New portable professional USB Microphone for Mac and PC
AES - NYC (October 11, 2007) - Blue Microphones, a leading innovator in microphone technology and design, follow on the success of their popular Snowball Professional USB Microphone with a new portable design, aptly dubbed the Snowflake.
The Snowflake is the first professional quality portable USB mic and embodies everything Blue has become known for; stylish looks and exceptional sonic quality. Blue has combined a USB bus powered capsule with a class compliant design to make the Snowflake truly plug and play on both Mac and PC.
“We have always valued both form and function in our microphone designs. It‘s what makes us uniquely Blue,” said Skipper Wise, President and Co-Founder of Blue Microphones. “The Snowflake brings a new level of audio quality and functionality to anyone who owns a computer. It‘s one of our most inspired designs yet!”
The Snowflake‘s form factor is not only eye catching and modern, but functional as well. The mic folds into a single compact case which also houses a USB cable for easy transport in a laptop bag or even a pocket. Unfolded, the case serves as a desktop stand or a laptop clip, making the Snowflake a natural for everything from podcasting, calling over the web, narrating a home video, or sketching out a song idea on the go.
Snowflake Features:
• Professional recording quality on the go
• Unique design fits on your desktop or laptop
• Plug and play — no driver needed
• Perfect for podcasting, internet telophony, voice recognition software, movie narration, music
• Mac & PC compatible
• Blue‘s renowned circuitry
• Includes USB cable
Price and availability
The Snowflake will be available November 1, 2007 for $79 MSRP.
For more information, please visit http://www.bluemic.com.
Blue Announces Joe, a new microphone aimed at project studios
AES - NYC (October 11, 2007) - Blue Microphones, a leading innovator in microphone technology and design, is proud to introduce Joe, a high-quality condenser microphone for the project studio.
The newest addition to Blues award-winning microphone line, Joe is a cardioid large diaphragm condenser mic that is a perfect addition to any project studio microphone cabinet. With a classic look and anodized finish, Joe‘s styling is uniquely Blue, while its Class A discrete electronics and hand tuned and tested capsules are built on the pedigree of award-winning Blue mics like the Dragonfly, Kiwi, and venerable Bottle microphone system.
“Joe is a perfect choice for project studios or anyone looking to expand their microphone choices,” says Eli Probst, CEO of Blue Microphones. “Modern production techniques allow us to apply more than a decade of Blue design and engineering experience to make high-quality mics at great prices.”
Joe is designed to capture a wide variety of sound sources, such as vocals, acoustic instruments, drums and more, with excellent detail and clarity. Its unique form factor is not only visually inspiring, but functional as well. The microphone cable plugs into the mic clip, leaving the capsule housing “floating” in balance to accommodate a wider range of positioning options.
Joe Features:
• Polar pattern: Cardioid
• Class A discrete amplifier circuit
• Blue‘s famous hand-built large diaphragm capsule
• Rich lows and detailed highs
• Beautiful anodized design
• Unique swivel mount for easy positioning
• Velvet storage bag
Price and availability
Joe will be available January 1, 2008 for $499 MSRP.
For more information, please visit http://www.bluemic.com.
New Advanced Audio and Post Production System with innovations and dedicated new features for audio post, studio production and live recording
Hamburg, Germany (September, 24 2007) - Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH is proud to announce a new version of its award-winning Nuendo audio production environment. Nuendo 4 offers a range of new features and technologies dedicated to mixers, engineers and editors in post production, studio recording and live recording.
“Nuendo 4 empowers audio professionals by elevating both creativity and productivity to new heights,” comments Steinberg‘s General Manager Andreas Stelling. “The new functionality accelerates and enhances workflows by increasing efficiency and speed, offering probably the most valuable commodity in today‘s deadline-driven world: more time. And because Nuendo 4 caters directly to audio post and studio production, Steinberg is now in the unique position of being able to offer dedicated products for four different target groups: Nuendo for the post and pro audio community, Cubase for musicians, composers and producers, WaveLab for audio editors and mastering engineers, and Sequel for entry-level music creation enthusiasts.”
Among the new functionality in Nuendo 4 is a state-of-the-art new automation system on par with the world‘s best. Preview mode, Fill commands, Punch Logs, Virgin Territories and the unique new Touch Collect Assistant are only some of the new functions which unite the best functionality found on traditional hardware mixing consoles with the flexibility inherent in Nuendo 4 as a modern DAW environment.
The new MediaBay file management system for audio, video and other media files can replace many external FX database solutions. MediaBay browses, archives, retrieves and searches media files across any connected drive. Utilizing intelligent database technology, user-definable tags and other features MediaBay allows instant pulling up and filtering of search results, smart file management and much more.
Nuendo 4 sees a vastly upgraded set of 38 new first-class surround- and sidechaining-capable VST3 audio effect plug-ins that cover dynamics, spatial FX and filtering for almost any situation. Standard on each channel is a brand new VST3 Channel EQ, with an audio quality that can replace many expensive additional 3rd party EQ plug-ins. Drag & drop and copy/paste for plug-ins make using plug-ins in Nuendo 4 even faster and more efficient.
Nuendo 4 offers a range of features designed specifically to accelerate and enhance workflows in audio post production. Advanced post pro editing commands allow even faster editing workflows, including many new options to move, place and trim audio faster and with outstanding precision to save valuable time. The highly flexible Post Filter is engineered specifically for audio post, and features special options to remove unwanted noises form audio material, for example from location recording.
Flexible new recording and routing options offer creative new ways to route and manipulate audio, with any track now able to record audio from any summing object such as groups or FX returns. Common recording configurations such as stems and print master recording are now extremely easy to setup, obviating the need to route audio outside the system for recording on external recorders.
Nuendo Expansion Kit: Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4
Together with the launch of Nuendo 4, Steinberg also introduces an additional product: Nuendo Expansion Kit: Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4 (NEK). This add-on module to Nuendo 4 contains optional music compositional functionality, including full Cubase scoring and notation, the Cubase MIDI Drum Editor, four integrated VST instruments as well as support for the MusicXML standard.
Nuendo 4 is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista and both Intel and PPC-based Macintosh computers running Mac OS10.4.
Price and availability
Nuendo 4 is priced at $1799.99 MSRP, with the optional NEK module available at $299.99 MSRP and will be available in October, 2007.
Recently featured as an artist to watch on the influential music blog, Stereogum, T.H. White has announced that he will be performing songs from his forthcoming new album ‘The Private Spotlight‘ (Sky Council) as part of this year‘s CMJ New Music Marathon. The showcase performance will be Friday, October 19th at Piano‘s on the lower east side of Manhattan.
The show kicks off a busy fall for White, who will confirm additional dates soon, and has also been working on a number of projects since completing the recordings for ‘The Private Spotlight‘. He is currently completing two remixes for Friendly Fire recording artists, The Faunts. (Another remixer of note for that release will be Fischer Spooner). This Fall will also see him co-writing and producing the debut by Meghan Wolf which will also be released on Sky Council in 2008.
After seeing his ‘05 debut praised everywhere from Entertainment Weekly to Paper Magazine, T.H. White‘s second offering of downbeat club grooves, solid pop songwriting and ethereal soundscapes is set for release on Nov. 27th of this year. The varying influences represented on the album stem from the textures that have affected and influenced T.H. White over his years in New York City. This release spotlights his surplus of talents as multi-instrumentalist (and crack guitarist), producer, songwriter, arranger, and programmer, The Private Spotlight manages that rare feat: amalgamating an intriguing variety of sonic textures into a cohesive - and fun - set of songs that might just provide a soundtrack to the bustling city from which it draws inspiration.
For more information on T.H. White contact Nick Baily (nbaily@shorefire.com)
or Brendan Gilmartin (bgilmartin@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media - 718-522-7171
Andy Smith was the first DJ to release a multi-genre mix album on a major label. When his mix-CD The Document hit the streets back in 1998, it became the soundtrack for a generation who had heard Coldcut’s “Journeys By DJs” but needed to hear more - The Document filled the void.
It segued tracks from artists such as Tom Jones (way before he came back in vogue with Reload and newer tracks such as recent top ten hit Stoned in Love); Peggy Lee (sample source for the Beastie Boys single Ch-Check It Out); The Jungle Brothers and even The Spencer Davis Group. This was new to record buyers but for Smith a mixed bag of treasures has always formed the typical contents of his DJ set.
This appreciation of different genres made Smith the ideal person to provide sample material for Portishead on their first two albums. He went on to make his name as the band’s international tour DJ - reflecting their respect for both the art of digging for breaks and Hip Hop DJing. sound.
Production: Since the Portishead tours he has established himself as an underground producer of some of the most irresistible Hip Hop breaks-based music around, working with Scott Hendy (Boca 45) under the name Dynamo Productions. Their album Analogue, which notched up a top-ranking five out of five in Mojo magazine, featured San Diego-based MC Profile from the much respected Sound Providers Crew.
The Document mix-CD series: Following on the success of The Document, which sold in excess of 100,000 copies, Andy released Document 2 and Document 3 to critical and popular acclaim. Vinyl copies of all three are sought after and regularly go for a king’s ransom on Ebay!
New releases: The Document series gets Reggae flavour with the release of The Trojan Document (Sanctuary Records). The release presents another mix album first - with Smith giving the listener a live sound system experience complete with rewinds, shout outs and reverb sounds. The Trojan Document takes you on a journey from early Ska, Rocksteady, Roots, Dub, DJ tracks and Dancehall - it’s set to be yet another classic. Andy has also produced the single Sounds Start Rockin, as featured on Kiss FM’s Joe Ransom show. This is taken from Andys new mix CD ‘DJ Andy Smith’s Freestyle Mix’. They are both out now on Freestyle Records.
London and International Residencies: Smith regularly appears in clubs across the world and his strong cult following has secured him constant DJ bookings including several residencies at:
Cargo (London) Andy Smith presents The Document Live Sessions
Jazz Café (London) Andy Smith’s Northern Soul
Madame Jo Jos (London) Lost and Found (w/ Keb Darge)
As much as he is a heralded multi-platinum producer, DAVID GUETTA is also one of the world‘s top in-demand DJs who makes music that satisfies mainstream pop radio and discerning dance floors alike. Perfecto/Ultra Records–the label releasing his new album Pop Life in the U.S.–has announced it is moving the album‘s release date from October 23 to November 13 to coincide with the French pop/dance music superstar‘s upcoming November DJ tour. On his “Pop Life” U.S. trek, Guetta will pass through eight major markets for special engagements at the hottest clubs in support of his new release.
These dates will highlight the dancefloor maven‘s stellar DJ sets, emphasizing remixes and special edits of album tracks from Pop Life along with his favorite underground club cuts. They kick off November 15 in Denver at Church with back-to-back stops at On Broadway in San Diego, Vanguard in Los Angeles, Slide in San Francisco, crobar in Chicago, Cielo in New York City and The Estate in Boston. The tour will be rounded out with two appearances in one night at Cameo and after hours at Space in Miami.
Earlier this year, Guetta‘s foray into the U.S. as a DJ included outstanding showings at Coachella (USA Today tapped him as one of the key highlights of the festival) and the Ultra Music Festival. He packed the country‘s biggest nightclubs including Ruby Skye in San Francisco, Vanguard in Los Angeles crobar in Chicago and Cielo in New York. Along with his wife Cathy Guetta, he also transported his world-renowned ‘F*** Me I‘m Famous‘ party–which draw the likes of P Diddy, Penelope Cruz, Kate Moss, Jade Jagger, Damon Dash, James Blunt and Prince to their events in Paris, Ibiza and London–to Cameo in Miami during the Winter Music Conference which Billboard tapped “Best Party Of The Conference”).
Pop Life is David Guetta‘s third artist album overall and second full-length offering in the states following the release of Guetta Blaster earlier this year. Just released in the U.K. August 20, Pop Life debuted at #3 on iTunes Dance Album Chart, with international taste-maker magazine Zoo stating, “Guetta‘s third album is a rare beast: a dance music album with heart. Each track boasts soaring vocals that suck you in, alongside chart-friendly rave beats that you can‘t write off as generic mixing mash-ups.” In France, the album debuted at #2 marking it Guetta‘s largest yet. In the U.K., Pop Life‘s first single “Love Is Gone” with Chris Willis on vocals charted at #9 on the national pop charts and is garnering major attention with heavy radio play on Radio 1, Capitol FM and Kiss FM. Across Europe the song ranked in the top 10 and in the U.S. it‘s charting at #5 on Billboard‘s Hot Dance Airplay chart. Prior to heading west, Guetta will serve as the closing headline DJ at the prestigious Ibiza club Space, heralded by many of the biggest turntable talents as #1 club in the world, wrapping up the most successful season for a DJ/producer ever recorded there.
The complete dates for DAVID GUETTA‘s Pop Life DJ tour in the U.S. are:
Date City Venue
Nov 15 Denver, CO Church
Nov 16 San Diego, CA On Broadway
Nov 17 Los Angeles, CA Vanguard
Nov 18 San Francisco, CA Slide
Nov 21 Chicago, IL crobar
Nov 22 New York, NY Cielo
Nov 23 Boston, MA The Estate
Nov 24 Miami, FL Cameo
Nov 24 Miami, FL Space
For DAVID GUETTA: www.davidguetta.com or www.myspace.com/davidguetta
For F*** ME I‘M FAMOUS: www.fmif.fr
www.ultrarecords.com
www.myspace.com/ultrarecords
# # #
Images of David Guetta photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and advance copies of Pop Life are available upon request. For more information, contact:
ALBUM‘S FIRST SINGLE “KINGDOM” TO ARRIVE AT RADIO AUGUST 27
“I feel this record has been an amazing opportunity to push the artist in me,” says DAVE GAHAN of his second album HOURGLASS, due October 23 via Mute/Virgin Records. The record follows the Depeche Mode front man‘s acclaimed 2003 solo album Paper Monsters that marked his debut as a full-fledged songwriter.
The album‘s first single–the soaring and pulsating “Kingdom”–will arrive at radio August 27. “It‘s this idea that there‘s a better place, and it‘s not up there in the clouds, it‘s right here,” says GAHAN. “And it‘s about becoming more accepting of life and the way it is. I would be lying if I said the world didn‘t affect me. I have children and I want to protect them; and sometimes I don‘t really have the ability to do that.”
GAHAN wrote and produced all the songs on HOURGLASS–decidedly more electronic than Paper Monsters–in collaboration with Christian Eigner (drums) of Depeche Mode‘s touring band and Andrew Phillpott (guitars), who served as a programmer for Depeche Mode touring. Tony Hoffer, known for his work with Beck, Air, the Kooks and the Fratellis, mixed the album.
On HOURGLASS, Eigner proves a strikingly versatile drummer, creating gentle rhythmic ambiance one moment, and thundering, freight-train beats the next. And with electronics providing most of the musical environment of Hourglass, Phillpott‘s guitar playing roams freely into fantastical atmospherics, especially evident on “Kingdom.”
What might surprise Gahan followers most are the album‘s moments of exhilarating industrial aggression, as in the blistering, hyper-sexual “Deeper and Deeper.” Perhaps more importantly for the singer, Hourglass is a journey of the soul. In “Kingdom” he confesses that “Glory doesn‘t mean that much to me” while wondering aloud if there really is something beyond what we can see with our own eyes–a superstar struggling to find a humbler self within him. And his personal doubts are in full evidence on the ethereal, Eno-esque “Miracles” where he admits, “I don‘t believe in Jesus / But I‘m praying anyway.”
With its themes of racing against–and running out of–time, the songs on HOURGLASS dig deeper into Gahan‘s psyche.
“I don‘t know if it‘s about age, just getting older,” he wonders. “But there are certain things that just don‘t work anymore. There‘s no longer the luxury of being able to get blind drunk every night and just hide behind that. My fear is that I‘ve wasted so much time in fear, in fear of diving in. I feel like I‘m racing against the clock; I feel constantly like I haven‘t got enough time to get to where I wanna be. And I think what I‘m afraid of is what the future may hold, and am I doing anything of meaning?”
Formed in 1997, VHS OR BETA initially began via an obsession with the indie noise-rock of the late-‘90s era (Arab On Radar, Sonic Youth). Soon enough, the band, always on the lookout for vital sounds, began mutating its sonics towards an electronic/organic groove hybrid. VHS OR BETA‘s breakthrough 2002 release, the Le Funk e.p., proved equally ahead of its time–Daft Punk-style French disco-house channeled via a hungry live-instrument attack. Meanwhile, their acclaimed next effort, the 2004 album Night On Fire, vividly infused club rhythms with ‘80s-style. more
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