tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43959518519006520312008-12-23T13:01:20.603ZBowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-22284063769551736982008-12-22T10:49:00.006Z2008-12-22T11:01:34.342Z2008-12-22T11:01:34.342Z

The Fragmented Orchestra exhibition which we've sponsored has opened in Liverpool's FACT gallery and will be on until February 22nd. We'll be posting composer Nick Ryan's final blogs on the piece this week.

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/ultimate-surround-sound-system.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-88552056131397178712008-12-17T14:25:00.013Z2008-12-22T14:57:33.258Z2008-12-22T14:57:33.258Z

Everyone loves a list, I know, but it's interesting that numerous publications and bloggers are listing their top 75 or 100 albums of the year rather than ruthlessly cutting it down to top 10's or 25's. Creatively, it's been a good year for the album despite the digital sales of single tracks still going up and I think this is reflected in the size of these lists. Maybe due to the ubiquitousness

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/2008-year-of-album.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-24413208349987677642008-12-12T13:20:00.020Z2008-12-22T14:53:16.080Z2008-12-22T14:53:16.080Z

It's the time of year where journalists and bloggers get all retrospective and reflect on a year in music. As a humble B&W employee, with a vested interested in music that all sounds good, I have compiled a list of ten tracks that sound great to me personally, and I would hope to anyone with a good sound system. Ofcourse, this neatly bypasses the argument of albums against single tracks, but

daveywils63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14994193822928979412noreply@blogger.com3http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/personal-best-tracks-of-2008.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-27072799363944608482008-12-10T14:44:00.006Z2008-12-22T14:58:25.935Z2008-12-22T14:58:25.935Z

Hello again. I was in such a rush to get the Everton site installed yesterday that I didn't get a chance to properly explain the project to you. Whilst there will soon be a vast amount of information about the project on our website in the meantime here's a very short explanation: The Fragmented Orchestra is a huge distributed musical structure modelled on the firing of the human brain's

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/fragmented-orchestra_10.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-58711863695956605662008-12-10T11:53:00.003Z2008-12-16T17:53:57.878Z2008-12-16T17:53:57.878Z

I blogged earlier about the Deep Listening roundtable conference in New York. You can now watch it here. Chaired by Greg Calbi, the mastering engineer at legendary Sterling Sound, NY whose 70’s output alone includes classic albums by Springsteen (Born to Run), Lennon (Walls and Bridges) and Bowie (Young Americans) not to mention later work with The Ramones, Patti Smith and Talking Heads through

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/class-in-sonic-appreciation.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-41724336968022992782008-12-09T12:07:00.003Z2008-12-10T09:53:53.384Z2008-12-10T09:53:53.384Z

Hi. This is my first posting on Sound of Music. B&W have asked me to write a blog in the run up to the launch of The Fragmented Orchestra project. The Fragmented Orchestra is a huge UK wide music project and winner of the PRSF new music award 2008. B&W are generously sponsoring our central performance space in Liverpool with 24 of their finest loudspeakers! You can read a detailed description

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/fragmented-orchestra.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-89185434946396360052008-12-03T15:39:00.009Z2008-12-04T10:05:24.802Z2008-12-04T10:05:24.802Z

Amazon are now offering DRM-free MP3's on their UK site. Although it's nice to see a proper challenge to iTunes it would be nicer if they could offer a higher quality file - currently 256kps - (7digital offers 320kps which is marginally better) for their more discerning buyers. Given the loyalty of Amazon's customerbase and the incredibly cheap prices they are currently showing, it will be

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com1http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/amazon-mp3-finally-launches-in-uk.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-7195483622374488312008-12-02T13:35:00.007Z2008-12-04T14:55:17.608Z2008-12-04T14:55:17.608Z

If you care about sound quality and live in New York, you should really get to this free seminar at the Piloctetes Centre - Deep Listening: Why Audio Quality Matters. Something we discuss alot in our Lab podcasts. It's on the 6th December. I should add that if you can't get to NY you can watch it live on their website if you visit it during the event. The roundtable is scheduled to start at

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/deep-listening-free-conference-on-sound.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-12329838994139480842008-12-02T10:41:00.006Z2008-12-02T12:07:39.391Z2008-12-02T12:07:39.391Z

We were very lucky to be able to attend an invitation-only evening at Real World Studios last week along with some B&W Music Club members who had won invites. After drinks in the wooden studio, Peter Gabriel introduced the extraordinary West Coast psychedelic/Cambodian pop hybrid that is Dengue Fever in the glass fronted large studio. The sound was exactly as it should have been - loud but

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com4http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/12/exclusive-live-dengue-fever-event.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-40845662295703913122008-11-20T11:19:00.020Z2008-11-24T13:05:11.377Z2008-11-24T13:05:11.377Z

Creative Review have featured some lovely examples of new music packaging in one of their recent blogs. One of the interesting results of the prevalence of digital music has been the renewed interest in the high end reissues and packaging of vinyl. The media focus on Radiohead's innovative marketing campaign for In Rainbows was mainly about who did or didn't pay but more interesting is the

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/11/kind-of-blue-again.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-46668344928070091472008-11-19T11:06:00.015Z2008-12-22T15:01:00.519Z2008-12-22T15:01:00.519Z

I’m in Newcastle-on-Tyne right now, in the final stage of rehearsals for my Skellig opera which premieres here at the Sage Gateshead next Monday and runs from November 24-29. Newcastle is a lot smaller than Boston, where I live, but it has a familiar feel of an East-West running river that empties into the ocean with two contrasting cities on each bank (Newcastle/Gateshead, Boston/Cambridge),

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/11/preparing-for-skellig-tod-machover-mit.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-5647710571520026682008-11-18T09:21:00.008Z2008-11-18T13:08:59.377Z2008-11-18T13:08:59.377Z

We were looking for a classical artist to be represented in our B&W Music Club and a senior engineer at Abbey Road suggested young pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. Having won the Keyboard Final of the BBC young Musician of the Year in 2004 age eleven, Benjamin has been growing steadily in stature with two documentaries and a number of critical acclaimed appearances at Carnegie Hall, The Barbican and

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/11/young-musician-of-year-exclusive.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-49293861758781513232008-11-17T17:25:00.008Z2008-11-18T09:19:20.909Z2008-11-18T09:19:20.909Z

There's an interesting debate on Music Tank at the moment on the perennial question of how we should be delivering new music. Celestial jukeboxes, Nokia’s Comes With Music – it all gives me an overwhelming sense of inertia. Rather than discovering a wealth of new music to love and cherish I end up with option paralysis. The more choice we’re offered the less choice I feel I have. How would I

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/11/music-with-everything.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-37282754616861613992008-11-04T12:43:00.015Z2008-11-10T12:45:25.302Z2008-11-10T12:45:25.302Z

Tod Machover: cutting edge composer, a Professor of Music and Media at MIT’s renowned Media Lab and a Fellow of B&W’s Society of Sound. Tod is in the UK in November for two exciting events: a lecture in London on the Future of Music and the premier of his new opera Skellig at The Sage Gateshead.The keynote address takes place at the Royal Society of Arts on 11th November, and while admission is

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/11/tod-machover-future-of-music_04.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-20310214287219567442008-10-29T12:07:00.010Z2008-11-04T12:39:38.277Z2008-11-04T12:39:38.277Z

Listening to Elbow's The Seldom Seen Kid, the Mercury Prize winning-album the other day, and nonchalantly reading the insert that comes with it, it was heartening to see had the following declaration in there: "Turn Me Up!™ To preserve the excitement, emotion and dynamics of the original performances this record is intentionally quieter than some. For full enjoyment simply Turn Me Up!" It's

daveywils63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14994193822928979412noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/10/isnt-it-heartening-when-mercury-award.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-5587945948668467322008-10-06T12:18:00.007+01:002008-10-07T13:26:54.839+01:002008-10-07T13:26:54.839+01:00

Audiophiles get a bad press. Even the word conjures up images of old men in tweed, listening to LPs of train sound effects on turntables that pre-date the invention of the compact disc via valve amps and speakers the size of the average inner-city bedsit. Now, we’re not adverse to the odd bit of tweed, but we think Steve Guttenberg on CNET has the right idea. Being an audiophile is about having a

sgranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468786549233699943noreply@blogger.com2http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/10/equal-rights-for-audiophiles.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-37522085177044301482008-09-30T10:51:00.015+01:002008-11-10T12:48:04.875Z2008-11-10T12:48:04.875Z

You may have noticed that this month's B&W Music Club artist is the hugely talented classical guitarist Tom Kerstens. As Artistic Director of the International Guitar Foundation, Tom has been asked to curate one of the first festivals at the brand new venue King's Place on Regent's Canal in London. As the first purpose built arts venue to be built in London since the Barbican, this is a hugely

sgranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468786549233699943noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/09/tom-kerstens-headlines-brand-new-london.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-15081262956326418342008-09-29T16:53:00.009+01:002008-11-10T12:47:05.204Z2008-11-10T12:47:05.204Z

It appears that sound lovers aren't taking bad sound quality lying down. Metallica fans have put up a petition to get their new album, Death Magnetic, remixed. Add your name to the 12,000 who've already signed up. If you care about music but not about Metallica (which is probably an oxymoron anyway) you can sign up to the estimable Charles Dye's organisation Turn Me Up! who are fighting for

sgranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468786549233699943noreply@blogger.com5http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/09/lets-get-organised.htmlhttp://www.gopetition.com/petitions/re-mix-or-remaster-death-magnetic.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-92081627605961856692008-09-22T11:18:00.007+01:002008-11-10T12:50:20.013Z2008-11-10T12:50:20.013Z

New technology is often blamed for ruining sound quality, with downloads getting a particularly rough ride. But now it seems the latest gadgets are striking a blow for audio purity, at least when it comes to the new Metallica album Death Magnetic. According to MusicRadar the version available for download for the PlayStation 3 game Guitar Hero is actually less compressed than the CD release. It

sgranthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17468786549233699943noreply@blogger.com2http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/09/play-louder.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-50987395420845167942008-08-18T17:09:00.011+01:002008-08-19T09:44:41.579+01:002008-08-19T09:44:41.579+01:00

The extraordinary Dub Colossus In A Town Called Addis is our new B&W Music Club album. If you rate your re-mixing skills you can click here to download the remix pack, upload your entry and win yourself a Zeppelin in the process.

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com1http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/08/remix-dub-colossus-and-win-zeppelin.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-89494199602356993972008-08-15T09:12:00.000+01:002008-08-15T09:30:13.782+01:002008-08-15T09:30:13.782+01:00

Peter Gabriel, 'sponsor' of B&W Music Club, is back in the news again, mostly to promote his new Big Blue Ball project with Real World. If you didn't realise how great a pioneer he is of digital music, then it's worth reading this article in the NY Times One interesting quote from him is that "I don’t believe in the death of the major record companies,” Mr. Gabriel says. “But as an artist, I’d

daveywils63http://www.blogger.com/profile/14994193822928979412noreply@blogger.com2http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/08/do-you-agree-with-peter-gabriel-about.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-58787156821884325102008-08-12T15:56:00.001+01:002008-11-10T12:37:37.817Z2008-11-10T12:37:37.817Z

Last month I went to see the golden-voiced Leonard Cohen at the O2 Arena. I’ve always been a staunch avoider of seeing musicians in large stadia, they lack atmosphere, intimacy and inevitably you end up watching a big screen. Arenas are for Van Halen not for legendary ‘60’s troubadours.... True to expectations, it’s the most soulless place imaginable (according to Wikipedia, the first American

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com0http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/08/man-with-golden-voice.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-86316491340663602312008-08-05T09:42:00.003+01:002008-12-10T23:59:05.576Z2008-12-10T23:59:05.576Z

So we're three months and four albums in (including the extra Brett Anderson album) and we'd really like to know what you think. Tell us what you've liked or not liked, what you think of the sound quality and what you'd like to hear next

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com28http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/08/tell-us-what-you-think.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-89914860585818872842008-07-30T11:53:00.001+01:002008-12-10T23:59:05.724Z2008-12-10T23:59:05.724Z

Continuing on our mission as sound evangelists, last week we invited a group of journalists to a Sound Tasting at Abbey Road Studios. The aim was to give them an insight into how a speaker engineer (in this case, B&W Senior Development Engineer Dr John Dibb), goes about listening to music and in doing so let them see what they might be missing. It proved an enlightening morning and I asked John

Bowers & Wilkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09596064647679410946noreply@blogger.com5http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/2008/05/sound-tasting-at-abbey-road-studios.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4395951851900652031.post-46344935033264569282008-07-28T16:30:00.000+01:002008-12-10T23:59:05.871Z2008-12-10T23:59:05.871Z

Over the weekend I attended WOMAD, the long-running music, arts and dance festival. The festival has been running for an astonishing 26 years, and Peter Gabriel has been involved since its 1982 inception. The festival's UK date now takes place in Charlton Park, Wiltshire, a stone's throw from the base of Realworld Records, but WOMAD has also expanded internationally to host events in Australia,

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