils Riff Maestro - the free "guitar teacher in your pocket" for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android

December 15, 2015 - IK Multimedia, the leader in mobile music creation, is pleased to announce the release of Riff Maestro, a powerful free app for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Android devices that lets users quickly and easily learn how to play any song in their mobile device's music library. An essential learning tool for guitar and bass players, it's loaded with useful features for both novices and professionals alike: It sports effortless tempo and pitch shifting, an automatic chord detector, an audio waveform display, touch-and-drag loop point setting, and more. Riff Maestro makes learning riffs, licks and entire songs effortless and fun.

Any song. Anytime. Anywhere.
With Riff Maestro, musicians will feel like they have their very own personal guitar teacher in their pocket. It can be used to learn virtually any song in a mobile device's music library. Its convenient browser displays available songs. Once a selection has been made, Riff Maestro's magic begins working behind the scenes to make the song ready for use with its collection of powerful learning tools.

Learning with Riff Maestro
How does it work? Learning with Riff Maestro couldn't be easier. Users simply import a song from their available music library on their device. Once a song has been loaded, the tempo can be adjusted with the tempo slider to slow down difficult passages without affecting pitch for easy learning. Users can set loop points in a song to repeat sections and phrases until perfected. A song's sonic information is shown via an easy-to-view waveform display with a time counter displaying where the play head is in the song. Plus, navigating through the song is as easy as dragging the waveform.

Chord detection
What makes Riff Maestro totally unique and powerful is its optional Chord detection tool. This feature automatically detects and displays chords as they happen in a song. These chords are shown above the waveform display as easy to read chord diagrams or large labels. It's extremely helpful for learning the chords of a song and also for gaining confidence in scale and key while practicing new solo or just strumming along.

Educational Power tools
Beyond the convenience of its looping feature and chord detection, Riff Maestro also offers a number of other powerful tools that make learning a breeze. The Tempo feature can be upgraded via in-app purchase to offer enhanced sound quality and a transpose adjustment slider that can be used to change the key of a song +/- 12 semitones. Similarly, users can purchase a BPM detection feature that automatically finds the selected song's beats-per-minute and enables a metronome feature synced with the song's tempo.

Pricing and availability
Riff Maestro is available now for download at no cost from the App Store^SM for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users or from the Google Play store for Android users. BPM Detection, High-Quality Time Stretch/Transpose and Chord Detection are available as in-app purchases for $/€4.99 separately or as a bundle for $/€9.99.