Technology

We’d all love to be vinyl aficionados and Walkman fanatics but, for better or for worse, the most popular way people consume music is on streaming platforms. But which ones are the best? The leading streaming platform in 2024, with over 350 million users and 150 million subscribers and counting, is Spotify. And while Spotify does, of course, have brilliant features — a vast, evolving library of music and podcasts, accurate music suggestion tools, Spotify Wrapped and even an AI DJ — its average

When it comes to choosing your beat-making hardware, is it best to pick something tried and tested like the Roland TR-808 or 909, or opt for something a little more obscure in pursuit of new drum sounds? British DJ, producer and podcast host Will Clarke thinks it’s wiser to choose the latter, as he explains in the first episode of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio Season 7. READ MORE: 19,000 sq ft music education campus opens in Shoreditch, with 13 studios, Dolby Atmos mixing facilities and a ded

In recent years, cuts to arts funding have taken their toll on music education, but it’s not all bad news. London’s pointblank Music School has just opened a new 19,000 square-foot Shoreditch campus, hosting 13 studios catering to DJing, production and engineering. Studios include two immersive Dolby Atmos facilities fitted with Solid State Logic Duality Delta and Origin consoles, Adam Audio S Series monitors, and Avid Pro Tools HD, offering students the “most advanced spatial audio experience

As a producer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, and co-founder of Brooklyn’s revered Razor-N-Tape label, JKriv has helped shape the sound of underground house and disco for over two decades. A trained jazz musician addicted to crate-digging and a deep admiration for texture, the artist is constantly chasing and creating sounds for dancefloors full of fellow groove obsessives — and can count Disclosure and Gilles Peterson among his fans. But his latest project, Intuition, hits a little deeper. Complet

Ad feature with Splice Tobi Lou has me hanging onto his every word during our interview. It’s 10 am in Los Angeles, where the vocalist and producer lives, and he’s passionate but calm as he reveals the universe’s deepest artistic secrets as vivid metaphors, casually sipping coffee between bursts of wisdom. The Lagos-born, Chicago-raised artist, athlete and anime lover has been producing music in his bedroom for over two decades. Sure, he’s found himself working in lavish studios with revered l

After a century as the life and soul of the party, the inventor of karaoke, Shigeichi Negishi, has died at the age of 100. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal‘s Matt Alt, Negishi’s daughter, Atsumi Takano, reveals that her father suffered a fall on 26 January. He died of natural causes shortly after. Negishi invented the first-ever karaoke machine in 1967. According to the Wall Street Journal, his original invention started as somewhat of a joke; Negishi loved to sing, so when a colleague joke

Black Salt Audio's simple de-esser promises to offer enough power to tackle sibilance without negatively affecting the overall frequency balance of the vocal. View the full article

I know what you were thinking when you read the title. “I have plenty of EQ plugins already. Why do I need another one?” I think all of us feel the same way, but if a plugin does something faster (especially) or better than what you have already, then it’s worth checking out. And that’s […] The post New Music Gear Monday: United Plugins FireEQ Plugin appeared first on Bobby Owsinski's Music Production Blog. View the full article

March is a month of growth and transformation. If you’re looking to refresh your sound and perhaps transform your production setup, our pick of March’s best freeware could spice things up. READ MORE: All the best free loops, music sample packs, breaks, one-shots and synth sounds This month’s roundup includes a fiery ‘bass enhancer’, a channel strip, an analogue colouration plugin, a cool-looking instrument called Sur, and a compression plugin created by Phil Speiser. We’ve picked these plugi

The latest ALM/Busy Circuits module delivers a pair of oscillators that aim to bring the sound of Casio’s CZ-series synthesizers into the modular world. View the full article

The library features 400 expressive MPE presets for Kilohearts' Phase Plant plugin.… Read More Phase Plant Expressive Suite Features 400 MPE Presets For Osmose & Other MPE ControllersView the full article

While the arrangement gives a nod to Tangerine Dream's Steve Reich-inspired soundtrack for the film Risky Business, listeners may also hear echoes of the '70s Philip Glass piece, North Star.… Read More Live Synth Jam, ‘Cloud9’, Inspired By ’80s Tangerine DreamView the full article

This was the home of the company during its modern creative peak, where it introduced instruments like the Mother-32, Subharmonicon, DFAM, Grandmother, Matriarch, Animoog, the Claravox Centennial Theremin, their modular reissues and more.… Read More Moog Music Moving Out Of Its Iconic Asheville BuildingView the full article

FAC Punchlab is an all-in-one processing solution that comes loaded with nine modules and boasts a user-friendly GUI with comprehensive metering and feedback. View the full article

The new synth builds on PM’s Taiga synth module, adding full-sized keys, additional modulation, a unique modular expansion bay, and more.… Read More Pittsburgh Modular TAIGA Keyboard ReviewView the full article

ALM/Busy Circuits has introduced the CIZZLE, a dual digital 'phase distortion' VCO, inspired by classic Casio CZ series synthesizers.… Read More New CIZZLE VCO Brings Classic Casio CZ Sound To EurorackView the full article

AlphaTheta and Rupert Neve Designs both seem certain that the Euphonia rotary mixer is the nicest-sounding DJ mixer on the market right now. It does sound incredible — you’d hope as much for $3,800 — thanks to a combination of analogue and digital circuitry, custom-made transformers from Rupert Neve Designs and high-end components by AlphaTheta. The Euphonia’s striking design is immediately inviting, flaunts some seriously intriguing features and is the brand’s move into a “new generation” of r

An unlikely duo convinced Hans Zimmer to go on tour: Johnny Marr and Pharrell Williams. Per Associated Press, he describes the pair as “absolutely forcing” him to head out on tour in North America. He quotes them as saying, “‘You have to look your audience in the eye, you can’t hide behind the screen forever. You owe it to your audience.’” READ MORE: Justice: “We heard Sicko Mode by Travis Scott and said, ‘Wow, we’re still thinking about music in an ancient way’” He calls the US “incredibly

In a new video, beatmaking legend Trevor Lawrence Jr. dives into his relationship with longtime collaborator Dr. Dre as well as the latter’s “drum machine mentality” towards acoustic kits. READ MORE: Justice: “We heard Sicko Mode by Travis Scott and said, ‘Wow, we’re still thinking about music in an ancient way’” Speaking with Lauten Audio about his creative history with Dre, Lawrence says: [via MusicRadar]: “I met Dre in ‘93, right when he was gonna leave Death Row. He was gonna do an all-b

In music production, plugins are software add-ons that expand the capabilities of your DAW; these could be virtual instruments and creative effects, EQ and compressors, or tools that make editing a lot more manageable. READ MORE: NAMM 2024 recap: All the biggest synth, studio, DJ and software releases Below is a rolling list of the new plugin releases that catch our eye, so you can keep on top of any software goodies you may have missed that could be essential to your production process. We

If there’s someone who knows his stuff, it’s Rick Beato. The YouTuber often has interesting things to say, and this time he’s talking about AI. READ MORE: “It’s like we’ve invented fire and the first thing we’ve thought to do with it is to burn down our house”: Lex Dromgoole thinks we shouldn’t jump to the worst conclusions with AI In November 2023, Beato testified at a Senate hearing about the technology, and almost four months later is speaking on it again, this time in an interview with N

As the 2024 festival season approaches, the UK is witnessing a concerning trend: 21 festivals have either been cancelled, postponed, or scrapped – with many more in danger of disappearing without immediate action. The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), which conducted the research, said that “The timing of this milestone suggests that the number of festival cancellations this year will far outstrip 2023, when a total of 36 festivals were cancelled before they were due to take place.”

Techno in Berlin has officially been added to the UNESCO cultural heritage list. For years, DJs, festival organisers and fans have campaigned to secure the status of the city’s techno scene amidst fears that the culture wouldn’t survive without it. READ MORE: Tidal introduces Circles, a social network for musicians to discuss their experiences in the industry Clubcommission – a network of Berlin’s techno clubs and musicians – praised the move as “another milestone for Berlin techno producer

Now in their 16th year, the MPG Awards celebrate the best talent working behind the scenes in the British music industry. View the full article

$179 (Launch sale price of $129 at time of writing), kalidemusic.com Music production can be described as harnessing technology in the pursuit of art. But, as Kalide puts it, “creativity is not a one-size-fits-all” — in other words, there are those who lean towards the technical, and others who are all about the musical art. It’s the latter group who are the particular target audience for the newly updated and overhauled Collage, Kalide’s unique take on a multi-effects plugin. READ MORE: Newf