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Trent Reznor Challenges Music Norms
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Sat Apr 16, 2005 10:50 AM
from the mixing-it-up dept.
from the mixing-it-up dept.
alset_tech writes "Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails) has released the new single from NIN's upcoming album as a GarageBand file for fan remixes. Though by no means the first time a major-label artist has released a track to the public for remix, this is the first time such a project has been as open to the common user. The repercussions to 'traditional' IP views in music could be beneficial to all. Note that the license agreement does not allow commercial use of the included sounds. From the download text: 'What I'm giving you in this file is the actual multi-track audio session for 'the hand that feeds' in GarageBand format. This is the entire thing bounced over from the actual Pro Tools session we recorded it into. I imported and converted the tracks into AppleLoop format so the size would be reasonable and the tempo flexible.'"
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NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks 192 comments
Kethinov writes "Nine Inch Nails has once again released the sources in Garageband format for three of their tracks from their new album Year Zero. You can also download user-created remixes. Trent Reznor claims that he plans to release the entire album this way."
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Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you just explained why Reznor *is* breaking ground with this experiment. The artists at ReasonStation may be fantastic, but in one fell swoop Reznor has just caused a big stir. This is specifically because he is a major-label artist, and until now big-name acts haven't done this.
Small players are usually the ones that stir things up initially, but until big names that everyone knows get involved, John Q. Public doesn't have any idea of the possibilities.
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Re:Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:5, Insightful)
Garage Band 2 comes free with every Macintosh. Damn near every OS X user also owns a copy of Garage Band, even if they are not musicians, DJ's, or recording enthusiasts.
This means that Trent Reznor has just released the bare tracks of a major-label single from a multi-platinum artist to the general consumer! High school kids lucky enough to own a $999 iBook or a $499 mini can now make their own Nine Inch Nails remix, or sample the loops into creations of their own.
This is huge. If it catches on, it could fulfill the prediction Brian Eno once made about popular music eventually becoming user-modifiable constructs. If you can't see what a big deal this is, you are not looking with an open mind.
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Re:Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:5, Funny)
Bah, that's nothing new. My mom used to user-modify popular music when she was growing up. She used software called "sheet music" with a hardware device called a "piano." She was even able to add her voice to the mix!
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Re:Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:4, Funny)
Very few ordinary folk own a copy of Reason
Is that why that George Bush guy keeps getting re-elected? I mean, ferchrissakes, he's up to four terms now!
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Re:Eh, not really breaking ground. (Score:4, Informative)
Apple shipped 1,070,000 Macintosh® units and 5,311,000 iPods during the quarter, representing a 43 percent increase in CPU units and a 558 percent increase in iPods over the year-ago quarter. (emphasis added)
I am guessing Apple shipped more Mac computers last quarter than you have dollars in your bank account. The increase in CPU sales comes as a direct result of the introduction of the Mac mini. Ordinary folks are the ones buying this new computer.
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Is this what you might call... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Is this what you might call... (Score:5, Informative)
Here's the EULA when you try tomount the
End User License
Please read the terms of the following software License Agreement before downloading this product. By clicking on the link below and downloading this product, you agree to become bound by the terms of the License Agreement. If you do not agree with the terms of the License Agreement, do not click the I AGREE button below. Interscope Records ("Licensor") guarantees that the downloaded product has been created and recorded specially for this project and any similarity to any other recording is unintentional.
1. The sound samples recorded on these CDs remain the property of Licensor and are licensed, not sold, to you for use on your sampling software or equipment.
2. A right to use the enclosed sounds is granted to the original end-user of the product (Licensee) and is NOT transferable.
3. The Licensee may modify the sounds but MAY NOT USE THE SOUNDS, MODIFIED OR UNMODIFIED, FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WITHIN MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS. Licensee must obtain a separate license from Licensor in respect of any intended commercial uses.
4. This license expressly forbids resale, relicensing or other distribution of any of these sounds, either as they exist upon downloading, or any modification thereof. You cannot sell, loan, rent, lease, assign or transfer all or any of the enclosed sounds to another user, or for use in any competitive product.
5. Licensor will not be responsible if the contents of these discs does not fit the particular purpose of the Licensee.
6. Use of the included sound sample in isolation such as, but not limited to, video game soundtracks (where they appear in isolation or as sound effects) is not permitted without first obtaining a separate License from Licensor.
7. Use of the included sound samples in 'library music' (also known as 'production music') intended for commercial exploitation, is not permitted without first obtaining a separate License from Licensor.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. © 2005 Interscope Records.
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Re:Is this what you might call... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Is this what you might call... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Is this what you might call... (Score:4, Informative)
You'd be hard pressed to be more paranoid about this kind of situation than me -- I was once named in a lawsuit by Universal Australia for sending someone an MP3 of a Reznor remix. (nothing ever came of it...) I also had some unhappy dealings with Trent's previous buttwipe management, but that's another story [theninhotline.net].
I was assured that if any such lawsuit against a fan were to arise, Trent Reznor has veto power and would certainly use it. Otherwise, what's the point of doing this in the first place? Trent did not post this file just so he could get his fans sued.
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Re:Is this what you might call... (Score:3, Interesting)
But, it's open for private listening, open for modifications and open for sharing. These are important freedoms, and they're not something to snooze at. Plus, making a blow against RIAA just can't be bad
When it comes to Creative Commons licenses, they're way too easy to mistake one for another. T
With the death of Jhonn Balance... (Score:4, Interesting)
Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:5, Insightful)
nin_garageband.sit
Another reason for all you Winblows users to switch a different os. If Mr. Reznor himself uses a mac....
On Topic. It would be nice to see more artists pulling "stunts" like this. I call it a stunt, because although I think it's a great idea, you don't see this kind of thing happening often. If you give your audience a chance to become part of your music, you will become all that much closer (no pun intended) with them.
It works particularly well in the case of NIN, simply because their music handles remixes so well. I have trouble seeing anyone other then Ben Folds performing a different rendition of "Tiny Dancer". You never know though, do you. Perhaps there is some music genius out there just waiting for the right opportunity.
Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:3, Interesting)
Care to explain why?
Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, it was a poor attempt at sarcasm, way to early on a Saturday morning.
Simple logic from the masses:
1) NIN R0x0rs
2) Trent Reznor is NIN so he is c00l
3) Trent Reznor uses a Mac to mix his music
4) from (2) and (3) Macs must be cool!
Disclaimer: The author apologizes for the leet speek. It was simply used it for emphasis in portraying the "true" nature of NIN's younger fan base.
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Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:4, Funny)
6) Profi...oh shit, nevermind; this is Mac culture we're talking about....
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Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:3, Funny)
K, that's enough techy-talk for now. I'm gonna go ride my Vespa up to the common and like, hang out and stuff.
Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Great idea... but how well does it carry (Score:5, Funny)
Actually, the Mac isn't even necessary, they do it pretty reliably on their own...
(just kidding! hold your fire!)
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Oh, the possibilities... (Score:5, Funny)
And now that I think about it... what sort of cowbell samples does GarageBand come with?
Re:Oh, the possibilities... (Score:5, Funny)
--jeff++
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Got the idea from his friend (Score:5, Interesting)
NIN! NIN! NIN! (Score:5, Funny)
As a person into Industrial music that loves Nine Inch Nails and is big into the Apple platform, let me be the first here to say OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! FUCK YEAH! NINE INCH NAILS FUCKING RULES!
*faints*
Ha (Score:5, Funny)
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The inevitable question (Score:3)
Re:The inevitable question (Score:5, Informative)
http://ardour.org/ [ardour.org] it's about to go 1.0 any day and has served me well. Linux for now, soon OSten.
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Another First (Score:5, Informative)
Now he's the first one to release a song as a GarageBand file.
He brought industrial music (or something like this) into the main stream.
Be brought forward some new huge bands like Marylin Manson and Filter (I'm not arguing if they're good or bad)
But he is just going to release his fourth album in almost 20 years of career.
There's even a WHOLE movie that's based off the images of the video for "Closer" (Ok, so the movie sucks and the video wasn't Trent's work, but still)
For me, this guy is the most influential musician of the last 15 years.
Re:Another First (Score:4, Informative)
Well, that depends on what he's meaning. There's Closure [wikipedia.org], a two VHS set that came out a long time ago. There was supposed to be a DVD release this year, but it's been indefinitely shelved due to debates between Reznor and the label.
What he was probably talking about, though, is Broken [wikipedia.org], a movie where a young man is kidnapped, tortured and forced to watch NIN videos. It was produced by Reznor and features a performing S&M artist named Bob Flanagan [wikipedia.org]. It was never officially released, and the video for "Happiness in Slavery" (taken from this movie) was banned from MTV. You can, however, download the video to HiS on the official NIN site [nin.com].
Rumor has it that the movie was intended to be included in the DVD release of Closure, but we won't know until that project gets back on track.
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Re:Another First (Score:4, Interesting)
especially when being compared to Trent Reznor.
he's not exactly the father of industrial music (that label could either be attributed to any member of Throbbing Gristle or Al Jourgensen), but Reznor done more to push the genre into mainstream. his influence on most popular music (good or bad) has been striking; everyone from Nu Metal staples to Emo/Screamo kids list NIN as one of the main musical influences. most contempory mainstream metal bands (Killswitch Engage, Cradle of Filth, etc) will tell you they have a large NIN collection. I even read Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers list NIN's "The Fragile" as one of his top 10 albums of all time.
This is what differentiates Reznor from the two you have listed: Reznor transcends boundaries of genre. he may not have the most complex melodies, but his style is unique. even if Suicmez is satisfied with his new band, he'll never be accessible enough to truly further music.
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Re:Another First (Score:4, Insightful)
he did mention the last 15 years, so since 1990 or so, Kraftwerk hasn't done anything particulary influential. hell, Gary Numan has been more influential in that time.
Kraftwerk (and most 80's new wave) was only really responsible for the EBM branch of industrial music anyway. the rest took what they liked, and moved on to a harder sound.
MM is only well known because they were the first band to sign to TR's new label, when TR was still an active and visible performer. Whoever he had signed first was garaunteed to suceed.
yeah, because we're all hearing a lot from Godhead these days. for every Eminem or Marilyn Manson, there are first bands that blow real hard.
this brings up the next point: Marilyn Manson only gained his initial exposure due to Reznor. if what you said was true, then Manson would have stopped selling records after Antichrist Superstar (which was the last record Reznor had anything to do with). the fact that Marilyn Manson is still able to pump out a multi-platinum record pretty much negates your theory.
Which is ridiculous with the extremely large gaps between releases...
apparently, your idea of influence and importance is the ability to create and move product as fast as possible. lemme know how your collection of "influential" backstreet boys albums are doing.
He made 2.5 good albums, and a bunch of remixes of that small amount of material, and coasted on it for years and years and yaers.
2.5? this means you're not counting "broken" as an album (which is complete crap. it stands quite well on its own), and you're probably one that couldn't wrap your head around The Fragile. but that's allright, you're bringing up the "lack of material" red herring again. nevermind that there are seventeen releases from the band...
how many solid albums did Led Zepplin make?
how many albums have Tool released?
how many albums did Jimi Hendrix release?
the answer is: "not very many". productivity does not equal brilliance.
Well: a) as you admit, it's not TR's work...b) you admit that it's bad...and c) it's not even remotely original...Hell, Michael Jackson made a long movie for Moonwalker.
a) House on Haunted Hill is someone shamelessly stealing from Mark Romanek's visuals.
b) it's not bad because it's derivative. it's bad because of execution.
c) Trent Reznor didn't have anything to do with it, so comparing it to MJ's movie is sorta pointless.
How on earth could you think so? I can name dozens of other artists more influential on other artists and the music industry
really? so most Nu Metal, Emo, Hardcore, Stoner pop (Incubus/Red Hot Chili Peppers), industrial metal (Rammstein, etc), and even Mall Punk (Sum 41, Blink 182) would list someone else more influential than Trent Reznor? I highly doubt it. many are more innovative, but most aren't anywhere near as influential anymore.
So what has TR done that's so influential? Made 2.5 good albums, and then just wandered off to do next to nothing for years and years...how is that influential??
hrm. 17 releases, all of high quality. multiple movie scores (Lost Highway, 1 Hour Photo, Natural Born Killers). multiple game scores (Doom 3 - score is available online - and Quake). responsible for many other musicians making it big. responsible for the sound of many different genres.
yeah. I'd say that's fairly influential. in fact, that's almost David Bowie levels of influence. and he thinks Reznor is influential as well.
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iWonder what this will mean (Score:5, Interesting)
when I was in college, it was mostly Macintosh, <disclaimer> it was an art school</disclaimer> though we did have Irix and AIX stations for 3D work (and even an amiga for video.) I understand that things have changed since then ( I haven't really been paying attention,) to be mostly a windows thing. (It is for the college I currently work for, (though I was lucky enough to be given a mac to work on instead.))
do you all think that the mix of iPod, iTunes and now GarageBand are enough to grab a reasonable share of the impressionable, fashion-conscious, future buyer? Or do you think that Apple might cave, and put out GarageBand for windows? (though guessing its dependence on coreAudio might make that port a more significant challenge.)
(iNote with some interest that the spell checker in panther passes iPod and iTunes with out a pause, but fails with GB and iNote. It will be interesting to see the dictionary in Tiger to see what iThings will pass the spellchecker... note that it does not offer iPod as an alternative spelling, it just doesn't mark it as misspelled.)
Re:iWonder what this will mean (Score:3, Informative)
Apple doesn't make more money every time someone creates a new garageband song. They make more money everyone buys a mac, so keeping garageband as an incentive makes s
Re:iWonder what this will mean (Score:4, Interesting)
I switched (unintentionally) to mac after I found a bargain on a G4 tower and started using it... these things don't crash. I've lost so much work in my lifetime due to PC crashes. When I'm writing music, I don't want to have to worry about keeping the platform going, just like your fedEx guy doesn't want to worry about his truck.
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From The Man... (Score:5, Informative)
Note from Trent in the .sit file:
Hello all-
For quite some time I've been interested in the idea of allowing you the ability to tinker around with my tracks - to create remixes, experiment, embellish or destroy what's there. I tried a few years ago to do this in shockwave with very limited results.
After spending some quality time sitting in hotel rooms on a press tour, it dawned on me that the technology now exists and is already in the hands of some of you. I got to work experimenting and came up with something I think you'll enjoy.
What I'm giving you in this file is the actual multi-track audio session for "the hand that feeds" in GarageBand format. This is the entire thing bounced over from the actual Pro Tools session we recorded it into. I imported and converted the tracks into AppleLoop format so the size would be reasonable and the tempo flexible.
So...
You need a Macintosh and you need GarageBand 2.0. If you have a newer Mac, you already have the software. The more RAM you have the better. I did this on a PowerBook 1.67 w/ 2G RAM but it has been running on far less powerful systems. Drag the file over to your hard disk and double click it. Hit the space bar. Listen.
Change the tempo. Add new loops. Chop up the vocals. Turn me into a woman. Replay the guitar. Anything you'd like.I gave this to my crew and band to test out and all work effectively stopped for a while - it's fun to mess around with. I've now heard a country version of the track as well as an abstract Latin interpretation (thanks, Leo).
There are some copyright issues involved, so read the notice that pops up. Giving this away is an experiment. I'm interested to see what comes of it, what issues are raised and what the results are.
Have fun-
Trent Reznor
April 15, 2005
Re:From The Man... (Score:5, Funny)
My fantasy come true! It's like he's been reading my diary
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Great for Educational Uses (Score:5, Interesting)
I loaded the file into GarageBand and gave it a listen. What I love is that you can "solo" any of the tracks (listen to just that track and nothing else). Trent has done a nice job labeling all the tracks (there are 17 of them in all). Some are especially subtle, and it is great to hear just the "Ambience" track, then put the whole mix back on and listen for it.
This gives students a chance to better understand how much creativity it takes to make what basically sounds like a simple rock song.
Remixes are also a great use of this technology, but the ability to break complex media down to their components and discuss how they enhance our experience is really priceless. I'd love to have this with "A Day in the Life" from the Beatles, too (hear all those grand pianos at the end one by one)! Someday...
Performance tip for non-G5 users (Score:5, Informative)
First or not, who cares? (Score:5, Insightful)
What is cool is that he is a major recording artist (whether you like his music or not) and that he has made it trivial (rather than just "possible") for the masses to remix his music.
It's not like it wasn't worth doing if someone had done it before.
Not the first time (Score:5, Informative)
Right after The Fragile [amazon.com] [amazon.com] was released, Trent and David Bowie both put a song online from their new albums to be remixed by the public but you had to use a proprietary web based application.
it was really fun getting to mess with the tracks, and I applaud Trent for this venture. I 3 NIN.
Getting this to work with Windows! (Score:5, Informative)
Then you need something that can burn the
Then I burned the
With that I can grab all the
I'm sure there's equivalent utilities for linux, as well, but I don't know about them.
Remix audio starting, MIDI files ending (Score:5, Insightful)
MIDI files are lists of instructions for playing a piece of music. For example, an instruction that says play G# on the trumpet for
With a notation program that recreates the sheet music from a MIDI file, they allow a music student to learn a song or piece or music. You have to learn how to read music to use it, but that is not very hard. MIDI files show you the chord patterns that beginner and intermediate players would not be able to derive from simply listening to a song over and over.
It is the sheet music book publishers that are shutting down all the MIDI files on the web. They are doing this because they believe that ten thousand downloads of a Classic Rock song's MIDI file is the loss of ten thousand sales of the printed sheet music for that song at $5 for maybe five sheets of paper. So, a major music instructional resource is being destroyed to preserve an imaginary market. (Would you buy sheet music of a classic rock song? Would you even know where to get sheet music in your city?)
This happens at the same time that every school in the country is ending or cutting back on music education in the classroom.
The whole music industry is insane and out of control. These guys are going to end up destroying their entire industry and destroying a significant percentage of the 20th century's music recordings in the process. First by stealing the public domain by legally extending the copyright period indefinitely. Then by enacting extraordinarily brutal jail penalities for downloading and sharing music recordings, even music that is supposed to be out of the copyright period that was in effect when the records were originally made. Then by putting unbreakable encryption on recordings and passing laws preventing the sale of any music playback device that can play recordings without this encryption. Then raising the price on recordings to pay for all this beyond its value to listeners and collectors. And finally, removing the recordings from the market because "they don't sell".
In this scenario, all the music recordings that are endlessly pumped into our heads in 2005 will be simply gone by 2055 (most of you reading this will still be alive then). All the music that you grew up will just
This is why downloading, sharing, and 'pirating' music is critically important to do. You simply can not trust the fools who run the music industry to protect and preserve a society's culture.
Re:Audio and Apple (Score:4, Informative)
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Re:Audio and Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
Acid Pro [sonypictures.com] is the Windows equivalent of Garageband. In fact some of the guys who wrote Acid worked on Garabgeband for Apple.
Brian "Head" Welch" [headtochrist.com] (the ex-Korn guitarist who found Jesus) allegedly recorded his new album entirely in GarageBand. Maybe he will release his stuff too, being that's the Christian thing to do and all.
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Re:Audio and Apple (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In other words. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Pitchshifter did a similar thing (Score:3, Informative)
Hm, I guess I must have imagined working on a Protools III workstation in 1996 then. Strange.
Just because it wasn't cheap enough for joe sickpack to have laying about his hard drive, doesn't mean it does not exist.
Re:Hey, I've got this wacky idea! (Score:5, Insightful)
People like you, I just don't understand. Someone gives the world something, a complete gift, and you bitch that it's not enough. What is your problem? If he did put out the ProTools session, you'd probably complain about the EULA. If he made it less restrictive, you'd wonder where the hell the rest of his songs were.
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Re:Hey, I've got this wacky idea! (Score:3, Informative)
Halo 2 == Pretty Hate Machine (Score:5, Funny)
Personally, I'll wait for: "Trent Reznor Releases Three Guitar Riffs as Halo 2 Weapons."
Which songs from halo two [wikipedia.org] are you talking about?
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