Shure Hosts Off The Beaten Track Competition

 

 

Enter here.

1st Grand Prize

The winner of the grand prize will receive a trip to Los Angeles, California and a professional recording session at Capitol Studios® in Hollywood + Shure Gear worth 5,000 US Dollars.
Legendary producer and engineer Al Schmitt, who has worked with Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan and many more over his lengthy career, will oversee the recording session at Capitol Studios®.
www.capitolstudios.com   www.alschmittmusic.com

2nd

Second place will take away Shure gear worth 3,000 US Dollars.

3rd

Third place will take away Shure gear worth 1,000 US Dollars.
All 20 bands who have qualified for the shortlist and the winner of the wild card who has collected most votes will receive a box of Shure MOTIV gear consisting of a MOTIV MV88 and a MOTIV MV51.

UK Music Fan Tips Off California's DECENT CRIMINAL To Kendrick Lamar Vinyl Snafu

Band Announces Spring Tour Dates with Teenage Bottlerocket, Direct Hit!

A UK music fan has contacted California punk outfit DECENT CRIMINAL via social media to inform them that a vinyl copy of Kendrick Lamar's multi-platinum selling album, 'Good Kid, M.A.A.D City,' purchased by her boyfriend at an HMV store, erroneously contains a portion of Decent Criminal's music on it.

Dodgeball Records head Chris Messer explains: "Hunter from DC got a message on Facebook from a girl claiming her boyfriend bought a Kendrick Lamar record and when playing it discovered Decent Criminal's music was on one half of it. She wanted to make them aware of it. Then sent a clip of the record. They were in shock and wrote me to see if I knew about it."

Apparently, the two records were pressed by the same company in the Czech Republic, which could explain the mixup.

 

DECENT CRIMINAL is going on tour in March, playing select shows with Teenage Bottlerocket and Direct Hit!

The run of dates kicks off with a show at San Diego's Tower Bar on March 3rd and winds down March 23rd in Las Vegas.

Dates:

3/3 - San Diego, CA - Tower Bar

3/7 - McAllen, TX - Cine El Ray*

3/8 - Austin, TX - Sidewinder*

3/9 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger*

3/10 - Dallas, TX - Three Links*

3/11- Oklahoma City, OK - Blue Note

3/13- St. Louis, MO - Sinkhole

3/14 - Cincinnati, OH - The Hub

3/15 - Chicago, IL - Emporium

3/16 - Minneapolis, MN - Mortimers^

3/17 - Madison, WI - Ruby Lounge^

3/18 - Milwaukee, WI - Puddlers Hall^

3/19- Iowa City, IO - Gabe's

3/21 - Denver, CO - Moon Room

3/22- Albuquerque, NM - Burt's Tiki Lounge

3/23 - Las Vegas, NV - Evel Pie

* = shows with Teenage Bottlerocket

^ = shows with Direct Hit!

'Bloom,' the band's well-received Dodgeball Records debut, was released last fall.

Stream 'Bloom' on Spotify or Apple Music.

While blending elements reminiscent of 90's alternative, garage rock, surf punk and power-pop, DECENT CRIMINAL, offer catchy, upbeat songs that mercilessly collide with abrasive and often melancholy undertones, to bring forth a style that's playfully compatible while still feeling inadvertently raw.

A FREE Novation Circuit Pack from Lightfinger, you should be so Lucky

RELEASE: OUT NOW

PRICE: FREE

LINK - CLICK HERE 

With the Ill CIrcuitry Pack from Jim Drones hitting 3,000 downloads we thought it was time to bring you a new taster of what's in our store, enter the Science of Lightfinger and his FREE Lucky 7 Pack made up of some of the patches of his previous collections with a load of bonuses thrown in for good measure!

Patches Volume 1 – 41 dynamic patches with a wide variety of pads, basses, leads, keys and SFX that are suitable for many genres. Also included is the Future Retro Sample Set Collection, 5 Sample Sets for the Novation Circuit with over 250 dynamic samples featuring Hi-Tech Hits, Sci-Fi Stingers, FX Stabs, Electronic Percussion and Tonal Elements.

Future Frontiers – 46 patches for Circuit with a varied collection of Basses, Leads, Arpeggios, Pads, Keyboards, and SFX. Also includes the Future Retro Sample Set Collection, 5 custom sample Sets for Circuit.

Evolution Pack – 64 Patches, 16 Sessions and two new sample sets. Explore new grooves with 16 fresh new Sessions and get hard with the Distructo Sample Set.

Know Your Knobs! These patches, with a few exceptions, have practical, standardized macros with the most important parameters always assigned to the same knobs. There are also three ‘Mystery Knobs’ that are unique to each patch.

Installation: These patches can be loaded using either Components or the Isotonik Editor. Available for purchase at https://isotonikstudios.com/product-tag/lightfinger/

Bonus: Also included are ready-to-print Patch, Sample Set & Session Save Sheets, charts for MIDI CCs, a chart for Notes/Scales, and a handy Settings Quick Start Guide. Respect and gratitude for all of the Circuiteers who have shared their work! Science Is Real, Lightfinger 2-2018

MORE DETAILS - CLICK HERE

OWC Partners with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus as 2018 Presenting Sponsor

Woodstock, IL – February 26, 2018 OWC^®, a leading zero emissions Mac and PC technology company, is proud to announce that the company has extended its long–time relationship with the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, and is serving as the Presenting Sponsor for 2018. The sponsorship kicked off at this year’s NAMM Show, held in Anaheim in January.

The Lennon Bus is the premier, non–profit 501(c)(3) mobile pro–audio, video and photo production studio, providing hands–on experiences for thousands of visitors annually with assemblies, workshops, and production demonstrations. Working with educators and musicians, the Lennon Bus gives young people an environment in which to write and perform music, engineer recording sessions and produce videos, using the latest audio, video and production equipment.

"We have been partners in the educational mission of the Lennon Bus for years now," said Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO of OWC. "We are proud to be the Presenting Sponsor for 2018, and look forward to being even more involved in bringing music and technology education to a wider audience than we have up to now. The Lennon Bus allows students to not only express their creativity but to be able to produce and store their projects, and to learn to use the technology moving forward. We are excited to support the numerous events and experiences with the Bus throughout 2018."

OWC and the Lennon Bus will collaborate at the SXSW Festival in Austin in March. Activities and performances will be presented for festival attendees, with a short film produced afterwards by Lennon Bus students that will commemorate the events.

OWC is also sponsoring the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2018, with the "OWC Song of the Year" honor. Open to professional and amateur songwriters, judges including Fergie, Bob Weir, George Clinton, and Flea will help to select winners in 12 categories. The deadline for entry is June 15^th and the winners will be announced on September 1^st. For more information on how to enter visit www.jlsc.com.

In the fall, OWC will present the Lennon Bus’ "Come Together NYC" residency. The one month–program celebrates John Lennon’s birthday and includes school/educational programs, concerts, donations and peace signs, and is supported by the Mayor’s office and the New York City Council.

OWC provides a wide variety of production equipment to assist the engineers on the Bus in their work, including Mercury On–the–Go Pro SSDs, Mercury Elite Pro Dual Minis, Envoy Pro EX, Thunderbolt 3 Docks and USB–C Travel Docks, as well as enterprise storage. This equipment allows producers to remain consistently connected to their work, provides in–studio and mobile production capabilities, workstation editing, media and enterprise storage for the large volumes of content produced, and keeps production connected and running at full speed, even when the bus is in transit.

45 International Music Festivals And Conferences Pledge To Tackle Gender Inequality

 

 Keychange initiative encourages gender balance 

In music by end of 2022

www.keychange.eu

 

PRS Foundation's International Keychange initiative gathers politicians, artists and the music industry at the Canadian High Commission this evening to celebrate a milestone moment on the journey to decreasing the gender gap in music. In a pioneering move, 45 international music industry conferences and festivals including four leading Canadian events have made a pledge towards achieving or maintaining a 50/50 gender balance across their festivals by 2022 (including live line-ups, conferences and commissions). They are:

53 Degrees North (England), Aldeburgh Festival (England), Blissfields (England), Bluedot (England), Borealis (Norway), BreakOut West (Canada), By:Larm (Norway), Canadian Music Week (Canada), Cheltenham Jazz Festival (England), Cheltenham Music Festival (England), Eurosonic Noorderslag (Netherlands), FOCUS Wales (Wales), Granada Experience (Spain), Hard Working Class Heroes (Ireland), Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (England), A2IM Indie Week (USA), BBC Music Introducing Stages (UK), Katowice JazzArt Festival (Poland), Kendal Calling (England), Liverpool International Music Festival (England), Liverpool Sound City (England), Manchester Jazz Festival (England), Midem (France), Norwich Sound and Vision (England), North By North East (Canada), NYC Winter Jazzfest (USA), Off The Record (England), Oslo World (Norway), Pop-Kultur (Germany), BBC Proms (England), Roundhouse Rising (England), Spitalfields Music (England), Swn (Wales), Trondheim Calling (Norway), Waves Vienna (Austria), Westway LAB (Portugal), Wide Days (Scotland), Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Festival (France)

 

This follows the gender balance commitment proposed by Keychange's founding festival partners which are Reeperbahn Festival (Germany), BIME (Spain), Iceland Airwaves, Way Out West (Sweden), Musikcentrum Sweden, Tallinn Music Week (Estonia), MUTEK (Canada) and The Great Escape (UK).

For more information on Keychange visit here and for PRS Foundation visit here.

 

Keychange is a pioneering international initiative supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union which is empowering women to transform the future of the music industry and encouraging industry conferences and festivals to achieve or maintain a 50:50 balance by 2022. By bringing together like-minded festivals and conference programmers committed to positive action, Keychange aims to create much needed long-term change in live music and beyond.

Vanessa Reed, CEO of PRS Foundation said:

"We support diverse talent across every programme we run at PRS Foundation. 40% of our grantees in 2017 were from a BAME background and 53% featured female artists. Our focus on gender equality in 2018 aligns with the centenary for some women being given the vote in the UK. 100 years on, the push for gender parity across society continues and with increased public awareness of inequalities across the creative industries we have an opportunity to respond and commit to tangible change in music. The Keychange network of female artists and industry professionals and the festival partners' idea of establishing a collective pledge will significantly accelerate change. I hope that this will be the start of a more balanced industry which will result in benefits for everyone."

Alex Schulz, Founding Partner, Reeperbahn Festival said:

 

"Reeperbahn Festival is proud to be a founding Keychange partner because we recognise the barriers that women are facing in the music industry and we know that our festival stages aren't as balanced as we would like them to be. Keychange is promoting a shift that will ultimately be good for our festivals and good for the industry as a whole. I hope that many more festivals will have joined with us by the end of this year, making this a global movement."

 

Festivals are making a commitment relative to their own event, engaging with the gender balance pledge in a way that best makes sense to their programme and music genre, including through their line-ups, conference panels or commissions.

To date, the Keychange programme has included a series of popular panels and showcases at Reeperbahn Festival, BIME, Iceland Airwaves and most recently Eurosonic to explore how men and women can work together to accelerate change and to promote role models for the next generations. As well as announcing the 60 strong network of Keychange artists and innovators from across Europe, these panels have featured leading men and women including Garbage's Shirley Manson, artist Nadine Shah, Reeperbahn Festival director Alex Schulz, President of Iceland Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, PRS Foundation CEO Vanessa Reed and more.

This milestone moment at the Canada High Commission is only the beginning for the Keychange initiative as it strives to engage further festivals in the gender balance pledge in the coming months. The time for a shake up in the music industry has come. The Keychange festivals are firmly at the forefront, paving the way for progress across the industry as a whole.

High profile ambassadors of Keychange include Shirley Manson, legendary producer Tony Visconti, Madrid's indie rockers Hinds, German singer-songwriter Alexa Feser, Publisher Paulette Long OBE and more. Find their quotes of support here.

Alongside the festival campaign, Keychange is supporting a network of artists and innovators who are invited to international festivals to take part in a series of showcases, collaborations and a programme of creative labs. By investing in talent and collaborating with a broad range of music industry partners, Keychange aims to create a better more inclusive music industry for present and future generations.

Keychange is led by PRS Foundation, supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, in partnership with Musikcentrum Sweden, Reeperbahn Festival, Iceland Airwaves, BIME, Tallinn Music Week, Way Out West, The Great Escape and MUTEK.

It will include, later this year, an event in Brussels at the European Parliament, at which Keychange partners will present a manifesto based on contributions from Keychange participants, partners and associate festivals.

For more information on Keychange please visit here and for PRS Foundation please visit here.

NAMM 2018: Zoom

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here for more videos - 

NAMM 2018: AEA

AEA has a new R84A, similar to the classic R84 microphone but more affordable!

They also have a new TRP2 preamp which will be shipping by the end of this month! It uses a new, "No blow" mode which protects your ribbon microphones by disengaging phantom power and has a very high gain of 85dB and a high pass filter as well as many other awesome features!

Also, their RPQ2 Preamp was nominated for a prestigious NAMM 2018 TEC Award for Outstanding Technical Achievement in Preamplifiers.

NAMM 2018: Malekko

Ben Davis shows us what's new from Malekko at the NAMM Show! Watch his presentation:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here for more videos - 

 

NAMM 2018: Studio Electronics

Marc shows us what's new from Studio Electronics! Watch his presentation below: 

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here for more videos - 

NAMM 2018: Mackie

Watch this video below to see what's new from Mackie!

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here for more videos - 

NAMM 2018: 3DIO

3DIO allows you to capture binaural recordings and it can be directly attached to your video recording source through some like a DSLR. Watch the video demonstration:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here for more videos - 

Time by HaiI The SiIence

NAMM 2018: Qu-bit

Andrew tells us what's new from Qu-bit! Watch the video:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: KOMA Elektronik

KOMA Elektronik shares their new modules! Watch this presentation by Uchi:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 


 Uchi is part of, "Ladies of Modular," which is a collective of women in synth:

https://www.instagram.com/ladiesofmodular/

NAMM 2018: SMASHmouse

Robb tells us about the new SMASHmouse controller and the Kick Starter campaign coming up! Watch the video:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here -

NAMM 2018: DASZ

DASZ presents "Alex!" Watch the presentation and subscribe to our YouTube channel:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Novation

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Sensel

Sensel is a customizable interface for music, video, computer typing, and gaming! 

Watch Peter explain everything it does!

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Sipario

Sipario is a new advanced MIDI router! Watch Christian Pasin explain what it does:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Survios' Electronauts

Hunter tells us about the exciting new musical virtual reality game from Survios: Electronauts!

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Alesis Drums

Alesis has a new electronic drum kit! Watch the video to see it in action:

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Casio

Casio shows us some new keyboards at NAMM!

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Enhancia

Enhancia has created a MIDI ring controller!

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

NAMM 2018: Skytracks.io (Music Collaboration Tool)

Marc tells us about the online collaborative project, Skytracks.io, where you can collaborate in the cloud.












- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here -  

NAMM 2018: Gretsch Drums: 135th Anniversary Series

Andrew Shreve tells us about Gretsch Drums 135th Anniversary snare drum which comes in a limited quantity - only 135 were made! - in addition to the celebratory drum series.

- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here - 

Vujaday in Barbados adds Mark Knight, Nathan Barato, atish, Behrouz, YokoO, Cassy + more to lineup

From April 4th-8th, 2018, the stunning Caribbean island of Barbados will be graced with a new week long music festival. Going by the name Vujaday, which is defined as “an entirely new experience” and “like nothing you have ever seen or felt before,” the festival will take place in a unique location each of its five days, leaving the first and last day of the week long journey for travel.

Vujaday initially dropped their Phase One lineup back in November, which included Toronto electronic legend Art Department, All Day I Dream founder Lee Burridge, Chicago house hero Green Velvet, San Francisco resident and Dirtybird favorite Justin Martin, Life and Death founder DJ Tennis, Crew Love members Wolf + Lamb, Lonely C (Soul Clap), Nick Monaco and The Fitness & Pony, Hot Creations founder Lee Foss, Brooklyn duo Bedouin, Mikey Lion and Lee Reynolds from Desert Hearts, Berlin based Korean artist Peggy Gou, Italian electronic DJ Francesca Lombardo, UK house duo Solardo, upcoming house DJ Lauren Lane, and Nottingham tech house producer Latmun.

With the festival only a few months away, Vujaday has now returned with a stacked phase two lineup that includes Toolroom Records founder and a legendary name in the world of electronic music Mark Knight, San Francisco based house DJ atish, Toronto resident and Hot Creations signee Nathan Barato, Berlin house aficionada YokoO, Burning Man favorite Behrouz, Vienna based techno DJ Cassy, Brazilian born DJ Gaby Endo, New York resident and Ibiza favorite Salomé, renowned Canadian DJ Nitin, dreamy Toronto based project Lost Boy, and rising Miami house and techno producer m.O.N.R.O.E. To top things off, there will also be a rare group B2B2B set from three veteran English DJs: Danny Howells, Darren Emerson, and Dave Seaman.
The five primary events will run from Wednesday through Sunday during Vujaday with the largest event on Saturday. Events will take place on the Southern, Eastern and Western coasts of the island. More information related to specific events will be announced soon.
An electronic event of this scale has yet to take place in Barbados, and is meant to create an unforgettable experience for locals and travelers. Locals will get the chance to experience DJs from around the world, many who have never performed in Barbados, while those new to the island will receive a much wider experience than they would normally get on a typical visit.
The team behind Vujaday will be bringing decades of experience in the festival and event space to the beautiful island of Barbados. This includes industry veterans that have been involved in the creation and operation of Toronto based events like Digital Dreams Music Festival, Electric Island, World Electronic Music Festival and All Day I Dream.

The founders have also owned and operated world renowned clubs in Toronto such as Footwork Nightclub, Coda, The Hoxton and The Velvet Underground, along with work on festivals outside of Toronto including Further Future in the USA and more.

Those attending Vujaday will have a wide range of partner accomodations to choose from. Selections include Luxury Villas from Rental Escapes and Chestertons, along with various partner hotels including all-inclusive options. More information and booking details can be found on Vujaday’s website.

Tickets for the inaugural edition of Vujaday Music Festival are currently on sale and can be purchased here. This includes options both for general admission and VIP.

STAY CONNECTED:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

Rausch Sophomore Album "Book II" Is Released

 

February 2nd, 2018 - RAUSCH, adventurous piano-driven rock outfit from Philadelphia, PA, finally release long-awaited sophomore studio effort “Book II” today.  The record - mixed by Rich Mouser (Chris Cornell, Dream Theater,Weezer), with additional production by David Ivory (The Roots, Halestorm) - comprises 9 diverse-yet-cohesive tracks, ranging from emotionally charged anthems (“Greener Grass,” “Swansong”) to deeper works of more epic proportions (“Drain,” “The End”). 

Signed copies of “Book II” can be purchased directly from RAUSCH at https://rausch.bandcamp.com/, or find “Book II” on iTunes, Amazon & everywhere else digital music is sold.   

The video for leadoff single "Greener Grass" can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ychwbh86

Heavy-hitting guest contributors include Mark Zonder (Fates Warning), Ryo Okumoto (Spock's Beard) and guitarist Brendt Allman (Shadow Gallery).

RAUSCH is comprised of vocalist/pianist Doug Rausch, bassist Joe Fine, guitarist Gary Wehrkamp and drummer Chris Ruffini.

After devoting the better part of his early years to the piano, namesake frontman Doug Rausch earned his Ithaca College music degree & plunged straight into self-imposed exile. Disillusioned by how mainstream music had all but completely plateaued by the early 2000’s – culminating in an eye-opening stint at Sony Music Studios - he found himself in a decade-long campaign chasing a long-held musical vision of his own. Aside from select live engagements - including an invitation from Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess to perform at the first KEYFEST - all else was sacrificed.

In late 2009, the adventurous-yet-song-driven self-titled debut album was released. Leadoff single "No Fair" hit the top 10 on New Music Weekly’s small-market radio charts, & the haunting "Ode to Pain" earned an honorable-mention nod from the 2010 International Songwriting Competition (ISC).  Then, from as early as 2012, at the time having just broken ground on the debut's follow-up (and still optimistic about eluding "[GN'R's] Chinese Democracy Syndrome"), the band found themselves collectively hurled onto the battlefield against a seemingly unprecedented barrage of relentless set-backs; by the time they finally emerged victorious with completed album-in-hand, RAUSCH had time-traveled all the way to the doorstep of 2018.

“Book II” track listing:

1. Greener Grass

2. Swansong

3. Drain

4. Irked

5. Good Day 

6. The End

7. Time Out

8. Speechless

9. Slow Suite: II. Isolation

For more  information, check out the band’s web properties:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rauschofficial

Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/rauschofficial

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RAUSCHofficial

Official: www.rauschmusic.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/rauschofficial

YouTube: www.youtube.com/rauschofficial