dylan

Bob Dylan famously sang that the times they are a-changin' -- but little did he know just how much. So much, in fact, that a MIDI-controlled orchestra made of old consumer electronics can now play one of his all-time classics.

Chris Cairns of production company Partizan teamed with creative firm Isthisgood? to turn old Brother photocopiers, scanners, fax machines, printers, hard drives, and modems into a full-scale scrapheap symphony with a penchant for folk.

They soldered, reprogrammed, hacked, and rewired 97 printer relics destined for the landfill and even custom-designed their own circuitboard that could control all of the printers from one main computer. … Read more

Opinions about the future of the music business cover a lot of ground, but one thing is certain: today's bands release albums at a much slower pace than bands did in previous eras. It's not just that Spotify and other streaming services have been taking their toll on sales; I doubt too many of today's top artists make albums at the rate Bob Dylan did early in his career. He released 21 albums between 1962-1981. The Beatles were even more prolific and released five albums in the U.S. in 1964: "Meet The Beatles!," "… Read more

This is interesting. Sony Music's The Remix Project is a contest on Facebook where music fans can create their own remix of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" using the song's original 4-track "stems"--the individual vocal, guitar, bass, and drum tracks.

Fans can mix and match the components of the original, with new versions of the classic that have been recorded for the project by Sony Music artists, including The Ting Tings, 2AM Club, and more. Best of all, fans can record and upload their own covers of "Subterranean Homesick Blues," and … Read more

"The Witmark Demos" two-CD (or four-LP) set features 47 Bob Dylan songs recorded for his music publishers, Leeds Music and M. Witmark & Sons between 1962 and 1964. Fifteen songs have never been officially released until now. All of the songs on "The Witmark Demos" were written and recorded before Dylan was 24 years old.

Some of the earliest songs on "The Witmark Demos" weren't first heard on Dylan's own albums; they were covered by others, including Peter, Paul, and Mary, Stevie Wonder, Judy Collins, and the Byrds. In 1962-3 Dylan was primarily known as a songwriter, and the demos were made in hopes of getting more artists to cover his songs.

The demos weren't recorded at official Columbia Records sessions, so there's no fancy production or sweetening, just Dylan singing and playing his guitar in a tiny 6-by-8-foot studio at Witmark Publishing on 51st Street and Madison Ave. in NYC. "The Witmark Demos" contains Dylan's very first recordings of songs like "Blowin' In the Wind" and "The Times They Are A-Changin'," so it's almost as if you're hearing them at their moment of creation.

Reissue producer Steve Berkowitz worked from the surviving original analog tapes and promo records. The amount of research that went into finding the best possible tapes and other materials from nearly 50 years ago was extensive. Even so, some tunes are distorted and downright fuzzy, and sound quality varies from track to track, but most are good, and some are the best, most natural sounding versions I've heard. The demo recordings are free of dynamic range compression so you really hear Dylan singing his guts out. "Boots Of Spanish Leather" gave me a new appreciation for Dylan's singing. He's really thinking about the words. … Read more

"The Original Mono Recordings" box set features Bob Dylan's first eight albums, available on CD and in their original release format, mono LPs (and on MP3, sans box). The set runs from his first album, "Bob Dylan," released in March 1962, to "John Wesley Harding" from late December 1967. At that time most people listened to Dylan's music over mono AM radios in the car, mono portable radios, or mono home hi-fi systems. Sure, stereo Dylan LPs were simultaneously released with the monos, but it's my best guess that Dylan and his production team listened to the mono mixes in the studio. Besides, mono LPs retailed for $2.98 in the early 1960s, and stereo LPs were a buck more, so most kids bought the mono, even if they had a stereo (that would include me). "John Wesley Harding" was the last mono LP from Dylan; after that all subsequent American releases were stereo only. So unless you have original 1960s-era LPs, chances are you've never heard the mono mixes.

I spoke with reissue producer Steve Berkowitz to get more details about how the transfers were done. He assured me the 96/kHz-24-bit resolution digital masters were made from the original analog master tapes, played on vintage mono tape machines, and that the LPs were cut directly from the analog masters. I was relieved to hear that; most, no, nearly all newly recorded or remastered old analog music that comes out on LP is sourced from digital masters. "The Original Mono Recordings" on LP are pure analog discs, with no digital conversions whatsoever in the mastering process. The LPs were cut here in NYC at Sterling Sound by George Marino, a true master of the record-cutting lathe.

Berkowitz stressed the guiding principle for everyone involved, including engineer Mark Wilder and producer Jeff Rosen, was to make the new LPs sound as close to the first generation American LPs as possible. Berkowitz said, "We went back and forth comparing the new mono LPs and CDs with the original LPs. They were the 'masters' we served to replicate." … Read more

If you were launching the first step into implanting your product permanently into someone's brain, would you employ Bob Dylan?

Oh, I know he's a very fine musician, autobiographer and performer at corporate functions. But does he still symbolize the idea that the times are a-changin' and your brain needs re-arrangin'?

This vexing question occupies the part of my mind normally reserved for baseball and scones because Google Instant, the search engine that tries to know what you want slightly before you do, seems to have done an ad featuring the original Robert Zimmerman.

To the tune of … Read more

Great-sounding recently released albums are becoming increasingly rare, so when I find noteworthy efforts, I'm happy to share the news.

The goal here is to highlight new stuff, or at least music recorded in our century, so there's no need to include Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" or Steely Dan's "Aja." I assume you already know the best-sounding music from decades past; I'm trying to spread the word about the best new music, over a range of styles, something for every taste.

For more good-sounding music, check out my &… Read more

New albums that sound great are increasingly rare, so when I find noteworthy efforts I'm happy to share the news.

The goal here is to highlight new stuff--or at least music recorded mostly in our century--so there's no need to include Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" or Steely Dan's "Aja." I assume you already know the best music from decades past; I'm trying to spread the word about the best new music over a range of styles, with something for every taste.

For more music that sounds great, check … Read more

Maybe it's an American thing; we love big stuff. We equate size with quality, and think that exquisitely designed, silly, expensive products are always better than more affordable alternatives. Is the new iPod always better than last year's model? Then again, how do you define "better"?

A lot of audiophiles believe more watts, more power, higher digital sampling rates, higher resolution, heavier turntable platters, speakers with more drivers, bigger drivers, or more channels of sound will always produce better sound. It ain't necessarily so.

Don't get me wrong, I love high-end audio. But I … Read more