In the middle of last year, I wrote two posts outlining my plans for a small studio here in Singapore. The first, Anchoring A Recording Studio questioned whether a small studio really needed to follow the example of big studios, now that digital technology has changed our approach to recording. “When we imagine a professional [...] Read full article
Brian Eno And Musical Systems
The BBC recently posted a fascinating interview with Brian Eno, where he discussed music production, music apps and the current state of the music business. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video, so you have to head over to the BBC website to check it out. The video interview caught my attention for a number of [...] Read full article
What If Twitter Was Music
Last week, my friend Casey Lau made an announcement that Hong Kong band, Tigerbombers had joined Twitter (@Tigerbombers). As often happens, a conversation then developed about band websites and the relative merits of having your main online presence on Facebook. In the midst of that Spike (who blogs at Hongkie Town & Spike’s Photos) made [...] Read full article
Some Singapore Music News
There have been three big music business stories attracting attention in Singapore over the past couple of weeks. I’ve decided to put them together, because they give us something of a snapshot of the scene here. MusicMatters Is Back In late May, the MusicMatters conference will be back in Singapore. Last year the conference moved [...] Read full article
More From Chris Lord-Alge
A few weeks back I highlighted some great videos featuring mixer & producer Chris Lord-Alge being interviewed by Erica Glyn for SonicScoop. Well, the final three videos in the series have been posted and they make for some compelling viewing for anyone in the music business. 4. Mixing in the MP3 Age I love the [...] Read full article
SonicScoop Interviews Chris Lord-Alge
SonicScoop is one of my favourite music blogs. They’ve recently posted a great set of interviews with legendary producer, Chris Lord-Alge, who was interviewed by New York musician, Erica Glyn. SonicScoop Power Sessions with Chris Lord-Alge In this first part of the interview, Chris Lord-Alge talks about how he feel in love with music and [...] Read full article
Small Town, Big Industry
My thanks go to Richard Florida, for posting a link on Twitter to this article Austin Is In A Creative Class Of Its Own. As many of you know, Austin, Texas, is host to the enourmous South by Southwest Music, Film and Interactive Conference. It’s a huge affair, one that I’ve kept promising myself, every [...] Read full article
Jazz And Other False Dichotomies
One of my oddest high school experiences came early in Grade 12. I had gone over to a new friend’s house, after school, to listen to some records. Back in those pre-digital days, teenagers would descend on someone’s place, put some vinyl on the turntable and, get this, listen to music. Heck, there wasn’t much [...] Read full article
Where Creativity Doesn’t Come From
I’m often asked about the differences between Hong Kong and Singapore. While there are many things that separate the two cities there is, sadly, one thing they have in common. In both places far too many “creative” types complain that the government doesn’t do enough to promote their industries, that the government should be more [...] Read full article
Is This What Innovation Smells Like?
At last year’s MusicMatters conference I heard Ralph Simon make the claim that today, instead of A&R (Artists and Repertoire), we need “I&R” (Innovation and Repetoire). Yeah, I don’t know what that means either. How The Majors Innovate In fact, I’m not sure I want the big end of the music business messing around with [...] Read full article