GC Audio announce Analog Riser GC Audio's latest hardware unit houses two channels of EQ, compression, saturation and limiting, and is capable of operating as a dual mono, stereo, or mid-side processor. 

Amazon’s devices chief is stepping down this yearDavid Limp is set to step down from his role as head of Amazon’s consumer devices division later this year. Amazon has confirmed the news with TechCrunch, following a Wall Street Journal report.
Limp has been the company’s Senior Vice President of devices and services for more than 13 years. In the role he has headed up the division that includes the Echo/Alexa, along with products like Amazon’s line of Fire tablets.
The move follows widespread reports that its massive bets on the smart home haven’t paid off the way it was clearly hoping. In November, the division was reported to be operating at a staggering $5 billion a year revenue loss. It was among those departments heavily hit by widespread layoffs. All told, Amazon has slashed around 27,000 roles, all told, as CEO Andy Jassy has implemented cost cutting measures amid economic headwinds.
“Dave will remain in his role for the next few months, and we’ll announce his successor in the coming weeks,” Jassy notes. “I remain excited and quite optimistic about the products and services we’re building in Devices and Services—we’re at the relative beginning of what’s possible and what I believe these businesses will add for customers and the company.
Nevertheless, Jassy and co. have insisted that company is committed long term to consumer hardware generally and the Echo line specifically. Last week, Amazon revealed that Alexa head Rohit Prasad would be heading up expanded efforts to remain competitive in white hot generative AI and large language model efforts.
Limp addressed the news in a blog post today, stating that, “It’s time.”
He adds,
I have been doing a version of this job (building and shipping consumer electronics) on and off for 30+ years. I love it, but I also want look into the future through a different lens. I am not sure what that future is right now, with the notable exception that it won’t be in the consumer electronics space. I will be around for a few more months and we have a lot to deliver on with our fall products. Given that, you should expect the same bug reports from me for a little while more.
The company is set to reveal a news lineup of devices on September 20, at an event in Arlington, Virginia – the site of its secondary HQ2 offices.
Prior to his nearly 14 years at Amazon, Limp worked at Apple and Palm.
“Under Dave’s leadership, Amazon has become one of the world’s leading innovators in building devices and underlying services that customers love,” says Jassy. “From Kindle readers to Fire TV to Alexa and Echo, over the past decade and a half we’ve been able to invent and keep improving experiences that help make our customers’ lives better every day.”

Blessthefall Hollow Bodies 10th Year Anniversary Repress ReviewPhoenix, Arizona’s Blessthefall are releasing 10-year anniversary repressings of their fourth release, Hollow Bodies. I was shipped the “Wide Black” variant (pictured above), and it’s no frills. No thrills. Just a quality anniversary press with O.G. liner notes! The wax grooves are cut well (what else is new from Craft re-presses?) and the album came flat as my abs before becoming a father. 

While listening to the record, I was reading the liner notes and learned that Pierce The Veil’s Vic Fuentes helped write “See You On The Outside!” I knew August Burn Red’s Jake Luhrs was featured on “Carry On” as well as Stick To Your Guns’ Jesse Barnett on “Youngbloods,” but I wasn’t aware Fuentes played a role. Would have been fun to be a fly on that wall!

Speaking of liner notes, did I ever tell you about the time I was tasked with solving the “liner notes crisis of 2009?” Yup. For my final presentation to earn a useless music business degree, that was my prompt. You see, young bucks, 2009 was at the height of digital music. CDs were still selling, but iTunes was at its peak–this was before you could pay for streaming the music you want (I know, I’ll let that sink in). So what was my solution, you ask? Bring vinyl back to the masses and develop supported digital art! NO! NOT LIKE NFTs! EVERYONE HATES NFTs …. Different… but yeah, ew. Needless to say, the class grilled me hard about physical media being dead, though the professor, a wax collector himself, thought I was onto something. If only I invested in all these Fearless first pressings back then. Well not this one. Apparently this one goes for like $30 on Discogs, but you get the idea. 

Anyway, if you’re seeking a review of the songwriting, you’ll need to travel back to 2013 and snag an Alternative Press… or check out the album’s wiki). I’m only here to play gatekeeper of poor-quality pressings, and my black variant spins pretty damn smoothly! So I say buy away!

The band is also releasing additional variants through their own website, on tour, and via Revolver, Craft and Urban Outfitters which are set to ship August 18th.

Kraken Ventures to raise $100M in second fund, with focus on ‘early stage founders’The organization will also reserve a “significant portion” of the fund for follow-on investments and long-term entrepreneurial support.

Tributes pour in for entertainment industry legend Clarence Avant, the ‘Godfather Of Black Music’Avant passed away, aged 92, at his home in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 13
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How acts can fully monetise their setlistThe following op-ed comes from long-time music industry journalist Eamonn Forde
Source

Cool careers in music: Ché Leader is creating an accessible music industryIn partnership with dBs Institute.
Ché Leader is a freelance producer, artist, and accessibility enthusiast. After a car crash that impaired his left eye, he embarked on a course at dBs Institute’s Bristol campus, becoming increasingly interested in how the creation and consumption of music can be made more accessible. There, he delved into sound design and created a unique concept that allowed users to perform music via hand movements. This idea gained traction, propelling Ché into the limelight, and advocating accessibility for the visually impaired on stages such as Amsterdam Dance Event.

READ MORE: Music career advice from the pros: dBs Institute’s Pete Day on networking, DAWs, and being persistent

Ché Leader’s story is an embodiment of reshaping the music tech world, breaking barriers for a more inclusive musical landscape. His advice? Say yes to everything, put your fingers in all the pies, embrace opportunities and step out of your comfort zone.
Ché Leader MCing as Rivibes
Hey Ché, what’s your story and how did you get to where you are?
I’m visually impaired in my left eye; I can’t really see too well – 10-20 per cent vision – from a car crash on the first day going to Bristol. I literally left Plymouth, moved all my stuff, played a gig in Somerset 20 minutes away from my new life and the driver crashed the car.
It’s a bit of a pun but it opened my eyes to a lot of things after having less vision. I started dBs Institute doing sound design for games and apps. In the first two years, I didn’t really know what I was doing and I focussed on a lot of Ambisonics, spatial audio and binaural beats. And then I got to the third year and the lecturers were like, ‘You do your thing now. Tell us what you want.’
I started to look into audio games. I became obsessed with accessibility and audio. I started to look at the relationships between audio games and then high-tech developments going on with non-accessible games. I started to make comparisons, asking ‘Why do you have these really shit audio games called ‘audio games’ for the blind, and then you’ve got the most immersive 3D spatial audio, Oculus Rift VR headsets? But why have they not made the VR headset without the screen? Why is no one tying these two together?
I was like, ‘I need to come up with something’. I created a concept allowing you to perform music with your hands, moving sounds like Imogen Heap’s MiMu gloves but more immersive.
I finished university and the concept received press coverage. I got a call from Yvette Chivers, who read about me in Red Bull and she invited me to Amsterdam Dance Event in 2022 to discuss accessibility for the visually impaired, as part of a project called the VIP Experience (Visually Impaired Person Experience), for which we’ve secured funding to make clubs more accessible. Now, I’m an accessibility advocate, doing consultations and guest lectures. We want the world to be a more accessible place. We can always do more.

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Was there a pivotal educational moment that stuck with you from dBs Institute?
I went to a guest lecture with Jon Burton, The Prodigy’s sound engineer, at the Plymouth campus before I went to Bristol. He was like “Do everything. Never stop saying yes, because I’ll go on tour with the Prodigy for six months a year living like a king and then I’ll come back and I’m doing guest lectures for £100 with you guys.”
That stuck with me! The people that are smashing it, they’ve got their fingers in loads of pies. Fred again.. – I think in 2019 He had his name on 30 per cent of the songs in the charts because he was working behind the doors. Then, his time came. You can’t be like, ‘I’m a recording engineer’. I try and do everything, really.
Are there any other areas of accessibility in music that you work in?
Yes. I’ve started working for a charity called Art Against Knives. We’re giving younger people either preventative strategies to stay away from knife crime or support strategies if they’ve been affected by knife crime.
We’re like an outreach centre. We allow people to express themselves through a number of different ways in music, whether that’s just coming in and learning how to DJ or producing with me. That has given me a whole new outlook on accessibility because these people are not disabled. They don’t have any disability or visual impairments but they come from low-income households. They don’t have the tools to go and buy something.
So, it’s all well and good me making music, but now my aim for them is to set up a scheme where I’m teaching young people how to do what I can do. So I can empower them with the skills so they can go on and teach so it can stay within a community, so they don’t need to pay me however much they pay me to come every Wednesday to teach, the young people will eventually teach one another.
Pete Day, one of your former lecturers at the dBs Institute, recently told us about the importance of being polite to your peers and potential career connections. What did you learn from him?
He taught me not to be a dick. I’ve heard people saying ‘Someone’s great to work with but they’re not easy to work with’. People stay because you’re approachable and if you can get their vision, it’s a skill. Being nice, saying yes, being open.
dBs also allowed entrepreneurship and empowered me to use my skills and think bigger about things. The belief that you can do this. I try and take a bit of that dBs Institute mindset and offer it to my students. They empower you to make you feel like you can do stuff.
Can you give any advice for anyone considering a course at dBs?
Just say yes. Just say yes to everything. I’m working on a soundscape that’s going to be played in an 8.1 surround sound system in Germany and that’s probably earning me more than I’ve ever done in the music industry. It’s bizarre. I asked Oliver Brand, Head of Learning and Teaching, “What happens when the plates are spinning and they’re going to stop?” and he was like, “Don’t stop.”
And it’s about taking yourself out of your comfort zone. Not like going skydiving. I don’t want to do an MMA match! But my first client was Mykki Blanco. I was like ‘I can’t tell him he’s my first-ever client!’. That’s just getting out of my comfort zone. I was like “Yeah, okay I can do this”.
Check out Ché’s work via his Instagram page.
The post Cool careers in music: Ché Leader is creating an accessible music industry appeared first on MusicTech.

Monoprice launch 1073-style preamp The SR Studio 2-Channel Classic Microphone Preamp aims to provide the classic Neve 1073 sound at a surprisingly affordable price point, promising the ‘warm’ and ‘punchy’ characteristics that made the original so popular.

Oliver on 3 key practices for making your best music yet
Oliver took a moment with us to share some of the key learnings around making music that he's gathered across the span of his career.

“Whenever you work on something for a long time, you can’t see straight”: Jayda G on long production sessionsCanadian-born, London-based producer Jayda G has commented upon the struggles of long production sessions, saying that working on a track for a long time can leave you asking “What is music?”

READ MORE: Four Tet played at his daughter’s birthday to “deeply unimpressed” teenage girls following Coachella set

The dance artist, whose latest album, Guy, was released in June, made the comment during in a recent interview with MusicTech.
“Whenever you work on something for a long time, you can’t see straight,” she says, comparing it to working on a thesis. “You’re so close to the material that you can’t really see the difference in it and anything; you start wondering ‘What is music?’”

Also in the chat, Jayda G – real name Jayda Guy – implores budding producers to avoid trying to sound like other artists, saying it can result in feeling as though “you’re not enough”.
“If you’re trying to sound like someone else, you’ll be chasing your tail and feel like you’re not enough”, she says, before adding that this is “probably the biggest issue within the music industry in general.
“If you can stay true to what makes you feel good and listen to that voice,” the Both Of Us producer goes on, “that’s the key to everything – and life in general.”
She’s not the only producer to have graced MusicTech with production advice recently. Similarly, TSHA said in 2022 that it’s important to step away from the screen during long sessions.
“I always like to leave my music for a little bit otherwise you can get stuck in a rut.” She says. “You could go on forever if you’re not careful. When you hear it, anyone listening to the song will not realise how you might have changed the chord progression or arrangement. Only you will know that difference.”
At Glastonbury, we spoke to Flava D, who advised taking the low ends off “unnecessary” elements of a track, as well as leaving mixing til the end of a project. On the day, Syreeta also told us, rather simply, “Don’t delete shit”.
Stream or buy Jayda G’s Guy album via her Bandcamp page.
The post “Whenever you work on something for a long time, you can’t see straight”: Jayda G on long production sessions appeared first on MusicTech.

FREE WEBINAR: ‘Understanding The Future Of Live Music’ this WednesdayBandsintown and MIDiA are presenting a free webinar, “Understanding The Future Of Live Music,” this Wednesday, August 16th. Earlier this month, top music and entertainment consultancy MIDiA released ‘Return to live. Continue reading
The post FREE WEBINAR: ‘Understanding The Future Of Live Music’ this Wednesday appeared first on Hypebot.

Fred again..’s new track, adore u, is dedicated to his younger sisterFred again.. has released his popular track, adore u featuring Obongjayar.

READ MORE: Brian Eno and Fred again.. announce upcoming collab album Secret Life

The track’s been teased in Fred again..’s live sets here and there this year but saw the light of day with a full official release on Friday 11 August.
adore u revolves around the sampled vocals of Nigerian-born, London-based singer Obongjayar’s 2022 track I Wish It Was Me. Listen to it below:

Both the original track and Fred again..’s recontextualisation are dedicated to the artist’s siblings – Fred’s to his younger sister and Obongjayar to his younger brother. Before playing the then-unknown track in his Glastonbury 2023 set, Fred again.. explained the wholesome meaning behind the track.
MusicTech was there for the Secret Life producer’s in-demand Glasto performance on the Other Stage this year. In our review, we remarked upon how he “had the crowd in the palm of his hand” throughout the sunset set, playing tracks such as Danielle (smile on my face), Sabrina (I Am A Party) and 2022’s Clara (night is dark).
During the seminal Glasto set, Fred again.. also played Jungle, a track on which the bassline, recently revealed on TikTok, was made when using a dodgy cable.
adore u isn’t the only song to be released that’s been produced by Fred again.. recently. The XX’s Romy put out her new song The Sea in July, which was made in collaboration with the man himself.
If you’re a fan of adore u, check out Fred again..’s other tracks via his Bandcamp page.
The post Fred again..’s new track, adore u, is dedicated to his younger sister appeared first on MusicTech.

MNTRA Instruments Releases FREE Mirage Cinematic Instrument
MNTRA Instruments releases Mirage, the FREE cinematic instrument for macOS and Windows. It’s difficult to summarize Mirage in a headline; a cinematic instrument is the most encapsulating description I could think of because it’s ideal for scoring videos or games. The reason it’s ideal for scoring video or games is that it allows you to [...]
View post: MNTRA Instruments Releases FREE Mirage Cinematic Instrument