are you right-brained or left-brained?
check this out - do you see her spinning clockwise or anti-clockwise?
October 15, 2007
October 10, 2007
play-doh
here's a great video (play doh video) for Sony's Bravia... apparently it used 2.5 tonnes of plasticine in the making. Hope that's recyclable
September 13, 2007
stop motion piano and drums
some nice work here
June 15, 2007
Noise Canx Headphones
The NY Times has written a good review of noise cancelling headphones that compare to Bose, but cost less. The choicest Bose set run at $350.
Audio-Technica and Panasonic pairs get a good review, they run between $100 - $140. According to the author, the quality is as good as Bose. Read more here
Ash move to release singles only
This could be a sign of things to come. Rock band Ash have vowed to release no more albums. They've decided to release singles only, due to the success of digitial singles downloads.
Is this the way forward for artists and composers? Read about it here
stop the press
An interview with Conor O'Sullivan can be found here
February 15, 2007
this female fronted rock group
Quick mention - here's a rock group to check out: Land of Talk. According to Ari Stein, this female fronted rock group will rock you socks off. He says their beautiful noise comes in the vein of Giant Drag, Sonic Youth and Metric.
Their myspace page is here: http://www.myspace.com/landoftalkmtl
January 23, 2007
really great sound design
This video has to be seen and heard to be believed. This uk ad for the honda civic showcases the most human aspect of the car's quality - its sound.
Not only that - but in the video all the sound design is performed by humans. That is, the sound effects from the commercial that seem to be car sounds are actually a choir.
See for yourself
The composition is by Steve Sidwell. More can be seen on honda's site at www.honda.co.uk/civic
January 17, 2007
Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers
This video, from Swedish directors Ola Simonsson and Johannes Stjarne Nilsson displays some really great home drumming! Turn up the sound.... Press Preview
January 16, 2007
American Idol's musical overkill
There are few things more beautiful than hearing someone singing well. Unfortunately people increasingly think that this means cramming as many decorations as possible into short musical phrases.
Sometimes the ability to hold a note without decoration can be far more effective than jumping all over the place and vibrato-overload. Then, showing what you can do through well timed vocal effects will have even more impact.
NPR has a good article on the overuse of Melisma in today's Idol generation. Anthony Heilbut talks about the gospel origins of the technique, through jazz and into pop. He explains the correct usage of the technique and how to spot the faker from the practitioner. Read more about Melisma here.
January 05, 2007
ones to watch for 2007
Singer Mika and rockers The Twang and Klaxons are artists to watch in 2007. This is according to over 130 influential music critics and broadcasters in the UK that were surveyed recently.
Mika is an emerging singer-songwriter that has been compared to Freddie Mercury and Scissor Sisters (the inevitable 'flamboyant' label and all)
the full list is as follows:
1. Mika
2. The Twang
3. Klaxons
4. Sadie Ama
5. Enter Shikari
6. Air Traffic
7. Cold War Kids
8. Just Jack
9. Ghosts
10. The Rumble Strips
Read more here
December 19, 2006
archiving your old cassette tapes
There are many ways to archive your old cassette tapes, or convert them to more modern digital audio formats, such as mp3.
The coolest way is possibly by using this specially designed cassette deck for the pc. The PlusDeck2c is used to "archive your old cassette tapes of 80s hair bands into digital media files for playback on your PC". It even fits right into place in your rack!
Here's more info
By the way, if you're interested in an easy way to do this manually, Alpha Geek has a good how-to article on archiving cassette tapes using cables from radioshack and freeware audacity editing tools.
The Apha Geek article is here.
December 13, 2006
hugged by your shirt
The Hug Shirt from CuteCircuit has been nominated by Time Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2006. This shirt brings haptic technology and wearable communication to the consumers wardrobe.
The wearer of the shirt receives a text hug from their loved one. The mobile phone notifies the shirt via bluetooth and the the shirt gives the wearer a hug!
Cute Circuit says "the new design features a very comfortable mix of smart textiles, cotton and micro-fiber that make it very soft and pleasant to wear. And yes! Is completely washable!"
The Hug Shirt can be seen on the CuteCircuit site
