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Kubernik: Best Of Bruce Springsteen Tour, New Memoir
Solo Bruce Springsteen stage photo by Henry Diltz, Courtesy of Gary Strobl at the Diltz Archives
Rare Born to Run autographed LP cover, courtesy of the Harvey Kubernik Archives
Sony Music will celebrate the music of Bruce Springsteen next month with a collection of original songs spanning his 50-year recording career, from 1973's Greeting from Asbury Park, NJ to 2020's Letter To You. Best Of Bruce Springsteen will be available on April 19, and issued in physical formats as an 18-track set across 2 LPs or 1 CD - and digitally as an expanded 31-song package.
The compilation will span early-career favorites like "Growin' Up" and "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)," staples of Springsteen's live shows from "Dancing In The Dark" to "The Rising," "Born To Run," and "Hungry Heart," as well as recent releases "Hello Sunshine" and "Letter To You."
Best Of Bruce Springsteen arrives with an album cover shot by Eric Meola during the Born To Run sessions, as well as new liner notes by Erik Flannigan.
Before the release of Best Of Bruce Springsteen, he'll return to the road with The E Street Band later this month, beginning on March 19 in Phoenix, Arizona for a series of 51 shows across North America and Europe. Continuing their first run together since 2016-2017, Springsteen and The E Street Band's recent tour stops have been hailed as "one of the greatest shows ever" by The Daily Telegraph and "the greatest show on earth" by Billboard.
For over a half a century, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have exemplified the crowd-pleasing, soul-shaking, energy-exploding excitement of rock and roll onstage.
It was on the initial suggestion of legendary A&R man and record producer, John Henry Hammond II of Columbia Records to label head Clive Davis who signed Bruce Springsteen to the company on January 9, 1972, the same night I witnessed the Rolling Stones at the Hollywood Palladium.
In very late April and early May of 1973, Columbia Records President Clive Davis hosted a week of label acts in downtown Los Angeles at The Ahmanson Theater billed as A Week to Remember. Judy Paynter, Director of Press Information at Columbia Records in their Sunset Blvd. office in Hollywood invited me.
I saw Johnny Cash, Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Charlie Rich, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Billy Paul. Richard Pryor was an emcee one night.
On May 1, 1973 at the venue, Davis showcased Bruce Springsteen alongside Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show and New Riders of the Purple Sage. Springsteen’s played tunes from his just issued January 5th ’73 debut LP Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.: “Spirit in the Night, “Wild Billy’s Circus Story, “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street,” and something called “Thundercrack.” I think he did an encore of “Twist and Shout.”
I’d just interviewed a couple of disco acts, and man, did I need a shot of rock ‘n’ roll which Bruce and his band supplied.
I next saw Springsteen at Doug Weston’s Troubadour club in West Hollywood in 1973. Maybe in February. Perhaps on my birthday, February 26th. Photographer Richard Creamer was with me. A short set. Maybe before or after the Ahmanson appearance. One thing was evident: Bruce meant every word that came out of his mouth.
I have a memory of a March 1973 Springsteen booking at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium show where Bruce and the group opened for Dr. John and blew the headliner off the stage. What I do remember from that night was holding hands with the girl I was with during “Lost in the Flood.” The run up to that achievement took an entire college semester but was well worth it…
I was in San Francisco the last week of 1973 and bumped into photographer Henry Diltz in North Beach. I first met Henry in 1967 when he was the official photographer for the second season of The Monkees television series filmed on the Columbia lot at Gower Gulch. My mother Hilda worked as a secretary and stenographer there for Raybert Productions and helped typed some of the scripts. Henry had been hired to shoot the July 27, 1973 Columbia and Epic Records Convention at the Fairmount Hotel and snapped pictures of newcomer, Bruce Springsteen, who performed for the label employees.
The most inspirational Springsteen recital I caught in the seventies was probably November 1st 1975 on the campus of U.C. Santa Barbara inside the Robertson Gymnasium. It was seismic. “Saint in the City” stuck in my head the entire 90-minute road trip back to Los Angeles.
Afterwards, I went to one of my favorite spots on La Cienega Blvd. called Ollie Hammond’s Steak House for a hamburger. They had 24-hour service. I look at the next table and there was Bruce. He was staying down the street with the band at the Sunset Marquis. I had a copy of the first pressing of Born to Run at my crib nearby with the different lettering front cover. He later autographed it for me.
Next time Steve, Bruce and the E Street Band were in town in 1976, they packed the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for two nights on September 29th-30th. I slept outside the box office for ducats. I had to see both shows and only had a press ticket for one of them. I met two new friends at 5:00 am, David Leaf and Michael Hacker. I still talk to them.
On October 5th, I schlepped up to the Santa Barbara Bowl with a high school pal, Robert Sherman, for another Bruce-induced musical booster shot. I managed to buy some orchestra pit seats and a local surfer girl in Isla Vista also turned us on to McConnell’s Ice Cream. After these power-packed dates, I interviewed E Street Band guitarist and record producer Steven Van Zandt for the November 6, 1976 issue of Melody Maker.
Steve Van Zandt: Miami, Bruce, and Roots
Steve smiles when asked about the outstanding version of 'It's My Life', the Animals classic which has been worked up into a 20-minute mini-drama in Bruce's act.
"That was at a soundcheck," he remembers. "When we do a soundcheck we jam and mess around on songs by the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and the sixties English things. 'It's My Life' started there. Bein' the brilliant cat he is, Bruce put that rap in which was so revealing.
"Once somebody sees the band, they can't possibly not like it. There's a difference between recording and the live situation. The albums give you a chance to know the songs and lyrics, and then that's expanded playing live.
"It gives you a broader sense of who he is," he argues. "It would be kinda boring to see an identical record.
"Bruce is the best possible boss," he says, munching over a kosher dill. "He's hip enough to let everybody do their own thing, to express in other ways. All that does is make your gig better. When you go back to playing in the band it's like comin' home to foundation and security.
"We look like we have fun on stage 'cause we do. Ninety-nine out of 100 shows I enjoy as much as the audience. I think it shows up there.
"People aren't spectators, they're friends. The people stay with us. We have a real loyal following. In anybody else's case two years between albums would have been a disaster because Bruce Springsteen isn't a household word.
"The people we play to don't like us – they love us. It comes from playing clubs and small theatres two years longer than the business would have suggested.
"Small places have created this thing other bands seem to miss when they go for the bread and the 50,000-seaters. That's cool. It doesn't matter to me."
The E Street Band are one of the few groups around today carrying on traditional rock and roll. "I don't wake up in the morning feeling I'm carrying on a tradition," Van Zandt suggests.
"We're a roots rock group. We're conscious of it. I'm doing things not innovative, but we're always modernizing the situation as much as possible. That's one of the reasons we use Jimmy Iovine as engineer. He's the best. A contemporary cat. We get a balance between us. If I had it my way we'd do the records in mono," he laughs.
"I think it's a prerequisite that it's derivative. It's obvious where it comes from. I just worry it will be considered a throwback or an oldie. These words scare me.
"I go home and someone puts on the new Peter Frampton album, and I then put Sam & Dave's Greatest Hits on the turntable and I feel it was released yesterday. In Bruce's case, he's cool. He's innovative, and creative, and lyrically beyond any problems.
"Every night I hear him change the rap between songs. That's gotta happen. We're not robots or actors. Why write a song or play one if it doesn't change or no-one is getting off? That's why I never understood the top 40 trip.”
In my 2004 book, This Is Rebel Music, Van Zandt explained the bond Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band have with their devoted audience.
“I know it sounds a bit silly but I do believe rock ‘n’ roll can change the world. It’s about bands, and that for me suggests brotherhood, family, friendship, and community.
“I don’t mean to be blasphemes but I look at rock and roll as a religion. For me it is that kind of thing. People become part of this religion regardless of their age, or what a certain common ground with this type or that I can’t explain but I know exists.
“Because that’s what we do, that’s the job description with a performing artist; you have to be that thing that helps to heal in times of suffering. Sometimes it’s there to celebrate…but you are sort of the ‘voice of the community’, or the sounding board or whatever. In a funny way, I think that rock ‘n’ roll became the church of the community. I know it has been for me…”
During 1977 I interviewed saxophonist Clarence Clemons, “the Big Man” in the E Street Band for the now defunct Melody Maker in Culver City. Clemons was cast in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio musical drama, New York, New York, directed by Martin Scorsese. Clarence portrayed Cecil Powell. The movie starred Liza Minnelli as Francine Evans and Robert De Niro as Jimmy Doyle. Dick Miller had a part as a club owner. I’m in a crowd scene, and my soon to be friend, Harry E. Northup, played Alabama. Harry had pivotal roles in previous Scorsese movies Mean Streets and Taxi Driver.
In 1978 I was appointed West Coast Director of A&R for MCA Records. In my tenure, I worked on the Denny Bruce-produced John Hiatt album Slug Line, and secured some musicians for his touring band. I helped oversee MCA’s acquisition of ABC Records.
I also suggested and lobbied hard for the pairing of engineer-turned record producer Jimmy Iovine with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to team for Damn the Torpedoes. In 2014, Tom penned the forward to my book Turn Up the Radio! Pop, Rock and Roll in Los Angeles 1956-1972.
I initiated the Del Shannon album Drop Down and Get Me which Petty produced. This decade Bruce filmed an interview for a Shannon documentary I’m helping produce and write.
In spring of 1978 I flew to Philadelphia to report on a Bruce Springsteen tour for the June 10, 1978 issue of Melody Maker.
Bruce Springsteen: Reborn and Running Again
EVEN BEFORE the two brilliant concerts at the Spectrum earlier in the week, Bruce Springsteen could have been the Mayor of Philadelphia if he had ever decided to campaign.
Another impressive addition to the Springsteen sound is organist Danny Federici. His playing reminds me of Stevie Winwood and it's logical to find out from bassist Garry Tallent that before Federici joined the band, they used to do a live rendition of “Gimme Some Lovin',” the Spencer Davis song.
Danny does very few solos in the show, but is a functional player who offers well-defined passages and, like the rest of the band, doesn't fall into the trap of egotism. This is team work on display. Danny was also quite pleased by the Philadelphia fan reaction "Bruce has always been popular here, even before I joined the band. He dedicated 'For You' to the audience tonight. They have been with him from the start."
My brother Kenneth and I caught a stellar Springsteen concert on June 29, 1978 in San Jose at The Center for the Performing Arts. Bruce’s road manager put me on the guest list. Backstage, Ken and Bruce shared a bottle of Canada Dry Ginger Ale and discussed David Sancious’ remarkable musical abilities for 15 minutes.
What followed were two early July 1978 Springsteen and Co. Southern California appearances at the Inglewood Forum and Roxy Theater, the second which was broadcast live on KMET-FM. “Prove It All Night” further spotlighted Bruce’s lead guitar prowess, while the churchy “Adam Raised the Cain” underscored a biblical expedition I hadn’t realized on Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Bruce had cited guitarist Michael Bloomfield as an influence to me in a conversation one night at The Starwood club where we saw the Ramones, but Steven was the big Bloomfield fan. “I’ve played Dylan’s songs with Bruce and in top 40 bands earlier,” enthused Van Zandt. “I talk a lot about Bloomfield. Oh my God…One of the greats. The single most unsung guitar hero. Really, right there alongside the holy trinity of (Eric) Clapton, (Jeff) Beck and (Jimmy) Page. Probably next in line as far as influence and importance would be Mike Bloomfield in our early youth growing up. Extremely important.”
On November 1, 1978 I sat with Ian Hunter the bandleader of Mott the Hoople at a Springsteen concert held in New Jersey at Princeton University’s Jadwin Gymnasium. I interviewed Ian in 2000, asking about Springsteen and the E Street Band.
“I liked the band,” offered Hunter. “I wasn’t too sure about Springsteen because - it wasn’t his fault, but clean rock ‘n’ roll came in about that time, and he seemed to be the cigarette. (Laughs.) I was very angry, and I don’t know why, because I saw him again in June 2000 at Madison Square Garden, and I said to him afterwards, ‘Some people are rock ‘n’ roll, a lot of people run around it, but I said I saw a forest tonight.’ I mean, they were great! The first five songs were mind-blowing.
“That’s what I said to him. He’s for real. And also, he tries to change people, he tries to make people better, ya know. That whole kinda quasi-evangelist thing that he does. He’s trying to get a point across there. And it’s funny, but he’s trying to get the point across. And I think he’s a man of the people. I think he’s genuine. The feeling with him I get is genuine. And of course, that band on them middle speeds, there's nobody better. That band is the finest band there is.
“There’s an element of corn there, but people love corn,” emphasized Hunter. “And he knows that. I know that too. Some of the things he does wouldn’t be classed as cool, but then cool is a very overrated thing. There’s a lot of cool people about that I think are absolute idiots.” And then there was Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band unhinged for two nights in mid-December 1978 at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco promoted by Bill Graham. Kenneth and I drove up there in Bruce Gary’s van, who was enjoying long-deserved record business success as the drummer of the Knack. Bruce had jammed with the Knack at The Troubadour.
I was introduced to Bruce’s mother, Adele. I believe his father Douglas was in attendance. Bruce’s sister Pam was there. Go take a listen to the KSAN-FM radio broadcast of that monumental event that’s been in circulation for decades.
Nothing else needs to be written about that weekend I witnessed.
Since then, over the last few decades, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band always seem to arrive in my Southern California hometown at the right time in my life when I really need to see and hear them.
In November 2006, Harvey Kubernik was invited to address audiotape preservation and archiving at special hearings called by The Library of Congress held in Hollywood, California. Kubernik is the author of 20 books, including 2009’s Canyon Of Dreams: The Magic And The Music Of Laurel Canyon and 2014’s Turn Up The Radio! Rock, Pop and Roll In Los Angeles 1956-1972. He has also written titles on Leonard Cohen and Neil Young.
Sterling/Barnes and Noble in 2018 published Harvey and Kenneth Kubernik’s The Story Of The Band: From Big Pink To The Last Waltz. In2021 they wrote Jimi Hendrix: Voodoo Child for Sterling/Barnes and Noble.
Otherworld Cottage Industries in 2020 published Harvey’s Docs That Rock, Music That Matters.
His writings are in several book anthologies, including, The Rolling Stone Book Of The Beats and Drinking With Bukowski. Harvey wrote the liner notes to the CD re-releases of Carole King’s Tapestry, The Essential Carole King, Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish, Elvis Presley The ’68 Comeback Special, The Ramones’ End of the Century and Big Brother & the Holding Company Captured Live at The Monterey International Pop Festival.
On October 16, 2023, ACC ART BOOKS LTD published THE ROLLING STONES: ICONS. 312 pages. $75.00. Introduction is penned by Kubernik.
OpenAI announces new board members, reinstates CEO Sam AltmanSam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has a seat at the table — or board, rather — once again. OpenAI today announced that Altman will be rejoining the company’s board of directors several months after losing his seat and being forced out as OpenAI’s CEO. Joining alongside him are three members, former CEO of the […]
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.Believe and TuneCore Celebrate International Women's Day with Study: BE THE CHANGE: Gender Equity in MusicIn honor of International Women’s Day, Believe, one of the world’s leading digital music companies, and TuneCore, the leading development partner for self-releasing artists, have officially released the results of the fourth annual study, BE THE CHANGE: Gender Equity in Music.
For this year’s study, leading market intelligence and consulting firm MIDiA Research surveyed more than 4,100 members of the music industry—with a predominant focus on creators—in an effort to better understand their struggles and provide tangible strategies to help them overcome their challenges. Of the thousands of respondents surveyed, more than 35% self-identified as female or gender expansive, with over 75% responding from outside of the United States, providing a truly global snapshot of the music industry.
With a foreword written by Academy Award and Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter Melissa Etheridge, the 2024 BE THE CHANGE: Gender Equity in Music study yields insights into the prevalence of and sentiment surrounding issues in the music industry including gender-based discrimination, sexual assault and harassment, income disparity, industry departure, and more.
The full study is available for download now HERE.
Ferrules and 3D Prints Revive Classic MicrophoneContrary to what our readers may think, we Hackaday writers aren’t exactly hacking layabouts. True, we spend a great deal of time combing through a vast corpus of material to bring you the best from all quadrants of the hacking galaxy, but we do manage to find a few minutes here and there to dip into the shop for a quick hack or two.
Our own [Jenny List] proves that with this quick and easy vintage microphone revival. The mic in question is a Shure Unidyne III, a cardioid pattern dynamic microphone that has been made in the millions since the 1950s. She’s got a couple of these old classics that have been sidelined thanks to their obsolete Amphenol MC3M connectors. The connectors look a little like the now-standard XLR balanced connector, but the pin spacing and pattern are just a touch different.
Luckily, the female sockets in the connector are just the right size to accept one of the crimp-on ferrules [Jenny] had on hand with a snug grip. These were crimped to a length of Cat 5 cable (don’t judge) to complete the wiring, but that left things looking a bit ratty. Some quick OpenSCAD work and a little PLA resulted in a two-piece shell that provides strain relief and protection for the field-expedient connections. It’s not [Roger Daltry] secure, mind you, but as you can see in the video below the break it’s not bad — nothing a few dozen yards of gaffer’s tape couldn’t fix. Come to it, looks like The Who were using the same microphones. Small world.2024 Home Sweet Home Automation: Plantpal Is a Friend to You BothOne easy way to get started on the home automation front is with something that makes a house a home in the first place — lush, green plants. As nice as it is to have them around, it can be difficult to care (or remember to care) for them all the time.
Plantpal makes easy work of that, with an e-paper display that makes it plain as day how your plant is feeling. As you might expect, it features a soil moisture sensor, but what might be unexpected is that it’s capacitive instead of the usual resistive type. This way, no traces are exposed to the elements of plant life. It also has a BME688 sensor to monitor air quality and CO₂, so your plant has the chance to thrive.
Around back you’ll find an ESP32-C6, an AEM10941 for solar energy harvesting, and another set of solar panels. Be sure to check out the project’s GitHub if you want to learn more about this adorable and useful device.Ableton Live 12 is here: new Performance Packs, sounds, MIDI tools + a refreshed workflow and moreAfter teasing its release last fall, Ableton has released the new Ableton Live 12 software – available for purchase on the company’s website and downloadable via your Ableton account if you’ve pre-ordered the program. The company has also published a series of how-to videos, to get to know the program’s major feature updates and additions. It’s […]
The post Ableton Live 12 is here: new Performance Packs, sounds, MIDI tools + a refreshed workflow and more appeared first on DJ TechTools.What’s new in Pigments 5?
Learn all about the newest features in Arturia's Pigments 5 and how they can improve your sound design and composition workflows.From Warner’s potential bid for Believe to the unveiling of Interscope Capitol Labels Group… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
SourceApple Music Replay now offers monthly Wrapped-style listening stats – but what’s the point?If, like me, another month has passed soundtracked by a sonic merry-go-round of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Works albums, a monthly recap of your listening habits could make for bleak viewing. Unfortunately for us, that’s just what the newly upgraded Apple Music Replay feature now provides.
READ MORE: No, Daniel Ek, the music industry isn’t like professional football
Of course, insights into your streaming statistics aren’t new – Apple Music Replay was first introduced in 2019 as a yearly insights tool, following the launch of Spotify Wrapped in 2016. TIDAL has also been running a similar Rewind feature since 2020.
However, now Apple has made this feature monthly, analysing your play counts and time spent, and calculating your top songs, albums, artists, playlists, genres, and stations. Yes, this roundup isn’t quite as visually or gamefully creative as Wrapped, but the analysis goes deep.
Subscriber retention might be one reason for the update. In a bid to cut ahead of the competition and keep users from jumping ship to the likes of Spotify, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Deezer or TIDAL, Apple Music’s made an eagerly-awaited feature appear 11 more times in users’ digital peripheries over the calendar year. And will other platforms follow suit? They usually do.
This seemingly innocent data-gathering exercise reminds us that every move we make – even listening to our favourite music – is constantly under the watchful eye of colossal tech giants. And these giants ultimately want us to stay on their platforms for as long as possible and drain us of our money. Following a week where Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek compared the music industry to sports in a statement he apparently assumed would justify the controversially low payouts artists receive from Spotify, perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to fall into another temptatious web spun by the likes of Apple Music.
Your data isn’t just there for a fun recap of your favourite music at the end of each month. Streaming services rely on your data to keep you subscribed to their apps. Your listening habits, preferences, and user interactions are analysed to create personalised playlists and suggest relevant content. It’s important to consider how the streaming giants benefit from your data, not just you.
So, your data is used to suggest music based on your preferences. And when you think about the fact that Spotify, in 2021, revealed it will give artists a prominent position in listeners’ suggested feeds if they agreed to receive a “promotional recording royalty rate”, AKA less royalties, you’ve got to ask, ‘what is my data even being used for?’.
Yes, there’s something undeniably joyful about discovering new music trends and patterns in our listening habits. I won’t lie that sharing your Spotify Wrapped with your friends – who do not care at all – can provide a self-discovery-fueled dopamine hit. But does this joy outweigh the potential stress of constant analysis?
Next time you find yourself refreshing your feed, impatiently awaiting your next Apple Music Replay rundown, spare a thought for the musicians receiving approximately $0.003 – $0.005 per stream. Perhaps your money would be better spent benefitting them directly via Bandcamp’s ‘Bandcamp Fridays’ where artists receive 93 per cent of your money, or on a Soundcloud subscription – a platform that in 2021 announced a revised “fan-powered” royalties model.
It’s about time we questioned our alignment with these music-streaming mammoths. Will we be sucked into another scheme laid out by an $8.3 billion corporation, or are we better than that?
For more op-ed features, head to MusicTech.
The post Apple Music Replay now offers monthly Wrapped-style listening stats – but what’s the point? appeared first on MusicTech.Living Wage for Musicians Act put to US Congress would compensate artists at a penny per streamA Living Wage for Musicians Act has been put before US Congress which would introduce a new streaming royalty model. The act, introduced by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and Congressman Jamaal Bowman, would pay artists by at least a penny per stream.
The legislation was created in partnership with United Musicians and Allied Workers (UMAW) and local and national artists “who have been directly impacted by the lack of oversight in the music industry”.READ MORE: “Football is played by millions of people – but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time”: Daniel Ek addresses Spotify’s low royalty payments
Spotify, for example, pays the rights-holders of the music on its platform at an average rate of $0.003 per stream. As outlined on Tlaib’s webpage (via Mixmag), this means that it takes artists more than 800,000 monthly streams to equal the earnings of a full-time $15 per hour job.
The Act would mean music providers would be taxed on non-subscription revenues and a small fee would be added to the price of music streaming subscriptions. Platforms such as Spotify would pass their taxed revenues and royalties to a non-profit collection and distribution fund, that would in turn “pay artists in proportion to their monthly streams”. The bill also includes a maximum payout per track, per month.
Tlaib comments that “It’s only right that the people who create the music we love get their fair share, so that they can thrive, not just survive.”
Bowman adds, “Streaming services wouldn’t exist without the brilliant work of artists who choose to share their music with these platforms. Streaming services make billions of dollars a year off the hard work of musicians, but those creators make less than a penny every time we stream their songs. It is unconscionable that in order to buy a cup of coffee, an artist needs someone to stream their song over a thousand times.
“Artists and musicians across the country deserve to be paid for their work. I represent the Bronx, the birthplace of Hip Hop, where music is the foundation of our communities.”
Read the full bill.
The post Living Wage for Musicians Act put to US Congress would compensate artists at a penny per stream appeared first on MusicTech.FL Studio partners with Native Instruments on new pluginsFL Studio has teamed up with Native Instruments to bring two new sets of instruments and effects to its DAW.
Both collections serve up a range of iconic synths, creative effects, and advanced mix and mastering processors. Users can expect classics like Guitar Rig 7 Pro, Ozone 11 Standard, Bite, Dirt, and a range of performance-based Play Series instruments. Each bundle also features Massive X, the successor to NI’s ground-breaking Massive software synth plugin. Check out our review of the Massive X to learn more.READ MORE: New AI bassline generator by Sony can create accompaniments that match the “style and tone” of your input music
In the meantime, here is a rundown of each bundle:
KOMPLETE Collection for FL Studio
The KOMPLETE Collection for FL Studio offers 12 inspirational instruments, modern classic synths and effects, mix and vocal polishing tools, and mastering. The package includes Massive X, Empire Breaks, Feel It, Utopia, Lo-Fi Glow, Bite, Dirt, Freak, Ozone 11 Elements, Nectar 4 Elements, Neutron Elements, and Guitar Rig 7 LE.
KOMPLETE Signature Series for FL Studio
From legendary synths and track-ready riffs to industry-leading mix, vocal, and mastering tools, the KOMPLETE Signature Series for FL Studio delivers 15 essential instruments and effects for all your studio needs. The package includes Massive X, Ozone 11 Standard, Guitar Rig 7 Pro, Vocalsynth 2, Nectar 4 Elements, Neutron Elements, Empire Breaks, Feel It, Utopia, Lo-Fi Glow, Cloud Supply, Duets, Bite, Dirt, and Freak.
The best part? There’s currently a massive 85% discount on both bundles, which puts the KOMPLETE Collection at $99 (U.P $678) and the KOMPLETE Signature Series at $199 (U.P. $1,339).
While these bundles and prices are only available through 19 March 2024, the licences for the individual products never expire.
Check out a video of FL Studio Power User Larry Ohh using the new plugins below.View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Larry Ohh | FL Studio Power User (@larryohh)
For more information, visit Image-Line.
The post FL Studio partners with Native Instruments on new plugins appeared first on MusicTech.Gary Kelly and Jason Kawejsza promoted to key roles at Interscope Capitol Labels GroupKelly appointed Chief Revenue Officer and General Manager; Kawejsza named Executive Vice President, Head of Business & Legal Affairs
SourceWhy Sacred Society use spatial audio to enhance relaxing ambient musicFor thousands of years, people have used sound and music as methods for healing. Sacred Society Music Group is putting those methods in the hands (and ears) of the listener using the power of spatial audio, creating sonic landscapes with ambient music that induces visceral experiences.
READ MORE: Audient’s ORIA is the Atmos interface that engineers have been waiting for
Sacred Society Music Group (SSMG) is the record label arm of the Sacred Society Wellness Center, based in Denver, Colorado. Every song SSMG releases is mastered in 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos with one thought in mind: “We’re completely surrounding you,” says Bradley Roulier, one of the co-founders of SSMG, also a co-founder of Beatport and a member of the dance music project Manufactured Superstars.
Members of the Sacred Society Music Group
Studies have shown that surrounding oneself in sound baths benefits emotional and physiological health. Sacred Society Wellness Center hosts sound baths in a fully equipped Atmos room, but SSMG also streams its music on Atmos-compatible platforms like Amazon Music, Tidal, and Apple Music.
By making these Atmos mixes readily available, SSMG is enabling people to listen to their music for self-healing, and in 2024, more and more people are looking for ways to heal themselves.
In February of this year, “#selfhealers” on Instagram had 955,000 posts. In June 2020, it had 160,000. Furthermore, the self-improvement market in the US was worth $9.9 billion in 2019 and was expected to reach $13.2 billion by 2023, according to a Gitnux study from last year.
“When we were 22 years old, we weren’t depressed,” says Roulier, who was throwing raves as early as the late 90s. “There wasn’t this isolation that people have [today]. You’re going to spend a lot of time by yourself, so what can you do when you’re by yourself to help yourself? You can have all these people around you to give you support, but at the end of the day, it’s you. You’re the one that has to get yourself out of bed every morning. Society is making it really okay to do whatever it is to make you feel better.”
SSMG is equipping people to feel better through three playlists: FOCUS, ENJOY, and REST. Each playlist is curated for eight hours of the day.
Adelio Lombardi in the Kali Audio Atmos studio
FOCUS is for working, studying, or any activity that requires consistent attention. The playlist includes tracks like Blissful Afternoon that employ lighter beats and smoother motions around the Atmos soundscape. It’s active enough to maintain the listener’s attention, but not so intricate as to be distracting.
ENJOY is for relaxing after work. Ancient Chant is in the ENJOY playlist because it demonstrates the full power of Atmos. Drums, vocals, and dozens of other different sounds shift through the 12 speakers, placing the listener inside a cocoon of chillout music as they dance, cook, or do anything that lights them up.
Finally, REST, the sleep playlist, is almost entirely ambient. Many of the tracks like “Dream Space” have no drums at all. Instead, they submerge the listeners in fluid frequencies. No one sound captures any attention. It’s pleasant music to help clear thoughts from the mind. Perfect for winding down at the end of the day.
Roulier’s had trouble sleeping for years, and he listens to the REST playlist in Atmos every night as part of his routine before bed.
“Sleep is the most important aspect of our lives. When you rest is when you heal and recover. If you’re not rested, it’s really hard to have a good day,” Roulier says.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
“I’m 50 years old. When I was 45–46, I started having these issues with sleeping and anxiety. I turned to [ambient music] as my medicine, and it worked. It made me a believer,” says Adelio Lombardi, another co-founder of SSMG, founder of Side 3 Entertainment, and owner of Side 3 Studios.
Lombardi and Roulier have known each other for 20 years, and their team masters every SSMG release in Lombardi’s Kali Audio Atmos studio.
This collaboration was sparked about a year ago, while Roulier was working with Barbie Beltran, founder of the Sacred Society Wellness Center, on a spa that would feature immersive music for sound baths and other wellness activities.
That project fell through when Lombardi had just started working in Atmos.
“I was like, ‘Dude, if you want to do it next level, come check this out.’” Lombardi said to Roulier. When Roulier heard music in Lombardi’s studio for the first time, the thought of a rainstorm immediately popped into his mind.
“I have a vision of doing a track of a West Coast storm. You’re on a beach on the West Coast. You can see a thunderstorm coming from miles away. There’s nothing you can do. The storm rolls in, comes in super heavy, and leaves. Kind of a metaphor for life. Storms are going to happen, and we can translate that through our music,” Roulier says.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
Shortly after connecting with Lombardi via the Atmos studio, Roulier brought in Andy Flebe, Head Engineer and Studio Manager at Side 3 Studios, to serve as the lead engineer for SSMG, and Jeziel Quintela, who worked with Roulier on Manufactured Superstars, to be their in-house producer. Quinetela has made 23 of the over 50 tracks SSMG has released.
Quintela starts his SSMG productions in Ableton Live, using popular wavetable synthesizers like Xfer’s Serum. Oftentimes, there is a specific healing intention behind the tracks as well.
For example, Beltran wanted to release a track with a focus on sounds in the frequency range of 20-300Hz. That’s around the fundamental frequency of bees’ wings when they fly, which is reported to help people relax. From there, Quintela picked chords that resonate with the notes produced by that fundamental frequency range as the basis for the track Dance of the Bees.
Quintella makes these tracks in stereo, but because they will be mastered in Atmos, he can get creative with other elements like reverb and layering.
“When you create a pad, you can layer more sounds. More pads, more of a lead sound, more of an analogue sound, and from that, you can add texture to it. You can notice the difference in all of the speakers. In stereo, it’s just in two ears. You cannot hear the dynamics in all the sounds and the layers,” Quintela says.
When Quintela passes a track to Flebe for engineering in Atmos, Roulier listens to every speaker in the room individually. He checks what sound is coming from where and provides notes on what sound may need more volume or may need to come from a different angle. After he approves the final master, SSMG releases the track.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
“Pretty much all the time, stuff is coming out of every speaker. Especially in ambient, because ambient by nature doesn’t have drums,” Roulier says. “We’re trying to fill this space around you.”
“You want to maximize the tech, but you don’t want to make it a circus either. Immerse a person, but if it’s a relaxing song, you don’t want to have 90 million things flying around you just because you can,” Lombardi says. “You can have all the tech in the world; if the music sucks it doesn’t matter.”
While Atmos systems aren’t standard tech for consumers yet, they are becoming much more accessible.
For home theaters, a Polk Signa S4 soundbar is $299. Then, for headphones, there are RIG gaming headsets with Atmos capabilities for as little as $29.99. These certainly don’t come close to the 7.1.4 studio at Side 3, nor to the 64-speaker setups Dolby has created before. But they can give you a taste, at least.
However, SSMG ensures every song they release, regardless of format, will provide the desired sonic effect of FOCUS, ENJOY, or REST. In addition to the Atmos mix, Flebe also makes a stereo mix for each song. He does it immediately after the Atmos mix is approved to ensure the ideal sound is still in his head.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
Once the stereo mix is complete, Roulier AB tests the songs on numerous systems. He listens on headphones, laptop speakers, Alexa Studio, and his Sonos Arc system, which mimics Atmos by firing sound at different angles out of its three speakers. So far, Roulier has only taken down two tracks for additional polishing before posting them again.
“I put our song on a YouTube channel, and it still sounded cool,” Lombardi says. “The Atmos file is going to adapt to what you have, and it’s going to give you the best it can deliver you.”
No matter how the track is delivered, SSMG’s core intention is always to make people feel good. They want you to feel like you’re being celebrated at a sacred ceremony 2,000 years ago every time you play one of their songs.
“When you’re listening to this, you’re the most important person in the universe,” Roulier says. “This is all for you.”
Learn more at sacredsocietymusic.com.
The post Why Sacred Society use spatial audio to enhance relaxing ambient music appeared first on MusicTech.Avid release Pro Tools 2024.3 The first Pro Tools update of 2024 introduces MIDI effects plug-ins, custom live re-renders for the integrated Dolby Atmos Renderer and enhanced integration with Pro Tools Sketch.
You can get a VCA Compressor from Softube totally free for a limited timeSoftube’s VCA Compressor plugin is currently free, and it’s branded as a “meticulous model” of a famous 1970s compressor – seemingly having taken inspiration from the DBX 160 of 1976.
The compressor already forms part of Softube’s Icons: The Compressor Collection, which is priced at €299, and is now available separately at no cost.READ MORE: Softube Console 1 Channel MK III promises console-like mixing in your DAW
“Quirky and characterful, the legendary hardware we used to model our VCA Compressor is unique and highly acclaimed,” says Softube. “Much of that is owed to its famed hard knee compression curve and the harmonic content it adds in the gain stages.
“We left the grabby, vintage character and the unique attributes – such as RMS level detection and feed-forward gain reduction – intact,” says Softube. “But gave VCA Compressor a slate of modern features for mixing and production. The combination delivers snap and sheen in spades, plus superior Softube sound quality and an enhanced workflow.”
Controls available within this plugin include drive, dry/wet, compression, ratio, attack and release. There’s also a Sidechain section (with a punch switch and dials for filter/external level), and further switches for HF make-up and stereo link.
Check out more in the walkthrough below:MusicTech rated The Compressor Collection an 8/10 in our review. We noted that the bundle offered well-judged new features which increased the flexibility of the processors, and that their aesthetic made them look just as good as they sound.
However, we also noted that there was no way to monitor the sidechain signal and that the Modern Extended Features of the plugin window were not accessible from all host DAWs.
View more of our choices for the best mastering compressor plugins and software processors.
You can get the free VCA Compressor plugin now via Softube.
The post You can get a VCA Compressor from Softube totally free for a limited time appeared first on MusicTech.
