Fitzmaurice Relies on Amphion Atmos SetupAward-winning Irish mixer, engineer and producer Steve Fitzmaurice couldn’t have foreseen that his sessions with Dublin-based rock band, The Frames, in the mid-1990s would eventually lead to him buying a pair of Amphion reference monitors. Now, over twenty years into his career, Fitzmaurice is inspired by Apple Music’s launch of Spatial Audio, in mid-2021, he has since expanded his stereo monitor setup with additional speakers from Finnish manufacturer Amphion to enable him to also mix in Dolby Atmos.

Born in Dublin, Fitzmaurice knew by his early teens that he wanted to work in the record industry. But there were few studio job opportunities in Ireland, so after finishing school he went to London and started knocking on the doors of some of the city’s best known recording facilities. His early career began on the nightshift answering the phones at producer Trevor Horn’s Sarm West Studios. It wasn’t long before he was assisting on sessions with Horn and longtime Sarm West producer, engineer and mixer Julian Mendelsohn. After five years at Sarm, Fitzmaurice moved to New York and got a job at the Hit Factory and after a year went freelance.

Freelancer with new primary speakers

Over the years Fitzmaurice, who is based at Pierce Entertainment’s London studios, has worked with a long list of artists including Seal, Tina Turner, Tasmin Archer, Jodeci, Ian Brown, U2, Depeche Mode, Hikaru Utada, Sam Smith and many others. He has been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards, winning five for projects with Sam Smith, Seal and U2, also working on various Oscar, Golden Globe and Brit Award-winning productions.

It was David Odlum, guitarist with The Frames, who first brought Amphion monitors to Fitzmaurice’s attention. Now Odlum is also a successful producer and engineer, currently musical director for Sam Smith, with whom Fitzmaurice has worked since their debut album in 2013. “During lockdown we did a live stream from Abbey Road Studios for Sam,” Fitzmaurice recalls. “I was mixing, and Dave was going on about the Amphions, so I got a pair of One18s to try,” as an alternative to his usual monitors. “At first I found myself using them occasionally and then more and more.”

Fitzmaurice was happy with the results but still unsure, he says, so Odlum suggested that he try Amphion’s Two18 speakers. “I kept them for two or three weeks and the same thing happened — I was using my other monitors less and less. I ended up buying a pair of Two18s, and now they’re my primary speakers.”

Full view of the 7.1.4 Atmos Setup in Fitzmaurice's studio

Dynamic clarity with subtle details

Fitzmaurice has a simple philosophy when it comes to mixing. “I like clarity, low-end and dynamics. I don't really like clutter. My most used piece of equipment is probably the mute button! ​ These days, it’s a constant battle to make loud competitive records — we're in a world where you have to EQ and compress everything — but I try and keep some sense of clarity, bottom end and dynamics while also trying to keep everything as natural as I can.”

His Amphion monitors have certainly helped him achieve those goals. “I think that they’re pretty natural sounding, with clarity in the mid-range, especially, and the top end. But they’re not bland and boring. When you turn them up for clients, they’ve still got a bit of vibe.” His previous speakers worked best when they were loud, he says. “But with the Amphions I definitely mix quieter because they don’t change tonally when I turn them down.”

Fitzmaurice has worked with some of the best singers in the business and has earned a reputation for the sound of the vocals on his projects. There, too, the Amphion monitors are proving their worth. “The Amphions are very good for subtle details, smaller changes in volume and dynamics are easy to hear. ​ Because of this clarity I found them great for balancing vocals.”

Changing monitors is always challenging, but with three years of working with the Amphions behind him, he reports, “Mixes seem to be translating to every other system quite well, which obviously was my main concern, so I'm totally sold. And now I've got an Atmos system which is all Amphion speakers.” The new 7.1.4 setup in Fitzmaurice's room at Pierce Entertainment is comprised of three Amphion Two18 monitors combined with the BaseTwo25 bass extension system, four One18s for the surrounds ​ and four One15 speakers positioned overhead.

Cohesion with immersive mixes

One reason to dive into immersive mixing was that Apple Music’s default playback is the Spatial Audio mix of a song, if it exists, Fitzmaurice says. Having heard other people’s Atmos mixes of his stereo mixes, he says, “I started wanting to do it myself, being a bit of a control freak! Somebody asked me if there was a steep learning curve to mixing in Atmos, but I haven’t really found this as I am simply trying to convey the same feeling of the stereo mix in the immersive world.”

One big advantage of an Atmos mix is being able to spread the tracks out spatially, he continues. “You don't have to fit all this information into two speakers, and make tracks bright and aggressive. In fact, I’m often taking a little top end off my stereo stems, as they don't need it any more to cut through.”

But having heard Dolby Atmos mixes where some of the elements are too spread out, the song loses its power as a result, Fitzmaurice says. He is careful to keep his immersive mixes cohesive. “Primarily, the vocal and the drums are more in the front. Sometimes, with live drums that I've recorded, I might pull the room mics away from the main drum kit. I've mixed a few electronic things in Atmos, and there you've got a bit more freedom to play around. But I'm not a fan of stuff flying around and making myself feel seasick. Occasionally I’ll have something moving around slowly but it's more about placement.”

With the record labels, streamers and broadcasters all clamoring for immersive music mixes, the investment in an all-Amphion immersive speaker system is paying off. “Nearly every time I’m commissioned to do a stereo mix, as long as there's a budget, they want an Atmos mix as well.”

Fitzmaurice mixed eight tracks for the stereo version of Sam Smith’s current album, Gloria, released in January 2023 (Serban Ghenea mixed another three and David Odlum and Kevin “KD” Davis mixed one each). “All the songs that I mixed in stereo I mixed in Atmos as well,” he says. “There’s one song, “Perfect”, where I prefer the end section on the Atmos version because it feels like there’s much more space.”

He also recorded and mixed Smith’s live orchestral performance at Abbey Road Studios in Dolby Atmos. “It was Sam, a 16-piece choir and a 20-piece string section. I laid the studio out in a horseshoe and when I was mixing in Atmos I laid it out exactly like that. I had room mics as well and I put those exactly as they were in the room in the Atmos mix. You perceive it as if you are Sam, standing in the middle, so it envelops you. It sounds amazing in Atmos.”

About Amphion​Amphion Loudspeakers Ltd. was established in 1998. We design and build loudspeakers that are characterized by honest and accurate sound reproduction. Precise driver integration ensures world-class imaging and phase coherency. Controlled dispersion technology helps achieve more stable results in a variety of room acoustics. All products are handmade in Finland (and the Amphion amplifiers are assembled in Finland) to ensure enduring listening quality.

Have all of Daft Punk’s Face To Face samples finally been discovered?Daft Punk’s 2001 track Face To Face features a lot of samples. Over the years, musicians and producers have been trying to track down all of the original sources for each one – has the plunderphonic puzzle finally been solved?

READ MORE: Julian Casablancas suggested Stevie Wonder as Daft Punk’s Infinity Repeating vocalist

One YouTube user under the name of undrtune may have finally pieced all of the samples together, having shared a final update video of the journey to tracking each sample used. “Thanks to all sample hunters and Le Phunk for the sample breakdown,” reads the video’s description.
Todd Edwards, the famed producer and vocalist who worked with Daft Punk on the 2001 track, as well as 2013’s Fragments Of Time, has previously said that there were 70 samples used across the song and fans have struggled to locate all of them.
In undrtune’s videos, the user plays through each sample in Ableton Live, sharing its source next to it. Undrtune’s most recent sample tracking update of Face To Face before this recent instalment came three years ago.
You can check out the “Final Update” video below.

Another YouTube user, known as ‘the’, has uploaded a video showing you how to recreate the Discovery deep cut in 32 minutes. It, too, is an impressively close recreation of Daft Punk’s original.

In 2016, Todd Edwards gave fans a helping hand by showcasing some of the samples in isolation, followed by their positions in the final sequence. Posting to Instagram, he said that he was “re-creating the sample arrangement of Daft Punk’s and my collab of Face To Face for a discussion about their album Discovery…”

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Edwards had previously branded his collaboration with Daft Punk for Fragments Of Time as “life-changing.”
“And I’m not being dramatic,” he explained on Apple Music 1 with Zane Lowe. “It started a new journey in my life and it wasn’t intentionally like, ‘oh, they saved me!’ but it definitely had a major impact.”
He later added that he had foreseen the band’s split in 2021: “I wasn’t shocked by the news because it’s again, I know them on a personal level, so I know the inner workings of… There’s the friendships there. It’s almost like when you think about it, it’s like a partnership can be like a marriage to a certain extent.
“And you have your ups and downs, and it’s just like if the chemistry isn’t there anymore, if it’s just not that you’re not melding together the way you used to, that it’s better to not force something and then come out with something that you feel is sub-par, than to just make it finite.”
The post Have all of Daft Punk’s Face To Face samples finally been discovered? appeared first on MusicTech.

Todd Edwards reveals his year 2000 setup for Daft Punk’s Face To FaceRevered dance producer Todd Edwards has shared the setup he used to contribute to Daft Punk’s 2001 hit Face to Face in an Instagram post.
READ MORE: Fred again… reveals bass sound in Jungle came from a dodgy cable
The Paris-based studio, which Daft Punk used to record and produce Discovery, was filled with vintage gear. Along with some now-retro PCs, it boasted Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer electric pianos, 1970s effects pedals, and 1980s drum machines.
In an Instagram post, Edwards wrote: “#tbt That time in 2000 when I went to Paris to finish working on Face To Face for @daftpunk ‘s DISCOVERY ALBUM”.
In the video, he shared images while narrating with a voiceover. “So what you are viewing is a glimpse into the original Daft Punk office in Montmartre, Paris from the year 2000,” he began.

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“Take notice that sitting on the left is Gildas Loaëc, who helped out on [Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo’s] Crydamoure record label and went on to create Maison Kitsuné, a prestigious music label and fashion brand.
“On the phone on the right you will see Pedro Winter, Daft Punk’s former manager who went on to create Ed Banger Records, and I don’t have to tell you how big Ed Banger Records is.
“I think it’s safe to say that every bit of work that surrounded this group of friends turned to gold.”
The first image of the post also appears to reveal the scene for the artwork of Daft Punk’s 1998 single Revolution 909, which featured in their seminal 1997 debut album, Homework.
Though the robots show no signs of reuniting following their retirement, Edwards has advised fans not to “count out” a reunion. He said, “You don’t know what’s going to happen five years from now. They might decide we’re going to put on a tour, or maybe they get a stroke of… You don’t know, maybe the time away will bring them back together.”
Meanwhile, author Gabriel Szatan is working on After Daft, a book documenting the legacy of the duo with contributions from over 60 artists.
The post Todd Edwards reveals his year 2000 setup for Daft Punk’s Face To Face appeared first on MusicTech.

The best podcasts for music producers in 2023It feels like everyone has a podcast right now. For music producers, it’s fantastic – if you can sift through the noise of food, politics and comedy ‘casts. We’ve done the hard work for you here and plundered into the podcasting platforms to find the best music technology shows out there. Music production professionals have taken it upon themselves to create podcasts that can educate, entertain and inspire you in your quest to become a better producer.

READ MORE: RØDE launches 7 podcasting items in “biggest product drop ever”

We’ve rounded up 12 of our favourite music production podcasts out there right now. You’ll be able to listen to most of these on your favourite podcasting platform, but if you’re unable to find it, we’ve linked the podcaster’s websites to listen directly. Plug in your headphones and hear the masters break down their tracks, express their love for synths and share their top nuggets of wisdom.
My Forever Studio
My Forever Studio. Image: Music Tech
MusicTech’s own My Forever Studio invites producers, musicians and industry figures to dream up their fantasy forever studio space. Hosts and tech nerds Chris Barker and Will Betts ask: Where in the world would this studio be? What would the vibe be like? What gear would be included? Any whacky additional items like furniture? Guests are limited to just six studio items, alongside a DAW and a pair of studio monitors. There is just one rule: there can be NO BUNDLES!
Soon to be cruising into its sixth season, My Forever Studio has so far discovered the wild ideas of Amon Tobin, Jessy Lanza, Jacob Collier, Flava D, Deadmau5, William Orbit, BT, and loads more. Even Gary Barlow featured on episode 26 in 2020. And it’s not just gear the guests end up discussing, often production techniques are shared, alongside entertaining anecdotes and just straight-up odd moments.
Learn more at musictech.net.
Tape Notes
Image: tapenotes.co.uk
John Kennedy hosts Tape Notes, a podcast that invites artists, producers and bands to reflect on the production of their releases. Some guests are producers in their own right, such as Paul Epworth, Disclosure, Bicep, Caribou and DJ Shadow, but Kennedy often reunites a band or artist with their producer to discuss the highlights of their creative process. Such acts include Lianne La Havas, Glass Animals, Haim, Jacob Collier and Wolf Alice.
Tape Notes pulls apart elements and stems from the original recording, discovering how the song transformed from its original idea into a pristine final product. Expect a few fun stories from the journey, too. This podcast is a fascinating look at the methods of producers, and the creative decisions they make to actualise their visions.
Learn more at tapenotes.co.uk.
Song Exploder

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With a recent adaptation as a Netflix series, Song Exploder is one of the greats of music production podcasts. The show, similar to Tape Notes, sees musicians and producers dissect their songs and outline the decisions of each part of the recording. Host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway cleverly removes his dialogue to present the bite-sized show as a story told by the artist.
Not only will you learn the secrets behind some stellar productions, but you’ll also hear the human journeys that take place during the creation of their work. You’ll hear artists such as Kelly Lee Owens, Khruangbin, Tokimonsta, Nine Inch Nails and Run The Jewels open up about their craft. You’ll also hear from video game soundtrackers, theme tune creators and film scorers. Deep into its seventh running year, Song Exploder shows no signs of slowing down.
Learn more at songexploder.net.
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Bruce Headlam & Justin Richmond
Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Bruce Headlam & Justin Richmond. Image: Pushkin
Broken Record, presented by revered producer and Def Jam founder Rick Rubin, revitalises the magic of liner notes in a world where they no longer exist. If you don’t know, liner notes are a section of text found on the back of inside the sleeve of a record that explain the context of the record, or display the song lyrics or any message the artist wants to get across. Each episode feels like reading these notes, exploring backstories behind how tracks were made and often ending in debate, laughter or tears.
Rubin’s joined by journalist Malcolm Gladwell, and New York Times journalist, Bruce Headlam. Each week they draw in huge names, from Damon Albarn to John Frusciante to Tom Jones, Arlo Parks, Kesha – the list goes on and on and on.
Music Ally Focus
Music Ally Focus. Image: Music Ally
Music Ally Focus is a snappy 25-minute podcast created by Music Ally, a hub for all things happening behind the scenes in the music industry, from news to recent job vacancies and more. It’s hosted by Music Ally’s editor, Joe Sparrow.
In this podcast, you can hear from a range of decision-makers leading the way in the world of music tech discussing the big issues surrounding the industry today. For example, Splice’s CEO Kakul Srivastava talks about sampling, microtrends in music production and AI in one episode. In another, it’s all about ticket touting and another is all about Spotify’s controversial RADAR scheme.
The Zane Lowe Interview Series
The Zane Lowe Interview Series. Image: Apple Music
Zane Lowe came to the UK from New Zealand in 1997, going on to land a job on primetime BBC Radio 1 showcasing the world’s greatest new music. Since then, he’s established himself as an enthusiastic music devotee and a tastemaker with a talent for bringing the best out of artists through intimate interviews.
The Zane Lowe Interview Series is Lowe at his best, putting the vital questions on Apple Music’s radio platform, Apple Music 1, to the world’s biggest artists. And when we say big, we mean big – name any star; they’ve most likely been interviewed by Lowe. From production insights to heartwarming anecdotes, this is a deep dive into the greatest musical minds around today.
The Will Clarke Podcast
The Will Clarke Podcast. Image: Apple Music
Dance fans will love the vibe of The Will Clarke podcast. Clarke is an EDM producer who has released tunes on the likes of Dirtybird, Trick, Truesoul, Filth on Acid, Kneaded Pains, Drumcode, We Are The Brave, and his own label All We Have Is Now.
On the podcast, the bearded dance don speaks to DJs and producers in the industry, from Danny Howard to Chloé Robinson to Dubfire, Kevin Saunderson, DJ Bone and loads more. They’ll chat about music production but mostly about how to survive in the saturated world of electronic music.
The Process of Production
The Process of Production. Image: Spotify
The Process of Production is ideal for producers and audio engineers who work regularly with vocalists and bands. It’s hosted by Bob Matthews and Lawrence Diamond. While Matthews is an experienced music professional with over 15 years of expertise working from the prestigious Hackney Road Studios, Diamond has spent eight years as an artist and composer on some of Europe’s best indie labels before making music for brands like O2 and Gucci.
Listeners learn about how producers and engineers have helped the likes of Bastille, Kygo and Arlo Parks – and many more – reach the top of the charts with their expertise. It’s also a genreless podcast, perfect for the general music lover, with subjects varying from major, legendary artists likes Thom Yorke to new, emerging names.
Not A Diving Podcast With Scuba
Not A Diving Podcast With Scuba. Image: Apple Music
Techno heads – this one’s for you. Techno artist and head of Hotflush Recordings, Scuba, has always been an advocate for opening up about his bouts of depression, speaking his mind, and discussing openly the obstacles that artists face. In this podcast, you can hear incredibly frank revelations about the scene as well as deep dives – pardon the pun – into how underground electronic producers make their music.
Seth Troxler, DVS1, Alan Fitzpatrick, Dave Clarke, Elijah – any figure in the industry with wise words to say – sit down with Scuba once a week to dig into the important issues.
Girls Twiddling Knobs

Isobel Anderson hosts the Girls Twiddling Knobs podcast, with a strong focus on female-identifying musicians and producers. Part of the Female DIY Musician brand, the series invites women onto the show to explain how they use technology to make their music and how they overcome challenges in the industry to achieve their goals.
Although Girls Twiddling Knobs has only been running for four months, a range of intriguing topics has already been touched upon. This includes experimenting with sample packs, composing for film and TV, overcoming doubt, overcoming your music tech gremlins and much more. This podcast is thought-provoking and informative for producers from all walks of life.
Learn more at femalediymusician.com.
Appetite For Production

Appetite For Production is brought to you by music technology journalist veterans Tim Cant and James Russell. This podcast is like listening to two music production nerds discuss new hardware, plug-ins and samples at the pub. And it’s as lighthearted and loopy as you’d expect.
Despite its entertaining nature, the bi-weekly podcast will keep you informed on the latest developments in the music tech world. The duo uses their expert knowledge to analyse the effect of new products on the industry, making trivial updates on DAWs and plug-ins more interesting and, frankly, hilarious.
Learn more at app4ppodcast.com.
Working Class Audio
Image: Matt Boudreau/ workingclassaudio.com
Working Class Audio does more than teach you about music production techniques. Matt Boudreau invites an eclectic range of industry professionals onto the show who share their career journeys, anecdotes and tips for navigating the music technology industry.
You’ll hear from producers, engineers, soundtrackers and mixers who have made their name creating revered records, scoring and producing blockbuster films and designing audio for video games, among other achievements. Their journeys give you insight into the human challenges you may have to overcome as a professional – and you’ll feel inspired after every episode.
Learn more at workinclassaudio.com.
Pensado’s Place

Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick have been presenting the weekly Pensado’s Place show for ten years, inviting the world’s top producers and recording engineer’s to hear about their best practices. As a prolific, Grammy-winning producer himself, Dave Pensado doesn’t hold back on getting technical with his guests, talking all things studio-related, with Herb Trawik using his music business wisdom to discuss industry navigation.
Pensado and Trawik’s recent guests include Kenny Beats, Al Schmitt, Che Pope, HAIM, Keith Urban, and Finneas. Regardless of your genre, style and role in the studio, this acclaimed podcast will have you laughing and learning every single time. If you’ve ever attended The NAMM Show, you may even know the show from their regular live panels at the event.
Learn more at pensadosplace.tv.
SonicTalk

Those of you familiar with Nick Batt and Gaz William’s gear reviewing antics on the SonicState YouTube channel will enjoy their company on the weekly live SonicTalk show. Nick teams up with regular guests including Gaz, MATTHS, Yoad Nevo, Dave Spiers, Rich Hilton and more to talk about the latest developments and gear releases in music technology.
As the show is streamed live across Facebook and YouTube, you can hop on the chat and discuss the topics with fellow listeners and with the presenters themselves. With SonicState’s expertise on synths, sequencers, samplers and studio gear in general, you’re sure to get an immediate analysis on how effective a new music production tool really is.
Learn more at sonicstate.com.
Hanging Out With Audiophiles

Warp Records artist Jamie Lidell sits down with some seriously talented musicians and producers in Hanging Out With Audiophiles. Imogen Heap, Four Tet, Richard Devine and Matt Black are among his many guests, who go deep on their production techniques and share the gear that helps them get their sound.
Lidell also explores iconic music tech innovations and discusses their influence with his guests, as well as sharing some of his own studio tips along the way. Music tech gear enthusiasts and audio perfectionists will find this podcast extremely interesting, relatable and packed with information.
Learn more at jamielidellmusic.com.
Why We Bleep
Image: whywebleep.com
Music technology YouTuber Mylar Melodies brings music-makers and synth-makers onto the Why We Bleep podcast to get geeky about gear. Mylar Melodies speaks to representatives from some of your favourite software developers and hardware manufacturers, such as Valhalla DSP, Moog, System 80 and Signal Sounds.
You’ll also hear from well-loved figures in the synth world, including Gaz Williams and DivKid, along with appearances from revered producers – BT, Sub Focus, Sarah Davachi and more. The only issue is that a new episode only comes once a month, leaving you aching for more.
Learn more at whywebleep.com.
Recording Studio Rockstars

Recording Studio Rockstars shines a light on the talented producers behind the glass on some of the greatest artists and records of all time. Lij Shaw, the host of the podcast, speaks with industry professionals to dig deep into their knowledge and experience to help you become a studio rockstar yourself.
Some of Lij Shaw’s guest so far include Morgan Page, Steve Albini, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg mixer Rafa Sardina, Alicia Keys, Wu-Tang Clan and Luther Vandross engineer Tony Black, Electric Lady Studios designer John Storyk and more. On this weekly podcast, you’ll hear tons of interesting stories and tidbits to help you progress as a producer, mixer and engineer.
Learn more at recordinigstudiorockstars.com.
SoundGirls Resonating Beyond Sound

SoundGirls is an organisation that works to amplify the voices of women in the music industry and inspire them to reach their goals. The Resonating Beyond Sound podcasts interviews professionals from all around the music technology industry, including CEOs, journalists, engineers, stage managers and more.
The hosts, Becky and Susan, learn how the music industry can be more supportive and cultivate a more diverse community. They discover what it’s like to live a day in the life of their guests, how they became successful and the challenges they face today.
Learn more at soundgirls.org.
Mixing Music

This podcast is pretty self-explanatory. Mixing Music is about mixing music. Presented by mix engineer Dee Kei and Lu Moreno, the show discusses topics such as analogue vs digital gear and the best vocal mics, explains the different types of reverbs, teaches you about dynamics, and provides essential advice on how to charge for your work, how to get more clients and more.
Mixing Music also invites guests to share their techniques, such as Chris Brown’s engineer, TEEZIO, who talks about how he produced the artist’s latest album. This podcast will prove as a useful resource for all types of producers, from beginners to industry professionals.
Learn more at mixingmusicpodcast.com.
For more music technology news, reviews, features and guides, click here.
The post The best podcasts for music producers in 2023 appeared first on MusicTech.

Volumio launches AI discovery tool in its music player to help users to find “hidden gems”Italian audio company Volumio has launched Volumio AI, the latest version of its Music Player application. Now boasting a Supersearch feature, users can uncover musical “hidden gems” through the power of artificial intelligence.

READ MORE: Cuckoo: AI is “a reminder of how important it is to take your artistry seriously”

The Volumio Music Player ecosystem, which was launched back in 2013, allows users to access their local music files and stream from their favourite music services such as TIDAL, Qobuz, Spotify and more, via one unified interface. ​
In its latest upgrade, Volumio says it is “one of the first music apps in the world to fully integrate an AI search function”. The new Supersearch feature utilises Open AI’s ChatGPT, to point listeners in the direction of “the perfect soundtrack for every moment”. By describing what you would like to hear in just a few words, Supersearch will give users an array of recommendations.
Other features of Volumio AI are:

Related artists and albums: Suggestions for other artists and albums you might like are presented as you browse. If those related artists or albums are located in your library – whether in your favourite streaming service or local files – Volumio AI’s Supersearch will be able to access them.
Infinity Playback: When you reach the end of your playback queue, new related tracks will automatically load.
Redesigned user interface: Described as “clutter free”, its interface has been revamped to make navigating through artists and albums much more streamlined.

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Volumio can be installed on microcomputers such as Raspberry Pi, ASUS Tinkerboard or any PC, and can be controlled directly via your phone, computer or tablet.
Volumio’s Music Player is available now as a free version, or a paid premium version that includes the new Supersearch, and its other AI-powered features.
Premium pricing currently sits at £51.99 annually, or £5.99 per month ($69.99 annually or $7.49 per month / €59,99 annually, or €6.49 per month). Find out more at Volumio.
The post Volumio launches AI discovery tool in its music player to help users to find “hidden gems” appeared first on MusicTech.

10 music production techniques you need to try in FL Studio and Ableton Live
Veteran producers Kaelin Ellis, Max Rewak, Isaac Duarte, and Nick Chen came together to share ten timeless music production tips in FL Studio and Ableton Live.

Audiokinetic Strata sound effects collection Strata is a new sound effects library which offers all of its content in multitrack project files that allow users to customise the sounds for their specific use case. 

The music industry is at a tipping point [MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan]Artificial intelligence, underpaid artists, and tens of thousands of new tracks released daily are just a few of the major problems facing the music industry. “There is still time for. Continue reading
The post The music industry is at a tipping point [MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan] appeared first on Hypebot.

The MLC Issues Quarterly ReportIn June, The MLC's CEO Kris Ahrend, testified in Nashville before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet, at a field hearing entitled “Five Years Later — The Music Modernization Act.” In addition to answering questions about The MLC’s work from the Committee members in attendance, Kris provided an update on The MLC’s operations, including the growth to more than 28,000 rightsholder Members and the distribution of more than $1 billion in royalties to date. The MLC is grateful for the Subcommittee’s time and for the participation of all of the other stakeholders who testified, to address the work of The MLC and all those across the industry working to ensure that rightsholders receive the royalties they are due under the blanket mechanical license. To read Kris’s full written statement, click here.

The MLC’s 2022 Annual Report is now available on our website. The report offers a look into our second full year of operations, key performance metrics from 2022, a financial summary and more.

Read Our 2022 Annual Report

On May 23, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) issued its initial rate determination for the Phono 3 rate period. This initial determination and the publication of the corresponding regulations that accompany the initial determination represent the next important step in the CRB’s process of finalizing the rates for the Phono 3 rate period.   Once the rate determination is finalized and published in the Federal Register, DSPs will have 6 months to deliver revised data and any royalties they may owe under the final Phono 3 rates — both for the historical unmatched usage previously reported (for 2018, 2019 and 2020) and for usage under the blanket license previously reported (for 2021 and 2022). The MLC has already begun working with DSPs to prepare for their delivery of this revised usage data. For more information, you can read more and check out our timeline here. 

In May, we completed running our final set of historical unmatched data files through our internal matching process. During the Congressional Field Hearing in Nashville, we announced that we had matched nearly 70% of the historical unmatched royalties transferred to us by DSPs. That means that nearly $300 million in historical royalties will be eligible to be distributed to Members provided they have claimed their shares of the works that we’ve matched to those historical royalties. Members can use our Claiming Tool to search for — and claim — any missing shares of their songs that other Members have registered with The MLC, and Members can use our Registration Tools to register any songs that have not yet been registered with us.   Members can also use our Matching Tool to search for uses of their works in the remaining unmatched data we have for those historical royalties. (The one exception is the historical data we received from FanLabel, which contains issues that FanLabel has not been able to rectify.) By providing our Members with full visibility into all of our remaining unmatched sound recording data, we have fully illuminated the "black box" for digital mechanicals for the first time in history and given Members the ability to help us eliminate the black box by proposing matches to their registered works. We’ve already reviewed and approved matches for more than 800,000 previously unmatched groups of recordings that our Members submitted using the Matching Tool. Once we approve a proposed match submitted by a Member, they will be able to receive any previously unmatched historical royalties we received for their song and any unmatched blanket royalties we have received since The MLC launched full operations.

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Billboard: How’s the Music Modernization Act Working? Congress Gives Landmark Legislation 5-Year Review Music Row Magazine: The MLC Crosses the $1 Billion MilestoneBillboard: Songwriters’ Streaming Royalties Have Been Determined (Finally)Music Tectonics Podcast: Inside The MLC With CEO Kris AhrendMusic Connection: The MLC Announces Events for Pride and Black Music Month

TikTok’s parent has launched an AI music making app. What might this mean for the video platform’s music licensing talks?How might the launch of Ripple, an AI-powered music making app, play into the short-form video platform's future licensing negotiations
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Recent Classical Highlights for June 2023Epic listening is what you get with this month's classical reviews, in more than one sense. If only we all had the energy of Garrick Ohlsson (pictured), who, with conductor Donald Runnicles, performed the heroic feat of playing all of Beethoven's piano concertos over the course of one week.

KVR Developer Challenge 2023 Now Live With 21 FREE Plugins
KVR Developer Challenge 2023 is now live! Everyone interested can download 21 freeware VST plugins. KVR Audio forum members can now vote for their favorite entries. This is the ninth edition of the KVR Developer Challenge. Audio developers were invited to submit new plugins or sound libraries for a chance to win one of the [...]
View post: KVR Developer Challenge 2023 Now Live With 21 FREE Plugins

Melda Production’s MDynamicEq currently free To celebrate their 15th anniversary, Melda Production are giving away their versatile MDynamicEq plug-in for a limited time. 

Canva inks deals with Warner and Merlin to let creators use songs in their contentCanva has built a user base of around 135m
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The music industry’s tipping point is Right Here, Right NowStreaming is buckling under its own weight. The economics and structure that served it well in its first decade are not the ones that will get it through the next ten years. You might say that streaming is going through its ‘start up to scale up’ phase. AI is the disruption lightning rod of the moment, but transformational as it may prove to be, it is simply catalysing pre-existing disruptions. ‘Fixing’ the problems thrown up by AI would be dealing with symptoms rather than causes. The music industry is at a tipping point. There is still time for the creators and businesses within it to help shape what comes next, but that window of opportunity is both small, and closing.

Is anyone earning what they want from streaming?

When streaming first emerged, artists were worried it would not pay them enough; then the debate moved on to whether too much value lay with the biggest artists and labels; now with the superstar artist production line stuttering, the majors want a new royalty system to protect their income. Meanwhile, Spotify still struggles to generate a consistent profit. So the long tail, the majors, creators, and streaming services all think that streaming isn’t paying them enough. Which begs the question: just who or what is streaming paying enough?  Whatever the answer may be, the clear takeaway is that a royalty and remuneration system designed when albums, charts, downloads, and radio still ruled the roost, is failing to adapt to today’s much changed music world.

Remuneration pains are a symptom of consumption

A host of potential innovations are vying to be the solution to streaming’s remuneration woes (fan powered / user centric, two-tier licensing, etc.) but royalty challenges are the output, not the input. Streaming has shifted the majority of music behaviour from active listening to lean-back consumption, using algorithms to push consumers towards niches. The result is a consumption landscape shaped by fragmentation and passivity. There is a lot more consumption than before, with more consumers monetised, but the previous, finite artist economy has been replaced by an in-effect infinite song economy. Consumption needs ‘fixing’ before remuneration. 

While there are encouraging shifts towards monetising fandom, those tools will never have full effect if audiences are simply spending their time listening passively. There will, quite simply, be no fandom to monetise.

Machines on all sides

These are the two key sets of market dynamics that AI, and some other emerging technologies, will make worse, not better. Lean-back consumption is where AI will have the biggest, near-term impact. Context based playlists deliver music that is good enough. It is all about the overall soundscape rather than individual tracks, and even less about the artists. Production music libraries, like Epidemic Sound, have already shown that their music is plenty good enough for such playlists. Generative AI is waiting to pick up the baton, and may be able to do it even better if the music is specifically designed for the hyper-specific music that algorithms have taught consumers to expect. What is more, generative AI can get even more specific by evolving to the listener’s use case (i.e., like Endel). And if DSPs were to generate AI music themselves, then they could a) improve margins; b) stuff playlists; c) push users to the music. They who control the algorithm, control the listener.

And if that wasn’t bad enough for traditional labels and artists, a rising wave of virtual artists is hitting the market, such as K-pop acts Mave, Plave and Eternity, building on the foundations laid by the (now almost heritage) trailblazers like K/DA and Aespa. And even if these virtual artists have humans behind them, they are still a machine-centred challenge to wholly human artists (slightly crazy we even have to think in those terms these days!)

So, machines are opening a two-pronged attack on traditional labels and artists: 1) AI is competing for lean back, while 2) virtual artists compete for lean in (fandom).

Choose your poison

The industry’s strategy is to compel DSPs to take down problematic AI music and to keep the long tail in check with lower royalty rates. But that is unlikely to be enough. For example, why wouldn’t superstar virtual artists be eligible for the same royalty rate as superstar human artists? Regardless of whether the superstars are virtual or human, arguments that superstars deserve higher rates for pulling people to DSPs in the first place becomes less convincing every day, as consumption becomes ever more fragmented and ever less reliant on superstars.

But the scale of this problem is about to erupt like a volcano. Because the existential threat will come from AI in the hands of humans. AI will accelerate the consumerisation of creation trend that has been harnessed by artists and fans alike on TikTok, Snapchat, BandLab and a host of other places. Throw simpler-than-simple generative AI into social platforms and suddenly you have the potential for consumers creating ‘music’ at the same rate they create photos and videos. 

Millions of new ‘songs’ every day would break streaming royalties. So, labels would just get DSPs to keep those tracks off streaming, right? Not necessarily. These would be tracks made by people, so they would bring with them ready-made audiences of friends, family, colleagues and connections. Everyone becomes a fan of everyone else. It is the zenith of the network effect. And AI creations do not need to have millions of streams to disrupt streaming economics; millions of them only need to have at least one stream each.

And if friends can’t listen on DSPs, then they’ll listen on the social apps. Which means less time spent on streaming and further cultural dilution for DSPs. As one investment analyst put it to me: labels are faced with a ‘choose your poison’ choice, i.e., lower royalties now (due to dilution) or lower royalties later (due to smaller user bases).

Build a better train?

The entirely understandable temptation is to make what we have, work better. But sustaining innovation is unlikely to be enough. Just in the same way that it wasn’t enough for train companies to build better trains when Henry Ford’s new-fangled Model T car came to market. 

To be clear, building a better train is a not a bad option. Today, nearly a century on from when the last Model T rolled off the production line, trains still play a pivotal role. But for music, everything points to making streaming work better AND building something new.

Streaming fixed the problems of piracy and tumbling music sales. In doing so, it had the unintended consequence of commodifying music consumption. Without a new fork in the road, generative AI will simply hasten the utter domination of convenience. Pop will eat itself. AI will bring huge amount of value right across the music business, but portions of it will also hasten a reductive race to the bottom for convenient consumption.

Which is why, the time is now to start building plan B. To elevate a music world centred around fandom, identity, creativity, and exceptionalism. These are the fundamentally human elements of music that can (at least for now) clearly demarcate what is inevitably going to become a two-track music world. 

Five years ago, it would have been crazy to be thinking about how machines will shape the near future of both the business of music and of music itself. Just imagine what we might be discussing five years in the future?…..