jayz

I attended a fascinating panel discussion, "Behind The Glass: Audio Production in the 21st Century" at the Audio Engineering Society convention in New York City on Sunday.

The panelists were all prominent record producers and engineers: Tony Brown (Elvis Presley, Emmy Lou Harris); Jimmy Douglass (Jay-Z, the Rolling Stones); Dave Hewitt (Simon and Garfunkel, U2); Ryan Hewitt (Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers); George Massenburg (Linda Ronstadt, Lyle Lovett); Ann Mincieli (Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston); and Russ Titelman (Stevie Winwood, Eric Clapton). These people know from where they speak!

Moderator Howard Massey led the panel through a discussion of the problems facing the record industry, with a primary focus on sound quality. Massey co-authored (with Geoff Emerick) my favorite Beatles book of all time, "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles." He also has a new book coming out, "Behind the Glass, Volume II: Top Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits" a collection of interviews with top record producers and audio engineers.

It seems like the main problem comes from record company pressure to make perfect recordings. Vocalists' off-pitch and out-of-time singing is tweaked with Auto-Tune; music-making is largely technology-based. That is, technology has replaced musical talent, and singers like Britney Spears were cited many times as to where it's all headed. Not so musically talented, her music has to be patched together in the studio. There's not a lot of there there.

Jimmy Douglass talked about the overuse of dynamic range compression, admitting that since most music is listened to over crappy computer speakers or cheap earbuds, compression is required to make it sound acceptable. Sad, but true. … Read more

Every year, the major record companies produce more miserable-sounding recordings. I'm not surprised by this. The labels know most folks listen to music with iTunes or streaming audio, and sound quality is a low priority for most music listeners. My weekend poll is ample proof of that.

Lyor Cohen, CEO of recorded music for the Warner Music Group, cares about sound, at least at home. He admitted, in so many words, to being an audiophile on the pages of the September 20 New York Times Sunday magazine. The media has been alerted! It's like learning that a fast-food bigwig is a wine snob.

Cohen was Run-DMC's road manager in the 1980s, and he now works with Jay-Z, Madonna, and the Beastie Boys. In the article, Cohen said his hi-fi is his "favorite possession." The Clearaudio turntable pictured in the article is a very high-end German model that "won a gold medal at a consumer technology convention a few years ago." … Read more

What's the best way to get the word out about your upcoming video game? If you're displaying your wares at E3, it's a time-honored tradition to hire a few celebrities to, if not downright endorse it, then at least to stand near your product and mention it a few times.

We saw this at Microsoft's press conference, featuring Paul and Ringo, along with Steven Spielberg and Tony Hawk; and later at Ubisoft's press event, with guest appearances by James Cameron and Pele (yes, the soccer player).

Microsoft's evening press event, featuring The Beatles: Rock Band, plus playable demos of Halo: ODST and Left 4 Dead 2, continued the celebrity theme. We got a chance to play "Back in the USSR" and "Taxman," but the real excitement started when we left the stage and were replaced by the unlikely combo of Dhani Harrison and Christopher "McLovin" Mintz-Plasse. … Read more

If you enjoyed Eric Franklin's post on 8-bit NES-style hip-hop, you'll definitely enjoy Team Teamwork's "The Ocarina of Rhyme." It's a mix tape of mashups that combines hip-hop tracks with the score to the Zelda game Ocarina of Time.

Team Teamwork produced the mix, which features unique tracks by Spank Rock, Common, Aesop Rock, Clipse, and my personal pick: MF Doom. Most of the songs fit well with the background score; for example, in "Fumbling Over Words," artist Edan Portnoy's intensity melds seamlessly into the rumblings of the "Battle" … Read more

Well, other than the fact that both Mega Man and Jay-Z were pop-culture icons of their respective eras (yes, people, Jay-Z is that popular), they now each have 8-bit, NES-style music associated with them.

Video game music from the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) era had a very distinct style. Even music on other 8-bit consoles like the Sega Master System could not match it.

Anyone who at least played an NES back in those days (pretty much every kid, at least in the U.S.) will immediately recognize the style of that sound after just a few bars.

It'… Read more

Motorola's "JayZ" headphones passed FCC muster (PDF), though we don't yet know if they're in any way connected to the rapper/music impresario/Beyonce husband of the same name. (Given the recent arrival of the Dr. Dre headphones, we wouldn't be surprised if they are).

The Federal Communications Commission filing reveals that you can use the JayZ headphones with your Bluetooth audio device and Bluetooth cell phone simultaneously. If you're listening to music and your phone rings, you can transfer the call to your headphones. Hang up the call with a push of … Read more

With sales for digital singles outpacing CD sales, it's hard to imagine an artist overlooking any avenue of digital distribution and revenue. Yet with the exception of a handful of tracks, American rap icon Jay-Z has resisted releasing his 100-song catalog as ringtones--until last week. That's when most of the remaining tracks streamed into the digital media marketplace. Most. Through August, ten of the artist's smash singles have been earmarked for only one site.

Starting Monday, those hidden hits, including 'Can I Get A', 'IZZO (H.O.V.A.)', and 'Roc Boys (And The Winner Is)', became … Read more

Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Vice empire has cooked up some snarky rhymes, headphone-wrecking, apocalyptic beats from some of the label's best and most recent reworkings for you to devour. Courtesy of Vice Records, all the remixes you see below were sliced and diced from hipster favorites Justice, Spankrock, The Streets, and Bloc Party. Download it, pass it around, play it at your parties. This music is meant to be heard (and danced to). Happy gobble gobble!

Britney Spears "Me Against the Music" Justice remix

Britney can sound listenable with the right producer--in this case, Justice implements a C&C Music Factory-reminiscent synth stab to spice things up. You'll wish they'd all met a long time ago. … Read more

The much-anticipated release of Jay-Z's new album American Gangster was released this past Tuesday, and while I personally feel it's a better album than his previous effort Kingdom Come, I have to ask, "Who is responsible for picking these beats?" I'd say half of the tracks are worth listening to and the rest are in serious need of a remix. Hova's lyrics are solid as usual, which is expected, but his delivery is borderline annoying.

… Read more