This artist made a soundscape for the world’s largest sub-sea tunnel network. Here’s how he did itAs far as unique and surreal experiences go, journeying to the Faroe Islands to travel through the world’s largest sub-sea tunnel network of its kind, stopping off at its globally-renowned ‘Jellyfish Roundabout’, and later interviewing the producer who composed its singular soundscape is certainly up there.

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“I wanted to give the tunnel a voice,” explains Faroese-Danish producer and sound artist Jens Thomsen of the eerie immersive audio piece he was commissioned to create for the Eysturoyartunnilin’s dedicated radio station.
The soundscape — which runs for the average length of time it takes to drive across the 12-kilometre tunnel — is currently a live audio installation. Broadcast via FM radio, anyone travelling through the tunnel can tune in 24 hours, seven days a week.
Having opened in 2020, the Faroes’ answer to the Eurostar connects several otherwise-isolated islands locally and reduces travel time from an hour to 15 minutes. Inside the tunnel, there’s an ominous atmosphere, which is especially heightened when circling the Jellyfish Roundabout; alongside colour-changing shades of blue, red and green, black silhouettes of faceless figures stand tall around it as if they are guarding the central domineering structure.
Jens Thomsen at the Eysturoyartunnilin
When Thomsen was asked to create the audial soundtrack, he was immediately intrigued by the sonic possibilities. “It’s like painting with sound,” he says of the creative process. Having started out travelling into the tunnel in 2019, Thompson began sampling the sound of the construction taking place, as well as the frequent silence. Also key to his sonic collage were the meditative chants derived from samples of traditional Faroese chain dance.
“I wanted the piece to slow the listener down,” Thomson says, suggesting that, because it has to be experienced in motion, it’s a very literal case of travelling in time. This concept also presents an antithesis to the fast-paced nature of modern living, he adds: “Society going faster and faster, the way we consume art and social media,” which is generally at odds with life on the comparatively relaxed Faroe Islands.
Another contrast that Thomsen draws on is the fact that the track can be “explored in a totally different way to music that needs to go on the radio. All the other channels are news or radio to catch attention”, he adds, but with the composition “there’s nothing that’s trying to catch [one’s] attention.”
With all this in mind, Thomsen decided that he wanted to split the soundscape into three acts: driving from the tunnel entrance to the roundabout, going around the roundabout, and driving to the exit and out of the tunnel. He also had one question in mind: What does the tunnel sound like when it’s resting?
Jens Thomsen in his studio
Inspired by artists such as John Carpenter, Nam June Paik and Ingálvur av Reyni, as well as the Japanese Environmental music scene, when it came to creating his piece of “ecological sound art”, Thomsen used a Modular synth ES8 to interact with CV tools in Ableton.
Though traditionalist touches are subtly embedded into the multi-layered piece, the finished result is world’s away from what Faroese music has historically been known as. Sonically, the ominously chugging composition is an ambient mix of static frequency, whirring wind-like noise and eerie bleeps.
A bridging of old and new, both in sound and technique, the composition reflects a linking of two contrasting times. “In the Faroes, we have total silence but also adrenaline,” reflects MusicTech’s tour guide during our morning exploration of the capital city Torshavn.
Until a century ago, there were no instruments on the Faroes, which is an archipelago of 18 mountainous islands located halfway between Scotland and Iceland in the Northeast Atlantic. While the first was a violin, resourceful locals would often sing together based on rhythm and melody, with harmony being a much newer concept. They would also make noise from whatever items they could find; MusicTech learns that the inspiration for the Faroese national anthem stemmed from two beer bottles being clanged together.
Jens Thomsen at the Eysturoyartunnilin
Music remains integral to the island’s inhabitants (50,000 humans and 90,000 sheep) a century later. Many people who MusicTech meets during our weekend visit are musicians or involved in music in one way or another. As well as revered late-night hotspot bar Sirkus and independent record store Tutl, whose ethos is to release any and all music they are pitched, there are often several concerts on the same evening (spanning indie to contemporary classical) and even the semi-final of a local talent contest called Sement. After-parties in the Faroes typically see people gathering to unite in voice, too, often around a piano; for the vast majority of Faroese people, who are proud of their traditions, singing is integral to their culture.
This is true for Thomsen, too: “When I was a young child, I would sing over the sound of the milk compressor,” he remembers, also likening the constant sound of the sea as like a drone. As well as having grown up regularly hearing music, he explains that his grandfather was actually responsible for one of the oldest singing recordings on the Faroes.
As he got older, Thomsen started joining bands locally. “I was really fascinated with the whole recording studio process,” he recalls. Following a stint in London, where he lived from 2003, around the time that he became fascinated with the trip-hop sounds of Massive Attack and Tricky – “I wanted to recreate that”, he says – Thomsen immersed himself in the capital’s club culture, particularly parties like Hyperdub, and joined several different bands.
When he returned to the Faroe Islands to start the band ORKA in 2005, Thomsen began making his own instruments back at the farm he grew up on. “That was necessitated out of a longing for home,” he explains. Since moving back to his homeland in 2019, Thomsen has become a prolific name internationally as well as in local Faroese towns and villages, having mixed and produced a seemingly endless number of albums for other people. He has also released several albums from his own bands, including ORKA, and is regularly called upon for sound exhibitions at local galleries and theatres. This immersive side of music is something that has long fascinated him.
Jens Thomsen in his studio
Visiting his studio in the local area, which he built himself over several years, makes this abundantly clear. A sampler-loving self-confessed gear geek, among the vast range of tech he has amassed is a Minimoog, MPC60, MPC3000, Juno 60, Juno 106, Roland JD-800, MS20, ASR-10, and a modular rig. He also has some strong referencing options in the Barefoot speakers, Auratone speakers, NS10 speakers and a 5.1 Neumann setup. That’s before we get into the extravagant outboard gear.
Having so much at his disposal, it’s unsurprising that he describes the sub-sea tunnel project as a feat of “sonic archeology”. While it started off as a sequence part, reflecting the building of the tunnel and the progression, he triggered the pitch by using a sequencer and granular synthesis.
He then used a Minimoog, which added dark and unnerving elements to the piece, thus conjuring a dystopian atmosphere in the process. “I’m very interested in the reproduction of sounds,” he says, citing watching There Will Come Soft Rains as a five-year-old.
He adds that the plan was to remove the static of the piece, because it annoyed him initially. However, as “nobody could fix it”, despite the wider team enlisting the help of technicians around the world to try and do so, Thomsen now feels that it’s become “part of the piece, like the ghost in the machine. I find comfort in it being there now.”
Jens Thomsen at the Eysturoyartunnilin
After chronicling the technical process of creating the hypnotic and suspenseful piece in intricate detail, he goes on to share several specific influences that inspired it: Disintegration Loops by William Basinski and Mark Fisher’s Ghosts of my Life, of which he suggests “the noise is making cracks in late capitalism.”
While Thomsen says the roundabout has become an attraction due to it being so rare, he has been surprised to find the soundscape reaching a younger demographic. “Apparently children love it and are asking their parents to put it on,” he says.
What makes it even more special is that it’s only available on vinyl as a two-track EP. Conceptually, Thomsen suggests that ÆÐR (‘vein’ in English) explores modernity and post-war freedom through a Faroese lens. Moreover, he hopes that releasing the soundscape in a physical format will not only depict the parallels between the tunnel and Faroese society today, but also bring it to a wider audience around the world.
The post This artist made a soundscape for the world’s largest sub-sea tunnel network. Here’s how he did it appeared first on MusicTech.

DJ Duo Sock & Buskin to host rave on moving CTA train this weekendYou might have attended raves before, but have you ever partied on a moving train?
This coming Saturday (15 June), DJ duo Sock & Buskin will gear up to transform a Brown Line train into a mobile rave. From 7pm to 11pm, your otherwise routine CTA commute will be electrified with pulsating beats and a whole lot of groove.

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Chicago-based event company Redline is set to host what it calls the Redline Express, a unique train rave that will feature a live, five-hour set by Sock & Buskin.
Sock & Buskin, known for their impromptu “walk-up” DJ performances across Chicago, will bring their act to CTA commuters by loading their gear onto the train at the Kimball station.
The event is powered by 10 SOUNDBOKS speakers and promises an immersive auditory experience as the train travels towards the Loop, making a stop at the Washington and Wells station. The train will circle the Loop a couple times, giving passengers the opportunity to hop off and on for breaks, before heading back to Kimball.
The Redline Express will occupy six CTA cars, offering attendees the chance to dance their way through Chicago’s iconic train system. The rave is split into two segments, with the first departure from Kimball at 7pm and the second at 9:20pm.
Tickets to the event are priced at $75 per person and grant access to the entire journey. Attendees can check in and board the trains 40 minutes before departure.
Sponsored by Red Bull and SKAA, the rave aims to create a one-of-a-kind experience reflective of Chicago’s rich and global music scene.

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In related news, deadmau5 recently commented on the commercialisation of rave culture, saying: “I hear kids saying, ‘Hey, going to the rave, bought my ticket on Ticketmaster, and it’s in Vegas, it’s sponsored by Live Nation and Coca-Cola’ … you know what I mean?”
“My favourite acronym for EDM is event-driven marketing. That’s so funny, I know, because it’s what it is really – that doesn’t take away from anyone wanting to go out and have a good time.”
The post DJ Duo Sock & Buskin to host rave on moving CTA train this weekend appeared first on MusicTech.

DJs using a tool, Aslice, to pay producers whose tracks are featured in their setsAslice, founded by DJ DVS1 in 2022, enables DJs to allocate a percentage of their performance fees to producers. This software uses machine learning to match tracks and distribute payments accurately.
The post DJs using a tool, Aslice, to pay producers whose tracks are featured in their sets appeared first on DJ TechTools.

Mariachi instruments: An introductory guide
From the vihuela and guitarrón to the violin and trumpet, learn about five instruments that define the sonic identity of mariachi music.

Blockchain thriving among Fortune 500 companies, but US lags — CoinbaseCoinbase’s fourth annual corporate adoption report found that Fortune 500 companies and small businesses are adopting blockchain technology.

Music Publishers file complaint with US Federal Trade Commission against Spotify over audiobook bundleNMPA has also referred the matter to the state attorneys general in Tennessee, New York, California, Colorado, Georgia, Connecticut, Illinois, Washington DC, North Carolina and Oregon
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Tight Handheld CRT Asteroids Game Curses in TuscanHow many Arduini does it take to make a tiny CRT Asteroids game? [Marco Vallegi] of MVV Blog’s answer: two. One for the game mechanics and one for the sound effects. And the result is a sweet little retro arcade machine packed tightly into a very nicely 3D printed case.
If you want to learn to curse like a Tuscan sailor, you can watch the two-part video series, embedded below, in its entirety. Otherwise, we have excerpted the good stuff out of the second video for you.
For instance, we love the old-school voice synthesis sound of the Speak and Spell. Here, playback is implemented using the Talkie library for Arduino, and [Marco] is using the BlueWizard software on a dated Macbook for recording and encoding. (We’d use the more portable Python Wizard ourselves.) Check out [Marco] tweaking the noise parameters here to get a good recording.
And since the Talkie Arduino library uses PWM on a digital output pin to create the audio, the high-frequency noise was freaking out his simple transistor amplifier. Here, [Marco] adds a feedback capacitor to cancel that high-frequency hash out.
The build needs to be quite compact, and the stacked-Arduino-with-PCB-case design is tight. And the 3D-printed case has a number of nice refinements that you might like. We especially like the use of thin veneers that cover the case all around with the build-plate’s surface texture, and the contrasting “Asteroids” logos are very nice.
All in all, this is a really fun build that’s also full of little details that might help you with your own projects. Heck, even if it just encourages you to play around with the Talkie library, it’s worth your time in our opinion. And while you’re at it, you can turn on the subtitles and pick up some vocab that’ll make your nonna roll over in her grave.

Part One: Rebuilding the CRT

Part Two: Adding Sound

Thanks [ZioTibia81] for the tip!

Ahead of Tesla’s big shareholder vote, let’s re-read the judge’s opinion that got us hereThere has been a silly amount of drama in the run-up to Tesla‘s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday. The company is set to hold a vote on “re-ratifying” the $56 billion compensation package awarded to Elon Musk in 2018, which was struck down by a Delaware Chancery Court judge earlier this year. It will also […]
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Thomas Coesfeld talks BMG’s ‘unique offering’ and having ‘the financial power of a major’ at Music Investor Conference in New YorkBMG CEO participated in a keynote fireside chat at the Second Annual Music Investor Conference hosted by NMPA boss David Israelite
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The World’s First DIY Minicomputer Was Almost AustralianThe EDUC-8, a DIY minicomputer design that came out in “Electronics Australia” magazine, was almost the world’s first in August 1974. And it would have been tied for the world’s first if inventor [Jamieson “Jim” Rowe] hadn’t held back from publishing to rework the design to expand the memory to a full 256 bytes. The price of perfectionism?
Flash forward 50 years, and [Gwyllym Suter] has taken on the job of recreating the EDUC-8 using modern PCBs, but otherwise staying true to the all-TTL design. He has all of his schematics up on the project’s GitHub, but has also sent us a number of beauty shots that we’re including below. Other than the progress of PCB tech and the very nice 3D-printed housing, they look identical. We have to admit that we love those wavy hand-drawn traces on the original, but we wouldn’t be sad about not having to solder in all those jumpers.

If you want to dig more into the EDUC-8, or the 8008-based Mark-8 that just nosed it out across the finish line, you can find the original articles online, or even check one out in person at the Computer History Museum. We wonder how many of these were ever made, and how many survive in the wild?

Haley Joelle on Staying DIY With TikTok Fame and Spotify LoveThis week, Ari is joined by Haley Joelle, an independent singer-songwriter and artist whose music has resonated with millions of listeners around the world.

YouTube Music to Honor Cash Money Records MenYouTube Music announced its second Leaders and Legends gala, celebrating hip-hop’s top executives, entrepreneurs, artists, and creatives who have impacted the music industry in an immeasurable way. Coinciding with Black Music Month, this year’s event will honor southern hip hop icons Bryan “Birdman” Williams and Ronald “Slim” Williams, founders of Cash Money Records. The event is invitation only. 

Hailing from New Orleans, Ronald and Bryan played a pivotal role in popularizing Southern rap music in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Cash Money Records’ unique sound, characterized by bounce beats and catchy lyrics, helped shift the focus of the hip-hop industry from the coasts to the South.  The label has been home to some of the biggest names in hip-hop, including Lil Wayne, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Mannie Fresh, and Juvenile. These artists have not only achieved immense commercial success but also pushed creative boundaries within the genre.

“The story of Cash Money Records is one for the history books,” said Lyor Cohen, Global Head of Music at YouTube. “Leaders and Legends recognizes entrepreneurship and leadership in black music and culture, attributes Birdman and Slim embody to their core. They defied the odds, raising up some of rap and hip hop’s most iconic figures to superstardom and shattering sales records while doing it. We are humbled to honor the success and look forward to celebrating the music that continues to shape the label’s incredible legacy.”

Leaders and Legends is YouTube’s way of celebrating entrepreneurial achievements and groundbreaking founders in black music and culture. The inaugural event in 2020  was held in Atlanta honoring LaFace Records and the entrepreneurship of Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid. "We at YouTube are committed to pushing the culture forward, so leading the charge to celebrate Cash Money’s impact via Birdman and Slim’s leadership is an honor” said Tuma Basa, YouTube’s Director of Black Music and Culture. "As a platform with a global reach and influence, it is our responsibility to acknowledge and elevate the stories of black trailblazers in the industry and remind the world of the immeasurable impact black music has on the culture globally, and that's what Leaders and Legends is all about.”

The Leaders and Legends gala will be held in Los Angeles on June 27. The program will feature a star-studded lineup of performances, culminating with Lyor Cohen presenting Birdman and Slim with the 2024 Leaders and Legends Award. The post YouTube Music to Honor Cash Money Records Men first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Spotify, YouTube partner Merchbar accused of stiffing artists and fansSan Francisco-based online music merchandise marketplace Merchbar has been accused of failing to pay for or ship hundreds of thousands of dollars in merchandise.....
The post Spotify, YouTube partner Merchbar accused of stiffing artists and fans appeared first on Hypebot.

“My favourite acronym for EDM is event-driven marketing”: deadmau5 reflects on the commercialisation of rave cultureRave culture and electronic music are becoming increasingly commercialised, says Deadmau5.
Speaking to Tom Power, the DJ explains, “I hear kids saying, ‘Hey, going to the rave, bought my ticket on Ticketmaster, and it’s in Vegas, it’s sponsored by Live Nation and Coca-Cola’ … you know what I mean?”

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Deadmau5 continues, “My favourite acronym for EDM is event-driven marketing. That’s so funny, I know, because it’s what it is really – that doesn’t take away from anyone wanting to go out and have a good time.”
He compares the contemporary scene to the one he grew up in, where “We had to beg the cashier for like, print-out tickets done on a Xerox thing for a meet-up point, to get on a bus to take us to God knows where, for a party, for a raid. You know, that’s exciting.”
He adds, “I was having a great time. It was new, it was different. It was illegal, yeah, in some cases, and that was rave. Now I am so salty and old – in the sense that, like, that is dead; that is long and gone.”

Deadmau5, real name Joel Thomas Zimmerman, was inducted into the Canadian Music Week’s Music Industry Hall of Fame earlier this month, where he stands alongside some of Canada’s most well-regarded musicians. Among them are Alanis Morissette, Rush, and Andy Kim.
Last month, Deadmau5 poked fun at another fellow Canadian, Grimes, during his set at Las Vegas’ Electric Daisy Carnival after her infamous Coachella set rife with technical issues.
Before going into his track, Maths, he played clips of her discussing the problems she faced, saying, “It’s hard to explain”, with the sound of a metronome present, Then, the beat dropped for the song.
The post “My favourite acronym for EDM is event-driven marketing”: deadmau5 reflects on the commercialisation of rave culture appeared first on MusicTech.

Spotify names 30 Songs of Summer 2024 contendersSpotify has released its annual list of predictions for the Songs Of Summer 2024. featuring the top 30 contenders they think could take the crown.  From “Not Like Us” by. Continue reading
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