Arrr You A Music Pirate?

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has published the 2012 Digital Music Report. One of the biggest concerns being discussed? Music pirating.  

“Piracy remains an enormous barrier to sustainable growth in digital music. Globally, one in four internet users (28%) regularly access unlicensed services, according to IFPI/Nielsen. This is rigging the market for legitimate services, stunting growth and jeopardising investment in music. IFPI advocates an inclusive combination of graduated response, site-blocking and other measures to tackle the problem.”

Downloading music for a reasonable fee is an easy way for music lovers to stop the pirating. Illegally downloading music from illegitimate sources is only worsening the problem. Join us in helping stop music pirating! Download the legit way and support your fellow musicians. No one is a winner in music piracy.

2012 Grammy Nominees

Recently, the Grammys have surprised its viewers by putting new artists on the radar. Last year, they brought us Arcade Fire. This year, Mumford & Sons and Bon Iver both grace the nominee list for Record of the Year.

We at Sound Images like to experiment musically. Seeing the same names on the list year after year really bums us out, especially when there is so much incredible music out there that gets no recognition. Luckily for us, the Grammy nominators are using their far-reaching powers to direct the public’s attention to otherwise little-known artists by adding their names to the list.

Adele, Bruno Mars, and Katy Perry have become household names because of their radio domination, so it will be no surprise to see these folks win. Hopefully, this year will bring another big win to someone whom a lot of people have never heard, like Arcade Fire last year.

Challenge: before the Grammys air February 12, 2012, listen to some artists on the nomination list. Not only will you broaden your musical horizons, but we bet you’ll find an artist that you love who you’ve never considered before.

I Am T-Pain

A new toy has hit stores across America: the I Am T-Pain microphone. This toy, intended mostly for children who don’t have access to the I Am T-Pain iPhone app, transforms the speaker’s voice into an auto-tuned song. Users can “sing” to provided beats and even upload the tracks to their computers.

The new auto-tune craze has swept the music industry very forcefully. In fact, you can find auto-tuning in almost every song in every dance club across the country.

Although auto-tuning adds a great effect to songs and allows an artist to have very fluid, automated vocals, it corrects every aspect of a voice, allowing anyone to sound like a professional singer. The beauty of singing still lies in the rawness and uniqueness of an individual’s voice.

Next time you listen to the radio try to distinguish the pure voices from the auto-tuning.

Changing the Face of Music

These days, vinyl album covers are used for decoration. Sharing CDs
with friends is obsolete because of memory sticks. And now, the world of
music has evolved yet again.


With the creation of social media-music hybrids like Spotify and the
highly anticipated Google Music, social media users can share music for free
without any consequence.


These programs decrease music pirating, since users can listen for free
at any time (besides the occasional commercial interruption). The programs
enable users to choose their own music and give suggestions on similar
related artists.


This new music and social media pairing could potentially bring the
money back into the industry, since it encouragers users to buy tracks and
makes it easy.


Programs like Spotify benefit both the consumer and the record companies
by introducing such a wide variety of little-known music and influencing
consumers to pay for their music.


A major difference between Spotify and online radio programs, like
Pandora, is that you can import your current iTunes playlist and choose all
the music you listen to. On Pandora, you have no control, besides specifying
the artist or song that you are interested in hearing.


Still not convinced? Check it out for yourself: www.spotify.com

The Intern's Perspective

Halloween Music

Once upon a Halloween, my family decided to watch The Exorcist. I was always way too scared to watch horror movies, and chose to pass on the family bonding, opting to stay in my room and think about ladybugs, sunshine, and handsome princes instead. Unfortunately, the music from the soundtrack travelled up the stairs, reached my room, and turned my ladybugs into tarantulas, my sunshine into dark clouds, and my Prince Charming into Prince Charles. I had nightmares for weeks from the movie’s score alone.

Imagine watching your favorite Halloween movies with no background sound. I bet that you wouldn’t even be scared. Halloween music has a way of creeping up around you, building your tension, and startling you at the precise moment.

Here’s a musical treat for all your Halloween tricks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOtEdhKOMgQ

Dialog is key

In any good radio or TV soundtrack, the key to a great mix is getting the dialog recorded well. Having dialog with great "presence" allows the other elements (music and effects) to be mixed louder.

Presence makes a recording sound professional, and generally, dialog recorded in a studio will have great presence. However, dialog recorded in the field may have issues that can make the presence less than ideal.

Short of ADR, the simplest thing that will improve dialog presence is to add high-end EQ. Much like adding the "Sharpen Filer" in Photoshop, adding high-end EQ increases the dialog clarity and makes it sound more like the mic had been in the correct spot.

Another helpful step would be to mute all the dialog tracks, except for the one where the actor is speaking (assuming that each actor had been recorded to a separate track). This will eliminate any bleed.

Although doing these things won't fix a bad recording, they will usually improve it. Once the dialog presence is increased, the music and effects can be mixed louder, and the overall track will sound significantly better.

What’s missing?

In the late 1980s, Karlheinz Brandenburg and the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) invented the mp3 format. Dr. Brandenburg estimated that eventually one million users would listen to an mp3. Since then, from iPod users to broadcast radio, orders of magnitude more people now use the format than he had predicted.

Most people, including me, have no problem with mp3 files. They sound good, take very little file space, and are playable on almost every computer and audio device. However, be aware that there can be issues with mp3s.

Try this test if you have the time and available audio software. Listen to a stereo mp3 in mono with the phase of one channel inverted. You’ll hear the strange-sounding “audio pixilation” caused by the mp3 data compression.

Fortunately, people don’t listen to mp3s that way. However, it does make you wonder, “What else am I not hearing when listening to an mp3?”