RLGT Canada

The radio was invented in the 18th century and took off in popularity in the mid-1950s, when stereo was introduced. for decades, the main ways that people listened to music was either to see the performance live, buy the record, or wait for the song on the radio. Imagine the commitment this took! People could not go about their daily lives engrossed in the world of their headphones. If you wanted music, you were going to commit to it! Want to hear the latest Beatles’ record in 1964? You must buy it or request it on your radio. It took time; it took dedication. Nearly 50 years later, there is an information overload: any number of websites can expose you to more music than you can ever appreciate in five lifetimes. Is this a good thing? That is debatable.

The compact cassette tape was invented in 1962, but was low-quality and not widely used until the 1980s, when its quality exceeded that of beta-max. Until then, music piracy and music sharing was non-existent.Then, it became possible to buy the latest great record, record it onto some blank tapes, and share your new Michael Jackson album with your cheap friends. Even more upsetting to the RIAA was home-recording: Just hit the ‘record’ button on your stereo as your favorite song starts to create your own mixtape at no additional profit to the music label or the artist. This was time-consuming, but worthwhile for many young music fans.

In 1999, Napster was created as a peer-to-peer network. Acquiring new music became easier than it has ever been: it was nearly ask and you shall receive. Recordings not commercially available were suddenly up for grabs and freely traded. On one hand, it was now possible for fans to get more of the bands they love. People could expand their musical horizons and hear songs the radio did not deem worthy. Radiohead broke through with huge commercial success in 2000’s Kid A, an experimental album not full of radio-friendly singles. Of course, larger acts Madonna and Metallica were upset to the point of litigation at the leaking of unreleased material, and the site changed status. Users were scared off, and the program changed to a no-longer profitable platform. Still, new music trading programs and sites quickly replaced Napster. Currently, the average young person’s iPod has around 800 illegally-copied tracks on it.

At the end of the day, there is nothing the RIAA can do to prevent music trading. Try to encode music so that it cannot be copied, and it will be cracked. Shut down a P2P network, and a new one will replace it. Go after users and there are still hundreds of millions of other users sharing. The RIAA is fighting a losing war, and all that is left to do is adapt to the changes.…

You have quite a few choices when looking for music on the Internet. There are many services to choose from like Yahoo, Napster, Itunes, etc. Most services have a few options to choose from plus your frequency of payment. How do these services stack up against the Free peer to peer sites? In this article I will discuss the options and the difference in the paid and the free.

Free vs Paid

You can get your music through one of the peer-to-peer services like Limewire, Kazaa, etc. However, this music and files is not really legal. The arguments of these types of sharing files type services has been discussed for years.

The biggest reason for not downloading music from sharing sites is you never know what your getting. Some peer-to-peer have some spyware programs that run in the background. Kazaa has been known to do this in the past.

The music you download could be infected or could be of low quality. Another thing since many people share files different compression and mp3 codecs could be used that will not allow the file to play until you find the right codec.

If you have downloaded music from file sharing sites before one song could be louder and the another could be to soft. The reason is people who compress the music for sharing each have their own settings. You could have a play list mix of low quality and better quality of music. The music would not be uniform.

Paid options

Many of the services will allow you to sample music and if you want it you can pay for the song individually at 99 cents per track. Walmart has a music site at 88 cents per track.

Other options allow you to have basic monthly fee which allows you listen to as many songs as you want and save them on your play lists. You can’t download them normally with the basic service but only to be able to listen to them and the sites many radio stations. You have two options for the basic service you can pay monthly at a higher rate or pay annually for a reduced rate.

The premium service is usually called to go. This allows you download the songs and burn them or transfer them to your MP3 player or Ipod. This service can cost you a little more per month or you can pay annually and save.

Napster has a good deal where you can pay $14.95 per month and get a free Ipod. If you cancel before the year is up you still have to pay for the remaining months. They lock you in for 12 months because they give you a free Ipod. You can also pay with this service annually and save a few bucks.

No matter what service you end up choosing Paid is better than free in this case if you want quality.…

Many new hip hop producers believe that they don’t need to know music theory to make good beats. That is the farthest from the truth unless you are completely gifted like some producers. However, the majority of producers have studied music theory and are better for it. Here is 5 reasons why music theory is important for hip hop.

1. Hip Hop instrumentals are usually based around a keyboard and percussion. A keyboard is just like the piano. If you know how to play the piano, you will do good on a keyboard. If you learn music theory, you will usually learn it on a piano. If you know music theory, you can read sheet music or play from just hearing a song and you can make your own version of the beat relatively easy with different instruments or whatever you want.
2. When you know music theory, you will know how to switch keys so it fits the emotion of the song. Some keys sound to upbeat and some keys sound too sad. If you are going for a certain tone or emotion in a song, the beat has to be in the right key. You can change keys and make the beat a totally different sound from the one in a different key. Simply put, you can change the tone of any beat relatively easy when you know music theory.
3. Not all hip hop songs stay in the same key for the whole song. When you know music theory, you will be able to modulate between keys to make a certain part of the piece a different feeling than the rest of the track. This can be the hook, verse, or a bridge.
4. Since the style of beats in hip hop is always changing, knowing music theory is very important. Even though the beats change all the time, you will be able to create similar sounds because you will be able to improvise very well.
5. When you know music theory, you can recreate any sound that you like, switch it to your own style, and make something that is mainstream enough to sell. If you are in music production for money, you will enjoy learning music theory. If you are just in it for the art, you will enjoy the fact that you are creating great music.

Music theory isn’t as hard as most people think. You don’t have to take years of it to know the basics you will need in your production career. Hip Hop doesn’t always fit into music theory, so studying it intensively could hinder your results. Just go to your local community college and take the introductory music theory class and if you would like to, go on to the next one also. That should be enough to get you what you need.…

Every musician wants their own studio. Have you just moved into a new home with your eye on a particular room as your home studio? Maybe you finally finished your basement and you can just imagine your instruments on wall mounts to show them off to your visitors? Either way, building a home studio is one of the most enjoyable projects that any musician will complete. It’s a place where your musical ideas can come floating into your head, and your tools are right there at your disposal to write them down and make some music. Many musicians can’t afford to have a massive Hollywood style studio in their home, so some of us have to make do with just a small amount of space. Thankfully, there are some great looking space saving options for all of your musical needs.

Where Do I Put the Keyboard?

One of the first things you want to do when scouting the room is to figure out where you will put your keyboard if you have one. Usually the best place is right along a wall which has shelves or a window above. Sometimes you may not be able to hang certain instruments on a wall if a piano is in the way. Choose a space that supplies both room and easy access.

What Do I Do with All of My Guitars?

If you are a guitar player, or any string instrument musician, you should invest in some nice wall mounts. Wall mounts enable you do use the wall as storage space for your guitars, mandolins, violins, banjos, etc. Wall mounts also give you more floor space for a desk or even more instruments if you have them. Floor space is a much needed thing in a studio. Stick large instruments in a corner, like an upright bass or a cello.

I Can Use My Studio for Professional Recording Too?

A home studio is more than just a nice place to show off your instruments or your record collection. It’s also a place where you can record albums, EPs, singles, Jingles, or anything else you may need to do. Don’t forget that the room should have very little outside sounds; otherwise you won’t get a professional sound. Set up a good desk with a quality pair of studio monitors on either side, and use your computer for the recording process. Many different types of software are available to use; some are free, and some aren’t. One of the most important things about running a successful home studio is to keep lots of room. When you are recording, you have little time to pick things up or readjust items. There will be lots of wires, instruments, and stands everywhere. Make sure your studio is clean and usable. All of these things will help ensure that you will have a great time when working in your new musical office.…

Everybody likes listening to music, and it has become ever more easy and convenient to do this no matter where you’re at. It’s so great to be able to load music on your Ipod or mp3 player and instantly be able to take your music with you on the go and listen to it wherever you want: the beach, you’re car, etc. However, you still have to buy the music that you put on it. You can either buy a hard copy of the CD or you can purchase the whole CD or individual songs online from Itunes or several other online music stores. What’s better? Buy the original CD in stores or just buy the mp3 online? There are pros and cons to each.

If you buy the CD from a music store, you get the official CD of the band or artist. It comes with the fancy CD design, the customized CD case, and the booklet about the singers with various pictures, artwork, and sometimes lyrics. You can listen to the music instantly in any CD player. However, before you can listen to it on your ipod, you first must rip the CD onto your computer and then sync it to your music device. And you’ll always have the hard copy CD as a backup in case something ever happens to your music player. You won’t lose all of your music if your player gets lost, stolen, or broken.

If you buy the CD online, you don’t even have to leave your house. You just pay electronically with your debit card or Pay Pal account and you instantly have your music downloaded. Your music is on your device a lot faster. However, you don’t get the hard copy or any of the packaging that comes with it (the CD design, case, and booklet). Plus, if you want a hard copy, just to be on the safe side, you must buy a blank CD music disk and burn the songs onto it yourself. Yet, just buying music downloads is much more instant that buying the CD and going through the ripping and syncing processes.

Buying music on the Internet or in stores cost about the same amount, and you still get the same music. However, there are slight differences in the two that matter to some people. It mostly depends upon your personal preferences. Some people feel safer buying a hard copy first and then transferring it onto their player, while others would rather buy it online and have it faster and then burn their own copy later. Which method works best for you depends upon your opinion and what you want from your music. If you’re a collector or a die-hard fan of a certain band, then you’d probably rather have the original hard copy CD.…

Picture the scene; you’re sitting in your room, reading a book, and listening to music in the background. Bored of the book, you put it down and sigh. You want to keep listening to your music, but just sitting doing nothing but listening is too dull. You briefly consider playing some guitar hero, but the songs on it are just too dull. What you need is some way to not just to listen, but to get involved with your music.

Then you remember Audiosurf.

Playing Audiosurf is like being on a roller coaster whilst in the comfort of your own room. The car that acts as your avatar glides slightly above a weaving track, following huge slopes and falls, wild left and right turns, and even a few loop the loops. The aim of the game is to collect coloured blocks as you hurtle at speed along a track that is custom made by the game to match the song you’re listening too.

The game engine is designed beautifully. You browse your music library, select a song, and the game designs a track that goes uphill when the song is slow,downhill when it’s fast, and adds small hills and bumps depending on the drum beat. The blocks you collect are all in time to the other musical instruments, so knowing a song well leads to success more frequently. The immersion is fantastic, you feel like you’re in the song every time.

And if the idea of speeding along a musical highway in a floating car isn’t enough for you, how about you try one of the other modes. There are 14 to choose from after all, with a whole range of different tasks to complete at different difficulty settings. If you’re feeling brave, the “iron-mode” can be activated, just to make the game that little bit more ridiculously insane.

Additionally, a wonderful function takes your score at the end of the game, and compares you to the worldwide and national scores for that song. If you have any friends that play Audiosurf as well, you’re ranked against their scores for the song too. A variety of achievements are part of the game too, for example; knocking your friend off a global leader-board, or completing an eleven minute song without a single mistake. And if you run out of your own music to play, Audiosurf Radio is happy to provide you with free songs to play from new interesting bands.

So, if you’re looking for a new way to listen to your music, want a new computer game, are bored of guitar hero, or if you remember and love F-Zero, and have $5-$10 kicking around, then Audiosurf is the game for you.…