Deezer drops heavy hint that music streaming price hikes could be a recurring phenomenonJeronimo Folgueira tells analysts that his company now has the 'opportunity to review pricing again in the near future'
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Kakao and K-Pop giant SM Entertainment are ramping up their US presence. What will that mean for HYBE?Korea's biggest music companies are increasing their presence in the United States – and they're hungry to grow market share
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ViatorDSP Introduces Rust Lo-Fi Effect For Pay What You Want
ViatorDSP releases Rust, a free (pay what you want) lo-fi plugin for Windows and macOS. You would think that in this modern era, we’d have less propensity toward the grunge and grit of the analog era. However, there’s some charm in songs that sound just a bit off, at least going by the millions of [...]
View post: ViatorDSP Introduces Rust Lo-Fi Effect For Pay What You Want

Meta’s AudioCraft AI music tool could cut multiple revenue streams for musiciansMeta has launched AdudioCraft, a free generative AI text-to-audio and music tool, and announced that it is open-sourcing it for research purposes “to help advance the field of AI-generated audio.”. Continue reading
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Techivation introduce M-De-Esser plug-in Techivation's latest offering takes an innovative approach to de-essing, employing a spectral shaping algorithm to tackle sibilance and harshness in vocal recordings.

Free Webinars on A2IM’s Health Insurance for Musicians this weekHealth insurance for musicians will be the subject of two free webinars this Wednesday hosted by The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). The indie trade group recently added the. Continue reading
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The life cycle of a Sync placementLearn more about the process of getting music into TV. film and games. A quick but thorough guide that goes from pitching to placement to payment. by Jon Mizrachi of. Continue reading
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Layer Engine is a Free Granular Engine Plugin for Windows and Linux
Independent audio developer Eoin O’Dowd has just released a free/donationware plugin called Layer Engine, and it’s available for Windows 10/11 and Linux. It’s still in development, so the developer suggests following his Gumroad page to be aware of future updates. Anyway, Layer Engine already looks and sounds like a very powerful instrument! It features two [...]
View post: Layer Engine is a Free Granular Engine Plugin for Windows and Linux

Dutch DJ breaks Guinness World Record with 11-hour setDutch DJ Reinier Zonneveld has broken a Guinness World Record after playing a set that lasted 11 hours and 11 minutes.

READ MORE: Major investor of Native Instruments and iZotope bids to acquire AVID

Zonneveld took to the stage at the Karren Maar Festival at the Stadsblokken in the city of Arnhem on Saturday (5 August). A Guinness World Record representative was there to certify the feat.
Zonneveld’s team told EDM.com that the DJ began just after midday, and ended precisely at midnight, totalling his DJ set to over eleven hours.
“Karren Maar festival was an extraordinary journey of sound and connection. Playing for 11 hours and 11 minutes allowed me to deep dive into the essence of my music, exploring uncharted territories of emotion and energy,” explained Zonneveld of his reasons for attempting the challenge.
“It was a humbling experience to witness the support and energy from the crowd, creating a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. I am grateful for the opportunity to have shared this unforgettable experience with everyone present, as we pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of electronic music.”
Zonneveld often posts videos from his sets on his Youtube channel, so there’s a fair chance that a video of the full 11 hour set might be coming our way soon.
Other DJ Guinness World Record holders include Nosher Ali Khan, DJ Ghasuray, and Saad Ata Barcha, who in 2021 played the highest altitude DJ set at almost six Kilometers high, and DJ Archie, who holds the title of the youngest DJ ever, at just four years old.

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Roland to open three-storey retail space in Tokyo, Japan later this yearRoland is set to open its first retail space in Japan later this year, which will host three floors each focusing on a series of instruments. It comes after the brand opened its first ever retail store in London last year to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

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Situated in Tokyo, the new space will open its doors 1 October 2023. Just as in the London store, this new space will also run an appointment-based structure, which allows customers to book appointments in advance for personalised one-on-one instruction and testing with Roland product specialists, in what it calls “Demo-on-Demand”.
Credit: Roland
“Audience Specific Experience” or ASX retail technology will also feature in the space. This is Roland’s proprietary technology which enables customers to customise stage lighting, audio, and video whilst in-store.
On the first floor, synthesisers, digital wind instruments, Roland Cloud and DJ-related products will be showcased, as well as accessories, apparel and more. The second floor is set to offer a more relaxed atmosphere, with an assortment of the brand’s best-selling pianos, whilst the basement floor will host a range of Roland V-Drums kits and BOSS products.
Credit: Roland
“I am very pleased to announce the opening of the Roland Store Tokyo. Roland was born in Japan, and for more than 50 years we have had a succession of groundbreaking products that have revolutionised the music scene, attracting musicians and music lovers from around the world,” says Gordon Raison, CEO and representative director of Roland Corporation.
“The purpose of opening Roland Store Tokyo is to give the visitors a genuine experience of connecting with our products and culture in an intimate environment. By opening our store in Harajuku, a centre of music, fashion, art, and fun subcultures, we hope to deliver our vision to as many music lovers as possible, further promoting creativity across our customers.”
The Tokyo and London stores are part of a wider plan to expand Roland’s global reach. No other news of any further retail stores has yet been announced.
Learn more at Roland.
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Major investor of Native Instruments and iZotope bids to acquire AVIDUS firm Francisco Partners, a major investor of Native Instruments and iZotope, is among private equity firms competing to acquire AVID, otherwise known as Avid Technology Inc.

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Earlier this year, Francisco Partners backed up the new partnership with iZotope and Native Instruments, which saw the two manufacturers team up to “shape the future of music making and audio production”.
Another company that is currently bidding for acquisition of AVID is Symphony Technology Group, a private-equity firm focused on technology investments. Earlier in the year, STG made a deal to take Momentive Global Inc, the parent company of SurveyMonkey.
AVID provides valuable software for the music industry, owning both digital audio workstation Pro Tools and music notation software Sibelius. Its products are widely considered to be industry standard, with Pro Tools likely the most used digital audio workstation in the world.
Sibelius is also one of the most commonly used scoring softwares in the composition world, and counts the likes of Hans Zimmer among its users.
Therefore, the potential purchase is a monumental move, especially considering that AVID has a current value of $1.2 billion.
According to Reuters, AVID started exploring options, including the sale of the company with the help of investment bank Goldman Sachs, earlier this year. Anonymous sources have since told Reuters that a deal could be signed as early as this month.
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Resonance-Sound Latin Trap & Reggaeton Vol.1 for Serum The inimitable vibes of Latin Trap and Reggaeton are an essential part of today's radio. Especially in the summertime the success of the genre blossoms again. Since it is difficult to find... Read More

EastWest ComposerCloud+ discount offer Until 10 August 2023, new subscribers signing up for ComposerCloud+ are able to gain access to EastWest's extensive product range for just $149 for the year.

Universal Audio’s UAFX Max compression pedal is overkill for guitarists, but fun for the studioAs part of the latest releases in its UAFX line-up, Universal Audio has launched the Max Preamp and Dual Compressor. This pedal has two separate channels of compression, each with three different flavours of compression to choose from. And just for good measure, UA has thrown in an emulation of one of its own preamps for a touch of drive and colouration.

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The format of Max is consistent with other UAFX pedals, featuring two footswitches, six rotary knobs and three small selection switches. The back panel features stereo in/out sockets, a 9v power jack, a USB-C socket for firmware updates, plus a tiny button for pairing the pedal with its app via Bluetooth. As with other models in this line-up, the Max pedal is relatively big and heavy, so should stand up well to abuse on stage.

Sounds
Compression in a guitar pedal is an interesting concept. Because a clean guitar has a significant transient and can be tamed by compressor, it is frequently used by funk guitarists and country players to smooth out their volume. However, a distorted guitar is already inherently compressed due to the way overdrive occurs, so compressors are less important as part of the signal chain for a rockier sound. However, in a production context, anything that doesn’t naturally distort is likely to need some compression. We begin with drums and load up a relatively dynamic loop with lots of toms to hear the impact of the compressors.
We route our DAW’s audio to the pedal, and notice immediately how hot the signal is coming in above the Max’s threshold. The colour-changing LEDs on each channel are extremely helpful when setting the threshold. Although it only has three colours (green: on, yellow: gentle compression, red: heavy compression), when combined with our ears, it makes setting the input gain relatively easy. This gain structure means we have to use the output knob around 3 o’clock to get the signal back up to unity.
Universal Audio’s UAFX Max compression pedal. Image: Universal Audio
The 1176 emulation should sound excellent given UA’s history with the unit (its founder Bill Putnam Snr designed it). Happily, it compresses well and responds as expected, catching the early transients and controlling the fast dynamics, but it doesn’t have quite the warmth that we get from our analogue units.
The second emulation has a warm valve tone that one expects from the Teletronix LA-2A original. But when we stack the compressors, the sound really comes to life. An 1176 into an LA-2A is one of our favourite signal chains because of the way one smooths out the transient and the other the tail of the audio, respectively.
The ability to do this in a single unit is extremely useful. The LEDs again help identify the threshold point of the second compressor in the chain whilst our ears do the rest. The ability to have everything laid out physically in one unit and jump between them is a really efficient way to work.
By default, the pedal has its compressors running in series, but the UAFX smartphone app allows access to additional controls that affect the operation of the pedal including the option to run the channels in parallel, or to flick between two settings. There are also some other controls in here including the EQ response of the preamp, but these are all set-and-forget controls.
Universal Audio’s UAFX Max compression pedal and app. Image: Universal Audio
The MXR Dyna Comp emulation adds a lot of sustain but really emphasises the transients of the sound, so needs something after the signal to control these – given its history as a guitar effect, this would normally be a guitar amp. It sounds horrible on drums and vocals but creates a distinct, squashed clean sound when applied to a guitar.
The preamp section, based on the UA 610, adds some welcome distortion, but doesn’t quite flatter the drums. When applied to some vocals and guitar though, it adds pleasing harmonic overdrive and a bit of grit to the sound prior to the compression stage.
Max is an interesting concept as a guitar pedal. For most guitarists, it’s complete overkill. However, as a studio tool, it’s much more useful.
The ability to have hands-on control of compression settings is a productive way to work, but the UA plugin emulations of the studio limiters are just as good. If we’re using hardware, we’d prefer to have genuine analogue units to truly embrace their inherent flaws and characteristics.
Key features

2 independent channels of compression
3 different styles of compression
Tube mic preamp emulation
Can be run in series or parallel
LED compression level indication
Full stereo operation

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