Gretsch® Guitars Present The "Fred & Joe Show"

Gretsch enthusiasts will have the chance to celebrate the music Gretsch has been a part of since their guitar production began in the 1930s. What better way to pay tribute than to have, in-person‐the man himself, Fred Gretsch III, and Gretsch marketing honcho, Joe Carducci‐sharing the behind-the-scenes stories and musical performances that helped catapult the iconic family business to prominence.

Patrons will be transported through time with a multi-media presentation of sights and sounds including rare Gretsch family archive photos and mind blowing guitar footage from past and future legends. Also featured will be Fred's famous "$2 Quiz" where Gretsch trivia questions are posed and the person with the correct answer wins a crisp $2 bill. This is the chance to get to know Fred Gretsch up-close-and-personal in a casual open forum at a local Gretsch dealer.

The Gretsch "Fred & Joe Show" dates, cities and venues are:

JUNE
13 Brooklyn, N.Y. Street Sounds
26 Fort Wayne, Ind. Sweetwater Sound
27 Fort Wayne, Ind. Sweetwater Sound

JULY
18 San Antonio, Texas Redbone Guitars

AUG.
1 Rochester, N.Y. House of Guitars
8 Brookfield, Wis. Cream City
15 LaCrosse, Wis. Dave's Guitar
22 Tucson, Ariz. Rainbow Guitar
29 Los Angeles West LA Music

Music Collection Society PRS Has Announced A New Pricing Plan

The UK's music collection society, PRS, has announced a new pricing plan it hopes may entice YouTube and Pandora back to the UK market. Pandora pulled out at the start of 2008, and YouTube began removing content from the view of UK users last March. "From 1 July 2009, firms will have to pay 0.085p for each track streamed, down from the previous rate of 0.22p. [The] head of the music streaming service We7 told BBC News he welcomed the new charges. 'It's brilliant. Not so much the rates but the realization by the PRS that things have to change in the digital world. Till now it's felt like they were not listening,' he said. ... 'They [the PRS] are getting in touch with the reality of the digital world.' [The PRS's managing director said] 'We've laid our stall out and listened to everyone who would engage with us. We've consulted with the 25 firms that represent 97% of our revenue over the past six months and have been given opinions from many others. We need to ensure the music artists are paid for their work, but we also wanted to make sure that the framework was in place to enable the digital market to grow.'"

Nigerian icon King Sunny Ade announces North American tour

Rising to prominence in the late 1970s, Nigerian singer/songwriter King Sunny Ade made a name for himself by combining pedal-steel guitar and other Western sound with the traditional pop of his homeland.

This late spring / early summer brings him to North America, touring for five weeks as his Seven Degrees North album is re-released with US distribution.

King Sunny, 2009 Tour:
Full Tour Schedule

06/11/2009, Atlanta, GA, Variety Playhouse
06/12/2009, Manchester, TN, Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/14/2009, Los Angeles, CA, Playboy Jazz Festival
06/16/2009, Solana Beach, CA, Belly Up Tavern
06/18/2009, Santa Barbara, CA, Lobero Theatre
06/19/2009, San Francisco, CA, The Independent
06/20/2009, North Tahoe, CA, Truckee Regional Park
06/21/2009, Boonville, CA, Sierra Nevada World Music Fest
06/23/2009, Edmonton, AB, Francis Winspear Centre
06/24/2009, Calgary, AB, Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
06/26/2009, Vancouver, BC, Vancouver International Jazz Fest
06/27/2009, Victoria, BC, Jazz Fest International
06/29/2009, Seattle, WA, The Triple Door
06/30/2009, Apple Valley, MN, Weesner Amphitheater
07/01/2009, Highland Park, IL, Ravina Festival
07/03/2009, Rothbury, MI, Rothbury Festival
07/04/2009, Toronto, ON, Harbourfront Centre
07/05/2009, Montreal, QC, Festival International De Jazz De Montreal
07/07/2009, South Burlington, VT, Higher Ground,
07/10/2009, Ottawa, ON, Cisco Ottawa Bluefest 2009
07/11/2009, Quebec City, QC, Quebec City International Summer Fest
07/12/2009, Schenectady, NY, Music Haven
07/14/2009, Camden, NJ, Wiggins Park
07/15/2009, Boston, MA, Museum of Fine Arts
07/17/2009, Washington, DC, 9:30 Club

Comparing Compressors on Drums

Taken from the "Compression: The Essentials" tutorial by HowAudio.com, audio engineer Jeff Dykhouse compares the Digirack II, Bomb Factory LA-2A, Digirack III, Drawmer Dynamics, Waves Linear Phase Multi-band, Smack, Renaissance, and Waves SSL E Channel compressors on a drum track. You to listen to each and identify the differences.

Compressors included in the tutorial are:

Software:
1. Digirack Compressor II
2. Bomb Factory 1176
3. Drawmer GCL
4. Waves SSL E Channel
5. Waves Master Bus Compressor
6. Waves Linear Multi-band
7. Waves Renaissance Compressor
8. Bomb Factory LA-2A
9. McDSP MC2000 Multi-band
10. Digirack Compressor III
11. Digidesign Smack!

Hardware:
1. Teletronix LA-3A
2. Smart Research C2
3. dbx 160x
4. Aphex Compellor
5. Behringer Tube Composer T1952

RIAA MediaSentry, Dead In US, Is Alive In Australia

Disgraced and discredited 'private investigator' MediaSentry, fired by former patrons Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music, and Sony Music and their RIAA, may be dead and buried in America, but it's alive and well, resurfacing in Australia where it's once again plying its trade, probably under new management.

Apple Tablet Rumors Again

With a conventional netbook clearly out of the question, researchers for Piper Jaffray said Thursday there's mounting evidence to suggest Apple next year will introduce its own take on the market in the form of a tablet-based device that will sell for $700 or less

For Chris Vrenna, Today’s Pro Tools Delivers Yesterday’s Analog Sounds

Chris Vrenna is no stranger to the digital domain. The Grammy-winning producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter and programmer has a long history of working with technology. Between his work with Nine Inch Nails and Marylin Manson, remixes for David Bowie, U2 and Smashing Pumpkins, and composing for a wide range of video games, Vrenna spends most of his waking hours working in Pro Tools.

“I was fortunate to have grown up in the early ‘80s, when synthesizers and electronics were really taking off,” he says. “When I was 12 or so, I saw an ad for an electronic drum kit, and saved up all my money to buy one. I fell in love with the idea that I could create beats using any sound at all, not just kick, snare and toms. So for me, the advent of MIDI sequencing and digital recording was just huge.”

Pro Tools has always been a big part of Vrenna’s creative arsenal, and the new enhancements to Pro Tools 8 make it an even more powerful tool. He finds the new user interface particularly impressive. “The first thing I said when I booted up the new version was ‘wow, that’s just beautiful!’ I stare at Pro Tools for ten or twelve hours a day, six days a week, and this new interface makes my work a real pleasure.”

Vintage sounds have always been a big part of Vrenna’s sound, and the arsenal of new virtual instruments in Pro Tools 8 offer a wide-ranging palette of luscious sounds. “There are so many great instruments and sounds in Pro Tools 8,” he says. “Boom is a lot of fun – it’s like having an old (Roland) TR-808 or TR-909 drum machine. Transfuser is insane – a heck of a lot of fun to use. And I love working with Strike, especially the individual note muting. And Vacuum – the sounds are all so fat, so dirty and analog sounding.”

Most important for Vrenna, though, is the ease with which Pro Tools 8 allows him to manipulate audio and MIDI in composing and remixing. “MIDI sequencing and sampling has always been part of my sound,” he says, “and Pro Tools 8 enables me to easily and seamlessly integrate that into my work. It’s such a streamlined, intuitive workflow.”

miniMusic Releases The Pianofly Pro Synth For Iphone And iPod Touch

miniMusic has released Pianofly, a music synthesizer and piano keyboard application for Apple's iPhone platform. Pianofly pairs an intuitive live-scrolling, multi-touch keyboard with a powerful FM synthesizer and an elegant interface allowing anyone to create and edit instrument sounds easily. Make quick adjustments while performing, altering sounds on the fly!

The first feature you notice in Pianofly is the keyboard. Other piano applications for the iPhone generally show just one octave of keys, then use tiny arrow buttons to shift up or down an octave. Hogwash. That's the kind of piano you'd play with a mouse! The keyboard in Pianofly moves with you, scrolling as you play; let your fingers fly up and down the full 88 key piano! This is how on-screen pianos always wanted to work, but didn't know how.

Then you notice the sounds. Eight pages full of customizable instrument icons. Just tap one and start playing. Want to design your own instrument timbre? Of course you do; double tap on an icon and the editor is revealed. You actually see the waves and adjust their lengths to set frequencies and change waveforms. Rewire the nodes for modulation. Double tap on a node and edit its ADSR envelope for smooth amplitude changes: give it a hard, fast attack or fade it in slowly, rising gently on the breeze. Use any photo or image to make the perfect icon for your new instrument.

Pianofly can make a huge variety of sounds. You can play them alone, or jam with a song from your music library. A great way for DJs to add cool effects over their playlist or for students to practice playing a song. Come out of your musical cocoon; make music anywhere with Pianofly in your pocket.

Planned improvements include multi-track recording and additional wave types and effects like reverb or flange to design even more elaborate sounds. The sky is the limit for Pianofly (are you getting all of these puns?).

Pianofly is available now from the Apple App Store at an introductory price of only $1.99 USD. After the introductory period, the normal price will be $2.99 or higher as additional features are added.

FourTrack iPhone App 2.0 Update Adds Bounce, Duplicate and Metronome

The FourTrack multitrack audio recorder for the iPhone has been updated to v2.0 with new, highly anticipated song tools including bounce, duplicate and a metronome with real drum recordings.

• Bounce — Mix your song to track 1 and 2 of a new song. This makes room for two more tracks while preserving the originals for syncing to desktop recording software.

•Duplicate — Make a backup of your song and continue working on it in a different file.

•Metronome — Maintain a consistent tempo by recording along with real drums (not MIDI) using FourTrack’s built-in metronome. Select a tempo by entering a number or by tapping. Choose from seven sounds including three beats by celebrity drummer Jason McGerr on his signature Ludwig kit recorded in his Seattle based studio, Two Sticks Audio. Other sounds (Block A, Block B, High Hat, and Pop) are samples of live drums and percussion courtesy of Discrete Drums, the original multitrack drum library. Time signatures include 3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and X/4 (which are unaccented beats that can be used to play 5, 7, 9 and other odd meters).

About FourTrack
The FourTrack multitrack audio recorder for the iPhone is a songwriting and practice tool for singers, guitar players, piano players and other musicians who want to capture musical ideas and record songs on their iPhone. Plug in a microphone, arm a track, record, and repeat. FourTrack works with the iPhone built-in microphone or a headset mic. WiFi sync allows FourTrack recordings to be downloaded to any desktop computer running RiffWorks recording software or with any web browser. Tracks can then be loaded into any desktop recording software to continue working on songs. FourTrack is developed by Sonoma Wire Works, makers of RiffWorks guitar recording software, and by Retronyms, makers of the top selling Recorder iPhone app.

Visit the FourTrack product page at: http://www.sonomawireworks.com/iphone/fourtrack/

Sony Releases Vintage Computer and Video Game Music Loop/FX Library

Sony Creative Software has now released our new loop and sample music library called, "8 Bit Weapon: A Chiptune Odyssey". The library covers original music & sounds from the Apple II, Commodore 64, Nintendo NES & Gameboy, and the Atari 2600! Each system library has everything from drums, bass and synth to special effects.

Released: 04/21/2009
MSRP $41.95 CD/ $39.95 Digital Download
Sony's Official release site: http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/8bitweapon

Canadian Pirates Sell Spurious Songs — In 1897

The NYTimes reported in their June 13, 1897 edition that 'Canadian pirates' were flooding the country with spurious editions of the latest copyrighted popular songs. 'They use the mails to reach purchasers, so members of the American Music Publishers Association assert, and as a result the legitimate music publishing business of the United States has fallen off 50 per cent in the past twelve months' while the pirates published 5,000,000 copies of songs in just one month. The Times added that pirates were publishing sheet music at 2 cents to 5 cents per copy although the original compositions sold for 20 to 40 cents per copy. But 'American publishers had held a conference' and a 'committee had been appointed to fight the pirates' by getting the 'Post Office authorities to stop such mail matter because it infringes the copyright law.' Interestingly enough the pirates of 1897 worked in league with Canadian newspapers that published lists of songs to be sold, with a post office box address belonging to the newspaper itself. Half the money went to pay the newspapers' advertising while the other half went to the pirates who sent the music by mail.