Israeli company lands a (technical) Grammy

December 26, 2010 - 12:34 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Entertainment, General, Music, Technology 

Muting vuvuzelas - they deserve a Grammy!

It may not be the best song of the year or best new artist, but Israel is being represented at the Grammy Awards in February.

Ynet disclosed that Tel Aviv hi-tech firm Waves Audio has won a Technical Grammy for its technological achievements and contribution to the field of music via its audio signal processing technologies and audio effects, used in recording, mixing, mastering, post production, surround, live, and broadcast sound

Previous winners include such notable companies as Apple, Sony and Yamaha. Waves Audio’s technology has been used to enhance the recorded sound of everyone from Lady Gaga and Beyonce to U2 and Bruce Springsteen. In addition, Waves Audio technologies have been used in movies such as Shrek, American Beauty and Star Wars.

Waves Audio was established in 1992 by Gilad Keren and Meir Sha’ashua, and the company has since sold its various technologies to Sony, JVC, Toshiba and computer manufacturer Dell. The company’s headquarters are in Tel Aviv, but its global operations spread to offices in Knoxville, Tennessee and Shenzen, China as well.

TV viewers will undoubtedly thank the company for its latest development – reducing the noise of vuvuzelas during this year’s World Cup broadcasts from South Africa.

Keren was delighted to learn his company had won a Grammy, saying “It is a great honor to know that we had a part in the creation of so much wonderful music, and this pushes us to keep developing new tools for musicians. It is our small contribution.”

“You can always trust Waves to create well-engineered, good sounding products,” said Bob Ludwig, one of the most respected mastering engineers in recording history, who has mastered records for everyone from Neil Diamond and The Rolling Stones to Paul McCartney, and Mariah Carey.

So while we wait for Hadag Nahash or Asaf Avidan to show up with a Grammy nomination one of these years, we can still bask in the glory of Waves Audio’s achievements. They may not be able to improve the quality of the music we hear, but they can sure make it sound better.

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Israelis go on tour

May 20, 2009 - 8:32 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, General, Music, Pop Culture, Travel 

Springsteen's just a short flight away for Israelis.

Springsteen's just a short flight away for Israelis.

There’s plenty of rock shows being imported here this summer, but nothing that you’d want to write home about: Appearances by Joe Jackson, Suzanne Vega, Steve Vai, Chris Cornell and Dream Theater, may satisfy some people, and Leonard Cohen in September will likely be a grand event. And we may even have Madonna to celebrate Yom Kippur with.

But when bona fide heavyweights like Springsteen, U2, The Killers, Coldplay and Pearl Jam are only a couple thousand miles away in Europe, it’s a little hard to get excited about our dubious offerings.

But thanks to a couple of Israeli entrepreneurial endeavors, getting to those superstars isn’t any more difficult than finding parking near Ramat Gan stadium. On.Tour, a Tel-Aviv based online rock & roll travel agency – and similar companies like Kavei Hofsha – provide Israeli music fans with package tours to the top festivals and shows in Europe – including airfare, hotel, transportation and, of course, the coveted tickets to the shows, even those that are listed as sold-out.

And it’s suprisingly affordable – not much more than the vacation without the concert tickets would be. A quick glance at the On.Tours homepage finds a generous offering of summer festivals, including this year’s Rock Werchter, featuring Coldplay, Metallica and The Killers; Denmark’s Roskild with Coldplay, Oasis and Slipknot; Germany’s Rock Im Park (RIP) featuring The Killers, The Kooks and Placebo; Istanbul’s questionably titled Rock & Coke, featuring Linkin Park, Nine Inch Nails and the Kaiser Chiefs; and some of the most popular attractions – the heavy metal festivals like Wacken 2009, The Ozora Festival and Hellfest. The average price for a package, including three or four nights’ accommodations, runs between NIS 4,000 and NIS 5,000.

“Pretty quickly, we learned that Israelis weren’t interested only in music festivals, but in concerts as well. There’s not a lot of top names coming here, and through us, you can go see just about any of the top names touring Europe,” Ido Mart, the company’s marketing director told me last week.

Indeed, the site offers packages for artists ranging from U2 and Springsteen to Britney Spears and Take That, all for prices similar to the festival tariff. According to Mart, On.Tours not only removes the hassle of arranging your own flights and accommodations, it also eases the stress of the biggest task of all – getting tickets to sold out shows.

Lianna Yedida, 25, who has traveled on three On.Tours packages, including two festivals in Europe and is signed up to see Radiohead this summer in Berlin, can’t praise the service too much.

“Everything was great, and of course, it’s easier than doing it yourself. They worry about everything,” she said, adding that the attention to detail was the biggest feature. According to Mart, those details include providing free transportation from the airport to the hotel and back again, and other amenities, like tips on after-show parties and access to them.

So, if you’re going to take a vacation outside of Israel anyway, why not make it a musical one?

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Springsteen – Born to play in Tel Aviv

February 1, 2009 - 9:51 AM by · 6 Comments
Filed under: General, Music, Pop Culture, Sports 

The BossIt’s Super Sunday here, just like in the US. Except that ours lasts all the way to 5:00 am, when the Super Bowl is likely to wind down.

This year I have no vested interest in either the Steelers nor the Cardinals, and would not even consider staying up all night, if it weren’t for the half time entertainment. How many times do you get to see Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band perform live, albeit for only 12 minutes?

Apparently, it’s the only way Israelis are going to see them live. Each time a new tour is announced – and the past few years with Springsteen’s prolific resurgence, he’s been on tour all the time – I anxiouxly wait to see the European itinerary hoping that Tel Aviv will finally be listed. The dates for his 2009 tour in support of his new album Working on a Dream have just been announced, and again we’ve been snubbed, with Bruce preferring the tried and true European venues he’s familiar with like Copenhagen and Barcelona.

Granted, the Boss’s Israel connections are a little tenuous. But let’s not forget that an Israeli – violinist Suki Lahav - played on Born to Run’s “Jungleland” back in 1975. And hey – isn’t “The Promised Land” about us? And as my friend Arthur once wrote, seeing Bruce play the song in Sultan’s Pool overlooking the Old City in Jerusalem would probably be one of the most transcendent moments of any concert anywhere.

But to get down to it, the real reason that Springsteen should come here is simple – I haven’t seen him perform since moving to Israel in the mid-80s. After seeing Springsteen a half dozen times in the late 1970s, I’ve been spoiled for life, and no other concert I’ve seen since has compared.

So, c’mon Bruce – hop inside, you know just what we’re here for. Talk to your pals Bono and Paul McCartney, I think they were pretty impressed with Park Hayarkon as a venue and the the enthusiasm of the Israeli audiences. We can take you and Patti out for some humous in Tel Aviv, you can go entertain some Palestinian children like Sir Paul did, and we can even import some of Clarence’s favorite chicken for after the show.

In the meantime, chances are I’ll doze through the first half of the Super Bowl tonight in order to stand at attention for 12 minutes during halftime for the greatest show on earth.

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