Make Better Music Archives

What’s in Graham Massey’s Toolshed?

18/06/2018

The eclectic, revolving lineup that is Graham Massey's Toolshed Collective make a rare Preston appearance at UCLAN's Media Factory, as part of Preston Jazz & Improvisation Festival...

Make Better Music 82: Monetizing Music (Part Two)

27/05/2016

Working musician Simon Laffy ponders the recurring problem of making music pay...

Make Better Music 80: The Art of Remixing (Part Two)

13/01/2016

Be careful to maintain the integrity of the original piece, while at all times striving to produce something new. ...

Make Better Music 79: The Art of Remixing (Part One)

27/11/2015

A luxurious wonderland of musical mystery and adventure that both complements and embellishes...

Make Better Music 78 :The Recording Process (Part Three)

07/10/2015

Music is more about making people connect emotionally with your message than being impressed by your playing ability...

Alan Parsons ‘Sleeve Notes’ Talks at Abbey Road

14/09/2015

A fascinating insight into technical and personal experiences at Abbey Road Studios....

Make Better Music 77: The Recording Process (Part Two)

12/09/2015

Style should transcend technique, but it cannot replace it...

Make Better Music 76 : The Recording Process

11/08/2015

No matter how boring, frustrating, agonising or infuriating it may seem simply going over and over the parts to be recorded, the value of that repetitive hand-eye/finger-digit movement will bring to...

Make Better Music 74 : Collaboration

22/06/2015

The ability to listen, appreciate, evaluate and contribute towards a fellow-musician’s creativity is a high order skill and the rewards often completely justify the effort....

Make Better Music 75 : The Producer

20/05/2015

It is a rare gift indeed to successfully carry your own music throughout the entire creation process....

Make Better Music 74: Notes on Composition

26/04/2015

When approaching a music writing session, have some sense of the idea you intend to reveal...

Music, motor function, learning and memory

30/03/2015

Playing music enhanced the activity of genes involved in dopaminergic neurotransmission, motor function, learning and memory....

Make Better Music 73: Mindful Qualities

24/03/2015

Quality requires a mindfulness and quietness to allow ideas to form, take shape, emerge and grow...

How Sleeping Makes the Piano Easier

26/08/2014

Insight into the role of sleep in learning motor skills requiring new movement sequences....

Practise (Not Parentage) Makes Musicians

30/06/2014

Genetics and environment work together to help people become accomplished musicians...

What is Black and White in Sound?

20/05/2014

How do we remove timbre from sound, the way we can remove color from an image? How do we get an aural analog of black & white images?...

On Twitter, Birdsong and Bards

08/05/2014

The Mistle Thrush reminds us not to be beguiled by outward display but to see through to what, if anything, lies beneath....

Make Better Music 72 : Music Theory

30/04/2014

Music theory is way of labelling sounds and ideas in a way that highlights the relationships between them...

Supersonic Festival 2014 2-Dayer

12/02/2014

On 30th and 31st May, Capsule present 'Supersonic Festival Ltd Edt' and shall return to the Custard Factory where it all began…...

Audio software plagiarism detection interface by Fraunhofer IDMT

Unhand Those Beats! Software detects audio plagiarism

05/02/2014

Fraunhofer IDMT's "PlagiarismAnalyzer" detects identical melodies and samples (whole portions of a song) in a matter of seconds....

Listening : Modes and Strategies

20/01/2014

Listening is largely, though not exclusively, a conscious activity. ...

Aesthetics and the Art of Audio Field Recording

05/11/2013

'What is the artistic element of so seemingly ‘passive’ an activity as pointing a mic and pushing the record button?' Steven Miller teaches us how to record, and how to listen....

Band Diaries : Vienna Ditto

01/11/2013

It’s a queasy, greasy, sleazy sort of sound that inspired a load of complaints from the upstairs neighbour, but he’s an idiot....

A picture of flamenco dancers by Sean Keenan

Got Rhythm? You Probly Talk Gud Too

19/09/2013

It may be that musical training, with an emphasis on rhythmic skills, exercises the auditory-system, leading to strong sound-to-meaning associations that are so essential in learning to read...

Earworm Misery : Incurable Auditory Hallucination

23/08/2013

Most patients realize they are hallucinating, and find the music intrusive and occasionally unpleasant. There is no cure....

Sebadoh : Album and UK Gigs

25/07/2013

After a 14 year break, Sebadoh are back with an album and two UK dates....

Polar Bear London Gig

24/07/2013

On October 4 Polar Bear will play a headline show at Bishopsgate Institute, their only London date of 2013. The band will be performing entirely new material....

Make Better Music 71: Sound/Light

11/07/2013

Though both deal with wave-like phenomena, sound and light each have their own peculiarities. ...

Make Better Music 70 : Time

10/05/2013

There is no aural analog of the photograph or still frame from a film. Sound is, at its core, inherently a time-dependent phenomenon. ...

Maple Bee Album Launch

07/05/2013

We should all hope for tortured artists with agonizing self-aware introspection, allowing the gruelling insomnia of emotional second-guessing to be borne by those best placed to articulate such...