I Got to See Chris Cornell at the Belmont in Austin - AKA SXSW is Rad...

I know this is primarily a voice over blog, but I did have a brief flirtation with recording music, and since I'm at SXSW I'm going to share this one with you guys.

Because it was BRILLIANT.

Getting to hang with the Nokia crew here in Austin has been a blast, and I'm enough of a gear head that the Interactive panels and discussion have been super geekery fun, but last night I got a VIP pass to see the very first show of Chris Cornell's acoustic tour.

And it was FANTASTIC.

If you grew up when I did, bands like Soundgarden probably had a significant impact on your music tastes. I never had the opportunity to see them live though, and I always regretted that. When I heard I was going to see him live, solo, and unplugged I actually got a little nervous.

What if he wasn't as good now?

It's really satisfying in this day and age when a performer you admire, sans accoutrement, can not only live up to your expectations, but exceed them. It's rare in this age of editing that someone can genuinely sound better live than they can in a studio album.

According to the Chris Cornell website, his shows for the tour are already sold out, but if there's any way you can sneak in I would HIGHLY recommend it.

Much thanks again to WOMWorld/Nokia for bringing me out to SXSW.

I will be updating tech news on YourTechReport, and I'll be posting on two movie premiers I was able to attend over on Movies You May Have Missed.

I can't tell if this is real - REALLY dumb singer

It's a good thing she's cute...

One more Youtube clip before I go to bed.
Honestly I can't tell if this is staged or not, but it's damn funny anyhow.



I haven't come across anyone like this in VO, but I have been subjected to some HORRIBLE booth etiquette.

A little love for your techs and engineers next time you record with them.

G'Night!

Funny and Scary at the same time: Vocaloid edition

First the scary.
Vocaloid is one of the best sounding singing replacement software packages I've ever heard. It's the closest I've heard yet to replacing the human voice. It's light years ahead of Stephen Hawking, and gives AT&T synthesis engine a run for it's money, all at consumer prices.
Coupling the engine with plugins for different voice types will also make it infinitely flexible, and ting this to sampling, auto-tuning, and synthesis, we're getting closer and closer to the point where we might not need people anymore to perform.
This was our last great hold out for video games and animation. They could replace the actor physically, but not his performance or voice.



OK, now the funny.
With all the advancement, with all the tech, with all the computing horse power out there, right now the only singing voice that Vocaloid is actually qualified to replace would be Marlee Matlin's.
(Ironically, the picture to the right is of Marlee "singing" the National Anthem at the 2007 SuperBowl.)

The Vocaloid folks have setup a MySpace page where you can hear their software ruin Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly.

I wonder if the software sang it with it's eyes closed...

Here's the writeup @ Wired's Listening Post

Here's the Awful MySpace Page




Marlee's kinda just a little bit REALLY hot...