Test your hearing, listen to unreleased Arthur Russell recordings, music’s gaming influence, and preserving historic audio.
Lunice: Behind the Board. LANDR Music met world-renowned beat maker Lunice at his Montreal studio to discuss his approach to music making, the ‘golden ratio’ for creativity, and how a casual yet obsessive relationship to creativity could be the key to success. Watch above.
Sillerman acquires outstanding SFX shares. EDM tycoon and CEO of SFX Entertainment Robert FX Sillerman has signed a merger agreement whereby he will acquire the 62.2% of outstanding common stock of SFX that he does not already own, which will effectively see the company go private. SFX stockholders will receive $5.25 for each share, in a transaction valued at approximately $774 million. Find out more here.
Unreleased Arthur Russell recordings. Released via the Audika Records label, Corn is a collection of unreleased recordings from much-loved cellist, avant-garde pop composer and producer Arthur Russell. Culled from Russell’s famously prodigious tapes by one of his closest and most devoted listeners, the record contains demo versions and early variations of familiar songs, recorded between 1982 and 83. Listen to it in full here.
Music’s gaming influence. With Hudson Mohawke and Joker as obvious examples, and in light of their recent partnership with the gaming broadcast hub Twitch.tv, Boiler Room explores the relationship between gaming and the electronic music, and how mutually beneficial each has been for the other in recent years: “Something about that period of raw technological exhilaration fits hand in glove with the basic principles of electronic music so perfectly.” Read the full piece here.
50% off Magic AB plugin. The Sample Magic Magic AB plugin is a simple, powerful reference tool that allows you to switch between the audio you are working on and up to nine tracks in an instant. Get 50% off the plugin with code MAGIC50 here.
New core Launchpad update. Novation has announced a new version of the core edition of its popular grid-based Launchpad MIDI controller, following the introduction of the Launchpad Pro back in January. The update adds better visual feedback, allowing its buttons to display a much wider variety of colours, but lacks the Pro’s velocity-sensitive buttons. Check out the new version in the video above.
Preserving historic audio. Sound’s impermanence and ephemerality means that much of the recorded recent history of humanity is currently disintegrating. The Quietus reports from the British Library Sound Archive and Internet Archive to find out what’s being done to preserve these audio records, explaining what you can do to help and why sound archiving is so important. Read their feature here, then listen to sounds from the British Library collection and submit your own recordings here.
Can you hear audio quality? With the relaunch of Jay Z’s high-fidelity music streaming service Tidal, which promises a better listening experience than any other streaming service on the market, NPR suggests that many listeners cannot hear the difference between uncompressed audio files and MP3s. Test whether you can hear the difference by taking their quiz here.
iMPC Pro 1.3 available now. iMPC Pro Log showcases the latest features from the new development build of iMPC Pro, the beat production iPad app from Akai Professional and Retronyms. This free update adds two major features – sliced loops and time stretching – in the biggest update yet. Watch how you can use time stretching and check out the improved AudioCopy workflow in the official intro video above.
Free software with Reason 8. Buy the full version of the complete music production software studio Reason 8 between June 1st 2015 and June 30th 2015, and get over $350 worth of best-selling instrument and effect rack extensions for free, including Propellerhead‘s PX7 FM synth, Radical Keys electric piano package, creative effects modulator Synchronous, and their rotary speaker cabinet Roto’r, as well as Blamsoft‘s VK-1 Viking virtual analog monosynth. More info here.