African nation of Eswatini releases design for tokenized retail CBDCThe tiny kingdom, formerly known as Swaziland, is looking at better domestic accessibility and cross-border trade with a proposed CBDC.

FTX’s Ryan Salame posts jokes on LinkedIn as he heads to prisonAfter the criminal implosion of the crypto exchange FTX, many of the company’s executives have been found guilty on various counts of fraud or conspiracy to commit such acts. Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, is starting his seven-and-a-half-year fraud sentence today, but not before posting an all-time absurd LinkedIn post (and […]
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Building A Sound Camera For Under $400[Benn Jordan] had an idea. He’d heard of motion amplification technology, where cameras are used to capture tiny vibrations in machinery and then visually amplify it for engineering analysis. This is typically the preserve of high-end industrial equipment, but [Benn] wondered if it really had to be this way. Armed with a modern 4K smartphone camera and the right analysis techniques, could he visually capture sound?
The video first explores commercially available “acoustic cameras” which are primarily sold business-to-business at incredibly high prices. However, [Benn] suspected he could build something similar on the cheap. He started out with a 16-channel microphone that streams over USB for just $275, sourced from MiniDSP, and paired it  with a Raspberry Pi 5 running the acoular framework for acoustic beamforming. Acoular analyses multichannel audio and visualizes them so you can locate sound sources. He added a 1080p camera, and soon enough, was able to overlay sound location data over the video stream. He was able to locate a hawk in a tree using this technique, which was pretty cool, and the total rig came in somewhere under $400.
The rest of the video covers other sound-camera techniques—vibration detection, the aforementioned motion amplification, and some neat biometric techniques. It turns out your webcam can probably detect your heart rate, for example.
It’s a great video that illuminates just what you can achieve with modern sound and video capture. Think SIGGRAPH-level stuff, but in a form you can digest over your lunchbreak. Video after the break.

[Thanks to ollie-p for the tip.]

Accentize unveil Chameleon Surround In response to significant user demand, Accentize have announced that Chameleon, their popular reverb-matching tool, is now available to those working in multi-channel surround and immersive formats. 

Africa-focused streaming service Mdundo hits 37.8m monthly active users, as paid subscription revenue jumps 112% in local currency termsThe company reported a revenue decline in fiscal 2023/24, amid weakness in African currencies
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Ticketmaster hit by ‘billions’ of bots in Oasis ticket sale, and 3 other things Michael Rapino said at Bloomberg’s Screentime eventThe Live Nation CEO criticized scalpers saying there shouldn't be "a middleman that has nothing invested in the business making any money from it."
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Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services Announces Partnership with ANALOGr Authentication Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services, the leading archival and media preservation company, has announced its partnership with ANALOGr Authentication, the music industry’s destination for highly curated music-related assets, with the mission of helping artists protect their cultural legacy through proper valuation of their assets. Music icons and GRAMMY-winning producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis became the first artists to participate in this collaboration, and will releaseexclusive video documentation of the valuation process of their legacy, spanning across their most historic instruments and recording gear. Most known for their collaborations with notable artists such as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Luther Vandross, George Michael, and Gwen Stefani – this marks the first time the duo producers have engaged in the legacy assets valuation process, properly archiving, restoring and preserving key archival moments across their 40+ year career.

Artists today struggle with safeguarding against false claims and illegal or unauthorized duplication of their physical assets. The new partnership establishes an end-to-end solution for creators, providing agency for artists to protect their legacies and effectively monetize and preserve their work for future generations. Notably, iconic producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have worked closely with both companies to evaluate some of their most valuable assets, particularly those tied to pivotal moments in their legendary careers. Their involvement not only strengthens the partnership’s credibility but also underscores the importance of proper asset management in shaping an artist’s long-term legacy.

“Partnering with ANALOGr, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis has helped us to pioneer an end-to-end solution that allows creators to be in the front seat of protecting their legacy,” says Greg Maratea, Director of Global Client Solutions for Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services. “With the support of our proprietary technology Smart Vault, Iron Mountain’s highly secure digital media preservation platform, we’re breathing new life into legacy assets and shielding artists' legacies by directly working with them to preserve what they find most valuable for generations to come.”

“In over 40 years of working together, we have amassed warehouses filled with instruments, gear and memorabilia,” says Jimmy Jam. “One of our goals has been to future-proof our assets and understand their true value. So, when Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services introduced us to ANALOGr, we were excited to work with them. Now, our assets are properly covered by special insurance for their true value, and most importantly, our stories associated with our gear and memorabilia are forever secure. When the time comes to sell these items or pass them on to our heirs, we know the history is intact and truthful, and the value is there for the future.”

"At ANALOGr Authentication, our mission is to ensure that artists' legacies are not only preserved but also elevated through comprehensive valuation and protection strategies. Partnering with Iron Mountain and working with legends like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis allows us to pioneer a new way for creators to safeguard their cultural contributions and inspire future generations," says Thomas Scriven, CEO of ANALOGr.

The end-to-end services provided through this new partnership include both ANALOGr’s research and documentation services to organize, authenticate and validate the provenance and value of artists’ physical assets, and Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services’ media preservation services, in which the unique video documentation and digital images of the artists’ assets are stored on Iron Mountain’s Smart Vault digital media preservation platform.

The post Iron Mountain Media and Archive Services Announces Partnership with ANALOGr Authentication  first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Supercon 2023: Receiving Microwave Signals from Deep-Space ProbesHere’s the thing about radio signals. There is wild and interesting stuff just getting beamed around all over the place. Phrased another way, there are beautiful signals everywhere for those with ears to listen. We go about our lives oblivious to most of them, but some dedicate their time to teasing out and capturing these transmissions.
David Prutchi is one such person. He’s a ham radio enthusiast that dabbles in receiving microwave signals sent from probes in deep space. What’s even better is that he came down to Supercon 2023 to tell us all about how it’s done!

Space Calling

David’s home setup is pretty rad.
David notes that he’s not the only ham out there doing this. He celebrates the small community of passionate hams that specialize in capturing signals directly from far-off spacecraft. As one of these dedicated enthusiasts, he gives us a look at his backyard setup—full of multiple parabolic dishes for getting the best possible reception when it comes to signals sent from so far away. They’re a damn sight smaller than NASA’s deep space network (DSN) 70-meter dish antennas, but they can still do the job.  He likens trying to find distant space signals as to “watching grass grow”—sitting in front of a monitor, waiting for a tiny little spike to show up on a spectrogram.
Listening to signals from far away is hard. You want the biggest, best antenna you can get.
The challenge of receiving these signals comes down to simple numbers. David explains that a spacecraft like JUNO emits 28 watts into a 2.5-meter dish, which comes out to roughly 44.5 dBm of signal with a 44.7 dBi gain antenna. The problem is one of distance—it sits at around 715 million kilometers away on its mission to visit Jupiter. That comes with a path loss of around -288 dB. NASA’s 70-meter dish gets them 68 dBi gain on the receive side, which gets them a received signal strength around -131 dBm. To transmit in return, they transmit around the 50-60 kW range using the same antenna. David’s setup is altogether more humble, with a 3.5-meter dish getting him 47 dBi gain. His received signal strength is much lower, around -152 dBm.
His equipment limits what he can actually get from these distant spacecraft. National space agencies can get full signal from their dishes in the tens-of-meters in diameter, sidebands and all. His smaller setup is often just enough to get some of the residual carrier showing up in the spectrogram.  Given he’s not getting full signal, how does he know what he’s receiving is the real deal? It comes down to checking the doppler shift in the spectrogram, which is readily apparent for spacecraft signals. He also references the movie Contact, noting that the techniques in that film were valid. If you move your antenna to point away from the suspected spacecraft, the signal should go away. If it doesn’t, it might be that you’re picking up local interference instead.

THIS. IS. JUST. AWESOME. !!!
This is video decoded from the 8455MHz high rate downlink @uhf_satcom received yesterday. All the work on the decoder and data analysis really paid off in the end!
Video shows solar panel of Chang'e-5 glistening in the sun and dust floating around. pic.twitter.com/FKc92kgskl
— r00t (@r2x0t) November 25, 2020

Some hobbyists have been able to decode video feeds from spacecraft downlinks. 
Working at microwave frequencies requires the proper equipment. You’ll want a downconverter mounted as close to your antenna as possible if you’re working in X-Band.
However, demodulating and decoding full spacecraft signals at home is sometimes possible—generally when the spacecraft are still close to Earth. Some hobbyists have been able to decode telemetry from various missions, and even video signals from some craft! David shows some examples, noting that SpaceX has since started encrypting its feeds after hobbyists first started decoding them.
David also highlights the communications bands most typically used for deep space communication, and explains how to listen in on them. Most of it goes on in the S-band and X-band frequencies, with long-range activity focused on the higher bands.
David has pulled in some truly distant signals.
Basically, if you want to get involved in this kind of thing, you’re going to want a dish and some kind of software defined radio. If you’re listening in S-band, that’s possibly enough, but if you’re stepping up into X-band, you’ll want a downconverter to step that signal down to a lower frequency range, mounted as close to your dish as possible. This is important as X-band signals get attenuated very quickly in even short cable runs. It’s also generally required to lock your downconverter and radio receiver to some kind of atomic clock source to keep them stable. You’ll also want an antenna rotator to point your dishes accurately, based on data you can source from NASA JPL. As for finding downlink frequencies, he suggests looking at the ITU or the Australian Communication and Media Authority website.
He also covers the techniques of optimizing your setup. He dives into the minutae of pointing antennas at the Sun and Moon to pick up their characteristic noise for calibration purposes. It’s a great way to determine the performance of your antenna and supporting setup. Alternatively, you can use signals from geostationary military satellites to determine how much signal you’re getting—or losing—from your equipment.
Ultimately, if you’ve ever dreamed of listening to distant spacecraft, David’s talk is a great place to start. It’s a primer on the equipment and techniques you need to get started, and he also makes it sound really fun, to boot. It’s high-tech hamming at its best, and there’s more to listen to out there than ever—so get stuck in!

The Music Creator Economy: Reshaping Opportunities for Artists [Mark Mulligan]Explore how the evolving landscape of the music creator economy is reshaping opportunities for artists and industry professionals alike. 
The post The Music Creator Economy: Reshaping Opportunities for Artists [Mark Mulligan] appeared first on Hypebot.

Join the SOUND Connections music conference in LA next weekThe new music industry tribe is gathering in LA next week for the SOUND Connections music conference. The day event offers a unique opportunity to build relationships and gain insights as part of the creative and business community driving the music industry forward.
The post Join the SOUND Connections music conference in LA next week appeared first on Hypebot.

“Professors and mastering engineers were like, ‘What the fuck were you smokin’ man?’”: RZA on his Wu-Tang Clan production styleRZA‘s production style on Return to the 36 Chambers, the debut solo album by Wu-Tang Clan member Ol’ Dirty Bastard, foxed a group of professors and a mastering engineer who were tasked with remastering it.
The rapper and producer explains that his production style is guided by instinct rather than any particular musical rules, meaning that music experts who don’t work in that way were confused by the “weirdness” of the production ODB’s 1995 debut.

READ MORE: Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA to Receive 2024 NAMM Innovation Award at the TEC Awards

“No one has dissected the weirdness of Return To The 36 Chambers as much as my others, but there’s some crazy shit going on. Warner Bros. did a remaster of it recently. I wasn’t involved but I went in to listen,” he tells Tape Op. “They had professors there, and the mastering engineer, and they were like, ‘What the fuck were you smokin’, man?’
“It took them so long to understand it and to recall my mix that they said if you moved one fader by half a decibel the whole track would fall apart! My brain wasn’t technical, it was just what my ear wanted. The science wasn’t applied; it was more instinct.”

RZA also mentions elsewhere in the interview that he primarily used the Ensoniq ASR-10 sampler on the album, which he estimates he made his “first 100 songs” with.
“When you’d go to make a new sequence on the ASR, the default tempo would be 100bpm. Most other machines create tempos at 120bpm,” he explains. “When I was making tracks back then, I didn’t know the difference and I would force a sample into the tempo that I was feeling.
“So if you take a sample like this [hums syncopated horn melody] and put it in the 100bpm tempo, it will speed up and cut the sound off. If you want it to fit, you have to speed the sample up or change the tempo. If I liked the tempo of the sample as is, I’d change the tempo of the beat. Or, if I’m feeling the tempo of the beat, I’m going to change the speed of the sample.”
The post “Professors and mastering engineers were like, ‘What the fuck were you smokin’ man?’”: RZA on his Wu-Tang Clan production style appeared first on MusicTech.

Focal reveal Lensys Professional headphones Featuring a closed-back design and promising to deliver a clean and accurate sound, the Lensys Professional are said to be a must-have tool for creators on the move. 

Amuse adds Stream Check to help artists detect fraudulent streamsDistributor and artist services company Amuse adds Stream Check – a new tool to equip DIY and independent artists with the resources to fight artificial streams proactively. 
The post Amuse adds Stream Check to help artists detect fraudulent streams appeared first on Hypebot.

Best FREE Linear-Phase EQ VST Plugins
This article covers the best free linear-phase EQ VST plugins for Windows and macOS. Linear-phase EQs are essential for achieving transparent equalization, especially in mastering. Unlike traditional EQs, a linear-phase equalizer preserves the phase of your audio, making it ideal for mastering and handling complex multi-mic recordings. While free linear-phase EQ plugins are hard to [...]
View post: Best FREE Linear-Phase EQ VST Plugins

Audified Just Dropped the FREE ToneKnob Saturator One-Knob Plugin
On Tuesday, Audified released the ToneKnob Saturator, a free one-knob plugin for macOS and Windows. The 64-bit-only release is available for VST3, AAX, and AU.  Audified describes the satch as “simple on the outside, sophisticated on the inside.” The plugin is the developer’s first drop in a new one-knob series, which will see further releases [...]
View post: Audified Just Dropped the FREE ToneKnob Saturator One-Knob Plugin