Archive for Music

sound-diffusion-wallSound deadening foam has many uses that determine how sound moves around a room, and how it fills the space in that room. Using different foam panels, you can redirect sound, eliminate white noise for a crisper recording, dampen bass and more. It’s all about learning which panels are best for diffusion, and which are best for absorption.

Diffusion

When you diffuse sound, you spread it throughout the space. Diffusion is good when you need to hear something in a larger space. It helps reduce echo, while filling the room with sound. These types of acoustic foam panels tend to have sharp edges to them. The sound just bounces off those edges at it travels through space.

Diffusing foam panels include:

  • Pyramid panels
  • Wedge panels
  • Spade panels (while they absorb sound, they also help clarify it)

Deadening

Deadening the sound in a room helps to remove echo, reduce white noise exposure and create an excellent space for recording. Sound deadening can also be useful in apartments, where loud music systems can cause problems with neighbors. In general deadening panels tend to be much flatter than diffusal panels.

Deadening acoustic foam includes:

  • Eggcrate panels (especially effective when used with soundproofing cloth)
  • Grid panels
  • Wave panels

Final Thoughts

Appearance also plays a role, which is why eggcrate is the least expensive option for sound deadening. If you’re trying to build a professional recording studio, grid or wave panels are going to be your first choice. They look nice, do the job well, and provide the best absorption for the cost. You may also want corner bass absorbers, which help to remove echo that the acoustic foam can’t catch in the corners of the room.


The Foam Factory, Inc. carries a variety of sound deadening foam panels for use in the home, or at a professional recording studio.

American Sniper

Chris Kyle is the U.S. military’s deadliest marksman in its history. With claims of 255 killed and the Department of Defense officially conformed 160 of them. The famous actor and director Clint Eastwood made it to a movie, American Sniper in 2014 based on the autobiography titled American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. History. Its world premiere was held on November 11, 2014 at the American Film Institute Festival, limited release in the U.S. on December 25, 2014 and for a wider audience on January 16, 2015. Many expect the movie to honor a war hero and deliver a patriotic experience. However, other critics say it glorifies an unjust war and pay homage to a killer.

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The cast of the movie include Bradly Cooper as Chris Kyle, Sienna Miller as Taya Renae Kyle and many others. Tara Renae Kyle, wife of Chris Kyle has been intimately involved in the making of the movie. Originally, Steven Spielberg was to direct the movie, however, when he dropped out of the movie project Warner Brothers chose Clint Eastwood to direct. The movie has been filmed in Los Angeles and Morocco. When released for a wider audience, the movie is expected to set new Box Office records given the sentiment especially in the U.S.

A Portrait of Glenn Miller

Written by Phin Upham

Glenn Miller was born on a farm in Iowa. From those humble beginnings, one of the world’s premier jazz and swing musicians would come.

Miller bought his first instrument, a trombone, when he was 11 years old. His original instruments were the cornet and the mandolin, but he changed to the trombone exclusively by 1916. His family relocated to Colorado during this time, which is where Miller went to high school.

Until 1921, music was little more than a hobby to Miller. A hobby he was good at, but still not worth pursuing legitimately. That all changed when Miller was introduced to “dance band music.”

Miller fell in with a good crowd when he relocated to Los Angeles. There he found a place in a set-piece band that backed Judy Garland and Bing Crosby. He studied under mentors like Victor Young and Bern Pollack. Miller was an accomplished soloist until his time with Jack Teargarden, where his solos were cut almost entirely from performances. It was then that Miller realized his talents were more geared toward writing music than performing it.

Glen Miller revitalized himself in 1938, when he found a new sound combination that used melodic tones matched against a tenor saxophone. This new style differentiated Miller’s band from others at the time, even landing them a spot three times a week on a broadcast on CBS promoting Chesterfield cigarettes.

Glenn Miller mysteriously disappeared on a flight bound for the United Kingdom in 1944. He flew a single engine plane, and disappeared somewhere over the English Channel. His body was never recovered, and his status is listed as “Missing in Action.”


Phin Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phin on his Twitter page.

The 27 Club

This article was written by Phineas Upham

The end of the 60s didn’t happen on New Years Eve 1969. Instead, it began in September of 1970. The death of Jimi Hendrix was the first blow, but in true “they die in threes” fashion, two more important figures would soon follow suit. These first few deaths formed something colloquially known as “The 27 Club,” a group of creative minds who met their demise all too young.

The official cause of death for Hendrix was asphyxiation. Monika Danneman, the last person to see Hendrix alive, spent his last day with him. She cooked him a meal, drove him to meet with friends, then stayed up with him well into the next morning. When she awoke close to noon, Hendrix was unconscious and non-responsive. He had choked on his own vomit thanks to an overdose of barbiturates, but the coroner left the verdict open.

Within a month, Janis Joplin would succumb to a heroin overdose. She didn’t show up for a recording session, and her producer found her dead in her hotel room. Her dealer had apparently given her a more potent dose than usual, as many of his customers were also found to have over dosed.

Tragedy struck again within a year. Jim Morrison, front man of the popular band The Doors, was found dead in the bathtub of his hotel. He was also 27 years old. The three deaths sparked something of a frenzy, with the media making note of various singers who had died at that age.

The next famous death to join the club would be Kurt Cobain, but he was not the last. The 27 Club holds names like soul singer Amy Winehouse (who repeatedly expressed terror at the idea of joining the club), and Mars Volta sound engineer Jeremy Michael Ward.


Phineas Upham

About the Author: Phineas Upham is an investor at a family office/hedgefund, where he focuses on special situation illiquid investing. Before this position, Phineas Upham was working at Morgan Stanley in the Media & Technology group. You may contact Phineas on his LinedIn page.

A Brief History of the Rolling Stones

Written by Phineas Upham

The Rolling Stones are one of the world’s most recognized bands. It all started at Dartford Maypole County Primary School, when Keith Richards first met Mick Jagger. Both men were avid followers of blues and American R&B music, and they also shared a mutual friend. Jagger and his friend Dick Taylor would jam together in a band they called “Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys,” and they soon invited Richards to come play with them.

Richards dropped out of college for the same reason that Brian Jones would eventually also be expelled. Truancy. For both men, the problem was the draw of music. Soon, they picked up their drummer Tony Chapman and cut a record. The demo was rejected by EMI. Chapman left the band and the boys changed their name to “Rolling Stones” after a song by Muddy Waters.

They played their first show at the Marquee in July of 1962. The band was then booked for eight months at a club called the Crawdaddy Club, where they had a highly successful run that attracted their future manager Andrew Oldham.

The Beatles ruled the airwaves at the time, but Oldham had a plan. He tried spinning the Stones as the wicked alternative to the Beatles. And it worked.

The Rolling Stones have had several record releases, and have toured for the past 37 years. They are one of America’s oldest bands, and still one of the biggest box office draws in music history.


Phineas Upham

Phineas Upham is an investor from NYC and SF. You may contact Phineas on his Phineas Upham website

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X Factor USA will become the first reality TV show to permit viewers to vote through social networking site twitter. The producers of the show announced the partnership with the social media network which allows viewers to vote for their favorite finalists. Voting will be open from November 2 after the live performanaces.

You will not be voting with tweets which will be very chaotic but through your account’s direct message feature. In addition XFactor fans can vote via Facebook, text messaging, the Xtra factor mobile application on Verizon Android phones and by phoning in.

“I think it’s fantastic that Verizon and ‘The X Factor’ are giving fans so many different ways to vote. Launching touch screen voting on Verizon’s The Xtra Factor App and the new voting on Twitter is really exciting, I love that the audience has more and more choice in the way that they can vote,” Simon Cowell said in a statement.

Only the votes sent via direct message to @TheXFactorUSA will count while publicly visible will not be counted as votes. Viewers who cast votes via TheXFactorUSA.com and Twitter are limited to 50 votes per account.

I remember so many good times that I had with my friends growing up when I was listening to Blink-182. They were by far one of my favorite bands over the years. I was, of course, devastated when they broke up but I knew that I had the old stuff to listen to. So I’m pretty exciting about all this new music that Blink-182 is getting ready to release!

I’ve been blogging quite a bit about it on my music blog and while I was reading up on it a little bit more a few nights ago, I ran across the website DOMAINNAMES.com. I had been thinking about moving my blog onto my own website, so I looked through the site and decided to buy a domain for my brand new blog.

I really can’t wait for this new Blink 182 album to come out so I can review it. I think I might do a big week-long special leading up to the big review. Needless to say, I’m really excited for the new Blink-182 material

Music biz strikes a chord with TV placement

Television seems to be taking the center spot and is responsible for even driving music sales and exposure for artists. Over the years, labels and publishers avoided TV pacts, but with everyone in the industry looking for new ways of making profits, topped off with radio making its way to a slow death and music videos on MTV and VH1 being more or less rare – TV has now become a fairly important source for labels’ marketing departments.

A good example is when Mamie Coleman, VP of music and production for Fox Broadcasting spread the word to music labels and publishers of the need for a new upbeat tune for its January promotional campaign for American Idol and 24. The overwhelming response is evidence of the big impact of TV on the music production industry.

The profits can be huge. Veterans of American Idol have currently sold close to 40 million records, and have under their belt 60 number one hits and 14 platinum albums – all these are just for one TV show.

However, not all situations are win-win. Music deal-making is extremely complicated, with all parties tussling over the use of music, be it in snippets versus the entire tune, the most crucial of which are those deals that involve the internet and home video rights.

Major labels have so far shunned digital distribution, but now, with the shift in power, some major players have managed to get into the game with very low upfront costs and without the need to make use of manufacturing or distribution infrastructures.

Coleman says, “We have so much direct contact with the labels and publishers now. We are always getting people telling us they have the perfect song for ‘House’ or a great song for ‘Idol’. A lot of labels have performances for us in their offices, and when we like what we hear, we sign a deal right then and there.”