Feel like helping develop a new piece of sampling software? Maize are currently developing the Beta version of Maize Sampler 2, to go alongside their ‘Modular Studio Environment’ a VST and effect chaining/mixing shell. They’re inviting producers to download the latest version of the sampler beta, and use it for a couple of weeks before reporting back with feedback and information on any bugs you might find. Be quick though, the software’s license will run out in a fortnight’s time.
The recording studio downstairs here at RouteNote Towers is only a modest affair, certainly no Abbey Road, but making sure everyone involved in the running of the studio or the scheduling of a project can still get complicated. This web app from Gain Studio aims to arrange your business neatly, and make it remotley accessible, so that multiple members of staff can use it even when they’re not offsite. You can also:
Book sessions and assign rooms, staff, resources etc to each one, then easily edit them.
Easily track tasks by assigning jobs, tickets, and to-do lists to staff, setting due dates and priorities.
Track your equipment and reserve it for sessions.
View calendars for every room, staff member and piece of equipment, or get an overview of the whole studio in one place.
Of course you can also manage staff calendars etc on Google Calendar or even Outlook, and having all your studio’s co-ordination happen online can be a problem if your internet connection goes down, but this does seem a neat way of collating all the necessary information and making sure everyone’s on the same page. The basic version, for smaller studios (like ours) is free, but if you’re managing a massive organisation with tens of projects and multiple simultaneous recording sessions you’ll need to pay for a premium version (up to $399 a month!). That said, they’re running a month’s free trial at the moment, so you don’t lose anything by taking a look.
As Apple are set to announce their iSlate, or whatever their tablet computer is going to be called, and we all contemplate the future of the ‘cloud’ of online applications and file storage that we’ll doubtless be accessing from our Dick Tracy watches and optical implants in a few short years, here is a neat little online music editing package that lets you save your projects online, and share them with other users. It’s by no means as sophisticated as desktop based programs like Cubase or Pro Tools, but as a means of roughing out a track with remote collaborators, Aviary’s ‘Myna’ is an excellent free web app.
As well as being able to upload your own tracks and samples to their server, you can import material from Soundcloud, pick and choose from their online libraries of loops and samples, and browse other people’s uploads for stuff to use in your project. You can then insert these clips into tracks just by dragging, and then use all the standard tools you’d expect from an audio editor; gain, fade, stereo balance, clip trim and loop, as well as a bank of simple effects like delay, reverb, filters and phasers. Once you’ve sketched out your track you can mix it down and export it as a .wav, or you can leave it up there to be edited by other users. It might not give you access to your favourite plugins, but this is a hell of a lot of music processing power for free.
There has been a lot of music industry trend-analysis software launched into the market in the past few months, Big Champagne and Next Big Sound. The newest one to enter the market is UK based MusicMetric.
MusicMetric tracks real-time music trends within the music industry. The software itself uses semantic analysis to track which bands and record labels are fall or increasing. Once gathered, this data is then compiled and archived, letting customers plot trends, locate negative and positive opinions and establish demographic and geographic popularity, too.
I think MusicMetric has a good chance in this market, but they are going to have the biggest competition from Big Champagne who I think are the leaders.
The second collection from the Waves Audio’s ‘Signature Series’ explores the mindset and production genius that is Mr Eddie Kramer. Kramer, through his inspired engineering and production, helped sensationalise contemporary rock music in the 60′s adding the quality of sound that, until then, rock music had never been truly explored with or revealed by.
Kramer has worked and helped produce albums for Hendrix, Led Zeplin, Kiss, Santana, Bowie, Clapton and The Beatles to name a few, which has clearly earnt him the homage of a Waves Signature Series.
“As a producer/engineer, my main function is to interpret the artist’s vision, and give them the sonic palette to help realize their dreams. If I can make that happen, then I’ve done my job.” – Eddie Kramer
Built on a very similar looking platform and interface it is clear that Waves are definitely attempting to keep the collection consistent throughout and many aspects of this new Kramer Series mirror those from the Maserati Series. The Kramer Series offers 5 plug-ins for each area of a classic rock mix.
• Eddie Kramer Guitar Channel
• Eddie Kramer Drum Channel
• Eddie Kramer Effects Channel
• Eddie Kramer Bass Channel
• Eddie Kramer Vocal Channel
I would have to say that the simplicity in parameters renders this edition of the Signature Series very task specific and will mainly appeal to lovers of Kramer’s work or engineers attempting to recreate the earthy rock sounds of the 60s/70s. Whereas, Maserati’s Series, although still not greatly, offered slightly more diversity in sound (I know I’ll get ripped for that).
Anyway, this is a great tool, worth a try for any engineer experimenting with a rock band, check the Waves website for the finer details.
Infuriatingly priced at $800 means I’ve only had a go at the demo whilst looking for a good torr…. nevermind.
Waves continue their domination of digital music production releasing the first product for their ‘Signature Series’, The Tony Maserati Collection.
For the amateur producers / engineers that haven’t heard the name, Maserati is the ‘genius’ behind hundreds of hip/hop, RnB, pop chart toppers that include Britney Spears, Beyonce, MJB, David Bowie and Jay-Z. Crap tracks? Maybe. But even the most of ‘anti commerce in music’ must appreaciate the level of quality in mix and production of modern pop music. Maserati is hailed as being the principal archetect of the modern New York pop sound and widely respected as one of the worlds most clinical mixing engineers.
Maserati has worked closely with the guys at Waves Audio to front this collection of plug-ins in an attempt replicate his personal engineering, mixing and production styles.
Maserati says “I’ve been using Waves from the beginning. From dynamics and EQs to special effects, most of the tracks I’ve mixed have Waves on them. Waves did an amazing job turning my personal processing chains into custom plug-ins.”
Each advertised with high status names, check the waves website for specifics.
Definately worth a look for all kinds of RnB, Hip/hop producers out there and any body else who wants to create a clean, powerful sound.
The Tony Maserati Collection RRPs at around $800 US, but im sure, just like anything else you can torrent the software for free… ooops, did I say that?
There has been a lot of talk recently about music startups. iLike is on the table and looking for a buyers, as is Imeem. A couple months ago Tunecorereceived more funding and now it is rumoured that Band Metrics has received angel funding.
Funding was led by Allen Graber, who is a technology investor and entrepreneur. Band Metrics was a Techcrunch 50 2008 semi-finalise, and this is a great step forward for their company. Band Metrics provides a first-of-its-kind semantic web application for the music industry that collects, analyzes and displays artist’s dynamic popularity. The company’s music intelligence and analytics are achieved through patent pending technology which assists artists in understanding large amounts of data relative to their music, fans and shows, while also helping them manage their digital identity.
Feel like helping develop a new piece of sampling software? Maize are currently developing the Beta version of Maize Sampler 2, to go alongside their ‘Modular Studio Environment’ a VST and effect chaining/mixing shell. They’re inviting producers to download the latest version of the sampler beta, and use it for a couple of weeks before reporting back with feedback and information on any bugs you might find. Be quick though, the software’s license will run out in a fortnight’s time.
There has been a lot of music industry trend-analysis software launched into the market in the past few months, 
