MuseIQ (NYC) Launches “Recordshop” Music Licensing Catalog, Featuring Indie Artists

Brooklyn-based music licensing specialists MuseIQ  have expanded their MuseIQ Library of production music by adding a new companion module, the “Recordshop”, to the MuseIQ website.

Recordshop is stocked with pre-cleared original songs for synch licensing by indie bands and artists, and is similar to the MuseIQ Library with its streamlined graphic interface and sophisticated search functionality.

The collection was created to give music supervisors for advertising, TV, film and other content fast access to independent artists and bands.

MuseIQ founders Augustus Skinner and Ronan Coleman recruited former Morrissey co-writer and drummer, Spencer Cobrin, to the position of Head of A&R to expedite the growth of the MuseIQ Recordshop. Artists currently available in the Recordshop collection include Neal Casal, Vyvienne Long and Lux Lisbon.

The MuseIQ Recordshop uses the same Borean Search Engine as the MuseIQ Library, which has a client list including Amazon.com, Disney, IBM, Charriol, and Estée Lauder. Mr. Skinner explains the Borean Matrix as a unified language of terms relating to music, with over 3000 terms comprising the sensory, physical and emotional characteristics of music. Basic terms like “dark, city, and happy,” to detailed nuances such as “forbidding, cosmopolitan, and euphoric” are included. Each library track is encoded with 100-150 descriptors by a team of musical experts, then double-checked for accuracy.

 

The SonicScoop Year in Review: Top NYC Music Business News and Trends of 2011

THE FIVE BOROUGHS: Wire-to-wire, 2011 in New York City was a maelstrom of music production and business developments.

Like any battle worth fighting, there was a constant sense of two-steps-forward one-step-back pervading the action for most. Those who successfully navigated the music-to-picture minefield, shot straight with their startup, made a name in video games or were allied right in publishing may have had a banner year.

But just as often for NYC producers, engineers, mixers, studios, labels, and businesses of all levels, this year felt like a nonstop guessing game. Would Spotify and the Amazon Cloud help business, hurt it, or none of the above? Does a hit record matter anymore? Advance with reckless abandon – or retreat while there’s still time?

As we did in 2010, we review the year’s primary news and trends, filtered through the fog of war that was 2011.

On the recording, mixing and mastering front, studio openings far outnumbered closings, as facilities large and small showed their confidence in NYC by starting up, building out, or renovating.

Ann Mincieli elevated world-class studio expectations with the opening of Jungle City Studios on Manhattan’s West Side.

Downtown Music made a big statement with the addition of a vintage Neve 8014 console.

NYC mastering cornerstone Howie Weinberg departed Scott Hull’s Masterdisk for Los Angeles.

The door revolved back into Masterdisk, as another legend – Vlado Meller – exited the suddenly defunct Universal East (closed down on April 1st) and set up shop at the West Side complex.

Studios and the social scene intermingled in a new way at the first “Inside Sessions”, presented by Avid and SonicScoop at Stratosphere Sound.

NYC recording icons whose musical presence loomed large here and worldwide passed on. RIP Nick Ashford and Gil Scott Heron.

The upstate studio scene got yet another addition with the opening of the WSDG-designed World Harmony Studios, built into a 3-story 4500 sq. ft. redwood lodge.

The intense success of a Broadway smash still held sway, as evidenced by the groundbreaking work that went into Frank Filipetti’s recording of The Book of Mormon cast album.

Brooklyn remained fertile ground for new spaces, as the multiroom studio The End debuted in Greenpoint.

The End was one of a crop of next-gen large-format Brooklyn facilities opening or about to come fully online, including the bigger-better Studio G, a sizable new two-room home for The Bunker, Strange Weather, and The Motherbrain.

Facilities supporting classical music were full speed ahead, as plugged-in new mega-rehearsal space The Dimenna Center came online on West 37th Street.

Electric Lady upped the ante by installing a Neve 8078 (from Clinton Recording) into Studio A, while a vintage API 3288 starred in a new mix suite on the second floor.

The much buzzed-about branding exercise that was Converse Rubber Tracks arrived in Williamsburg – reports of the demise of the rest of the NYC recording industry prove greatly exaggerated.

723 7th Avenue became the loudest location in Times Square when Quad Studios launched Studio Q1, with three different analog summing mixers, a pair of custom Augspurger Dual 15” main monitors, and two subwoofers.

Small studios showed they were more than willing to reinvest in themselves, as seen at busy facilities like Galuminum Foil which dramatically upgraded their control room.

Smaller studios still rolled the dice and introduced themselves. Greenpoint’s Tiny Thunder Audio was emblematic of producers banking on the growing number of Brooklyn artists needing a professional space to track vocals, or otherwise focus on one aspect of the production chain.

Mobile audio remained a niche in motion, giving birth to spirited outfits like Equal Sonics.

Experimentation between artist and studio ran rampant, such as with La Dispute’s “no reverb allowed” adventure at Stadium Red.

NYC mastering stretched its own technical and creative legs, with ambitious projects like the Neutral Milk Hotel box set being finished by Joe LaPorta of The Lodge.

Ears of experience convinced Anthony “Rocky” Gallo (Cutting Room Studios) to open his own production/tracking/mixing facility in Greenpoint.

Ten years to the day after starting the world-class Bennett Studios in a converted Englewood, NJ railroad station, Dae Bennett closed its doors.

As one door closed, another opened across the river in Garrison, NY, as the prolific singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik made his residential destination, Sneaky Studios, available to the outside world.

Recordists and artists alike took a momentary break from sessions to converge at AES 2011 in NYC. Although the base of operations was the Javits Center, the real heart – as usual – beat under cover of darkness at unforgettable parties ranging from Brooklyn’s raw new Studio G space  to the East Village environs of Flux Studios.

And tracking/mixing sessions just flat-out abounded, with our best-of-2011 “Sezzion Buzz”, showing the world’s top artists and producers working nonstop throughout NYC and the tri-state area.

**

With Madison Avenue, film production  and TV series abounding – and a NY tax incentive for them to work in state – audio post activity remained fast-paced. Even as facilities dealt with constant downward pressure on pricing, there still seemed to be plenty of players in the game.

Audio post mixers and sound designers with followings remained a hot commodity, as suite-switches flew thick and fast.

The Audio Branding Congress moved from Europe to New York City in its 3rd year, attracting some of the brightest minds in the business to the Columbia campus in November.

Gotham bid adieu to HSRNY, the city’s flagship audio post facility since 1975.

Just as quickly, composer Andrew Hollander helped launch the full-service post boutique Goodpenny.

And multiroom midtown facilities like Pomann Sound demonstrated that they had staying power.

New amalgamations of synch licensing and music composition emerged at innovative places like Brooklyn’s Melody Robot.

The studio-in-studio trend continued, as video editorial house FLUID gave birth to audio post room Mr. Bronx – headed up by former audioEngine mixer David Wolfe.

Longtime musical thought leaders like Philip Glass kept NYC in the global spotlight, powering opera from Austria to BAM via his East Village HQ.

And film scoring quietly thrived, with leaders like Carter Burwell splitting his time between TriBeCa and the Hamptons to complete the hotly anticipated score for Twilight.

**

From manufacturing to music licensing, inspiration sprang eternal for the business-minded in the five boroughs.

Hardware proved it could still be born and bred in Manhattan, as Origin Point Audio introduced itself with the Senator non-linear compressor.

Original music/music supervision specialists Search Party were of many in the field that expanded, adding reach (to Oregon) and roster (Chris Funk of the Decemberists). Labels like Decon Records sharpened their internal focus on licensing with new hires. Streamlined new music supervision ventures of every stripe continued to arrive, like Synchtank, JuxMusic, and The SongHunters.

Boutique publishers saw their chance, such as the newly-opened 401k initiative from Veronica Gretton.

Creative online businesses enabling previously untenable levels of creativity launched. Brooklyn’s LegitMix, for example, vastly streamlined the clearance process for the fast release of 100% licensed remixes.

Venture capital and funding rounds were still the name of the game for many, as seen by the $6 million cash infusion received by audio fingerprinting technology company Tunesat.

Experienced professionals recognized NYC service voids yet to be filled, founding niche-but-necessary businesses such as Dr. Julie Glick’s Musicians Hearing Solutions.

No less than Sir Elton John invested in the area, as a co-founder of Rocket Music Entertainment Group. Located within Beat360 Studios, the NYC offices join its London and Tokyo brethren in managing producers, mixers and elite songwriters.

“NYC is still the greatest city in the world. It always will be. It doesn’t matter the genre, beyond NYC and into the tri-state area, it’s still the place to be. People move here for a reason: There’s an energy about being a band in NYC that’s unmatched anywhere,” Matt Pinfield told us. This on the heels of the loss of the rock radio format at WRXP, and the triumphant return of his “120 Minutes” series for MTV.

Live gatherings kept on multiplying, as examined in the 2nd year of Brooklyn’s Tinderbox Music Festival.

Digital streaming/mechanical royalty players – like upstart Rightsflow and seasoned veteran Harry Fox Agency (HFA) – competed for position.

Some NYC record labels, like savvy survivalists Razor & Tie, grew by connecting solid talent with a broadening range of media possibilities.

Established digitally-based innovators like TuneCore, took advantage of M&A activity in the music publishing sector, pouncing on experienced pros to form new ventures like its Songwriter Service, providing a slate of global copyright/licensing/royalty collection services. Other startups in the sector came of age, as Downtown Music’s SongTrust celebrated its first full year in business.

Retail got the gear into the people’s hands, providing equipment of course, but also NYC-elite levels of support. Top sellers like Alto Music NYC continually kept its customers informed with live group sessions, while B&H re-examined the microphone purchase process.

Talent buying for live venues, events and festivals remained a solid pillar of the industry, as evidenced by the launch of Blue Note Entertainment Group, and the busy agent/artist rosters of longtime midtown talent agencies like The Agency Group.

NYC-based virtual instrument developers Heavyocity and SampleLogic are in it to win it, with increasingly popular music creation tools for scoring and original music production.

Leading area studio design firms saw sufficient demand to expand overseas operations. John Storyk’s WSDG implemented German and Spanish offices, and Troy Germano’s Studio Design Group teamed up with Mexico’s Jose Reyes to form RG Germano Studios Tampico.

The passing of Steve Jobs caused the audio industry – and many, many more – to pause and reflect.

On the night before AES, Avid announced Pro Tools 10 and the new Pro Tools HDX DAW systems, which the company called a “gigantic leap in sound and speed”.

Exactly seven days later, Avid announced its latest restructuring, eliminating 10% of its workforce.

The AES welcomed its new Executive Director, Firewire audio pioneer Bob Moses, who assumes his new role on January 1st, 2012.

Special thanks to SonicScoop’s  many talented bloggers, reviewers and contributors who helped make all of the above possible in 2011. Equal thanks to all to our great visitors who are coming along for the journey. Happy New Year, from all of us at SonicScoop!

– Janice Brown & David Weiss

Propellerheads Launches Contest: Use Reason 6 to Remix Olivia Broadfield for $1K+ Prize Package

Propellerheads has announced that the unofficial Apple weblog www.tuaw.com and Reason artist Olivia Broadfield have launched a new remix competition.

Over $1000 dollars in prizes is at stake in the contest, which runs throughout the month of January. Reason users can create their own remix of Broadfield’s song “Say,” which is included as a demo song in Reason 6.

Broadfield — whose songs have garnered numerous synch licensing placements on series like “Grey’s Anatomy” — and TUAW.com will be reviewing the songs as they’re submitted to SoundCloud, and will announce a winner in February.

Interested participants who don’t currently own Reason 6 will be provided with a fully functional trial license for Reason 6 that can be used throughout the competition.

Prizes:
The winner will receive a new Propellerhead “Balance with Reason Essentials” package, plus an upgrade to Reason 6, which represents a $668 value.

In addition, the winner will get a free one year Pro membership to SoundCloud.com, which comes with 36 upload hours, custom widgets, professional insight, and pro support — a $300 value.

A mug and a t-shirt from TUAW.com, plus a signed copy of Olivia’s album are the icing on the cake. And the winner’s remix has the chance of becoming part of Olivia’s radio singles submission package to thousands of stations around the world.

Full details can be found right here.

Juxtaposed Music (NYC) Launches JuxMusic.com — Online Music Licensing Platform

NYC-based Juxtaposed Music has announced the launch of their online music licensing platform at www.juxmusic.com.

The JuxMusic Licensing Agency was founded by NYC record producer/engineer and music supervisor Brandon Mason, and provides music supervisors and directors with the music of highly-acclaimed established and leading-edge independent artists, bands, composers and songwriters.

All tracks are pre-cleared and hand-picked Mason, whose album credits include David Bowie, Secret Machines, Shooter Jennings, and film soundtracks to Across The Universe (Grammy-nominated), The Runaways, and The Tempest.

The company had its soft launch in October 2011. In the process, it has acquired tracks by a number of artists including:

– Hazy Malaze, rock band alter-ego of Neal Casal (whose credits include Ryan Adams, Chris Robinson Brotherhood) and Jeff Hill (Rufus Wainwright, Shooter Jennings, Teddy Thompson),
– composer Jeff Mercel (Mercury Rev),
– composer/songwriter/guitarist Jason Crigler (Goats In Trees, Teddy Thompson),
– James Brown’s original Funky Drummer Clyde Stubblefield,
– jazz great Ben Sidran,
– songwriter/guitarist Ann Klein (Natalie Imbruglia, Joan Osborne),
– drummer/percussionist Danny Frankel (k.d. lang, Lou Reed, John Cale),
–   guitarist/producer/songwriter Scrote (Daniel Johnston, The Stripminers),
–  Grammy-nominated children’s music band Milkshake,
–  composer/keyboardist Erik Deutsch (Charlie Hunter Trio, Shooter Jennings),
–  “antique garde” band Kill Henry Sugar,
–  pop singer/songwriter Emily Zuzik (Moby),
–  electronic dance music phenoms Trash Yourself,
–  Gosteffects,
–  Kids At The Bar,
– Glasnost
–  hometown heroes Loomis and The Lust,
–  Hilary Hawke,
– Joy Dragland,
–  101 Crustaceans, and
–  Dr. Snitch

“I decided to start this company when I realized that my independent-artist friends and clients were sitting on catalogs of great music. They owned the masters and publishing, yet had few means to put their copyrights to work,” Mason explains.  “Most artists find it difficult to make solid connections for synch placements, while music supervisors often struggle to discover independent music that is truly exceptional.  Our mission is to help production clients infuse their film, television and branding projects with the authentic emotional impact of great independent music while also propelling the careers of artists whose work deserves greater notoriety.”

All artists who visit the Website are invited to upload their tracks for consideration via the ‘Submit Music’ page at juxmusic.com, although Mason stresses that the company will continue to be very selective about who they take on.

JuxMusic also offers music production services: custom/original music composition (by many of the artists from the JuxMusic Collection), music supervision, editing, sound-alike production, and remixes.

The juxmusic online workflow is designed to offer a start-to-finish music licensing experience, 24/7, via the following features:

•    Production clients can mine through the juxmusic catalog in seconds by conducting an accurate Google-like track search, selecting criteria fields for genre, subgenre, tempo, mood, instrumentation, vocal type, and key, as well as artist, song title and open-ended keyword entry. Each artist has an informative public profile page where every song can be streamed in real time.
•    Clients can use JuxMusic’s online video compositor application, SynchStage, to produce video synchs of their own uploaded video content with any track from the JuxMusic Collection without ever leaving JuxMusic.com.
•    Clients can license their selected tracks with JuxMusic’s automated “click to pay” licensing modules and PayPal gateway. Clients receive 16bit .wav audiofiles and .pdf files of Master Use/Synch License Agreement documents via automatic download upon completion of their transactions.

Alternatively, clients are invited to phone/email Mason and his team with project briefs.

Songtrust: This Online Solution Makes Music Publishing Accessible to the Indies

SOHO, MANHATTAN:One by one, the Internet tools for music career management are coming alive. In a digital music world where almost everything can potentially be managed better via the Web, the only wait that artists, songwriters and labels have to endure these days isn’t for the technology – that’s arrived. It’s for the idea.

When NYC-based Songtrust launched in December, 2010, its adept founders had surveyed the artist empowerment landscape and saw something important was missing: an automated solution for music publishing. Although other critical aspects of a music creator’s aspect were being handled – distribution, promotion, merchandising, touring – all had an army of online support, the potentially mind-bending world of music publishing had yet to be suitably simplified.

A year into business and with the member list fast reaching the 1,000 mark, it’s no wonder that Songtrust is taking off. The parent is Downtown Music, a forward-thinking concern which operates one of the top 10 US publishing companies, and seems to bang out big new ideas like NASA launches rockets. With billions of dollars in worldwide performance and mechanical royalties paid out yearly, but only a relatively few artists backed by a pro team to fully collect them, Downtown’s brain trust saw an opportunity to expand the DIY universe yet again.

With a vast amount of digital streaming and download possibilities available to the consumer, and an equally tantalizing spread of synch opportunities potentially bolstering artists’ revenue streams, Songtrust appears to do something even more useful than demystify the process of cashing in – for an affordable fee, they simply take care of it for their users.

SonicScoop went in-depth with Jeremy Yohai, Director of Writer Relations for Downtown Music Publishing/Songtrust, to learn more about how this New York startup is assisting indie music creators.

When you meet someone for the first time, how do you describe what Songtrust does?

Songtrust is the first online music publishing administration company for DIY/ Indie songwriters. We are the easiest way to collect royalties. Our songwriters maintain 100% ownership over their songs, they can leave Songtrust at any time and get paid 100% of their royalties.

Personally, I contributed to the building and development of the site. Currently I’m working on Songtrust’s writer relations, operations and partnership opportunities.

SongTrust has its roots in an experienced and successful group of music industry pros via Downtown Music. What made SongTrust’s founders feel like this was an essential venture to build out?

Songtrust was co-founded by Justin Kalifowitz and Josh Deutsch. Justin is the President of Downtown Music Publishing, one of the top 10 music publishers in the United States. Josh is the Chairman/CEO of Downtown Music LLC, Co-Founder of RCRD LBL, and an established songwriter and producer.

With Josh and Justin having long successful careers in music publishing, songwriting and in the digital music world, they realized that there was a need and now a way to help independent songwriters get what is owed to them. Both of them are very involved in the day-to-day business of Songtrust, since the company is based in the same SoHo office as the other Downtown Music properties — Downtown Records, Downtown Music Publishing and RCRD LBL.

That’s a solid brain trust to start with! Songtrust says that its major goal is to “level the field” for songwriters. In what ways is the field currently not level when it comes to music publishing, and how will songwriters benefit when it is leveled for them via Songtrust?

Before Songtrust the only way a songwriter was able to get all their publishing royalties was to enter into a deal with a traditional publishing company. If a writer couldn’t get a deal, they were left out in the cold, and most likely would miss out on some of their royalties. Well, now Songtrust empowers all songwriters to take control of their music publishing.

Anyone can join, whether you’re a songwriter that earns $50 a year in royalties or $5,000, you can now get what’s yours.  Traditionally writers that earned less than five digits in royalties wouldn’t get a deal. So that left a lot of songwriters unable to get their royalties — this was a main premise for the building of Songtrust.

So beyond royalty collection, what are some of the other ways you help songwriters?

There are certain steps that someone should take after writing a song, regardless of what their ambitions are, whether it’s just playing at the local club or at Madison Square Garden. We can assist with these very first steps.

We’ll help get a writer affiliated with a Performance Right Organization (PRO) (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC), and we’ll register the songs correctly with all the collection agencies in the US , including Harry Fox and Music Reports, since the PRO’s only collect performance royalties.

There’s also an educational aspect to the site. We post useful info everyday on music publishing, songwriting and the music business in general. The world of music publishing can be very confusing. We break it down and speak to songwriters in a language they understand.

We also offer some creative services — Songtrust is a partner with DMS.FM, the premier synch licensing company, which helps create synch opportunities for our bands and songwriters.

With that kind of 360 offering, what kind of membership are you currently attracting? Is Songtrust just for songwriters, or also for indie labels, publishers and other entities?  

Basically Songtrust is right for any songwriter that wants to take control of their music publishing regardless of income.

We have some great indie bands that have been gigging around locally, producers and songwriters who have had cuts with rappers and pop artists, and emerging film/TV composers. We also have some established artists that were signed to major publishers in the past.

Aside from working with artists/writers directly, there are managers, lawyers, and indie publishers using our site to as a royalty administration tool to manage the songs written by artists/songwriters that they look after.

Who are some artists who are using Songtrust, and what’s an example of what their “signal flow” would be?

Like I said before, we have a bunch of indie artists/songwriters that are with us. Some of the bigger writers are Kenna, who released albums on Interscope and Columbia, and Sam Jayne who was signed to Sub Pop and has written songs for Beck. We recently started working with this great indie band from Hawaii called The Green, that were charting a few weeks ago on the iTunes charts, and one of our younger songwriters Sarah Solovayhas had numerous placements on TV shows.

Each one of these writers was at a different point in their career when they came to Songtrust. For some of the guys in The Green, we had to help them with the very first steps in getting their publishing sorted. With an artist like Kenna, we basically step in and make sure that everything that was previously set up was done correctly.

Like any traditional music publisher, the key information we need is song title and writer information and then we get to work.

It sounds like a good start. Have you had some challenges in growing a startup like Songtrust?

The main challenge for us is stressing to songwriters that there could be royalties out there for them, it might be $50, but it’s theirs and they now have the ability to get it. If you are touring, selling your music, have music played on TV/radio or streaming on the Internet you could be owed royalties.

The US royalty collection agencies are collecting more money now than ever before and it’s not all owed to the artists/writers that are on top of the charts. There are indie artists/songwriters that could be earning a few hundred dollars a year, but they’re just not aware of it.

On the flipside, what’s made this a rewarding effort to be a part of?

What makes this rewarding is that our site empowers songwriters to take control of something that in the past was not available to them. Music publishing was only for the few lucky and some talented songwriters that had publishing deals.

We have conversations everyday with our writers and they feel like they’ve been invited into the private party now. Maybe they haven’t written a #1 song yet but at least they’re in the game, so if they do have a YouTube or Spotify stream they can get what could be owed to them.

You’re operating all this from the heart of SoHo. Why is NYC the right HQ for you?

All of our staff is based in NYC. The whole project, from the very first discussions on to our launch, was worked on from our office in SoHo.  NYC is a great place to be based — not only is the music industry here, but there are tons of creative songwriters/artists running around these streets.

– David Weiss

Leading the Electronic Charge: T.H. White and the Habit-Forming “How Bad Do You Want It”

UPPER EAST SIDE, MANHATTAN: Beyond duplicity, there’s multiplicity – the invigorating state occupied by T.H. White.

An unabashed New York City brat born, raised, and constantly amazed by Manhattan, the DJ/producer has kindly returned the WoW with his new album, How Bad Do You Want It? An addictive adventure, track after track after track of How Bad is a jam, combining the best attributes of electronica, a big psychedelic streak, natural-born instruments, and instinctual songwriting.

After first exposure, trying to get it out of your mind/body is useless, so why resist? Better to groove with White’s Thievery Corporation-smart flow, densely informed by his training on drums and guitar, a degree in audio engineering, remix commissions for the likes of Phenomenal Handclap Band and Faunts, synch licensing selections for “The Sopranos” to BMW and Reebok, and composing for commercials. See what we mean about multiplets?

His M.O. is clear when the conversation kicks in. “I feel my natural tendency is to bring a Pink Floyd approach to electronica/modern music,” explains the hyperactive White from his Upper East Side studio, a creative pod in a 130-year-old loft building. “Meaning: I like flushed out ‘pieces’ that reveal an emotional sequence or story. With this LP I had in mind my own Animals with super-modern beats, synths, and guitar sounds based on an urban American sensibility.”

Clubs to Control Rooms

After starting out as a club goer and player – he paid his dues playing live everywhere from Wetlands to CBGB and Club U.S.A. – White got all educational on his assets. He stumbled on a prehistoric edition of Pro Tools at a friend’s studio and felt a new shock pierce his brain, one that would lead him to eventually earn an audio degree from The New School. The resulting scientific know-how affected T.H. heavily, and helped distinguish him as a diversely adept artist.

“A lot of people in the music world have written and moaned that with today’s technology it’s ‘too easy’ and ‘No soul’…FALSE,” White says. “First of all, if your ideas suck, they suck. No computer is going to fix that. Maybe a lot more people are willing to try to cut a record now — but you still need talent, development and guttural passion. That will always separate the men from the boys.

“I believe if you learn this technology the way a concert pianist learns the piano, you will learn how to extract the ‘soul’ and ‘heart’ from technology. That’s why I took the time to study engineering and technology: to move ahead with the times, and really learn how to express my ideas.”

In the creation of How Bad, along with his three previous albums, 2005’s More Than Before, 2007’s The Private Spotlight, and the 2009-spawned Company BookWhite conscientiously applied what he calls “the three age-old engineering concepts”:

(1) Work very hard to get amazing sounds before you commit anything to tape/disk
(2) Never leave anything to be fixed in the mix
(3)Learn the inherent frequencies to the various instruments you work with – this will allow you to look ahead to the mix, before you have even started boosting and stripping specific kHz’s so that tracks don’t compete with each other.

“The best producers in the world hand over albums that a pro mixer will need to do very little to,” explains White. “These are the things I always have in my mind when I’m in the studio.

“What does all this amount to? I feel that today you need to be a writer/ musician/ engineer/ producer and mixer if you really want control of your ideas and want to set yourself apart.”

Plugged-in Studio. Music First.

Although a citizen of TriBeCa, White makes a daily pilgrimage to the culturally sleepy (Museum Mile excepted) Upper East Side, where he created 80% of How Bad’s tracks at his hybrid analog/digital room. Drums, cellos, organs and other highly live components are cut at outside studios, after which White returns to edit, process and integrate these organic recordings with what’s percolating in his Crystal Method-addled mind.

On his 500 sq. ft. home court, White takes advantage of the natural ambience that the 130-year-old wood in his loft lends to miking guitars, synths and vocals. He also benefits from the tasty processing of custom Hit Factory gear. Among the tech benefits: an Avalon VT-737 with custom-made tubes and wiring, and a Universal Audio 6176 channel strip with custom tubes.

While hardware is important to White, he knows it starts with the music. How Bad’s rhythms can be reminiscent of the live tribalism achieved by electronic intelligentsia Yello, whose real percussion and drums merge in unexpected ways with samples and sequences.

“The first instrument I was formally trained in was drums, starting with lessons at eight years old,” he notes. “Percussion rhythms and their role on music is in my blood. I favor a process of going to old-school vintage studios, setting up a rich live drum kit and room, then jamming for hours and putting that all on tape. I then go back to my studio and process, chop and edit that tape to compile my own custom library that I use.

“Sometimes I take an entire loop, other times just a dope snare. I also layer and layer drum tracks to further create depth and originality. An example of this from the new LP is the song ‘How it Feels’: that track has me playing a live kit on top of a drum machine loop I programmed, and then layered with additional samples.”

No slouch on the six-strings, White often achieves a dark sense of tension throughout How Bad with the use of patient guitars on songs like “Down in the Garden.” The result is a subtly natural feel that takes this circuit-inspired album far from the in-the-box territory.

“Although the genre I operate in is usually called ‘electronic’, I’ve always used my abilities as a guitarist/bassist and live drummer to be more than that,” says White. “Guitars can be so sonically rich, and they are not linear like most synths are. Also I am a gun-blazer on guitar: I would love to sit in with The Allman Brothers, The Grateful Dead, or Phish as a representative from my genre – I think that would be unique and refreshing. I have the experience and skills on guitar and try to show that in the right spots in my own music.

“I own 13 guitars and, like the drums, I employ a blending through a wide variety of tube pedals, EQ’s, amps and plug-ins to polish guitar tracks. One example is ‘Down in the Garden’ which is a PRS hollowbody on one side, and an ‘82 Les Paul on the other. Add in a TC Electronic G4 and some Lexicon reverb, and you’re starting to talk business.”

Remixing, Synch Licensing and Other Daring Stunts

White works the DJ angle in the studio by making himself available for remixes. A visit to his Website makes it easy to hear why he gets the calls from Phenomenal Handclap Band (“All of the Above”), Faunts (“Memories of Places We’ve Never Been”), and Fol Chen (“Cable TV”). If White sounds inspired by his assignments, well, there’s a good reason for that.

“I have to like their music to start,” he says of his remix work. “Then it’s vibe – meaning, ‘Do I hear my style and ideas working well and complementing the original track?’ Most of the mixes I’ve done have been for artists who approached me and felt synergy there. In terms of approach, I almost always use several of the original tracks- but highly reprocess and treat them. Another thing I do is write and play new parts on guitar or bass.

“It’s always good to get inside someone else’s session, see how they’ve recorded and organized their song, and the way they’ve EQ’d things. I really enjoy having a template that I had nothing to do with to build off of – it’s refreshing.”

As most producer/artists  are now wont to do, White is increasingly active in music-for-media. In addition to the aforementioned synch licenses for “The Sopranos,” BMW, and Reebok, White’s songs have been chosen for SyFy Channel’s “Being Human,” Fox TV’s “The Inside,” and NPR radio.

Despite his composing and synchronization successes, White admits that he’s keeping a wary eye on developments in the sector, as noticeable downward pressure on pricing reveals itself.

“I think it’s still a grey area in terms of corporate association or ‘selling out,’ and finding a way for your hard work and passion to support its own continuation,” notes White. “The gruesome aspect is that as media companies have seen the decline of music sales –  and that leading to an increased need for artists to turn to synch — music directors are offering much-less-to-no-money for uses.”

Manhattan Attack

With a year-long diet of live jaunts scheduled, White is looking forward to leaving the studio for a second and returning his “Hendrix-meets Deadmau5” live show to the stage. Wherever he shows up, however, expect all audiences to get a big blast of the Big Apple, courtesy of a multi-tasking electronic explorer who just can’t get NYC out of his system.

“No matter who you are or what your passion is, the center of that passion is in New York City,” T.H. White points out. “One can find so much inspiration and diversity in that inspiration here. Growing up, I had the opportunity to study with premier musicians, play live shows at real venues, intern at big studios, see a large spectrum of artists. I remember one three-week period when I was in 11th grade I saw Eric B. and Rakim, Fugazi, Merle Haggard, Kiss, Dee-lite and Buddy Guy. That’s what I’m talking about.”

– David Weiss

Independent Music Publishers Can Opt Into Key YouTube License Agreement, Via NMPA & HFA

Licensing for online media saw an important evolution this past August when the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and YouTube’s parent company, Google, settled an NMPA lawsuit. The resulting settlement paved the way for increased efficiencies for UGC (User Generated Content) to use and legally license copyrighted music on videos that are posted on YouTube.

As a result, the NMPA and The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA) have announced a time-sensitive development: It offers to all independent music publishers, whether or not they are affiliated with HFA, the opportunity to opt into a direct license agreement with YouTube by going to www.youtubelicenseoffer.com.

Publishers can opt in to the agreement between November 17, 2011 and January 16, 2012. The link at www.youtubelicenseoffer.com provides a significant amount of additional detail and is worth a read for all publishers and artists.

In its announcement, HFA explained that earlier this year the NMPA, HFA and YouTube concluded a landmark agreement whereby independent music publishers may grant the rights necessary for the synchronization of their musical works with certain videos posted by YouTube users.

HFA will administer these direct license agreements between YouTube and publishers. Royalties will be based on advertising revenue collected worldwide by YouTube from ads placed alongside user-generated videos.

Independent publishers who have opted into the License Agreement and the YouTube Licensing Offer (“HFA Participating Publishers”) using HFA as the License Administrator will receive a share of an up to $4,000,000 recoupable advance pool that has been created.

HFA will apply its relationships with the publishing community and deep licensing experience to administer the direct YouTube license agreements.  Participation is available to all independent publishers in the U.S.

Publishers must sign up for the YouTube direct licensing agreement at www.youtubelicenseoffer.com from November 17, 2011 through January 16, 2012 to be eligible for an advance.

Decon Records (NYC) Names Mina Louy Director of Music Licensing

NYC-based label Decon Records recently named Mina Louy to the post of Director of Music Licensing.

Prior to joining Decon to coordinate with music supervisors on synch licensing projects for film, TV, commercials and other visual media, Louy relocated to NYC from Los Angeles to produce original compositions for commercials. Advertising campaigns she worked on in that capacity included Mercedes, Nintendo, and Hersheys.

Located downtown, Decon is multifaceted record label/production company/idea shop. Artists currently working with Decon include 88-Keys, Aceyalone, Black Milk, Chali 2na, Classified, Closed Sessions: ATX, Dilated Peoples, Evidence, Freddie Gibbs, Freestyle Fellowship, Gangrene, Goapele, Greneberg, Haiku D’Etat, Jurassic 5, Longevity, Lyrics Born, Nneka, Pusha T, Rakaa, RJD2, Shad, and The Alchemist.

Rumblefish and APM Music (NY) Partner in Consumer Soundtrack Offering

In an interesting development for User Generated Content (UGC), Rumblefish, which specializes in music licensing for social media, today announced a partnership with APM Music. With offices in New York City and Los Angeles, APM Music is a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, and stands as the world’s largest production music library.

Through the partnership, Rumblefish will be able to offer consumers access to APM Music’s huge broadcast-grade library.

As a result, the general population will now be able to use tracks that are available from the Rumblefish API and Friendly Music website in their own YouTube videos, slideshows, presentations and games.

To date, over 4.8 million user-generated videos, slideshows, presentations and games have Rumblefish soundtracks.

With this development, consumers producing UGC will now have the capability to add the same music used by APM Music-supplied movies and TV shows including The Rum Diary, Avatar, The Back-Up Plan, Date Night, “Dolphin Tale,” “Glee,” “Gossip Girl,” “Mad Men,” “30 Rock,” “Big Bang Theory,” and “Monsters vs. Aliens.” On the video game front, Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and the Just Dance titles are among those that have used music from APM.

The partnership appears to open up an expansive new revenue stream for rights holders with tracks in the APM Music library. It could also have a positive effect on the overall quality of content created by savvy at-home and semi-professional media producers.

Indaba Music, Getty Images Music Partner to Crowdsource Music for Ads

NYC-based online music creation site Indaba Music has announced a music supervision-related partnership with Getty Images, a creator and distributor of digital media, to help independent musicians and producers get their songs featured in advertisements.

Getty Images Music specializes in commercial music licensing. The company will be regularly connecting with Indaba’s 600,000-member community, with the objective of curating a professional-quality catalog of tracks that fit the up-to-the-minute needs of Getty Images’ client base. Their clientele includes three major broadcast television networks, leading cable television networks, and the music supervisors at top brands in need of the right songs for synch licensing.

The first batch of content sourced through this partnership is entitled “The Hot Sound.” It asked Indaba’s musician community to create original pop songs based on several tracks that showcase current trending production styles – including LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” (which is featured in a Kia commercial), as well as Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull’s “On the Floor” and David Guetta featuring Flo Rida & Nicki Minaj’s “Where Them Girls At.”

Getty Images Music will add the resulting tracks to its database and shop them to clients seeking music for advertisements, TV shows, films, web content, and other synch placements. More opportunities will be launching soon.

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