Say hello to SpatialAI, the world’s first spatial AI mastering solutionAI mastering platform Masterchannel has launched SpatialAI, a new tool that specialises in mastering immersive music to be used on spatial audio systems.

READ MORE: Bose introduces QuietComfort Ultra headphones and earbuds with spatial audio

SpatialAI, according to Masterchannel, is the world’s first spatial AI mastering solution, streamlining the creation and technical compliance of spatial audio projects, making them ready for distribution in a matter of minutes.
To use the tool, you upload your music file as an Audio Definition Model Broadcast Wave Format (ADM BWF) to Masterchannel. It will then process the file and return with an optimised track for streaming platforms, along with an individually optimised stereo version for traditional distribution.
The launch arrives just as the popularity of spatial audio on streaming platforms is booming. Apple Music recently disclosed that after just over a year since its introduction, over 80 per cent of its global subscribers have embraced spatial audio, leading to a 1,000 per cent surge in monthly listeners of the format in 2022.
“There’s a growing urgency for artists to deliver tracks in spatial audio, with the format being prioritised for streaming playlists,” Masterchannel CTO Simon Hestermann states in a press release. “However, until now it has been an elite technology. Producers have needed expensive equipment and add-ons to trust it, and engineers and their studios needed to be certified to attract business, making it prohibitively expensive and complex for many.”
“That’s why we launched SpatialAI, to democratise access to spatial audio. Now DIY artists have the opportunity to compete with major signed artists for listener attention. Our aim is to streamline the switch to spatial audio for artists of all kinds.”
To find out more, head to platform.masterchannel.ai.
The post Say hello to SpatialAI, the world’s first spatial AI mastering solution appeared first on MusicTech.

“Always record ideas on your phone. Whether they’re good or bad – decide that later”: Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton shares tips for aspiring producersOne-half of British electronic duo Basement Jaxx, Felix Buxton, has offered some production advice, both technical and psychological, to help music producers.

READ MORE: Touring in the US “not viable”, say The Chemical Brothers

During the first episode of the new OpenDAW Talks podcast, hosted by Lex Luca, Buxton advises listeners to find their flow in music production, “follow your heart”, listen to what resonates, and take creative energy seriously.
“Always record ideas on your phone,” he says. “That’s what I do. I did that this morning at about half two in the morning. Whether they’re good or bad – decide that later.”
He also talks about flow: “As producers our most divine experience on earth comes when we’re in a state of flow. So the key is to find that flow – that may come from singing, or playing an instrument, fiddling around with some buttons, building something with eggs boxes and tapping away on that – whatever gives you that feeling.”
The Good Luck producer goes on to highlight the importance of energy in the studio, recalling how he used to encourage singers to “make the sound of a cow”, or have collaborators “jump up and down on the spot” to shift the body chemistry and energy.

“Being very serious about energy when creating music is crucial. That’s your precious gold; respect it and respect all the people you work with.” He says.
Buxton also encourages producers to “live and infuse life into the music”, “don’t worry” and to quite simply “keep on going”.
“Keep going,” Buxton says, “even when it’s tempting to give up. If you’re struggling to finish a piece, share it with someone else.”
On the launch of the new OpenDAW Talks podcast, the host Alex Kenning, AKA Lex Luca, has said: “I’m incredibly excited to launch our new podcast series, and couldn’t have hoped for a better guest to kick things off with.
“I’ve wanted to do this podcast for a while, it’s been a brilliant experience to record and I’m really proud of what we’ve got lined up. OpenDAW Talks will add yet another resource to what OpenDAW offers budding music-makers.”
Subscribe and find more episodes via opendawtalks.com.
The post “Always record ideas on your phone. Whether they’re good or bad – decide that later”: Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton shares tips for aspiring producers appeared first on MusicTech.

Stability AI launches new text-to-music AI sound generatorStability AI – the company behind image generator Stable Diffusion – has announced the launch of Stable Audio, a new AI-powered text-to-music audio generator.
The new tool is Stability AI’s first foray into music and can generate high-quality music clips and sound effects of up to 90 seconds in length. It can also respond to detailed instructions on genre, instrumentation, mood, BPM and more.

READ MORE: Waves launches AI-powered mastering tool, Waves Online Mastering

Stable Audio was trained on a dataset of over 800,000 audio files from the stock music library AudioSparx. Stability AI says the new platform is “ideal for musicians seeking to create samples to use in their music”.
The examples they gave in a blog post of what the generator can do showed, for example, that it is capable of generating a music sample to any given BPM, something which previous AI music generators created by the likes of Meta and Google have so far not yet been capable of doing.
Stable Audio also has the advantage of being able to create structured musical ideas, thanks to it being trained to account for “audio file duration and start time” in addition to musical attributes like genre and instrumentation. This circumvents an issue many AI generators have had, whereby they have created random sections of a song that start or end in the middle of a phrase.
Stable Audio will generate audio samples of up to 20 seconds for free, while a paid version costing $11.99 a month will let users generate up to 500 tracks a month, each lasting up to 90 seconds.
“As the only independent, open and multimodal generative AI company, we are thrilled to use our expertise to develop a product in support of music creators,” said Emad Mostaque, CEO of Stability AI. “Our hope is that Stable Audio will empower music enthusiasts and creative professionals to generate new content with the help of AI, and we look forward to the endless innovations it will inspire.”
The post Stability AI launches new text-to-music AI sound generator appeared first on MusicTech.

Rupert Neve Designs unveil Master Bus Transformer Rupert Neve Designs' latest all-in-one processor combines EQ, compression and stereo width sections with the latest iteration of the their acclaimed Silk circuitry.

Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties alone [Mark Mulligan, MIDiA]After Universal and Deezer’s royalty proposal made headlines, Mark Mulligan of consultancy MIDiA explained that much more needs to be considered to fix the over-arching problems troubling music streaming. by. Continue reading
The post Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties alone [Mark Mulligan, MIDiA] appeared first on Hypebot.

Waves Audio Introduces Online Mastering Service Waves Audio, the world’s leading developer of professional audio signal processing technologies and plugins, introduces the AI-powered Waves Online Mastering service, allowing users to get high-quality masters, quickly and easily. 

Waves has leveraged over 30 years of award-winning audio technology and expertise to offer an online mastering service that produces accurate, release-ready, custom-tailored masters for any uploaded track, guaranteeing exceptional sound quality. Waves Online Mastering will get your song’s quality on par with other songs on the market, ensuring that your tracks sound professionally mastered on any platform.  

This has been accomplished by integrating Waves Neural Networks® technology in an advanced AI mastering engine, along with invaluable input from top-tier mastering engineers. The result is a service that is unparalleled in the AI mastering space. 

Acclaimed mastering engineer Piper Payne (Dolly Parton, Janis Ian, Madame Gandhi, Corook, LeAnn Rimes), who has been part of the Waves Online Mastering development team, comments, “I got involved with this project intending to create a tool that would be as good as, or even better than, my own skills. We have modeled the processes and techniques I use daily, using advanced machine learning technology, and meticulously compared the sound to that of my own mastering chain, until we achieved the required level of excellence. We’re very proud to share this service with you: it provides such dependable masters, that often even I can't distinguish between them and my own mastering. It is intuitive and beneficial for any DIY producer/songwriter, professional mixing engineer, or music licenser.” 

Waves Online Mastering ensures high-end mastering results with maximum musicality. Whether you’re a seasoned producer or musician, or just starting out, you can now attain professional-sounding masters quickly and easily. You can personalize the result using the service’s Style and Tone customization options. You can also guide the service to your desired result, by uploading reference tracks whose sonic characteristics you wish the service to match. 

High-profile producers and engineers who have tested the service attest to its impressive results, high-end audio quality, and user-friendly workflow: 

Mixing engineer Tony Maserati (Beyoncé, Selena Gomez) says, after testing the service, “I’m thoroughly impressed with the various levels of treatment this service provides. From light-handed to more aggressive, there’s a setting that will help your track sit perfectly between whatever comes before and after it in a playlist.” 

Mixing engineer and producer Lu Diaz (DJ Khaled, Pitbull, Beyoncé, Jay Z) comments, "The sound quality and ease of use are fantastic. This service makes top-notch mastering accessible to everyone." 

Hip-hop producer and songwriter Knxwledge (Anderson .Paak, NxWorries, Kendrick Lamar) adds, “Waves Online Mastering is one of the cheat codes we've been waiting for. I’m getting high-quality masters, so fast.” 

Producer/engineer Mark Ralph (Clean Bandit, Years & Years) concurs: “The sound is impressive and accurate. This is great for a variety of genres, whether you need your masters to be subtle or more ‘pushed.’”

Mastering is essential to ensure your audio reaches its peak quality across all platforms, especially in today's landscape where music is consumed through a multitude of formats and devices. For producers and musicians ready to release their music, mastering is indispensable to achieve a professional result. Waves Online Mastering makes high-end professional affordable and immediately accessible to all.   

From Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish to Drake, Taylor Swift and Foo Fighters, Waves’ Technical GRAMMY®-winning audio technology has shaped countless hit recordings for decades. Now, Waves brings its technology and expertise to the world of AI-powered online mastering. 

To learn more about Waves Online Mastering, click here.

To access Waves Online Mastering, click here. 

Waves launches AI-powered mastering tool, Waves Online MasteringWaves Audio, a company known for its audio software and hardware products, has launched an online mastering service powered by AI.

READ MORE: Mastering The Mix’s FUSER plugin is “like having a personal mixing engineer”

The service, called Waves Online Mastering, lets you easily create professional audio masters. It incorporates advanced machine learning technology, Waves’ award-winning processing, and input from human experts in the field of audio mastering, including Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Piper Payne.
Upload your track, and an AI mastering engine will provide a master in a style of your choosing – ‘Precise’, ‘Elevated’ or ‘Organic’ options are provided. You can adjust the tone of the master, adding ‘Depth’ or ‘Presence’, for example, and you can even provide a reference track for the tool to base your master on.

You can upload WAV, AIF, AIFF or MP3 formatted files with sample rates of 44.1, 48, 88.2 or 96 kHz and export them as either WAV or MP3.
Users can try the service for free, and pricing is based on a credit system, starting at $6 for a single credit and going up to $180 for 60 credits, making it an affordable and efficient option for musicians looking to prepare their music for release. Payment is required only when users decide to export the final master.
We’ve seen an influx of AI-powered music production tools in recent years, especially in mastering, with the likes of LANDR, Soundcloud, Roex, Cloudbounce and Masterchannel launching their own AI-powered tools.
In a recent piece, What does AI mastering mean for artists, engineers, and music?, MusicTech explored the evolution of AI mastering technology in the music industry. In it, Masterchanel explains the advanced mastering technology it uses, which sees “reinforcement learning” and thousands of human engineers’ input to enhance the quality of its AI mastering service.
If you’re interested in having AI and Waves master your project, try it out at waves.com.
The post Waves launches AI-powered mastering tool, Waves Online Mastering appeared first on MusicTech.

“The minute I stopped mixing my stuff I became my most creative”, says dubstep pioneer SkreamBritish producer and dubstep pioneer Skream has sparked a debate on Twitter – now X – on the role of mixing in electronic music production.

READ MORE: INVT and Skream on blending Latin beats with dubstep and garage: “If you’re going to play this game, try to figure out a way to play it right”

Skream’s initial tweet sparked a discussion on the social media platform, with fans expressing their views on mixing in electronic music production. Some argue that mixing is a separate skill and shouldn’t be considered a prerequisite for artists, while others see mixing as an integral part of the creative process.
The Skreamizm producer and Magnetic Man star started the discussion by mentioning that Fred again.. doesn’t mix his own tracks, emphasising that it’s not a criticism but rather a valid approach to music production.
“That isn’t a bad thing.” Writes Skream. “Artwork once said to me ‘if you had a leak in your roof would you fix it?’ I said no and he said, ‘Exactly’. Don’t ever criticise people for making there [sic] product sound the best it can be.”
In the thread, he also shares his personal experience of letting mix engineers handle his music, which in turn has allowed him to focus more on creativity.
“The minute I stopped mixing my stuff (I was always terrible at the mixdown side of things, just wasn’t my strong point) I became my most creative.
“There’s a huge difference between having someone mix your track and someone ghost-produce it, people need to understand.”
“Nobody changes my art though. The mix engineer just enhances the art that’s provided to them by a producer or musician.”
Not all producers share Skream’s view that mixing should be a separate process to production, however. When MusicTech spoke to Flava D at Glastonbury 2023, she gave our readers the advice that you should “mix as you go” as opposed to “leaving it until the end”.
Skream played a rare surprise dubstep set at the Siren stage at Waterworks festival in London on Saturday.
He also just released Skreamizm Vol. 8, which you can check out via Bandcamp.
The post “The minute I stopped mixing my stuff I became my most creative”, says dubstep pioneer Skream appeared first on MusicTech.

How To Sell Sample Packs (And Make Money As A Sound Designer
If you want to make money as a sound designer, learning how to sell sample packs is essential. When I initially ventured into the business of selling samples, I was completely clueless. It took me several years of dedicated learning to grasp the various business models within this domain.  In this article, I intend to [...]
View post: How To Sell Sample Packs (And Make Money As A Sound Designer

Music auditions: The ultimate guide for how to prepare
Veteran educator Renato Milone (Berklee College of Music) shares his in-depth guide for preparing your music auditions for schools, university programs, etc.

Reverie Is A FREE Cello Kontakt Library By Orchestral Tools And Berklee College Of Music
Orchestral Tools (Berlin) and Berklee College of Music (Boston) joined forces to create a YouTube series called Virtual Orchestration. Their latest YouTube video also includes Reverie, a high-quality free cello library for Native Instruments Kontakt (full version). Virtual Orchestration is a series of videos discussing virtual instruments’ role in orchestral music. The series features expert [...]
View post: Reverie Is A FREE Cello Kontakt Library By Orchestral Tools And Berklee College Of Music

How to prepare your music portfolio: 8 tips for what to include
A music portfolio is an invaluable resource for applying to music-focused programs, networking, and more—here are eight tips for how to prepare yours.

What Photography has taught me about musicAndrew Tasselmyer explains how his new found passion for photography taught him how to change his mindset about making music and overall improving his creative process. by ANDREW TASSELMYER of. Continue reading
The post What Photography has taught me about music appeared first on Hypebot.

BPB GIVEAWAY: Dawesome Kult + Oblivium Alpha & Omega Expansion Packs (For 3 Lucky Winners!)
Dawesome, HydraTek, and Spektralisk offer three FREE copies of the Dawesome Kult virtual instrument and a brand-new double expansion pack to one lucky BPB reader! The expansion pack project is called Oblivium, and it’s divided into two individual packs: Oblivium Alpha and Oblivium Omega. It’s a meticulous collection of handcrafted presets that explore dark synth tones. [...]
View post: BPB GIVEAWAY: Dawesome Kult + Oblivium Alpha & Omega Expansion Packs (For 3 Lucky Winners!)

This theremin-inspired synthesiser by Soma Labs is the trippiest thing everSoma Labs has unveiled Flux, a new algorithmic touchless synthesizer inspired by one of society’s most fascinating instruments — the theremin.

READ MORE: Knobcon 2023: 1010Music’s Bluebox mixer goes Eurorack

For the uninitiated, a theremin is a no-contact electronic instrument that works via the power of electromagnetic interference. Quite possibly the only instrument that’s played without anyone touching it, theremins create a sound when you move your hands and fingers around its antenna to interfere with the electromagnetic fields.
Like the Theremin, Flux can be played without touching it. The synth features a continual touchless keyboard that offers seamless control over a number of sound parameters — all based on the principles of magnetism.
To interact with the device, the player uses two magnetic ‘bows’ pressed between their fingers. The interface then registers the bows’ movements and positions, thanks to an integrated multipolar magnetic sensor. The X coordinate of the artist’s right-hand bow controls the note’s pitch, while the Z coordinate controls volume. The left-hand bow’s X, Y and Z coordinates control the various synthesis parameters.
Since a magnet has two poles, Flux is able to detect the bows’ angle in addition to their spatial coordinates. This means that flipping the right-hand bow on the Y-axis changes the octave, which allows a range of six continuous octaves without transposing the keyboard. The left-hand bow meanwhile controls the timbres.
In total, users have access to a total of sixteen parameters, which should allow for some pretty dynamic timbre compositions. The synth also sports an even and clearly marked note scale, which makes it much easier to learn and intone than a Theremin.
Image: Soma Labs
According to Soma Labs, Flux will feature a DSP-based engine with different synthesis algorithms covering distortions, complex FX and physical modelling models of non-existent, surrealistic musical instruments. It works in monophonic, duophonic, and polyphonic modes; Staccato-enabling and quantisation modes are also available.
Users can also save and recall presets with the entire states of the synth, including the engine, and all the tunings.
“Flux brings forth the musicality and expression of classical instruments, such as violin or vocals, enriched by new timbres and the flexibility of postmodern instruments, harnessing the power of current technology,” says the brand.
“Flux is a new Soma instrument under development. We hope to start selling Flux at the end of 2024.”
In the meantime, check out this impressive demo of the synth below.

Learn more at somalabs.
The post This theremin-inspired synthesiser by Soma Labs is the trippiest thing ever appeared first on MusicTech.