Louis Cole on producing his album, ‘nothing’Louis Cole’s musical vision is endless.
Whether he’s splicing videos of himself playing different instruments on YouTube, splitting creative duties with fellow polymath Genevieve Artadi for their collaborative project KNOWER, or playing drums (his primary instrument) with the late jazz prodigy Austin Peralta, Cole never stops trying new things.

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But his latest project is the most ambitious in his career. It’s an album he wrote for the legendary Dutch pop orchestra, Metropole Orkest, and despite it being his most complex and involved work yet, the album is simply entitled nothing.
“I like the concept of nothing. It’s cool, and it makes you think,” Cole says before describing a documentary he recently viewed wherein scientists theorise that eventually, the universe will literally become nothing. “The only light and energy in the universe will be black holes colliding, and then, after that, it’s an era of scattered photons. Then eventually those die out and it’s actually nothing. That’s fucking tight.”
Before that day comes in 20-30 billion years, Cole wants to experiment with his music as much as possible, making him a perfect match for the Metropole Orkest and Jules Buckley.
Buckley is the orchestra conductor on nothing, and he’s also brought pop styles to orchestral forums numerous times in the past. He was the conductor on Starship Syncopation, the joint album between the Metropole Orkest and the prominent Vulf-signed guitarist Cory Wong. Buckley was also the conductor when the legendary DJ and broadcaster, Pete Tong led his Ibiza Classics performance alongside London’s Heritage Orchestra.
So, when Buckley approached Cole to write music for a series of performances with Metropole Orkest, Cole “went hard.”

“I have so many ideas that have built up over my lifetime of things I’ve wanted to write for an orchestra. They all came out, and I tried to write as many ideas that I was inspired to,” Cole says. “You have to write based on volumes of people.”
With volumes of people at his disposal, Cole expanded his compositional style to lengths he had never ventured before. On the album’s opener, Ludovici Cole Est Frigus (which translates to “Louis Cole is cold” in Latin), Cole moves through over 30 different chord changes in less than three minutes of music.
Despite graduating with a degree in jazz studies from the University of Southern California, Cole willfully admits he is not well-versed in traditional music theory. When he was writing this piece, he envisioned the sound he wanted to create, and then, using the pencil tool in Logic Pro, he wrote every chord note by note.
If he was only working with guitar, bass, keys, and drums (as is common in his solo releases), so much aural motion may have sounded convoluted. But with over 50 musicians, including dozens of instruments and even choral singers in his arsenal, he kept the same feeling as different instruments played various melodies over, around, and through each other, creating new chords and keys as they combined and separated.

“I always thought you had to be a genius to write anything complex. But if you have a great process and a great musical vision, you can do anything, which is something I would have loved to have heard more when I was coming up,” Cole says. “I’m doing this thing that’s ‘over my head’ and outside my abilities with the theory and keyboard knowledge that I have. But because I have such a strong musical vision of the end feeling and sound, I just go through these tiny little steps, one little tiny brick at a time, and I’m able to achieve it.”
By relying on his vision rather than traditional music and production theory, Cole sustains his originality. One song, Doesn’t Matter, runs over 11 minutes, the longest piece of music Cole has ever composed. It transitions between several different moods, gradually building into foreboding swells of the full string section, then diminishing into moments when it’s only Cole’s voice gently humming as he’s surrounded by a light wash of reverb.
Another standout from the album is Things Will Fall Apart, which employs funk horns that are so groovy and dialled in that listeners may not realise there’s an orchestra behind Cole if they weren’t told. His drums and voice link together as the lead while the horns pop out of the 1970s funk era.
“It comes from a pure place: ‘I really think this is gonna sound cool, and this is something that I would like to hear myself,’” Cole says of his approach to writing for the orchestra. “This is what I’m interested in. This is a sound combination that I’ve never heard in this way, and I would love to have that exist.”

If it hadn’t been for the pandemic, nothing might have never existed outside the live space. The orchestra didn’t plan to record any of the official performances (that are some of Cole’s favourite performances ever). He actually asked his manager and a few friends to film the gigs with their phones just so he could have a record of it, but one of the performances in 2021 ended up being cancelled due to COVID-19, which allowed Cole to get the orchestra into an official studio.
His next challenge after that was mixing the album. Instead of passing it off to a mix engineer who specialised in mixing orchestras, Cole elected to do it himself, which, with over 50 musicians, was another new experience. Though it might seem like such a large undertaking would be the most difficult post-production process in his career, it made it easier for him because of one key element: human energy.
In the past when he would mix his solo albums, he sometimes felt something was missing from the recording—a nebulous feeling that couldn’t be sufficed with more volume or a special EQ. When he was mixing nothing, he didn’t need anything extra. Having the combined force of dozens of musicians gave him a surplus of authentic musicality to manipulate in line with his vision.
“The sound and the human energy. The tiny little mistakes and the tiny interpretations. The air and the music. All the humans working together. It never needed an extra magical push. This is exactly what it’s supposed to sound like, I just needed to get it there. That made it active and made the mixing very pleasant and doable,” Cole says.

Cole will perform nothing with the Metropole Orkest for a series of dates throughout Europe in November and December, but in the interim, he’s been writing more music for large ensembles. Specifically choral music. He wrote original works for a 40-person choir that performed at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles in August.
Cole’s musical vision transcends any kind of ensemble or sound. Whatever he decides to write is a precise extension of his taste.
“If people actually followed that more, music would be a lot better than it is,” Cole says. “It’s purely what I’m excited about and what I’m excited to hear. That’s the main motivation behind it all. On top of that. It’s fun to have different sounds and different things to try. I would love to try this thing that maybe doesn’t exist.”
At first, everything doesn’t exist. It all comes from nothing. But that’s where Louis Cole and his musical vision come into play.
The post Louis Cole on producing his album, ‘nothing’ appeared first on MusicTech.

Concert For Carolina Raises $24.5 million for Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts“Concert For Carolina,” led by Luke Combs, Eric Church, Billy Strings and James Taylor, has raised $24,513,185 and counting for Hurricane Helene relief efforts. Taking place this past Saturday at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium, the record-breaking event welcomed 82,193 in-person attendees and is the largest concert ever for the venue. Additionally, the Veeps livestream garnered 7.1 million total views, which came from across all 50 U.S. states and 30 different countries.

“A montage of incredible performances, one-off collaborations, and awe-inspiring selections” (Rolling Stone), “Concert For Carolina” also featured performances from Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, Bailey Zimmerman, The Avett Brothers, Scotty McCreery, Chase Rice, Parmalee and Wesko, surprise appearances from Nicole Kidman and Randy Travis and was hosted by ESPN’s Marty Smith and Barstool Sports’ Caleb Pressley. 

Even after the show, the “Concert For Carolina” team is still working to raise as much money as possible for hurricane relief efforts including a special silent auction, which is open now. Auction items include the signed guitar and shirt that Combs used during the show, a meet and greet with Church at an upcoming concert, signed NFL, NBA, NCAA and NASCAR gear, signed instruments, a variety of concert and game tickets, a selection of artwork, Yeti coolers and much more. Full details can be found HERE.

All proceeds from the auction, benefit show and livestream will go to the organizations selected by Combs and Church: Samaritan’s Purse, Manna Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC, Eblen Charities and the organizations supported by Chief Cares. 

“Concert for Carolina” was made possible due to the support and extreme generosity of David and Nicole Tepper and Tepper Sports & Entertainment, Explore Asheville, Biltmore Estate, T-Mobile, Jack Daniel’s, Whataburger, Miller Lite, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Belk, Lowe’s, Atrium Health, Tractor Supply Company, Bank of America, American Airlines, Food Lion, Duke’s Mayo, GE Aerospace, Harris Teeter, Pinnacle Financial Partners, United Healthcare, Bud Light, Preferred Parking, Gildan and AshBritt.  

The post Concert For Carolina Raises $24.5 million for Hurricane Helene Relief Efforts first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Bitcoin hits $70K amid huge ETF inflow streakBitcoin has topped $70,000, its highest price since June after US-based ETFs surpassed total net inflows of over $22 billion.

This veteran couldn’t share 3D scans of a burnt naval ship, so he created a startup that canIn the summer of 2020, a fire broke out onboard a naval ship docked in San Diego Bay. For more than four days, the USS Bonhomme Richard burned as helicopters dropped buckets of water from above, boats spewed water from below, and firefighters rushed onboard to control the blaze. Before the embers had even cooled, […]
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Turning a Quansheng Handheld Into A Neat Desktop TransceiverThe Quansheng UV-K5 is a popular handheld radio. It’s useful out of the box, but also cherished for its modification potential. [OM0ET] purchased one of these capable VHF/UHF radios, but got to hacking—as he wanted to use it as a desktop radio instead!
This might just sound like a simple reshell, but there was actually a bit of extra work involved. Most notably, the Quansheng is designed to be tuned solely by using the keypad. For desktop use, though, that’s actually kind of a pain. Thus, to make life easier, [OM0ET] decided to whip up a little encoder control to handle tuning and other control tasks using an ESP32. This was achieved with help from one [OM0WT] and files for that are on Github. Other tasks involved finding a way to make the keypad work in a new housing, and how to adapt things like the audio and data module and the speaker to their new homes.
Despite the original handheld being much smaller than the case used here, you’d be surprised how tight everything fits in the case. Still, the finished result looks great. We’ve seen some other adaptable and upgradable ham radio gear before, too. Sometimes custom is the way to go! Video after the break.

The Hipgnosis Songs Fund catalog has just been valued at $2.36bn… around $150m more than HSF’s enterprise value when Blackstone acquired itBlackstone raises nearly $1.5 billion in debt financing via new ABS, based on substantial valuation for Hipgnosis Songs Fund assets
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DistroKid lays off 37 workers, decimating US Artist Relations teamDistroKid put 37 employees on “administrative leave” Friday, just an hour before the union was set to meet with the company to continue contract negotiations, according the DistroKid Union.
The post DistroKid lays off 37 workers, decimating US Artist Relations team appeared first on Hypebot.

Where creativity meets workflow: A letter from our CEO
Over the past few months, we’ve studied how we can get deeper into existing workflows, in order to simplify the experience while making it more creatively fulfilling.

The Woodworker’s CyberdeckComputers were supposed to be personal, customizable, and cool. At times, in this cold modern world, we forget that. However, the cyberdeck scene is chock full of people building creative, original computers that suit their own tastes, aesthetics, and needs. [DIY Tinkerer] is one such individual, and he made the most of his woodworking skills when it came time to build his own cyberdeck!
The technological basics are along the lines of what we’re used to in this field. The build is based around a Raspberry Pi 4, with [DIY Tinkerer] selecting an 8 GB model for his needs. It’s paired with a 9000 mAh onboard battery, and there’s a power jack on the front to let the thing run on anything from 5 to 20 volts DC. For ease of use, there’s a multi-memory card reader and several USB 3 ports available.
The rest of the video focuses on the woodworking side of things. [DIY Tinkerer] shows us how he managed to build a new housing out of a rugged plastic case that would also be practical to use. The final product is both functional and attractive, and comes with an oscilloscope built in to boot! It came a long way from his earlier build, too.
We’ve seen a great load of cyberdeck builds over the years.

Audient launch ORIA iPad Remote & Dante Card Audient's Atmos-capable interface and monitor controller now offers remote control via an iPad and up to 16 channels of Dante connectivity when being used in standlone mode.

Concord closes $850m Asset-Backed Securities transaction to ‘fuel strategic growth and acquisitions’Transaction was led by Apollo
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Ditto dumps Merlin as TikTok takedown of millions of indie tracks loomsDitto dumps Merlin deal and signs directly with TikTok as this week's takedown of millions of tracks by independent artists used in videos looms.
The post Ditto dumps Merlin as TikTok takedown of millions of indie tracks looms appeared first on Hypebot.

How To Book More Gigs: Essential Tips for Indie ArtistsBooking gigs as an indie artist can be challenging, but we've got you covered. Discover proven strategies to land more shows, build your fanbase, and take your live performances to the next level.
The post How To Book More Gigs: Essential Tips for Indie Artists appeared first on Hypebot.

Avenged Sevenfold hold intimate 25th anniversary concert exclusively for members of NFT-based fanclubStill NFT-sceptic? That makes you and millions of others. But many forward-thinking artists and their communities are already reaping the benefits of having faith in the blockchain, and its potential to provide exclusive real-world utility.
Take Avenged Sevenfold as an example. The Huntington Beach metal titans are no stranger to the blockchain, having launched an NFT-based fanclub, Deathbats Club, in 2021, and earlier this year, Season Pass, a Fortnite-style progression system which rewards the band’s most dedicated fans with special perks.

READ MORE: Avenged Sevenfold celebrate their 25th anniversary with spooky virtual museum inside Fortnite

And Deathbats Club members were treated to a very special intimate concert at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California on Friday (25 October), with a setlist composed entirely of songs from the band’s first three albums: Sounding the Seventh Trumpet (2001), Waking the Fallen (2003) and City of Evil (2005).
Tickets were made available exclusively for Deathbats Club members back in August, priced at $25 each.
Supported by Orange County hardcore punk outfit Death By Stereo, A7X took to the stage for an 11-track setlist, with fan favourites like Beast and the Harlot, Seize the Day and Unholy Confessions interspersed with rarities including Remenissions, Desecrate Through Reverence, and even Sounding the Seventh Trumpet opener To End The Rapture.
In the spirit of Spooky Season, frontman M Shadows performed in a skeleton one-piece, while guitarist Synyster Gates donned a trilby which may or may not have been a nod to his City of Evil-era look.
Take a look at the full setlist below:

To End The Rapture (first time since 2017)
Chapter Four (first time since 2018)
Burn It Down (first time since 2018)
Blinded In Chains
Remenissions (first time since 2016)
Seize The Day
Second Heartbeat (first time since 2018)
Desecrate Through Reverence (first time since 2004, first performance with Brooks Wackerman)
Unholy Confessions
Beast And The Harlot (first time since 2018; fans playing with band)
M.I.A. (first time since 2018)

When we spoke to M Shadows earlier this year, he acknowledged that many music fans still have a way to go in understanding how the blockchain can make their experience better, but said that in the case of the “6,000” people already on the Deathbats Club, they “don’t want it any other way”.
“It’s gonna take time for that to permeate into society and for other artists to say, ‘We’re gonna put the work in and build out something like this,’” he said. “Because it did take us a lot of work. We were building for two years in the bear market, even though that was irrelevant to us; the price didn’t ever matter.
“But we were building for two years when everyone else gave up on it. They didn’t see the vision, they didn’t care about the technology, they didn’t understand it. They were just trying to fucking sell shit to their fans.”

The post Avenged Sevenfold hold intimate 25th anniversary concert exclusively for members of NFT-based fanclub appeared first on MusicTech.

SSL release free X-Orcism II plug-in SSL have announced the launch of a free voice-transformation plug-in that combines a range of processors including delay, pitch-shifting, reverb, noise generation and more