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Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington’s Thrive AI Health assistant has a bare-bones demoIn a splashy op-ed in Time published this summer, Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Thrive AI Health, a venture with the goal of building an AI-powered assistant to promote healthier lifestyles. Backed by Huffington’s mental wellness firm Thrive Global and the OpenAI Startup Fund, Thrive AI Health would seek to […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.Exclusive: Sam Altman and Arianna Huffington's Thrive AI health assistant has a bare-bones demo
techcrunch.comAltman-backed Thrive AI Health released an MVP — perhaps unintentionally — for its AI health assistant. It's largely nonfunctional.
Bluetooth Dongle Gives Up Its Secrets with Quick Snooping HackThere’s a lot going on in our wireless world, and the number of packets whizzing back and forth between our devices is staggering. All this information can be a rich vein to mine for IoT hackers, but how do you zero in on the information that matters? That depends, of course, but if your application involves Bluetooth, you might be able to snoop in on the conversation relatively easily.
By way of explanation, we turn to [Mark Hughes] and his Boondock Echo, a device we’ve featured in these pages before. [Mark] needed to know how long the Echo would operate when powered by a battery bank, as well as specifics about the power draw over time. He had one of those Fnirsi USB power meter dongles, the kind that talks to a smartphone app over Bluetooth. To tap into the conversation, he enabled Host Control Interface logging on his phone and let the dongle and the app talk for a bit. The captured log file was then filtered through WireShark, leaving behind a list of all the Bluetooth packets to and from the dongle’s address.
That’s when the fun began. Using a little wetware pattern recognition, [Mark] was able to figure out the basic structure of each frame. Knowing the voltage range of USB power delivery helped him find the bytes representing voltage and current, which allowed him to throw together a Python program to talk to the dongle in real-time and get the critical numbers.
It’s not likely that all BLE-connected devices will be as amenable to reverse engineering as this dongle was, but this is still a great technique to keep in mind. We’ve got a couple of applications for this in mind already, in fact.Bluetooth Dongle Gives Up Its Secrets with Quick Snooping Hack
hackaday.comThere’s a lot going on in our wireless world, and the number of packets whizzing back and forth between our devices is staggering. All this information can be a rich vein to mine for IoT hack…
US DOE Sets New Nuclear Energy TargetsTo tackle the growing electrification of devices, we’ll need to deploy more generation to the grid. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled a new target to triple nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Using a combination of existing Generation III+ reactor designs, upcoming small modular and micro reactors, and “legislation like the ADVANCE Act that streamlines regulatory processes,” DOE plans to add 35 gigawatt (GW) of generating capacity by 2035 and an additional 15 GW installed per year by 2040 to hit a total capacity of 200 GW of clean, green atom power by 2050.
According to the DOE, 100 GW of nuclear power was deployed in the 1970s and 1980s, so this isn’t an entirely unprecedented scale up of nuclear, although it won’t happen overnight. One of the advantages of renewables over nuclear is the lower cost and better public perception — but a combination of technologies will create a more robust grid than an “all of your eggs in one basket” approach. Vehicle to grid storage, geothermal, solar, wind, and yes, nuclear will all have their place at the clean energy table.
If you want to know more about siting nuclear on old coal plants, we covered DOE’s report on the matter as well as some efforts to build a fusion reactor on a decommissioned coal site as well.US DOE Sets New Nuclear Energy Targets
hackaday.comTo tackle the growing electrification of devices, we’ll need to deploy more generation to the grid. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled a new target to triple nuclear generating ca…
- in the community space Music from Within
Spotify launches ‘Partner Program’ with new monetization options for video creatorsSpotify says expanded video offerings will be good for music rightsholders, as it will bring more listeners to the platform
SourceSpotify launches ‘Partner Program’ with new monetization options for video creators
www.musicbusinessworldwide.comSpotify says expanded video offerings will be good for music rightsholders, as it will bring more listeners to the platform.
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Teenage Engineering unveil the OP-XY Teenage Engineering have announced the release of the OP‑XY, a sequencer, synthesizer and sampler designed for modern music creators and live performers.
Teenage Engineering unveil the OP-XY
www.soundonsound.comTeenage Engineering have announced the release of the OP‑XY, a sequencer, synthesizer and sampler designed for modern music creators and live performers.
- in the community space Music from Within
Boomplay MD Phil Choi exits, joins Warner Music Group as Head of Business Development for APAC regionExec to report to New York-based Allen Coye, who heads up business development for Recorded Music at WMG
SourceBoomplay MD Phil Choi exits, joins Warner Music Group as Head of Business Development for APAC region
www.musicbusinessworldwide.comExec to report to New York-based Allen Coye, who heads up business development for Recorded Music at WMG…
- in the community space Music from Within
New Bandsintown Ticket Presales: Empowering Artists with Fan DataNew Bandsintown ticket presales empower any artist to launch presales for shows and tours while retaining control of the fan data regardless of the ticketing platform.
The post New Bandsintown Ticket Presales: Empowering Artists with Fan Data appeared first on Hypebot.New Bandsintown Ticket Presales: Empowering Artists with Fan Data
www.hypebot.comDiscover the power of Bandsintown ticket presales and take control of your fan data. Launch presales for shows and tours with ease.
- in the community space Music from Within
How Tech can Prioritize the needs of CreatorsAs the digital landscape evolves, it's crucial for tech solutions to prioritize the needs of creators for sustainable growth. Explore how innovative platforms are shifting focus to empower creators and reshape the industry.
The post How Tech can Prioritize the needs of Creators appeared first on Hypebot.How Tech can Prioritize the needs of Creators
www.hypebot.comDiscover how tech solutions are empowering creators and reshaping the industry. Explore the importance of prioritizing the needs of creators.
Mark Zuckerberg and T-Pain have released an acoustic rendition of Get Low – and it might be the best thing you’ll hear all yearMark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and Meta, has released an acoustic cover of a hip-hop song as a tribute to his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Made with help from rapper T-Pain, the duo have created a slowed down, gentle version of the 2003 track Get Low, originally by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz – yes, it is the song the with the lyrics of ‘to the window, to the wall, ‘til the sweat drop down my balls’, and yes, he has kept that line in there.READ MORE: ‘The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet’ has been identified thanks to Reddit
Though you may be wondering why Zuckerberg didn’t cover something a little more tender for his wife, whom he married in 2012, the track was apparently playing as the two met during a party in the same year of the song’s original release.
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A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)
Sharing the news in a post on Instagram including an old photo of himself and Chan plus shots from his time in the studio with T-Pain, Zuckerberg writes, “Get Low was playing when I first met Priscilla at a college party, so every year we listen to it on our dating anniversary. This year I worked with T-Pain on our own version of this lyrical masterpiece. Sound on for the track and also available on Spotify. Love you P.”
Chan replies in the comments, “Can’t get quite as low anymore but more in love and grateful for that love than ever. Love you MZ.” Other commenters have joked that Zuckerberg is “unserious”, with one adding, “Who said romance was dead?!” The popular entertainment news account Pubity even adds, “We got Zuck on a track before GTA 6.”
Check out the cover below:If you’re a fan of Zuckerberg’s masterful work on Get Low, you can stream it as much as you’d like via Spotify.
The post Mark Zuckerberg and T-Pain have released an acoustic rendition of Get Low – and it might be the best thing you’ll hear all year appeared first on MusicTech.Mark Zuckerberg and T-Pain have released an acoustic rendition of Get Low – and it might be the best thing you'll hear all year
musictech.comMark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook and Meta, has released an acoustic cover of a hip-hop song as a tribute to his wife, Priscilla Chan.
Behind the sound of Star Wars Outlaws: a polarising game with a Grammy-nominated soundtrackUbisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws didn’t get the best reception when it launched in August this year. Mixed reviews of the open-world video game are still abound — some players bemoan the stealth, gun-focussed combat and intermittent bugs, while others celebrate the game for its likeable protagonists (Kay Vess and her alien companion, Nix), superb storyline and explorable environment, which makes them “feel like a tourist” in the Star Wars universe.
Myriad players and reviewers appear in agreement with one thing, though: The soundtrack and sound design is absolutely exquisite. It’s now been nominated for a 2025 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games. Blending distorted synths and deep 808-style kicks with intense string sections and esoteric woodwind, the score makes for a distinctly modern Star Wars experience that retains the essence of the original franchise. What’s not to love?
“Man, the use of that terminology, ‘like a tourist in Star Wars’, that warms my heart; that’s exactly what we wanted to do,” says Wilbert Roget II, composer for the game’s score. “I like to see people’s reactions to the music, just to know what I’m doing wrong, what I’m doing right, and to make sure that my tastes are aligned with what fellow gamers actually want,” he adds of seeing the reviews of Outlaws.
Image: Press
“I’m thrilled to be a part of this. I’m very proud of my work and of the amount of work [that went into Outlaws],” adds Cody Matthew Johnson, composer for the Sounds of the Underworld Music from Star Wars Outlaws. “A lot goes into navigating a Star Wars game and making sure you live up to the legacy and honour it…I used to really let [reviews] get to my head, but as long as you can be objective with your performance on something, and be honest with yourself…I keep saying it: I’m just happy to be here and I’m stoked to be working on music in games, especially for Star Wars.”
Roget, Johnson and their colleagues in the audio department have earned their praise. From loading the main menu to exploring cantinas and getting into speeder chases, through to the in-game arcade games such as Jaunda’s Hope, the Outlaws soundtrack is outstanding. It never feels out of place in the game, it doesn’t lazily recycle any of John Williams’ original Star Wars music, and there’s an impressive diversity of otherworldly styles and sounds as you traverse the game.
Though Roget, Johnson and their team are talented technically in music and production, they also deserve credit for their conceptual approaches to Outlaws.
Wilbert Roget, II. Image: Press
“I wanted it to feel like music is simply emanating from the world, not like I’m this composer just imposing music,” explains Roget, who has produced soundtracks for games including Helldivers 2, Call Of Duty: WWII and Star Wars: The Old Republic. “So I’ll look at the art direction, the graphics and even the composition of the shots in films to see and like the colour palettes and see how can I connect that with musical elements.”
The team also pulled inspiration from original movies. Roget cites Outlaws’ iteration of Tatooine — Anakin and Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars — as an example. An eight-bar piece of music in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones plays in a ⅝ time signature when Anakin first lands on Tatooine. Though this snippet is incredibly short, Roget used it as a reference, expanding on its use of plucked and orchestral instruments for the tracks, Tattooine, The Desert Frontier, and Mos Eisley.“[The Desert Frontier] has these wide chords and double bass melody that’s almost melancholic — like a cross between danger and wonder,” explains Roget. “Then you get into Mos Eisley, and it just becomes a chaotic, busy market like everything is upside down. I recorded electric bass, but I played it with a double bass bow, so it sounds like a bowstring instrument that’s gone wrong. I had my friend Kristen Magus play some different types of world flutes for that as well, to represent the chaotic busyness of the market that you see all throughout the city.”
Johnson’s research into planets of the Outer Rim was extensive, too. The LA-based composer is a longtime Star Wars devotee; “I’ve seen, watched and played almost every single piece of Star Wars that is out there,” he says. However, his adventures in a galaxy far, far away haven’t always been as immersive as he’d hoped. He notes that, historically, the music that accompanies planets in Star Wars games isn’t often as deeply explored as it could be. With Sounds of the Underworld, he sought to change that.
Cody Matthew Johnson. Image: Press
“I can’t think of an expression of Mos Eisley that feels as grounded and accurate as in Star Wars Outlaws,” says Johnson, who has written music for Resident Evil 2 and the Marvel vs Capcom series. “You can really explore these worlds on a very large scale [in Outlaws]. And with planets like Toshara and Akiva, there wasn’t any history, so we could really explore new ideas. It [offered] a great opportunity to use diegetic music to paint more specifically about these worlds and the culture.”
Johnson’s Sounds of the Underworld score taps into the weirder, wilder side of Star Wars, soundtracking the cantinas, markets and arcades you navigate in Outlaws. As a rare treat, you can truly hear what a fictional band in the Star Wars universe might sound like — and not just Max Rebo’s band in Jabba’s Palace. “Max Rebo is my mortal enemy,” jokes Johnson.Sourcing the sounds for these vast worlds wasn’t straightforward. Both Roget and Johnson had to get creative with their choices of instruments — and it sounds like they had a blast. (“You have to have a blast,” says Roget. “The way to determine if a score is good is if you can hear, as a listener, that the composer had fun writing it.”)
For the main Outlaws score, Roget looked to his stalwart Korg synths, the MS-20 and Minilogue, but also recorded unconventional acoustic instruments, such as a Pipa and a Biwa, alongside a traditional orchestra. “I like to think of synthesizers and world instruments as just another instrument in the palette,” he says. “Maybe I could do this part on a clarinet, or maybe I can dial up the Minilogue and do the same part there… Maybe [the sound] is in the same frequency band but, because I use this different [instrument] instead of the orchestra, it has a different character, and I can have a different subtext as a result.”
Image: Press
Roget adds that he and his team quickly realised that analogue synthesizers were a better fit for Star Wars, as opposed to digital. “There are some digital sounds in there but, generally speaking, the digital vibe doesn’t necessarily work alongside the orchestra. [Digital synths] make themselves known right at the front of the mix, whereas we needed something to sit back and be more polite.”
He also has a cupboard of so-called “foley instruments” — wine bottles, tin cans, cardboard — to use as percussion instruments.
Johnson, meanwhile, had other hair-brained ideas. His instrument choices, too, were intriguing, but his wackiest scheme was recording through an array of microphones inspired by the recording technology of the first half of the 1900s. The setup includes the Placid Audio Copperphone and Carbonphone, Trash Talk Audio’s Rotary Phone mic, Scope Lab’s The Periscope, and a Blue Bottle tube mic. He recorded everything through these five microphones in parallel.
Cody Matthew Johnson’s mic array for Star Wars Outlaws. Image: Press
“It’s not lo-fi, but it’s no hi-fi”, Johnson explains. “It’s like this fidelity that is unique to what I was trying to design: an expression of music technology leading up to 0 BBY [the fictional year that Star Wars: A New Hope takes place in], or the 1980s — when this fictional world meets ours.”
Beyond the score, Star Wars Outlaws also employs an impressive bespoke sound engine. With an open-world game, any number of things can happen to the player, whether it’s being attacked by an NPC or coming across a place where you’re character isn’t welcome. To enable the audio to react to your situation, the game engine has different states of combat, based on your proximity to an enemy, how difficult an enemy is, how many enemies there are, and other variable factors.
“If you’re not really close to enemies, then [the music] just has pitched elements. But as soon as you get close to enemies, we bring in some percussive elements to the mix to say, ‘Hey, you’re kind of in danger! Be careful,’” explains Roget. “And then we have a state that we call ‘Hiding’, which basically means that enemies have previously engaged you, but you’ve successfully broken their line of sight and they don’t exactly know where you are, so they’re actively searching for you. So this is more synth-based layers.”
Image: Press
“Any one of these states can crossfade into any other one, so we needed to make sure that we’ve recorded the orchestra in such a way that it was able to make these crossfades in a seamless manner,” Roget continues. To achieve this, the score was recorded in stems. As the player’s situation becomes more intense, more layers are introduced — brass, dramatic strings, and faster performances, for example.
“It was a very difficult and iterative process figuring out how to just compose music that still sounded like Star Wars, but had all of these modern game tech elements to it,” concludes Roget.
“It’s not that Outlaws is overwhelming, but it gives you a way to explore this galaxy, and with an agency that Star Wars hasn’t allowed you to do before,” adds Johnson. “It makes it feel like there’s real consequence or reward to how you play it, too.”
Image: Press
Star Wars Outlaws may not have immediately won over the entire Skywalker fanbase with some aspects of the gameplay. But as Ubisoft climbs uphill with the imminent Wild Card expansion and more downloadable content to come, the composers on Outlaws can feel assured that their work has paid off. Those players and fans who take the time to explore the in-game galaxy will hear the fun that Johnson and Roget had in building the soundtrack and the considerations they took to make Outlaws as authentic as possible. They may even win that Grammy.
Learn more about Star Wars Outlaws at Ubisoft.
The post Behind the sound of Star Wars Outlaws: a polarising game with a Grammy-nominated soundtrack appeared first on MusicTech.Behind the sound of Star Wars Outlaws: a polarising game with a Grammy-nominated soundtrack
musictech.comComposers Wilbert Roget II and Cody Matthew Johnson wanted to respect the Star Wars universe with their score for Outlaws. The internet thinks they nailed it.
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Apple release Logic Pro 11.1 for Mac & Logic Pro 2.1 for iPad Apple’s developers have added many features in response to frequent requests from existing users.
Apple release Logic Pro 11.1 for Mac & Logic Pro 2.1 for iPad
www.soundonsound.comApple’s developers have added many features in response to frequent requests from existing users.
Unlock the power of esteemed composer Ólafur Arnalds with Spitfire Audio’s new responsive sample librarySpitfire Audio’s brand new sample library, Ólafur Arnalds Cells, lets users harness the power of a string orchestra, and replicate the feeling of players responding as if you were in the same room.
The new launch is inspired by Arnalds’ own music, who is a BAFTA-winning Icelandic multi-instrumentalist, composer, record producer, and triple Grammy nominee. He has composed music for the likes of ITV’s Broadchurch series (for which he won his BAFTA), and Apple TV’s Defending Jacob.READ MORE: This $22 MIDI gadget turns your smartphone into a flute
Overall, there are 115 articulations and 10 signal paths available within the new launch, making it ideal for the creation of film scores, TV soundtracks, or electronic and ambient music. At the core of Ólafur Arnalds Cells is an innovative Scale Mode, providing harmonic movement that follows the user’s tonality and ensuring everything they play remains within their chosen key.
To further explain Scale Mode, Spitfire Audio says that when playing a key, the feedback received is not a direct replica of the note played, but instead it always fits within the chosen harmonic structure. For instance, if a C note is played, the software will not only play it back but will also introduce another note from within the C major scale that the user did not explicitly ask for.
The brand stresses that this release is more than just a sample library, but rather “a collaborative experience with players”. Compositions are also complemented by an associated toolkit of vintage analogue synthesisers with a variety of signal paths created and performed by Arnalds himself.
“After brainstorming this idea in a London pub back in 2018, we created a prototype, which not only got used on most of my recordings since then but also inspired my sound,” says Arnalds. “The music I make today wouldn’t be the same without that little prototype, and I’m so happy to finally see it in its final form – …Cells constantly surprises me with little melodies that get created with the random intervals, often inspiring new melodies that I then take over to other instruments.”
He continues, “With …CELLS, I wanted to push the boundaries of how sound can inspire music; by adding random intervals that stay within the musical context of what I am playing, I constantly get surprised and inspired by the beautiful string orchestra while still having the control I need.”
You can check it out in the video below:Ólafur Arnalds Cells is available for a time-limited introductory price of £159.00/$199.00/€199.00 until 3 December 2024. It will then rise to its full price of £199.00/$249.00/€249.00 from then. Find out more via Spitfire Audio.
The post Unlock the power of esteemed composer Ólafur Arnalds with Spitfire Audio’s new responsive sample library appeared first on MusicTech.Unlock the power of esteemed composer Ólafur Arnalds with Spitfire Audio’s new responsive sample library
musictech.comSpitfire Audio’s brand new sample library, Ólafur Arnalds Cells, lets users harness the power of a responsive string orchestra.
- in the community space Tools and Plugins
Witch Pig releases FREE Angel Dust pitch-shifting delay plugin
Angel Dust is the latest release from Witch Pig, the developer behind plugins like Black Mirror Reverb and Bangkok Ping Pong. When it comes to Witch Pig plugins, there are a few things we’ve become accustomed to. One of which is a visually engaging interface, and Angel Dust is no exception. Like Bangkok Ping Pong, [...]
View post: Witch Pig releases FREE Angel Dust pitch-shifting delay pluginWitch Pig releases FREE Angel Dust pitch-shifting delay plugin
bedroomproducersblog.comAngel Dust is the latest release from Witch Pig, the developer behind plugins like Black Mirror Reverb and Bangkok Ping Pong. When it comes to Witch Pig plugins, there are a few things we’ve become accustomed to. One of which is a visually engaging interface, and Angel Dust is no exception. Like Bangkok Ping Pong,
“Our goal was to develop a device that merges complexity with true playability”: Polyend launches multi-engine polyphonic synthesizer, the SynthPolyend’s new offering might be the most simplistically named synth ever, but its comprehensive set of features is anything but.
Introducing the Synth, a multi-engine polyphonic synthesizer aimed at sound designers, performers, composers and those simply looking to experiment.READ MORE: Apple Music is selling a coffee table book charting its top 100 albums of all time – for $450
Featuring eight unique synth engines – and able to play three simultaneously – the Polyend Synth is built around an intuitive grid-based interface designed to make playing “natural and easy”.
These eight synth engines consist of both modern synthesis methods and recreations of “iconic instruments and classic tones”, Polyend explains.Highlights include the PHZ engine – which draws inspiration from the classic Casio CZ-101, while introducing “new algorithms of phase distortion, resulting in unique sounds that cannot be found elsewhere. The ACD engine, meanwhile, is based on the Roland SH-101, offering “acid-laced tones that are simple to dial in yet expansive in range”. Also featured is the VAP engine, which channels the Sequential Prophet-6, “encapsulating its spirit in a digital format”.
Other engines include PMD, which provides “organic textures”, GRAIN, which “takes granular synthesis to new heights”, WAVS, which features a two-oscillator system allowing users to load custom wavetables, and WTFM, which “adds wavetables to an FM architecture”.
Credit: Polyend
As Polyend explains, while multi-timbral synths often require a sequencer to trigger multiple sounds, the Synth’s Smart Grid feature enables real-time playability. It includes three independent sequencers or arpeggiators that respond to your playing.
Additionally, users can assign a synth patch to one of three chord modes, enabling single synth pads to trigger chords. In Chord Mode, two synth engines can be set as followers, which adjust their notes according to the current chord guided by a scale lock, which keeps everything within a set scale to retain musicality.
“Our goal was to develop a device that merges complexity with true playability,” says Polyend founder, Piotr Raczyński. “Synth is designed for musicians who want an accessible but sonically rich experience.”
The Synth is available now for $/€499. For more information, head to Polyend.
The post “Our goal was to develop a device that merges complexity with true playability”: Polyend launches multi-engine polyphonic synthesizer, the Synth appeared first on MusicTech.“Our goal was to develop a device that merges complexity with true playability”: Polyend launches multi-engine polyphonic synthesizer, the Synth
musictech.comPolyend’s new offering might be the most simplistically named synth ever, but its comprehensive set of features is anything but.
How the 360-degree stage format is taking over the electronic music industryWhen Sippy dials in for our Zoom call, another face, from behind her shoulder, stares into the camera. In the corner of her studio, there is a shelving unit filled with stuffed toys she’s received from fans. Sitting right on top is a banana smiling down on her, as if proud to see her excelling in her DJing career.
The Australian bass music producer was gifted the banana buddy during her set at Toxic Summer in Austin, Texas, in August. The stage was set up in a 360-degree format, meaning she was surrounded by fans on all sides.READ MORE: Why Mutek is the perfect festival for music producers with an audiovisual edge
“I turn around and I saw this girl holding [the banana] out to me and she was like, ‘It’s for you!’” Sippy was in the middle of mixing in her reggae-infused dubstep track, The Banana Song, but once the song was lined up, she retrieved the banana and it hung out on the decks for the remainder of her set.
This kind of crowd interaction is one reason Sippy loves the 360 stage. “I felt like a raver in the crowd having fun with my friends,” Sippy says. By being closer and having those interactions she can also read the crowd better, thus leading to a better track selection. “It feels more genuine and all-inclusive. It’s more about the music and how it makes them feel and being really in the moment with it.”
In the years following the pandemic, the 360 format has been implemented in the electronic music industry on multiple levels.
Headlining artists such as Gryffin are embracing 360 sets. He played one to 500 people at the Independent in San Francisco the same night he played a closing set in front of tens of thousands at the city’s major festival, Outside Lands.
This year, Outside Lands changed the layout of Soma, their house and techno stage, from a temporary on-site nightclub to an outdoor 360 stage. Even venues with built-in amphitheatre seats are adopting the format. The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, hosted a 360-style event earlier this month with Louis The Child, building a stage on the GA floor section of the venue.The most accurate word to describe this trend is ‘renewed.’ 360-style performances (which were first known as ‘in-the-round’) have roots in Ancient Greek theatre. Whether it’s a DJ standing on a circular platform as they chop riddim or a theatre troupe recounting the story of the Trojan Horse, in that format, the performers can engage with more members of the audience, and more members of the audience can be closer to the stage.
“It feels more intimate. In this day and age, when everything can feel so separated, having that real, up-close and personal experience is something that a lot of festival-goers fans enjoy,” Sippy says.
Another unavoidable truth about this day and age is that the entire world exited a global pandemic two years ago. When events were universally disbanded, many DJs lost significant income and the career gratification they got from playing live. Meanwhile, fans and ravers lost their preferred means of emotional release and personal connection.
Now, two years on, following the initial landrush back to events, the intent to reconnect from both artists and fans is causing concrete change throughout the scene.
Louis The Child performing at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. Image: Andrew Rosas
“Post-COVID, a lot of people missed two or three years of opportunities to form deep, haphazard, fun, friendships. Spontaneous friendships that come from an accidental late night,” says Henry Lu, co-founder of Space Yacht, which promotes roughly 75 global events per year, several of which are 360.
Space Yacht was one early promoter to experiment with 360 stages in Los Angeles, but Lu is quick to mention that he and his team “stake no claim” in pioneering the format. Lu shouts out the Atlanta promoter Define Everything Future (DEF) for making it their thing before them. DEF has hosted 360 events at venues all across the US including The Caverns in Tennesse, Underground Atlanta, and the Florida festival, Suwanee Hulaween.
“Everyone kind of started doing it at the same time,” Lu says, also ensuring he lends credit to a vital catalyst for the popularity of the 360 set: Boiler Room.
Oftentimes, 360 formats are presented as ‘Boiler Room Style’ on event flyers given its history of having fans behind the DJ. While this isn’t specifically accurate, as Boiler Room doesn’t always ensure fans are necessarily surrounding the DJ, the disbursement of the audience was certainly a precursor to 360 sets.
Boiler Room also influenced 360 sets because the streaming format emphasized the idea of focusing on the DJ. Sure, there will be the occasional bystander who makes waves across Boiler Room’s network of 4.37 million YouTube subscribers (like the yellow shirt guy who accidentally stopped the music during Fred Again..’s famous Boiler Room in London). But, for the most part, Boiler Room built its brand on letting people around the world watch DJs in action.Conversely, at the genesis of club culture, not all crowds were there to watch DJs. They were remanded to the dark corners of the club, hidden behind a shroud of smoke, playing music for the crowd to interact with one another. There are still some DJs from the earliest days of electronic music, like Dave Clarke, who shun the fact that DJs are now the centre of attention.
“Now it’s deeply embarrassing for what people see to be a DJ. There’s so much light on stage. They’re all dancing. I’ve got nothing against people dancing, but the performance is more important than the music,” Clarke said in an interview with MusicRadar.
Since the rise of EDM, the idea of DJ performing has become more associated with the culture — Steve Aoki throwing cake into the crowd; Diplo rolling around in an inflatable ball during Major Lazer sets. Now, with 360 sets, some DJs are leaning into performance more than ever.
“Having gone through the stage where DJs were put up on a big stage like superstars, now DJs are part of the club. That’s not gonna go away,” says Lexi Capt, who DJs under the name CAPTNNN. “So, the idea of the 360 set is the compromise of not having the DJ in the corner, having them be on the same level as the people, but also not put on a pedestal where no one can reach them.”
Capt runs an event series called Dekadance, based at Forever Good in London. It’s a former car garage that’s been converted into an art gallery and event space. For Dekadance parties, Capt sets up the decks in a true 360 pattern which allows the attendees to dance but also fully explore the gallery while the music is playing (there are vintage cars in the gallery that guests can use for photo ops).
MK performing at Outside Lands. Image: Alive Coverage
For a 360 set to work, the venue is the most significant factor. Sippy’s Toxic Summer set in Austin was at The Concourse Project — essentially a raw warehouse space. It was easy to build a stage in the centre and adjust the sound so that everyone could dance and enjoy the music.
After the ball she had in Austin, Sippy shifted four venues on her Gremlin Mode tour into the format, so some venues can accommodate it. But in less amenable spaces, complications show up.
Lu remarks that certain venues like Sound Nightclub in Los Angeles (where Space Yacht produces a significant portion of their events) are too small and their sound infrastructure is too integrated into the venue to make it work.
In other venues with more permanent infrastructure, building a stage in the centre of the room drastically decreases the amount of floor space available for attendees, lessening the number of tickets a promoter can sell which in turn lessens the revenue.
“There’s no clear argument, better or worse. It’s now simply something I look at as like a staging option,” Lu says.
When implementing the format, Lu likes to consider how it will enhance the attendee experience. For example, Space Yacht hosted a 360 dubstep show because he thought it would be cool for the DJs to be surrounded by headbangers.
Louis The Child performing at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. Image: Andrew Rosas
When Another Planet Entertainment (APE), the promoter responsible for Outside Lands, shifted the format of Soma, an important factor in that decision was that when the stage was similar to a nightclub, attendees would spend hours waiting in line to see some of the DJs (just like a real club). After the change, there were no lines at all.
The new style couldn’t offer the same club-style rave experience as something indoors, complete with lights and lasers. It also wasn’t a literal 360. Due to the space allotted per the festival’s grounds, the majority of the crowd was still front-facing while a smaller portion filled in alongside and behind the DJ. But overall, the format allowed more people to enjoy the music together throughout all three days of the festival.
“Dance music has always had a greater community than other genres. There’s much more of a social aspect,” says Nick Barrie, a talent buyer for APE. “ The DJ in the middle of everyone speaks to more of that community, allows more of that vibe, and more of that culture of we’re all doing this together.”
Right now, many in the electronic music industry are adapting 360 stages; major festivals, small nightclubs, and mid-size events. If there was ever time to gift your favourite DJ a stuffed toy, this is it.
The post How the 360-degree stage format is taking over the electronic music industry appeared first on MusicTech.How the 360-degree stage format is taking over the electronic music industry
musictech.comFrom small clubs to major festivals, headlining artists to rising stars, the 360 degree stage is everywhere in electronic music in 2024
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