MetaFilter posts tagged with audio and music

The abnormal has become the norm

tellurian — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:37:55 -0800

Brenda Kenneally documents the effects of illegal drugs in her Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. Money Power Respect and Big Trigg. NSFW [previous comment]

All you need is one channel ... waah-wa-wa-wa-waaaaaah

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:55:39 -0800

You'd be forgiven for rolling your eyes as soon as you hear about yet another Beatles box set reissue whatever, but the upcoming release of practically their entire catalog in the original MONO MIXES is certainly cause for genuine celebration for anyone who cares to hear the Beatles' music in the audio format that they themselves signed off on. Once we hear for ourselves, come September 9, we'll see if we agree with producer George Martin: "You've never really heard Sgt Pepper until you've heard it in mono."

Jetlag? Tinnitus? Sounds like a DJ...

sam and rufus — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:49:08 -0800

Si Begg has made a new EP. In the spirit of the age he's experiementing with how to get it out into the world, he's given his samples away before, now he's giving all the songs away free or you can buy a nice box set with an 12" made of oak!

Snyderphonics Manta

Señor Pantalones — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:46:31 -0800

The Snyderphonics Manta . With a few exceptions like the rare Buchla Thunder and the ZenDrum, computer musicians were stuck with controllers disguised as traditional instruments, rolling their own, or using grids of generic rubber pads. The Manta, in the spirit of the Serge TKB's capacitance touchplate construction, attempts to do something new, and people are already doing interesting things with it. Videos: polyphonic keys, sequencer, technique, and lots more

Revival Revival

Miko — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 09:06:52 -0800

The Folkways Collection is a downloadable, 24-part podcast series that "explores the remarkable collection of music, spoken word, and sound recordings that make up Folkways Records (now at the Smithsonian as Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)."

Created beyond space and time.

Brocktoon — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:01:19 -0800

As you may know, acoustic treatment of your listening room is very important. But many people want to use their space for both music listening and entertaining guests. Quite often large and effective bass traps can rob your space of its grace and majesty and make your guests feel weird and uncomfortable.

Forget about this," she says, "it's for interest only."

le morte de bea arthur — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 02:54:47 -0800

A recently uncovered musical experiment by Delia Derbyshire predicted the sound of modern dance music three decades before it became fashionable. Derbyshire (1937 - 2001) is best-known for her long-uncredited contribution to the Doctor Who theme. After her death in 2001 a set of 267 tapes were found in her attic, and among them was this oddly prescient gem. Wikipedia article on Derbyshire. Previously and more previously.

Click click victorious, buzz buzz glorious, Long to reign over us, buzz buzz click click.

Artw — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:49:44 -0800

The first known recording of a digital computer playing music, recorded by the BBC in 1951. The music played on a Ferantti Mark 1, one of the first commercial general-use computers, and was entered via punchtape and played on a speaker usually used for making clicks and tones to indicate program progress.

Robert Hodgin -- musical visualization and more.

nebulawindphone — Mon, 26 May 2008 10:22:20 -0800

Robert Hodgin does wonderful stuff with visualization [recently discussed in this excellent FPP]. To get you started, here's a Radiohead video that's been making the rounds. Hodgin's blog is full of wonderful examples, both musical (Goldfrapp — with lyrics, The Flashbulb) and non (earthquakes, butterfly wings, and that old chestnut, flocking birds). Often his posts include a few technical details — and here's a full-fledged how-to post if you're interested. Oh, and here's a pigeon with a fez. Enjoy!

Nintendo DS: Is that a music production studio in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

lekvar — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:20:25 -0800

Looking for a new musical toy to supplement your current studio setup? You may already have a MIDI-via-WiFi-enabled* sequencer (1, 2)/drum-and-bass groovebox/audio sampler & scratcher/Mod Tracker in your pocket!
*a wired version is also available. Videos of the software in use: GrooveStep Korg DS-10 DScratch (warning: may be a little loud) NitroTracker: 1, 2 Compiled from Create Digital Music and other sources.

Audio as Visual

youarenothere — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:50:08 -0800

The intersect of data visualization and aural phenomena is a fascinating space, from simple chartings of the history of sampling to mapping the entire world of music (or even just electronica). Pop songs become sketches, iTunes libraries become twisted geometric forms, and last.fm listening behaviors form coloured orbs and waves. The collaborative networks of comtemporary rappers, jazz musicians, and classical composers are revealing of specific and meaningful community structures. Explore the algorithmic music of Stephan Wolfram's computational universe, listen to pi or e or the Mona Lisa or the weather or the temperature in New York City, discover the shape of sound, or just, you know, see music. Use the Echo Nest to visualize your own music (example), tag your music collection with colours, or just wade through the plethora of ways to map connections between artists and genres. (several previously)

6 milion bucks, and no iPod. Sheesh. MP3s are the future!

the_very_hungry_caterpillar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 06:44:53 -0800

When it comes to home theaters, I thought I'd seen it all. But nothing's come close to this. First, I'm going to try to describe the sheer magnitude of Jeremy Kipnis' theater. His Stewart Snowmatte laboratory-grade screen is the biggest I've ever seen in a home, and in the back of the theater, there's a Sony ultra-high-resolution (4,096-by-2,160) SRX-S110 digital projector. I'm looking everywhere, jotting down questions, and Kipnis sounds almost giddy talking about his theater's capabilities. He refers to his baby, the Kipnis Studio Standard (KSS), as "The Greatest Show on Earth." And from the looks of it, he may be right. I should hope so, it cost six million dollars.

Bitlet: stream torrent music

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 13:30:42 -0800

Bitlet allows you to stream audio directly from a torrent.

The Best Music of 2007 According to

Soup — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:13:53 -0800

The best music of 2007 according to Stereogum, Pitchfork, All Music, NME, PopMatters, The A.V. Club, Rolling Stone, TIME, MTV, the Guardian, eMusic, Amazon, Spin Magazine, Q, Largehearted Boy, and more. Among the most frequently listed are Radiohead, Spoon, Arcade Fire, Of Montreal, Feist, and The National.

Now, Listen! Ninjatune podcasts...

nthdegx — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 03:13:27 -0800

Ninjatune podcasts including Coldcut and Big Dada podcasts, a Ninjacast which delves into the record crates of various ninja artists, and of course a Solid Steel podcast with 60-odd mixes available.

we know a place where no cars go

ZachsMind — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 01:35:20 -0800

"Not much chance for survival, if the Neon Bible is right." Presented by Arcade Fire which is a band that hails out of Montreal. Okay. So I'm easily entertained, but you will believe a turkey can roast marshmallows. Requires flash.

Your random audio links of the day.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 15:24:15 -0800

Today's post of tenuously related audio brings you ten historic radio broadcasts, 529 eternal questions in popular music, and one mildly amusing black metal band prank call.

Right Place at the Right Time Musically

misha — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 12:34:21 -0800

If you missed Elvis Perkins on Late Night with David Letterman making their national television debut, at least now you can say you knew about these guys before they really hit the big time (check out "Acoustic Slip Away"). I first heard about them on Lex and Terry. Warning, may be NSFW, youtube and audio links. Click at your own risk.

Ubuntu Studio Released!

phrontist — Thu, 10 May 2007 22:02:28 -0800

Ubuntu Studio is a Linux distribution focused on creative audiovisual pursuits.

Sound toys galore

Twang — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:56:10 -0800

A veritable plethora of online sound toys to tinkle your fancy.

Discover The Hang Drum

Foci for Analysis — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:01:52 -0800

Is it a wok?! An UFO?! No, it's The Hang Drum! With its distinct serene sound, Hang, as it's also called ("Hand" in Swiss German), was created in 2000 in Switzerland by Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer after years of research. It's a versatile instrument that can be customized to produce many different musical scales. Want one yourself? Unfortunately, only a few are custom-made each year by Rohner and Schärer. More Hang music? Listen to the Hang radio station. More: videos | music | known artists | a beautiful Hang used by musician Alan Tower

Meet. Mix. Mashup.

crunchland — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:14:24 -0800

Splice gives anyone, anywhere the ability to collaborate on music right through a web browser. Users can upload or record sounds, make songs, listen to other user's songs, make remixes, make friends and a whole lot more.

Loud Noises Hurt Ears!

JPowers — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 14:22:16 -0800

"MP3 players should carry warnings that users risk damage to their hearing by having the volume too high, a deafness charity says." Also, for prescription glasses: "If you use these glasses to see things that are disturbing, you could become disturbed." Is this not the height of PC, Western stupidity?

The Interweb Medley

divabat — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 16:33:03 -0800

The Interweb Medley!! What happens when you mix up some of the more well-known Internet memes around? Madness.

No, I'm not sure how they get it to not devolve into a wall of feedback... though that'd be pretty rad too.

Rev. Syung Myung Me — Sat, 15 Jul 2006 09:05:19 -0800

A Piano In A Gallery. David Cunningham (the guy behind The Flying Lizards! Wikipedia because the main at-least-quasi-official site's down, but while you wait 16 days for that, why not read this interview with Deborah Lizard for your FL Fix) and his new project... A Piano In A Gallery. No, he's not actually PLAYING the piano -- the visitors are. It's a sort of similar thing to both Brian Eno's gallery work with ambient tape loops on different time cycles, creating an ever-shifting collage of sound and David Byrne's recent Playing The Building. The room is mic'd, and the sound is run through a piano, and amplified, both bringing background noises to the foreground AND creating feedback-style loops, as those sounds are also run into the mics and so forth. So... if you happen to be in London.... [via WFMU]