notes and sounds from misterboots

The Front End of the Donkey

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 07:56:22 PST

You gotta love Neil’s honesty. We owe it all to artists to stand up to what they believe in and drive us forward. Without them, we would have nothing.

Still the searcher

must ride the dark horse

Racing alone in his fright.

“I’m finding that I have a little bit of trouble with the quality of the sound of music today,” says Neil Young. “I don’t like it. It just makes me angry. Not the quality of the music, but we’re in the 21st century and we have the worst sound that we’ve ever had. It’s worse than in 1978. Where are our geniuses? What happened?”

I can’t agree more. We need a new format that breathes life into the music industry by improving the quality of the sound that we listen to. If you are under the age of 22, I will bet that most of you have never really heard a great audio recording. You don’t even know what I am talking about.

This issue is vital to the future of the music business. What we have today with the proliferation of ear buds as the primary listening medium and compressed MP3 files is a low res music experience that is the bottom of the barrel, lowest common denominator form of a listening experience there can be. Really listening to music is simply lost on most people these days, and as a result the art form has lost the majority of its value.

It commonly accepted that crappy sounding music is the norm and people, by and large, have no idea what they are missing. The MP3 has stripped the emotional value from music today and has reduced it to a commodity. The audio business has truly been compressed and marginalized and is nearing extinction. We cannot let that happen to the music business.

As artists, “We can’t control the back end of the donkey, laments Young. The donkey has two ends, products like Beats and Bose and every little product that comes out for your car, the whole thing – is all about the back end of the donkey. There is nothing talking about the front end of the donkey, that’s what I’m talking about. You don’t have to that rich to do this, you just have to be smart… We are in the low res world, make no mistake that is right where we are…

“I look at the internet as the new radio. I look at the radio as gone… People change and do their music, people trade it they do whatever and Apple makes it very possible for you to store stolen or traded songs in the cloud, they opened up the door so that that can happen… its acceptable. Thats the way it is… Piracy is the new radio, that’s how music gets around, thats the real world for kids, thats the (new) radio… Lets let them really hear it.

“I’m hoping that some people who want the hi-res would have the choice in buying it. It has to be convenient, people should not associate hi-res with inconvenience. That’s a myth, we’re living in the 21st century and all of these things are possible. The technology exists, the internet is fast enough to support it… If Steve Jobs had lived long enough, he would be eventually have done what I am trying to do.”

Quality. We need a new format that will deliver better quality sound to drive the business forward. Period. Here is a true clarion call for innovation, and something that we all need to pay attention to. Neil Young cares about music. He is successful enough that he could sit back and ignore the realities of the marketplace today, but instead chooses to push the agenda forward. Awesome. I would not be surprised to hear a new song from Neil about a donkey. Maybe I can sing backup on it.

See the video with Neil Young and Walt Mossberg from All things D here.

Here is a brief description of some of the technical issues from Thinkdigit. ”The renewed focus on audio quality in some circles has a sense of déjà vu about it. Some of it recalls the 1970s, back when the term “high fidelity” was thrown around to indicate quality stereo recordings. We also saw this go around again at the turn of the millennium with the introduction of SACD and DVD Audio formats, which brought 24-bit fidelity and surround sound to audio mixes, although neither took off at the time.

So what’s going on here? In a word, it’s about data. More data translates to better-sounding audio files—but those files are largely unavailable to most consumers. Granted, to the casual listener, Amazon MP3 and Apple iTunes Store sound pretty good, as they’re encoded as 256Kbps MP3 and AAC files for the most part. Amazon has some MP3 files encoded at variable bit rates, but most of them center around the 224Kbps to 256Kbps range. AAC generally sounds slightly better than MP3 when encoded at the same bit rate, although recent improvements in MP3 encoding algorithms have largely rendered this academic.

Aside from music purchases, 256Kbps is also iTunes’ default encoding rate for when you rip audio CDs in iTunes (although you can change it), and it’s the size iCloud uses to deliver tracks to other PCs or mobile devices on your network if you’re a subscriber. I’m just using Apple products here as an example; Windows Media Player, Winamp, and countless other apps do similar things. Any way you cut it, 256Kbps files sound a lot better than ones encoded at 128Kbps, which is what Apple used years ago before it removed DRM from its iTunes Store tracks. Granted, 256Kbps files take up twice the space as 128Kbps files, but on today’s devices, that usually isn’t a problem, and the improved sound quality is worth it.

The thing is, 256Kbps still isn’t enough. Higher-resolution, uncompressed, 16-bit audio files match the sound you get on an actual CD. 24-bit sound files even sound better; the increased headroom matches the format most artists and mix engineers have been working in over the past decade or so.

Cheap consumer electronics manufacturers abused the phrase “CD-quality” for many years, but in this case it still has meaning. True CD-quality files take up anywhere from three to 10 times as much as space as an MP3 or AAC file, depending on the latter’s bit rate; 24-bit files take up even more space. They come in several formats: FLAC, WAV, AIFF, and Apple Lossless. (FLAC and Apple Lossless contain some data compression but only in a method that doesn’t affect sound quality. FLAC is much more widely supported than Apple Lossless, though.)”

From Thinkdigit

Here is a more in-depth description of MP3, Vinyl, AAC, FLAC, Apple Lossless, WAV, DSD and other formats here from Wired.

And finally, The Tennessean wrote a great piece on the lure of high fidelity and what some people in Nashville are working on to bring it back.

More to come. This is a big issue. Chime in on what you think and how can we move this agenda forward.

FatCat Records Podcast - John Zorn Mix 1

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 07:08:21 PDT

Here's a mix done by John Zorn, showcasing some great music in his massive music collection.

FatCat Records Podcast - John Zorn Mix 1 by Fatcat Records on Mixcloud

Sine Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 07:48:13 PDT

One of my BSR colleagues started a new show entitled 'Sine Languages', which I am quite enjoying. So, I figured it would be a good idea to pass on the link to you all. Make sure to subscribe/follow, if you like!

Starting this fall, Sine Languages will be in the BSRlive schedule, on Sundays at 6pm.

Sine Languages

London Riots

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 05:15:43 PDT

There's a lot of horrible things going on in the world today. Pointless wars, famines, recessions, murders, and religious fanaticism, just to name a few. I'm sure by now you've also heard of the many riots blanketing the city of London. Not saying I have my priorities straight on this post, but as I think about music a lot, I've been thinking a lot about the Sony warehouse that contained stock for many, many independent record labels. You can see a list of the labels here.

This is a rare post, a call for action----please get off of rapidshare, torrent sites, etc, and buy an album, digitally. There are a lot of great artists on a lot of great labels who really could use our support right now, and it does not take much from each of us.

Boomkat has a tidy page that explains things, and provides a list of affected labels.

BSR loses FM signal, sees opportunity after loss

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:23:00 PDT

As a college radio DJ at Brown University, I'm sad to say that our last day of programming ON TERRESTRIAL RADIO (for the near future) is July 31, 2011. But as you can see in the press release, from the station, we've got lots of big opportunities in front of us, and things could not be any more exciting. You'll be able to hear all of our original programming at bsrlive.com, as well as features, reviews, news---with a few secret tricks up our sleeve for the near future.

Here are some other mentions of the news, which is starting to gain nationwide interest.

Radiosurvivor.com

DNJ.com

Providence Daily Dose

Save Radio One 91FM Dunedin

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:17:12 PDT

If you love freeform radio, college radio, or other public stations that showcase artistic musicians, please go here and sign the petition. Also, they make it so easy to spread the word, might as well. Don't worry, you won't look like a spammer; on the contrary, you will look cool for liking such radio in the first place.

Save Radio One 91FM Dunedin

Sub for Ampersand Theater @ BSRlive 6.11.11

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 07:07:34 PDT

On 6.11.11, I stepped in the studio an hour early to put on my experimental hat.

Right click to download.

NO COLORS ANYMORE

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 08:39:24 PDT

A nice post from DJ/Rupture, on his blog Mudd Up!

NO COLORS ANYMORE

George Lewis and Marina Rosenfeld; Sour Mash

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 24 May 2011 10:10:34 PDT

2 of my favorite musicians, making some lush noises at The Stone, in NYC. Here's a link to the Innova youtube channel, which has a lot of great video from recent performances at the space.

Audio Entropy (with dl!)

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 18 May 2011 05:52:55 PDT

Same post from the other day, now with a download link :)

UVA at Coachella

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:09:13 PDT

Here's a nice look at an A/V installation, aka fancy stage, at Coachella 2011. I love the affect that the interior lighting has on the overall feel.

nontronic?

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 07:00:17 PDT

Hi, and happy spring (if you are on this side of the earth). I recently did a radio show at Brown, on The Fieldhouse, but it was a bit off the beaten path, at least until the last 20 minutes or so....but, I figured I'd at least share it here, as there is a wide variety of sounds that would appeal to the person bored of 4/4 time in techno music.

the heavies of dubstep

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:36:19 PDT

quick set I did for my current radio show at Brown, which has some flavors appropriate for this blog.

Clearly I love Shackleton and Badawi.

Schubert'ing it

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:08:08 PDT

Tonight I'll be filling in on the air for the Schubert Report, from 10-12. A tough set of shoes to fill, but I'll do my best. Expect lots of artsy-fartsy music, electro acoustic, modern classical, film music, ambient, and much more!

88.1 fm Providence
or streaming at www.bsrlive.com

Eleveneleven podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:10:47 PST

For some time I've been a fan of the eleveneleven podcast series, now part of Alias Frequencies. I'm super excited to report that I'm this month's guest programmer!

You can stream and download here. Right click to download of course.

Hope it's as fun to listen to as it was to create!

Bag of Surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:21:33 PST

Here's the first set of surprises from the bag. This was on air on 88.1fm providence, on 1.5.11. It's not a proper mix or anything, just some songs I put together last minute.

Right click to save.

Marina Rosenfeld - In F

Fennesz Daniell Buck - Antonia

Andy Moor and Yannis Kyriakides - Minores

Vladislav Delay - Kuula (kiitos)

Shackelton - You Bring me Down

Kim Gordon, Ikue Mori, DJ Olive - Olive's Horn

Fred Frith - Traffic Continues, Fragine Finale

Kreng vs. Badawi - Out of Breath

DJ Wally and DJ Willie Ross - Killing me with her Song

Sun Ra - Bassism

Susie Ibarra - Anitos

Kayo Dot - Abyss Hinge 1: Sleeping Birds Sighing in Roscolux

Rovo - N'Dam

The Cracow Klezmer Band - Sher

The Beat Circus - Slavochka

Sub Dub - Deserted Dub

Sheriff Lindi and the Hammer - Eastern Block

Roy Burrowes, Clifford Jordan, Charles Davis - Wet Land

Los Destellos - Constelacion

Uri Caine - Mayor Goldie

Appleblim + Peverelist - Over Here

J. Foley's Bag of Sometime Surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:50:48 PST

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 08:35:13 PST

The 23 Constellations of Joan Miro

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 19:51:33 PST

I came across this interesting archive from a recent concert, from the WNYC New Sounds Live Concert Series, and may be a great introduction to the music of Bobby Previte.

From the New Sounds Live Concert Series, recorded in October at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden, hear the American premiere of Bobby Previte's set of musical miniatures - "The 23 Constellations of Joan Miro." It's an ambitious and colorful work by the composer/drummer Previte, where painting, poetry and music all come together, bringing to life a series of small canvases that Joan Miro painted during World War II. Listen to Joan Miro's texts, read by actor David Patrick Kelly, and Bobby Previte's musical responses the paintings.

Happy Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 04:44:56 PST

Inès LP / PART I, from Clown and Sunset

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 14:11:11 PST

Here's a clip of Inès LP / PART I, from Clown and Sunset. Released on Nicolas Jaar's record label just yesterday, it comes on a neat little USB pack, and is filled with amazing soundscapes, originality, and use of a variety of textures and found sounds.
Inès LP / PART I by Clown and Sunset

filling in tonight on BSRlive

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:33:37 PDT

Although I am sorry to report I don't have any mixes in the works for the blog at this moment, I am filling in tonight for a radio show on Brown Student and Community Radio, at 7pm EST.

Tune in for lots of new, exciting stuff from the wide world of non-popular music!

Madeline Grace

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:25:44 PDT

My perfect excuse for lack of blog posts over the next several months.

early morning mix for the G-spot camp @ Burning Man

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 07:31:02 PST

This is a mix I created for my friends at the G-spot camp, at Burning Man. It starts off very quiet, designed for the pre-dawn hour, for people who aren't really awake (or who aren't quite asleep). Moving through the mix, tracks were selected with the intention of escorting people from sleep, through the waking moments, to the savory scents of bacon.

What was a solid idea on paper turned out to have a fatal flaw----I completely forgot that generators are needed to power our sound system. As you'll hear, this mix does not go with gas generators. So, after a year, I've put this up here for other sleepy heads around the world, who can play music without a generator. This may lend itself nicely to other situations such as reading, nursing, working, yoga'ing, and so on.

Huge thanks and much respect to DJ Olive for his excitement and support in this effort (the first 20 min or so are parts from DJ Olive's 'sleeping pill' works), and for the amazing music he makes for the world. And, to my friends at the G-Spot. I'll be thinking of you this week.

Summer Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Mr. B) — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 18:44:02 PDT

I felt a little rusty working on this mix. First one on this blog in a year! Hopefully there's some stuff that interests you.

The mix I posted in Sept 09 qualified as a "fall" mix.... so it looks like we've just snuck in a summer mix.

John Lurie - The Invention of Animals

Ben Frost - Theory of Machines

Fred Frith - Nowhere to Run

Zeena Parkins - Inyoufrom

Mapstation - Ensemble of Four

Marc Ribot - New Sad

John Lurie - Men with Sticks (noble version)

Mapstation - After all this Freedom

Billy Martin - Stridulations - Monkey

Lucky Dragons - Don't Lie (bonus)

Strategy - Summer Tour Bird Windows

ROVA & The Nels Cline Singers - Cesar Chavez

Morton Feldman - Projection 5

Taylor Dupree - Rusted Oak

Lucky Dragons - Face Down (bonus)