Musical Search Results

News: LA Live on PBS July 31st

"The PBS special -- consisting of never before televised live musical performances from the Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Halo, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Castlevania, God of War, Civilization, Chrono Cross, StarCraft and Guitar Hero franchises, and a musical journey through classic gaming -- premieres July 31, 2010 and airs throughout August on PBS stations (check your local listings at http://pbs.org/tvschedules). Support your local PBS station now -- you make it possible for your PBS station to offer...

Squeal: iPad App Plays the Human Face Like a Theremin

Just as Smule's ocarina app yields the gentle sounds of a woodwind instrument by simply blowing into an iPhone, Squeal promises to emit theremin-esque noises from the iPad with easy fingerplay. Developed as a collaboration between Hong Kong musician/producer/composer Gaybird Leung and interactive designer Henry Chu, the musical app is a work-in-progress for Henry's ongoing experimental music project Digital Hug.

The Art of Farting: Extreme Jedi Anus Control

Nearly all humans (admittedly childishly) admire the ability to emit uncannily musical armpit or hand farts, or even rarer- mouth fart motor engine aping. However, it is the rare occasion that a performer's gaseous-sounding melodic notes are indeed truly gaseous (meaning literally discharged from the butt-hole).

Child of Eden: First Impressions

A woman from space that who has been dead hundreds of years has been resurrected on the internet and you're the IT assigned to fight the viruses attacking her. Child of Eden is a mesmerizing musical game, with fluid animations, great game play, and lots of replay ability.

How To: Things to Do on WonderHowTo (05/02 - 05/08)

WonderHowTo is a how-to website made up of niche communities called Worlds, with topics ranging from Minecraft to science experiments to Scrabble and everything in-between. Check in every Wednesday evening for a roundup of user-run activities and how-to projects from the most popular communities. Users can join and participate in any World they're interested in, as well as start their own community.

News: Creepy Theremin Utensils Howl the Pain of Slaughtered Ghost Chickens

One of the creepiest musical instruments ever is undoubtedly the theremin, a device originating from the early 20s that emits eerie sounds with a just a wave of the hand. If you've seen the original movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, you know what I mean—freakishly creepy. Playing the theremin can be off-putting for some, since it's a relatively pricy gizmo, but a new geek gadget called the EaTheremin aims to make all of us professional, dinnertime theremists.

How To: Hack together a working ocarina from a soda can

This musical instrument, coke can ocarina hack is fun & creative (but doesn't really make a nice sounding instrument). Follow these instructions to learn how to make your own coke can ocarina - who knows maybe you can mod this hack into a better sounding instrument. Good luck! Hack together a working ocarina from a soda can.

News: A Theory of Holographic Music Synthesis

Are you ready for crazy, next-level music technology? I just completed a pretty fun introductory write-up on my new instrument called the Dub Cadet over at instructables.com. This is the first installment of a 3-Part series to explain how to build your own Dub Cadet or personally amalgamated hybrid.

Water Music: Conducting with Conductivity

What do you get when you mix water-filled bowls with electrical wiring and human hands? The answer may shock you. Artists Ion Furjanic & Isaac Souweine write, "Electric Tea 1.0 is the first in a series of works that put sound where it doesn't belong. [It] uses porcelain bowls, metal orbs, speaker wire, water, and the conductive power of the human body to create a water based musical controller."

Eat It, Gene Kelly: Turf Dancing In the Rain

Turf dancing (Acronym: Taking Up Room on the Floor) is a form of street dance of similar vein to krumping. Basic dance elements include mimeing and popping & locking; and the free-flowing style is intended to portray a narrative- not totally unlike Gene Kelly's intention in Singin' In the Rain: In contrast to the classic 50's musical, the talented kids below bring a similar concept into the 21st century, and their performance is strikingly beautiful.

News: Richie Hayward Benefit in San Jose, August 13, 2010

DRUM! Magazine — the leading magazine for drummers and percussionists worldwide — has announced the biggest drumming event ever to take place in Northern California. On Friday, August 13, drummers will descend on the San Jose Repertory Theatre in the heart of Silicon Valley to witness three of the world’s most exciting drummers — extreme drumming sensation Marco Minnemann, Tower Of Power funk master David Garibaldi, and former Mars Volta wunderkind Thomas Pridgen — for an evening of mind-blow...

Dueling Plasma: Singing Tesla Coils' Shocking Battle to the Death

Tesla coils are electrically satisfying in so many ways. But what happens when a guitar-playing city coil has a run-in with a backwoods, banjo-playing, inbred coil? A musical duel to the death! Watch these two Tesla coils battle it out as they play Dueling Banjos. Shocking. Just shocking. Okay, so it's no secret that Tesla coils can create a wonderful light show of electricity, but by modulating the frequency, they quickly turn into powerful singing Tesla coils—the key to any electromaniac's ...

News: Fiber Laser Scores Aperture Logo in Steel While Playing Portal's "Still Alive" Theme Song

Most of your who visit Fear of Lightning are probably well familiar with laser weaponry, thanks to Christopher's three-part series covering carbon dioxide, flashlamp, and semiconductor lasers. Another type of laser currently being developed as a weapon is the fiber laser, which is compact and efficient, but much weaker than a chemical laser. Fiber lasers are more commonly used in laser cutting and marking, telecommunications, spectroscopy, and of course... music.

How To: Make an Electric Cigar Box Guitar for $25

A large number of the greatest musicians to ever shape the history of sound first learned to play on cheap, dirty, and often times even homemade instruments. There is a very unique atmosphere that comes about when creating music with something made by your own hands—out of what was no more than garbage at the start. There is a sense of accomplishment that inspires the maker, and gives motivation to learn the limits of their creation. Those who have the desire to build an instrument are often ...

News: The Recycling Entertainment System: What Rock Band Would Have Been Like in the 8-Bit Era

As advanced gaming systems continue to evolve, older classics like the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) are one step closer to extinction. They're rotting in the basements of gamers. They're gathering dust at the local pawn shop. Or worse... being thrown out in the trash like a used up condom. But not everybody is getting rid of their NES—or more specifically, their NES controllers.

New Bronze Audio Format: Never Play a Song the Same Way Twice

Thanks to digital media, music lovers can listen to the newest tune from their favorite band whenever they want, however they want. Audio files can be played in many different formats on many different devices, from iTunes on your computer to Pandora on your cell phone. The music you love will always be instantly available to you, note for note, word for word—just how you like it. But as a result of today's software-driven world, you now have another, less static option for listening to your ...

News: Compose DIY Meditiative Music with Otomata, an Online Audio Toy

It's more addictive than Angry Birds, perhaps as relaxing as transcendental meditation, and satisfyingly simpler than GarageBand. It's Otomata, a newly programmed generative sequencer designed by Batuhan Bozkurt, a Turkish sound artist, computer programmer, and performer. But really, it's best described as an audio/visual music toy that anybody can play online—with beautiful results.

How To: Play Music With Your Mind

Tired of getting calluses from incessantly strumming along to 'No Woman No Cry'? Just hook up to the brain-music system and use your brain power to play a tune instead. I'm not talking—humming along in your head. The machine, created by composer and computer-music specialist Eduardo Miranda of the University of Plymouth, UK, is composed of electrodes taped directly onto your skull that pick up tiny electrical impulses from neurons in your brain and translates them into musical rhythms on a co...

YouTube Phreaking: How to Extract a Phone Number from a YouTube Clip

Every key on a telephone keypad has its own sonic signature, a sort of calling card composed of two distinct tones: one high, one low. While it's easy to tell the difference between the individual pitches in a single row—see, for example, this article on using your cell phone as a musical instrument—, it's often difficult to differentiate between notes within the same column. Unless, of course, you outsource the work to a computer! Which is what Uruguayan hacker [Charlie X-Ray] recently set o...

News: The Cheap Thrill of Flirting With Death On Stage

From an episode of the Frank Sinatra Show in 1951, Larry Griswold performs death defying stunts in the name of entertainment. Griswold, an American gymnast, entertainer, and co-inventor of the trampoline, proved again and again that flirting with death is sure to please a crowd. Meanwhile, in the parallel universe of Julie Taymor's accident prone Spider-Man musical, the New Yorker makes a similar case in point. The production has been plagued with injury after injury- broken wrists and ribs, ...

Drumssette: A DIY Drum Machine

While digital samplers have their merits, they're predictable in a way that can cause them to sound stiff or sterile. The solution? A return to the analog, tape-based samplers of yesteryear, which, with their inherent mechanical noise and euphonic distortions, offer a more musical take on the sampling process.

News: Useful Vocabulary

Words that will help you with your writing Alliteration - The repetition of aconsonant sound. This si important because it makes words stand out, and because it can help set the mood for something.

News: The Revolution of the Hacked Kinect, Part 3: Gaming Gets Artsy

Video games and art have somewhat of a sticky relationship. Many video games have large teams of talented artists doing amazingly creative work, and yet the art community is only just beginning to utilize video games as art (sometimes). Perhaps if video games were shown not just as a medium of expression, but as a means of creating great art as well, the art community would be forced to consider it differently. The third part in the Hacked Kinect series will focus on the artistic possibilitie...

News: Put Your Legs In Front Of Your Head

Whoa, these bygone era triplets are seriously flexible. "The Ross Sisters were a trio of female sibling dancers consisting of Aggie Ross, Elmira Ross, and Maggie Ross (whose real names were Vicki, Dixie and Betsy Ross). Their public attention peaked during the 1940s, during which they were featured prominently in the 1944 film Broadway Rhythm. The sole remaining known film clip shows them performing "Solid Potato Salad", which features the sisters' amazing contortionism."