Musicians Fined for Performing In New York's Central Park

Central Park has designated "hot spots" as quiet areas and began discouraging musicians from performing in the park by fining them.

I've watched musicians and singers in Central Park, Washington Square Park and on Prince Street in Soho and I never heard anyone complain about the noise... they were too busy trying to get closer to hear the music.

Sounds like certain citizen groups don't want musicians in the park... at all. (Elitism alert!)

via 7online

Sinitus Tempo - "Spice in Autumn"

Sinitus Tempo - Spice In Autumn - | Download

Sinitus Tempo - Spice in Autumn by sinitustempo

Do yourself a favor and listen to more of this dude.

His approach to production is unique because he truly understands the use of melody and space to create mood.

Very few producers could have their work performed live and it actually work.

Sinitus Tempo could pull it off.

From the Lovely Dreams EP.

Video: Drums & Ammo: Ammbush - "Speak Up"

Drums and Ammo, Vol. 1 debut instrumental album drops April 14, 2011 @ www.swtbrds.com.

SWTBRDS production collective consists of Al Jieh, Ammbush, 6Fingers & REL.

Click image to head over to SWTBRDS.COM

Italy's Neopolitan Street Music: Neomelodico

Italy has its own street music that is inspired by the hardship and harsh realities of living in Naples. 

This mob inspired music that outsells all other music outside of Naples, yet it is strictly local.

Sounds like Hip-Hop in its early days in NYC.

Buckshot On the Art of Recording a Song

I'm glad Buckshot did this because there are too many artists that aren't ready and don't want to take constructive criticism. Fine. Don't listen to me, listen to Buckshot.

Get his latest digital book and let that man tell you how to have quality photos, mixed songs and conduct yourself professionally.

Fortunately this doesn't apply to the majority of people I come in contact with, but the number is a little larger than it should be... in 2011.

REWIND: "Chico and the Man" Opening Theme

They did a great job of showing East L.A. during the opening credits of "Chico and the Man".

Jose Feliciano singing "Light My Fire" and "Chico and the Man":

Street Etiquette presents Sartorial Sounds

Sartorial Sounds is the creation of fashion and lifestyle duo, Street Etiquette. Directed by Dr. Woo.

The short film examines, brings together and celebrates music and style. It is their belief that all of us are artists, shaped by life and experience.

Feature Mara Hruby, Jesse Boykins III, Joshua Bennett, Joekenneth Museau, Theo Martins, MeLo-X & Rinaldy Alarez.

streetetiquette.com

HBO's Treme & The New Orleans Musicians Clinic

The cast members of HBO's Treme got together with the New Orleans Musicians Clinic & The Roots of Music at a benefit to raise money for both charities.

The new season premieres April 24th at 10pm on HBO.

Video: Saneyes - "Ford Mustang"

From the Saneyes/Gainsbourg: You're Under Arrest project.

Saneyes - Saneyes/Gainsbourg: You're Under Arrest(Detournement d'art mineur) | Album Download

Saneyes did this project as a tribute to Serge Gainsbourg, the legendary singer and cultural artist whose work and opinions have influenced so many genres of music, art and creative expression.

NY: Beat Society Producer Showcase Returns

After a 5 year break, Beat Society in conjunction with Soulspazm Records and Native Instruments Maschine makes its return to NYC(the L.E.S. to be exact) at Tammany Hall on Saturday, February 12th. 

Expected to display their beatmaking skills are producers Nottz, Buckwild, DJ Revolution, !llmind and Khrysis.

DJ Evil Dee will be the DJ for the evening and the hosts are Stef Tataz and Sao

 Beat Society

Saturday-February 12th

Tammany Hall 152 Orchard Street(Lower East Side)

Doors 6PM

Tickets: $10

For more info click this link...

Turn Your iPad Into A Recording Studio

Tascam has created an app that will allow the "artist on the go" to record a few separate tracks of audio and mix them down to create that next song... while on the road.

Although the recording is totally digital, the app makes use of a cassette tape graphic to make the four-track recording process seem realistic to those who remember the original Portastudios using cassette tapes.

The app has faders to adjust volume, pan controls to position sounds within the mix, eq to shape the frequencies of your tracks and authentic VU meters to give you visual level references.

All songs can be mixed down internally and saved as WAV files, giving you a CD quality recording.

Kinda slick!

Click this link to check it out in the App store...

Also:

If you really want to go to 8 tracks and do some pro recording and editing? 

Check out Sonoma Wire Works' Studio Track for iPad (also available for iPhone in 4 track)- Click here to get pricing and see video of it in action...

Who Needs A Band When You Have iPads and iPods?

Watch the North Point Community Church group in Atlanta rock a Hip Hop-esque Christmas performance using only iPads and iPhones.

Don't sleep... the performance was dope.

Fresh.

Book: How To Wreck A Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins : A History of The Vocoder

via stonesthrow

Writer Dave Tompkins traces the history of the vocoder from the mid 20th century to it's use in later Hip-Hop and R&B music.

What I like most about Tompkins writing is his inclusion of all of the players involved in the popularization of the vocoder as an instrument - not just the major players. This is more historical reference than a chance to celebrate a few of the people he admires.

The book's title comes from the phrase "how to recognize speech" being said through a vocoder and misheard as "how to wreck a nice beach".

Learn more about the book...

Video: L.I.E. - "Go Girl"

L.I.E. comes with a club banger and video starring the Gossyp(the two love interests in the video walking around the Meatpacking District and lower Manhattan).

Although I wish the lighting would have been better in this video, I'm not mad at the effort or the product.

Good establishing shots, made good use of New York City as a backdrop and it helped visualize the song, making it even easier to like. Cool video.

Behind The Beats - Kaimbr

Digital Hustle Films presents Behind The Beats, a series of interviews with established and up and coming producers.

In this episode he interviews Kaimbr of the Low Budget Crew(Oddisee, Kev Brown, yU, Peter Rosenburg, etc.).

Look forward to more of these clips from the dude Gadget.