A Quantized New World

Here’s a video that my senior seminar course took a while dissecting and analyzing. Celemony software, makers of Melodyne, well established pitch correction software, have released a new version of their software late last year, featuring Direct Note Access, a new technology which allows engineers to tweak audio based on individual notes within chords (a real-audio implementation of something engineers have been using for years with MIDI). You really have to see it to believe it:

We debated this at length in class. Is this right? Is this good? Should you have to place a disclaimer when you use it? Are you setting unrealistic expectations of the quality of recordings? Can you really stop this from happening? These are the sorts of questions music industry professionals have to ask themselves. I’ve always considered myself quite a purist, and have yet to use any pitch correction in my recordings, despite having ample access to the technology. But I also have deep feelings for the furtherance of technology and science, and have yet to run up against a “playing God” scenario in my memological homeworld of music. Mix Magazine contributor Blair Jackson has a great article on pitch correction, comparing it to the steroids scandal in baseball.

I for one put faith in the music consuming public, much as those in the art world can only hope that those who go to museums can appreciate why the Guggenheim chose one painting over another. A lot of what we are fed in the music world is very much forced upon us by large media (as I ranted about last week), and as Jackson so eloquently puts it:

…not surprisingly, there have been whisperings and suspicions about this or that singer, mostly in the pop music arena, where slickness rules the day and perfection often trumps genuine passion. Take Britney Spears…[n]ow, I have no idea whether her producers used some pitch correction on her. And the reason I don’t know is because I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard her sing. If you’ve ever watched any of her cable TV specials, they are so phony-baloney lip-synched it’s laughable…but even more, it’s pathetic. I can’t believe a cable network would pay big money for what is so obviously a pre-taped entertainment.

Someday, one can hope, people will realize that much of their consumption is being fed to them in a way that is forceful and in no way self-sustaining (there’s a reason there hasn’t been a true rock icon act since the 80s). Someday people will wake up to the social and political issues around them surrounding mainstream media and turn to music for enlightenment and empowerment, as well as entertainment. On that day, this will not matter. Until then, and I see this as no contradiction, I support the work of Celemony, and overall I am ok with pitch correction software existing, as long as people are aware that it’s in use. I don’t want to say disclosure will be mandatory, but people should know by now that Avril Lavigne isn’t actually signing.

Live music is an equalizer here, but the larger the production, the easier it is to slip these tools in a live setting. As it stands, you can’t do this on the fly, and you can hear a quanitzed vocal in a song. Hometracked has a brilliant listening exercise that’ll help you pick it out. But as Melodyne is showing us, it’s getting easier and easier to slip this in unknown to us. Eventually, like commercial photography, we’ll only have to assume that things are getting polished without our knowledge, and the true talent will shine through that either in their un-touchedness or general artistic vision.

Until then? My solution, as with most problems, is to listen to more Tom Waits.

That’s Some Pig.

Perhaps the most interesting story to come out of Coachella this year was the escape of a school-bus-sized inflatable pig during Roger Waters’ set, as reported in Listening Post, Brooklyn Vegan, even Variety, the pig meant so much to Waters and the festival promoter that they are offering $10,000 and four tickets to Coachella for life.

(image courtesy of Brooklyn Vegan)

Cursing my 3,000+ mile distance from California and the atmospheric jet stream patterns of North America, I wondered if some enterprising, rich fankid would launch a scientific enquiry into the pig’s migration patterns, in an effort to gain permanent membership at the coolest concert of the year. Or, perhaps they would hold out for a better offer from the Hard Rock Cafe or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or perhaps Waters himself. Maybe this would spark a whole property battle debate in the Supreme Court. I mean, do you have a right to claim ownership to something you let escape? Can I send a balloon into the atmosphere or throw an object out of an airplane and then claim ownership when it crashes on someone else’s lawn? What discourse! What intrigue!

Well, Palm Spring, CA paper The Desert Sun is reporting today that two couples living on a country club 2.5 miles from the festival each found half of the pig, totally shredded, on their driveways. According to the article, one couple even threw their piece away before they bothered to consider why a gigantic mound of plastic would have wound up in their front yard. And, thanks to good ol’ independent journalism embracing new media, you can watch two women poke at the remnants of the pig. This is perhaps the best video in the world from a meta level. Sadly, the embed code and permalink aren’t working, so click the link to the Desert Sun article and view the video on the right.

Is anyone else wondering how this giant vinyl pig got so destroyed during its travel?

Fenway bound

I was born and bred a Red Sox fan, coming from a third-generation Massachusetts family. As such, and as a Boston resident (and former Fenway resident), I try and make it out to at least one Sox game a year. Tonight’s the night this year, as I’ll be in the bleachers to see the Dice-K and the Sox take on the Blue Jays. A fine day for Universal Hub to bring us this excellent video, care of NESN cameraman and blogger Tom Guilmette:

(Edit: video taken down. sorry)

As a production professional, it’s cool to get this glimpse into the great daily orchestration that is putting on a major league ballgame. The amount of detail in what is constructed at the park, from the greens to lights and sound, to the camera shoot for TV and for the jumbotron, to the coordination of almost 70 millionaire professional ballplayers, and all without ever showing a blemish in the process. Pro baseball isn’t just a great thing to behold as a spectator, from a production angle it’s a true treat to observe.

Go Sox!

Videos bring the sunshine.

As much as the weather has been horrible in Boston over the past couple days, we had one of our token signs of summer come over the weekend:

That’s right, kids. The reflecting pool at the Christian Science Center has been filled again. Summer is here. In light of that fact, here are two videos that should bring some intellectual and musical good karma.

First, as a followup to what I posted almost a month ago regarding Lawrence Lessig’s speech to Harvard University on the Change Congress movement, Lessig has posted the entirety of his presentation here:

It’s a brilliant feature, but I realize some of you guys might be bored with high intellectual theory as a source of amusement. For you, gentle reader, may I suggest the Cinematic Orchestra, with a live show from Berlin, courtesy of the kids at Sly-Fi.com.

Happy summer, kids.

(Edit: had to take this post down for a little while, as Vodpod was experiencing technical difficulties)

This is our entertainment, Dude.

Well, Coachella is now just a twinkle in Roger Waters’ grandiose, high-budget, overproduced eye.
Not sure what to do next? Sasquatch? BonerZoo? All Tomorrow’s Country Clubs?

Fuck it, dude. Let’s go bowling.

(edit: yeah, I realize that usually the “twinkle/eye” idiom is used for stuff that happens before something, but I was too tired to think of something appropriate last night, and too proud to change it now.)

Derivatin’ All Over

One of the most beautiful elements to US Copyright legislation is the Compulsory Mechanical License, a statutory provision that prevents songwriters from prohibiting recreations of their compositions, provided the person or group creating the derivative work pay a set fee. It’s what allows anybody to cover anyone else’s work without fear of lawsuit, and a beautiful example of legislation reaching a negotiated middle ground while protecting interests of both parties.

We’ll play a track, and then we’ll de-construct it all Tarantino-like. Dig it:

Going to Coachella in my mind

I have to thank the efforts of Brooklyn Vegan, The Village Voice’s Sound of the City, Wired’s Listening Post, and others for their attempts to bring us all to the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this weekend. While there have been many, many, many, great performances (or so I hear), this picture alone makes me want to hop a plane more than anything. Care of Brooklyn Vegan:

Kraftwerk.

Weekly Wrapup / Moment of Reflection

Top posts this week:

1. 1000 True Fans Followup
2. ROFLCon
3. Raveonettes on Sly-Fi.com

Next Friday I’ll fulfill a lifelong dream – I’m playing the Boston Garden, so to speak. It’s Commencement at Northeastern. For the remainder of the summer I’ll be in beantown, working on several exciting projects, but come early August I’ll be moving on to the next big thing, in Washington DC. I’ll be starting to observe fun goings on down there as well, and anyone who is down thataways say hi.

Cheers.

Raveonettes on Sly-Fi.com

My girlfriend Gretchen usually cringes when I mention these guys, but you gotta appreciate what the Raveonettes are doing for music these days. On my company’s exclusive interview on Sly-Fi, we get to hear them talk about dream soundtrack work, playing for the Danish queen, and lots of other good stuff, all filmed with a sweet film-noir aesthetic. Check it out here (but see it big screen at Sly-Fi.com)

Peter Jenner on FMC Blog

In fighting the good fight for progressive ideas surrounding copyright, I’ve learned to embrace the work of several key figures. Sure, you’ve got your Lessigs and Fischers and other heady intellectuals from the law world, but you also have your fighters on the side of the music industry, and nobody embodies this better than Peter Jenner.

I had the great pleasure to meet Mr. Jenner while assisting in the production of a Billy Bragg show about two years ago. I’ll never forget his response when I told him that I looked to do what he’s done in the world of music, straddling the big issues while also managing truly genuine acts (his resume includes The Clash, Pink Floyd, Marc Bolan, and the Hyde Park concert series, as well as major copyleft fighter and Secretary General of the International Music Manager’s Forum). He sighed out “aw, fuck,” gave me a hug, and said “you poor soul. Good luck.”

On this recent audio interview through the Future of Music Coalition he serves as an excellent counterpart to Lessig’s clear, sparse reason arguments, waxing poetic about how things are “supposed to be.” Give it a listen.