How Booking Agents NegotiateListen on your favorite podcast platform: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Acast JJ Cassiere is the co-founder of 33 & West, an independent talent agency that specializes in the representation of established and emerging musicians, comedians, and film & television entertainment professionals. Utilizing his 20+ years of experience, Cassiere oversees the diverse Music Touring Department alongside his partners, and […]

Autonomous vehicle company Motional is about to lose a key backerAutonomous vehicle company Motional is losing capital support from one of its primary backers as it aims to commercialize a robotaxi service in 2024. Automotive supplier Aptiv — the other half of a $4 billion joint venture with Hyundai that created Motional — said Wednesday it will no longer allocate capital towards the endeavor. “While […]
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We Are Moving The Needle’s First Annual Resonator Awards: Alanis Morissette, Corinne Bailey Rae, Caroline Polachek and morePowerhouse of the Year Award Award winner Catherine Marks, boygenius (Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus) 

We Are Moving The Needle, a non-profit organization that is radically reshaping the future of the recording industry by advancing gender equity for producers and engineers, held its inaugural Resonator Awards in Los Angeles last night, honoring six extraordinary women for their work in the recording studio as producers, engineers and mixers: Alanis Morissette, Corinne Bailey Rae, Caroline Polachek, Catherine Marks, Laura Sisk and Jennifer Decilveo. Resonator Impact Awards were also presented to music executives Michael Goldstone of Mom+Pop Music and Christine Thomas of Dolby Labs for their commitment to advancing gender equity across the music industry. Shirley Manson, boygenius, Jack Antonoff, Ariel Rechtshaid, FLETCHER, Autumn Rowe and We Are Moving the Needle founder/award-winning mastering engineer Emily Lazar were on hand to present the awards. 

Emily Lazar, Luminary of the Year Award winner Alanis Morissette and Shirley Manson- photo credit: Christopher Polk

Exceptional Ears Award winner Laura Sisk, Jack Antonoff - photo credit Christopher Polk

Harmonizer Award winner Corinne Bailey Rae and Emily Lazar - photo credit Rich Polk

The evening also featured stripped-down performances by Empress Of, Sasami, and a fiery cover of Morissette’s hit "Hand In My Pocket" by Remi Wolf. SiriusXM on-air personality and creator of the LSQ podcast Jenny Eliscu hosted the Resonator Awards, which were empowered by EqualizeHer. Artists, producers and music industry executives filled the audience at the Resonator Awards, including Thundercat, Bethany Cosentino, Christina Perri, Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Lisa Loeb, Shailene Woodley, and more.

The 2024 Resonator Awards

Luminary of the Year Award - Alanis Morissette presented by Shirley Manson

Powerhouse of the Year Award - Catherine Marks presented by boygenius

Catherine’s credits include: Alanis Morissette, boygenius, The Killers, Wolf Alice. 

Exceptional Ears Award - Laura Sisk presented by Jack Antonoff

Laura’s credits include: Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff. 

The Golden Trifecta Award - Caroline Polachek presented by Ariel Rechtshaid

Harmonizer Award - Corinne Bailey Rae presented by Autumn Rowe

The All-Star Award - Jennifer Decilveo presented by FLETCHER

Jennifer’s credits include: Miley Cyrus, Hozier, Andra Day, FLETCHER, Galantis. 

The Transformer Award — Michael Goldstone, Founder/Owner at Mom+Pop Music presented by Emily Lazar

The Equalizer Award — Christine Thomas and Dolby Laboratories - presented by Emily Lazar 

4 key time management strategies for musicians
Here are four time management strategies that can help you make 2024 your most productive year yet for your music.

These producers are using the Amen break as a granular synthesizer and it’s awesomeProducers are taking the Amen break – a 1969 drum break performed by The Winstons’ Gregory Sylvester Coleman that has been sampled on thousands of tracks – and turning it into a granular synthesizer, and the results are pretty cool.

READ MORE: Record labels should commit to regular publication of statistics on the diversity of their rosters to push back against “boy’s club”, says new report

The break has been sampled 6,296 times (officially, at least), according to WhoSampled, taking the top spot as the most sampled loop in music history. And it’s now taken on a new form.
If you aren’t familiar with the premise, granular synthesis is where a sound is broken down into tiny particles which are then micro-sampled, creating new textures out of pre-existing sounds.
The wave of Amen Break granular synthesis remixes was snowballed by Virtual Riot who posted this version, titled death by amen on YouTube:

Fans in the comments quickly spotted that the producer managed to construct Gourmet Race from the Super Smash Bros soundtrack using the Amen break, before dropping into Satisfaction by Benny Benassi and The Biz.
As a result, fellow producers decided to try it out for themselves. Here are some of the best ones:

British DJ Sub Focus recently shared his thoughts on the Amen break. In an episode of Tape Notes in July 2023, he broke down how he likes to process it in Ableton Live.
“The way I’ve used is slightly old school,” he explains. “I’ve chopped it up in a sampler and I change the transpose of it as the pattern goes on to give it variation. It slightly shifts up and down as the variation goes on.
“It’s mad the intimate knowledge you get of these breaks. Everyone has manipulated these tiny bits of audio hundreds of thousands of times and there’s loads of ways of interpreting this small batch of source material. If you’re a drum ‘n’ bass producer, you just become familiar with the varieties of Amen.”
The post These producers are using the Amen break as a granular synthesizer and it’s awesome appeared first on MusicTech.

Sennheiser announce HD 490 PRO headphones Sennheiser claim that this new line offers exceptional clarity, comfort, and reliability, and have been specifically crafted to meet the demands of modern music production.

TikTok accuses UMG of ‘greed above the interests of artists’ [Full Text]TikTok has responded to UMG’s announcement that it will pull all its music off the popular platform today, January 31, 2024, after the two could not reach a new licensing. Continue reading
The post TikTok accuses UMG of ‘greed above the interests of artists’ [Full Text] appeared first on Hypebot.

Universal Music to pull all music off TikTok as deal expires: Full text of letter to artists and songwritersUniversal Music Group and UMG Publishing Group say they will pull all their music off TikTok and the TokTok Music Service worldwide today after it could not negotiate a new. Continue reading
The post Universal Music to pull all music off TikTok as deal expires: Full text of letter to artists and songwriters appeared first on Hypebot.

If niche is music’s new mainstream, how do you measure success? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA]“It seems that the 1000-stream artist is both everyman’s trash and everyman’s treasure… and is being thrown under the bus to ensure the more ‘successful’ artists are compensated,” writes Hanna. Continue reading
The post If niche is music’s new mainstream, how do you measure success? [Hanna Kahlert of MIDiA] appeared first on Hypebot.

NAMM 2024: Waves’ SuperRack LiveBox lets you “mix live with any VST3 plugins”NAMM 2024: Waves has unveiled two new products, the SuperRack LiveBox and a new version of its eMotion LV1 Live Mixer.

READ MORE: NAMM 2024 recap: All the biggest synth, studio, DJ and software releases

Announced during a jam-packed NAMM Show last week, the brand – “the world’s leading developer of professional audio signal processing technologies and plugins” – didn’t hold back on showcasing new products such as its 2023-launched AI-powered Waves Online Mastering tool, several new plugins and two brand new bits of hardware
Waves SuperRack LiveBox
The first to mention is the new SuperRack Livebox. It’s a user-friendly compact solution that lets you “mix live with any VST3 plugins” from “one simple box”. The unit, which you can mount in your rack in your studio, runs VST3 plugins from any brand thanks to Dante/MADI connectivity, ensuring seamless live production setups.
For the unawares: Dante and MADI are digital audio networking technologies. Dante, by Audinate, sends audio over Ethernet networks, simplifying setup and routing. MADI (Multichannel Audio Digital Interface) transmits multiple audio channels over a single cable, commonly used in professional audio for high-quality signal transfer between consoles and recorders.
The SuperRack LiveBox, according to Waves, delivers low latency. The included Waves SuperRack Performer software provides control over VST3 plugins.
Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer
Waves also announced a new product called the Waves eMotion LV1 Live Mixer at NAMM. It’s a digital audio mixing system that offers high-quality sound mixing capabilities for live events, broadcasts, and streaming.
Originally launched in 2016, this new updated version now includes compatibility with the MixMirror app for iOS tablets, enabling remote control of the LV1 and SuperRack.
There are also new expanded gain mapping options, a new mix bus input fader mode, improved touch usability, and bug fixes.
New Waves plugins: Space Rider, Feedback Hunter & Silk Vocal
Aside from these new announcements, Waves also revealed that it will now be “shipping” (ie. launching) three new plugins – Space Rider, Feedback Hunter and Silk Vocal.
Space Rider is a multi-effect plugin combining reverb, delay, and chorus. Its unique ‘Rider’ function dynamically shapes mixes, streamlining routing and automation processes.
Waves Feedback Hunter plugin swiftly optimises live sound setups, maximising gain before feedback in just 30 seconds. It analyses mic-speaker interaction, creating an EQ curve for clear sound, and eliminating the need for speaker ringing. Easy-to-use interface suits both seasoned engineers and beginners, with customisable settings for complex environments.
Silk Vocal balances vocals with smart EQ and dynamics processing. It removes common issues like resonance, boominess, and harshness, streamlining mixing. Additional controls fine-tune processing, while Silk Vocal Live offers real-time processing with reduced latency. It’s an intuitive tool for professional vocal mixing.
Find out more about the SuperRack LiveBox, the updated eMotion LV1 Live Mixer, Space Rider, Feedback Hunter & Silk Vocal plugins via Waves.
The post NAMM 2024: Waves’ SuperRack LiveBox lets you “mix live with any VST3 plugins” appeared first on MusicTech.

Music.AI launches third-party AI modules Masterchannel and Cyanite on its platformAI-powered music solutions platform Music.AI has launched two third-party AI modules on its platform that are now available to all users: Masterchannel’s AI mastering and spatial audio mastering and Cyanite’s AI-based music tagging and search solutions.

READ MORE: NAMM 2024 recap: All the biggest synth, studio, DJ and software releases

With the introduction of the new modules, Music.AI expands its hub of best-in-class AI technologies, offering businesses an array of drag-and-drop modules from multiple suppliers in a single platform.
The result, it says, is the creation of an ecosystem on the platform for companies looking to build a foundation and quickly adopt AI into their workflows at scale needless of a in-house research and development team.
Masterchannel, for one, has been pioneering industry-first AI approaches to conventional mastering and now also spatial audio mastering. Digital streaming platforms have recently created incentives for labels to create spatial audio mixes for their platforms. Leveraging Music.AI, record labels can now easily combine Music.AI’s high-fidelity stem separation with Masterchannel’s Spatial Audio Mastering module to efficiently process and remaster extensive catalogues.
Cyanite, on the other hand, provides AI-based solutions that automatically generate comprehensive creative metadata for every song or catalogue in seconds. From genre and mood to instruments and tempo, Cyanite extracts a rich set of valuable tags directly from any audio file. Together with state-of-the-art search algorithms, this helps labels, publishers, production music libraries, DSPs, and radio and TV stations better and more efficiently organise, manage, and distribute their media catalogues.
“With a blend of creativity and expertly developed AI models, Music.AI is well-positioned to become the world’s most comprehensive and capable AI ecosystem specialising in music and audio,” says Matt Henninger, VP of Sales and Business Development. “We realise that it’s rarely a single AI technology that a partner needs to leverage, so we built an ecosystem capable of combining multiple technologies in a single place.”
The company adds that it plans to partner with specialists in the coming months to launch more AI-driven solutions that can be combined, integrated, and deployed quickly.
Learn more at Music.AI.
The post Music.AI launches third-party AI modules Masterchannel and Cyanite on its platform appeared first on MusicTech.

It’s settled: Logic Pro is the best digital audio workstation in the world, at least according to the NAMM TEC AwardsThe battle for best digital audio workstation could finally be over, as the 2024 NAMM TEC Awards has given Apple’s Logic Pro with the title of Best Workstation Technology.

READ MORE: Universal Music Group pulls entire song catalogue from TikTok after fiery open letter

The NAMM TEC Awards aims to celebrate technical achievement and design, in areas including microphones, headphones, DJ technology, monitors and DAWs.
Logic Pro didn’t just win in the best digital audio workstation category; it also achieved the top spot for top audio app for smartphones and tablets.
The software has received its fair share of upgrades in recent months, including a Mastering Assistant. This offers creators a “quick and easy way to add that final professional polish for a release-ready mix”.
As Apple explains, once a mix is complete, Mastering Assistant can instantly analyse the audio and make “expert refinements to the sound, adjusting elements such as the dynamics, frequency balance, timbre and loudness”.
Apple’s developments in spatial audio has also set the DAW apart from the rest of pack, meaning producers can now create and mix music in three-dimensional audio.
MusicTech also awarded the iPad version of the software a 9/10, calling it “the most powerful way to produce music on the platform”, thanks to its use of intuitive multi-touch gestures, and it’s 96 kHw recording capabilities.
Other TEC winners include Native Instrument’s Traktor Pro for DJ production technology, and Universal Audio’s Volt 476P for best computer audio hardware.
The latter has been praised in helping achieve “album ready sound”, including an analogue compressor based on one of the most coveted compressors/limiters of all time – UA’s iconic 1176.
See the full list of winners over at the NAMM TEC Awards.
The post It’s settled: Logic Pro is the best digital audio workstation in the world, at least according to the NAMM TEC Awards appeared first on MusicTech.

Warner Chappell Music signs Grammy-nominated R&B artist Coco Jones to exclusive publishing dealJones is up for five awards at the forthcoming 66th Annual Grammys
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Big Machine Label ups Mike Rittberg to COO, Clay Hunnicutt to EVP, Label OperationsRittberg, a veteran of Universal Music Group, joined Big Machine in 2017, while Hunnicutt, formerly of Big Loud, joined in 2019
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