YouTube, looking to catch the ears of music fans worldwide, will feature live performances by Lady Gaga, Eminem, Arcade Fire and other artists for the inaugural YouTube Music Video Awards on Sunday, Nov. 3. The event is modeled on kudocasts like MTV’s Video Music Awards, but the winners of the YouTube Music Awards will be…

Many musicians and engineers take the lowly direct box for granted and settle for the cheapest one they can find. That can work okay on some instruments, but if you really need some real low end, you have to spring for something more expensive. For years now Radial Engineering has been the king of the…

Jon Connor…it is time. At yesterday’s taping of the annual BET Hip-Hop Awards, the Flint, MI rapper revealed during his cypher freestyle, that he signed with Dr. Dre’s Aftermath Records. A couple months ago, he was spotted in the stu with the good Doc. You can hear his full freestyle when the Awards air October 15th….

Earlier this year Homeboy Sandman embarked on a series of single producer releases after signing with California based label Stones Throw in 2011. The format has thus far yielded two releases for the Queens bred rapper; the first, Kool Herc: Fertile Crescent was released in April and produced entirely by Rthentic RTNC while the second,…

Mike WiLL Made It posted a picture on Instagram earlier today of him in the studio with Pharrell, T.I. and Usher. The caption he used for the image was, “Pic says a million words,” and in this case that phrase rings true considering the individuals present. Mike WiLL is currently at work on his debut…

Warning: Spoilers ahead for the series finale if Breaking Bad. Breaking Bad has ended — but not before giving fans one final song to rock out to. As we saw Walter White (Bryan Cranston) – bleeding and near death – back in a lab one last time, he had just the song to send him…

Here’s a great video that shows the value of a producer. It’s a video of George Martin, his son Giles, and George Harrison’s son Dhani listening to the tracks of George H’s seminal “Here Comes The Sun” from one of The Beatles greatest albums – Abbey Road….

This video, via massivebeatzz, offers his take on the Roland TR-909 inspired drum machine, the Jomox XBase 09. When it comes to emulating the original 909, this is what Sound On Sound magazine had to say about the XBase 09:…

We’re not against the concept of songs being booted from the radio, though there’s a big difference between “overexposure” and “f*ck you, famous band, we think your music sucks now.” BBC Radio 1 falls into the latter camp after, according to Consequence of Sound, head of music George Ergatoudis told Music Week that you won’t…

Shazam Entertainment, whose app has been used to identify billions of songs since 2002, is expanding its television business through a deal with late-night host Jimmy Kimmel. The partnership, expected to be announced Monday, will give away free music downloads to “Jimmy Kimmel Live” viewers who use Shazam while watching the show on ABC. On…