News Round Up: 5/12/14

Richie Hawtin apologises for speaker incident, Cubase 8 announced, Robert Hood reflects on his career, and new synths from Arturia.

Robert Hood at RBMA Tokyo. As one of the founding members of the legendary Detroit techno crew Underground Resistance and a pioneer of the minimal techno sound with his 1994 LP Minimal Nation and his label M-Plant, Robert Hood’s legacy in the electronic music world is almost peerless. RBMA tells his story above, while The Quietus also chats to the producer about ten milestone recordings from his back catalogue.

Is a Lot of Vinyl Being Sold? This year is the first time that more than a million vinyl albums have been sold since 1996, according to official charts data released by the British Phonographic Industry, which goes back to 1994. The BBC‘s Small Data blog reexamines if vinyl sales are, in the long term, actually up. Spoiler: the answer is a resounding no.

Britain’s First Bass Revolution. “This time 25 years ago, a small group of producers across Northern England were reshaping the UK’s dance music.” RA tells the story of the bleep scene, whose bleak, post-industrial sound is still echoed in the sparse rhythms and heavy subs of dubstep, the raw and stripped-back arrangements of grime, and the surging energy of Paul Woolford‘s Special Request project. Read it here.

Discussing Synth Sales. Users of the synthesisers subreddit start a discussion on the financial impact of the synth industry, and it’s height in terms of sales, units, etc… Get involved here.

Richie Hawtin Apologises For Speaker Incident. Richie Hawtin has apologised for pushing a large speaker onto a fan who was filming his set at Time Warp in New York. “It was not my intention that the speaker fell. Only to nudge the monitors in her direction and for her to understand that perhaps she had filmed enough,” he explains. Find the full Facebook post here, and watch a video of the incident above.

Bloc Announce 2015 Headliners, Autechre. Returning to Butlins for the first time in three years, Bloc Festival welcome back the headliners of their first ever weekender in 2007, Warp Records mainstays and constant live innovators, Rob Brown and Sean Booth of Autechre. More names will be revealed in the coming months. Watch Bloc‘s announcement trailer above.

touched two by touched

Touched Two Charity Compilation. Autechre, 808 State, Orbital and more than 250 of the planet’s top electronic, ambient and modern classical musicians have come together to release a 255-song compilation of original unreleased music – with all proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support – following last year’s comp, which raised nearly £7,500. Stream the whole thing above and support the cause for just £12 ($19) by downloading it from Bandcamp.

Steinberg announces Cubase 8. Steinberg‘s Cubase Pro 8 and Artist 8 editions both offer a bunch of mixing improvements, new instruments and effects, as well as a set of creative new tools such as chord pads, chord assistant modes and MIDI tempo detection. Check out the introduction video above.

Stimming’s Advent Calendar Production Tips. “During the next 24 days I gonna do another advent calendar like last year but this time its about playing live! I also asked other live-artists which I like to submit us an overview of their set, how its build, what’s the philosophy behind it and so on. You gonna see tips from: Henrik Schwarz Johannes Brecht Der Dritte Raum Stephan Bodzin isolée and others.” Check out last year’s tips above.

UK Venue Noise Complaints Petition. An e-petition emerges in hope of drawing the House of Commons’ attention to an issue of noise complaints, where residents who have moved into areas in close proximity to long-standing music venues, have had venues’ licenses revoked when they take exception to the noise. Find out more and sign the petition here.

Adam Audio enters bankruptcy proceedings. “Too fast a growth with too many products created a capital demand we could not raise.” The CEO and cofounder of the highly regarded Berlin-based monitor manufacturer Adam Audio states that their own growth created the conditions in which the company has to restructure and that “there are currently ongoing negotiations with different investors to convert this positive market acceptance into further growth.” Find out more here.

TouchAble 3 Released. The acclaimed iOS controller that provides Ableton Live users with intuitive and efficient touch-screen operation, adds easy plug and play USB connectivity, 42 new templates for Live’s Instruments/FX and more to its version 3 feature set. Watch the video trailer above.

Bitwig 1.1 Update Released. The newcomer DAW’s first major update since launch, Bitwig Studio 1.1 features new VST multi-out sidechain support, advanced routing capablities, new devices and true latency compensation. For further details watch the video series above.

Arturia announces V Collection 4. V Collection 4’s 13 software instruments put sounds from some of music’s most legendary synths, electric keyboards, organs, string machines and drum kits at your finger tips – with added functionalities and up to 32-bit/96kHz resolution. Watch it in action above.

“I’M TRYNA TELL YA.” Tim & Barry‘s full length feature documentary on the dancers, storytellers and beat makers of Chicago’s blosoming footwork and juke music scene, featuring key players such as DJ Rashad, DJ Spinn, Manny, Traxman and RP Doo. Watch in full above.

Visage Release ‘Fade To Grey’ Multitrack Stems. One of the biggest songs of the 80s, ‘Fade To Grey’ went to number one in over 15 countries, sold millions of copies and became one of the key tracks to the New Romantic movement. Visage have released the track’s multitrack stems to coincide with the release of their new album. Download the files here, and find out more here.