NUGEN Audio Tackles Dialogue Clarity with New Plug-in, DialogCheckNUGEN Audio, a respected name in the world of professional audio tools, has just launched a new plug-in designed to solve a long-standing frustration in media production: unclear dialogue. Called DialogCheck, the software provides a precise way to assess how intelligible speech is in any audio project—be it film, television, radio, podcasting, or video games.For years, poor dialogue clarity has been a top complaint among viewers and listeners. While viewers at home crank up the volume or switch on subtitles, sound engineers are often left guessing how their mixes will translate outside the studio. NUGEN’s new plug-in is aimed at closing that gap.A statement from the company discloses that “poor speech clarity is commonly cited as a major source of television audience complaints, making dialog intelligibility increasingly important for audio professionals,” said Dr. Paul Tapper, CEO of NUGEN Audio.DialogCheck works in mono, stereo, and multichannel formats and allows users to measure intelligibility across a selected portion or the entirety of an audio track. This gives audio professionals the ability to identify problematic sections that may be difficult for end-users to understand—before the final render.A statement from the company states that "NUGEN Audio DialogCheck provides an objective measure of speech in a portion of the audio file or through an entire project.” This means the days of relying solely on trained ears and subjective impressions are numbered—now there's a tool to back up those instincts with data.Understanding dialogue is influenced by a host of factors: language, accent, enunciation, background noise, reverb, effects, and even the listener’s environment and equipment. DialogCheck takes these challenges into account, providing users with a clear view into how their audio might sound outside of the controlled studio environment. "It can be difficult for [engineers] to judge whether further changes are needed to improve clarity” due to the acoustic differences between a studio and a typical listening space.NUGEN Audio will officially present DialogCheck at the upcoming Media Production & Technology Show (MPTS) 2025 in London at the HHB stand (F40). For professionals seeking to ensure their dialogue tracks are as clear to audiences as they are in the studio, DialogCheck may prove to be an essential addition to their toolkit.The post NUGEN Audio Tackles Dialogue Clarity with New Plug-in, DialogCheck first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

From Create buying Monstercat to WMG earnings… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
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May Top Tours Top Chart powered by BandsintownThe May Top Tours Top Chart powered by Bandsintown is out. Katy Perry and Bruno Mars lead the May chart with debuts from R3HAB, DAYA and Richie Hawtin.
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Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streamingStreaming may be maturing from a revenue perspective but with two-tier (‘artist centric’) licensing and supremium, 2025 is set to be a year of transformative change in both product and business terms. While each of these initiatives were designed with clear objectives, it is not so much the immediate consequences but the second order consequences that warrant most attention. As is so often the case, it is the unintended knock-on effects of actions that will likely prove to be most impactful, for both the business and culture of music. Here is what some of these may be for two-tier licensing and supremium.

Second order consequences of two-tier licensing:

An industry underclass: It is all too easy to dismiss small, long-tail labels and artists as ‘garbage’ and ‘flotsam and jetsam’ but this risks being seen as an elitist view from the top. The long tail is a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly – just as commercially successful music is. But the demonetisation of

Flou: An Affordable AI Music LawyerTired of handshake deals turning into legal nightmares? Confusion at live shows because there was no contract? Can't afford a "real" lawyer? While not a substitute for music attorneys, Flou is an affordable AI music lawyer that helps musicians, producers, and managers create and manage music contracts.
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The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre FestStephen Schwartz and Julie Garnyé performing “The Wizard and I” at the 2025 ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Photo credit: Cheryl Mann ProductionsOn May 5-6, the ASCAP Foundation held the 2025 ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest, hosted by legendary composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis). According to a press release, "before the Fest, Schwartz told Variety that 'each night will contain nuggets of enlightenment.' Indeed, the two dazzling evenings offered a behind-the-curtain experience exploring the process and artistry of musical theatre with some of Broadway’s biggest composers.""On Monday, May 5, the Fest opened with 'Songs from the Cutting Room Floor,' a showcase for the unheard musical gems that didn’t make it into some of Broadway’s biggest shows. Schwartz, together with composers, lyricists and librettists Irene Sankoff & David Hein (Come From Away) and Karey Kirkpatrick (Something Rotten!, Mrs. Doubtfire), delivered a beautiful evening of intimate performances and stories about spectacular songs that had to be sacrificed to create a perfect musical. The evening was supported by the Gary Geld Musical Theatre Foundation." "On Tuesday, May 6, Schwartz hosted The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre & Librettist Workshop, a unique double bill of new musicals that gave audience members a sneak peek at what could be Broadway’s next smash hit. The Workshop kicked off with the creative team of Julian Hornik, Khiyon Hursey and Mark Sonnenblick, who presented selections from their musical, WEEKEND. For the second show of the evening, Roslyn Catracchia and Peter Seibert presented an excerpt of their musical Piney Needlesmith and the Road Less Traveled.""Following the performances, Schwartz hosted a collaborative and instructive discussion with each writing team and expert panelists Kevin Bannerman (Anastasia), Jay Dyer (Alfred Hitchcock Presents), Winnie Holzman (Wicked), and Karey Kirkpatrick (Something Rotten!). The second evening was supported by the Kenward Elmslie Fund."Visit ascapfoundation.org for more info.The post The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Fest first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Yamaha launches $50m fund to power music and media startupsThe fund is meant to cement Yamaha's “leadership position as an innovator in the fields of sound and music”
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Climate Change Impact on Festivals: Fan HesitationThe extreme weather and Climate Change impact on festivals an live music is real. Fan hesitation is causing some to delay buying tickets as others choose to attend few outdoor shows overall.
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Two Music Industry Grants worth applying for now!Two very different grants from music non-profits - Salt Lick Incubator and Family Alliance in Music - support musicians and music professionals.
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Rights Management is Crowded—So Why Does UniteSync Stand Out?From the Music Connection inbox -- UniteSync: How a Producer Merged Information Science and Artistic Passion to Find Songwriters and Musicians’ Unpaid RoyaltiesCarlos Palop should have been living the dream. A producer and electronic artist, Palop was seeing real traction with some of his lofi tracks. Streams were picking up--and yet the more he looked at his royalty statements, the more discrepancies and oddities he noticed.He set out to fix this. With a parallel life in library and information sciences, Palop knew the importance of organizing data. He went deep into how information was organized in the music industry, all the struggles of publishing, metadata, and rights administration. He decided to create software to automate some of the processes he found he needed as a composer and artist.What Palop built for himself, he has now brought to the world as UniteSync, a music rights administration platform that allows independent artists and small labels to collect more money faster. UniteSync can provide lightning-fast audits, procedures that once took weeks or months, finding millions in unclaimed digital royalties.Though the company is just becoming widely available to the public, UniteSync has audited nearly 1m artists and 1.2m albums--and discovered $40-100m in unclaimed US mechanicals alone. Once found, these royalties are collected by UniteSync thanks to its close relationships with 53 paying sources in 117 territories worldwide, powered by its highly efficient tech built for the industry.“Discrepancies can be big. Sometimes, songs simply don’t get registered properly, or matching systems don’t work. The whole industry talks about this. It’s hard to give really good service to this many artists but artists deserve it,” Palop reflects. “We are seeing that AI and better tech makes this possible or at least easier. We are digital from the beginning, and that’s helping us help artists.”UniteSync’s approach is straightforward, though the devil is in the details. Once a composer signs on, the platform pulls up all her tracks. After she verifies her splits for each composition, UniteSync’s algorithms can determine what has yet to be properly registered and how much money she is due for these unregistered tracks. The system uses IPI data, along with other metadata, to determine all the aliases and name versions for each composer, simplifying matters. Once royalties are found, UniteSync can collect them for a percentage fee.In addition to publishing administration, UniteSync can manage a composer or artist’s neighboring rights and sync licensing. The platform is expanding into enhanced analytics, as well as helpful aids such as AI agents that will guide artists and songwriters through this often complex and potentially confusing realm. For Palop, however, the technology is always in service to the artist and to music, the main driving force that led him to build UniteSync. As he puts it, “I always pushed the limit as a composer and as an entrepreneur. But I knew no matter what I did it always had to be connected to music.” And what better way to connect than to uncover hidden revenue and create a stable, sustainable foundation for all.Visit unitesync.com for more info.The post Rights Management is Crowded—So Why Does UniteSync Stand Out? first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission launch public inquiry into live music businessAgencies launch public inquiry under President Trump’s executive order
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G Herbo: No Spotify, just 13M direct to fan streams via MySeatIndie rapper G Herbo is bypassing streaming-first releases to bring his music directly to fans with impressive results.
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Importance Of Going Global: Rethinking Artist DevelopmentBreaking an artist isn’t just about going viral, it’s about building real fans across the globe. With fewer resources and more challenges than ever, it is essential that we begin rethinking artist development, writes Will Shanahan.
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Newfangled Audio Introduces ArticulateAudio technology innovators Eventide have announced the release of Articulate, "a new plug-in from Newfangled Audio that offers a fresh, intuitive approach to dynamics control. Articulate uses advanced envelope detection to split incoming audio into four core components: Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. With a workflow as familiar as a 4-band EQ, users can quickly shape transients, enhance tone, and fine-tune space in a mix.""Each stage of the envelope can be adjusted independently with simple faders, making it easy to add Smack, Punch, Body, or Air to any sound," they say. "Whether you're enhancing clarity, improving impact, or managing sustain, Articulate offers a fast and focused path to precise dynamic shaping. Producer and musician Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, NIN, St. Vincent) praised Articulate, saying: “I’ve found my favorite tool for designing transients and envelopes. It gives you more control, a great sonic character, and an intuitive interface. Highly recommended.” Features70+ presets with full-featured preset librarian 

Easy independent envelope shaping (Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release) 

Simple sidechain detection for ducking and dynamic separation 

Precise Separation control for natural or aggressive shaping 

Solo & mute per envelope stage 

Built-in peak limiter preserves headroom and prevents clipping 

Customizable UI with three color palettes Articulate is available for Mac and PC in VST, AU, and AAX formats from eventideaudio.com and authorized resellers worldwide. The MSRP is $69, with an introductory offer of $29 through June 6. Existing Newfangled Audio and Eventide plug-in owners are eligible for a loyalty price of $19.

The post Newfangled Audio Introduces Articulate first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Daniel Ek has now cashed out $800m+ in Spotify stock, with his latest transaction banking $28.8mEk offloaded 50,000 shares on Wednesday at $576.94 per share, according to an SEC filing
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