Checking something #3d

Acustica introduce Sand 4 Ultra Sand 4 Ultra comes loaded with compressor, EQ and channel strip plug-ins based on the company’s Hyper technology and new Aria engine. 

Songwriter Profile: Mama BLegacy Work

With over 20 years as an artist and music executive, Jacq Becker—under her moniker Mama B—is releasing a second children’s album, following the success of 2021’s collaboration, Zoology (which amassed 50+ million digital and 14+ million YouTube streams). Having performed as a pop artist at Los Angeles’ Hotel Café, The Mint, Harvelle’s, Room 5, etc., and shows in Sweden, Nashville, and the Caribbean, Becker has placements in major TV and film (including Top 5, Pretty Little Liars and Seven Days in Utopia), and leads prominent songwriter and publishing teams, helping artists develop their creative vision and monetize their work. 

First studying classical music before switching to jazz, then pop, Becker holds a deep love of lyrics and melody, emphasizing her affinity for ‘’timeless songs and energy,” and was drawn to Norah Jones and the idea of audiences sitting quietly and truly listening. First writing as a teen, her focus expanded to business in her 20’s, and she is passionate about helping women improve their music business and publishing education, and exploring options. Says Becker, “I get the pleasure of helping expand their business and shining light on songwriters and producers. I feel very lucky to be doing it.” To have a sustainable career in music, Becker advises a focus on learning about publishing, rights management, monetization, and exploring the organizations that manage it all.

Leading with melody, then tone of voice and production, Becker says that what resonates most in music for her is the collaboration, emphasizing the dramatic difference between the sound that comes out of a collaborative project versus the energy felt from constant ‘session-churning.’ “You can hear that trust in each other,” she says. “I listen for musicianship of the whole song (not just melody and lyrics) [and] how it came together.” In repeat collaborations, she says, “I trust their instincts. It’s [about] bringing the right people together with different skill sets that meld together.” See differences as an enhancement, not a threat, and when entering first-time collaborations, Becker says to be as prepared as possible by bringing a few concepts or lyrical ideas.

Struggling to find children’s music she could listen to when she became a mom, Becker felt she could add something and, inspired by the musings of her children and their friends, worked to make music from their perspective while adding contemporary production. Says Becker, “We’re trying to take everything we know about song composition and structure and not do anything different because it’s for kids and families. Why would the formula change?”

Starting organically with guitar and piano melodies, using live instruments and no corner-cutting, Becker wanted to deliver purpose and meaning. Taking two years to complete, some sessions had starting points (“Princess In A Castle” was a request of her son’s classmate), or incorporated elements she heard her children jamming out to (Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut” inspired “Puffer Fish”). Finding a lightness and joy that was missing in the pursuit of pop affirmation, children’s music reignited her songwriting passion. “There were no restrictions on creativity. The fact that we took so much time with it speaks to the integrity of the project,” says Becker. “Everything about it was pure, honest, and no pressure, which is a good place to be when you're releasing music.” 

Imaginology feels like Reading Rainbow-meets-The Spice Girls: fun, catchy, and equal parts soothing and enjoyable for all ages. Set for release on Mother’s Day.

Contact Jon Bleicher, Prospect PR - jon@prospectpr.com; 

Experience Mama B at instagram.com/mamabsongs

5 mixing tips for modern rap vocals
From applying compression to cleaning up ad-lib tracks, here are five essential mixing tips for modern rap vocals.

Your Livestream Strategy Sucks! K-Pop’s lessons on reaching a global audience Haven't had much success with live streaming lately or given up altogether? If you're going to learn from anyone, look at how live-streaming contributed to K-Pop artist's global success.....
The post Your Livestream Strategy Sucks! K-Pop’s lessons on reaching a global audience  appeared first on Hypebot.

Recently read the terms of a "new" a16z funded #AI generative music startup. And what I saw in the TOS on the website was licensing terms to the tracks you actually generated - you simply own your music only when you pay your subscription and moreover your uploaded material can be used to train the model. Now it's beta and guys say it's free to generate up to 1200 tracks. Come on! Where are we going?! Read the terms at first please. ✌ #MusicTechnology #MusicBusiness

Spectral Plugins ceases operations, plugins are now free to downloadSpectral Plugins has ceased operations, and is now offering its entire plugin portfolio for you to download, completely free of charge.
“After careful consideration and deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to cease our company operations,” Spectral Plugins said in a statement on its website. This decision was not made lightly, but we believe it is the best course of action for the future of our organisation.”

READ MORE: Sequential to discontinue the Prophet X due to “unavailability of several key components”

“However, we are pleased to announce that we will be making our software available for free downloading to our loyal clients and users. We understand the impact that our tools and products have had on your operations, and we want to ensure that you continue to have access to them even after our closure.”
“We want to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of our clients for your support, feedback, and loyalty over the years. It has been an honour serving you, and we are proud of the accomplishments we have achieved together.”
Available for download are three plugins: Spacer, Pancz and OCS-45.
Spacer is a versatile modular multi-FX featuring five effects modules that can be linked in any order. It includes three reverbs (algorithmic, convolution, and grain), two delays, and a utility section with additional tone-shaping controls. With 150 global and 200 module presets, Spacer promises a fun and dynamic sound processing experience.

Pancz (pronounced ‘Panch’), meanwhile, is an audio plugin equipped with a powerful multiband transient shaper, clipping tool, and precise waveform analyser. It uses complex audio processing to directly control the shape of the sound. With an intuitive waveform window and a “cut line”, you can visually manipulate the sound to make it look and sound the way you want it to. Additional tone manipulation effects like EQ functionality are also included. Check out our review of Pancz for more information.
Finally, the OCS-45 simulates real life cassette tapes and adds a lo-fi, vintage feel to your sound. Get instant retro vibes by choosing from four authentic cassette types, each one modelled on the major tape types of the golden era of compact cassettes: Ferric Type I, Chrome Type II, Ferrichrome Type III, and Metals Type IV. Add in all the charming imperfections of tape by combining pitch modulation, background noise and dropouts. In addition to being a cassette simulation plugin, OCS-45 is a rich distortion processing unit with five programmed flavours of distortion — perfect for adding extra life and warmth to your sound.
Download them all at Spectral Plugins.
The post Spectral Plugins ceases operations, plugins are now free to download appeared first on MusicTech.

The new ‘SoundCloud era’ is YouTube screen captures of a DAWRemember the early days of SoundCloud? You’d find a sample, make a one-minute loop at midnight, then upload it to show your producer friends; artists would publish tracks with a list of the gear they used before swathes of commenters asked, hoping to find the secret sauce; dance acts would upload bootleg edits of songs DJs could easily download and spin later that night — even if it wasn’t strictly legal. Of course you remember.

READ MORE: No, Daniel Ek, the music industry isn’t like professional football

Well, I’m starting to think YouTube screen captures are the next evolution of that wonderful iteration of SoundCloud.
Maybe I’m late to the party but, for the past few months, my YouTube homepage has been overflowing with videos by Klaus Veen, Virtual Riot, Azali and more. The videos aren’t influencer-style. There’s no presenter, no dialogue, and no high- (or low)-production camerawork. It’s just a screen recording of a DAW playing a new track and — if you’re lucky — some text that describes what’s happening in the project. So simple, so enthralling.

These videos rack up hundreds of thousands of plays, some even more, and the comment sections are nothing short of inspiring. People are actually having interesting discussions about the project in the video. Producers are cracking nerdy jokes about the techniques. Others stumbling upon the video are begging for the work to be put onto streaming services (for better or worse).
And it gets better. When one user, ixer, released their video ‘I think I broke the amen’ — a tracker-style chop of the amen break — other producers tried it out for themselves. Virtual Riot got involved, which inspired hundreds more beatmakers to slice up the break, kickstarting a fun trend that brand community managers could only dream of starting.

Another mesmerising Virtual Riot video, ‘I heard you like polyrhythms’, has over one million views and is almost eight minutes of intrigue. The creation is so masterful that it’s encouraged other producers to try and break down how Virtual Riot did it so that you can do it too. It also started another trend, obviously.

Education lies at the heart of this movement. Everyone loves a YouTube tutorial. Hell, we’ve made hundreds. I don’t think I would’ve passed my music technology degree without YouTube tutorials. But these screen captures are different to your average presenter-style tutorial — they cut the long-winded intro speech and just get into it. They open up their effects chains, show their synth patches, reveal their piano rolls and don’t mess around. You can divulge tons of information from those small acts alone. You might even find yourself asking more questions than you had before, leading you to learn new music production secrets.

It all makes me dream of what kind of social platform we producers could have. Perhaps producers would revel in a social media platform that enables us to share our projects in a browser, giving peers and fans free rein into our production and recording choices. Maybe that’s the new SoundCloud.

The post The new ‘SoundCloud era’ is YouTube screen captures of a DAW appeared first on MusicTech.

Dynamic Range Day 2024 Dynamic Range Day was started by mastering engineer Ian Shepherd, and aims to raise awareness of the negative impact that excessive dynamic processing can have on music.

This ‘secret’ composer is behind 650 fake artists on Spotify. His music has been streamed 15bn times on the platform (report)Revealed in a Dagens Nyheter expose: the musician 'behind the world's most listened to network of fake artists on Spotify'
Source

2024 Home Sweet Home Automation: A Piano-Controlled Smart HomeThere’s a scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where a little flap in the wall flips down to reveal a small organ embedded there. Gene Wilder plays a bit of Rachmaninoff on the organ, and the giant door to the chocolate room slowly creaks open.
Once [Nathan Orick] got this into his head, he couldn’t get it out, and had to give it a go in his own home. Regrettably there’s no chocolate rooms in the house, so he’s using various chords and melodies to do things like control the lights and the TV, as you’ll see in the video after the break. Although this one may have started as a joke of a home automation scheme, [Nathan] thinks it turned out pretty solid, and so do we.
He already had the piano and a Raspberry Pi Zero lying around, so getting this up and running was mostly about connections and code. Speaking of connections, [Nathan] was hard-pressed to find a micro-USB to USB-B cord, so he ended up splicing one together. Simple enough. The harder part was getting Linux to recognize the keyboard, but all it took was touching all the pins with a multimeter, evidently. What’s a project without a little magic?
And not only did it show up, Linux went to the trouble of registering it as a MIDI device all on its own. Once [Nathan] obtained the port number, he had data printing to the console every time he played a note. Then it was mostly a matter of writing code to interact with MIDI data and track the notes as they’re played, and put it all together with Home Assistant. Be sure to check out the brief demo after the break.

CMajor Releases FREE Pro-54 Browser-Based Synthesizer
Developer CMajor has released the Pro-54 Synthesizer, a faithful port of the classic Native Instruments Pro-53 synth. Surprisingly, it’s not a VST plugin. Instead of your DAW, it operates in a browser window. I didn’t get into music production during the early days of VST plugins and music software. However, I have a deep respect [...]
View post: CMajor Releases FREE Pro-54 Browser-Based Synthesizer

#majors trying to catch the #social #Music wave using the existing community built around the company. #Tidal #MusicBusiness

Check out this Teenage Engineering-inspired gaming console built by a university studentA designer studying at Karnavati University in India has created a Teenage Engineering-inspired gaming console, similar to that of the Nintendo Switch.
Nidharshan Suresh, who studies Industrial Design at the university, has showcased his work online. The console follows the minimalist and futuristic design approach taken by the brand, featuring pops of orange colour as often seen across its product range.

READ MORE: Teenage Engineering co-founder on ‘Fadergate’: “We guessed there would be transport damage, but not at this rate”

To create the concept, Suresh and his team – Nishi Shah, Anoushka Pawar, Dhananjay Vispute, Aditi Rakhunde and Vishesh Jaiswal – looked at the designs of TE’s OP-1 field synthesiser, sampler and drum machine, as well as its TP-7 audio recorder. They also studied the different types of gamers, and the sorts of consoles they may play – for example, gamers who like to play on the go, or those who like to play in a social context and try different games out.
According to Suresh’s Behance page, Rapid Cad was implemented into the design process to more easily visualise interaction, form and function of the product.
“Mastering minimalism was a key takeaway from this project. Every detail matters in achieving clean, functional design,” writes Suresh. “This project journey also gave me knowledge on Design for manufacturing (DFM), intricate product detailing, aesthetics and how design communicates brand values and target markets.”
Check out more images of the design below:
Credit: Nidharshan Suresh
Credit: Nidharshan Suresh
Last November, Teenage Engineering dropped its EP-133 K.O.II pocket sampler/composer, to much excitement from fans of the brand. Following the release, David Eriksson (co-founder and head of hardware at the brand) told MusicTech of the response to its launch, “It was a bit overwhelming — we knew it would be popular, but that popular? I think we had different opinions.”
He added, “We’re not at all market-driven. I mean, most big companies on this planet are; they try to predict what might sell well. I think we’re probably the opposite.”
Check out more of Nidharshan Suresh’s work via Behance, and view all of Teenage Engineering’s latest official products.
The post Check out this Teenage Engineering-inspired gaming console built by a university student appeared first on MusicTech.

Why Sacred Society use spatial audio to enhance relaxing ambient musicFor thousands of years, people have used sound and music as methods for healing. Sacred Society Music Group is putting those methods in the hands (and ears) of the listener using the power of spatial audio, creating sonic landscapes with ambient music that induces visceral experiences.

READ MORE: Audient’s ORIA is the Atmos interface that engineers have been waiting for

Sacred Society Music Group (SSMG) is the record label arm of the Sacred Society Wellness Center, based in Denver, Colorado. Every song SSMG releases is mastered in 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos with one thought in mind: “We’re completely surrounding you,” says Bradley Roulier, one of the co-founders of SSMG, also a co-founder of Beatport and a member of the dance music project Manufactured Superstars.
Members of the Sacred Society Music Group
Studies have shown that surrounding oneself in sound baths benefits emotional and physiological health. Sacred Society Wellness Center hosts sound baths in a fully equipped Atmos room, but SSMG also streams its music on Atmos-compatible platforms like Amazon Music, Tidal, and Apple Music.
By making these Atmos mixes readily available, SSMG is enabling people to listen to their music for self-healing, and in 2024, more and more people are looking for ways to heal themselves.
In February of this year, “#selfhealers” on Instagram had 955,000 posts. In June 2020, it had 160,000. Furthermore, the self-improvement market in the US was worth $9.9 billion in 2019 and was expected to reach $13.2 billion by 2023, according to a Gitnux study from last year.
“When we were 22 years old, we weren’t depressed,” says Roulier, who was throwing raves as early as the late 90s. “There wasn’t this isolation that people have [today]. You’re going to spend a lot of time by yourself, so what can you do when you’re by yourself to help yourself? You can have all these people around you to give you support, but at the end of the day, it’s you. You’re the one that has to get yourself out of bed every morning. Society is making it really okay to do whatever it is to make you feel better.”
SSMG is equipping people to feel better through three playlists: FOCUS, ENJOY, and REST. Each playlist is curated for eight hours of the day.
Adelio Lombardi in the Kali Audio Atmos studio
FOCUS is for working, studying, or any activity that requires consistent attention. The playlist includes tracks like Blissful Afternoon that employ lighter beats and smoother motions around the Atmos soundscape. It’s active enough to maintain the listener’s attention, but not so intricate as to be distracting.
ENJOY is for relaxing after work. Ancient Chant is in the ENJOY playlist because it demonstrates the full power of Atmos. Drums, vocals, and dozens of other different sounds shift through the 12 speakers, placing the listener inside a cocoon of chillout music as they dance, cook, or do anything that lights them up.
Finally, REST, the sleep playlist, is almost entirely ambient. Many of the tracks like “Dream Space” have no drums at all. Instead, they submerge the listeners in fluid frequencies. No one sound captures any attention. It’s pleasant music to help clear thoughts from the mind. Perfect for winding down at the end of the day.
Roulier’s had trouble sleeping for years, and he listens to the REST playlist in Atmos every night as part of his routine before bed.
“Sleep is the most important aspect of our lives. When you rest is when you heal and recover. If you’re not rested, it’s really hard to have a good day,” Roulier says.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
“I’m 50 years old. When I was 45–46, I started having these issues with sleeping and anxiety. I turned to [ambient music] as my medicine, and it worked. It made me a believer,” says Adelio Lombardi, another co-founder of SSMG, founder of Side 3 Entertainment, and owner of Side 3 Studios.
Lombardi and Roulier have known each other for 20 years, and their team masters every SSMG release in Lombardi’s Kali Audio Atmos studio.
This collaboration was sparked about a year ago, while Roulier was working with Barbie Beltran, founder of the Sacred Society Wellness Center, on a spa that would feature immersive music for sound baths and other wellness activities.
That project fell through when Lombardi had just started working in Atmos.
“I was like, ‘Dude, if you want to do it next level, come check this out.’” Lombardi said to Roulier. When Roulier heard music in Lombardi’s studio for the first time, the thought of a rainstorm immediately popped into his mind.
“I have a vision of doing a track of a West Coast storm. You’re on a beach on the West Coast. You can see a thunderstorm coming from miles away. There’s nothing you can do. The storm rolls in, comes in super heavy, and leaves. Kind of a metaphor for life. Storms are going to happen, and we can translate that through our music,” Roulier says.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
Shortly after connecting with Lombardi via the Atmos studio, Roulier brought in Andy Flebe, Head Engineer and Studio Manager at Side 3 Studios, to serve as the lead engineer for SSMG, and Jeziel Quintela, who worked with Roulier on Manufactured Superstars, to be their in-house producer. Quinetela has made 23 of the over 50 tracks SSMG has released.
Quintela starts his SSMG productions in Ableton Live, using popular wavetable synthesizers like Xfer’s Serum. Oftentimes, there is a specific healing intention behind the tracks as well.
For example, Beltran wanted to release a track with a focus on sounds in the frequency range of 20-300Hz. That’s around the fundamental frequency of bees’ wings when they fly, which is reported to help people relax. From there, Quintela picked chords that resonate with the notes produced by that fundamental frequency range as the basis for the track Dance of the Bees.

 
Quintella makes these tracks in stereo, but because they will be mastered in Atmos, he can get creative with other elements like reverb and layering.
“When you create a pad, you can layer more sounds. More pads, more of a lead sound, more of an analogue sound, and from that, you can add texture to it. You can notice the difference in all of the speakers. In stereo, it’s just in two ears. You cannot hear the dynamics in all the sounds and the layers,” Quintela says.
When Quintela passes a track to Flebe for engineering in Atmos, Roulier listens to every speaker in the room individually. He checks what sound is coming from where and provides notes on what sound may need more volume or may need to come from a different angle. After he approves the final master, SSMG releases the track.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
“Pretty much all the time, stuff is coming out of every speaker. Especially in ambient, because ambient by nature doesn’t have drums,” Roulier says. “We’re trying to fill this space around you.”
“You want to maximize the tech, but you don’t want to make it a circus either. Immerse a person, but if it’s a relaxing song, you don’t want to have 90 million things flying around you just because you can,” Lombardi says. “You can have all the tech in the world; if the music sucks it doesn’t matter.”
While Atmos systems aren’t standard tech for consumers yet, they are becoming much more accessible.
For home theaters, a Polk Signa S4 soundbar is $299. Then, for headphones, there are RIG gaming headsets with Atmos capabilities for as little as $29.99. These certainly don’t come close to the 7.1.4 studio at Side 3, nor to the 64-speaker setups Dolby has created before. But they can give you a taste, at least.
However, SSMG ensures every song they release, regardless of format, will provide the desired sonic effect of FOCUS, ENJOY, or REST. In addition to the Atmos mix, Flebe also makes a stereo mix for each song. He does it immediately after the Atmos mix is approved to ensure the ideal sound is still in his head.
Adelio Lombardi in the Side 3 studio
Once the stereo mix is complete, Roulier AB tests the songs on numerous systems. He listens on headphones, laptop speakers, Alexa Studio, and his Sonos Arc system, which mimics Atmos by firing sound at different angles out of its three speakers. So far, Roulier has only taken down two tracks for additional polishing before posting them again.
“I put our song on a YouTube channel, and it still sounded cool,” Lombardi says. “The Atmos file is going to adapt to what you have, and it’s going to give you the best it can deliver you.”
No matter how the track is delivered, SSMG’s core intention is always to make people feel good. They want you to feel like you’re being celebrated at a sacred ceremony 2,000 years ago every time you play one of their songs.
“When you’re listening to this, you’re the most important person in the universe,” Roulier says. “This is all for you.”
Learn more at sacredsocietymusic.com.
The post Why Sacred Society use spatial audio to enhance relaxing ambient music appeared first on MusicTech.