Here Comes Pro Tools 12

Great analysis from Create Digital Music - Pro Tools Adds Free Edition, Subscriptions, Marketplaces for Plug-ins and Content

About Dolby Atmos

About Dolby Atmos from Dolby Laboratories on Vimeo.

I have been neglecting my sound engineer duties and have yet to see something in Atmos. Yes, shame, I know. I think I've seen two movies in the last two years and they weren't the kind of movies that would have benefited from the pan-through array.

David Bowie Is...

Sennheiser page for the audio guides used in the AGO exhibition. Hey, I might even get around to reviewing the damn thing! Have to go again first, though.

Nine Inch Nails’ “Hesitation Marks” – Audiophile, or AudioFAIL ?

Very interesting take on the two mastering versions for the new NIN record. Time to delve into some audio nerdness here.

Short version: there are distinct differences, but they could have done more.

People on Reddit don't know anything about sound in films

Link

Because I couldn't be bothered to post on the forum, here are a few tips/observations:

1) Make sure that the content you're watching/listening to is properly formatted for how you're viewing it. Netflix, Blu-Ray and Cable seem to want to give you 5.1 surround sound as a default even when you only have two speakers. Double check that your output is stereo.

2) Really? Every single sound mixer in Hollywood is incompetent, and to blame for you being a fucking idiot? Do you have any idea how the motion picture business, let alone sound mixing works? Even the explanations on the thread are not entirely accurate.

3) Using your TV to handle compression seems like a good idea but it'll probably do more harm than good.

4) This is so subjective and situation dependent that this post and the Reddit thread is pretty much pointless.

How the biggest electronic acts play their music live

How the biggest electronic acts play their music live - told in cartoons!

[via]

Virgin Airlines Install A Pro Tools Studio For Customers At Heathrow Airport

Virgin Atlantic installs music studio for rock stars at Heathrow airport

The next stage in brand partnerships, and a pretty good PR piece disguised as news. But will their gear support my plug-ins? Not like I'd ever have to worry about such a thing...

[link via]

Mastered for iTunes

How audio engineers tweak music for the iPod age [Ars Technica]

Interesting techie article here

Auto-tune for Guitars

There might actually be some very creative uses for this... see the article:
Auto-Tune for Guitars Doesn’t Have to be Like Auto-Tune for Vocals; The Digital Guitar Future?

Check out the demo video in the link... insane stuff.

Pretty Hate Machine in-depth analysis

Solid read for audio and NIN fans over at the NIN Hotline:
Halo Profile 02R: Pretty Hate Machine 2010 by Botley

And check this out: the 33 1/3 series of Pretty Hate Machine is finally shipping!

A look inside deadmau5's studio

Gear porn here, via Synthtopia

Bowie - Classic tracks

Classic Tracks: David Bowie's "Five Years"/"Soul Love"/"Moonage Daydream"

Awesome track breakdown here... Mix has some other awesome articles to really get lost in as well.

Universal Studios audio facilities

Cool stuff!
Soundworks Collection

Why Death Metal fans hate the 'loudness wars'

Turn your speakers down for this one, take your headphones off if you're wearing them... :)
Why Death Metal fans hate the Loudness Wars

Greg Calbi on loudness and mastering

Worth a watch, the renowned mastering engineer talks a bit about the absurdness of'level wars'.



[Recordingformation]

Recording dry ice

Chuck Russom Special: Recording Dry Ice.

Very cool, check out the audio samples.

Thoughts on sonic stew

The “Rule Of Thirds” applied to mixing

Interesting discussion here... there doesn't seem to be any definite playbook for mixing audio, but this idea sets a useful template.

The future of music production

There are so many things that could go wrong with this, but if it actually does get off the ground, it could be pretty awesome:



The main problems would be:

-User base. You would need talented people on board to get talented people on board. Simple catch-22
-Quality. Even the most talented musicians could have the worst recording setup. And vice versa. You could have a decked out studio but have the worst ideas of all time.
-Novelty factor. People have thought of this before, but it hasn't really penetrated the general consciousness. Nothing will ever beat a group of musicians playing music together live.

It's a great way to build ideas and tracks, collaborate across vast distances and connect with people on a new level, but I get the feeling that these technologies are more of a building block to something bigger rather than an end result unto itself.

Anatomy of a sound collage

A sample breakdown of The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up":



[wire to the ear]

Wikiaudio

Found this one while looking up Pro Tools commands today. It could be interesting, but there's not enough info up yet to make it a truly valuable resource. Great idea though, I hope it works out.

WikiAudio