Myrical Child is a rapper who proves that you are what you make of yourself, no matter what your odds. You see, when he was two, he was burned all over his body in a devastating accident. But he has learned to deal with his life through music. Here’s a snippet from a story in the Chronicle Telegram:
“You have to realize that life’s a beautiful thing,†he said. “I look at myself every day in the mirror, and I’m just happy to be alive.â€
Moore was just 2 when he was pulled from a car in Arkansas that had burst into flames when his 4-year-old brother was playing with matches. He spent eight months in a hospital recovering from the accident.
At one point, a wig with prosthetic ears was fashioned for him to wear while growing up.
His injuries healed after years of surgeries and physical therapy, but it wasn’t until he came to Lorain, at the age of 15, that he began unmasking his true identity through rhymes.
Hit this link for the full story.
According to Garage Spin, the producers of the Sam Jackson flick “Snakes on a Plane” are looking for an indy producer to submit original music for inclusion on the movie’s soundtrack album. No idea what the odds are that your music might actually make it, but hey. Check it out.
(For more of my articles about recording and home studio software, check out my new site, StudioRoll.)
Over at Download Squad, they’ve posted a bit about Microsoft’s new development: a music creation tool that looks decidedly like GarageBand, at least based on the image the DL Squad guys have gotten their hands on. Now, I suppose if you don’t have a Mac, you don’t now how cool GarageBand is, with its multi-track recording, loop mixing, tuning features, editing, effects, and built-in podcasting and video sync features. All for the price of iLife, which is 99 bucks. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft positions Monaco against GarageBand, and more interesting if Monaco turns out to be in the same class as GarageBand.
Quoting from Ableton’s web site:
Ableton Live is the only solution designed for each stage of the musical process, from creation to production to performance. In the creative stage, Live is transparent, intuitive and responsive, capturing inspiration and encouraging the flow of musical ideas. During production, Live provides all of the professional tools and studio compatibility required to complete and perfect projects. On stage, Live delivers the expressive control and stability that innumerable performing artists have come to rely on. Live 5 — from inspiration to studio to stage.
Here’s the link.
(For more of my articles on recording and music, check out my new site StudioRoll.)
Record Producer has a good tutorial on recording a symphony band. The question it seeks to answer is this: can you really record a large band with just two mics, or you need to close-mic every instrument? Here’s a snippet:
The priority with an orchestra is to get a recording that sounds like an orchestra, with no ‘improvements’. And the best way to achieve this is to start by thinking about how people ideally listen to an orchestra, from a high-price ticket in the front few rows of a concert hall with excellent acoustics.
You could put a pair of microphones in this position and record the orchestra as though the mics were an audience member’s ears.
Unfortunately this doesn’t work. The human brain has the ability to process the information supplied by the ears and focus on the sounds it wants to hear, and to ignore other sound that it doesn’t.
Hit Record Producer for the rest of the article.
Now that I’m podcasting regularly, I love it. Between consulting projects, my kids’ school events, and the occasional band rehearsal, I’ve been working on a manuscript about my life as a kid growing up in Detroit. Rather than let the ’script sit and gather dust next to my Mac Mini while I finish it, though, I decided to create a regular podcast of each chapter. These short stories are very humorous to me, and I hope you enjoy them as well. Head over to Gabcast channel 509 to listen to “Leaving Detroit” Episode 2, “Mr. Bottles”.
The advent of digital music has posed a number of problems to the music distribution establishment. Aside from the issues of music piracy (a term I use somewhat begrudgingly), which existed long before digital music (and began, notably, with the rise of cassette tape), digital music is pushing other methods of distribution slowly but surely into the fringe.
And I don’t just mean digitally recorded music. I mean digitally distributed–transferred between parties over the Internet. Apple’s iTunes has been a predominant force in the music consumer’s movement from the record store to
the online store. So why are people still starting record stores? Who, at this stage, would bother starting up a company to sell shiny little discs?
Answer: Lala.com. This outfit lets you sell and trade your existing offline music collection (CDs), getting a few bucks in credit when you send them your discs. Then, you can cash in your credit for the CDs that others have traded in. The company pays a royalty to the artists and insists that, once you’ve ripped the CD, you erase it from your hard drive before sending it in (now THERE’s a leap of faith in the consumer public).
Of course, once the record companies stop producing CDs, which will be quite a few years yet, will Lala.com still be around, hocking used music and trusting its benefactors? Something tells me “no”.
[Via GarageSpin]
OK, it’s time for the “state of the iTunes library” address. Here are my top 10 most-played iTunes songs, according to the iTunes smart Play List:
1. The Scientist by Coldplay
2. Anakin Vs. Obi-wan by John Williams
3. Uninvited by Alanis Morrisette
4. Yesterday by the Beatles
5. Lift Me Up by Benjamin Gate
6. Leningrad by Billy Joel
7. Warning Sign by Coldplay
8. Chop Chop by Burlap to Cashmere
9. Ode to a Butterfly by Nickel Creek
10. Stick it Out by Rush
Oddly enough, I’m surprised R. Kelly’s I Believe I can Fly didn’t make the top 10, since shuffle play is constantly playing it (which drives my wife nuts). Anyway, what does your top 10 look like?
