CitySounds.fm is a great site that makes it possible to listen to the latest music from your favorite cities around the world based on the 32 most popular cities mentioned as tweets in twitter. When you first click on the site you will see a number of cities listed from around the world. Select a city to hear the latest tracks uploaded by users and musicians from that city. The site pulls tracks and sets uploaded to SoundCloud in real time according to location. There are also individual city pageswhich list stats and most popular genres coming out of that city…you can also listen to the music that has been uploaded from your city.

If you are a musician you can sign up on SoundCloud for free and upload tracks; your tracks will appear on CitySounds.fm right away. “SoundCloud lets you move music fast & easy and takes the daily hassle out of receiving, sending & distributing music for artists, record labels & other music professionals.” SoundCloud also makes it simple to email audio clips via email or embedded players.

CitySounds.fm and SoundCloud compliment each other as they provide budding musicians with an online vehicle to share their talent and those who like to explore new music (like myself) with a great place to explore, listen, and engage with music we might not discover otherwise.

Watch the following SoundCloud video to learn more about the site that serves as the feed site to CitySounds.fm….

If you heard me sing you would laugh at the idea of my posting information about online karaoke applications. In fact, I’m chuckling to myself as I write this. Relax and read on…I promise I will not upload any sound clips…I don’t want to scare away any of my readers! While karaoke is not exactly my thing (or should I say singing isn’t one of my talents), I do know that it can be very motivating for students. I know a teacher who once promised to sing karaoke if all her students scored 80 or higher on a test…her students were thrilled with the challenge and earned great test scores. Karaoke opportunities have also helped many shy students step out of their shells. Besides, it is summer! If you are home with children you may find these applications are great fun on a rainy day.

Karaokeparty is a free music service that lets users sing karaoke, practice singing and also offers an opportunity to challenge friends to an online karaoke competition. All you need is a microphone and a computer connected to the Internet. You can sing along without registering for an account. You can also sing along without a microphone. If you sing with a microphone connected you earn a score at the end of a song. Students could use the scoring feature to compete for higher scores with friends or classmates or simply compete with themselves to improve their scores. The full screen functionality and easy to follow interface of this application helped make Karaokeparty my favorite application. Permission to distribute the music on this internet service has been granted by the Swedish Performing Rights Society and Nordisk Copyright Bureau (STIM/NCB).

Other applications I reviewed (but did not like nearly as well) included….

• kSolo.com – you must register for a MySpace account if you want to use this application. I elected not to explore this application since it is closely associated to website that I know is blocked in most schools. You may wish to investigate it for home use, particularly if you have already opened a MySpace account.
• Red Karaoke – the interface of this online application was “clunky” at best despite the fact that the site claims to be “the largest singing social network.” Users are encouraged to upload/submit their video or audio so other users can vote and comment. Foreign language teachers might enjoy the fact that there are several foreign language options/songs available at this site.
• Karaoke Channel Online – I liked many of the features included on this site (particularly the background options), however the free account limits you to 250 songs and registration is required.
• You can also find a number of Karaoke videos if you search for the term karaoke on YouTube.

As I finish this posting, I can attest to the fact that singing these karaoke favorites can lift your spirits! Pull up a song and sing along! Just make sure your significant other isn’t listening in. I looked up halfway through reviewing these applications to see my husband peering in my office door, laughing silently with tears rolling down his face as I sang Memory at the top of my voice. He’s still guffawing in the other room much to my chagrin.

Today I thought it would be fun to mix it up a little with some great online synthesizers and applications that provide diverse opportunities to experiment with music and sound. The links vary from very simple to complex. I hope you find a link or two that will start your week off on a good note!

1. Hobnox Audiotool is a flash-based online entertainment/media creation and publishing platform. The site offers tools that allow you to create, record, and publish your own media content, all online and free. “Live recording of your tracks is finally possible. Choose your set-up, add, remove and arrange the devices you need and record your track to the myFiles section of your Hobnox account. From there, publish and share. The first step towards timeline & sequencer, saving arrangments & remixing tracks is done!” This app was the most complicated and fascinating tool I explored while researching tools for this post. It was also a tool I recommend for secondary students and those students who are most interested in mixing music and sounds. It is currently one of the few tools I discovered that allows users to record and post their music tracks.




2. Life in school can be stressful. Use the Sound Sleeping/Relaxation Mixer to bring that stress down a notch. “The free relaxing music and nature sounds on this website have been carefully chosen for their ability to aid sleep, reduce stress, and provide a relaxing atmosphere for activities such as yoga, tai-chi, and meditation.”




3. Use the Super Mario Brothers sound effects synthesizer to mix and play various sound clips from Mario. To start pick music from the column on the left; then, play sound effects from the window on the right. Students will no doubt enjoy this synthesizer; however, for the sake of teacher sanity, headsets highly recommended!




4. The WD-1 DJ-Trainer [Musical Keyboard] by World Drie Productions is an online musical keyboard with 10 professional soundbanks. Use this online tool to create club, dance music, trance, reggae or even jazzdance and samba. As you work with the tool you will also learn about timing, “building” a song and creating a dance track.




5. Pianographique is a multimedia instrument where each letter on the keyboard sets off a sound and an animation. You must have Flash loaded on your computer to experience this visual/auditory wonder. Select your language, choose a sound system or continuum. After the loading has taken place move your mouse around and type on the keyboard to view pictures and listen to sounds mix together. IThe combinations are endless and fascinating!




6. The Infinite Wheel Dub City Rockers series features colorful images that young students will enjoy clicking on to hear different musical sounds. There are several versions of these tools available as you choose various options at the bottom of the screen. Generally speaking, you can choose a loop of music and then click on various objects to add “punches” of sound.




7. OneStudio Sequencer by BBC SHOCKWAVE is a simple 4 track sequencer. There are 5 samples categories to choose from: Bass, Drums, FX, Short Synths, and Melody and you can use the samples as many times as you like. Pan and volume controls are available for each track. There’s also a simple mixer available that allows you to mix and tweak loops in different styles, dance, drum’n'bass, garage, and indie. This is a much simpler sequencer than the hobnox synthesizer I shared at the beginning of this post.




8. Buttonbeats, is a site that features interactive instruments and resources that can be saved as widgets to included on your blog, webpage, or socialnetwork site (think Facebook, for example). If you go to the site you can use your keyboard to play various songs. This site would be a nice way to practice keyboarding skills (as long as students had headphones). I have posted one of my favorite widgets below:
   
   ButtonBeats.com




9. OK, so this is not a synthesizer, but it it too cool not to include in this post. The Online Metronome by emusicinstitute.com is ideal for quick and easy use while practicing music. This music tool helps with your rhythm as well as tempo selections. Music teachers…you will definitely want to share this resource with your students.




10. I am going to end today with a fascinating collaboration tool for musicians. “Bojam is an online music collaboration service that brings professional and serious amateur musicians from all over the world together to record and mix original music, and discover new music with each other.” I think it holds tremendous possibilities as students could use this online site to jam with musicians…peers, amateurs, or professionals…from around the world. I have posted a Techcrunch 50 video that describes the service below…
    Bojam TechCunch50 Launch

To explore additional electronic music tools visit the databaseaudio site, a (slightly out of date) directory of the free software available for electronic musicians and sound/audio artists. Go forth, make beautiful music, and enjoy!