RIAA "Making Available" Claim Rejected In Atlantic v. Howell

An Arizona district court rejected the RIAA's "making available" argument in the copyright infringement case of Atlantic v. Howell yesterday:

"...infringement of the distribution right requires an actual dissemination of either copies or phonorecords."

The RIAA had been claiming that if someone could have downloaded copyrighted material from you, even if no one actually did, it should considered copyright violation. The court clearly rejected that claim and denied Atlantic's motion for a summary judgment in the case against Mr. and Mrs. Howell, the two defendants representing themselves without lawyers.

The court also opened the door to the idea that P2P file sharing may not infringe on the distribution right at all, if downloads are considered to be simply a series of reproductions.

For more info:
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Wired
The Court Order on ilrweb

Christian Rock Concert Disaster

About 40 people were injured on Friday after the floor collapsed at a Christian rock concert at Central Heights Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Read the story here.

Access Virus Atomizer OS 2.7 Beta

Virus Atomizer is now available for download as part of Access Music's long-awaited public beta of OS 2.7 for the Virus TI line of synths, including the new TI Snow. Atomizer turns the Virus TI into a highly-tweakable glitch beat chopper/stutterer. It's awesome. No doubt it will soon become the most overused effect in the DJ scene. The update also adds additional USB outputs and support for multiple Viruses in one system.

Head Resonance

solar powered random sound generator by headresonance

Head Resonance Company is an interdisciplinary art and research project which explores the realization of ideas over space and time: How does the human consciousness react to repetition and transformation?

Established in 1979 by Peter Elsner and Benjamin Heidersberger, Head Resonance records vocal improvisations primarily with a Sennheiser Kunstkopf triaxial stereo microphone system and a delay and mixes the audio for listening on headphones.

MIM Buys The Fiske Collection

The Musical Instrument Museum, currently under construction in Phoenix, has acquired The Fiske Collection, the largest musical instrument collection on the West Coast, from California's Claremont University.

The Collection:

Brass instruments represent the most comprehensive element of the Fiske Collection and the centerpiece is a set of seven over-the-shoulder brasses by Hall & Quinby of Boston (1872), the only known complete set of these types of Civil War-period instruments. The collection also features examples of most valve types invented during the 19th century and several outstanding examples by European and American makers are represented. Other highlights include 19th-century clock-spring slide trumpets by Ulyate, London (c. 1830); a slide trumpet made for the famous English player John Distin (c. 1833); a keyed trumpet by Antonio Apparuti, Modena (c. 1835), a rarity as the only example in the United States; an expertly designed disc valve cornet by J. A. Kohler, London (c. 1853); and two double-piston valve B-flat trumpets by Graves & Co., Worcester, Massachusetts (c. 1845).

The collection also includes several important examples of woodwind instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries, such as an extremely rare, curved English horn by August Grenser, Dresden (c. 1760); a finely preserved C clarinet by John Astor of London (c. 1785); a unique C clarinet by Naust of Paris (c. 1780); an oboe by Lehnhold of Dresden (c. 1800); a flute by F.G. A. Kirst of Potsdam (c. 1790); a beautifully-designed basset horn by Stengel (c. 1870); a unique prototype alto saxello by H. N. White, Cincinnati (c. 1925); and an early alto sax by Conn, Elkhart, Indiana (c. 1888).

String instruments in the collection include five 18th century violas d’amore, including a notable instrument by Johann Andreas Doerffel of Klingenthal (c. 1750). A fine treble viol by the noted maker Leandro Bisiach, Milan (c. 1895), is one of two known reproductions of a 16th century viol. Other notable string instruments include a rare mandolin by Joanies Vinnacia of Naples (1763); a mandora of the Presbler School in Milan (1785); and a hammer dulcimer (ca. 1877) by James A. MacKenzie of Minneapolis.

The keyboard collection includes one of the only surviving “semi-grand” pianos, and one of the earliest surviving American-made grand pianos, by Jonas Chickering, Boston (1850). Other keyboards of note are a Grand piano (ca. 1835) by Jean-Henri Pape of Paris with unique down-striking action, and a 3-manual, 5-octave reed organ [ca. 1889] by Mason & Hamlin of Boston.

The world instrument portion of the collection includes a large group of beautifully made and handsomely decorated Tibetan dung-chen (trumpets). Many traditional wind, string and percussion instruments from China, Japan, Africa, Indonesia and South America are an important part of the collection, as well, including a Magindanao kulintang (gong-chime ensemble) from the Philippines; several fine examples of suona (oboe) from China; 2 shofar (ram’s horn) from Israel; an early 20th-century Spanish laud; and large, wooden side blown trumpets from central Africa.

The Fiske Museum opened in 1954 and was on public display at the Bridges Auditorium in Claremont from 1977-1997. After that it was open only by appointment until November 2006, when it was closed partly due to lack of funding.

The rare 1,200-piece musical instrument collection from Claremont University Consortium’s Kenneth G. Fiske Museum at The Claremont Colleges in California represents the first major acquisition to enter MIM’s collection. The purchase price remains undisclosed but is rumored to be below the recent $1.5-million appraisal.

Trombone with dragon head bell (1830) photo by Irfan Khan [Los Angeles Times].

BeatBearing

BeatBearing is a tangible drum sequencer created by Peter Bennett at the Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC) at Queen's University Belfast.

Drum sounds are triggered by placing ball bearings on a Perspex base on top of a horizontal flat-screen CRT monitor hooked up to an Arduino. Visual feedback is displayed by the monitor to indicate the current time and the state of each ball bearing.

For more info on BeatBearing and other Peter Bennett prototypes, check out Pete's Sonic Art Research blog.

Brainwaves Festival 2008

Brainwaves Festival 2008 will take place November 21-23 at the Regent Theatre near Boston.

Meat Beat Manifesto
Matmos
Stars of the Lid
A Place to Bury Strangers
Little Annie
The Reformed Faction (of Zoviet France)
Andrew Liles and Jonathan Coleclough
Nmperign feat. Jason Lescalleet
Marissa Nadler
Glenn Jones
His Name Is Alive
Gary Wilson
Rivulets
Strategy
Nudge
Boduf Songs
Charalambides
To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie
Baby Dee
Lichens

11/21 - Friday: doors at 7pm, music from 8pm-1am
11/22 - Saturday 1: doors at noon, music from 1pm-5pm
11/22 - Saturday 2: doors at 7pm, music from 8pm-1am
11/23 - Sunday: doors at noon, music from 1pm-8pm (with a little break before the final act)

More info: brainwashed + brain-waves.

Aphex Twin Coachella

Aphex Twin's set at Coachella 2008 was great.

Aphex Twin hadn't played in the States in many years, and I had been wanting to see him in concert for a very long time. For the second year in a row, I got stuck in four hours of traffic from Hollywood to Indio. We parked just before the Aphex Twin set was scheduled to start, so we ran, then jumped on some girl's bicycle cart and ran some more.

We finally got to the Sahara tent about 15 minutes into Aphex's set. Mostly DJ with some electronics. The crowd was a bit tame (lame) for most of it. The energy in the second half really picked up, especially after the animals came out and started dancing on stage. There was a dancing dog, cow, ape and panda.

Richard D. James was heavy on the acid (techno) with some house and fast drum & bass bits thrown in the setlist as well. I heard he started the set with Public Enemy. Really?

I recognized very little of the music as his own. This was a DJ set though. I'd love to see him do a full live show of his own tracks.








[glenjamn]

Ouija Board Slide Guitar

Ouija Board Slide Guitar by Nicholas Holcomb of RISD and Ten31 Productions.

Human Speechome Project

The Human Speechome Project seeks to understand how children learn language and apply that knowledge to the artificially intelligent robots of the future.

Deb Roy [Director of the Cognitive Machines Group at the MIT Media Lab] and his wife, Rupal Patel [Director of the Communication Analysis and Design Laboratory at Northeastern University], are recording their son's first three years with 11 video cameras and 14 microphones.

They are compiling an enormous library: 200 gigabytes of compressed data per day for an average of 12-14 hours a day. About 80% of their son's waking moments are being captured. They expect to end up with 200,000 recorded hours over the three years.

Two PreSonus Firepods are converting 16-bit 48kHz audio from boundary mics which are acoustically tuned to use the ceilings as sound pickups. The Speechome team created a program called TotalRecall to visualize and comb through the massive amounts of audio and video.

[mit, press release, apple, wired]

RIP Tristram Cary

Tristram Cary, composer, synth designer and tape music innovator, passed away at age 82.

Cary pioneered tape music recording techniques during World War II and composed music for the classic sci-fi series Doctor Who. In the late 1960s, Tristram Cary co-founded EMS and co-designed the VCS3 "The Putney," the world's first portable synthesizer.

Tristram was born in Oxford on 14th May 1925. He served in the Royal Navy from 1943-6, specialising in radar and thereby receiving training in electronics. During his war service he independently developed the idea of what was to become tape music, and began experimenting as soon as he was released from the Navy in late 1946. From 1954 he found himself able to live by score commissions, and from that time produced a large variety of concert works and scores for theatre, radio, film, TV, public exhibitions etc.

He was founder (in 1967) of the electronic music studio at the Royal College of Music, and designed and built his own electronic music facility, one of the longest established private studios in the world. The equipment from this studio was brought to Australia, and most of it was incorporated into the expanding teaching studio at the University of Adelaide. He was also a founder Director of EMS (London) Ltd, and co-designer of the VCS3 (Putney) Synthesiser and other EMS products. He called upon a wide range of resources for generating film, TV, theatre, radio or concert music, special dialogue treatments, or anything in the area of specialised sound. His wide experience as a composer included all aspects of instrumental and vocal ensemble, any facet of electronic music, or combinations of several types.

Tristram played a pivotal role within the Elder Conservatorium until 1986, when he left the University to resume self-employment. During 1988-90, he was largely occupied with writing a major book on music technology which was published in London as The Illustrated Compendium of Musical Technology in May 1992 (Faber & Faber). The American version - substituting Dictionary for Compendium - is distributed by Greenwood Press, Connecticut.

In 1995 and 96 there were performances in London and Adelaide to mark his 70th birthday, and a new suite based on his music for the Ealing film The Ladykillers won The Gramophone Award for best film music CD in 1998.

Apart from composition activity, Tristram was a respected music critic for The Australian newspaper. In recent years he held the position of Honorary Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, in which capacity he continued his computer music research. In 2001 the University also conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Music. In 1991 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to Australian music. In 1999 he received the SA Great Music Award for the year, and Symphony Australia commissioned a new work - Scenes from a Life - to mark his 75th birthday in 2000. He received the Adelaide Critics Circle 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award on December 5, 2005.

Trailer for What The Future Sounded Like, an excellent 27-minute documentary on EMS and early electronic music.


Read more about Tristram Cary at create digital music.

Beatles Day Liverpool 2008

Beatles Day is set for July 10, 2008, in Liverpool to celebrate The Beatles on the anniversary of their return to their hometown following their triumphant first tour of America. Thousands of screaming fans greeted the band at Liverpool's Speke Airport (now named Liverpool John Lennon Airport) that day in 1964. Later that night, John, Paul, George and Ringo were honored at the premiere of "A Hard Day's Night" at the Odeon Cinema.

I remember making the pilgrimage to Liverpool with my family when I was a boy. I was amazed to see the real places from all The Beatles songs. Strawberry Fields, Penny Lane... I also got to check out The Cavern Club before the original underground spot was demolished.

Beatles Day 2008 will culminate in "Imagine: The Concert" at Echo Arena. Mop-top city. [billboard]

Robert Rich on 1,000 True Fans

Robert Rich has written as excellent essay in response to Kevin Kelly's 1,000 True Fans. Rich describes the reality of life as a "long tail" artist.

The Reality of Depending on True Fans.

"The sort of artist who survives at the long tail is the sort who would be happy doing nothing else, who willingly sacrifices security and comfort for the chance to communicate something meaningful, hoping to catch the attention of those few in the world who seek what they also find meaningful. It’s a somewhat solitary existence, a bit like a lighthouse keeper throwing a beam out into the darkness, in faith that this action might help someone unseen."

Read the full essay here.

NIN Discipline

Discipline, the new Nine Inch Nails single, is out now.

Yesterday the track was mastered by Alan Moulder. Today it was sent to radio stations, which have been playing it for the past few hours. Now it's available as a free mp3 download at nin.com. You can even download the multitrack files for remixing at remix.nin.com.

The speed of sound!

Go to www.nin.com May 5
Album ?

Sigillum S Piracy

Artists' struggles over the current state of music distribution and piracy are evident in the open letter posted today by Sigillum S.

They specifically name TheeBradMiller [Because God Told Me To Do It], Sickness Abounds and The Thing On The Doorstep for illegally uploading their intellectual property. TheeBradMiller and The Thing On The Doorstep have since removed the Sigillum S mp3 files.

The downside to eliminating your music from the mp3 blogs is that you lose that source of introducing new listeners to your music.

Read the letter on the Sigillum S news page.

Peter Murphy Tour

Peter Murphy is headlining a solo tour of the US.

May 2008
30 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon
31 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan

June 2008
2 - San Francisco, CA - Regency Center
3 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues
4 - San Diego, CA - House of Blues
5 - West Hollywood, CA - House of Blues
6 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Theater
8 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
9 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theater
11 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater
15 - Kansas City, MO - Beaumont Club
16 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe
17 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
18 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
20 - Columbus, OH - PromoWest Pavilion
21 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues
22 - Buffalo, NY - The Tralf
25 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
26, 27 - New York, NY - Blender Theater @ Gramercy
28 - Boston, MA - The Roxy
29 - Philadelphia, PA - Trocadero
30 - Baltimore, MD - Ram's Head Live

July 2008
2 - Atlanta, GA - CenterStage
3 - Tampa, FL - Tampa Theater
4 - Jacksonville, FL - Freebird
5 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Revolution
6 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues
9 - New Orleans, LA - venue to be announced
10 - Houston, TX - Meridian
11 - Austin, TX - Emo's
12 - Dallas, TX - House of Blues

Max 5

Max 5 is out now.

The new version of Max/MSP/Jitter from Cycling '74 includes lots of useful new features.

Downloads: The complete Max 5 bundle (which includes all the Max, MSP, and Jitter objects) is $699. There is a Max/MSP bundle that includes a limited set of Jitter objects for $495. The Max 5 Upgrade is $199. There's a 30-day demo. Check out the tutorial video.

Africa Celebrates U2

In The Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 is the new U2 tribute album created by African musicians. A portion of the record’s proceeds will directly benefit The Global Fund.

Track Listing:
1. Angelique Kidjo “Mysterious Ways”
2. Vieux Farka Touré “Bullet The Blue Sky”
3. Ba Cissoko “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
4. Vusi Mahlasela “Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own”
5. Tony Allen “Where The Streets Have No Name”
6. Cheikh Lô “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”
7. Keziah Jones “One”
8. Les Nubians “With Or Without You”
9. Soweto Gospel Choir “Pride (In The Name Of Love)”
10. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars “Seconds”
11. African Underground All-Stars Featuring Chosan, Optimus & Iyeoka “Desire”
12. Waldemar Bastos “Love Is Blindness”

Bjork Wanderlust

Björk "Wanderlust"
by Bjork

IK SampleTron

SampleTron, the newest release in IK Multimedia’s Sonik Instruments series, is now shipping. Made in cooperation with Sonic Reality, SampleTron combines IK’s powerful built-in effects from the SampleTank 2 engine, with the most complete collection of “Tron” sounds. It is available as a plug-in and as a standalone application for Mac and PC.

Over 2 GB of sounds from 17 rare and vintage “Tron” instruments:

• Mellotron M400
• Mellotron MK5
• Mellotron MKII
• Mellotron Powerhouse (8 Track Rhythm Machine)
• Novatron
• Vako Orchestron
• Optigan
• Talentmaker
• Chamberlin Music Master 600
• Chamberlin Music Master 400
• Chamberlin Model 200
• Chamberlin M1
• Chamberlin M4
• Chamberlin Rhythmate
• 360 Systems “Digital Tron”
• Roland VP-330 (Choir)
• Stylophone

Over 260 multisamples meticulously sampled by Sonic Reality. Over 640 presets. 32 built-in effects. Ability to use 4 effects per part.


For more info, visit IK's SampleTron page.

Cast-30

Just 30 more days till the cast comes off and I can use my right again (hopefully).

Here's a little weekend minimoog jam with the left.


cast-30 : mp3 download
this track is unavailable until june 13, 2013.

John Frusciante: Shadows Collide With People

Shadows Collide With People is John Frusciante's fourth solo album, released in 2004.

The record is a good mix of guitar, synths and great songwriting. Flea, Chad Smith, Charlie Clouser and Josh Klinghoffer make guest appearances. I especially enjoy the instrumentals: 23 Go In To End, -00Ghost27 and Failure 33 Object. Keyboards and synths include Doepfer A100, Moog Voyager, Nord, Arp String Ensemble, Casio SK-1, Synare, Mellotron and Rick Rubin's Chamberlin. [wos]

SoiSong Memory Box #1

SoiSong has started an ebay auction for a one-of-a-kind "memory box" commemorating their recent warm-up performance and trip to Japan.

In the tradition of Andy Warhol’s Time Capsule Boxes, SoiSong – the new band of Ivan Pavlov and Peter Christopherson – will be making a collection of Ephemera/Memorabilia, whenever they make a Test Run open to public view.

See www.myspace.com/soisong for details of forthcoming events.

Their first semi-public performance was in Tokyo on the 9th March last, where they made Test Run #7 at bar Bonobo in Harajuku.

This auction is of “SoiSong Memory Box #1” – a unique one-of-a-kind document of their trip, consisting of :

1. Japanese plastic binder containing used/cancelled air/e tickets in the bands names, luggage claim tickets, a hotel map, bills, menus, flyers and cards from the restaurants they visited, as well as flyers for various sexual products or services, plus several copies of the business card ONLY distributed to attendees, bearing the password which allows access to an event-exclusive area of the bands website, and one of the 40 hand-made ticket/invitations to the Test Run printed on clear plastic, also post cards, and other printed ephemera, including a menu printed on seaweed (probably not everlasting).

2. Also in the binder are 2 UNIQUE CDR's – one autographed by the band containing early mixes of their forthcoming record (previously referred to as an ep, but now running approx 39 minutes) and another containing an audio recording of approx 10 minutes of the climax of their show. Note : Although substantially different mixes of this material may appear in the future – Bonobo for example is planning a limited 303 copy edition of the show – these versions of the material will never be available elsewhere. Ownership of these discs is exclusive to the winner of this auction and does not confer any reproduction or upload rights.

3. The binder also contains about 25 as-yet unseen personal snaps of the bands trip, including Bonobo bar and friends.

4. Various small Japanese items, such as plastic mobile phone decorating jewellery, tiny Space Baby keychain, chopsticks, 1 unopened box Japanese condoms described as L but not suitably sized for most Gaijin etc Total purchase price $35

5. One Vivian Westwood cum-cloth (used). Original purchase price: about $35.

6. One blue and white cotton Japanese adult men’s “Yukata” house coat (size XL – ok for Gaijin) of the kind provided by the hotel, and used by the band during their stay. Original purchase price: about $20

These items are all contained in a brown cardboard box inscribed “SoiSong Memory Box #1” and dated.

Interesting idea and collection. Bidding is already over $500 USD.

Update 4/22/08: Yesterday the auction was removed from ebay for reasons unknown.

Update 4/25/08: The re-listed auction will end on May 4. Ebay removed the original listing because of copyright concerns.

Clay Chaplin @ Bent Fest LA

Clay Chaplin performed Cycle Brigade last night at the Bent Festival in LA.

Chaplin used a keyboard controller and a laptop running Max/MSP and Jitter to improvise with tweaked audio and video he had previously captured of a group of renegade bicyclists.

Clay Chaplin's interactive Bridge installation is currently on display in the Bent workshop. Bridge uses three Apple laptops suspended by swings which respond to their movement with sound and video effects. Visitors are encouraged to push and swing the laptops around and view themselves and the space around them with the attached webcams. The accelerometer data of all three computers are wirelessly networked producing interesting effects.

Bent Fest continues tonight at Grand Performances at the California Plaza in Downtown LA.

25 Ways To Kill A Piano

Check out Music Thing's "25 Ways To Kill A Piano." The article links to youtube videos of people destroying pianos.

I don't know if anyone can top Salvador Dalí's twisted idea put on canvas in 1934:

Atmospheric Skull Sodomizing a Grand Piano

Record Store Day

Today is Record Store Day. April 19, 2008.

Record Store Day celebrates the independent record retailer. There are events happening at hundreds of independently owned music stores all over the world today.

In-store performances, DJ sets, signings, meet-and-greets, exclusive releases, contests, free swag...

- Daniel Ash and David J [Bauhaus/Love and Rockets], Peanut Butter Wolf, and the Donnas will DJ at Amoeba in Hollywood.
- Jello Biafra will recommend records to customers at Amoeba in San Francisco.
- Metallica signing and M&G at Rasputin Music in Mountain View, CA.
- Times New Viking's Adam Elliot DJ set at Used Kids Records in Columbus, Ohio.
- Nada Surf live show at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, New Jersey.

There are lots of other events. You can find them at Pitchfork or the official Record Store Day site.

NIN LA Resistance Meeting 2007

NIN Resistance Meeting LA 04/18/07

I was just reminded that it has been one year since the Nine Inch Nails secret resistance meeting concert in Los Angeles. I have to thank Taryn again for making it possible for me to attend. There were only 42 people there to witness and be a part of that truly unique concert experience.

It was more than just a concert. In fact, we didn't even know we were going to a concert!

The whole Year Zero alternate reality game [ARG] was crazy! Meeting on a street corner to collect ammo boxes full of tools for "the resistance," receiving calls and following directions given via a pre-paid cell phone, signing a ridiculous waiver, being frisked and told to leave everything but our IDs behind--even our cell phones, then riding in a bus with blacked-out windows to an undisclosed location which looked like a creepy abandoned warehouse surrounded by people wearing bandanas over their faces, listening to a guy named Neil Czerno talk about the resistance movement ("WAKE UP AND GIVE A SHIT!"), stepping into a freight elevator... WTF?!

And then MUSIC!

Nine Inch Nails was on a small stage just a few inches off the ground. Surprise! They were right in front of us playing their asses off. There was nothing separating us from the stage. No barricade or security guy blocking our view like at all the big shows. This was in your face. Loud and super intense! It was the shit!


[youtube: P0SSESSEDNINTEND0]

The Beginning of the End - Survivalism - Last - March of the Pigs - We're In This Together - The Frail... It was unreal!

NIN put on a killer show until six songs in when the power was cut and riot police raided the place! Alarms were going off. People were scattering. Tear gas cannisters were flying. The SWAT team "cops" tackled the guitar player, and a girl got pushed to the ground. Gunshots left and right. We ran out of there and back to the bus.

It was without a doubt the most unbelievable concert experience ever!

Art Is Resistance.

Is this guy at 0:40 in the video Zach de la Rocha?

Vice Vostok

Six minutes of my second night of experiments with the Vostok.


vice vostok : mp3 download
this track is unavailable until june 13, 2013.

Vostok

The Analogue Solutions Vostok modular analog synth is sweet!

The Vostok V2 has a 22x22 matrix pin panel and 69 sockets for patching, a MIDI to CV converter and an 8-step sequencer in a portable steel suitcase. It's also got a 2-way joystick controller, MS20-style filters... There's a lot more. Check out the Analogue Solutions Vostok page for all the specs.

Here are my first nine minutes of sounds on the Vostok. No patch cords. No MIDI. Not even a keyboard attached. Just pins in the matrix panel and some knob tweaking.


premier vostok : mp3 download
this track is unavailable until june 13, 2013.

Matmos Supreme Balloon Tour Dates

Matmos US Tour Dates in July:

07 Seattle, WA - Triple Door w/Wobbly
10 Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater w/Wobbly
12 San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall w/Wobbly
15 Boulder, CO - Boulder Theatre w/Wobbly
18 + 19 NYC - LPR (formerly Village Gate on 158 Bleeker) w/Snacks
21 Toronto, ONT - The Music Gallery w/Snacks
23 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center w/Snacks
24 Detroit, MI - Detroit Institute of Arts w/Snacks
25 Pittsburgh, PA - Andy Warhol Museum w/Snacks
27 Chicago, IL - Lakeshore Theater w/Snacks

More info at pitchfork, including the tracklisting for Supreme Balloon, European tour dates and details on tomorrow's Throbbing Gristle DJ set and reading by Drew Daniel in Baltimore.

iZotope ANR-B Broadcast Noise Reduction

iZotope ANR-B is the new adaptive noise reduction 1U rack unit for broadcast audio.

Known for producing excellent software plug-ins and noise reduction technology, iZotope announced their first entry in the world of hardware at NAB in Vegas.

iZotope's ANR-B intelligently identifies and suppresses environmental broadband noise, hum, phone line artifacts and more to dramatically increase the quality of broadcast audio. Unlike other solutions, ANR-B actually detects noise on the fly and adapts to changing noise over time allowing for automatic operation with almost no input required from the user. It can be as simple as turning a single knob.
Unwanted noise from an air conditioner or fan, an engine, a studio with bad wiring, ISDN artifacts or just about any other source can effectively be reduced, improving the quality of on-location audio and the intelligibility of interviews and call-ins.

• Automatically removes noise from audio in realtime
• Two channels can work independently or as a stereo pair
• Includes presets for specific scenarios
• Residual noise switch lets user quickly preview the noise being removed
• Single knob controls noise suppression on each channel
• Learn button allows for manual operation by capturing a noise profile
• PC/Mac interface for managing presets and designing advanced programs
• Remote control capability

ANR-B will be available in the second half of 2008 for under $5,000. iZotope is now taking pre-orders for the first manufacturing run.

iZotope's RX audio restoration software is now available in RTAS/AudioSuite, VST, MAS and DirectX as well. [via sos]