I recently wrote about the Devialet Gold Phantom, a $2,890, insanely loud bluetooth speaker. When I was sent the device, I was also given a link to a playlist filled with songs to test it with. This, I’m sorry to report, was a terrible mistake. I mean, how could I not review the song selection? They say that writing about music is akin to dancing about architecture, but that’s dumb. You ever played charades? If I put my arms straight above my head and wobble a bit, I can quite clearly illustrate how a skyscraper moves in heavy winds. Hate spammy ICOs and crappy cryptocurrencies? So do we. VISIT HARD FORK Before I get my mitts all grubby, here’s the playlist in question: And – just in case they decide to change the tracks – here’s a list of them in order: Let’s get into this. “Partition,” by Beyonce Wow, a track by the biggest pop star from the world’s biggest pop album. Bold start. “Another One Bites The Dust,” … [Read more...] about How am I supposed to test a $2,890 speaker with this shitty playlist?
How to make a remix songs
How Survios crafted a creative music VR experience with Electronauts
The founders at Survios are true believers in virtual reality, and they’ve poured a lot of effort into the hit VR games Raw Data and Sprint Vector. Now they’re switching from games to something more like an immersive music experience with Electronauts. The VR app will enable music fans to remix, compose, and perform their own music, riffing on works by artists such as The Chainsmokers, Odesza, Steve Aoki & Boehm, and many other bands that I am intimately familiar with (not). At the core of Electronauts is the Music Reality Engine, which lets anyone perform and produce their own versions of the hits. It doesn’t skip a beat thanks to a technology called quantization. I spoke with Nathan Burba, CEO and cofounder of Survios in Los Angeles, about the new technology and the creativity that it brings to VR music. “You can take a song by the Chainsmokers, ‘Roses,’ and determine when the different elements in the song will play,” Burba said. … [Read more...] about How Survios crafted a creative music VR experience with Electronauts
How to improve your YouTube Music recommendations
Even if you've never used the YouTube Music app or shiny new desktop site before, chances are your profile is already chock-full of recommendations. YouTube Music shares a library and a history with the main YouTube app, and so that means that every video that's been searched for or watched with your account is being used to calculate what music you'd like to listen to. Unfortunately, not everything in our YouTube history is something we want affecting our recommendations or Your Mixtape — especially those Disney songs your niece demanded to sing along to while you were babysitting, or that viral video that you've been sent too many times to count. Here's how to clear out the clutter and improve your YouTube Music offerings. Build a library, don't wait for one to appear Yes, Google has said that Play Music will eventually migrate to YouTube Music, but if you're waiting for your library to magically appear, you're going to be waiting a while. A long while. Instead, start adding … [Read more...] about How to improve your YouTube Music recommendations
The IndieBeat: Composer 2 Mello’s notes for starting a game-music career
Some of the most memorable game music have come from the indie scene — think the haunting resolve of Lena Raine‘s soundtrack for Celeste, Darren Korb‘s rousing guitars and driving beats in games like Pyre and Transistor, or Jim Guthrie‘s transcendental tunes in titles like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. But when music producer and sound designer Matthew “2 Mello” Hopkins ran a poll late last month, the majority of people said that they think composers get paid shockingly low amounts for their creative work. Out of the 2,800 folks who voted, 41 percent estimated $1,000 to $5,000 for two years of work and hundreds of hours of revisions. A close second, 38 percent, guessed $10,00 to $15,000. Hopkins was surprised by how low people went with their estimations, but he says that the voters were pretty much on point. For about 30 minutes of soundtrack with two years of occasional revisions and additional work, he would earn about $6,000. … [Read more...] about The IndieBeat: Composer 2 Mello’s notes for starting a game-music career
Windows Movie Maker is back: how to use Windows 10’s hidden video editor
Windows Movie Maker was a simple, free video editor that was last updated in 2012 and officially discontinued last year. Windows 8 and 10 launched without a video editing app, but following the Fall Creator's Update, there's now one included in the Microsoft Photos app – if you know where to look.in May 2017, Microsoft announced Story Remix – a new video editor that would be included with the Fall Creator's Update. Instead of just making simple home movies, Story Remix would allow users to combine video clips and photos with virtual 3D objects created in Remix 3D.However, when the Windows 10 Fall Creator's Update rolled around, Story Remix had turned into a less ambitious tool much more like the late Windows Movie Maker. It lets users organize media in a timeline, apply special effects and transitions, set the whole thing to music and add 3D animations (but not objects). Rather than releasing it on its own as originally intended, Microsoft chose to add it to the existing … [Read more...] about Windows Movie Maker is back: how to use Windows 10’s hidden video editor