Weird Fishes: Arpeggi from flight404 on Vimeo.

Plenty of bands have jumped on the "remix generation" bandwagon, releasing music to be remixed and sampled and visualized as a publicity stunt. But, then, plenty of bands aren’t Radiohead. Readers here may have been disappointed that our favorite superband didn’t embrace Creative Commons sharing when announcing their iTunes-only stems. But a number of the artists we follow came up with some brilliant work.

In Visuals: Robert Hodgin, aka Flight404, has the enviable job of exploring new visual expressions as his day gig of sorts. Working primarily in code developed in the open-source, Java-powered Processing, he develops a technique and then iterates and iterates on it until it goes from computer gimmick to refined artistry. He blogs that process, as well, pushing forward the rest of the Processing community. His video above uses abstract, generative processes to visualize Radiohead’s "Weird Fishes", but is developed enough to become organic. It’s a voyage under the sea. Via our sister site, Create Digital Motion.

In Music: A number of readers tackled the Radiohead remix contest. Here’s my favorite: our friend Alan Molina created a sparse string accompaniment that spotlights Tom Yorke’s vocal part. He explains:

Thanks for listening!  I actually recorded and mixed all the strings.  

They are all a violin (just lots of layers of me).  My profession is an orchestral violinist–this remix was an outlet to do something different!

I used Ableton Live 7 for the effects, and used  the kind of mic that clips on behind the bridge of a violin.  Done on my couch in front of my computer!

Of course, the other direction to go is stretching the tune past the point of recognizability, with strange bizarro-universe remixes pulling the tune to experimental glitch and faux-punk. Here are a few of the more unusual takes on their music:

The era of artists regularly releasing stems for remixing seems imminent. In the meantime, we see occasional examples of artists who get it. Radiohead have a new feature on their tune Nude, promoted with Apple. Purchase stems of a song (that’s by stem, so you pay US$0.99 * 5 stems + 1 full song if you want everything), and you get audio via iTunes Plus. Purchase the full set, and you can also download a GarageBand / Logic Pro-compatible project with all loop, tempo, and key information embedded, as pictured at top. (Unless I’m mistaken, that’s also the ideal way to get uncompressed audio for use in other tools.)

If you happen to prefer another tool for remixing (say, one that rhymes with Mabledon Dive and is often seen running on computers from Apple), these are just DRM-free audio files, so the choice is yours. Upload the finished results to the Web, and the band will review submissions and open them to votes. There are already a number of remixes up at the moment.

NUDE RE/MIX on iTunes

Radiohead Remix Site

Hmmm, nude remixing? Brings new meaning to “bedroom producer.” Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Radiohead does specify that you can’t use these for commercial purposes; it’s too bad they didn’t choose to apply a Creative Commons non-commercial license, which would formalize essentially what they’re saying. But this is otherwise done quite nicely, nonetheless, and I hope we see more of this.

Like remixable music? Nine Inch Nails has a whole remix site, and indie label Magnatune lets you remix all their artists’ work via a Creative Commons license (though they typically don’t offer stems). Online music outlet Dance Tracks Digital goes beyond stems with full Ableton Live-ready projects, suitable for DJs. That’s just for starters; if you have other favorite remix resources, let us know.

CDM World Tour: catch up with Mike and Liz in Chicago, and Peter and Jaymis in Perth and Brisbane (Australia)!

Dorkbot Chicago

Any CDM-ers in the Chicagoland area are most warmly invited to this months Dorkbot at Deadtech, 3321 W. Fullerton Ave., on Wednesday at 8pm for food, drink, and brain-swelling information regarding micro-sampling and alternative musical controllers like QWERTY keyboards, game joysticks, and bicycles.

This week’s presenters will be Liz McLean-Knight and Michael Una, contributors to CDM.

See you there!

ByteMe, Perth; CDM Me, Brisbane

Australia is CDM’s second home, land of crazy creative contributors and designers, and birthplace of the CDM logo and graphic identity. And now I get to go there.

First up is an epic visualist festival in Perth, 11/30 - 12/9. (Jaymis and I arrive 12/2.)

ByteMe Festival

Okay, odds are, you aren’t anywhere near Perth, as it’s supposedly the most isolated city on the face of the Earth. But on the off chance that you are in/near Perth, you’ll definitely want to come out for this one. Visualists like Artificial Eyes and Jean Poole, not to mention festival organizers VJZoo, join a convergence of visual artists from game development to experimental film and motion graphics and special effects. I’m on a panel Wednesday night, but mostly Jaymis and I will be hanging around covering the festival and chatting with cool people. And we get to see whether our first in-person meetup creates a geek matter-antimatter temporal singularity.

12/10 - 12/14 we return to Brisbane, and odds are far likelier that you live there. There’s talk of doing some kind of music event in Brisbane. If you’re interested in helping us organize even a casual meet-up, Brisbanites, let me know. -PK

Okay, calling anything “Web 2.0″ is about as cool as casually slipping in the word “synergy.” Generally meaningless; definitely faux pas. But splicemusic.com was already tending that direction, with a website that allowed users to remix each other’s music live on the Web, and share and network with other community members in that process. Now, Splice itself has reached its own 2.0 release, and things are heating up fast. It’s not so much the typical Web community features that set it apart (blogging, becoming “fans” or friends of other users, bright, Web 2.0-y colors, and community-based ranking). Instead, it’s the fact that Splice can do things previously only possible in dedicated, offline software:

• Online arrangements: as before, remix and arrange tracks without leaving your Web browser
• Real-time effects — yep, you read that right. You can actually apply common effects like flanger, delay, and distortion via the Web interface.
• Online virtual instruments in the Web interface
• Store drafts online privately, until a track is finished
• Collect samples from around the site to use in your song

Splice

Real-time effects and instruments in a Web browser? That’s a surprise. Java has made that possible for some time, but it’s new to Flash, and even in Java actual implementations have been few — let alone integrated in a full-blown community site open to the public and ready to use.

Best of all, we hear that Bram de Jong, famed as the gifted plug-in developer in the Smartelectronix collective, engineered the new plug-in system. There’s even a Web version of his SupaTrigger plug-in. If you don’t know Bram’s work already, check out his cross-platform, donationware plugs:

Bram @ Smartelectronix

We’ll be talking to Splice more about what’s new, where it’s going, how it was developed, and what this means for music making on the Web; stay tuned.

In the meantime, I’ll say it again — don’t assume you’ll be throwing away your non-Web music software anytime soon.

Blog haze: it’s the dimmed state of consciousness that comes from reading too many blog entries about such and such a remix creative commons resampled installation art piece about intellectual prop . . . there, see I’ve already fallen asleep. But wait, this is really, truly, incredibly cool. If you don’t believe me, just watch the video.

Usually, if you sample George Clinton, you wind up in court. A circuit court decision in fall 2004 ruled that an unlicensed George Clinton sample was illegal regardless of context, length, or recognizability in a decision so sweeping even the record industry opposes it. (See my article below; the details are quite complex.)

For once, though, you can sample legally. Creative Commons’ ccMixter project is encouraging composers and remixers to employ interview samples from George Clinton — and Chuck D (Public Enemy), De La Soul, DJ Qbert, Matmos, Coldcut, and Negativland — in music submissions to a contest. The interviews come from Copyright Criminals, a new documentary on sampling and legality. The winners get their music on a CD distributed with the film, with the top choice on the documentary’s DVD. In addition to adding George Clinton and Chuck D to the mix, the contest’s organizers have extended the deadline to March 14, so you’ve got time — get (re)mixing!

Creative Commons Copyright Criminals Remix Contest [ccMixter]

Step Away From the Sampler: Court rules all digital sampling illegal and the record industry objects — but you still have options [January 2005 Keyboard Magazine -- I wrote this story, though it's curiously missing my byline.]

Sometimes, I have good ideas. Sometimes, other people have ideas I wish I’d thought of. Case in point: Gizmodo.com is running a contest to create music, in 3 minutes or less, based on audio from defective Hitachi hard drives. Win, and they’ll give you an insanely cool equalizer watch that could only have been designed in Japan.

Now, come on. This has to be a CDM reader who wins this contest, right? That or else we have to come up with our own, better idea. Or, for that matter, better recordings than these Hitachi sounds — surely some of you have dying hard driv– Bad Disk Error. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?

Hard Drive Dying Dance Track Contest [Gizmodo]

The crew at Remix Magazine got a chance to (literally) remix a Disney Chicken Little toy; they’ve posted the process and results. So what gear does DJ Chicken Little use?

Pioneer CDJ-1000
Allen & Heath Xone mixer
Virus Indigo keyboard
PowerBook G4 running Ableton Live

Hmm, absurdly cute, gets all the “young hens,” and has a dream rig — I have to say I’m a bit jealous. This is about the most fun toy I’ve seen since the Moog action figure. So, Keyboard Magazine, do we have a response toy?

You think you know 80s flashbacks? Not unless you’ve met Jemgirl. This Australian-based DJ/digital musician is hardcore enough to be recreating tunes from the rock cartoon Jem. (Still not ringing any bells? You know, truly, truly outrageous? Yeah — that Jem, my fellow late-20-somethings.) Jemgirl isn’t alone, either: she’ll be spinning Jem tunes, 80s music, Commodore 64 remixes, and em411 member creations at a conference devoted to Jem:

Jemcon (no, really — coming up in Minneapolis)
Jemgirl’s original release on em411, “in the key of The Misfits” (there’s a phrase you don’t hear often)
Jemgirl remakes music from the cartoon: Alone Again, Falling in Love with a Stranger (both of these speak to my personal experience, too . . .)
Jemgirl lends vocals to one of my favorite Game Boy musicians, Trash80

What’s that? That’s not nearly enough 80s nostalgia for you? You, my friend, need to book tickets now for the My Little Pony Fair. (You may see Sibelius graphic designers, too.)

Thanks, Jemgirl, and an early happy birthday to you!

Using conductive inks and ordinary pencils, the CD Sequencer lets you remix CDs right from the packaging. The circuitry is drawn onto printed postcards; the circuitry measures change in resistance created by a pencil. Plug it into the computer via USB, and you’re ready to remix. Cool, but what I’m not clear on is how this actually remixes things — via the enhanced CD? (More on this if I can find something out; see our friend Chris’ live report from the RCA show.)

Matthew Falla has a number of other brilliant projects, from birdfeeders to internships at the BBC. Along the lines of the CD Sequencer is his Rhythm Poster, which connects like the CD Sequencer. Matthew says he’s aiming to “reconnect music with graphics.” I like that idea a lot — I’m surprised there hasn’t been more exploration of interaction and ink. Let us know if you’ve seen anything similar.