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esta. A Study.

https://soundcloud.com/beatsbyesta/

Francis Esteban, or esta. (stylized ESTA.) A music producer and DJ, he mainly focuses on sample manipulation. His “Soulection” of music draws inspirations from old Hip-Hop and R&B, along with a touch of Soul, all tightened up with modern 808s.

My presentation focused on 2 songs: “rhythm roulette” and “childish people”

In rhythm roulette, esta. participates in Mass Appeal’s Rhythm Roulette, picking out records blindfolded and creating a track on the spot with beats sampled from the records.

He samples the beat from Roberto Yanes’ “Luna de Miel” or “Honeymoon Song” in english. This song is really hard to find, Roberto is an Argentinian folk singer, and “Luna de Miel” was in his vinyl LP that was basically his “greatest hits.”

esta. takes the vocals and uses it in the beginning of the song, along with some vinyl noise. He uses the breakdown strings after the chorus and pitches it up 4 semitones, throw in some piano chords, adds some swooping legato bassline, a tight 808 kit, some improvised synth solo, and this became his main motif in the song. 

In his second song that we will look at today “_childish people,” _esta. uses the main line of “_why iii love the moon” _by Phony Ppl, throwing on top of that a smooth and lazy chug in “_Sober” _by Childish Gambino (Donald Glover), jazz saxophone by Masego, along with his jazz vocal scats. really pulls the song together.

Blending together the two songs almost seamlessly, esta. really shows that even working with samples that are cross-genre and across decades of time, he can still bring a refreshing feel to his tracks. his true “Soulection.”

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Apple Music is Unstoppable.

Music is Unstoppable.

a metadata compilation by Will Yen.

Apple (AAPL) Music, a streaming service Apple started back in June of 2015, offered its subscribers the entirety of Apple’s iTunes library, listen to anything, anywhere, offered across Apple’s entire line of products.

The service is growing quickly, from the initial 10 million in January to now 17 million in September this year, quickly catching up to the streaming top-dog Spotify, currently holding at 39 million paid subscribers.

Growth aside, Apple also have been working on providing their listeners with a wide variety of content, with the introduction of Beats 1 Radio, a 24/7 radio show that brings famous names and banging new tracks to its listeners all day, from Hip-pop legend Dr. Dre on “The Pharmacy with Dr. Dre” to the most raving tracks on the dancefloor with “Lazer Sound” and “OWSLA Radio” brought to you by EDM gods Diplo and Skrillex.

With the introduction of iOS 10, Apple has also brought users curated content with its in-house curators and algorithms to determine your taste in music and suggest similar and new and even tracks you would've never discovered before!

With the introduction of the Apple AirPods and the new iPhone 7, Apple is taking the brave step forward to eliminate wires. Hold on tight to your pants now because Apple has taken the liberty to cut your cords, taking away the phono-jack on their latest installment of the iPhone is sure a brave move.

Apple always have been a company to innovate, to take brave steps that other companies aren’t willing to take. Apple was there to revolutionize digital music with iTunes, and now they have their eyes set on the future of music.

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Getter - WAT THE FRICK

Getter, a very well-known name in the dubstep scene, has just released his second record since signing on with OWSLA.

WAT THE FRICK gives EDM fans a different take on Getter, with elements of trap, jungle, and even a bit of future bass.

First track on the album is a VIP (variation in production) of his single WAT THE FRICK, bringing the song back with heavier stabs and beefing up the fills with digitally distorted and chopped up vocals, using 8bit-esque synths during the breakdown, drawing influences from old Zomboy and Bear Grillz. 

“Hecka Tight” comes in with an electro-house feel, at a very danceable 128bpm, but quickly takes a turn to dubstep floor-banger in the second drop by going into half-time, then back into the electro before the outro, and ending on Getter saying “Yeah, that was pretty good I guess!” 

“Fricken Dope” marks Getter’s official entry into the trap genre, with a smashing 808 sub, chopped vocals as a lead, and machine-gun hats. You can still feel Getter’s signature dubstep-esque synth in the fills and in the second drop. 

“Cool as Frick” is Getter’s twist on the classic moombahton genre, incorporating a punchy sub-kick and scratchy synths, this track evolves into a beast of its own. 

In “Sick Jet Pack Bro,” Getter gives another take on the dub-trap genre, at 80pbm, the percussive lead has plenty of room to breathe with a delayed chopped reverb. With each drop the lead evolves with more complexity. 

“2 High” is the first track in the record to feature another artist, hip-pop duo $uicideboy$, Getter has previous worked with them in Pouya’s album. 

“Something New” is Getter, as the label on the tin says, trying out something new, playing with the future bass genre, is surprisingly refreshing and just goes to show that Getter is totally comfortable working outside the dubstep genre.

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Back In The Days

Made of What?

In class today we had Rob Millis come in and gave us a taste of what music was before the digital distribution revolution.

Rob brought over a small sample of his collection of records. I learned that before the advent of vinyl, gramophone records were pressed out of what’s called “shellac,” a resin that comes from the secretions of the female lacca bugs. 

a small sample of blonde shellac flakes. 

We listened to a lot of different types of recordings, including things that were recorded before the introduction of electric microphones, during The Analogue Era, where the subject that you wanted to record had to physically stand in front of a horn where the sound would be captured and “etched” into wax. 100% percent live recordings.

Frances Densmore recording a Mountain Chief.

With trained ears, you can easily tell the difference between materials recorded before and after the advent of electromagnetic microphones, with analogue recordings lacking in bass response beyond 250Hz. This means that you lose a lot if not all of the fundamental frequencies in an instrument. In the case of the recording we heard in class, one of the Indian chanting recording, you are missing almost all of the membranophones present, hearing only the faint clap of the attack.

Frequency responses of various classical instruments.

It was fascinating to both see and hear recordings and recording technologies change so much in just a couple decades. 

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Technology

The Internet.

With the advent of the Internet, came a revolutionary development in the music distribution industry. Digital distribution has been growing exponentially from $2.2b in 2006 to $6.9b in 2014.

Graph showing growth in digital revenue in the past decade

Being able to select from millions of tracks from all around the world with just your credit card number, this kind of globalization would of never been possible without the Internet. Apple’s iTunes alone has more than 43 million songs you can choose from, with some even in full 44.1k, 281kbps files.

A song I purchased on iTunes. What So Not - Jaguar

Just in my generation alone, we went from cars that came with tape-decks to now we have digital satellite radio and connected cars have online streaming services like Pandora built into the head unit. We come a far way from the days of record shops.

Streaming.

Streaming, it’s soon becoming one of the most popular ways to consume media. Compared to 2015, 2016 had a 97.4% increase in audio streaming consumption; while actual digital download sales fell by 23.9%. Why are people preferring to stream their favorite tunes instead of downloading?

Graph showing percentage of growth in different distribution methods of music

Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Tidal, Amazon Prime Music, Youtube Music, with so many choices out there, it is hard to find someone who doesn’t use at least one of these major music streaming platforms. Paid subscriptions like these give their users their entire music library to choose from to listen to, anytime, anywhere you are connected to the internet, for a flat fee per month.

With the advances in bandwidth technology, we will be able to stream higher and higher quality tracks over the air, wireless into the devices that just fits inside our pockets. Music has come along way.

https://www.statista.com/chart/3397/digital-music-sales-2014/

https://www.statista.com/chart/4220/music-sales-in-the-united-states/

https://www.statista.com/chart/5152/music-streaming-subscribers/