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2023 Year in Review

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I want to thank JG Thirlwell for inviting me to submit my 2023 Year in Review. I had never done one of these before and it’s been a fun challenge to go through my calendar and social media to remember and realize how much I was able to pack into this year! Selecting and writing down all of these things also helped me further grasp and understand how tremendously privileged and lucky I am to be able to do what I love all year around, year after year, and to live my life to the fullest and according to my own wishes and my own design. I don’t take this lightly and I don’t take it for granted. I am very aware that it comes from hard work, limitless passion, and unwavering dedication, not just luck and good fortune, but nevertheless, I am grateful every single day for this life and for being healthy, being able to do all of this, and for all the people in my path who trust me, inspire me, support me, challenge me, and enlighten me!

Don’t miss JG’s very own “2023 Year in Review” and that of many other illustrious guests and colleagues ones which you can read along with mine at JG’s blog at: https://jgthirlwell.tumblr.com/
…or in the Link in Bio or at the following direct link: https://www.tumblr.com/jgthirlwell/738261455669968896/2023-year-in-review?source=share

Or keep reading here to read just mine:

STUDIO SESSIONS, ALBUMS & PRODUCTIONS

When compiling this list, it really dawned on me how fortunate I am to be working with such incredible talents and how privileged I am to be able to witness, participate, and contribute to the creation of exceptional works such as the following:

– Producing, Recording & Mixing sessions with David J of Bauhaus, Norwegian artist Ihsahn (of Emperor) & Toby Driver (of Kayo Dot), John Stanier (of Battles), Brian Chase (of Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Restless Spirit, Vicki Peterson (of the Bangles), John Cowsill (of the Cowsill Family and The Beach Boys touring band) and many others for my new RAMONES tribute album to come out next year on Magnetic Eye records

– Producing, Recording and Mixing a cover of Soundgarden‘s song “4th of July” with my doom metal / throat singing project SteppenDoom for the Magnetic Eye album “Soundgarden (Redux) and featuring Matt Cameron of Soundgarden themselves on drums

– seeing the release of Brian Carpenter’s “Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet – The Music of Moondog” album featuring Kronos Quartet (which I recorded at EastSide Sound) and many other amazing guest artists

– Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering a live album by Brazilian artists Zé Ibarra, Dora Morelenbaum, and Julia Mestre of Bala Desejo for Glasshaus Presents & Tower Records

– seeing the HBO release of John Lurie’s “Painting with John” new season where all the music was recorded & mixed by me and seeing my face briefly on TV

– Producing and Recording a remote session in an old church in Italy with Adriano Viterbini and Vincenzo Vasi for a project that will come out sometime next year hopefully 

– Mixing new albums by Glenn Max Vanderwolf (produced by Dennis Martin), by Bloodmist (Toby Driver, Mario Diaz De Leon, Jeremiah Cymermann), and by Ikue Mori & Zeena Parkins at EastSide Sound fully utilizing the analog console and the analog outboard gear (something nowadays is more and more rare)

– Recording & Mixing 6 new albums by John Zorn this year alone, which brings my total JZ count to over 120 albums, and which as of this year can finally be heard on streaming platforms as well!

– Recording and Producing a new album by Marco Cappelli‘s Italian-inspired band IDR at EastSide Sound in NYC and then going to Rome, Italy to overdub trombone and vocals with famed contemporary Neapolitan singer Raiz

– Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering 2 new albums by incognito jazz / blues artist Russell Orr with legendary Brian Marsella & Brian Mitchell on keys, respectively

– Recording, Mixing, and Mastering two new albums by Jessica Pavone and her trio

– Producing, Recording, Mixing and Mastering a “We Are the World”-type track for NYC Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs with a song composed by Captain Beefheart / Jeff Buckley’s guitarist Gary Lucas and 10 other musicians from various parts of the world playing their local instruments and singing in their mother’s tongue

– Recording and Mixing the new album by Italian singer/songwriter Beppe Voltarelli, produced by Simone Giuliani, which took second place in Italy’s Premio Tenco

– Recording a new film score by composer Billy Martin (of Medeski, Martin & Wood) and arranged by Simon Hanes (of Tredici Bacci)

– Producing, Recording, Mixing, and Mastering contemporary classical music sessions commissioned by Miller Theater and Columbia University with artists such as Laura Barger & Julia Den Boer, Miguel Zenon, Matt Mitchell & Miles Okazaki, Russell Greenberg & Vicky Chow

– Recording new albums by contemporary classical/jazz musicians such as Miles Okazaki, Brian Drye, Anna Webber & Matt Mitchell, and others

– Recording new albums by amazing Latin Jazz artists such as Gili Lopes, Homan Alvarez, Rodrigo Recabarren, Benjamin Furman

SOUND DESIGN GIGS & LIVE SOUND MIXING GIGS

Similarly to the list above, I am eternally grateful for the fact that all these wonderfully talented people trust me with designing, mixing, and amplifying their sound so that the rest of the world can truly and fully experience their art in the most complete, sonically articulated, detailed and full spectrum way there is! Some of these highlights include:

– Mixing a 90-piece orchestra + 90-piece choir playing the score to Stanley Kubrick “2001: A Space Odyssey” live-to-picture  conducted by Brad Lubman in the Auditorio Nacional of Mexico City to a sold-out crowd of 10’000 people 

– Mixing the Grammy Award Premiere Ceremony in Los Angeles and being there to amplify and mix the immensely talented house band led by Cheche Alara and the performances by musicians such as Samara Joy, Anoushka Shankar, Arooj Aftab, and more…

– Mixing the Robbie Robertson tribute concert & memorial organized by Martin Scorsese at Village Studios in Los Angeles with artists such as Jackson Browne, Jason Isbell, Rocco DeLuca, Citizen Cope, Angela McCluskey, Blake Mills and Jim Keltner

– Mixing the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony concert at the White House with artists such as Dionne Warwick, Samara Joy, Joe Walsh of the Eagles, St. Vincent, and others.

– Sound Designing and Mixing the world premiere of “Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine” at the DNO Dutch National Opera House in Amsterdam, a beautiful performance/concert/opera directed by Peter Sellars, composed by Tyshawn Sorey and performed by Tyshawn Sorey and ICE International Contemporary Ensemble with soprano Julia Bullock

– One of my sound design pieces inspired by Icelandic nature sounds and folklore was presented at the “Le Son 7” Art Gallery in Madrid between the 3rd and the 13th of May 2023, after it was presented the year before in London and will be presented in January 2024 in New York

– mixing 12 shows by John Zorn in 2 days at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville TN

– mixing more shows by John Zorn to celebrate his 70th birthday in places like Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Miller Theater in New York, Reggio Emilia and Modena in Italy, Philharmonie in Paris, November Music Festival in Den Bosch Netherlands and Mexico City

– Mixing Brian Carpenter’s Ghost Train Orchestra live at Roulette with special guests David Byrne, Karen Mantler, Joan As Policewoman AND doing so right after I mixed another matinee gig earlier in the day with the New York Choral Society

– working sound for the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with musical guests Lizzo and David Byrne

– Mixing Claudia Acuna at Lincoln Center

– mixing Idina Menzel‘s performance in Trafalgar Square in London for Gay Pride 2023

– playing keys (something I almost never ever do!) for Japanese electronic artist Coppé‘s first-ever performance in Italy

– mixing my first ever K-pop gig in Times Square NY

– teaching Mixing Workshops at SAE in Mexico City and MOB Studios in Rome, Italy

RECORDS

In no particular order, here are some of my favorite records of 2023 that I was not involved with but I wish I had been ;-)

– Anohni and the Johnsons “My Back Was a Bridge for you to Cross”

– Lil Yachty “Let’s Start Here”

– Boygenius “The Record”

– Ryuichi Sakamoto “12”

– Jaimie Branch “Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((World War))”

– Arooj Aftab / Vijay Iyer / Shahzad Ismaily “Love in Exile”

– Peter Gabriel “I/O”

– Hania Rani “Ghosts”

– Meshell Ndegeocello “The Omnichord Real Book”

– Bill Frisell “Four”

– Ambrose Akinmusire, Bill Frisell, Herlin Riley “Owl song”

– Porcupine Tree “Closure / Continuation”

– Dr. John “The Brightest Smile in Town”

– Spencer Zahn “Statues II”

– Meshuggah “Chaosphere 25th anniversary 2023 Remastered edition”

– Ennio Morricone “Segreto Songbook 1962-1973”

– Sin Fang, Kjartan Holm “Angakok”

MUSIC SHOWS

It’s always hard for me to recount the shows I’ve seen because I usually see about 300-500 shows every year. LPR (Le Poisson Rouge) definitely shines through as my favorite venue and the one I’ve visited most often! Here are some of the highlights of 2023:

– Spotlights, Imperial Triumphant, Puzzled Panthers at Saint Vitus

– “La Splendida”, a heavy metal opera by Laurent David & Kilter at Culture Lab LIC

– Exotech 3 times, at Public Records, Mark Morris Dance Theater and at LPR

– Tredici Bacci at least 2-3 times, one of which at Sultan Room

– John Cale at Paradiso, Amsterdam

– Plini at Melkweg, Amsterdam

– Mary Halvorson Quintet at Bimhuis, Amsterdam

– Thurston Moore at OCCII, Amsterdam

– Jeff Goldblum at Town Hall

– Xylorius White at LPR

– Hal Willner’s Amarcord tribute concert at Roulette

– Snarky Puppy at Beacon Theater

– Tim Bernardes at LPR

– Groa at Taste of Iceland showcase at Pianos

– JG Thirlwell & Mivos Quartet at National Sawdust

– Bloodywood at Irving Plaza

– Hermeto Pascoal twice, at Pioneer Works and LPR

– Sexmob at Fotografiska

– Grace Jones at Hammerstein Ballroom

– Lisa Fisher at Blue Note

– Iggy Pop and Debbie Harry / Blondie, London

– Laurie Anderson & SexMob Let X=X at Barbican in London and BAM in Brooklyn

– The Cult at MEDIMEX festival in Taranto, Italy

– Tom Morello at MEDIMEX festival in Taranto, Italy

– Emperor at Kings Theater

– Ibrahim Malouff at Drom

– Elan Mehler & Dave Douglas at Fotografiska

– The Misfits at Prudential Center

– Oumou Sangare at Brooklyn Bandshell

– Red Fang at Gramercy Theater

– The Eagles & Steely Dan at MSG

– Tammy Faye Starlight at Joe’s Pub

– Julian Lage at Village Vanguard

– Mdou Moctar at Summerstage

– Makaya McCraven at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

– Fatoumata Diawara at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

– Sisters of Mercy at Cinzella Festival, in Grottaglie Italy

– SunRa Arkestra at Locus Festival, in Locorotondo Italy

– Robert Plant at Locus Festival, in Bari Italy

– Mr. Bungle at Terminal 5

– Melvins, Boris and all the other amazing bands at Desert Fest at Knockdown Center

– Front Line Assembly at LPR

– Peter Gabriel at MSG

– Empire State Bastard at LPR & St Vitus

– Cavalera Conspiracy at Irving Plaza

– Swans at Music Hall of Williamsburg

– Steven Bernstein w/ Millennial Territory at Dizzy’s

– Nick Cave & Jonny Greenwood  3 times, twice at Beacon Theater and once at Kings Theater

– The Mission at LPR

– Titan to Tychons at NuBlu

– Dresden Dolls at Bowery Ballroom

– Robert Glasper‘s Art Blakey tribute at Blue Note

– Puzzled Panthers at Bowery Electric

– Ghost Train Orchestra at Roulette

– Arthur Brown in London

– The Mongol Khan theater production at the Coliseum in London 

– 8 Bit Big Band at Sony Hall

– Bud Spencer Blues Explosion at Monk in Rome Italy

– plus all the amazing artists I can’t recall individually that I have seen at Winter Jazz Festival, Long Play Festival and Big Ears Festival

BOOKS

I am sadly a slow reader and my pile of books on my bedside table is always bigger than the time awake I have when I finally do get to bed, but here are some I have read, or started to read or am planning on starting to read:

– Kid Congo Powers “Some New Kind Of Kick”

– Nick Cave & Seán O’Hagan “Faith, Hope and Carnage”

– Warren Ellis “Nina Simone’s Gum”

– Rick Rubin “The Creative Act: A Way of Being”

– Quincy Jones “12 Notes: On Life and Creativity”

– Quincy Trouple “Miles & Me”

MUSEUMS

I try to visit museums in every city I go to, whether I am on tour, working, traveling for pleasure or whatever the reason is… Art is my passion, my love and a way of life…

– Museu Picasso, Barcelona, Spain

– Fundcaio Joan Miró, Barcelona, Spain

– The Salvador Dali Theater and Museum, Figueres, Spain

– Salvador Dalí House / Fundació Gala, Cadaqués, Port Lligat, Spain

– Park Gúell, Barcelona, Spain

– Moco Museum, Barcelona, Spain

– Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

– Vermeer Exhibit, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Moco Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

– Art on Paper, New York

– Frieze, New York

– Karl Lagerfled “A Line of Beauty”, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

– Yayoi Kusama “Infinity Mirror Rooms”, Tate Modern, London, UK

– Frida Kahlo & Diego Riviera House & Studio, Mexico City

– Palacio De Bellas Artes, Mexico City

– Museo Jumex, Mexico City

– Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporanea, Mexico City

– Paul Gugelmann “Poetic Machines”, Aarau, Switzerland

MOVIES

There are soooo many movies I still want to / need to see… I love movies but I prioritize work and live music in my life and I will only watch movies on planes, on (very very) rainy days or those rare times when I don’t have a concert on my calendar, so here are a few of those rainy/non-concert films, in no particular order:

– Killers of the Flower Moon (for the story, the acting and the soundtrack)

– Equalizer 3 (because aside from its Hollywood-ish story and ending, it’s a realistic look at how organized crime works in Italy)

– Little Richard: I am Everything (for his story, his character, his music, and his courage!)

– Psychedelicized: The Electric Circus Stroy (for the amazing portrait of a time that’s past but that changed NYC forever!)

– American Symphony (for the amazing story, talent, spirit and courage of Jon Batiste)

– 32 Sounds (because my life is about sound…)

– Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (because Leonard was an amazing artist and songwriter and singer and so many friends are in this movie)

– Oppenheimer (because that history is so complex and so divided as the country in which it took place)

TRAVEL

Travel is the riches of life! I travel SO MUCH that I am on a plane AT LEAST once a month and usually it is to an international location… This year was no different, so I’ve decided to only list 12 trips for this section:

– January: Ringing in the year in a medieval tower in Barcelona and spending the first 4 days of the new year trying all the tapas bars, restaurants, and food stands this beautiful city has to offer and seeing the Sagrada Familia cathedral for the 3rd time in my life

– February: Living in Amsterdam for 3 weeks visiting all the museums, all the music venues and all the while working at the Dutch National Opera with some amazing folks (see list above)

– March: Snowboarding the Swiss and the French Alps

– April: Visiting Knoxville Tennessee for Big Ears (easily the best independent music festival in the US!!!) for the 2nd time in 2 years, and hopefully the beginning of many more visits in the future!

– May: Spending time in sunny Los Angeles and plotting a way to spend more time there and make music

– June: Visiting London twice in one month to work and see amazing music shows, theater shows, and art exhibits

– July: coming back from London on July 6th only to realize that strangely there is no travel for the rest of this month! So weird and unusual!

– August: Spending the month in Puglia, Southern Italy eating good food, kitesurfing in the Adriatic and Ionium seas, seeing tons of concerts, and playing one myself!

– September: arriving in Mexico City and getting my very own police escort motorcade to make it in time from the airport to the theater

– October: On tour with John Zorn in Italy, France and the Netherlands

– November: Flying to Los Angeles with a 36-hour notice for a concert I was hired for in secrecy having been told “we need a mixing engineer who can mix music for a room full of musicians” and showing up for the Robbie Robertson tribute organized by Martin Scorsese with people like Joni Mitchell and Leonardo DiCaprio in attendance

– December: DC-to-DF aka flying to Washington DC to work at the White House and then flying straight to Mexico City

I’ve finished the year with travel to my motherland of Switzerland, my fatherland of Italy, and my second home of London UK!

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The TRUTH about MUSIC Streaming Services and the ULTIMATE AUDIO QUALITY shootout test: Beats vs MOG vs Play Music (by Google) vs Rdio vs Spotify

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After wondering for years which of the big music streaming services truly sounds the best, I decided to take matters into my own hands (I mean, EARS!) and do a SCIENTIFIC audio quality test. This is NOT a subjective test where I or somebody else listened and I judged what they thought might be better or worse. This is COLD HARD DATA, to be precise KiloBits Per Seconds (kbps) of data transfer and MegaBytes (Mb) of downloads. But fear not!!! I will keep the results super easy to understand and you won’t need a degree in anything to know who to pick. I can’t however promise you that you won’t be disappointed when finding out how these streaming companies have been lying to us all along about the sound quality they promise. NO MORE! With actual and factual numbers at hand I will tell you who sounds best and who delivers on their promises and you will be able to make an informed decision knowing that you are supporting the company that supports the BEST SOUNDING audio and that you are not paying full price for half the quality!

By the way, I plan to do a lot more of these tests, so if you are interested in findings such as these or in the music industry in general, make sure you follow me on Twitter at @marcurselli or at facebook.com/marcurselli

Without further ado, here we go…

 

The Problem

iPhone - appsI am still very much torn on whether to support streaming music services at all or not. Although I do of course support the idea of paying for music, the current payment distribution methods employed by these streaming services are NOT based on actual play counts and do NOT serve (or even fairly compensate) independent artists. These artists therefore absolutely cannot rely on income from these services (more on that at the end of this article) and a lot of even famous artists (like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, David Byrne, John Zorn, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and many others) understood that and took steps to get their music off of streaming services. Should you want to take such steps you will have to rely on a company such as Muso for example.

This said, in these times when everyone is streaming music from the cloud, if you are a music lover, it is almost impossible not to rely on one of these services for music discovery and because my no.1 concern when it comes to online music streaming is THE QUALITY I decided to set up the THE ULTIMATE AUDIO QUALITY TEST to find out which of these services actually deliver the BEST SOUNDING music. Period.

Back when there was only Spotify and MOG to choose from, I myself chose MOG because they were the only company that even bothered to mentioned streaming quality and they always claimed that they streamed at the highest quality. I have been a MOG user for a few years now. At that same time I had approached Rdio and asked about streaming quality. They claimed they were “streaming music at CD-quality, and only do lower bit rates over 3G” but when I asked for a more technical answer all I got was “I’m sorry, but we’re not sharing this information”. I honestly do not understand why a company that promises a quality service would not provide customers with all the information about the service and the quality they are promising. Usually corporate secrecy is synonymous with wrongdoing and this lack of transparency was a huge turn off for me. So I passed on Rdio.

Fast forward to 2014. MOG has been acquired by Dr. Dre’s Beats Music and is going to shut down on April 14th. The new Beats Music is already available and is getting good reviews because of its curatorial aspect, but I was never a fan of the Beats headphones (although I have not tested all the high-end models) and if that was their idea of good sound quality I was afraid I was going to be disappointed with their streaming quality. I went ahead and tested all the most popular music streaming services available today, which include the ever popular Spotify, the disappearing MOG, the new Beats Music, the underdog Rdio and the relatively new kid on the block Play Music (by Google). I have decided not to include iTunes Radio, Rhapsody or Pandora because they are the kind of apps that don’t allow you to listen to a specific song or artist (you can only create stations based around an artist).

This test will ONLY and specifically be about QUALITY of audio, not about user interface, number of songs or other factors. There are plenty of reviews out there for that and I’ve added links to some of those at the bottom of this page for your convenience.

 

The Method iPhone Settings

In order to ensure realistic and reproducible results I tried to be as scientific as I could about this.
Like so:

  • I streamed the same exact song on all of the services.
  • the song I chose to stream is a song of mine from an old 1995 album by my old italian electro-industrial band The M.E.M.O.R.Y. Lab that was re-released on CD in 2009 and the reason I chose something of mine is because I own the master and therefore I know EXACTLY how big the file is that we are streaming (whereas if I were to choose some famous artist’s song I wouldn’t know how big the original file actually is!).
  • The song I chose had to be available on all these services and I chose the first song off the record (the song is called “Change (Cambia)”)
  • For the test over the LTE Cellular Data Network (although findings should be the same for 4G, 3G or 2G networks). The original WAV file is 66.3Mb and a 320kbps MP3 version of it is 15Mb.
  • For the WiFi test I chose a different song because I wanted to make sure that the previous song wasn’t in some way cached by the device or the app and therefore altered the results of the test. The song I chose for the WiFi test is the fourth song off the record and it is called “Mind Rape (Government’s Business)” and the original file was 52.1Mb while the 320kbps MP3 version of that is 11.8Mb.
  • Needless to say I never played these songs on these apps on the iPhone before so they were in no way cached on the device or these apps.
  • I set ALL 5 of the AT&T iPhone apps of these streaming services to the highest streaming quality settings they have available (see pictures below) and I streamed the songs over the AT&T LTE network and over my home WiFi network without ever-moving the phone around (it was just sitting on my desk) in order not to affect network reception in any way.
  • I searched for the artist in the app, then clicked on the album and then (that’s the cool part) I double clicked the home button on the iPhone to go to the Settings > Cellular > Cellular Usage page (as described here) and reset the Cellular Data Usage so that it would show zero kb.
  • At this point, for every app, I double-clicked the home button again, went to the app and clicked on the song to start playing it.
  • At the end of the song I would switch back to the Cellular Usage page and take a screenshot of the Cellular Usage page to compile my findings.
  • For the test over WiFi this method does not work because the Cellular Usage page doesn’t record data usage over WiFi (since, as the name implies, it is not cellular) so I downloaded the free iOS app Data Monitor by Nutec Apps LLC  which monitors WiFi traffic.
  • The last test I was interested in performing was the audio quality of the downloads made available for offline listening (a feature that all of these apps provide and call different things like Offline, Sync to App etc and which allows you to listen to music when you have no network coverage and no WiFi). For this test I have downloaded the full 8 track album from which the two above mentioned songs come from. The album is called “Modern Expressing Machines Of Revolutionary Youth” and by looking at the original files I can tell you that the uncompressed WAV files for the CD release were 455.4Mb, the 320kbps MP3 version was 103.3Mb and the 192kbps version was 62Mb. Some interesting findings there, you’ll see.

 

Beats MusicMOGPlay MusicRdioSpotify
Graphics - BeatGraphics - MOGGraphics - PlayGraphics - rdioGraphics - Spotify
Settings - BeatSettings - MOGSettings - PlaySettings - rdioSettings - Spotify

The Results

Interpreting these results was not as easy as I expected and at times it is downright shocking!!! Because the numbers are so different it is safe to assume to that these apps all apply their own degree of compression to the music before streaming it. In these images and reports below, higher numbers mean higher quality so it would appear that Google’s Play Music and MOG have the best quality while Beats and Rdio have the worst.

AT&T LTE network in Manhattan
Beats Music 13.2Mb (slightly lower quality than 320kbps MP3 – the loser!)
MOG 24.4Mb (much higher quality than 320kbps MP3)
Play Music 25.1Mb (much higher quality than 320kbps MP3 – the winner!)
Rdio 13.6Mb (slightly lower quality than 320kbps MP3)
Spotify 17.2Mb (higher quality than 320kbps MP3)

Beats MusicMOGPlay MusicRdioSpotify
Data - BeatData - MOGData - PlayData - rdioData - Spotify

 

WiFi network in my home in Manhattan
Beats Music 54.70Mb  (highest quality – REAL CD quality – the winner of the award “the only company who didn’t lie to us”!)
MOG 39.18Mb
Play Music 33.19Mb
Rdio 18.59Mb
Spotify 12.15Mb

Beats MusicMOGPlay MusicRdioSpotify
WiFi - Beats 1WiFi - MOG 1WiFi - Play 1WiFi - rdio 1Wifi - Spotify 1

 

Full album Download (over WiFi) for Offline listening
Beats Music 35.8Mb (approximately 96kbps MP3 quality)
MOG 103Mb (equivalent to 320kbps MP3 quality – as advertised – the winner!)
Play Music 64Mb (equivalent to 192kbps MP3 quality)
Rdio 67.6Mb (equivalent to 192kbps MP3 quality)
Spotify 73.3Mb (slightly higher than 192kbps MP3 quality but still lower than 320kbps – the runner-up and de facto winner since MOG will be disappearing soon)

Beats MusicMOGPlay MusicRdioSpotify
Download - Beats 1Download - MOG 1Download - Play 1Download - rdio 1Download - Spotify 1

 

The Conclusion

Google’s Play Music service is the winner when it comes to streaming music quality over cellular network.
Beats Music is the clear winner when it comes to streaming music quality over WiFi. My hat goes off to them for being the ONLY ones who really deliver the promised CD-quality music, since basically they stream through an uncompressed WAV file!
MOG is the winner when it comes to high quality downloads over WiFi but since MOG will be disappearing April 15th, the runner up and de facto winner is Spotify, in this category.

It is important to notice that MOST OF THESE COMPANIES HAVE BEEN LYING TO OUR FACES THIS WHOLE TIME! Most of them claim to be giving you CD quality music, but guess what, the only one who does so is Beats Music and ONLY when you are on WiFi, which still leaves all of us listening to MP3 quality music, and NOT the promised CD quality music. Over Cellular Data the only ones that streams at 320kbps (which is the next best thing to true and pure CD quality) are Play Music by Google and MOG. And surprisingly NOT EVEN when you proceed to download a full album for offline listening you get true CD quality (except for MOG, for what that’s worth).

At this point it is important to consider what use you will be making of the app. If you are going to be doing a lot of streaming (like driving around listening to new music etc) then you should choose the service that offers the highest quality streaming over cellular, but if you are the kind of person who pre-downloads all your music to listen to it offline in planes or underground subway trains you should go for the app that offers the highest quality streaming over WiFi (since you’ll most likely be doing the downloading at home/work over WiFi).

I am happy to have supported MOG from the beginning until now however, surprisingly (or maybe not) it seems that the acquisition on the part of Beats has degraded the quality of their streaming over cellular. Therefore I will not be transferring my monthly subscription over to Beats when on April 15th MOG shuts down completely. Now that I have to choose a new service I will start with giving Google‘s Play Music a try because it seems obvious from the numbers that they are streaming music at the highest quality (if you take MOG out of the equation you will notice that Play Music has the most consistently high numbers on average).
There are also in my opinion a few other added advantages to choosing a colossus such as Google:

  • they will never get bought by somebody else, as it just happened with MOG
  • if anyone has the economic might to acquire more content and make it more widely available, it is Google!
  • if their “Don’t Be Evil” corporate motto can give us any hope, then my hope is that they will find a way to fairly and equally compensate ALL content creators, and not just the ones who are signed by the 5 majors.

If you don’t really care about audio quality (as sadly most don’t) or you are one of those people who say that they do but then they listen to music with the $5 white ear buds included with the iPhone or iPod by Apple, you might be more interested in the Facebook integration offered by Spotify or the intriguing curatorial aspect (and true CD quality streams over WiFi) offered by Beats Music, but Google achieved the highest average score for quality on this test and my TOP priority is QUALITY. Therefore I will give Google‘s Play Music a spin, mostly because I use music streaming services as a discovery tool. As most New Yorkers, I don’t own a car so I won’t be streaming music on the go very often. More often than not I end up downloading full albums overnight at home over WiFi, then I listen to them on the NYC underground subway trains on my way to the recording studio or on planes on my way to a gig and then I delete those records after one or two quick listenings to make room for new ones. I do this because I try to keep up with what is new out there and keep my finger on the pulse, but, when I do listen to music, I want to be able to listen to the most pure, unadulterated and uncompromising quality I can get. After all, there is a reason I spent almost $300 dollars on my in-ear phones, but that’s another story…

 

Links to Articles with Feature Comparisons of these Services

http://www.imore.com/on-demand-streaming-music-services-compared-spotify-rdio-beats-music-slacker-google-play-music

http://venturebeat.com/2011/09/17/top-5-streaming-music-services-spotify-mog-rdio

 http://gizmodo.com/5750415/the-best-streaming-music-service

http://www.forbes.com/sites/amadoudiallo/2013/09/24/itunes-streaming-radio-versus-pandora-and-spotify

 http://www.cultofmac.com/265655/winner-best-music-demand-streaming-service 

 

Links to Articles about Why the Streaming Music Service model is Broken

http://source.nationwidedisc.com/spotify-pandora-and-streaming-music-should-you-post-your-music

http://business.time.com/2013/12/03/heres-how-much-money-top-musicians-are-making-on-spotify

 http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/19/zoe-keating-spotify-streaming-royalties

http://readwrite.com/2013/12/06/streaming-music-competition-pandora-rdio-spotify

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/02/21/favoritepays

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2013/12/13/quicksummarystreaming

50% OFF all MIXES to help artists during Covid

For a limited time only, I’ll be offering my mixing services at 50% of my standard rate in order to help ALL artists and musicians who have been impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic.

In order to take advantage of this offer all you have to do is send me an email through this form and answer a few questions below.

Filling out this form does not in any way force you to use my services or take advantage of this offer, you can decide at any time whether you want to go ahead with this mixing offer or not. I am simply trying to gather the information that I need to give you a quote.

    new Marc Urselli interview in The Holy Filament webzine from Chile

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    The super nice and super cool guys from the Chilean webzine The Holy Filament have interviewed me on the occasion of the John Zorn Masada Marathon in Bogota, Colombia, an epic 4 hour long concert event where I mixed 12 of John Zorn’s best bands playing his music, from classical, to jazz, to experimental avantgarde to metal. People from all over South America (Peru, Chile, San Salvador etc) flew in to Colombia to see John Zorn’s first ever Masada Marathon in South America. The whole staff of The Holy Filament flew in as well!

    Here is the interview: http://www.theholyfilament.cl/destacados/entrevista-a-marc-urselli/

    And since the interview is in Spanish, here is the English version of it:

    • How did your love and career in sound engineering begin? Where did that happen?

    I started in Italy where I grew up. I had a band at the time and I wanted to record the rehearsals so I started to buy some recording equipment. First a 4 track cassette recorder, then a mixer, then some microphones etc etc. I started making demo tapes. Eventually a friend of mine who had a studio decided to upgrade his studio console and that is when the light when off in my head and I decided to become a sound engineer. I bought his used console and opened a recording studio in Italy, where I lived, and I was recording lots of punk/hard core bands. Then after a few years of doing that I decided I wanted to extend my horizons and experience and that is when I moved to NYC.

    • What was your vocational training in the art of capturing sounds? Formally and informally.

    I didn’t really have any formal training. I was considering going to an audio school before moving to NYC but then I decided to do some internships and learn by watching other people. I practiced a lot in my spare time and got better and better at it. It took a lot of experimenting and a lot of work but I kept getting better at it and was really loving it.

    • How would you describe the art of mix and capturing sound?

    They are different arts, but both intrinsically connected as they closely depend on each other. Both are a mixture of science and art. Experience and knowledge are key parts but experimentation is also very important. To me both are incredibly interesting and I take great enjoyment out of both. Mixing is especially creative for me so I love mixing records because in a mix everything is just as important as everything else and you have to make sure everything is heard in the mix and that the mix carries you. It’s an art form that I have been practicing to get better at every day.

    • Tell me about Eastside Studio. How did you begin in the studio? I presume that your professional career there was a long time investment.

    Yes, very long. I started there as an intern under the owner and founder Lou Holtzman who gave me a chance. I was supposed to only stay for 3 months but kept staying longer and longer. I was cleaning toilets, vacuuming the floors and making coffee… That’s before I even got to wrap up cables! It took a long time until I could prove my worth in the control room. It took over two years of commitment to get to where I was allowed to do a session, I went from being a runner/cleaner/intern to an assistant. Then I became an engineer and now I am the chief engineer and manager. I am very grateful for the chance I got to make coffee and cleaning toilets!

    • Were there other jobs before you became a sound engineer? Tell me about your beginnings.

    I never really did much else actually. I had and still have an interest in web design and before engineering completely took over my life I was trying my hand at making a living with web design. It’s a skill that came in handy and that I still use and enjoy today. I designed my own website (www.marcurselli.com), the one for the studio (www.eastsidesound.com), the one for my record label (www.stridulationrecords.com) and other websites like my music magazine Chain D.L.K. (www.chaindlk.com).

    • How do you do it with the equipment to mix and record an album? I imagine that depends on what the musicians want. Do you have to purchase or upgrade equipment/material for that?

    I have some equipment my own but luckily I am not a studio owner anymore and so I am not responsible for buying equipment. EastSide Sound is one of the best studios in the world and they have an amazing collection of vintage analog and modern digital equipment so I get to use a mixture of both to make records and I choose the different pieces of equipment according to the sound I want to achieve. I am very fortunate to be able to work in such an amazing studio!

    • In terms of the “needs” and requirements of the different musicians, how do you adapt to the requirements of the musicians, especially to capture the essence of an album as a rough diamond?

    Every musician is different so I try to cater to the needs of all the musicians on a session and make sure they are comfortable and get what they want and what they need and that they are relaxed so that they can focus uniquely on the music and give their best performance. The more relaxed, happy and focused they are the better will be the performance and so it is in everyone’s best interest that the musicians are happy in the studio!

    • This question will be a little long… Lately you’ve been mixing albums of John Zorn, Dave Lombardo, recently mixed up a live album of Steven O’Malley and so on… The thing is, I imagine that you have a huge responsibility to not “screw up” the music that you tape. How do you deal professionally with the responsibility of that?

    I don’t think about the responsibility so much, I just think about how to do it best without making mistakes. Of course it’s a great responsibility to track a take that will never be played the same way again and it is my job to make a mix sound as good as it can be, but the people I work with trust me with their sound and I have never let anyone down! I am a reliable person and a consumate professional. I cross the t’s and dot the i’s, I double check everything and I am very organized. I never lost a file for example, but this means that I have to be methodical about file organization, naming, dating and backing up. For example I back up every single thing I do to two hard drives while I am working, so even if one hard drive dies I always have a mirror backup copy of everything I am doing. And I save multiple times every minute. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I am half swiss, so I am very organized ;-)

    • So far, including your awards and nominations, what has been your favorite /job on a record?

    Too many to remember! Just this week I did one record with John Zorn, one with Jack DeJohnette, Esperanza Spalding and Leo Genovese, one with Don Friedman and one with Ben Allison. That is 4 records this week alone! I am very busy and I never stop working. I love working with John Zorn and I have great memories of working with Lou Reed, Les Paul, Mike Patton and many many others.

    • Now you will be in Colombia with the Zorn Marathon. There are many aspects to ask about in your job, for example how do you make a theater “sounds good”. How do you adapt the acoustic when you enter in a theater and tailor the sound live?

    Live sound is a whole other animal and I love it dividing my time between studio and concerts. Every venue you go to is different and has different acoustics and you have to tune the PA to make sure it reacts as you’d expect it to when you mix. Obviously there is only so much you can do with a good PA or with certain venues which might be too reflective or too boomy. When I walk into a new venue the first thing I do is play some music I know well (music I recorded usually) over the PA to hear what it sounds like in different places of the theater. Then I EQ the PA so that it sounds the way I know that music should sound like. Once I have done that I am more comfortable mixing because I know how my actions will translate.

    • Can it become stressful to be in charge of the sound in theaters or venues with bad acoustics?

    Absolutely! It is not only stressful but it’s also depressing from my point of view. I want every concert to sound perfect and if I am working in a room with bad acoustics or a terrible PA there is only so much I can do to make that happen.

    • What has been your biggest challenge in terms of being in charge of sound live?

    Well the challenge is always making it sound good everywhere you go with limited amount of time and sometimes limited resources. I’ve done sound in 100 people clubs and at festivals with 40’000 people in the audience. I’ve mixed everything from classical music to loud rock shows. I toured with Lou Reed for 7 years and he was one of the most demanding people I’ve worked for, but it was great working for him! I’ve toured with the Black Crowes and the Beach Boys and Mike Patton… Some of the most challenging shows where those where you have a loud band with a string orchestra. The Mike Patton Mondo Cane project has 25 players on stage, 12 of which are strings, and the band can get loud, but those shows are amazing. I did a show where the Beach Boys played together with a Symphony Orchestra: you have a rock band with a loud drummer and a quiet singer standing in front of the PA and on orchestra behind all of that, now that’s a challenge! All of those are challenges and you do what you can do make it all work out!

    • I know, at least I have the feeling that you’re a very enthusiastic person and you like challenges. JOHN ZORN, especially in a Marathon or in the tour for his 60… How is the challenge of making a Zorn show sound good?

    Well every John Zorn show is certainly a huge challenge. I don’t mind challenges as long as I am put in the right conditions to work. With Zorn I am alone doing everything and Zorn likes to do these Marathon shows with 10 of his bands in a row, playing 15-20 minutes each. The stage has to change over quickly between these bands and you can go from a metal trio to a string quartet to a jazz ensemble to an a cappella vocal group to an experimental noise project, all within the same night, on the same stage. There are almost 100 channels of audio and they all have to work. Beyond that the challenge is not only to make it all sound good but also to make it flow effortlessly and quickly.

    • And how has it been in the studio mixing for Zorn in different formats and projects?

    That’s always great, but even there, especially with Zorn, you have to move super fast to keep up with his expectations. I have recorded and mixed more than 50 albums by John Zorn and have been working with him for years. He’s an unstoppable force of nature, he knows exactly what he wants and he’s good at getting it out of people. I always look forward to the sessions with Zorn because he writes such great unique music and he always picks the best musicians in the world and it is a true pleasure and honor to be a witness of how the music is created in the studio by Zorn and those cats.

    • In recent years you’ve been to South America with projects of Mike Patton and John Zorn, in Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil… How was your experience in this continent? Now in Colombia, what do you expect from this new experience with the Marathon?

    One never knows what to expect in South America, that’s why I come a day before Zorn to make sure it all is right and to have time to setup everything for the day of the show! Unfortunately the South Americans are not the most organized people you will meet when it comes to concert production and you never quite know what to expect when you get there, but the people are great and the places are great. I’ve been to Colombia 3 times and I love coming to South America. As long as I don’t get robbed (which has happened!) and I have a safe stay I always enjoy coming back.

    • I have many more questions in mind because ultimately you get to hear all kinds of new music and definitely YOU HAVE all the new music… when you mix, and you have an album or a song done, in your point of view of a fan, not only as an engineer, how does it feel to have and listen to a new golden record in your hands before anyone else can? (Can you tell me an experience that excited you?)

    You are right, I get to hear a lot of amazing music before anyone else does. It’s a blessing and a privilege and it’s an honor for me to be in this position. However, people will get to hear it eventually so I don’t really pride myself or get excited about the fact that I can hear it a few months before anyone else. What is much more exciting is being there when it is created in front of your eyes and seeing and being part of this process of creation. That is the true privilege that I enjoy as a fan of music in general. What also happens is that some time some amazing great music is made in the studio and then for whatever reason it does not get released… That is when it really becomes special to have been part of something because not only you hear it first but you might be the only one to hear it… I just did a record with Miles Davis’ drummer Jack DeJohnette playing the piano. The record is going to be on vinyl only (on Newvelle records) and Jack recorded more songs than can fit on one vinyl so nobody will get to hear all the other songs he recorded, at least not for a long time. The same has happened many other times. The Les Paul tribute album I did in 2005 (which won 2 Grammy Awards) had a lot of cuts that did not make it to the final album track list so I have some unreleased gems in my files that nobody else has heard! That’s a true special privilege.

    • Finally. a brief brief question about Stridulation Records. Why the decision to start a label? How are you doing with that? What comes in the future of Stridulation? Is it difficult to enter the labels market? That’s a major challenge, isn’t it?

    Actually nowadays everyone can start a label because the tools are out there for everyone. The hardest thing is getting people to buy the records. I’ve always wanted to start a record label honestly. It stems from my desire to support the music that I love. I would love to release 50 records a year like Zorn does on his label Tzadik but unfortunately I am too busy and the economic reality is a big factor of course. Stridulation records (www.stridulationrecords.com) is an attempt to make a small contribution to the world of music that I want to support. The first two releases were my experimental noise project Craesher and my label mate’s electronic-black-metal band Aborym. However I would like to release other music as well, when I find some that me and my label mates all like and believe in. In the future we might possibly release a very interesting release by an established musician I have worked with who has a very cool side project, but I won’t say anything more until it is confirmed.

    • Another final question… New projects and records for this 2015/2016?

    I have a ton of ideas and projects but very little time for my own music. I am working on a doom metal record with members of Japanese taiko super group Kodo and members of Khanate and Blind Idiot God and I have ideas for a whole other doom metal solo record and an electronic/dark record and other things. All of my own personal projects always get put on the backseat because I spend my time making records for other people. This year, besides doing many records with John Zorn, I started working with this new vinyl only record label called Newvelle records who is putting out some really cool jazz records. I’ve been mixing a bunch of jazz and blues records as well and some records for the Japanese market and even the new Curupira record, this great Colombian world music band that came to New York to record with me. On top of that I am constantly mixing other records by artists from all over the world so check out my website to see what other releases that I am involved with are coming out: www.marcurselli.com

    Thanks for all your patience and care Marc!

    Thank you for the interview! Your magazine rocks!

    New Marc Urselli interview on italian rock magazine “Tutto Rock” by journalist Maurizio Donini

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    I just did an interview for the italian rock magazine “Tutto Rock”. The questions were by journalist Maurizio Donini. The interview is in italian but if any of you would like to read it or attempt a definitely-incorrect google translation of it, here is the link:

    www.tuttorock.net/interviste/marc-urselli-intervista-ad-uno-dei-maggiori-sound-engineer-nel-mondo-3-grammy-awards

    Sym Proceed SM-MP4 is my latest piece of studio equipment

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    SymProceedSPMP4I want to briefly speak about the latest piece of studio equipment I’ve acquired.

    It is a brand new pre-amp built without compromise in Japan and meant to be an ultra-transparent high fidelity pre-amp for when instead of a colored sound with extra sonic characteristics (something you often might want) you just want to hear EXACTLY what is being picked up by your microphones (which is something you also often want!).
    I’m endorsing this product because it delivers sound impeccably, it offers loads of gain (great for ribbon mics for example!) and it is built like a tank (and weighs as much as a tank too – which for a pre-amp is always a good indication of high quality construction and no compromise in choice of components on the part of the manufacturer!).

    You can check out the pre-amp on the Sym Proceed website or you can come to EastSide Sound and do some recording with me, I’ll be happy to show you the pre-amp and use it on your session!
    Here’s a picture of it before I permanently rack-mounted it:

    DSC01812

     

    John Zorn Marathon at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis 4/6/13

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    John Zorn is unquestionably the most interesting and advanced composer of our times. Although he looks 45ish this year he actually turns 60 and to celebrate he is doing a number of concerts all around the world, in different countries every month, all year long.

    I am lucky enough to be the one doing sound for these complicated multi-band shows (think 9 bands in 3-4 hours with 5 min stage changes). As challenging as these marathons are to mix and advance, they are absolutely AMAZING to watch and if it is the one thing you travel for this year I would highly recommend catching one of them in Europe this summer.

    The first one of the series of 2013 Zorn at 60 marathons took place last week at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN.

    I don’t usually repost other people’s reviews, but this enthusiastic concert goer has some good videos and since I was too busy doing sound to be documenting the show I thought I’d post his reviews with videos so you can see what you missed:

    Concert Review: John Zorn Marathon at the Walker Art Center 4/6/13 – Part 1: Book of Heads, Hockey, Cobra, Composer Q&A – Concert Manic!

    Concert Review: John Zorn Marathon at the Walker Art Center (4/6/2013) – Part 2: Masada – Concert Manic!

    Concert Review: John Zorn Marathon at the Walker Art Center (4/6/2013) – Part 3: The Concealed, Nova Express, Aleph Trio and The Hermetic Organ – Concert Manic!