When industries get heavy handed with national policy, the outcome can’t be good. This is exactly what’s happening in the US right now. Giant music and entertainment companies are fighting to protect their old business models, and it could change the architecture of the web itself.

If you use the internet, this affects you.

What is SOPA?

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act, written with the intent of more vigorously protecting copyright around the web. The entertainment industry wants to come down harder on file sharing and the theft of copyrighted material, so it lobbied for a draconian law to add to the many anti-piracy laws that are already on the books.

from copyblogger.com — I encourage you to click through and read the rest of their article

What’s wrong with SOPA?

The problem with SOPA is that it gives the US government and corporate interests the power to mess with the architecture of the web. Worse, it’s ineffective against real pirates. As a friend of a friend recently commented on Facebook, “It’s like using a chainsaw for open heart surgery.”

I saw this video months ago, but thought to myself, “there’s no way this will ever get anywhere… it’s crazy!” I was wrong. Next week the American government will be voting on this. The bill already has a lot of support in Congress, thanks to numerous lobbies.

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UPDATE: Here’s another great video explaining the issues of SOPA and PIPA in more detail.
 

What’s the solution to stopping piracy?

I thought Tim O’Reilly had a good take on this:

The solution to piracy must be a market solution, not a government intervention, especially not one as ill-targeted as SOPA and PIPA. We already have laws that prohibit unauthorized resale of copyrighted material, and forward-looking content providers are developing products, business models, pricing, and channels that can and will eventually drive pirates out of business by making content readily available at a price consumers want to pay, and that ends up growing the market.

Please visit americancensorship.org for more information on how you can get involved. There’s even a place non-US citizens can sign a petition to the US State Department regarding SOPA.

This is important. Get involved!

I have some special thank yous I need to say after receiving Studio Engineer of the Year at the Hamilton Music Awards.

Dan Achen taught me that every tracking session, every overdub, and every mix is a learning experience. Dan showed me how to listen to an artist’s needs, and to put those needs ahead of my own.

Ed Hutchison gave me my first real studio job. Ed ran a studio and was the electronics instructor at Harris Institute when I was there. Early in my career Ed handed me a mixing job with a very demanding client. He challenged my skills and made me a better engineer.

My parents, Bill and Nancy Chambers, helped me buy my first 4-track cassette recorder when I was 16. My mom took time off work to drive me to piano lessons every week. My dad taught me “sound-on-sound” recording on a reel-to-reel tape machine. He let me play his vintage Telecaster at high school gigs. They let me make a lot of noise and record a lot of music in their basement.

Kathleen Farley met me the summer I got my 4-track and she’s still with me today. Kathleen is my best friend, and I can always trust her to give me honest feedback. Kathleen made it possible for me to devote so much of my time to recording music without having to worry about paying the bills.

Thanks to all the musicians who have filled my life with great music.

Okay, that’s a mouthful of a headline, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to get the stems and work on this remix. In total there were 252 entries. Some of them are amazing. This is a challenging piece of music that doesn’t seem a likely contender for the remix community… but then again it’s not all about dancing.

Some of the music that ultimately got me here come from The Art of Noise, DJ Shadow and Delia Derbyshire. Not exactly dance floor killers. But those three artists are some of the best at manipulating audio to create a unique sonic experience. I grew up with Delia Derbyshire’s arrangement of the Doctor Who theme, found The Art of Noise through tracks like Paranoimia, then DJ Shadow’s …Endroducing album got me realizing what could be done with a sampler, some deep thought and hard work.

Remixing, I’ve learned, is a delicate skill. I like to let the music “tell me what to do” and not impose myself on it. Of course, just by manipulating the tracks, I’ve placed my will upon the piece. So as a remixer I have to let the track determine the direction of the work. It’s not about coming to the table with a preconceived idea about how music should be put together.

I’ve listened to over a dozen of the entries so far, and I’m proud to have my work among them. I guess it’s no surprise that many of the folks who would chose to take on the challenge of reworking a piece of music by Steve Reich should be up to the challenge. So far, Leah Kardos’ entry has been one of the most inspiring.

So go and listen. Vote. And enjoy some new music.

You can hear everything here.

Danny warming up for a show in Toronto the night before leaving for his European tour. Photo by Carlos Huang.

The first time I saw Danny Gorman perform was at Clinton’s Tavern on Bloor Street in Toronto in the summer of 2002. It was a solo acoustic show opening for his friends SUNRiSER.

Not long after that, I recorded a few “demos” with him. (Actually, the version of Sea Song that he released was recorded during those sessions.) I was even a member of his band inUniform for a couple of years. But I have never been so excited for Danny as I am now. With a solid five song EP under his belt, he is currently touring Europe. Read his tour blog here.

Take a listen to the tracks below and enjoy.

Ian Smith – Passing Trains by Catherine North

Shortly after Dan passed away in March, my good friend Ian Smith wrote a song in Dan’s memory called Passing Trains. Ian and Nick Skalkos performed the song at Dan’s wake in March. A few weeks later we were talking with Ian about the future of Catherine North, and decided that recording this track as our first new project after Dan’s passing would be very appropriate.

July 13 was Dan’s birthday. Help us celebrate by passing this on.

Download the MP3 right now!
Click here to download

Stems from Spirits‘ latest single, Into Gentle Arms, are up for grabs. Stems can be downloaded here. I got the first opportunity to put my spin on this song — take listen to the moon:and:6 remix in the player below!

Spirits “Into Gentle Arms” Remix Contest

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Kathleen just finished editing a teaser video for the Catherine North MashUP filmed on June 11, 2010. Thanks to everyone who helped make the night a success. Enjoy!

It’s always a great feeling to see and hear the final release of every project I work on. But when the release is on 12-inch vinyl, that feeling is amplified.

Just yesterday I received my copy of The Coppertone’s debut LP, Hidden Dreams. Wow. I’ve heard these songs many (many, many) times, but putting the record onto my turntable yesterday was amazing. I think One of a Kind is truly the stand out track in this format.

The Coppertone, Hidden Dreams — Vinyl Release Party
Friday, July 30 at The Piston, 937 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario
Show starts at 10pm

On Friday (June 11) Kathleen and I, along with the rest of the folks at Catherine North, are producing an experimental concert/recording project we’re calling Catherine North MashUP.

• The Premise: Invite two individual artists who don’t know each other. Pair them up for a joint recording session/concert performance.
• The Catch: They collaborate live in front of you, the audience, while we record the process and outcome. No preproduction. No overdubs. No take two.
• The Venue: The main tracking room at Catherine North Studios – an inspirational open concept church space, fantastic for capturing live-off-the-floor performances.

Our two guest artists will be:

Karyn Ellis

“Eloquent and original” (Kerry Doole, Tandem Magazine), this Toronto-based artist has emerged on the Canadian roots pop scene with her brand new full-length album Even Though The Sky Was Falling as her impressive calling card. As a performer, she exudes an energy and presence reminiscent of Sam Phillips, Regina Spektor, Sarah Slean, while her voice has drawn comparisons to Feist and Norah Jones. www.karynellis.com

Ian Smith (The Miniatures, SPIRITS)

Ian Smith is a published songwriter with many recorded co-writes. Ian has ventured all over North America and the UK writing and touring. His most recent project, SPIRITS, combines the talents of Brad Germain (Marble Index) and Nick Skalkos (The Miniatures) to create “something with less inhibitions, really fun, and as dance-y as possible.” www.myspace.com/iansmith2008 | www.spiritsband.ca

Get your tickets here — Admission is PWYC: Guestlist (free), Supporter ($5) and Patron ($20). Proceeds from Supporter and Patron ticket sales will go towards supporting the project.

I like Brian Eno’s productions, but quotes like this drive me mad:

The other day I heard a band who had the worst singer, the most out of time drummer and most out of tune guitarist I’ve ever heard on a professional record, and I thought, at last, the reaction against pro-tools perfection has set in. A pro-tools engineer would have sorted it all out, but this band was an actual celebration of human frailty. It was so rough it was really encouraging.

I don’t really recall out of tune and out of time performances on too many of Brian Eno’s productions. Perhaps the next U2 recording will filled with “an actual celebration of human frailty,” but I doubt it.