February 04, 2008
Tasmania: DIY Carnivale in the Upper Florentine Valley THIS WEEKEND!
If you are located in Tasmania, this may be of interest to you! If not... well probably not!
Terraphonic, Minimum Fuss Productions and Camp Florentine invite you to the fabuloso DIY Carnival which will take place in the ancient forests of the Upper Florentine Valley this weekend (8/9/10 Feb). There will be amazing music, spectacular cabaret madness, lotsa wicked workshops, beautiful walks, great food and lots lots more, including the inaugural Miss Florentine 2008 Pageant (evening wear, swimsuit and special talent - all entries welcome!)
For more info, go to http://terraphonic.info/. Please forward to all ya networks, frock up and bring all your mates. It's going to be a cracker
Posted by funnelbc at 04:09 PM | Comments (0)
September 02, 2007
Falls Festival 2007 Lineup
Being the first year I'm likely to spend New Years Eve in Tasmania without having to run from pillar to post to entertain various relatives while I'm on Holidays I'm entertaining the idea of heading to the Falls Festival here in Tasmania.
Here's the 2007 line-up (at the time of writing the Marion Bay (Tas) lineup and the Lorne (Vic) appear to be very similar if not identical.
Kings of Leon
Groove Armada
Paul Kelly
Midnight Jugganauts
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Waifs
Built to Spill
Gotye
Jose Gonzalez
The Go! Team
Blackalicious
The Mess Hall
Girl Talk
Kev Carmody
Whisky Go Go's
Neville Staple's Specials
Magic Dirt
Sarah Blasko
Jackson Jackson
Visit them on the interweb
Posted by funnelbc at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2007
Massive CDM Giveaway
Okay, so right now I'm busier than a one armed drummer at a def leppard concert. I have to tell you about CDM's massive giveaway. Sadly Peter's not able to share the love with non-US residents, but he does have an absolute boatload of fun swag for the US folks. It's no cost to enter, and well, there's lots of great stuff there.
What are you waiting for! GO ENTER! Win stuff!
Create Digital Music's Giveaway
Posted by funnelbc at 10:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 07, 2007
Go do the Palm Sounds questionnaire!
Palm Sounds which is a great blog about making music on portable devices is currently collecting research for a paper for the 4th Annual International Workshop on Mobile Music. If you've got a sec, and you do mobile music on a PDA, or other portable platform then take a sec and help out with the Palm Sounds Questionnaire
Posted by funnelbc at 07:15 AM | Comments (2)
March 05, 2007
Good Seed Festival Reminder
Just a reminder to check out the Good Seed Festival website, where you can get all the details for the show. If you're in Melbourne and available on the 18th of March then grab a ticket quick-smart! It's a great lineup, and it's for a fantastic cause. It includes live music, a silent auction and tasty food. Should be a great vibe I reckon.
Check out the lineup!
Rob Sawyer Band, LABJACD, Loren and the Grow Your Owns, Dirty Lucy, Jess McAvoy, Dan Sultan, Liz Stringer, Sam Lohs, Nathan Gaunt, Tobias Cummings, Emma Heeney, Freya Hanly, The Little Stevies, Austin, Samuel Marcus, and The Periscopes.
Good Seed Festival supporting Future Cambodia Fund.
GSF @ Myspace
Download & Print out a copy of the poster to help promote the show!
Posted by funnelbc at 07:55 AM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2007
Music Nerd Graff
Via Hypebot.com
Posted by funnelbc at 06:20 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Good Weather for Airstrikes: Song Top 50 2006
Theres an absolute behemoth, colossal megalith of a post on Good Weather for Airstrikes. It's their top 50 tracks of the year, and it's an amazing effort.
Weighing in at over 14,000 words you might want to be packing a cup of tea and a biscuit. It's a monster. List looks good though. Looking forward to investigating this with said cuppa and packet of bikkies in hand.
Good Weather for Airstrikes Top 50
Posted by funnelbc at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)
How's that DRM poll going?
Just incase you are interested in a followup, here's how that DRM poll on The Financial Times website is going:
Ouch. :)
Previously on onetonne FT DRM Poll
Posted by funnelbc at 07:47 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007
Free recording time at AIM's Q Studios
The Australian Institute of Music, (based in Sydney) was offering FREE recording sessions where your band can come along, get recorded by a sound engineer with students in the room! Details are included after the jump, but if you're in Sydney and can't afford to record, this might be a great opportunity.
You retain copyright of your music, but they hang onto the actual recording data for teaching purposes. Tasty! Good on em!
Free Recording time at AIMs Q Studios
In the coming weeks we will require bands to aid in the recording process for our classes at Q Recording, AIM’s very own recording facility. Various time slots will be available in the two following periods:
1. Monday 26th of February – Friday 9th of March
2. Monday 12th of March – Friday 23rd of March
* Recording time will be free.
* The recording classes will consist of 3-4 students and a qualified engineer.
* The classes will occur once a week, for 4 hours, over the 3 week period, totalling 12 hours studio time.
* Each band should have at least 3-4 instruments, vocals optional, but preferred.
* Songs will be recorded to a 24 track multitrack.
* The songs will not be the property of anyone else but the artist, although the files will remain the property of Q Recording and shall be used as teaching resources for the following trimesters
* The songs will be used for student mixing and examining.
* SONGS SHOULD NOT BE OVER 5 MINUTES.
* A DEMO CD/CASSETTE IS NEEDED TO AID SETUPS & QUALITY ++++++++CONTROL.
If your band would like to be recorded and mixed for our Recording Technology classes please ask for Beau on – 92124851. or you can email qstudios at aim.edu.au .
Posted by funnelbc at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)
Zelda Reorchestrated
Zelda Reorchestrated is a website with a community that seeks to recreate the Zelda music with full Orchestra sounds. I am going to be hitting this hard when I get home from work tonight.
ZREO stands for Zelda Reorchestrated. It is our goal to transcribe the musical masterpieces that you have heard in the greatest video game series ever created: The Legend of Zelda! Our goal is to give each and every song from The Legend of Zelda series a realistic and atmospheric sound with the quality that you would expect from such film composers as John Williams, Howard Shore, and James Horner.
We don't look to seek profit or fame. This is merely our own form of artistic expression that stems from The Legend of Zelda. If it weren't for Zelda, ZREO wouldn't exist. So we are grateful to have such a legendary video game series that can pull so much inspiration out of us.
What a lovely tribute to a video game. If Nintendo has any sense at all they will contribute to the hosting costs of this amazing community project from these Zelda fans.
Zelda Reorchestrated, thanks Rowan!
Previously on onetonne: Zelda Theme on Theremin + others!
Posted by funnelbc at 12:34 PM | Comments (0)
DRM Poll on Financial Times
The Financial Times has a poll online where you can vote whether you think the record companies should drop DRM. A good chance say what you think. If you have a second, please go and visit the Financial Times website DRM poll, and vote.
Via boingboing
Related: Wired: How to explain DRM to your dad Via digg
Posted by funnelbc at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
I want you to record an album in 28 Days!
It appears that there are some other people online who are mad keen for a silly challenge! Check out this:
This is the challenge: record an album in 28 days, just because you can.
That’s 10 songs or 35 minutes of original material recorded during the month of February. Go ahead… put it to tape.
Don't wait for inspiration - taking action puts you in a position to get inspired. You'll stumble across ideas you would have never come up with otherwise, and maybe only because you were trying to meet a day’s quota of (song)writing. Show up and get something done, and invest in yourself and each other.
Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t.
Awesome. RPM Challenge via Brotherhood of the Octopuss
Posted by funnelbc at 07:34 PM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2007
Sampleswap.org online. 4.6Gb of Samples FREE!
This one goes out to all our DR202 using visitors. There's a new kid on the sample block, and they've got a big library of FREE samples for you to get into.
This AIFF/WAV collection is currently 4.6 GB (7,579 sounds) including 1,420 techno, hiphop, trance, and drum and bass loops & breakbeats, 950 drum hits, 874 sound FX, 581 instrument samples, 579 vocal samples, 440 melodic loops, and more.
"The other exciting thing is that we're still doing this for free. We haven't had to put any advertisements on the site to cover our costs because, for the first time ever, we're allowing our members to make donations. To thank some of these folks, we've been mailing them DVD-ROMs of the entire sample collection,"
Check out Sampleswap.org Via Harmony Central
Previously Freesound project
Posted by funnelbc at 02:19 PM | Comments (0)
Good Weather for Airstrikes: Filmclip Top 50
There's an absolutely massive post on the wonderful, always educational and often handsome music blog Good Weather for Airstrikes. It's a huge compilation of the best music videos as picked by the GWFA folks, and it's a damn fine thing. As is the actual site itself. Clearly run by music lovers, they often put together compilations and sample tracks online, even if it errs perhaps on the other side of legality, I would definitely argue that their site has sold many more records as a result, not less.
Apparently we can expect a best tracks of 2006 soon too. But in the mean time, please visit Good Weather for Airstrikes and bask in the radiance of their cleverness.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2007
Ubuntu Studio
Fans of open source lovin' rejoice. The wildy popular Linux distro Ubuntu is set to have a specialized version for musicians, video & graphic artists. At the moment there's not too much to see but visit ubuntu studio.org to check out the WIP wiki.
I know at least a few folks who have replaced their Windows XP desktop with an Ubuntu install. I have it running on my laptop and I really would like to spend some more time getting to know it. I will keep an eye on the project and report back interesting developments. Right now, it mostly exists in potentia - i.e not at all. Still, it's an immensly appealing idea.
ubuntu studio.org via Boing Boing
Posted by funnelbc at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2006
Soundcells for DS
Well, stow away yer cash it's time to pony up and buy the homebrew hardware for your DS. There is an awesome interview with Pakl on Expansion Port that talks about the project.
Hark at this:
Pakl: Well, I’m impatient for the tenori-on to come out… one of the basic concepts of the tenori-on is that a cell in a grid can trigger a note… so I was playing with this concept on the DS touch screen, and decided that 16 cells should be easy to access when playing the DS like a guitar. the Tenori-On is an instrument being developed by Iwai (the maker of electroplankton)… I have been thinking for a while to make a Tenori-On emulator on the DS to satisfy my appetite until the Tenori-On comes out (But I think the DS screen is too small to really have a satisfactory Tenori-On interface… so SoundCells is the next best thing.)
Yes! We are all waiting for the Tenori on! Sounds like i have a potential member for my Toshio Iwai Fanclub! You can lay down tracks and have them playback to support your wailin' too. Nice.
You can download Patryk's ukelele homebrew from his hosted site here. and when Soundcells is ready to cook he will be hosting it there.
Via 4 Color Rebellion. Visit Patryk on the intertron here.
More video after the jump.
Posted by funnelbc at 05:00 PM | Comments (1)
October 27, 2006
Visit who the bloody hell are they?
There's a new(ish) blog in town and it's Who the bloody hell are they? It's an Australian music blog and it's deserves a visit and a listen. Plenty of embedded tunes for listening with a short bit of guff on the bands in question. I like.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:57 AM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2006
Download bit-generations soundtrack
Over at 4ColorRebellion they have posted the complete Bit Generations soundtrack in mp3 format.
Bit generations is a series of Gameboy Advance (and of course they work on DS too) games. They're all simple and stripped back in terms of gameplay and feature rather kick ass chiptunes.
The games are fun, I've just got my copies and I'd like to maybe cover them a bit more if I get some time for a review. Well worth an import if you're die hard game audio nerd. Another fantastic example of what Nintendo does right, simple and clever innovation.
Visit 4CR and get yer chiptunes. Check out a video of bit generations.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
September 25, 2006
Shareoutpost @ Wednesday 27th Melbourne
I heard about this on Triple R on Sunday. If you are located in Melbourne and are available on Wednesday the 27th, I may have something that will be of interest to you dear reader.
Share is a global new media movement that is;
dedicated to supporting collaboration and knowledge exchange in new media communities. Local SHARE groups hold free, open jams and workshops in their communities. Participants bring their portable equipment, plug into our system, improvise on each others' signal and perform live audio and video. SHARE furnishes the amplification and projection. SHARE happens weekly to monthly in cities around the world.
There is the very first share meeting coming up in Melbourne this Wednesday. You can bring along your gear (laptop or otherwise) and make some digital music collaboratively. It's on at Horse Bazaar and it starts at 8pm.
You can turn up and check out gear and chat, or if you want to play just turn up a little bit earlier to organise a spot with the bar.
I am planning to get along, and see what I can see. If you want to say hello I will be wearing a bright yellow t-shirt. If it's not me, you'll have a chance to meet a stranger in a bright yellow shirt! It's win-win folks! Or you can email me on info at ausmusician.com to arrange to meet up! I'd love to meet a reader or two!
Visit Share.outpost or visit Share Global
Posted by funnelbc at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
September 21, 2006
Splice - Online acid style loop based music creation
Splice is interesting. It's an online loop based music website. It integrates an active user community, and it seems to be built around creative commons licenses. (as is this site). You can read their take on Creative Commons here
You can remix anyone's song and put your sound on it. You can upload samples and share them with the community as a whole. Web 2.0 user generated content lovelyness (without the cliché reflection added to the site logo). Splice seems to reside somewhere between music toy, and community based interaction, and I love the concept.
I have to point out that it seems to be a dysfunctional (of only on this particular machine) on Mac (Safari 2.0.4) and doesn't seem to work properly. Any mac users who would like to concur or disagree, I would love to hear from you via the comments. Maybe this issue is to do with growing pains, as I understand that it is growing at a rate of knots everyday. Maybe it's just the Mac I'm using?
My home PC plays with it nicely, and I am keen to spend a little time fiddling with this on the upcoming weekend.
Visit Splice Music and give it a go today! Thanks (again) to Roger @ XLR8 for the tip!
Related: You can also download samples from the freesound project, which are also licensed under the creative commons. Which you can use for your Splice Music compositions, or indeedy, any music software.
Related: I briefly mentioned Rockstar games' Beaterator.
Posted by funnelbc at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2006
iTunes 7.0 Stuttering on PC?
Back from holidays folks. Howdy! Got a lot to catch up on.
To get us started, has anyone else had problems with iTunes 7.0 on Windows stuttering? It seems to happen randomly, but more often than not, worse when I have the album art browser (otherwise known as Coverflow - good on you for picking that one up Apple) turned on.
A lot of the search results for this problem seem to date back from 2003, but I'm assuming I'm not the only one who is having this problem since updating?
Posted by funnelbc at 12:35 PM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2006
Toshio Iwai interview on Cubed3
There's a nice (exclusive) interview on Cubed with Toshio Iwai. Amongst other things, there's discussion on Electroplankton, Tenori On & Live performance. It's actually a rather nice conversation and the interviewer asks some great questions.
There is a fascinating insight on the missing save function in Electroplankton.
Cubed3: Having played the game extensively and listened to the feedback of other gamers, it seems to be the general consensus that the lack of a save function is very restrictive. Was there any particular reason why this was left out?
Toshio Iwai: We have discussed a save function many times, and finally concluded not to included it. There are following 2 reasons:
● The first reason is that I wanted players to enjoy Electroplankton extemporarily and viscerally, and I thought if the save function was added, the software would become more like a tool. I did not want a play style where players have to open additional menus or windows, or have to input file names to save.
● The second reason is that it would require large volume of flush ROM and it would take a lot of time to save and read the data in order to save many voice files for Volvoice and Rec-Rec. I thought players could play the software without stress if I got rid of the save function, rather than incorporating the save function and letting players wait for a long time before it’s saved or being told that only little amount can be saved.
Which to me makes a lot of sense. Of course, in my ideal world Electroplankton would have a save function so that indepth programming and using it as instrumentation would be more feasible, but I can respect the concept of the design.
Also covered briefly, and I would LOVE to see this, is the concept of a Toshio Iwai title for the upcoming Nintendo Wii. Very interesting concept, and gathering by the response Electroplankton has had, I'm sure there would be a market for it.
Check out the whole Cubed3 Interview with Toshio Iwai it's rather nice.
Related:
How to Make Electroplankton Rock - A Wishlist
Toshio Iwai has a blog
Toshio Iwai performing at Futuresonic
Posted by funnelbc at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2006
Control winamp from your homebrew compatible DS
I love the idea. Basically it allows you to control Winamp from your homebrew compatible DS. Unfortunately I have abandoned Winamp for iTunes. Ever since Winamp went to version 5 it got slower and they added a lot more suck into an otherwise excellent peice of software. But, I as they say, digress. Basically I was having trouble locating where I enable the required ports on my router, and gave up.
If you actually use Winamp and have a flashed DS then maybe you will persevere. But me. I've got other things I'm supposed to be writing about.
Still if you want to give this a go, and can brave a fairly simple adjustment to your routers settings (and possibly spanish error messages) then check it out.
Here's another application that allows you to stream your Winamp music library to your DS's little tinny speakers.
Snippy remarks about speakers aside. Homebrew for the DS is awesome. I don't care how useful or not this software is, it's still very cool.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2006
CoverFlow for iTunes (mac)
Well, I think this falls into the holy crap that's awesome pile. CoverFlow is a plugin for iTunes that lets you graphically browse your iTunes collection by cover art. Visit the CoverFlow Website to see a proper video of it in action, but it's just an amazingly simple idea. When I'm browsing for music to listen to in my cd collection I have the spines of the cd to remind me which album is which, and this brings the addition of album art really nicely into the digital music player interface.
Unfortunately it's only for Mac at this stage, but as soon as I get into work I shall be installing this on my workstation G5 to give it a proper test run. Until then I will have to make do with looking at my real cds to decide what mp3 to playback in iTunes. Bah. No fair!
But if you have a mac, and have been dutifully updating your cover art each time you load in a CD, or download an album, you have to try this out.
Note to self. Download CoverFlow Thanks Paul!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:08 PM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2006
visit palm sounds
Just wanted to mention Palm Sounds. A new(ish) blog that's covering portable music. I'm fascinated by the concept of smaller music production programs, and ones that work on portable platforms are really interesting. Anyway. I've just added it to my rss reader and I thought it was worth a mention.
I am on the hunt for a cheap palm so I can give Bhajis Loops a try, as the palm guys really seem to love it.
(The picture by the way is a early screenie of Synthpad from miniMusic. Interesting.
Go visit Palm Sounds
Posted by funnelbc at 12:15 PM | Comments (1)
July 19, 2006
Toshio Iwai performing @ Futuresonic 2006
In Toshio Iwai related news (HAH!), he will be performing live at Futuresonic 2006, as well as delivering a keynote speech. Details are below.
Thurs 20 July, 4.30pm Keynote talk and presentation
Fri 21 July, 7.30pm Live performance
Should you be UK based, able to attend, and have some thoughts to share, please feel free to drop me a line on info at ausmusician.com. I would love to hear how it goes.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2006
Tenori-on now has a blog + Sonar 2006 Clips!
I'm just about ready to open up a Toshio Iwai section for this website! There is now a blog for the Tenori-On development team. There's a bunch of great photos, and information directly from Toshio as well.
Of special interest to fans of Toshio's work is SOUND-LENS. A grid array of leds, that triggers as the arm moves in front of it. It reminds me a little bit of Laser Harps I geuss, but basically any grid based trigger system would probably more analogous.
Because the player moves the arm in the air, it looks like playing Theremin a little. So I may say this is like "Theremin of Light."
Visit the tenori-on blog.
After the jump you can see some clips from Sonar 2006. If anyone has video for the Naoaki Kojima performance with SOUND-LENS at Sonar, please let me know!
The second clip features electroplankton in action as well as the Tenori-On.
Sort of cool and related: Check out this snap of a sheet of score for the Tenori-On. Cool!
Related:
Tenori-On Video roundup
How to Make Electroplankton Rock - A wishlist
CDM- Tenori On Live Performance
Posted by funnelbc at 01:30 PM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2006
Visit ozmusic.com.au or I will steal your teeth.
John from ozmusic.com.au dropped me a line to let me know about something that sounds pretty groovy. I came across the website a couple of weeks ago, filed under "to investigate" and then promptly forgot about it! Sorry guys! They're setting up a Australian music community website, and the focus will be on providing support for local artists.
Think of a MySpace with more user friendly features targeted specifically at local artists.
They looking for artists to sign up for the initial launch of the website. You could be beta-testers of a sort, as they may add more features as time goes by. Sounds very cool, and if you're in a band here in Australia they're looking for you!
An excellent initiative and you should go sign up at ozmusic.com.au
Posted by funnelbc at 06:31 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2006
Rock's Longest Night - 21st June (melbourne australia)
I do a bit of graphic work for a charity called Open Family Australia. They're holding a fundraiser gig, called "Rock's Longest Night" at the Prince of Wales here in Melbourne - featuring Killing Heidi, The Inches, Shifter, Window + more.... The night will raise money for The Longest Night Appeal to help more young people break the cycle of homelessness. All the bands are donating their time and it's going to be a great night!
Tickets are only $15 +bf Available from Polyester, Missing Link and usual outlets (+ the venue, call 9536 1168).
Posted by funnelbc at 08:13 AM | Comments (2)
March 24, 2006
Good Aussie music subscription emails
One of the best resources for people interested in what's going on locally in the music scene are subscription based email services. I'm sure there's plenty more and if anyone knows of a quality subscription based email please email me on info at ausmusician dot com.
These are all good services most of which I have been signed up to for at least the last year, and there's no need to worry about giving your email address to these guys. That's right, I've giving these my personal seal of qualitee!
Lost at E Minor
Lost at E Minor is a bit of mixed bag of music, art and design news. There's profiles on local artists and they also give away lots of gear via random email draws. It's really nicely put together and well worth a subscription.
You can preview what Lost at E Minor looks like here
Subscribe to Lost at E Minor
VIP Indie Initiative
The Indie Initiative has a regular email that details music news, and as well as shows that are on. It used to be called the VIP Jager Uprising email but now it's called the VIP Indie Initiative Members email. It's a really up to date list with details for shows in the current week, and Indie Initiative.com is well worth a visit too. An absolutely excellent resource.
Naked Dwarf.com.au
Taking out 1st prize for the dodgiest sounding URL in the history of the interweb, is nakeddwarf.com.au. It features regular competitions to win stuff, details of upcoming gigs, and a bunch of other great stuff. The Naked Dwarf started down in tassy and has gone national. I really like this and the presentation is really good as well.
The site appears to be down at the time of writing but I'm sure it will be up and online shortly nakeddwarf.com.au
Posted by funnelbc at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
monday 20th mixed (gig) bag
Catching up on a bunch of stuff I've been trying to post. Sorry to folks who have emailed things in and I've not done anything about it! Maybe this can be a new feature! Excitement and hiijinks folks!
SXSW to MPAA STFU
Here's a nice little article about how at the South By South West (SXSW) conference during a seminar on the topic of Future of Darknets (good topic also). But what happened when one of the panel members was introduced... because the panel was hijacked the moment one panelist said, "Hello, my name is Kori Bernards, and I'm from the Motion Picture Association of America." A bunch of folks got a chance to talk back to a representative of a widely loathed organisation.
Results are here on Powazek
Artic Monkeys come to fame by encouraging P2P
There's also a nice peice on the wired blog that talks about the sucess of the Artic Monkeys and how they actively encouraged file sharing to get their sound out there. Nice display of alternative music distribution doing a band no harm commerically.
Wired Blog - The Web's First Rock n' Roll Success?
Pulling the out a SNES Sound Chip...
You can pull a SNES sound chip out and use it as more authentic synthesis/playback of SPC SNES soundtrack files. Useful if you are into chiptunes and retro music. Kinda useless, but also very cool.
Bluetooth Phone Headset + headphones
This is a nice idea. It's an inline bluetooth adapter that allows you to use your mp3 player, and when you get a call it beeps and you use your headphones and the unit has a mic in it. I would put down dollars for this thing. That is all.
Guitar Australia has FREE Guitar Lessons
Nick Fletcher of Guitar Australia has set up a rather groovy site, where you can access free guitar lessons. He's already got quite a bit of content up, with guitar lessons, and tutorials for classic songs as well. A really nice free resource. Nice job Nick!
Guitar Australia - Free Music Lessons
Related: CDM has a nice roundup of free tutorials as well: CDM - Music Tutorial Roundup
That's it for the mixed bag of music news, if you've got anything to submit, email it through to info {at} ausmusician.com.
Posted by funnelbc at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
drm'ed tracks suck (battery life)
And while we want to purchase music legally online that doesn't have completely awful DRM attached it it - (I suggest innovators like fakescience for DRM free and interesting music) there's a bit of another reason to steer clear of DRM'ed music. Apparently the added processor work that it requires of your MP3 players processor to decode the encrypted/protected content has a real world affect on your mp3 player's battery life.
Heavy DRM not only slows down an MP3 player but also sucks the very life out of them. Take, for instance, the critically acclaimed Creative Zen Vision:M, with a rated battery life of up to 14 hours for audio and 4 hours for video. CNET tested it at nearly 16 hours, with MP3s--impressive indeed. Upon playing back only WMA subscription tracks, the Vision:M scored at just more than 12 hours. That's a loss of almost 4 hours, and you haven't even turned the backlight on yet. - Source: Mp3 Insider (link below)
You can read more at MP3 Insider: The truth about your battery life
Posted by funnelbc at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2006
mescalito grants round 2
I previously wrote about these guys and they're at it again!
They're giving away $10,000 worth of Recording time, this time around to multiple artists here's how it works:
Basically around 125 hours at THIRTY MILL STUDIOS is up for grabs...125 hours of studio time will be split amongst the successful applicants, allowing us the chance to support more than just one project. We will discuss with the successful applicants' the amount of studio time being offered to them- after they have been notified by postal mail of their success.
It includes recording, mixing and mastering. Which is pretty slick. Should you have the chops, visit the Mescalito website for more info.
Posted by funnelbc at 05:52 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2005
mt's got chrissy wrapped up + minutae of my life
The stylishly debonair and devastatingly handsome music geek anorak tom over on Music Thing has compiled an amazing list of music geek christmas presents. It's all priced out with the relevant links and most certainly deserves your clickage.
(picture is an artists' representation of what tom would look like if he joined the labour party in the UK.)
Funnels: Xmas update - Also because I don't want to clutter up the front page with the minutae of my life, but I've just finished some rather massive client projects and I have some rather exciting graphic design jobs on the boil with new clients. I also just moved house into a place that can accomodate me, my nerd toys, double CRT displays and all that jazz! An early xmas pressy for me :)
Posted by funnelbc at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2005
fakescience music store followup
(pic shamelessly nicked from the San Francisco Journal - don't sue me! I'm nice!)
Well, the fake science music store which i wrote about here is up and running. I absolutely love the concept of this, $2US an EP and $5US gets you a longplayer. No janky digital rights management, as fake science and their artists understand that music lovers are happy to pay for music and that DRM kills kittens. It really does.
Read this and tell me it doesnt make you feel good:
"These are some of our favorite bands, and we think they will be yours too. We wanted to create a place where our customers would be considered patrons of the arts rather than consumers. What this means is that you know that your money will go directly to the artists you care about, and that you won't be treated like a thief by being sold encrypted files."
Hell yes. There's also a rather nice writeup by the san-francisco journal that probably doesn't use the words "janky" or "kills kittens", but it's still pretty good. Which explains the concept a little better than I would have anyway.
I truly think this sort of thing is a progressive place for music lovers and artists who want a better deal for each other. Amazing respect to the fake science crew for making it happen.
Go get yourself some fresh music: fakescience
Posted by funnelbc at 05:57 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2005
ilounge releases their holiday ipod guide
Once again the iLounge iPod guide (formerly iPod lounge) is available to download for free. It's got stacks of ipod related goodness, basically its a magazine that you can download for free.
If you're remotely interested in ipods then this is essential. It's free and excellent. Well done iLounge!
iLounge Holiday Buyers Guide 2005-2006
Posted by funnelbc at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)
avoid sony music cds
Not just because they've got Jessica Simpson signed, although that should be reason enough. El-reg points us towards: "Removing Sony's CD 'rootkit' kills Windows". Basically if you use the bundled PC player that comes with the hyrid audio CDs it installs shit which, when you remove it can make it difficult to restore normal CD audio playing capabilities.
Theres a technical (but well written so it's pretty easy going) read at Sysinternals which explains the nuts and bolts. I was initially sceptical, but after reading it, the level of invasiveness and outright illegality of installing software that (until recently) isn't even mentioned in the EULA.. It's beyond scandalous. You can bet there will be sod all coverage in the mainstream on this one, but this is a big issue. Sony can get knotted. DRM that is this clumbsy, invasive and destructive in the event of the user wanting to remove it is abosolutely unacceptable. Get knotted Sony Music.
Sysinternals Blog - Sony CD 'rootkit' kills Windows Thanks Dylan! for story link.
Posted by funnelbc at 09:30 AM | Comments (1)
November 02, 2005
fake science to be launching online store
Forget iTunes. Well, let it slip back into a haze of foggy recollection perhaps. CDM has the word that Fake Science wile be setting up a new way for indy artists and labels to hawk their wares online.
Here's the skinny as written by Peter "I got blister on my fingers" Kirn.
# $2 per EP (5 songs or less) / $5 per LP
# 60% of the money goes direct to the artist
# High-quality MP3s with no nasty DRM
More on this as they make their official announcement Friday.
I was only just wishing for such a service online a little while ago. This sort of thing could really take off, providing music that pays the artists, and without restricting customers should appeal to music lovers and musicians alike. Will update with details as they come to hand.
Fake Science website announcement regarding this should happen on Friday via Create Digital Music
Posted by funnelbc at 07:54 AM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
$1.67 a song from itunes music store australia
Well, it took a while, but here in Australia, we now have an iTunes music store. Which means we can purchase content legally for our music players. It's a bloody sad inditement on the industry when it's taken this long to get services such as this up and running. I know the bigpond music service was met with a fairly lukewarm reception in the real world. I cannot help but wonder how well ITMS will do in Australia. Probably fairly well as the penetration of iTunes users is pretty happening thanks to the eponymous white headphone cult and the fact that iTunes as music software, no longer sucks poop.
Still. We have $1.67 as the price for a song from ITMS AU. Which I'm pretty surpised by. I know that to import goods it costs more, but in the digital domain price increases on music are down to the deals cut with copyright holders. So we're paying the equivalent of ~$1.28USD per track, that should you reside in the US, would cost you 99cents (USD). This looks pretty stupid to me. Full albums are $16.99 AUD which is also not cheaper than say for example, free, or legally speaking, JB Hi-Fi.
Still. It's here now, and another slow step forward in the domain of making actual legal content available to purchase. For me though, purchasing a CD through iTunes seems more like a triumph of consumerism over common bloody sense.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:24 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2005
itunes music store for australia on the 25th?
Coming direct from the folks over on the excellent appletalk.au forums, have a squizz at this.
"Apple Australia has organised a major briefing on Tuesday at which the worldwide head of iTunes Music Store and worldwide head of iPod Marketing will appear. It's highly unusual for Apple to hold a press briefing unless a product announcement is being made, and it's hard to imagine the head of iTMS flying from the US to Australia for any other reason than the announcement of iTMS Australia.
Other corroborating evidence is that Australian music video producers have recently shot some videos specifically for playback on small screens - likely to be iTMS exclusives for the launch. Take this as you will: there's been no end of iTMS rumors to date that haven't panned out, but then, there has never been a media event with the iTMS chief in attendance before.
Sounds like we're going to be getting it soon. Hopefully. Maybe.
Thanks ooda!
Posted by funnelbc at 08:08 AM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
jager uprising offering $5,000 grant to aussie bands
Details are after the jump, but basically: Jager Uprising, which does an awesome job of supporting local music is offering a grant of $5,000 to help an band attend South By SouthWest music festival in Austin Texas in the states. Nice.
Comp details:
THE JAGER UPRISING IS OFFERING A $5000 GRANT TO HELP AN AUSTRALIAN BAND ATTEND THE 2006 SOUTH BY SOUTH WEST MUSIC CONFERENCE IN TEXAS U.S.A
Jagermeister is offering to help Australian bands attend the 2006 South By South West (SXSW) Music Conference, Festival and Tradeshow in Austin Texas, U.S.A (15th – 19th March 2006).
As part of it's ongoing program of identifying and supporting promising new and emerging musical talent, the Jager Uprising is pleased to announce the latest initiative:
- A grant scheme to assist those bands that have both participated in the Jager Uprising (before 7th Feb 2006) AND applied for and been accepted into the SXSW Music Conference. The grants of up to $5,000 (total pool of monies for SXSW support is $10,000) will be used to assist bands to cover expenses in attending and performing at the conference.
-
Jager Uprising runs weekly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and serves as a leg up in the local music scene through the provision of a supportive and professional environment in which to perform while providing direction, promotion and publicity.
The website – www.jageruprising.com also serves as a resource tool for musicians, managers and the public.
The teaming of Jagermeister, a brand that is identified with a great night out and is a big supporter of music in the US and the local program is the perfect mix of a grass roots development program and an organization that provides promotion and publicity infrastructure, along with opportunity for future development.
International applications to SXSW must be received by 24th October 2005 – get your application in NOW!
Jager Uprising SxSW Grant Application Forms will be online on Friday October 14
Posted by funnelbc at 02:25 PM | Comments (0)
September 09, 2005
nakeddwarf.com.au music website goes national
I got an email from the nakeddwarf.com.au folks a while ago saying they'd jazzed up their website, and i filed it away in my brain and promptly got on with whatever it was I was up to at the time. Nakeddwarf previously covered all the musical happenings for Tasmania, and i'm still subscribed to their newsletter as I like to know what's going on down home.
At any rate I can very happily report that (and this is probably old news) but the dwarf is now national, with plenty of info for music lovers in capital cities all around Australia.
Nakeddwarf.com.au bookmark it and watch peoples eyebrows raise when they use your computer. A fine local music site that's been doing great work for years now. Check it out.
Posted by funnelbc at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)
September 06, 2005
gracenote - the cddb folks get predictive
From the year two thousand and five I bring you this Jetsons like newsflash from Gracenote, the makers of CDDB: "The new system “fingerprints” the user’s songs by analysing peaks and troughs in the audio of a digital file and uses this to build a profile of a user’s musical preferences.
A user’s PC will then listen to internet radio broadcasts, and compare new songs to the user’s music profile. If the music seems likely to appeal, the recorder saves the song to permanent memory for playback later."
Clever. Gracenote.com has a press release about it. Via the very fine and handcrafted Cubicle Chronicles
Posted by funnelbc at 05:22 PM | Comments (0)
commodore 64 music = scary but also cool
Commodore 64 music blog - all commodore / SID music all the time. Reading the posts reminds me of reading the amiga mags just as amiga's were disappearing off the market.
I saw Casionova at something a while ago. They were quite good. I may have had a few drinks but I remember thinking... well. That I needed another drink. They get a mention over there because of their love for the c64.
At any rate. It's awesome and I endorse it. C64 Music Blog Via CDM
Posted by funnelbc at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
free retro tape delay effects
The good ship CDM where the posts are frequent and the rum is ever flowing have some good news which I now bring to you dear reader. One of CDM's fans has kindly pointed out some free VST delay effects and for that, I think everyone should get a pat on the back.
CDM - Free Retro/Tape Delay Effects
Posted by funnelbc at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)
September 05, 2005
rip rebirth, long live the swedish software overlords
Rebirth. It's got a warm place in my heart and blew my mind the first time I used it - it was on the beginning of the end for hardware synthesis and hinted at how quickly the production of electronic music and music in general would shift to software. It was fun and easy to use and for those of use with nautical tendancies, reasonably easy to get a hold of.
Propellerhead have discontinued Rebirth, but in a move of fairly fabulous generosity on their part they've released it for free download online from their Rebirth museum. Right now, it's no longer even online - Because of the demand eating up basically all of Sweden's and Luxembourg's precious bandwidth (this may be a bit of an exaggeration - i'm sure Luxembourg will be just fine). At any rate. If you happen across the CD ISO (~500+ mb) file on one of the file sharing networks you can actually download it with an easy concience. I will post when it's back online at propellerheads hq, but this seems so much like the perfect example of bit-torrent swinging in and saving the company a dollar or two and making sure the only people paying for the bandwidth are those who would like the software. If you happen across a torrent for it please let me know and I'll link it and get sued! Hurrah!
Rebirth Museum for all your antiquated 303 and 909 needs. Oh did I mention they also put up the mods and extra utilities like the excellent pattern editors as well? Well i did now. Legal obligations are out of the way - let the hunt for a speedy download site begin!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:19 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2005
the widget onlslaught continues at cdm
Just a quick note to say that Peter over at CDM has collected up even more information on music widgets for Dashboard + Konfabulator. Which makes 5 posts full of widgety goodness. I'm so jealous of the man's skills - he writes bulk music nerd articles prettymuch everyday and if you're not already a regular vistor, you really should do yourself a favour and check out Create Digital Music
Related: OT's initial post that had something to do with the cavalcade of widget related madness.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:23 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2005
falls festival lineup part 1
The first part of the falls festival lineup has been announced this morning. More to come soon but so far it'll be The Shins, Ozomatli, TZU & The Beautiful Girls.
I'm digging on the idea this year and I think I'll be heading along. The new website should be launched right about the time you're reading this.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2005
pith records = nice
I had Will from Pith Records get in contact with me about something else, but being the nosy internet parker I am, I followed his email address to check out the website for Pith Records.
It's really really encouraging to see sites like this - I've been doing things a bit the wrong way around at the moment, and it's good to get a headcheck. Pith Records do a bunch of things, they've got a bunch of articles, forums, and they happen also to be resellers for Blackspot sneakers. Heaps of respect for what they're doing and the message they're getting out there. Check it if you get a sec.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
July 02, 2005
pretend paper launch party tonight (melbourne)
Just a reminder folks that the Pretend Paper Launch Party is on tonight! If you're in Melbourne head along and enjoy the vertible smorgasboard of fun promised by the Pretend Paper crew.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:33 AM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2005
cassettes are in their sunset years
Probably qualifies as "bloody obvious" but the beeb have a bit of a piece on how Casette Tapes are on the way out. I know, earth shattering news.
But still, it's nice to know that the format will at least hold a little nostalgia for fans of dead formats. It's interesting because i'm pretty sure formats like 3 1/4" floppies won't be missed, but 5 1/2" floppies probably will. Perhaps its because the design cues that these kinds of media take are much more appealing to the content generators and merchants of cool.
There's also been a few cassette tape style mp3 players surface that do nice things with the cassette retro styling. Or perhaps you want to hook up your Ipod Shuffle to a Cassette player on the cheap?
Regardless, I still have a couple of much loved tapes on my car for when the radio goes on the blink & or I feel the need for my Jimi or Beatles mix tapes. Nostalgia 2005 style - BBC News: Not long left for cassette tapes
Posted by funnelbc at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)
australian musicians get infront
Another website that I've been quite into for a long time now, is Australian INfront. They provide an online resource for designers, artists and has a focus on the community and promoting Australian design both here and overseas.
At the moment they've put a call out to aussie musicians who want to get involved with a project. Should you happen to want to get involved with an excellent online project with some of the finest australian designers that are about drop Jon a line on jon [[at]] australianinfront.com.au to register your interest.
Alternatively, drop on over to Australian INfront to see the site and some of the work already done for visual responses.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:08 AM | Comments (0)
pretend paper launch party
Kindred spirits of the onetonnemusic massive, are the good folks of pretend paper as mentioned earlier on. They've got a massive launch party lined up for Saturay the 2nd of July. They've got all sorts of goodness lined up, including local art, open mic, drawing wall, and performances by The Ribbon Device, Children Collide, Young Professionals, Casionova, The Bedroom Philosopher & DJs. Huzzah!
The details & all sorts of fun can be had from pretend paper.com or after the jump. I'll be there, and looking hip, so make sure you come along too should you be located in Melbourne town!
Posted by funnelbc at 10:01 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2005
brutal - gaslight music needs help
It looks like Melbourne music institution Gaslight music are in financial trouble. They've apparently hired insolvency PPB Chartered Accountants, and they're looking for someone to come in and save the business.
They're currently owned by the chaosmusic.com crowd, but it appears that if they don't get an injection of cash or sell Gaslight, the doors will close. From what I've just read it sounds like Chaos used Gaslight to ad an element of legitimacy to it's business during the dotcom days, but now Gaslight is struggling it doesn't sound like they're willing to invest back into the store. Love to hear some more info or insights on this if you have any further information drop me a line on info@ausmusician dot com
It's a pretty sad scene if you go into Gaslight these days - the last few times I've been in there, it certainly doesnt have the feel and energy other independent record shops like missing link for example - has in bags. Regardless it would be a very sad thing to see it go.
Source: The Mercury Via themusic.com.au
Posted by funnelbc at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
the beeb continues to rock it
The BBC has been on a bit of a modernizing spree, and has said that they intend to release as much of their back catalogue online to the masses. For nothing. Excellent.
Right now, they've got a bit a release schedule happening for Beethoven. You can download all nine of his Symphonies the day after they broadcast. So far the first 5 are up for grabs. You gotta understand where we've come from to understand where we're going, and super respect for the BBC for all of their efforts to contribute to culture & commit to getting content out there in a meaningful way.
Download Beethoven's Symphonies via the fabbo Boing Boing
Posted by funnelbc at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2005
pretend paper = not pretendy at all
Pretendpaper is a site that an internet acquantaince of mine and some of his mates are putting together. It's designed as a promotional tool for creative people. There's some nice reviews and info on upcoming shows and all sorts of handy stuff.
At the moment all the content is put together by the team who created the site, but after the site is properly launched people will be able to log in and write bits and pieces themselves. If you wanna upload music, art whatever...
Of particular interest to you dear reader, is that there's also a mp3 player for unsigned artists can submit songs to. Very slick.
There's going to be a launch party on the 2nd of July with bands, dj's, comic acts, and an art exhibition later on. In melbourne town. As the date gets closer I'll post up the details as they come to hand.
Visit Pretendpaper and tell em funnel sent ya! That way Aaron might buy me a Shandy when we next catch up! Huzzah!
Posted by funnelbc at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2005
mescalito recording grant
Mescalito Records are offering up $10,000 worth of recording time as the "Mescalito Recording Grant". You need not to have recieved a grant before, you have not to have a distribution deal, or record label interest.
At any rate, they're looking for deserving folks from any music genre, any age, race religion whatever. Sounds pretty excellent. This is round 1 and there will be another round opening soon. This round closes on the 6th of July. So get crackin quick smart kids!
Mescalito Records for the details!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 25, 2005
ml ipod (lets you use winamp with your ipod)
ml_ipod is a plugin for winamp that lets you use Winamp 5 instead of iTunes. On the mac, i'm pretty happy to use iTunes, but when I'm on a PC, Winamp is my app of choice.
It lets you manage your ipod music, has autofill for ipod shuffles, and a bunch of other cool stuff. My fave would have to be the DJ Mike Llama (as pictured above) with the white headphones. Nice.
Download ml ipod here Via No Rock&Roll Fun
Posted by funnelbc at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
May 15, 2005
croque monsieur are cool
I was in Degraves St in Melbourne yesterday, and I stumbled across Croque Monsieur. They're a 6 piece group who do crazy eastern european, jazz, gyspsy type music. They do really nice improvised style tunes and have really nice sound.
They're playing next saturday at Bar Open on Brunswick Street from 9.30pm onwards. It's a free gig and they're good. So if you're up in that end of town go check them out cos I plan to, and I'll be sneaking off on a mates party to do so. I'm talkin' dedication to the moosic man!
Croque Monsieur's website which is worth a look even if how I've decscribed them doesn't ring your bells.
Posted by funnelbc at 01:45 PM | Comments (0)
May 14, 2005
glideascope remix comp
There's a remix comp going on over at Glideascope (I know, weird name) that looks pretty damn tasty. You remix the track Big Big Disgrace and you could get your mix put on their upcoming album Audio Cinematography, and IK Multimedia have ponied up $2,500 USD worth of their software for first, second and thirdplace. Also included is a year's worth of releases from Dark Ghost Records and the chance to show your work to potentially get signed. Sounds pretty damn nice if you ask me.
You've got until the 6th of June to get your entry in.
Glideascope's Registration page IK Multimedia's page for the comp Via OT's music news forum
Posted by funnelbc at 06:21 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2005
are you located in the uk?
If so, go on over to the Penguin Remixed site where you can download audio versions of parts of penguin books and you can possibly win stuff. It's kinda a nice idea, and shows that Penguin are a bit more aware and savvy than I would of previously given a book publisher credit for. So put some Drucula or Around the World in 80 days and make some muzak!
Penguin Remixed Via (again) Boing Boing
Posted by funnelbc at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
the tofu hut = excellent
If you are after BUCKETS of links to music blogs who host music and stuff for you to listen to and get into, I recommend you hightail it over to The Tofu Hut and check out this incredible list of music sites.
There's even a miscellaneous section with links to zmag's collection of Noam Chomsky recordings. Click for Noam! I've been getting into a lot of what Mr Chomsky has to say, and i'm amazed at what an incredible person he really is, and how much he has contributed to activism and intelligent debate everywhere.
Tofu Hut Via Boing boing
Posted by funnelbc at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)
electronic musician april reviews online now
Electronic Musician has their reviews from the April available online. I think this an applaudable effort from the EM crew - those reviews have appeared in the magazine a couple of months ago now and if you wanna check it out or refer to it online you can. Brilliant.
The more publications that get used to distributing online as a matter of course the better they will be off as more and more devices are capable of displaying them. If I can get a bit "futurey" for a moment, I think that it won't be long before everyone's phone will have a hard drive and sport PDA type functionality - and also have a flexible/large display to facilitate rich content to the very same devices. You mark my nerdy words.
Electronic Musician Articles Online Via Harmony Central
Posted by funnelbc at 09:36 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2005
unkle ho new album from the herd
Elefant Traks have got a website up promoting the new Unkle Ho album Roads to Roma. One the site is a old school donkey kong flash game where you do the barrel jumping thing for points. If you do well, you can get a chance to win a bunch of elefant traks albums and a t-shirt. Huzzah!
Unkle Ho - Roads to Roma flash game
And by the same crew Donkey John!
Posted by funnelbc at 07:34 AM | Comments (0)
lyrics born remix competition
Triple J's Hip Hop Show is running a competition where you can remix a Lyrics Born track (Callin' Out) and get a chance to meet him when he come's out to Australia and also some nice Lyrics Born kit. Sounds like a bit of fun actually!
Lyrics Born Comp Via (e) OT forum personality!
Posted by funnelbc at 12:07 AM | Comments (0)
April 27, 2005
podifier - drag n drop podcasting
There's a new kid on the podcasting block. It's called podifier. It's an application that makes the process of podcasting a little easier again, with inbuilt ftp and RSS generator. You can drag and drop your files, and easily publish your own podcasts.
It's been put together by Sydney based nerdgineers Red Square. Check it out Podifier Via CreateDigitalMusic
Posted by funnelbc at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2005
aussies driven to downloading...
Over at p2p.net there's a rather well researched article by Alex Malik about the lack of availability of popular chart Australian music (we're not talking indy bedroom rockers here) on the major music services as available to the average australian consumer.
So while ARIA disseminated the message in the recent Kazaa case that illegally downloading music is immoral and illegal, Jesse McCartney’s record label (an ARIA member) has failed to make the track available as an authorised digital download, and has now deleted the single - thereby possibly driving consumers to p2p networks and mp3 websites.
p2p.net article: aussies driven to downloading
Posted by funnelbc at 11:07 PM | Comments (0)
aussie itunes music store to open 28th april?
Appletalk.com.au are suggesting that iTunes music store is to open on the 28th April. The source of this information? Russell Crowe. Life is stranger than fiction sometimes. We'll see if the eventuates in 2 days I geuss.
Appletalk.com.au Via viathewire.net.
Update - This thread on the appletalk.com.au forums has folks saying they've sucessfully purchased music online from the Australian iTunes music store.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:36 PM | Comments (0)
shuffler automatically fills up USB music players...
This is pretty cool. Shuffler is a program that automatically allows you to load music to your Windows USB (MSC-Compliant) music players. It automatically fills your player with music for you. Handy! Especially if you don't get down with iTunes.
It works with any music player that shows up as a removable USB drive by the looks of things, so those creative nomad type doovers should be cool with this too.
Shuffler Via The Mighty Engadget
Posted by funnelbc at 10:25 PM | Comments (0)
aussies driven to downloading...
Over at p2p.net there's a rather well researched article by Alex Malik about the lack of availability of popular chart Australian music (we're not talking indy bedroom rockers here) on the major music services as available to the average australian consumer.
So while ARIA disseminated the message in the recent Kazaa case that illegally downloading music is immoral and illegal, Jesse McCartney’s record label (an ARIA member) has failed to make the track available as an authorised digital download, and has now deleted the single - thereby possibly driving consumers to p2p networks and mp3 websites.
p2p.net article: aussies driven to downloading
Posted by funnelbc at 08:57 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
paper on the benefits of p2p
Just a quick one... Available as PDF from the consumer federation of America who I geuss must be this PDF on the Benefits of P2P
Posted by funnelbc at 11:59 AM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2005
use compression for good and not evil
The excellent and fully anorak worthy Music thing links this rather fabulous article on why Ricky Martin's "Livin La Vida Loca" is one of the loudest and quite possible most shite if I may add my own bitter vitriolic thoughts on the subject track ever laid down. There's a bit of information here, but as my finely honed copywriting skills are achin' for some usin' the reason you should read this page is so you understand why adverts on TV seem so goddamn loud even though the networks swear the volume is the same.
The Death of Dynamic Range required reading for anyone with a passing interest why pop music is actually killing little babies and stabbing nuns. That's right i'm looking at you Ricky Stabby McStabs Martin. Via Music Thing. And on a very similar note...
Posted by funnelbc at 10:30 PM | Comments (0)
nine inch nails track available for garage band
Nine Inch Nails have made their track 'The Hand that Feeds' available to download in Garage Band format (they've converted the files from Pro Tools) and made them free to download. This is a really excellent idea, and really quite nice of that friendly chap Trent Reznor.
It's a nice idea, and it's a bit more inspiring than the demo tracks that come with most software packages. As a bit of trivia, Missy Higgins' hit 'All for Believing' was recorded as an Australian demo for one of the Roland hard drive workstations - because the demo song that was included at the facotory was so crap. Trivia tastic!
You can grab the file Makezine Via Gizmodo
Posted by funnelbc at 10:48 AM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2005
online sound toy : beatarator
Rockstar run an annual thing for their employees to do something creative apart from the fancy and full of fun games that they make. This year, they put together beaterator. It's a fun little looping audio sequencer. You can make up your own loops by using the step sequencer and the sounds they provide, or upload your own (maximum of 10 @ 1mb each).
This is quite fun and simple to use, along the same lines as those acid music making programs that were so popular a few years ago. All done in flash, and it popped up a warning saying that it doesn't perform so well in firefox and they recommend internet explorer. I threw caution to the wind and used firefox anyway and it seemed okay to me.
beaterator cheap as in free.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:41 PM | Comments (1)
wax audio - so good. so very funny.
Wax Audio have just released their new album Mediacracy, available as mp3 download in it's entirety. You can also grab the cover artwork as high res and print it out.
Wax Audio grab samples and recontextualize them into songs that talk about what's going on in local and global politics. I guess a better way to put this, is they've got George W doing a version of Imagine by John Lennon. Ironic and powerful satire. Also on that album is a track called "Off the Air" where we hear the unctous jackass Alan Jones off the air, with interjections from radio deadshit Kyle, from godknows what shitawful radio station it is that he's on.
Visit Wax Audio and get some free tracks. Burn it and pass it on!
Thanks Todd!
Posted by funnelbc at 12:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
cog album released - old EP's available free!
Cog have just released their new album, The New Normal a couple of days ago, and it looks set to kick some fairly serious bunghole. They've even made a pretty cool post on their site saying that if you see their CD for over $30 bucks, go somewhere else. I've been trying this technique at the local Triumph motorbike dealerships, and sadly no luck thus far - but solidarity my brothers!
Also, they've been kind enough to release their first 2 EP's, Just Visiting Part 1 and Just Visiting Part 2 as free mp3 downloads off their site. Tunes are good and the feeling is nice, good work cog!
Visit Cog.com.au. Thanks Ray!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:15 PM | Comments (0)
April 13, 2005
music recommendation - atariboy
I was out walking on the internet the other day when this other blog pulled me over and said, hey man, here's some cool software, and this guy does the graphics for it.
I like graphics nerds who are also music nerds and so I checked out some of atariboy's tunes on em411. I recommend you check out this tune I don't do do's, I'm not a hairdresser. Because the song is good. I liked the track and I thought some of you may like it too.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2005
which online music service? extremetech tells...
Over on ExtremeTech they've put together a feature on which online audio service offers the best service. They're compared on availability of songs and artists, prices and has a bunch of other useful information. Those us living in the Southern Hemisphere who currently have to make do without online music big gun iTunes Music Store, can find out about the alternatives available.
Extreme Tech - Which Online Music Service is Best? via the might gizmodo
Update - Australian IT mentions another problem for prospective online music purchasers - only 65% of chart Australian music is available to purchase online. Link
Posted by funnelbc at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2005
more musikmesse 2005 - videos!
Also available as part of Harmony Central's amazing coverage of Musikmesse in Frankfurt, Germany, you can watch videos of some of the new products announced at Messe as real media streams. I hate hate hate the real media player, but it's one of the few formats people seem to use for streaming video.
Go check it over on Harmony Central I personally guarantee that excitable sales reps and nerds talking about some new hotness awaits you!
Posted by funnelbc at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
p5 data glove v2
As a continuation of their coverage on using video game controllers for music, Create Digital Music have some tips on how to look more like a cyborg when making music. Sounds like sound advice to me. I totally dig that the p5 data glove has been co-opted for use that I seriously doubt the original makers would have ever forseen.
Also, cdm points readers in the direction of local Melbourne outfit simulus, who are using the p5 data glove in their experimental live music performances. You can download some sample tracks and listen to some pretty spaced out stuff.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:02 PM | Comments (0)
April 10, 2005
basement.nebula
Go check out the new clean styles of the basement.nebula site. Avex (a regular on the OT forums) has just updated his site and theres plenty of basement.nebula eclectic dnb style tunes to download. basement.nebula is the collaborative music of radhe & avex, both very talented guys. I recommend it, I recommend it to you ten-fold!
Clicky! basement.nebula.com
Posted by funnelbc at 02:30 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2005
arcsolo - mp3 download of new EP
The kids from arcsolo would like you to know that they have just released their debut EP called 'Don't talk moonwalk'. Sounds like very sound advice to me. If this wasn't fabulous enough news by itself, they've made both tracks available as mp3 downloads free from their website. Check out 'Get On Back' it's a banging little tune, and I understand its getting playback with FBI radio up in Sydney. Oh, and - check out these posters I did for fbi when they launched (apologies for my ugly old website).
Oh where was I? Right. 'Get On Back' is a great tune, and goes along at a nice pace. I think this would be a darn fine tune to experience live. The second track 'It's Alright' has a nice broken beat start - I'm a little scared it's going to end up on advert. If I see this on a ad for a Barina next year, someone owes me a shandy. In fact, goddamn it, I demand a shandy!
Visit Arcsolo's website and grab some free EP action.
Posted by funnelbc at 11:17 PM | Comments (0)
combat wombat - best posters ever.
I was out and about the other day and I spotted the artwork for the combat wombat gigs in Melbourne. Which is a bit neither here nor there to you, but I liked the posters. So there.
Apart from being not bad on the old music, they also happen to be really cool ethical human beings and they're running/plugging (who can tell in the crazy mixed up world of the internet) a thing in their activism section called "donate ya dole day" where folks donate half of their dole check to help bail out political prisoners in Mexico. There's more info on their site: Combat Wombat.org. Oh and you can read an artist profile on amo.org here.
Posted by funnelbc at 05:50 PM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2005
digitalmusician.net looks promising
Also announced at musikmesse is DigitalMusician.net a online collaboration music site. The concept is as follows, you hook up with other musicians via the site - and you can collaborate online using a special VST plugin via DSL internet connection. Holy crap! That's a pretty nice idea. The site is currently in public beta, and you can apply to take part in the beta by filling in the form on the site. It's a really high concept, and I would love to see how this one pans out.
Check it out - digital musician.net Via Harmony Central
Posted by funnelbc at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2005
win tascam gear @ tascamforums
Tascamforums.com is running a competition where you can submit your songs and go into the running to win a 2488 Digital Portastudio plus a VL-S21 Studio Monitor System or a DP-01FX Digital Portastudio all supplied by TASCAM. Hotdamn! You have to register an account on the tascamforums to enter (registration is free). You have to submit an original song as a mp3, not be a professional musician and also a picture of your studio. Easy peasy! Go and win some stuff my droogies!
Via: Harmony-Central
Posted by funnelbc at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
jaxter artist awards winners announced
The winners of this year's jaxter artists awards has been announced, with 50% more entries than last year, they had a tough time picking winners.
"The overall prize for best entry goes to Graeme Pillemer, working under the stage name Earl Gray, for his undeniably groove-infused composition 'Bad Luck'. Described by the judges as an R&B version of Ben Harper, Graeme has created what one judge called 'a cruisy, funky alternative country-tinged bluesy classic'. Graeme wins $5,000 cash, and Mbox from Digidesign (pictured below) and a membership to The Can."
I'm gunna swing on over to jaxter.com.au and check out the track. Well done to Graeme Pillemer and good on jaxter for putting together such a good thing.
Posted by funnelbc at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2005
ipodlounge release their 2005 ipod guide...
ipodlounge apart from being one of the largest portals for ipod related information and of course their massive community, released a buyers guide for the ipod last year. This year they've topped it and made available as a free PDF download a high quality magazine style publication with heaps of info on gear and accessories for the ipod - even your friends and mine, the crumpler crew get a mention. Its full of awesome and you can check it out here.
Posted by funnelbc at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 09, 2005
hyper engine av now available free
Arboretum systems have made Hyperengine AV 1.5 available as a free download for mac. They've released the code under the open source GPL so that anyone can improve and fiddle with the source code also. Aboretum also make amongst other plug-ins, the amazing and really rather powerful RayGun for cleaning up old recordings. If you are on a mac and are wanting for some freeform video + audio editing, then look no further kids.
Arboretum's website Via Samplepoolz Via Createdigitalmusic *gasps for air...*
Posted by funnelbc at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
January 11, 2005
apple audio rumours, flash ipod, cheap imac, firewire i/o
Goddamn, I think Phil Tripp is a busy man. Every other Australian music industry article he's quoted as a talking head. According to The Age, Apple is tipped to be announcing an Australian version of the iTunes music store. Be very interesting to see how that fares.
Also i'm keeping my eyeballs peeled for first sightings of a possible new apple audio player - speculation is rife about whether Apple are going to announce a new flash based ipod. At the very same show there's a rumour that they will be releasing a budget iMac style computer sans monitor, for the budget concious folk who want to try out apple computers. Cheap second machine for audio anyone? *puts hand up*
Oh and did I mention the apple firewire breakout box a little while ago? Why Yes I believe I did. Lots of interesting stuff on the horizon if any or all of this comes to fruition.
Posted by funnelbc at 02:56 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2004
top of the pops gets the can...
And The Age has a wake. Not even a very enjoyable one. But they do title the article "The Day Music Died" with a picture of Enrique Iglesias - quite amusing for that alone. And I've only admittedly seen a little of the top of the pops - but mostly its fairly insipid fair these days. The writer laments the end of a show that has lasted so long and seen so much inflentual music. I think that it's been watered down and watered down and it has been fading away for a very long time. Perhaps I would be upset if I thought there was anything genuine lost, but it's really the extension of the logic which produces mainstream commerical music. If the show doesn't make plenty of bank then they haven't got a reason to run it - certainly nothing like musical integrity or nostalgia here anyway.
Age Article - The Day Music Died Via themusic.com.au
Posted by funnelbc at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
looking for melbourne electronica and dnb artists
A good mate of mine is on the lookout for Melbourne based musicians that create electronica, techno, drum n bass etc for a project hopefully for next year's fringe festival. You would be interested in creating music for an interactive exhibition. If you know anyone or their dog, or pet seamonkey who would be interested in such a venture, drop me an email on info at ausmusician dot com and I'll hook you up!
Check out thisisnotlondon.com to see some of dylan's work. Mmmm tasty!
Posted by funnelbc at 10:49 AM | Comments (0)
December 08, 2004
mackie tracktion
Some exciting news. Right now and for a limited time (sound like a used car dealer sheesh) you can download a free copy of Mackie's new audio sequencing software, Tracktion. All you need to do is register and you can download it for Mac or PC. It's even a small download (6mb for PC and half that for Mac). I'd be very interested to have a tinker and I intend to as soon as I get five spare minutes. Looks very promising though!
Get it here (free registration required) Via the new and somewhat shiny Createdigitalmusic
Posted by funnelbc at 01:12 PM | Comments (0)