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Yesterday, Apple rolled out iTunes Plus in the iTunes US Store, which offers higher-quality DRM-free downloads for $1.29 (a $0.30 premium over the “standard” $0.99 download). The “Plus” downloads are DRM-free 256kbps AAC files, playable by any device or software that supports AAC (not just iTunes or iPods).

Lotuspike applauds this move, and agrees with Steve Jobs’ “Thoughts On Music” post in which he indicated Apple’s position that DRM-free music is better for consumers.

We are working with our iTunes affiliate to attempt to get our music into the “iTunes Plus” store; at the moment, it’s not clear how independent labels like ourselves can participate.

Meanwhile, Lotuspike music is available from other sites like eMusic in DRM-free formats, and of course remains available from the iTunes Store in the standard Protected AAC format.

Just a beautiful image from Jeff’s wife on the road in New Mexico.

Simply worth sharing.

- Daniel

A funny thing happens when you go into business as a record label: suddenly you get a lot of people sending you email asking where they can send their CD for you to release.

There are a couple of important presumptions there.

The first, and more easily dismissed presumption, is that if they send you a CD, you will be interested in releasing it. By Sturgeon’s Law, that’s sort of a stretch right there. But let’s not dwell on that too much.

The second presumption is much more interesting. Even if we posit that they have recorded the finest music ever heard by the ears of humankind, they are presuming that you will want them to send it.

Hell, why wouldn’t you want to hear it? (more…)

Here is a bad video of the very bad room as I found it after moving into our house in December. As you can see, the previous owner thought that regular drywall was a good idea in a damp Pittsburgh basement…

I have made a lot of progress since this was taken and all of the walls are now bare, and I am in the process of removing all of the Liquid Nails adhesive left behind from how the wallboard was being held up.

More soon.

Well, I was thinking today, and I decided to try and become active again in semi-every-so-often blogging on this thing. It is our blog, after all…

I have actually started construction (destruction) in my basement this week on what I hope will quickly become my project studio (equipped for both music and freelance design purposes). I have had to “undo” some nasties that the previous owners left for me. Most notably are moldy sheet rock and literally NO electrical run for the room.

So why not post a preliminary plan on the blog and let some others comment on what my set-up should be? I could actually use the help. Here are my initial thoughts / factors / constraints / plans:

The initial set-up should accommodate the actual project I want to work on, but with flexibility in mind, since I may decide to change up or perhaps explore other directions along the way. What I want to accommodate right off is:

DAW: – 2 G4 Mac Titanium Laptops (already have) – Audio interface / MIDI IO (please help)

*Mixer / Monitoring: – Mixer? (please help) – Phones for monitoring (for now)

MIDI: – M-Audio MK-449C MIDI Controller Keys (already have) – Secondary control (TBD)

Instruments: – ESP LTD MH50 Electric Guitar (already have) – Udu (TBD) – Frame drums (TBD) – Various hand percussion (TBD) – Flute / didge (TBD) – Various VST / AU

*External Effects? (have not yet decided on this - comments welcome): I have tossed this idea around a bit, looking to offload some of the CPU load from effects to external units. Comments welcome on external DSP (powercore) vs. Hardware… – Small Rack (please help) – Reverb (please help) – Multi FX unit (please help)

Mics: (please help)

So I obviously need suggestions for Mics as well as the best way to tie it all together, vis a vis audio/MIDI IO interface. I am aiming to sync the midi clocks on both laptops. The items with * are kind of “what ifs?” In other words, if I go the way of external effects, etc, I would need to more carefully consider these. So I am hoping to generate some discussion here as I move towards an initial set up. Also, keeping in mind that the budget is tight (I have to figure that out yet), and this is a certainly a novice set-up, I want to sensitive to cost where possible without compromising too much those items that are important.

So it may be bare bones at first, but I would like comments on all this stuff.

• dp

Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium @ Carnegie Science Center. June 9th, 2006 @ 8:00pm. Doors open @ 7:30 $10 general admission/$8 for students (w/ ID) and CSC members

Lotuspike and Carnegie Science Center are pleased to bring back The Ministry of Inside Things, Friday, June 9th at 8:00pm.

The Ministry of Inside Things, consisting of electronic musician Chuck van Zyl and electric guitarist Art Cohen, are considered among the most innovative of US synthesists today. Influenced by the early music of Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel, their spacemusic has been described as linear, leading the listener across many sonic terrains. Based on improvisation, The Ministry of Inside Things creates electronic realizations that flow from theme to theme, with the experience often lasting up to two hours. Through use of textures and atmospheres as well as harmony, rhythm and melody, the group transports the audience on an internal sonic excursion.

van Zyl has been recording electronic music and performing live for more than 15 years but is best known for hosting one of the country’s most successful radio shows of electronic music, STAR’S END, for the past 20 years. van Zyl has released two CDs of spacemusic on the Centaur label, Celestial Mechanics and The Relic as well as a collaborative effort with Peter Gulch, Regeneration Mode on Synkronos and The Sound Museum with Gulch and Rath on Groove Ltd. Art Cohen has been pushing the limits of the electric guitar in the studio and in live performance for well over 15 years.

Performance will be accompanied with a laser light show and feature a meet and greet after the show. For more information, email: contact@lotupsike.com.

For more information: http://members.bellatlantic.net/~chuckv/moit.html

For online ticketing: http://www.carnegieonline.org/csc (look for “voices beyond the dome concert series” at the bottom of the page)

Or e-mail us: contact@lotuspike.com

Call: 412-237-3400 for ticket information

Lotuspike and Carnegie Science Center welcomes Robert Rich! Sunday, April 23, 2006 8 p.m. in the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium $16; $8 for members, students, children and seniors

Join internationally-acclaimed electronic music artist Robert Rich under the dome of the Henry Buhl, Jr. Planetarium with live lasers and special effects. In his 20+ year career, Rich’s music has been distributed and broadcast internationally on major radio shows and has been included in feature films, gallery installations and planetariums across the country and abroad. In addition to his accomplishments as a musician, Robert Rich is also gifted innovator who participated in the creation of MIDI, a global computer language that synthesizers use to communicate with one another. Presented by Carnegie Science Center and Lotuspike Records.

Get more info here >

Today was the last day for Dr. Robert Moog, a man whose impact on
electronic music and music of all kinds cannot possibly be measured.
He will be missed, though his influence will be felt for decades to come.

update!



You can now purchase tickets online for our Voices Beyond the Dome concert series @ the Science Center!

Click here for tickets >

Now that I’ve got the studio nearly reassembled after moving, I’m starting work on my next album, tentatively titled West. It will be sonically similar to On Water, but the compositions will be more structured, in the direction of the last track on On Water, “Pray for Rain”. The first track, “Laurel Ridge”, is finished now; look for an exclusive preview of it in the next lotusCast podcast. We’ll also feature a sneak peek at Daniel’s work in progress as well.

-Ben

OK, so after a long bout with a mix issue and learning a few things from scratch (thanks Jeff) I have decided to scrap my whole production process and start again.

It’s not as big of an issue for me as it is for an artist with a complex hardware setup or elaborate studio environment. This is mainly because my world is made up of one laptop (mac of course), a entry level MIDI controller and a guitar (which I don’t know how to use yet), so when I say I have abandoned my production process, most of it has to do with the DAW.

Thanks to fellow lotusFounders Jeff and Ben I have come to understand the value of Logic Audio’s mixing flexibility, so i am hooked and off and running.

My only regret is how much time I scratching my head over Ableton Live in the production process…and don’t misread this, I LOVE Live, but I found Logic to exceed my expections when it came to achieving some rather complicated sound sculpting tasks.

Thanks again to the lotusPartners. They are true mentors!

DP

So I finally upgraded my version of Ableton Live, which I have been lovingly crafting some sketches for my upcoming project.

So, I am finding that upgrading, before it feels beneficial, can be somewhat disturbing and can really, really suck.

I upgraded to a newer version, while still not the latest (v. 4.0.4) , it is newer, and was alleged to fix a clicking / static noise issue with ReWire and MIDI controller movements. In doing so, not only did it not do anything to solve my issues, but now ReWire fails to work at all. Nice.

This is the error I got >

if anyone has any insight, feel free to have at it.

More later after I get things moving again.

DP

It’s been a while since we added to the blog. Sorry to add to it with a rant…

I am mixing a few things as I approach a CD project, and so far it pretty much is the hardest damn thing i’ve ever attemtped music-wise.

Not sure why i’m struggling this much this time around…it’s not as if I haven’t done this before.

Jeff took a listen and we both agreed it still needs some EQ work and the mix is all up front. Jeff suggested maybe splitting the stereo audio to independent monos to create some more spatial presence. Overall, I have to rip it apart and start again to make room for everthing where it sits more comfortably.


Here is a sample of what i’ve got >

So, yesterday morning when I was driving into work, I was listening to some music that was really well mixed. This got me thinking about making a list of my “favorite mixes”; i.e., albums that I think are exemplary in mix quality. I’ve started a list here. If you read this and want to add some of your own, please feel free to use the comments on this post.

• Peter Gabriel: So, Passion
  
• Steve Roach: Mantram
  
• Robert Rich: Bestiary
  
• nine inch nails: The Fragile
  
• Fluke: Risotto
  
• The Art of Noise: In No Sense? Nonsense! (probably the oldest item on the list)
  
• Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (whoops, no! much older than TAoN…)
  
• Madonna: Ray of Light
  

These are albums that, in my opinion, are so well-recorded that they’re interesting to listen to even if they’re not your favorite style of music (although I note that I’ve chosen albums on which I actually do like the music…). These are seductive recordings — I don’t mean musically seductive, Barry White-type seductive, but I mean that the recording is so good that the sound seduces you into attentive listening.