Internet and Technology

Article by Sinead Murphy

From baffles to bugs, music technology is an area which has grown out of the combined creativity of musical and technical endeavours. It refers to the technology used in the musical business, in particular computer software. CompositionTechnology is fundamental in the area of recording, but it is now hugely important in the area of composition also. Strictly speaking, music technology covers the area of acoustics and programming as well as the broader areas of business management within the music industry. While acoustics is the study of sound and how it behaves in a particular environment, programming is a computer term more familiar to the ‘techie’ person. EducationFrom an educational perspective, the areas to focus on are digital sound editing and sound recording skills. Music technology professionals will need to be adept at music instrument digital interface (MIDI) sequencing and software. Proficiency in MIDI and audio techniques are necessary before the opportunities now presented by technology can be used. The use of microphones and direct inject (DI) techniques are part of the mix, as are the use of dynamics and effects equipment. The study of acoustics and monitoring and audio monitoring are fundamental to the study of music technology. The aim is to be able to compose with MIDI-based music technology. Although a feature of many courses will also be the more practical elements of soldering and wiring, and studio routing. Session management for sound engineers is also a key skill to have. After all, it doesn’t matter how creative you can be with both music and technology if you can’t manage the process. The best courses will address all of these areas of music technology. Ireland has a long and rich music history, both contemporary and traditional, and has a healthy music industry. There are courses available in Ireland which meet these requirements and fit the bill.SoundcloudWith the increase in bandwidth on the internet, the opportunities for music sharing have grown. A new company which delivers on music technology is SoundCloud. This is an online audio distribution platform which allows users to upload and share their original content. One of the cool things they’ve added in is the ability to add comments at particular points on the timeline of the track. This is a great example of the iterative nature of the web and of technology in general. Each version adds new features and the user experience is enhanced each time. Last February saw the Global Meetup in Ireland for this community.Apple LegacyIt seems only fair to mention Steve Jobs at this point. His death has provoked a genuine sharing of grief and loss, and very much across the web. Strangely, the news spread across the very technical tools that he brought about creating. He has left a fantastic legacy to the world in general, but to music technologists and music lovers in particular. For those who create music the Mac has always been the product of choice and Apple took the audio components of their MacBooks seriously from the beginning. CoreStudio is also a superior product in its class.Apple incorporated music technology in products and brought music to users in a much more sophisticated and sleekly designed product with the introduction of the iPod. Quickly on its heels came the iPhone and now the iPad. The iPad in particular has allowed touchscreen music performance that was previously prohibitively costly to do.

The term music technology actually refers to the devices, techniques, styles, or effects which music artists use to enhance or even create a musical piece. One of the most common application of music technology is the music editing software that a lot of music artists use so that they may be able to arrange their songs easily.

Other may also use special effects which may contribute to the improvement of the song being created. A lot of musical genres such as techno use this kind of music technology in enhancing the outcome of a single music. Almost all of the techno songs nowadays are produced using computer editing software or computer-generated sounds or special effects.

This only shows that the technology itself is a broad field and is not only limited to one particular field.

Everything is possible with technology as long as you know how to use it properly. If you want to further your knowledge with music technology, you may find a university which offers this particular type of course. There are actually numerous universities nowadays which offer a course in music technology. The scope in the course music technology is not only limited to the music industry that we know today because it may also tackle programming, acoustic science, and music theories.

Music technology is actually a combination of two different fields namely music and technology. With this reason, it is just right that a student of someone who wants to know more about music technology itself should be knowledgeable of both music and technology.

This is to ensure that he will be able to cope with the challenges that he might encounter along the way.

If you are the type of person who knows a lot when it comes to computers and you also love music, then you should consider music technology as a viable career for you.

Largest Known Recording Project in Nashville History

LifeWay Worship made music news today when it announced it will release SongMap, the latest technology in digital music, on Monday, February 9, 2009.  SongMap is an new internet application that users will be able to use to create custom arrangements of songs to make their own audio files as well as sheet music. The SongMap technology was unveiled today at the LifeWay corporate headquarters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.

SongMap is exciting because it is the first web-based technology of its kind. With SongMap, users can pick and choose each section of songs they want: verses, choruses, transitions, etc., in the keys they want to use. Then they will be able to download the SongMap sheet music and audio files that go with the arrangements they put together.

SongMap technology is unique in that it comes from the church to help music ministers have more flexibility arranging songs in a church setting. But SongMap technology will not just be limited to churches. It can be used by anyone with an Internet browser.

“SongMap is the first technology that gives users the ability to change songs on the Internet to meet their own tastes,” said director of LifeWay Worship, Mike Harland. “Some churches need sheet music for a full rock band each week, while others rely solely on accompaniment tracks. We set out to find a way to help these churches create music that suits their congregations. In doing so, we created a new music technology that does what none other has done before.”

LifeWay Worship will have over 100 songs available through SongMap. The SongMap selections will range from traditional hymns to contemporary worship songs.

It took a team of software engineers and music professionals three years to develop SongMap. Nearly 1,000 songs and 8,000 mixes were recorded by over 150 professional musicians, vocalists and engineers in just 10 months for SongMap. The SongMap project was the largest recording project in Nashville history, and that is saying a lot for the city known as Music City, USA.

SOURCES

LifeWay Worship Unveils SongMap – New Innovation in Digital Music

ChristianActivities.com/industryinsider/

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Music and mobile broadband – a perfect partnership

Music is more accessible more than ever through the power of the internet – and one good way to access the internet and all of its tune-filled websites is mobile broadband.

It’s essential for music fans to access sites like Facebook and MySpace to keep up-to-date with everything in the business, as well as access the rest of the internet. 

It’s an age-old story that when you want to play at being a record company executive and find out more about that amazing new band you just saw perform, you’ll want to listen to their tracks on MySpace, talk to them on Facebook, watch their latest video on Youtube or download their single from iTunes.

Easy-to-use mobile broadband

And mobile broadband will easily let you do those things.  Taking a mobile broadband dongle, you can easily put the little device into your PC’s USB connection, and you’re away. No wires and no additional connections are used, so, you can investigate even if you’re on the way home from the sweaty venue where you just witnessed that inspiring show.

While it’s so easy for you to look at all the online information you want as soon as possible through mobile broadband, downloading a single through mobile broadband might sound harder, especially when dongles are notoriously known for what many people claim, their slow connection speeds.

Significant mobile broadband improvements to come

But now, mobile broadband is improving. Legally mobile broadband connection speeds are to speed up, so you can download LPs a lot easier – all above board, of course, after the latest plans by the government that are aiming to ensure everyone in the UK has access to broadband, whether it is a mobile or fixed broadband line.

Digital Britain, a set of media driven proposals by Communications Minister Lord Stephen Carter, says that all broadband must have a download connection speed of at least 2.6Mbps by 2012.

And while that might not sound very quick, 2.6Mbps equals to comfortably watching BBC iPlayer with no interruptions, so imagine what that means in regards to the amount of tracks you can download in comparison to past snail speed moments, even on a budget.

An exciting and massive world of music is waiting online, and once you purchase mobile broadband, it’s obvious that you’ll be immersed in the best of what the online music world and mobile broadband can offer you.

The world on online radio stations has many different selections that you can look through. Of these many channels you may enjoy the experience of listening to music on MSN Radio. This particular music channel is a part of the Microsoft Company. While it used to operate as a separate entity the powering of this online radio was turned over to MSN Radio. The separate section of MSN Radio was soon phased out.

You can still however access the MSN Radio station. All that is required is that you go to their music homepage. Once you are at the station you can listen to any music that you want top free for 20 minutes. After this period of time you will need to register. This registration is a necessary part of the listening experience.

To register for the MSN Radio is not that difficult. What you will need to do is to give an Email address. This address will enable MSN Music to find you and allow you to play music from your account. You may be required to give a password as well. In this case you should think about using a password that is easy to remember and use.

While the use of MSN Radio is still known to us the station itself has been placed in the hands of new operators. These people will provide you with the services to access the MSN Radio station. Once you have logged onto your account you can choose the services listed.

The MSN Radio has many interesting features which are easy to use even for those who are technologically challenged. When you look at the many choices that are given you can look to see if there are other musical items which look the same as the one that you have chosen. Now the term looks the same in the case of music means songs which have many of the same characteristics of the song that you have chosen.

Another feature which you can find in MSN Radio is the ability of creating a number of different playlists. These playlists will feature all of the songs that you like. This way when you log onto the online radio station you will be able to hear the songs that you have chosen and look for others which are like these ones.

With Pandora MSN Radio you will find that you listening pleasure is enriched. The many wonderful songs and music that you will hear on this station is one of the reasons why this radio station is so popular.