The New US Version of Future Music

[PlasticMoonRain]

So I got my hands on a copy of the first issue of the US version of Future Music. I'd been buying the UK version for almost a couple of years and it was costing me a fortune. So I'm glad this is a lot cheaper ($7.99). Thought I'd share my thoughts.

Yes, it has a disc on the cover, with 200 acidized loops, tutorials for Live and Logic, and the demo software for Absynth 3. I haven't gone through all the videos yet, but it looks promising.

Unlike the UK edition, which seems to be very dance/electronica oriented, this is much broader. Heck, the opening interview is with Nirvana producer/Garbage main guy Butch Vig, and then there's a lengthy interview with Alan Parsons.

The cover story is how to create mash-ups, like that one with the Beatles White Album and that rap black album. There's also a tutorial on using Ableton Live on doing one of these.

My favorite parts actually were the columns in the back. There's one about spectrum analyzers, and they have links to sites that have free ones. I downloaded one from one of the sites, so it's useful.

Lots of reviews in the back and there's one already on Reason 3.0, so that was pretty quick.

Overall, I'd say they are off to a good start. It's supposed to be coming out 10times a year. It's issue one, so I'm curious what else they'll be doing. If it's anything like Computer Music, that would be awesome.


Drew

[bc rich]

Thanks for the info; I saw an ad for this a while back, and been looking forward
to this issue.I may not even browse it before i buy now.

[horseface]

The US version is a joke, not that the British version is much better.

[Hope209]

Are any of these recording magazines truthful? Whenever I flip through them I see nothing but great reviews and endorsements

[swan]

Originally posted by Hope209:

Are any of these recording magazines truthful? Whenever I flip through them I see nothing but great reviews and endorsements

that's exactly why i cancelled my Mix and EQ subscriptions a looooooong time ago, and why places like gearslutz are so popular because they give honest to goodness advice from a broad and extremely informed consensus without trying to sell anything to you.

out of the traditional magazines, however, the two exceptions to me are TapeOp and Sound on Sound. both fantastic, extremely informative, and (mostly) unbiased magazines that i look forward to every issue.

you actually see some bad reviews in these magazines!!

[u b k]

op, you are a viral marketer's wet dream.

seed the buzz! SEED THE BUZZ!!!


gregoire
del
ubk

[strings]

I like SOS.

[Ruudman]

No offense, but I'd hate to see the British dry humour get lost in translation..
Does it?

British mags are cosy




ruudman

[chrispick]

Originally Posted by swan

...places like gearslutz are so popular because they give honest to goodness advice from a broad and extremely informed consensus without trying to sell anything to you.

I don't know about that. Seems to me there's hefty amount of hype, hyperbole and picthmanship to wade through here -- as is the case with most BBs. Still have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

In my opinion, even magazines like Sound On Sound are pretty light on content. That's okay; they're magazines, not dissertations. Light reading and eye candy for treadmill time at the gym.

[swan]

but in a magazine, there is no one to answer to all out sales pitches, here when someone tries to pitch something outside of the new product forum, they usually get some flak for it, there is always a second opinion....but yes people do try that shit on here.

p.s. the fact that pabst blue ribbon advertises in tapeop immediately brings it into the realm of best magazine ever...recording or not.

[vixapphire]

I've been a futuremusic UK reader for several years, and semi-accidentally picked up one of the first US edition issues, mainly b/c it purported to have a video bit on Sasha demo'ing that ableton controller module he had a hand in designing. aside from that altogether too short and quasi-useless piece of a/v footage, i had a pretty dim impression of the US edition because it seems to be rather unfocused. at least the UK version, with its somewhat more electronica/dance/europop orientation, is a consistent read. additionally, the UK version has the best record reviews section (albums/longplayers) of any magazine around; they're spot-on with their recommendations. the US version is smaller, all over the map, has shittier layout and mostly subpar writing.

I was very happy to see that the UK version is still available stateside; it was my fear that this US version was all we'd be left with over here. but if the US version suits your fancy more than the UK one, it can only be a good thing that there's more for everyone to choose from out there...

[gsilbers]

Originally Posted by swan

that's exactly why i cancelled my Mix and EQ subscriptions a looooooong time ago, and why places like gearslutz are so popular because they give honest to goodness advice from a broad and extremely informed consensus without trying to sell anything to you.

out of the traditional magazines, however, the two exceptions to me are TapeOp and Sound on Sound. both fantastic, extremely informative, and (mostly) unbiased magazines that i look forward to every issue.

you actually see some bad reviews in these magazines!!

its too obvious. you see a review of a product and 2 pages later their is an AD for the same product. what the hell! thats where they get most of their moeny they are not going to turn around and bite the hands that feeds them, so better make a good review if u want more ads/$$.

thats why i buy computer music and futuremusic, cuase they are trufull cause they dont care about ADs they get a lot of their money from selling it expensive.
no bias there. u read the last futuremusic, they talked trash about the new roland 808... saying things that your better off just buying an akai or something else.