NIN Releases Garageband Sources For 3 New Tracks

Kethinov writes "Nine Inch Nails has once again released the sources in Garageband format for three of their tracks from their new album Year Zero. You can also download user-created remixes. Trent Reznor claims that he plans to release the entire album this way."

Comments

Also released in 'Generic Format'...

[Angostura]

... for other applications, via torrent on the same page.

RIAA

[revengebomber]

I hope I'm not sued for downloading them.

Re:RIAA

[Provocateur]

Wait, so if I buy the NIN CD of legally downloadable music, would that make me a ninja? Or a pirate in a bizarre alternate universe?
 

BNL also has a number of remixable songs

[SuperKendall]

BNL (Barenaked Ladies, from Canada) also has a number of remixable songs where you can download songs with the tracks split out.

These cost $2.49 for each song-related set of tracks (all in WAV) but that's more than fair for a bunch of lossless tracks that you can use for whatever. Pretend to be Ed or Steve just by leaving out a track and filling in yourself!

Why Apple?

[SolitaryMan]

Pardon my ignorance, but what this has to do with Apple?

(Just asking)

Re:Why Apple?

[MrPerfekt]

Pardon my ignorance, but what this has to do with Apple?

Well, GarageBand is a Mac-only application written by Apple.

That'd be a good place to start.

Re:Why Apple?

[miscz]

GarageBand is a Mac-only application bought by Apple.

Re:Why Apple?

[nugx]

Trent Reznor has been a Mac user for years.

Re:Why Apple?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, GarageBand is a Mac-only application written by Apple. Fortunately, those same "Garageband format" files work excellently in Logic, readily available for Windows at a torrent site near you.

Re:Why Apple?

[appleguru]

Apple is also HOSTING these rather large garageband files for NIN:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/me_im_ not.zip

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/capita l_g.zip

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/my_vio lent_heart.zip

And a fourth not linked to from the NIN main page:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/nin/surviv alism.zip

Re:Why Apple?

[zmollusc]

So why are his song lyrics always along the lines of 'Oh crikey, life is horrible! Everything is dreadful! I am so depressed! Blimey, things just took an unexpected turn for the worse!' ? Are macs that bad?

Re:Why Apple?

[The One and Only]

That's only half-correct. Apple purchased Emagic (makers of Logic, a professional audio editing program) in 2002 and GarageBand was shipped as an Apple product in 2005. So they did purchase the personnel and maybe even some of the code used in GarageBand, but the product itself was first developed and sold by Apple.

Re:Why Apple?

[carpe_noctem]

GarageBand is a Mac-only application bought by Apple.

If you'd ever used logic 6 (the last version made by emagic before getting bought out by apple, who later produced logic 7 and recycled the sound engine into garageband), you'd know how ridiculous you sounded just now. Granted, apple didn't write the whole app from scratch, but what they did to it was the equivilent of "pimp my app" with a '79 chevy nova. Give some credit where it's due.

Re:Why Apple?

[Yggdrasil42]

Pff... Just think how he'd be if he were using Windows. Hell on earth?

Re:Why Apple?

[sarahbau]

GarageBand was shipped as an Apple product in 2005. Garage Band actually shipped in 2004 in iLife '04

I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[photomonkey]

A band puts out their music for their fans to mess around with electronically, in a common format for very inexpensive software. Pretty neat shit.

A band can sell/giveaway/whatever their music through Apple iTMS (seriously, check out The Cells; a really kickass band, not mine.) or various other people with enough bandwidth and code to be able to sell or giveaway electronic tracks.

T-shirts, posters and other merchandise can be bought on-demand from certain sites and can be made in bulk cheaper than ever before.

Remind me again: Why do we need traditional record labels anymore? I mean, sure a band might not as easily book a night at Shea Stadium without Sony, but if smaller bands were able to keep more of their money (via not having to hand 80% of it over to the label), they don't need to play places as big as Shea Stadium regularly to still live the 'rockstar' lifestyle.

I think it's very funny that a Nine Inch Nail is helping to drive The Nail into the coffin of the record industry.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[Timesprout]

they don't need to play places as big as Shea Stadium regularly to still live the 'rockstar' lifestyle

Actually they do. Few bands/musicians are actually properly able manage this lifestyle and the majority of those who can have been around for a very long time, long enough and with enough sales to get a decent deal from the record companies. Of course there is the odd exception with someone like Robbie Williams who for some unknown reason scored a huge contract off EMI.

Much of the lifestyle you see with modern artists is funded by the record companies and when the sales dry up the cars, planes and cribs tend to vanish with them.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[photomonkey]

I wasn't talking at all about sustaining the lifestyle, but rather getting to the point of having that lifestyle, however untenable, without the assistance of a record company.

Let's say a band can make $20,000 for performing at a 5,000 seat venue as a self-promoted event without record labels getting involved. Now, if said band were signed to a label and had to pay to play (or had to sell even more to get the record company the profits they want), the band may very well have to play a 30,000 seat arena to see the same $20,000.

They get the same amount of money either way, but since they're paying out less in scenario A, they don't need to worry about selling more seats. Then when they do get to the point of having the draw to fill Shea on their own (or have Shea approach them to do the show) they do get the super-mega-huge bucks.

I would totally expect that what you say is correct for rockstars as much as it is for anyone else: lose the market and lose your shirt.

What I'm saying is that bands are in a position now to be masters of their own destiny. The smart ones who understand the business will do very well for themselves, and those who have ten minutes of 'flash-in-the-pan' fame will be gone as quickly as they arrived.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[CrackedButter]

The record industry is a big beast, you're gonna need nine inch nails to do it!

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[nwbvt]

Big bands like NIN probably don't need record labels at this point, assuming they are willing to do all that boring work (marketing, accounting, production, legal, etc.) along with writing the music (Reznor might be willing there, but I imagine most are not). But a garage band has a nearly 0% chance of getting a hit on the radio without help. Yes, there are occasional exceptions, thats why I said 'nearly'.

BTW, how do you think sucking up to the general RIAA hating /. population sounds like a troll? If anything that sounds like karma whoring.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[TheForgotton]

Let's say a band can make $20,000 for performing at a 5,000 seat venue as a self-promoted event without record labels getting involved. Now, if said band were signed to a label and had to pay to play (or had to sell even more to get the record company the profits they want), the band may very well have to play a 30,000 seat arena to see the same $20,000.

They get the same amount of money either way, but since they're paying out less in scenario A, they don't need to worry about selling more seats. Then when they do get to the point of having the draw to fill Shea on their own (or have Shea approach them to do the show) they do get the super-mega-huge bucks.

I would totally expect that what you say is correct for rockstars as much as it is for anyone else: lose the market and lose your shirt.

I imagine that selling more seats in itself might not have the advantage in that scenario, but out of 30,000 people, there is a bigger chance of making some dough on t-shirts, posters, wallet-chains, etc. Merchandising is one of the big moneymakers for bands.

Re:I know this probably sounds like a troll...

[clifyt]

"Let's say a band can make $20,000 for performing at a 5,000 seat venue as a self-promoted event without record labels getting involved. Now, if said band were signed to a label and had to pay to play (or had to sell even more to get the record company the profits they want), the band may very well have to play a 30,000 seat arena to see the same $20,000."

I've worked with larger and smaller bands over the years.

The problems with physical spaces come with need for roadies, techies, engineers, insurance and everything else.

I've seen a small band go bankrupt for a single concert that goes badly because of poor planning and the idea that they can do things cheaper and make more money. Hell, I've seen a multimillion dollar festival I was once involved with go bankrupt because the board decided not to go with weather insurance. Sure, they would have doubled their profits if things had gone well without it, but the director who signed his name to a personal loan ended up losing his house.

I have to say, my career with the music industry as both a labeled artist as well as a consultant / hired gun, I never found anything unfair. It was all up front to what they will take and what risks they assume for you. Working in tech, I know the year I did as a technical on-call consultant, my company that did nothing but take calls took 50% of my take home...and only later did I find out they were charging a fee to the businesses as well. This is a common complaint in the field. AND I had to be bonded...they took absolutely no risk.

But a band playing to a 5000 large audience or a 30k one? Who cares if they make $20k for both. The first one will require a hell of a lot more work and coordination. I have done work as a production director in the past (its amazing how tech project management skills fit right into this area) and I know others in my field have charged $20k for a single night because of the coordination involved (I've done the bigger stuff under the auspices of charity, so I get a check that I turn right back in, though I've seen others that walk away with these checks and never look back).

The fact is, the band that has to do a 30k large show does a LOT less work than one that does it in front of a 5k one and assume a lot less risk.

The problem with the music industry is that geeks and nerds really just don't understand what is all involved in the real world, yet they pass along suggestions and pat each other on the back for being so insightful about how bad this industry is. It is almost as bad as non-technical managers showing up to a development meeting and telling the programmers that we need XYZ feature and it should be a slam dunk because its obviously easy as they've seen others do it (not realizing they have had a team of 20 and a budget of $10M...where as you have 3 people who are also dealing with desktop support and told that when Bob leaves we don't have the funding to replace him).

Finally

[zappepcs]

Not to press a point, but NIN has been pushing a viral release of their new CD for some time now. They are a band that 'gets it' so to speak. They will make money even while giving away their music. If only the RIAA will learn from this, give content in new ways, give content that is more than an MP3 file, give content that is *WORTH* paying for.

I don't care if you don't like NIN's music, you have to admire how they are approaching the new medium and embracing a new environment. I will buy their CD just to have that heat sensitive label. NIN 'gets it' in my opinion.

Re:Finally

[TooMuchToDo]

I'm a firm believer that Trent has had his shit together for quite some time. I have all of the albums (although Year Zero is the only one I purchased from iTunes, the rest are CDs). I highly suggest you go see him live. I saw him at Summerfest in Milwaukee last year, and it was a god damn amazing show (with Peaches opening for him, which made it a whole lot more interesting).

Re:Finally

[Mr. Flibble]

Did you notice his comment about using torrents... and that the torrents are hosted on the pirate bay?

Brillant.

Re:Finally

[Tawnos]

I think Trent takes subtle digs at the RIAA on the CD itself. There's a "morality" warning that looks very similar in style to the FBI antipiracy warning. This also brings up a question, though. There's a warning on the CD about making unauthorized duplicates and the copyright infringements related to that... but Trent's releasing all of the "source" for these songs...

Just something to ponder.

Re:Finally

[hmccabe]

I don't care if you don't like NIN's music, you have to admire how they are approaching the new medium and embracing a new environment. I will buy their CD just to have that heat sensitive label. NIN 'gets it' in my opinion.

Absolutely. I'm a music student in a program for digital arts and experimental media*, and I think it's fantastic to see a well established band taking steps to move the music industry forward. I don't care for NIN music (like, at all), but you have to hand it to them, I haven't seen anyone else do more to connect with their fan base, educate interested parties in the process of modern production and composition, and build interest about a new release. With the option of digital distribution, I can use techniques such as this to market my music (and hopefully monetize it through instructional downloads/official tab PDFs) while remaining free of an RIAA contract. If Trent were here, I'd say "good show." I'd probably also say "cheer up dude."

*University of Washington, Seattle if you care. :)

Re:Finally

[smittyoneeach]

I went through college on "Pretty Hate Machine" and "Broken". Happiness in Slavery, after failing a EE exam in particular, was poignant.
Guess I'm old now, but his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

Re:Finally

[that this is not und]

Guess I'm old now, but his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

Like Coca-Cola, he doesn't dare change the formula.

Re:Finally

[Gordonjcp]

There's a warning on the CD about making unauthorized duplicates and the copyright infringements related to that... but Trent's releasing all of the "source" for these songs...

Then obviously you can make an authorised duplicate from the sources!

Re:Finally

[sg3000]

> his stuff doesn't seem to have progressed much.

I think his stuff has progressed a little bit. It's a little more organic sounding, particularly compared to Pretty Hate Machine. For example, one of the songs on his new album has a trumpet!

More importantly, I think his lyrics have gotten more mature. A lot of Pretty Hate Machine all the way to his previous two albums were about angst and navel gazing: "Woe is me, someone I love dumped me!". Maybe throw in a bit of "wow, the music industry is full of phonies! I blame you, God!". Maybe it's completely appropriate when you're a teenager or in college, but as you get older, it's a bit tiring.

"With Teeth" represented a shift in his lyrics in that they're more mature and he seems to be finally using his bully pulpit to say something important. "The Hand That Feeds" is a brilliant questioning of the war in Iraq ("what if this whole crusade is a charade?"). "Every Day is Exactly The Same" perfectly describes my job (particularly after a bitterly depressing day) after working for more than a decade ("I believe I can see the future, 'cause I repeat the same routine.")

Year Zero improves on that even more. He's gone from complaining about his love life to providing an interesting commentary and warning against the move to fascism. My favorite track "Capital G" is a perfect description a young Republican or someone who is on his way to becoming a "Brown Shirt".

So while the music isn't wildly different, I think that his lyrics have matured quite a bit. In that way, he's gone from entertainment to art, and it makes his music far more interesting.

Why don't you actually follow link...

[SuperKendall]

I assume the parent simply means that these are instrumental and acapella versions of the song.

You didn't have to ASSume anything (proving out the old saying in the process), simply following the link you find this text:

For the first time in Barenaked Ladies history we are making available for download multitracks of our songs. May we introduce "Easy", "Wind It Up", "Bank Job", "Rule the World With Love", "I Can I Will I Do" and "Maybe You're Right" off our upcoming album Barenaked Ladies Are Me. It is our hope that you will remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions. All tracks here are 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV files ready for re-mixing. Cost for all tracks of each song is $2.49. (note: all multitracks are copyrighted material)

and clicking on any song tells you something along these lines:

It is our hope that you will remix, re-create, re-edit, re-configure, and realize what you will with these parts in coming up with your own versions. All 11 tracks (5 of which are stereo - making 16 total) here are in 16 bit 44.1kHz WAV files ready for re-mixing. Cost for all tracks is $2.49 (note: all multitracks are copyrighted material).

These are real multi-tracks, with instruments and vocals split out.

It doesn't get any more re-mixable.

A sign of things to come?

[adona1]

So let me see....NIN are releasing the unadultarated tracks so other people can have a go at mixing and remixing the songs...

I guess the next step involves giving everyone guitars so they can write the songs for them? ;)

Re:A sign of things to come?

[Bacon Bits]

Life's too short and I've too many other interests to worry about customising everything to the way I think it should be.

Some people say the same thing about an operating system. They tend to get mocked as luddites here on SlashDot, or tools of Microsoft.

Not saying I disagree with you. Just trying to give you some perspective.

Real meaning of open source

[FormOfActionBanana]

That way, if NIN go out of business and musical styles change, we will br able to recreate their songs in the new formats.

Whew!

This is a good thing

[el_flynn]

I for one think that this is a nice, new path for other musicians to explore. Put out a couple of tracks as teasers for the album, and if the audience likes it more likely than not they're going to end up buying the album. It doesn't cost much for him to promote the album this way (other than paying for bandwith/hosting I suppose); it sure does his "street cred" a world of good anyways.

It feels to me like he's taking a very honest approach about it; after all if the tracks suck then the no-one's going to buy the music. But if they're great, I'm sure we'd want to listen to the rest of the album. He's putting his music/reputation/karma on the line, and in turn indirectly he's looking for your support to buy the album.

I'd really like to see other enlightened artistes try this. That'd really flip ole Jack in his grave eh?

Re:As a iMac owner

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to ``lock'' some tracks by clicking the little lock icon at the left side of the main GarageBand window for each one. Locking renders the track to the hard disk, decreasing CPU usage (but increasing I/O).

You watch...

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Slashdot will now praise Nine Inch Nails for their quality of music, their contribution to our culture, and their business sense.

"Musician," not "Musicians"

[Proofof. Chaos]

Trent Reznor is the only true member of NIN. He records everything himself, and only has a band for live shows. That's one thing I love about Reznor; he decided he didn't need a band, and then he decided he didn't even need a record label, he just created his own. Anyone reading this who is in high school and has a garage band with dreams of making it big, should use Trent as an example. He has clearly seen where the music industry is headed for a good fifteen years now, well ahead of everyone else.

Alternate Reality Game

[celerityfm]

Something else to consider regarding the significance of these releases- NiN also launched an ARG called Year Zero as well, and the album is simply just part of the ARG- Reznor said "What you are now starting to experience [,the ARG,] IS 'year zero'. It's not some kind of gimmick to get you to buy a record - it IS the art form... and we're just getting started. Hope you enjoy the ride." Reznor has also called the Year Zero game "a new entertainment form."

So, they also release the individual tracks from the songs of the album, in Garage Band and other formats. Bad ass. But you know what else? This is all part of the game - some of the songs contain hidden pictures, backmasked vocals that lead to website addresses, and there's even morse code on the album.

It is expected that there will be even more hidden goodness available to us now that we can examine the individual tracks. Not only that but holy crap some of these hidden tracks are creepy- the Reaktor instrument in My Violent Heart, for example.

And the heat sensitive label freaked me out, even though I knew it was going to change... that of course revealed another code for the ARG. All the songs seem different after reading up on the ARG. And thats the thing- this album is another concept album, but instead it centers around a fictional future universe rather then being a big metaphor for Trent's own trials and tribulations. Though I'm sure some of those are mixed in too ;)

Re:36% growth in sales: Requiem for Macintosh

[Anonymous Coward]

as long as they're loosing their edge and and not losing it, then it's fine with me.

Re:Isn't this the same band?

[Tim C]

No, he's talking about "Closer" - the chorus is:

I want to fuck you like an animal
I want to feel you from the inside
I want to fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to God

What does 96 kHz buy you?

[tepples]

24 bit / 96 kHz will get me interested. I can see where storing intermediate versions at 24-bit would reduce noise in the final mix. But please explain something about pro audio: What advantage does representing frequencies up to 47999 Hz have if the ear can't hear over 20 kHz?

Year Zero

[Anonymous Coward]

The year is 2022. The drug Parepin has been placed into the water supply to pacify the masses. Gay sex, topless couch potatoing, and impromptu apartment musical performances are all secretly recorded by the government. One man has been sent from the future to write the industrial ballads that will save human-kind. Only one artist can write a song to show us just how repetitively annoying the future sounds. That man is Tre... [intercepted by the government]

Re:A Flash-using site? So much for "openness"

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh shut the fuck up. NIN wants a look to their site that can't be accomplished with straight HTML (e.g., exotic font, positioning, shading.) In short, the band wishes to create a certain mood, tone and functionality that's impractical without the use of Flash. What would you suggest they use?

Flash is available - free of charge - for 99% of desktops. This isn't some annoying banner ad or obnoxious webapp or anything like that. This is an artist using Flash on the web in a fairly tasteful context. "But, but, but... Adobe won't release a Flash plugin for my NetBSD MIPS toaster! And even if they did, it probably wouldn't be compatible with Lynx! And even if it was, Flash is proprietary, and that's evil! Plus the site would probably use JavaScript - and that's evil too!"

None

[ProfessionalCookie]

None if all you're doing is listening.

96kHz is nice for editing because you have more data to tweak- for instance if you were to timestretch a track. Plugins my friend. Essentially it's the same reason I do all my Photoshop edits at full resolution and the downscale to my output.

Re:Finally progressed

[hguorbray]

I also thought he hadn't progressed much over the years until I saw him at last year's Neil Young Bridge School Benefit at Shoreline.

Mr 'techno' reznor had the guts to play not only acoustically, but also did it without a DRUMMER.

Nothing but Acoustic piano and a string section that made a lot of noisy pendericki-type sounds.

He said he was scared sh*tless, and didn't know if he would do it again, but he took the effort to make new arrangements of some of his newer songs and go outside his comfort zone and challenge himself and show his audience and others a different sound.

Contrast this to NIN opening for Bowie's 'Outside' tour at the Portland Rose Garden where I had to walk outside halfway through their set because I felt like I was being hit over the head repeatedly by a hammer.....

-I'm just sayin'