Neil Young Trademarks MP3-Replacement Audio Format

Legendary guitarist Neil Young appears to working on new audio formats. Young is a vocal critic of MP3 quality – he doesn’t even like CD audio, particularly – and has designs on something better.

Rolling Stone reports that Young applied for six trademarks in June 2011: “Ivanhoe,” “21st Century Record Player,” “Earth Storage,” “Storage Shed,” “Thanks for Listening” and “SQS (Studio Quality Sound).” Included in the filing is a description of the trademarks: “Online and retail store services featuring music and artistic performances; high resolution music downloadable from the Internet; high resolutions discs featuring music and video; audio and video recording storage and playback.”

The trademark process could take a year, providing that there are no challenges to Young’s application.

What will it mean? Well, tech experts have variously suggested this could pave the way for high quality audio to be provided to users via a “cloud”-based system. And that the quality of the audio will be closer to the original studio recordings, rather than the hugely compressed files that are sold on sites such as iTunes or Amazon.

Neil Young: digital guru? We never saw that coming.

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Gibson Expands Pro Audio Division

Gibson has announced a strategic partnership with the Onkyo Corporation, a worldwide leader in consumer electronics. The move will expand the quality and variety offered by the Gibson Pro Audio Division.

With a reputation of excellence for high quality audio equipment and home theater systems, Onkyo offers Gibson’s newly formed Pro Audio Division a stronger foothold in the ever-growing consumer electronics market, specifically in the areas of amplification, receiver and speaker technologies.

“Onkyo makes some of the world’s best audio equipment, and this partnership will give Gibson the ability to bring a deeper and more enhanced audio experience to music lovers around the world,” says Gibson CEO and Chairman Henry Juszkiewicz. “While people may be listening to more music, they are listening to it primarily in a severely compressed format. The aural disparity between a real system and compressed sound is vast, and as a result, they are simply not hearing tremendously rich sounds. With Onkyo, our goal is to bring a finer listening experience to a larger consumer base.”

Onkyo USA becomes the latest addition to the Gibson Pro Audio Division, which already includes KRK, Cerwin-Vega! and Stanton.

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Metallica Post Two Never-Before Released Songs (with Audio)

On the heels of, shall we say, a mixed response to Metallica’s recent collaboration with Lou Reed, the metal icons are quickly shifting gears back to their bread-and-butter routine: making fierce heavy metal tracks. The guys have posted two never-before release tracks online, which you can check out via the YouTube players below. What do you think? Are the songs better than the Metallica-Lou Reed jams? Let us know in the comments section!

The guys taped the tracks, which carry such classic Metallica titles as “Hate Train” and “Just a Bullet Away,” while recording the band’s 2008 album, Death Magnetic, but the ditties didn’t quite make the album. Both songs will likely come out on Metallica’s forthcoming EP, Beyond Magnetic, which is expected to see a release in the following months.

Metallica are stoked the songs are finally seeing the light: “We’re pretty excited to be bringing these songs back to life nearly four years after they were recorded,” the band said, in a statement. “Once again, this is the unpolished version of the song... the original rough mix from March of 2008 in its rawest, untouched form.”

Metallica, “Just a Bullet Away”:

Metallica, “Hate Train”:

More on Metallica:

Jason Newsted Joins Metallica at Anniversary Concert

Metallica Books More ‘Black Album’ Tour Dates

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Gibson Launches Pro Audio Division

Good news for musicians. Gibson Guitar has moved heavily into pro audio with the creation of the Gibson Pro Audio division. The division will offer professional grade equipment, including loudspeakers, headphones, monitors, DJ gear, mixers, accessories and more.

Gibson has created the Gibson Pro Audio division by acquiring the esteemed Stanton Group, which includes some of the most respected audio manufacturers in the business – Cerwin Vega!, KRK Systems and Stanton DJ. Cerwin Vega! was responsible for the world's first solid-state amplifier in 1957. KRK Systems began in 1986 as a high-end monitor manufacturer. Stanton DJ was originally founded at Stanton Magnetics in 1946 by Walter O. Stanton, the inventor of the easily replaceable phonograph stylus, and grew into an industry leader in DJ audio equipment.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, said, "This new division is perfectly aligned with our core. It expands our reach to fellow music lovers and allows us access to 20 in 20 consumers instead of the one in 20 we currently hit. Stanton produces some of the best pro audio equipment in the world and we're incredibly excited to be working with the very talented team at Stanton as we take Gibson into the future."

View the original article here

Gibson Launches Pro Audio Division

Good news for musicians. Gibson Guitar has moved heavily into pro audio with the creation of the Gibson Pro Audio division. The division will offer professional grade equipment, including loudspeakers, headphones, monitors, DJ gear, mixers, accessories and more.

Gibson has created the Gibson Pro Audio division by acquiring the esteemed Stanton Group, which includes some of the most respected audio manufacturers in the business – Cerwin Vega!, KRK Systems and Stanton DJ. Cerwin Vega! was responsible for the world's first solid-state amplifier in 1957. KRK Systems began in 1986 as a high-end monitor manufacturer. Stanton DJ was originally founded at Stanton Magnetics in 1946 by Walter O. Stanton, the inventor of the easily replaceable phonograph stylus, and grew into an industry leader in DJ audio equipment.

Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, said, "This new division is perfectly aligned with our core. It expands our reach to fellow music lovers and allows us access to 20 in 20 consumers instead of the one in 20 we currently hit. Stanton produces some of the best pro audio equipment in the world and we're incredibly excited to be working with the very talented team at Stanton as we take Gibson into the future."

View the original article here

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Sade Covers Thin Lizzy (with Audio)

Long-running R&B singer Sade will be covering a track by Thin Lizzy on her upcoming album. The British-Nigerian performer will contribute her version of “Still in Love with You” to a greatest hits package titled The Ultimate Collection. The album spans the “Smooth Operator” crooner’s career and will be available May 3.

The announcement caught Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham off guard. “[I] thought I’d never read anything with Thin Lizzy and Sade in the same sentence,” he said, according to Blabbermouth.

And yet, this isn’t the only instant of a Sade/hard rock crossover. On Record Store Day (April 16), Deftones will be releasing a full album of covers, including their version of Sade’s “No Ordinary Love.”

Now, if only Thin Lizzy would cover a Deftones track, the triumvirate would be complete.

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