Berklee Online Launches Master Track Video Series With Behind-The-Scenes Stories About Prince, Lou Reed, And Notorious B.I.G. From Master’s Degree Teachers

Berklee Online is releasing a series of animated videos to celebrate the unique opportunity that students in its brand new Master’s Program will have—to learn directly from some of the top minds in the music industry. Each two-minute video features a different teacher from the program, sharing a behind-the-scenes story over animated imagery that reenacts the narrative.
In the first video released with Susan Rogers, she tells the tale of her days working with Prince. Rogers fondly recounts her time spent recording with Prince in Minneapolis in the 1980s, divulging details about his creative process and super-human ability to maximize every second of the day. She worked as Prince’s staff engineer from 1983-1987 and will be teaching the Psychoacoustics in Music Production graduate course for Berklee Online.



The next three videos feature Sean Slade (who will be teaching Culminating Experience in Music Production 1 and 2) recounting an experience where recording Lou Reed turned explosive (literally!); Prince Charles Alexander (Commercial Vocal Production) reminiscing about how it wasn’t until he recorded the Notorious B.I.G. that he learned to appreciate hip-hop; and E. Michael Harrington (Music Business Law) sharing how he helped bring the Civil Rights-era anthem, “We Shall Overcome” into the public domain. More information on the teachers and program can be found here.

Berklee Online will spread out the release of these videos over the next few months as the application deadline approaches for the two master’s degree programs—a Master of Music in Music Production and Master of Arts in Music Business. This video series not only shares compelling stories but also shines a spotlight on these Berklee teachers who have made great contributions to the music industry. Their talent, experience, and knowledge is priceless and is now accessible to post-graduate students accepted into Berklee Online’s master’s degree programs.

Widely recognized among the top music schools in the world, Berklee College of Music in Boston launched Berklee Online in 2002 as an online option for attending their illustrious classes. Over the past 15 years, the online school has grown to offer award-winning music courses, certificate programs, and bachelor’s degree programs. They recently began accepting applications for their first online Master’s Degree programs. Berklee Online is the world’s largest online music school, teaching more than 11,000 students a year through their online degree and non-degree programs.
“This is a chance for students to spend a year doing everything they love and hone their knowledge and skills to advance their career in the music industry,” says Berklee Vice President of Online Education Carin Nuernberg." Students will learn from world-renowned faculty in an interactive, collaborative course environment while forging connections with a network of talented industry professionals from around the globe. We couldn’t be more excited for students to apply and for the program to launch.”

The Master’s Degree program will continue with Berklee Online’s cost-effective, high-quality breadth of offerings, and will give students the chance to earn their degree for a total cost of $33,695 (tuition and fees included), which is roughly 20 percent less than the cost of an in-person degree. Students interested in learning more can head to Berklee Online’s website here.

Singer-Songwriter RJ Comer Releases One Last Kiss

Musician offered second chance at lifelong dream with debut album

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — June 15, 2018 – When RJ Comer dropped out of music school thirty years ago, he thought that was the end of his dream – but music wasn’t done with him just yet. Three decades later, his dream of becoming a full-time musician was not only re-ignited, but became his reality. He’s releasing his debut solo album One Last Kiss today, and it is available everywhere.

Multi-instrumentalist Shawn Byrne produced One Last Kiss, and fluidly combines various themes ranging from somber moments to happy love songs. The album features contributions from Grammy-winning guitarist Randy Kohrs (Jim Lauderdale, Dolly Parton, Dierks Bentley), fiddler Daniel Foulks (Parker Millsap) and cellist Brian Sutherland. The album moves from joyful moments like “Under a Lover’s Moon,” an upbeat love song co-written with Comer’s wife Deborah, to darker moments like the bluesy title track. “All Over Again” is for those who work hard day in and day out with a smile on their face, putting in long hours for the sake of their families, and humorous tinges weave throughout “Desert Mama” and “Bad Day in Paradise.”

When music school didn’t work out, Comer’s path took a grim turn: years of violence, poverty, addiction, fractured relationships and suicide attempts followed. After a come-to-Jesus weekend in a Mississippi jail, he straightened his life out, worked his way through law school and became a lawyer. Along the way, Comer kept coming back to music, starting a band for fun on the side – one that was eventually signed. He took the opening and stormed back into music. Though One Last Kiss is his debut full-length album as a solo artist, it’s his sixth release since returning to music, including two band LPs and two solo EPs.

Offering insights of a man who transcended hardships few people escape, the songs on One Last Kiss deftly straddle the line between traditional and contemporary Americana and blues. With a ragged edge to his baritone voice, One Last Kiss shows the emotional and experiential range of a man who once only knew how to fight or flee — who slowly learned to live and prosper, and eventually learned to love.

Leaving his former life in Los Angeles behind, Comer now resides in the Tennessee woods with his wife of 23 years and tours throughout the US and Canada. He has played official showcases at SXSW, Canadian Music Week and various songwriter’s festivals.

Isotonik Studios: Follow SCENE FIVE for Ableton Live 10

RELEASE: OUT NOW  

PRICE: £19.99 Exc VAT

LINK - CLICK HERE 

Over the last few months since the announcement of Live 10 we've been focused on releases from member of the Isotonik Collective with landmarks such as PrEditor 2, Ebosuite and ClyphX Pro.
Now though is the time to look back over our past successes and bring them up to the new standards of Live 10. We'll be working methodically through some of our back catalogue to test and update where necessary.
We've started the journey beginning with the products in our most popular pack the Modular Series!
The most subscribed to element of the Modular Series is by far our Follow SCENE device which on a variety of trigger events will perform a selection of Follow actions to trigger chosen scenes.
We've recorded a series of videos explaining in detail the concept of the device, the Trigger Types and Follow Action options along with controlling the device with the Push, MIDI & Clip Envelopes.


Updated Features:

• Tighter integration with Push, in particular contextual display of parameters based on the choice of Trigger Type or Follow Action
• Even easier to use with MIDI Mapping, each individual action is now available in the main device GUI
• Define the next Follow Action Scene by Name rather than calculating it's number
• Color scheme linked to your chosen Live Theme
• Four next Scene options can be written to a clip name, these are then displayed on the Push screen to keep your eyes away from the computer!

We'll be releasing updates for the other variants of Follow (Clip & Arrange) and Smart in the coming weeks, these will all be free updates for current subscribers and notifications will be sent when they are available to download.

FOLLOW FIVE - CLICK HERE 

MODULAR SERIES  - CLICK HERE

Lucky Number 7 - Allen & Heath Hits the Jackpot in Vegas!

Allen & Heath hit the jackpot at the 2018 InfoComm Show. Its newly introduced SQ-7 Digital Mixer won a “Best of Show” award from NewBay Media’s Pro Audio Group who noted its technical performance, value, versatility and reliability. Its special training session was a big hit with attendees. And, the Allen & Heath booth was busy from the show opening until the final closing hours.

Along with the SQ-7 debut, Allen & Heath introduced interactive video displays for its ME Personal Monitoring system, a focused installed-sound #WallOfInstall, and ‘real world’ application touch panels and controllers from Allen & Heath and 3rd-parties such as AMX, Attero Tech, Extron and RDK. The company also highlighted its dLive Digital Mixing System version V1.7 firmware with Shure integration.

In the Allen & Heath training session, “Designing Efficient, Cost-Effective Distributed Audio and Integrated Hardware Control”, Installation Product Manager Martijn Verkerk presented a wide range of topics from audio networking basics to more advanced system design strategies. Verkerk commented, “Having the opportunity to share and discuss various approaches to distributed audio and interactive AV was wonderful. As often happens, we learned as much from attendees as they learned from us when it comes to unique ways of designing and configuring highly flexible Allen & Heath installed solutions.”

Jeff Hawley, Marketing Manager, Allen & Heath USA, said, “The Allen & Heath booth was hopping through the entire show, with queues forming around the SQ-7 and our other interactive displays. For SQ, fans spoke and we listened by bringing out this new mixer with more faders, more I/O, more custom control and a more impressive footprint. The ‘Best of Show’ designation is a true honor and we’re excited to see SQ continue to set the new standard in the compact digital console market.”

The Stray Birds Announce New Album Let It Pass, Release first single “Nothing To Say About It Now” and announce initial 2018 fall tour dates

Nashville, Tenn. -- June, 15, 2018 -- If The Stray Birds were going to make another album, there was only one way it would happen: together. The idea was at once a challenge, an ultimatum, and a survival mechanism for a band at the crossroads. Write the record collaboratively, or don’t write it at all. Let It Pass, the record resulting from the crossroads, is The Stray Birds’ most powerful, personal, and cathartic collection yet. Releasing September 7th on Yep Roc Records, Let It Pass charts the trio’s tumultuous emotional journey in the years since the release of their acclaimed 2016 album Magic Fire, a period which saw fiddler/guitarist/banjoist/vocalist Maya de Vitry and fiddler/guitarist/mandolinist/vocalist Oliver Craven end their romantic relationship while choosing to continue their musical one. Along with bassist/banjoist/vocalist Charlie Muench, the pair had to face down an uncertain future and reevaluate what it meant to create art together.

Today, the band released "Nothing To Say About It Now," the first single from the forthcoming album. Listen here. Muench calls the song a meditation, a space where the listener can suspend the past and future and listen to the moment. He explains that “...during a lot of the writing of this record we were reckoning with both past resentments and anxiety about where we were headed. The simple one-note verse melody and the airy harmonies create otherworldly and timeless qualities to the song while the backbeat feels like deep breaths.” The band wrote “Nothing To Say About It” as a “haven for the distracted, the overloaded, and the anxiety-ridden of today,” a truly timely track for 2018. The Stray Birds take an unflinching look at themselves in the mirror with this record and the first single, but it’s not hard to zoom out and hear the parallels here with a divided nation similarly navigating its way through a metaphorical maelstrom. Also announced today is the band’s 2018 fall tour with dates ranging from early September in Philadelphia, PA, to late November in Asheville, NC, routing through the midwest, along the West Coast, and down into the southern United States-- with more dates to be added in the coming weeks.

Rising Appalachia Announces European Tour + looks forward to Winnipeg Folk Festival, Pickathon, and Red Rocks

 

June 15, 2018 -- Last month, Rising Appalachia, the Southern-based folk band lead by sisters Chloe Smith and Leah Song, released their new single “Resilient,” an anthem for seeking calm in the chaos-storm that has descended upon American and the world at large. NPR Music's Bob Boilen championed the video, premiering it on All Songs TV calling the track an "...uplifting, original folk song for these challenging times." Also, Rolling Stone Country named the band in their roundup 10 Country Artists You Need to Know commenting that "Resilient" sounds like "protest music for the modern age, bolstered by delicate, skillful musicianship and otherworldly vocal harmonies." Yesterday, the band announced plans to take “Resilient” to Europe, a 2o show tour with stops in the U.K., Germany, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, and Switzerland. Before heading to Europe, the band will play at some of the summer’s best festivals including Winnipeg Folk and Pickathon. In July, the band will share a bill with String Cheese Incident at the oft bucket-listed Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, CO.

The band looks forward to taking the healing power of music and of “Resilient,” a song written while touring the Pacific Coast after the United States 2016 presidential election, across the pond in August and September. Chloe notes that the song was written because “I needed to hear those very words myself... to remind me to be my highest self in the face of chaos and adversity, and to use my platform to encourage others to do the same.” She continues, “...honestly, with so much animosity in the country it was challenging to muster up the energy for the public every night on stage. There was a deeper need to internalize and be more private, to sit with the bones of our work and re-envision what we would be doing in the years to come.” The world at large can benefit from and connect with a song like “Resilient,” which is exactly why the band will tour Europe this summer.

As fate would have it, the tour that followed the 2016 presidential election, dubbed the ‘Resiliency Tour’, led to linking up with the International Indigenous Youth Council who invited Rising Appalachia to perform at the center fire for a few days in Standing Rock after the water cannons were blasted at peaceful water protectors-- the irony palpable. Chloe points out that “...honor was not broken despite the pipeline going through. The whole world witnessed the resilient power of that movement, we too remembered our place in the turning of the tides.” The following month of tour was both rich and healing for Rising Appalachia; full of community dialogue, meet and greets, and honest connection through story and song-- the songwriters reminded of what it means to be resilient, and were returned to their original shape after being bent and broken.

“Resilient” reveals both vulnerability and strength in the search for that which can't be silenced. Leah comments, “After everything that has happened in these past couple of years, and is still happening, we need to remember that we the people are resilient, and can become more so. To live with hope in a time where apathy is rampant--even excessive-- in a great act of resistance. What we choose to bring into our focus in this life will greatly affect our very own reality let alone the world around us.”

Long time allies and defenders of indigenous rights, social justice and ecological protection, it’s no surprise that with “Resilient,” Rising Appalachia captured the angst and helplessness oft felt by both victims and activists. The track speaks to the soul in poetic honesty, backed by banjo and bodhran, urging listeners to get back up again and to find pathways of strength and empowerment when confronted with conflict. When rooted in compassion and education-- we can become resilient. When we listen more and talk less-- we can become resilient.

Their sound and message, as revealed in the newest single, “Resilient,” suggest that voices and traditions, brought together through song, may be one of the saving graces to a world in distress. And in an effort to bring more voices and traditions together, the band will continue into Europe; “widening our circle,” as noted by the sisters on Rising Appalachia’s Facebook post announcing the tour. In a time when the fabric of community and culture often appear to be unraveling, their interweaving of music and mission, old traditions with new interpretations, creates an atmosphere of contagious hope and bliss.

Listen to "Resilient" here: https://fanlink.to/KR4

Show And Tell Mixes Festival International de Louisiane Broadcast with Allen & Heath

 

This year’s “Festival International de Louisiane” in Lafayette, Louisiana attracted over 300,000 festival goers with a world-wide audience listening to an FM and streaming broadcast from the festival’s Main Stage mixed on an Allen & Heath dLive C Class C3500 digital mixing system with DM0 MixRack.

Paul McCasland of Show And Tell Productions mixed the live broadcast from a temporary studio in the nearby Lafayette Science Museum. “I’ve been doing this particular event for over 15 years,” he said. “And, this year, we had a 48-channel Dante split from the Main Stage fed directly to us over a fiber network.”

McCasland mixed down to a stereo pair fed to another temporary studio in the museum where radio station KRVS combined the four festival stages with live commentary and interviews using an Allen & Heath SQ5 digital mixer also supplied by Show And Tell.

“Last year, I used an Allen & Heath GLD-80 digital mixer for this event and it was great,” said McCasland. “But, this year, I needed more inputs so I tried out a dLive for the first time. And, I was able to figure out everything and do all of the routing and configuration before the first band started. It’s very intuitive.”

“I have a couple of audience mics which add some ‘air’ to the broadcast mix,” continued McCasland. “I dialed-out the wind noise on those mics with a high-pass filter and used the channel compressors when someone started screaming into a mic on the stage. And, I was very happy with the on-board effects like the reverb. The Allen & Heath effects sound great – I can’t say that enough.”

"Next year, we want to get the other stages into my mix with Dante splits,” said McCasland. “And, I could handle all of them with one dLive. The beauty of this console is it’s pretty much what you want it to be!”