Music

Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman dead at 49

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Just over two years after contracting a rare skin tissue disease, Slayer guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman died on Thursday from liver failure at a hospital near his home in Southern California’s Inland Empire area.

RIP

NAMM acquires the TEC Foundation

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The TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio has formally entered into an agreement to become part of the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), strengthening the important work of both non-profits and the NAMM Show. All TEC activities, including the Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, will join other marquee activities, events and efforts within the NAMM Foundation portfolio including the Museum of Making Music, research projects, the SupportMusic Coalition and global public service campaigns.

This is great news for NAMM, but more importantly the pro audio community.

Some important lessons for guitar players

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Instead of notes, scales and chords, we’re talking about fretting hand position, picking hand positions, strap-height, stance and how you hold your head, neck and shoulders. All of these things affect what you can do on the guitar.

Great video by Alex Vollmer about how we interact with our guitar. There is a preview video available — you can buy the full video for $5.

Jordan Rudess: The Explore Project

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It’s been a few years since I recorded my last solo album, “Notes On a Dream”. The inspiration has been flowing ever since and I’m now ready to set forth in recording my orchestral piece, Explorations, as well as my solo piano album, Explores. You know that I am not one to sit back and drive on the traditional path so we are going to explore some cutting edge technology options.

I’ve known Jordan for a number of years and besides being a great guy, he is one of the most talented musicians I’ve come across. Jordan continues to push the boundaries of music, which is a great thing for us all. Check out his new project.

iTunes dominates digital music and video downloads

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Apple dominates the home digital-video sector, in much the same way it dominates digital music. iTunes’ share of electronic sell-through (EST) for television shows reached 67 percent in 2012. EST television sales from Xbox Video, Apple’s nearest competitor, comprised 14 percent of the market. When it comes to feature-length movies, iTunes boasted a 65 percent share of EST, with Amazon and Xbox Video far behind at 10 percent each.

It’s not even close.

Universal Audio’s Apollo 16

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Apollo 16 is Universal Audio’s flagship 24-bit / 192 kHz audio interface, delivering world-class conversion with 16 x 16 analog I/O — twice the analog connectivity of the original Apollo model. This uncompromising FireWire/Thunderbolt-ready* interface combines superior sound with powerful onboard UAD-2 QUAD processing.

I love my Apollo.

Pro Tools 11

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“Pro Tools 11 represents a quantum leap in creative power,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Services at Avid. “The newly designed architecture turbo-charges production with more plug-in processing, the ability to run more virtual instruments—and a host of new features—letting users create ambitiously, without holding anything back.”

Depeche Mode – The Dark Progression

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You can watch Depeche Mode: The Dark Progression, an unauthorized documentary about the legendary synthpop band, in its entirety on YouTube.

Black Sabbath

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Here’s a riff from the new album, which is due in June.

Who owns the digital music you buy?

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Often, you’re not buying the song so much as the license that lets you hear the song.

I believe that if I pay for it, I should own and that should include the ability to resell it if I want.

Note: I linked to the print version because Businessweek was using popups and multiple pages to show the story.