COMPOSER

Just finished the book "Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies" by Stewart Copeland. I Highly recommend the audio version which is read by Stewart himself. It is one of the best books I have heard in a long time. Not only is Stewart very entertaining as a reader of his story but the stories are amazing. You also get a real look inside a reality show (Stewart was the Judge on one) a Super Tour, and life with Pygmies. (yes, Pygmies..) Not to mention his very astute writings and observations about being a film composer. I would recommend book to budding film composers on this basis alone. While this is not the *focus* of the book, it is what he has been doing professionally for the last several years. Yep, this guy has lived a little. Guaranteed Fun!

There are 2 (ok, 3) cats I wanna give kudos to. Both of these guys are brilliant producers, musicians, songwriters and they both do things their own way. cue "My Way" Also, they have both established a new sound that pays homage to their influences, while bringing something new and fresh to the table. This is difficult to do. These days more than ever. Oh...and they both have worked with members of Led Zeppelin. Figured it out yet? While Dave Grohl definitely wears all of these adjectives superbly, I am referring to Jack White and Josh Homme. I kind of see these guys as the new torchbearers of Rock and Roll. When you listen to a White Stripe record, it is every bit as innovative as Zep was when they launched. And Jack is just getting started. Take a listen, a good listen to QOTSA Songs for the Deaf and tell me that it is not in the same family of the great concept records. I also think that their recent collaborations with Zep members (Grohl and Homme on Them Crooked Vul...

Exclusive for my faithful Bloggers! (all ten of ya...) You can stream the entire TCV release in High Quality from YouTube 8 days before you can actually buy it. Smart marketing IMHO. I would love to see the number as to how many CDs and downloads they sell even though they are essentially giving it away. I mean with a stream catcher....heck what am I saying, it's probably already on the torrent sites. ( I got the email from TCV about 3 hours ago). I am guessing that the type of die-hard fan that already likes QOTSA and Eagles of Death Metal will buy it anyway. While this continues to be an evolving marketing plan (giving your music away and then selling it) groups like Radio Head an others have had pretty good success with it. Anyhoo...Here is the link, It Rocks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6arQ-qK34

Hi Guys, I have been looking forward to Air's new release called "Love 2". I am downloading it now...after listening to the previews, I hear alot of similarities to Talkie Walkie and Pocket Symphony and also hear some new textures. It will be fun to see how this one is received. I will post more impressions soon but would love to hear from any of you that have given it a listen all the way through. If you love it, whaddayalove? Don't like it? I would like to hear about that too. Pretty mixed reviews on itunes... Here is the itunes link (which has some extra material and a short documentary) http://newsletter.emimusic.com/r/?id=hcbd8a8b,7f46376,8065531 Here is the Amazon link for a few less bucks... http://www.amazon.com/Love-2/dp/B002P4663Y/ref=dm_cd_album_bb?ie=UTF8&qid=1254506155&sr=1-1 What do you think? J

I was fortunate to get to sit in on a master class recently with Master audio engineer Roger Nichols. This cat is responsible for some of the finest recordings and mixes of our time. He is truly an "Engineer's- engineer". You may have heard his work with Stevie Wonder or maybe James Taylor. How about Frank Zappa? The Beach Boys? Plácido Domingo? The list goes on and on... He has won 6 Grammy Awards for his work with Steely Dan alone. These are some of my favorite works of his. Grab a pair of earphones or your favorite HiFi speakers and listen, really listen to the audio beauty that are the Steely Dan recordings. Try "Aja" or "Two Against Nature" for starters... The clarity, the punch, the definition and mood evoking vibe is truly a standard by which all other recordings in this genre can be held to. Studios all over the world pop in a Steely Dan CD to compare their own recordings to see if they are up to par. I do it all the time. Anyway, he said some ...

This is Rad. Yep, I said it...Rad.

I recently acquired an iPhone 3G. Before I had my hands on one, I had heard about and seen videos of things like apps that control Protools or others DAWs and thought; that's a gadget, why would anyone want to do use their phone as a control surface? So, when I received the iPhone , I did not have any expectations of using it as a music tool. I have been pleasantly surprised! One of the first tools I bought was Cleartune . This is an excellent tuner that has a transposition feature, temperament options and selectable pitch-pipe wave forms. It has been super handy to have a tuner in my pocket. Another app along the same lines is SPL Meter by Studio Six Digital. I like the analogue style VU on this one. It has response and weighting options as well calibration and can use an external mic as well. An app that has really surprised me is Ocarina. If you are a musician and have not seen this one, I am just gonna say "check it out". Either on youtube or download. Another bi...