tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5521903370876709922023-11-16T06:00:03.204+13:00TheConcreteMixerNews and comment about remixing, mashups and music technology.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-26001256793007435932007-01-22T16:30:00.000+13:002007-01-22T16:50:54.313+13:00U-Myx newsA number of new releases and announcements from U-Myx:<br />- They've announced a <a href="http://http://www.u-myx.com/?p=170">content alliance with EMI</a> that should see more new EMI artists releasing in U-Myx format. It'll be interesting to see what comes of this: EMI artists include The Chemical Brothers, Moby and New Zealand's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonella_Dub">Salmonella Dub</a>, as well as (through their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positiva_Records">Positiva </a>label) Deep Dish and Axwell.<br /><br /> They also have a huge back catalogue - presumably we could se some of that being remixed into U-Myx format.<br /><br />- Air's new single <a href="http://www.u-myx.com/?p=166">Mer du Japon </a>(which means Sea of Japan in French if you haven't guessed) is out now.<br /><br />- and so is <a href="http://www.u-myx.com/?p=164">The Bomb </a>from New York Pony Club.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-66106914939203688162007-01-07T13:35:00.000+13:002007-01-07T13:43:42.838+13:00New year, new stuffHappy New Year to everyone!<br /><br />I haven't posted for a while - basically I was away in the US early December, and then it was Xmas. NZ pretty much shuts down this time of year, given that we get our Christmas and summer holidays both at the same time...<br /><br />While I was away, U-Myx extended their site to offer streaming audio - you can now create a mix and put a streaming version of it on your site, Myspace page or whatever.<br /><br />This is cool for a couple of reasons:<br />- it saves maxing out your filespace (not to mention bandwidth) quota on your web pages.<br />- it avoids copyright problems - the original content all stays with U-Myx - it's just the remix overlay that gets published.<br /><br />They've got this enabled now for Yoko Ono's track "Talking to the universe", which is also a <b>free!</b> download - so if you object to her voice, you can remove it and make an instrumental!!Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-71302678716351742132006-11-23T09:58:00.000+13:002006-11-23T10:05:51.734+13:00FaithlessYourspins have added the <a href="http://www.yourspins.com/artist/FAITHLESS">Faithless track "Bombs"</a>, from the album <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_All_New_Arrivals">To All New Arrivals</a>. The track features vocals from Harry Collier (of Kubb).<br /><br />Should be fun to remix. I've had a part complete hardtrance edit of "We Come 1" on the go for ages (now if I had the parts for that!).Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-87137681624401143512006-11-22T20:25:00.000+13:002006-11-22T20:32:55.193+13:00Guardian coverageThe Guardian had an <a href="http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1943193,00.html">article by Chris Salmon</a> the other week giving U-Myx some coverage.<br /><br />Like he says "how much better that last song would sound if only you could add some dirty synths and a kicking breakbeat". One can always resort to old fashioned techniques with filters and stereo separation to start remixing a conventionally recorded song - but it's a lot easier with remix ready music to start with.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-37482385129239647982006-11-10T15:09:00.000+13:002006-11-22T20:34:56.084+13:00U-Myx tops downloads for Depeche ModeU-Myx <a href="http://www.u-myx.com/?p=108">topped the digital format downloads</a> for Depeche Mode's new single "Martyr" last week.<br /><br />The single itself made number 13 (in the UK) - I wonder who's buying remixable music formats? Are many DJs making mixes and playing them out? It would be interesting to know.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-41950570835445653712006-11-01T19:39:00.000+13:002006-11-01T19:46:00.235+13:00ChoonML toolkit releasedThe first alpha version of <a href="http://choonml.sourceforge.net">the ChoonML toolkit</a> has been released.<br /><br />ChoonML is an open source alternative format for remixable music. Being open source, full details of the spec are on the site as well as source code for a conversion library.<br /><br />A converter for <a href="http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/">Adobe Audition</a> files is already available. Further converters are promised and they encourage software developers to use the toolkit to build in support for the format.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-36850404936444819482006-10-31T10:11:00.000+13:002006-10-31T10:21:05.325+13:00Where is Umixit going?I was looking at the <a href="http://www.umixit.com/artists.html">Umixit site</a>. There doesn't seem to be that much going on in terms of new music being released on that format. <br /><br />I tried to order a few CDs from <a href="http://www.websterhall.com/websterhallrecords/">Webster Hall</a>, but they wanted USD40 for international shipping - which is a bit over the top (I'd want to be ordering a whole box of CDs to justify that sort of shipping cost - Amazon charge about USD10 to ship from the UK to NZ). I might just grab some when I'm next in the US.<br /><br />A pity, since the idea of a <a href="http://www.cakewalk.com">Cakewalk </a>based system looks promising.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-22906326668345441102006-10-18T15:09:00.000+13:002006-10-18T15:22:59.952+13:00Stuff I'd likeHere's a few thoughts on what I'd like from music technology going forward: <br /><ul><li>An interface between mixing software and something like <a href="http://www.serato.com/products/scratchlive/">Serato Scratch Live</a> so you can "drive" the position through traditional terminals.</li><br /><li>Alternatively, a control surface with big spinning wheels - a bit like a Pioneer CDJnnn but as a controller rather than just a CD player. </li><br /><li>Even better, a "mixing appliance" - not something from Kenwood, but a hardware unit that provides multitrack playback and remixing.</li></ul><br />I find hardware boxes more fun to use - I've got an old <a href="http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/SNAMM98/Boss/DR-202.html">Boss DR-202 drum machine</a> that I picked up on TradeMe - excellent toy! I also still prefer a real vinyl 12" to a CD.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-65117937156730131422006-10-16T16:40:00.000+13:002006-10-16T17:20:17.098+13:00YourSpins.comRupert at <a href="http://www.yourspins.com">YourSpins</a> emailed me last week to tell me about their remix technology/website.<br /><br />YourSpins is slightly different to the other commercial formats. Rather than being focused around physical CD singles, they are mainly (entirely?) web-based. The site is an interesting blend of social networking (a la Myspace) with remixing.<br /><br />They've currently got 38 tracks available for remixing, with artists including Coldcut, Moby, Sasha (who has long supported grassroots remixing, offering mixable tracks to download with the airdrawndagger album back in '03) and Erasure (that 80's thang again!).<br /><br />The actual remix software is available in different formats. You can either use a web-based mixing tool, or download a Windows Media plugin. The way you make a mix is different, too - each segment of the tune has a choice of instrumental/effect styles to apply, which works along with adjusting the level faders to complete your mix.<br /><br />Here's a snap of the Windows plugin version:<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2768/67406047007772/1600/yourspins.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2768/67406047007772/400/yourspins.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Getting results is quite easy. The only problem I had was making the levels match up between tracks to avoid choppiness. An envelope feature (like U-myx) would be nice to have, as would a loop button.<br /><br />Once you've made your mix, you can post it back to the site for others to listen to. There's an active comments feature, so you've got an instant feedback facility.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-45847734874213382952006-10-13T10:34:00.000+13:002006-10-13T11:03:10.048+13:00Umyx 3.0I've had a look at the <a href="http://www.u-myx.com/clips/moby/">preview clip</a> of Moby's New York, New York single (featuring Debbie Harry on vocals).<br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2768/67406047007772/1600/umyx3_moby.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2768/67406047007772/320/umyx3_moby.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />This is (one of?) the first tracks to be supplied in the Umyx 3.0 format. The key feature here (notice the circled pulldown in the photo) is that you can not only switch samples in and out and change the volume, you can also cut, copy and paste sections of the song. This gives a *lot* more flexibility - you can extend the intro, remove choruses, really change the style of the song.<br /><br />No effects or external samples though - although one option would be to feed the output into a mixer and play around with that.Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-73288977264227412712006-10-11T13:19:00.000+13:002006-10-11T13:40:17.463+13:00New Order - Jetstream<strong>Band:</strong> New Order<br /><strong>Title:</strong> Jetstream<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009G1HUC"><strong>Amazon</strong></a><strong><br />Format:</strong> U-Myx 2.1<br /><strong>Minisite:</strong> t.b.d.<br /><br />"Not as good as they used to be?" - When bands have been around as long as New Order that tends to be the case. However they've produced a reasonable pop song here. The vocal is a bit irritating (but you'll be able to mix that out). So not the next Blue Monday, or even Krafty, but probably worth buying (or downloading!).<br /><br />Oh and it's U-myx 2.1, so you can't put the samples in a "new order" - groan!!Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-552190337087670992.post-73026050011239023432006-10-10T14:11:00.000+13:002006-10-10T14:22:05.622+13:00Welcome!Welcome to The Concrete Mixer.<br /><br />This blog provides a venue to discuss remixing and mashups. In particular, I'm going to report on emerging multitrack music formats like <a href="http://choonml.sourceforge.net">ChoonML</a>, <a href="http://www.cakewalk.com/owners/umixit/">Umixit</a> and <a href="http://www.u-myx.com/">U-Myx</a>. I'll cover them from a technical and musical point of view, and try and review new music coming out in multitrack formats.<br /><br />Feel free to email me with any comments, news, etc:<br /> <img style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/2768/67406047007772/320/emailImage.jpg" border="0" valign="center" />Richhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17092996828683002246noreply@blogger.com0