Five Star Music Makeover

The independent artist's guide for singers, songwriters, bands, producers, and self-publishers

Montclair, NJ (March 31, 2016) - In order to achieve success in today's music industry, artists must first do a great deal of work on their own. Learning the required skills can take years of real-life experience, and hiring personal coaches, studio professionals, and consultants can be costly. But now, for the first time, there's an invaluable resource to help them meet these challenges:

Five Star Music Makeover

 is an engaging all-in-one guide designed specifically for aspiring artists. Written by five experts with over 100 years of collective experience, both on and off the stage, this unique book covers five key skills every musician needs to succeed: 

• Improving vocal production/technique
• Writing memorable and marketable songs
• Recording your ultimate EP
• Navigating the publishing world
• Promoting music effectively

Also included are insiders' stories and anecdotes, helpful tips, creative exercises, celebrity interviews, and all the practical expertise necessary to develop a successful music career. 

Five Star Music Makeover is a complete and practical career guide - a resource that transforms artists from good to great.

Glitchmachines PARALLAX - Sample Pack

Parallax is a new sample pack by sound designers Ivo Ivanov and Alex Retsis, featuring over 1300 raw sound effects inspired by old school video games and vintage computer technology. Designed primarily with electronic musicians and sound designers in mind, Parallax is organized in various focused categories including CHIP, BENT, DATA, MODULAR, NOISEKIT, SFX and more. This highly specialized pack invites you to explore an action packed soundscape, bursting with rad digital oddities.

Parallax was designed with a plethora of unconventional tools including vintage video game chips, noise kits, modular synths, circuit-bent hardware instruments and custom computer apps. We have carefully left every sample completely raw, leaving it up to you how to further process and adapt these effects to your projects. Whether you are working on an electronic track that needs a lofi edge or designing an indie game, Parallax will deliver a dose of pure fun and sonic nostalgia.

PARALLAX is available now for $39

http://glitchmachines.com/products/parallax/

New Manuel Rodriguez Guitars Factory Tour Video Demonstrates A 110 Year Commitment To Craftsmanship

BLOOMFIELD, CONNECTICUT, March 30, 2016 — To help support the launch of its expanded United States sales and marketing program through KMC Music (www.kmcmusic.com), Manuel Rodriguez Guitars (www.mrguitarras.es), the world’s second oldest line of guitars, today announced that it has produced a compelling six-minute video that takes the viewer through the entire production process of a guitar line known around the world as “Brand Spain.”

According to third-generation CEO Manuel Rodriguez III, the production of the new video also coincides with the recent completion of a substantial factory expansion and remodeling program that allows the company to increase its production capacity to meet a global growth in demand for the Manuel Rodriguez line of hand-made guitars.  “We felt it was important to show our distributors, dealers, and, most importantly, our customers where and how we design and make our unique line of instruments.  Our Spanish roots, the cradle of the classical and flamenco guitar, are key for the quality and beauty of our products.  This new video vividly showcases the passion, care, and commitment to quality that goes into the production of our guitars — a commitment that goes back to 1905.”

According to KMC Music Product Manager Rodney Washburn, the new Manuel Rodriguez Guitar video has been distributed to all KMC Music dealers to help with in-store presentations to their customers.  “The reaction of our dealers has been nothing less than enthusiastic,” he explained.  “The video details every step of the production process, from the sourcing of raw materials to the stringing of the finished guitars.  It really demonstrates the value built into every one of these fine iconic guitars.”

 To watch the Manuel Rodriguez Guitars factory video, click here.

Native Instruments introduces RISING CRESCENT MASCHINE Expansion

Berlin, March 30, 2016 – Native Instruments today introduced RISING CRESCENT – the first MASCHINE Expansion to explore the sounds and rhythms of the modern orient. RISING CRESCENT pulls from musical cultures in and around the Mediterranean and combines them with modern bass production techniques. The expansion is aimed at producers of all genres in search of fresh, non-western flavors to add to their music. RISING CRESCENT runs in the latest MASCHINE software on MASCHINE STUDIO, MASCHINE, or MASCHINE MIKRO and is available exclusively at the NI Online Shop. A compact version for iMASCHINE is also available via the iMASCHINE in-app store.

RISING CRESCENT comprises a sample library of expertly recorded instruments from the Aegean, the Balkans, the Middle East, and India. The sample set includes instruments such as the darbuka, daouli, hand drums, micro-percussive cymbals, rare Cretan lutes, and more. Complementing this more traditional sound set are new presets for NI's renowned MASSIVE, REAKTOR PRISM, and MASCHINE Drum Synths, adding the deep low end and synthetic textures contemporary bass music for an exotic new hybrid flavor. RISING CRESCENT was produced by John Valasis, creator of the hardline techno-influenced GREY FORGE MASCHINE Expansion.

A compact version of RISING CRESCENT is also available as an iMASCHINE Expansion, for creating beats on the go. Tracks can be exported to MASCHINE STUDIO, MASCHINE, and MASCHINE MIKRO for completion.

RISING CRESCENT is available now at the NI Online Shop for $49 / 49 € / £44 / ¥ 6,820 / AU$ 79 and runs in the MASCHINE 2 software.

The iMASCHINE expansion is available at the iMASCHINE in-app store for $0.99 / 0,89 € / £0.79 / ¥ 100 / AU$ 1.29.

Additional information on RISING CRESCENT is available at:
www.native-instruments.com/risingcrescent

More information on John Valasis is available at:
www.johnvalasis.com

Mr. Bill & Au5 - Shlappy

Mr. Bill & Au5 have released Shlappy! 

Recommendation rating: 

✰✰✰✰✰

iZotope Brings Perpetual Motion to Music Production with Mobius Filter

New effect plug-in delivers energy and impact with infinitely ascending or descending filter sweeps

Cambridge, MA (March 29, 2015) - iZotope, Inc., makers of award-winning tools for audio production, is announcing the release of Mobius Filter, a new effect plug-in that creates the sensation of infinite movement. Based on the auditory illusion of the Shepard Tone, the filters within Mobius Filter appear to defy logic, producing perpetually rising or falling effects that can be easily manipulated with a playful X/Y pad. The ever-ascending or descending results bring impact to a track: as an intensifying build-up to a chorus or drop, or as a creative effect on individual tracks and instruments. Music producers can turn to Mobius Filter as an inspiring alternative to a standard flanger or phaser, as the antidote to a lackluster bridge or arrangement, or as the spark for psychotropic sonic textures.

Chaos Culture - Frame TWO

There's no denying the popularity of MIDI Controller lightshows, with forums and websites dedicated to the phenomenon we've seen some of the leading Lightshow Artists Youtube channels clock up hundreds of thousand of subscriptions and views into the many millions...

If you've ever started out to make an animation you'll know how long it can take to construct and with each frame taking up more CPU power if you're using the MIDI Effects Method you'll hit a point where your performance can become compromised by the processing power available...

You could of course use the MIDI Clips method, you've just got to learn which note is which and then draw them by hand adjusting each notes velocity to acheive the desired feedback on your controller... Less CPU of course but it can take a while, and then you've got to figure out how to map the clips to be launched alongside your music...

The solution comes in the form of a MaxforLive set of devices from newest Isotonik Collective member Chaos Culture!!

One device to create the MIDI Clips, another to output to your controller (theres no limit to these as you can create animations that spread across multiple controllers) and a final device that handles the performance...

Set Up is simple, as is creating your own animations, the videos below show the three methods against each other to create the same single animation. Frame TWO acheived the desired results in a quarter of the time of the MIDI Effects Method!!

CHAOS CULTURE - FRAME TWO - AVAILABLE NOW - £13.99

PerforModule - Groovification 1

Groovification is a painstakingly created set of Ableton Live Groove Files, presented in a Live pack that installs directly into your browser for easy navigation, based around a trio of principles...

Mathematical Grooves 

These grooves work best when applied to clips with straight swing (notes are falling directly on beat intervals). They will then alter the groove in a unique manner, delaying some notes forward and some backward, with the distances based on the chosen mathematical number sequence.

BreakFill Grooves 

Use these clips to transform a “boring” clip into dynamic movements such as crescendos, swells, etc. They are organized by timing interval. In general, the idea is to apply these to clips which are “transitionary” — either for clips which will be triggered a single time before a drop, or for looping clips during a breakdown. Either way, they are ment for “transitionary” states.

Quantize Grooves 

And finally the Quantize Grooves will snap notes to the nearest selected timing interval. You can use them to quickly clean up imperfect timing (using the “global amount” parameter to set the correction amount). You can also experiment with imposing different quantizations upon audio quickly and easily. All without the need to painstakingly manually select notes or use undo actions to return to the original feel (as would be required if editing quatization in the clip note editor)

MORE DETAILS

GROOVIFICATION ONE - AVAILABLE NOW - £9.99 

PERFORMODULE COLLECTION TWO - £35.99 (A bargain for 5 Ableton Live Packs)

The Village, Lightning in a Bottle’s Sacred Environment, Announces Theme and Workshops

Bradley, CA - In celebration of the earth and to inspire humanity to reconnect within, Do LaB proudly unveils the 2016 theme, presenters, workshops and offerings for Lightning in a Bottle’s micro-environment and sacred epicenter, The Village. Built around a beautiful Grandmother Oak, paying homage to its 2016 theme, “Tree of Life”, The Village will give attendees a unique opportunity to learn by doing, develop hands on skills and discover what it takes to create and sustain a living Village together as a community.

Fueled by the intention to bring ceremonial and ancient wisdom traditions into festival culture, The Village will create a regenerative, restorative way of life through educational demonstrations, enlightening workshops and singular metamorphic experiences. Step inside the Community Lodge to explore daily workshops centered around earth-based traditions, rituals, social action strategies and plant medicine teachings. Luminaries taking the Lodge stage this year include visionary activist and founder of Portland’s renowned Village Building Convergence Mark Lakeman, festival returnee Mexihcah medicine man and lineage holder Kuautli Vasquez, Community leaders and ceremonialists Isis Indriya and Eve Ladyapples who will lead a fully experiential and participatory journey up the kabbalistic Tree of Life, and Esperide Ananas the Ambassador of Damanhur (an Italian-based federation of spiritual communities, with its own culture, art, currency, schools, and underground temple built entirely by hand, which is known as “the eighth wonder of the world”) who will speak on the Magic and Power of Community.  

Let's Drive to Alaska Releases "In The Fifth House"

Let's Drive to Alaska, the Southern California electric post-rock duo, Christopher Garcia and Patrick Haag, cover a variety of acoustic and digital explorations in their forthcoming album, "In The Fifth House" now released on bandcamp:

AudiOutlaw MINI's FX

The AudiOutlaws have done it again, taking everything that was great about the NoisR FX suite and chopping it up into pieces so that you can use as many of the individual FX in your set as you wish…

Filter – a smooth, multi-mode filter that can be modulated by an on-board cycling ADSR Auto-

Gate – an ADSR-shapeable tremolo-like effect which can operate at creepingly slow or lightning fast speeds.

Overdrive – a beefy saturation module that includes an auto-ducking feature which adjusts the overdrive level in response to transients. The auto-ducking sounds great and really smooths out the distortion.

Flange – Standard flange effect with a wide range of tempo-synced speeds for soaring phase effects or wobbly chorus-style sounds.

Ring Modulator – A pseudo-ringmod that uses a short delay with high feedback to produce a pitched ringing effect along with your sound input.

Pitch Shift – A simple pitch shifter with a mix knob for harmonies, a reset button and a pitch knob.

Echo – standard echo effect with optional reverse mode. Can be synced to master rate

Reverb – A huge, lush reverb with hipass and lopass filters, and a freeze button for infinite reverb

If you can't give a home to all of them, then grab what you want, one device at a time (there's a deal for grabbing the lot of course!).....

WARNING: For a LIMITED period the MINI's are a part of the NoisR FX Suite!  

NOISR FX £19.99 including MINI's

MINI's £9.99 for the full set or £2.99 Each....!

MORE DETAILS - CLICK HERE

Enchanted Forest Gathering Revelease Impressive 2016 Lineup

Laytonville, CA - The sixth annual installment of Enchanted Forest Gathering,Northern California’s celebrated music, yoga, flow-arts and conscious movement festival, has just announced its most heavy-hitting music lineup to date. Taking place July 22-24, 2016, the Gathering’s headliners include England’s forefather of psychedelic electronica Shpongle,the festival circuit’s unofficial Funkiest Diplomat The Polish Ambassador, plus MartyParty and Ooah (of The Glitch Mob) who combine forces as the melodic bass duo PANTyRAiD making a highly-anticipated return after a three year hiatus. Rounding out the electronic list of headliners is West Coast bass movement champion Minnesota and soulful Chicago trio Autograf.

Included among the much-hyped live acts headlining in 2016 is a three-hour, otherworldly trance set from groovy world-hip-hop fusion group Hamsa Lila, a vivid harmonic storytelling experience by ethereal melody-weaver Ayla Nereo, and two passionately devotional music sets from Fanna Fi Allah - a leading representation of ancient Sufi Qawwali music. Grammy-nominated, drum and bass Reggae stylist Youssoupha Sidibe, indie-rock electronica band Lila Rose and ecstatic vocalist and innovative composer Suzanne Sterling will also deliver spirited live performances over the course of the weekend.

NAMM 2016: Dave Smith

Dave Smith has teamed up with Tom Oberheim to create the OB-6! It is a new polyphonic 6-voice analog synthesizer inspired by Oberheim's original SEM now with complete stability and flexibility and it will be going for $2,999 MAP.

There is also a new Prophet-6 Polyphonic Analog Synthesizer for $2,799 MAP and a Desktop Module version for $2,199 MAP.

NAMM 2016: Focusrite Novation

Focusrite was showing off their new RedNet A16R audio-over-IP system which networks multiple rooms together. Scarlett was also seen,  their USB interface range, as well as the iTrack range of iOS interfaces. The Clarett Thunderbolt interfaces are newest and the classic ISA (Input Signal Amplifier) ranges were shown.










 














Novation has a new Circuit Groovebox. Hear all about it courtesy of PMTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ijsCUjPJPs

Native Instruments releases video feature on Drake producer Noah '40' Shebib

Berlin, March 16, 2016 – Native Instruments today released a new video feature on Noah '40' Shebib – the Grammy-winning producer behind the sound of Drake's innovative productions. In the video, he talks about building his Toronto studio with workflow in mind, shares insights into his production techniques, and explains how MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL fit perfectly into his philosophy of delivering maximum artistic authenticity through simplicity.

40 has built a studio centered on direct creative output, creating a central hub for Toronto's producer community. Once artists and producers install the necessary software on their laptops, they gain access to the studio's full complement of equipment, including full MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL production systems, by connecting just one cable. The studio has also become the home for Toronto's new generation of producers including Nineteen85 (Hotline Bling) and Majid Jordan.

In the video, 40 explains how he uses MASCHINE and KOMPLETE KONTROL at every stage of production. When starting a project in MASCHINE, he creates basic harmonic and melodic elements of the track on a KOMPLETE KONTROL S-Series keyboard to a metronome. Once he's added a basic drum groove to this structure, he tests beats using different sounding drums by cycling through drum kits in the MASCHINE library directly from the hardware. He then tailors his sound directly from his MASCHINE hardware by recording automation from the wide range of the included effects in MASCHINE. 40 also uses the Drag and Drop feature in MASCHINE to record new sounds and drop them straight into an arrangement, adding a sonic signature that makes a record's close interesting for the listener.

Although 40 is known for creating the Drake sound, his expertise can also be heard on tracks from Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, Action Bronson, and Jamie Foxx. A comprehensive playlist demonstrating his wide production credits is available on Spotify.

Women’s Audio Mission announces spring 2016 class schedule

World's Only Women Run Studio Offers Affordable Classes to Women

(San Francisco, CA – March 15, 2016) – Less than five percent of the sound we hear every day is engineered and produced by women. Women’s Audio Mission (WAM), a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women in music production and the recording arts, is actively “changing the face of sound” by offering the following low/no-cost classes and events to WAM members and women interested in learning about recording and music production:

March 17^th, 7 PM:                   Introduction to Ableton Live – FREE Workshop
                                                  REGISTER
April 10, Noon:                        Recording Drums with Kiran Ghandi (Drummer for M.I.A.)
                                                  REGISTER

April 14^th, 7 PM:                      Tour of The Vintage Synth Museum
                                                   REGISTER

April 21 and April 28:              Introduction to Podcasts
                                                   REGISTER

May 15^th 11 AM:                     Live Sound Workshop
                                                  REGISTER

May 21^st, 10 AM:                    Introduction to Electronic Music Production
                                                  REGISTER

For more details and a complete listing of events:http://www.womensaudiomission.org/events

NAMM 2016: Soundbrenner

Soundbrenner has created an innovative way to keep time through feeling and seeing a metronome instead of hearing it!

It comes in various sizes which allow you to place it around your wrist, arm, leg, and even your neck to feel the vibration and you can change the color and speed through the app. 

NAMM 2016: Soundtrack Loops & DJ Puzzle

Soundtrack Loops had their own booth at the show this year but have been present at NAMM for over 15 years. They provide loops, samples, presets, Maschine kits, midi files, and more! If you take a look at the above picture, you'll see DJ Puzzle there in the middle who did a number of demonstrations.

Their newest additions are for the new Native Instruments format, stems. The genre of styles they provide range from rock, metal, EDM, house music to Latin and Caribbean with many more always in the making.

You can get started with some of their free packs here: http://soundtrackloops.com/audio/shop/free-loops/

NAMM 2016: Solid State Logic / SSL

Solid State Logic updated the Sigma delta, a 16 channel stereo summing mixer controlled by a standalone piece of software that is MCU compliant.

They also won in the 31st annual NAMM TEC Awards for Technical Achievement.

NAMM 2016: Rane

Mister Remix on the decks

Rane has developed the MP2014, a Rotary 2-Channel Mixer. With less features than the MP2015, it still has 2 USB ports,  isolator EQs, and will sell for a bit cheaper at $1999.

NAMM 2016: Avid - Protools / Sibelius

Avid continues to develop their well-known ProTools and Sibelius software programs. 

In ProTools 12.5, early access will be offered to the Avid Cloud Collaboration which makes it easier for artists and audio professionals to work together on projects from any location. Users will be allowed to work with others in real-time or create offline and share their updates directly and even text back and forth while doing so.




























Sibelius is now reaching version 8.1, making it even easier to create beautiful and accurate music scores. It allows the user to read and write music faster and easier with intelligent rests that automatically align with note flow, it creates conside first, second and third tiem bars for playback accuracy, eliminating manual correction, and exports compositions as an MP3 audio file for faster file transfer that will not hit email size limits.

NAMM 2016: Stomplight

Stomplight was created by Michael Ahern to allow the performer to control their own lighting!

"The StompLight Professional is the pioneering world's first LEP (lighting effects pedal) and a gold standard for all LEP products that will follow. StompLight Professional incorporates patented design and technology, fantastic effects, built-in Cree LED lighting and extraordinary durability. Utilizing the simplicity and ease of a single effect pedal the StompLight Professional will provide Musicians, DJs and Performers the ability to add exciting pro-lighting and effects to their gigs, jams, studio or rehearsal environment for years to come."

 

NAMM 2016: V-MODA

V-MODA make some exceptional headphones. This years highlight was the Crossfade Wirless model which fit very comfortably around the head and ears for a long period of time and provide pristine sound quality through a bluetooth connection. They can even be customized in outer appearance with your favorite artist's emblem or a dazzling gold plate.