Nordic Audio Labs introduce the NU-24K Nordic Audio Labs have recently announced the launch of a new capacitor mic that employs their own original D100K capsule and proprietary FloFET technology. 

Music Business News Last Week: Live Nation, NIVA, Tickets, MoreHere’s a roundup of the key music business news last week with highlights including Live Nation, the NIVA Conference, Quebec's battle with Spotify and more.
The post Music Business News Last Week: Live Nation, NIVA, Tickets, More appeared first on Hypebot.

Indie Musician News Last Week: Marketing, Merch & MoreThis week, our tips, advice and indie musician news covered some unique merch ideas, music PR, a guide to A/B testing, and more...
The post Indie Musician News Last Week: Marketing, Merch & More appeared first on Hypebot.

SlapAsSound VoXoV vol.13 – Free Vocal VSTVoXoV vol.13 is here, and this time, it's Elk behind the mixing desk. Majestic, calm, and quietly powerful, Elk brings a deep, resonant vibe to this volume, ready to charge straight into your creative process. What's Inside: 20 expressive presets. 980 unique vocal samples. VoXoV vol.13 is available for one week only. Grab it here: https://www.slapassound.com/voxov-free Read More

New Music Critique: Bobby Bognar's HandsomeContact: bobbybognar@gmail.comWeb: PandoraSeeking: Film & TV PlacementStyle: RockBobby Bognar’s Handsome delivers a familiar brand of rock that rarely strays from the genre’s well-worn paths. “Every singer tells a story, all are more melodic than mine,” he admits on “Get Out!”—a line that proves unintentionally self-aware. The vocals lack distinction, and while the lyrics occasionally hint at poetic depth, they fall short of resonance. The guitar work is serviceable but uninspired, and production choices do little to elevate the material. Despite its sincerity and flashes of introspection, the tracks struggle to leave a lasting impression.The post New Music Critique: Bobby Bognar's Handsome first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

FTX starts $5B payouts — Here’s what you need to knowThe payouts to FTX creditors have sparked both controversy and speculation that the payouts could be reinvested back in the crypto markets.

Yep, X was down againPeople reported that photos weren't loading, its banking service XMoney wasn't working, and search wasn't returning any results, among other things.

Tidy LED Matrix Displays GIFs On DemandWhen it comes to LED matrixes, building one is just the first step. Then you have to decide what to display on it. [panjanek] came up with a relatively flexible answer to this question, building an RGB LED matrix that can display the GIFs of your choice.
The web interface accepts GIFs for display.
[panjanek] grabbed WS2812B addressable LEDs for this project, assembling them into a 32 x 32 matrix that fits perfectly inside an off-the-shelf Ikea picture frame. The matrix is hooked up to an ESP8266 microcontroller, which acts as the brains of the operation. The WiFi-enabled microcontroller hosts its own web interface, with which the project can be controlled. Upon opening the page, it’s possible to upload a GIF file that will be displayed as an animation on the matrix itself. It’s also possible to stream UDP packets of bitmap data to the device to send real-time animations over a network.
It’s a neat build, and one that answers any questions of what you might display on your LED matrix when you’re finished assembling it. Code is on Github if you fancy implementing the GIF features in your own work. We’ve featured some unexpected LED matrix builds of late, like this innovative device for the M.2 slot. Meanwhile, if you’re cooking up your own creative LED builds, don’t hesitate to let us know on the tipsline!

From Taylor Swift’s masters victory to HYBE’s eventful week… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days
Source

Samples From Mars 808 Loops From MarsUnbeatable Grooves From the Iconic Drum Machine 808 Loops From Mars is an extensive collection of multi-tracked beats from the classic drum machine that has continued to shape electronic music over the past 40+ years. These loops will give you a more authentic representation of the raw, hypnotic energy of this timeless machine than any one-hit sample pack can. From clean and polite to saturated, distorted and harmonized beyond recognition, 808 Loops From Mars is the perfect way to inject the undeniable groove and analog power of this legendary machine into your next creation. https://soundcloud.com/samplesfrommars/808-loops-from-mars-funky-demo Overview With 725 loops ranging from full beats to tops and individual loops from every drum voice, this pack is ideal for creating 808 tracks from scratch or bringing raw grooves into your existing projects. Ranging from 120 - 128 bpm, the grooves are focused around dance music - namely house, techno and electro. From thunderous kicks to overdriven toms and clipped snares, to sizzling hi-hats and blown-out percussion, this pack is designed to fuel peak-time club moments and warehouse sets. Many of the loops are wild and unpredictable - pushed to the edge of coherence - while others stay stripped, minimal, and funky, ready to lock in a hypnotic groove. Because you get access to so many individual drum loops, it's important to note just how easy it is to bend the genre and beat to your liking. You can, for instance, take a top and add a completely different bass drum loop underneath it. The Best Way to Sound Like You Own an 808 While one-hit packs like the 808 From Mars will give you more compositional flexibility, this loop pack will provide a much more realistic sound. Because the 808 is analog, every consecutive drum hit sounds slightly differently than the previous - making the beats sound much more "alive" than repeating the same one-shot. Even the accent levels and drum volumes on the 808 affect each sound, and any analog processing that is applied to these sounds are also greatly affected by these slight tonal shifts. Because we've captured loops up to 16 bars in length, you can really hear all of this. Even though we own an 808, it's been super fun and inspiring to open up an Ableton session with so many individual loops, different grooves and processing that has been created over the course of months. It's really quick, easy and fun to get new tracks going without having to program one-hits from scratch. Uniquely Processed While there are certainly a handful of super clean loops, it's the processing that really makes this pack shine. Since the 808 is so recognizable, we saw it as a unique challenge to bring something new to the table here. How could we obscure this classic machine into something more refreshing and modern? First, we used two great (and very different sounding) consoles - the Zahl AM1 and our trusty API 1608. Here, we tweaked input gain for some tasty analog console saturation, and then patched up Distressors, DBX 165, ADR Compex, Eventide H3000, Space, and Orville, Overstayer NT-02A Saturator and Modular Channel, Space Echo, Moogerfoogers, tube preamps and more! This gave us a huge variety of processing styles that helped the 808 really stand out in a crowd. Check out this loop where we used the Moog Freq Box to create this almost impossible loop from an 808: https://soundcloud.com/samplesfrommars/808-loops-from-mars-shifty The Takeaway This is the 808 unleashed and ready to throw down. Whether you find yourself reaching for the cleaner, funkier grooves, or the heavily processed bangers, these 808s will give your music weight, grit, and analog attitude for days. And because they are multi-tracked, there is a lot of flexibility to tweak, edit and groove to your heart's desire. What You Get: (725) Total 808 loops at 24-bit 44.1k kHz. Clean and processed loops ranging from 120 to 128 bpm. Short and long-form (up to 16 bars) capture the feel of the 808. (100) Full Beats ranging from clean and classic to futuristic and mangled. Tops and individual loops from every drum voice allow for easy beat creation / manipulation. Sounds range from: smooth and smashed bass drum loops, crispy hi hat cymbal and maraca loops, various snare and clap tops, tom combos, cowbells, claves and more. In the style of techno and house but ready for genre manipulation. Recorded though Radial J-DIs, API 1608 & Zahl AM1 consoles, Apogee Symphony MKII, and processed with an Overstayer NT-02A, Summit TPA 200B, Empirical Labs Distressor, Eventide H3000, Eventide Orville, Eventide Space, ADR Compex, Space Echo and a variety of effects pedals. 100% Hardware processing. 1.69 GB Unzipped. About Formatting: Ableton includes (725) original loops as audio clips. Read More

Emergence Audio update Infinite Collection Emergence Audio's free Infinite Collection has just been treated to a significant update that introduces yet more content and a wider selection of presets. 

Bakermat: “I love keeping imperfections in a track — it’s nice for people to hear that the music is made by another human”To most electronic music fans, Dutch producer Lodewijk Fluttert AKA Bakermat needs no introduction. His 2012 EP, Vandaag, sky-rocketed to the top of the charts across Europe and eventually went Platinum, consisting of an integrated sample of the I Have a Dream speech by Martin Luther King Jr. As for his 2020 single, Bainia, it currently holds a staggering half a billion streams on Spotify.

READ MORE: “You don’t always need to mix a song — hear me out…”: Grace Davies on DIY production, breaking studio rules, and trusting your ears

Combining his love of gospel, jazz, house and pop, Fluttert often collaborates with adept instrumentalists to bring an organic touch to electronic music and elevate his DJ sets. In 2014 he introduced the Bakermat live band, which included saxophonists and guitarists, and toured across Europe in partnership with Live Nation. He then went on to launch the Bakermat’s Circus in 2015, a live event which took Bakermat and artists from the likes of Robin Schulz to Don Diablo all over the world.
In this Studio Files interview, MusicTech sits down with this DJ juggernaut to discuss everything from his latest studio set up in the Holland countryside, to the plugins that were essential to the making of his new album, Grace Note.
Image: Press
Congratulations on the releaseGrace Note! It celebrates the two genres close to your heart, house and gospel – how do you feel like the two genres compliment each other as a producer?
Both are about achieving euphoria through music. It’s a lot of major chords, pianos, strings, choirs and it’s all about build ups. So there’s lots to play with as a producer to try to achieve this feeling. I guess house music is almost the electronic equivalent of gospel in a way.
How did going viral with the song Baiana make you shift your approach to releases? Did you find yourself wanting to follow the same formula?
Definitely not. I think the good thing about ‘going viral’ is that you can never really control it or prepare for it. It just happens to stuff. All you can do is make the best music you possibly can and if you’re lucky someone will pick it up and put it in a video that will speak to more people. If that doesn’t happen, it’s not a disaster because you still made music to the best of your ability, and you can be proud of that.
Tell us a bit about your studio.
I’ve just moved my studio from the centre of Amsterdam to the countryside. I noticed that I was getting distracted quickly in an urban environment with a lot of noise and people walking in and out. When I work on music, I need to be able to focus completely on that and get into ‘my zone’. Now that I have a studio in the middle of a field I can really get there and my productivity is way higher. I use it mainly to come up with new ideas, sounds, loops and projects that can spark something in a later stage when I start writing and producing full songs.
Serum 2. Image: Press
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
I’m all about virtual gear, so I barely have any outboard equipment. My latest buy is KClip because I discovered the advantages of clipping before limiting. Right now, I’m also really into Omnisphere, a synthesizer that I’ve owned for ages but never really did a deep dive into. The possibilities are endless with this thing. You can basically do anything with it, so I’m currently obsessed.
What’s the best free plugin you own?
I just upgraded Serum to Serum 2 for free and I’m very happy with it. The new presets are amazing and the possibilities are also pretty huge just like Omnisphere. I think this synth really comes close to Omnisphere with this new upgrade. I also like the stock plugins that you get for free when you buy Ableton. I use them for like 90% of the jobs.
What’s been the biggest investment in your career/studio?
My MacBook for sure. As it is the main hub now that drives everything, it’s worth going for the absolute best and latest one. I also don’t like working with external drives so I ordered the Pro with an 8TB internal hard drive. Not worrying about space and power is a luxury when making music and it won’t hold you back from using very awesome but extensive libraries like the spitfire ones. It’s worth every penny, and I think modern producers should never hold back on buying the most advanced and spacious computers to do their thing.
I also have a fiberglass internet connection in my studio, even though it’s in a field. It’s a big investment but internet speed is a really big thing that you should never have to worry about when you’re in the zone.
Image: Press
Sampling tracks has become a big part of your work – is there a process in choosing which songs you’d like to emulate? Where do you source many of these tracks?
I have massive Spotify playlists that I play on shuffle. They are filled with old catalogues from legendary labels. It’s a mix of all world music, old soul and funk, gospel recordings and acapellas. I’m always searching for new samples. It’s like an automatic thing for me. Also YouTube is a great source of unreleased stuff — and Discogs.
You’ve said that your music isn’t something built by machines. As a producer how have you struck the balance of the record coming from an organic, human-made place, but still using the technology needed to produce an album?
Making music on a computer doesn’t mean it has to sound like it was made on a computer. I love keeping imperfections in or even adding them on purpose. In the end music is communication from human to human. So it’s nice for someone to hear that the music is made by another human, and humans are imperfect, not like computers.
Image: Press
How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next two years?
I would love to work more out of the box (my laptop) and record more instruments with microphones; just to get that natural sound and imperfection in there a bit more. I always work hard to make my laptop-made stuff sound human but it could save me a lot of work if I just recorded a human, [laughs].
I’d love to sample more from vinyl, also. I feel like there’s a massive collection of unused samples still in the vinyl world. You just gotta find some, order them on Discogs and sample them from the player into your laptop. With everyone using Splice right now and sounding the same, this could be a huge winner.
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
I’d like to one day have an entire orchestra play parts that I can use it in my music. Obviously it’s a very big investment because a lot of people are needed to achieve something like that. Also a big choir would be really cool to work with, and a studio and engineers that know how to deal with recording such a thing. Apart from that, I have everything that makes me happy in my studio right now.

What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
Just in general that there are certain ‘ways’ and ‘rules’ in making music. If I see a video with the title “This is not how to use a compressor” I’m like: ‘Who are you to decide?’. I can use the compressor however I like if it creates an outcome that I like the sound of. There are no rules in music.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
My mother. I always show her my new music and her biggest lesson is that your music should always be surprising and remain interesting throughout. So don’t just repeat verse, chorus, verse, chorus but try to build in a bridge, prechorus or do something surprising to keep the listener entertained and interested. I love this because it just challenges you to not make a lazy record.
Read more Studio Files interviews on MusicTech
The post Bakermat: “I love keeping imperfections in a track — it’s nice for people to hear that the music is made by another human” appeared first on MusicTech.

DamyFX releases HellsBass, a FREE bass amp simulator for Windows
Developer DamyFX has released HellsBass, a free rock/metal-inspired bass amp simulator for Windows. If you aren’t familiar with DamyFX’s work, the developer offers a handful of free VST3 plugins, including analog-inspired effects and a classic polysynth emulation. However, most of DamyFX’s work focuses on guitar-based products, such as amp simulations and profiles for platforms like [...]
View post: DamyFX releases HellsBass, a FREE bass amp simulator for Windows

Why Are Concert Tickets So Expensive? A look at the numbersWhy are concert tickets so expensive? This analysis breaks down what’s behind rising prices - from rising expenses to high demand, ticket fees and even streaming.
The post Why Are Concert Tickets So Expensive? A look at the numbers appeared first on Hypebot.

When is the right to Time to Hire a Music PR Team?Think you're ready to take your music career to the next level? Learn seven signs that reveal whether it's time to hire a PR team to amplify your reach.
The post When is the right to Time to Hire a Music PR Team? appeared first on Hypebot.