This is a great example of how your brain works out where sound is coming from using just 2 channels. It works firstly because of the way this example was recorded by using two microphones positioned facing left and right and the microphones are then panned to each ear. Your brain works out the differences in volume levels between each of your ears to work out if the sound is coming from the left or right.

“OK but how does it work that you can hear whether something is in front or behind you with only 2 channels?” I hear you ask - Well the answer is your brain also works out without you even thinking about it (Your cleverer than you thought) as to whether the sound is behind you or in front by listening to the tone and frequencies coming through in the sounds as well as the reverberation of sound from around the room it was recorded in. Your brain knows this because your ears pick up more of the higher frequencies when a sound is in front of you. You can hear this effect if you listen to white noise and then move your head round and as the back of your head starts to face the source of the white noise you will hear the higher frequencies start to lower in volume.

Note: Best listened to on headphones

Click here and start audio file embeded in top of the page (May need the Adobe Flash Player Plug-In)

The Thummer from Thumtronics, I came across this new piece of kit via a post on Dane Carlson’s Business Opportunities Weblog and I was quite impressed by it. The Thummer has lots of buttons in a new styled layout combined with the abilities to manipulate the sounds it creates via it’s internal synthesizer.

Whether this will take off I’m not sure but but according to Thumtronics they say that it is easier to learn than most instruments due to the layout of the buttons. The layout enables all chords to have the same pattern (shape) of notes and not differing shapes such as on the piano (which have various patterns of black and white note patterns depending on what key you play) or on the guitar with different finger shapes for the different chords.

They also say it is more expressive (than current synthesizers) as the design allows you to hold it in your hands and control the sound via some joysticks where your thumbs are located. It has pressure sensitive buttons and you can also change the make up of the sound it creates via motion sensors. (Wow!) - Check out the vids below to see this in action.

I like the look of this, which is why I wanted to bring it to your attention. I would absolutely love one of these, especially if it had MIDI capabilities (I can’t find anything on the site about this) so it could be hooked up to any piece of software such as VSTis. It’s also a very visual instrument too, due to the motion sensors and so I think it will work well for live bands as the audience can see the sound being manipulated.

Enjoy the videos and check out the The Thummer site for more info and some more videos.

Yes you did read the title correctly! Propellerhead Software, the creators of the fabulous Reason music creation software have decided to release their educational package called Teaching Music with Reason for free download under a creative commons license.

The package includes 21 complete lessons in PDF format as well as some example songs. Unfortunately it hasn’t been upgraded to cover Reason version 3 or version 4, but most of the stuff is still relevant and should be good reading for anyone who hasn’t upgraded to the newer versions.

Visit The Propellerhead Software Site and download Teaching Music with Reason.