Measure of Music Conference’s 2026 Speakers & Sponsors AnnouncedThe Measure of Music Conference & Workshop, presented by Chartmetric, which runs from Feb. 20-22, 2026, has announced a number of key speakers and an open call for proposals.
The post Measure of Music Conference’s 2026 Speakers & Sponsors Announced appeared first on Hypebot.

Chromeo and A-Trak on how they shape their sounds, collaboration, and more
In this exclusive interview, A-Trak and Chromeo's Dave 1 discuss their creative toolkits, collaborative process, and more.

Acustica Audio releases STONE, a FREE tone-shaping channel strip
Acustica Audio has released STONE, a free tone-shaping channel strip plugin for macOS and Windows. STONE is an Acqua plugin inspired by rare British broadcast and studio hardware from the 1960s and 1970s, and it’s permanently free with no limitations or demo mode. If you’ve followed Acustica Audio for a while, you’ll know that, coming [...]
View post: Acustica Audio releases STONE, a FREE tone-shaping channel strip

UltraRare YUNOST 70https://youtu.be/FAz1LAoqX9s The YUNOST 70 is a Soviet-era electric organ produced from 1970 to 1973 using germanium transistors, the foundation of early electronics. This version of the plugin features note-tuning for all built-in oscillators and an additional one, created using a recording of the instrument's built-in speaker on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, microphone, and tape, also from the 1970s. Read More

Shadow library claims it “backed up Spotify” – all 300TB of itAnna’s Archive, the open source search engine for shadow libraries, has announced it has effectively “backed up Spotify” – archiving hundreds of millions of tracks’ worth of metadata and audio files, and distributing the whole thing via torrents.
Best known for preserving books and academic papers, the group says it scraped metadata for around 256 million tracks and audio files for roughly 86 million songs. By its own estimate, that accounts for about 99.6 percent of all listens on Spotify, bundled into a dataset weighing just under 300TB and sorted by ‘popularity’.

READ MORE: Spotify’s new AI Prompted Playlists feature lets users “control the algorithm”

In a blog post, Anna’s Archive describes the project as the largest publicly available music metadata database in the world, framing it as a long-term, fully open “preservation archive” for modern music. The group argues that while chart-topping hits are unlikely to disappear, swathes of lesser-known music could be lost if streaming platforms drop licences or shut down entirely.
“A while ago, we discovered a way to scrape Spotify at scale. We saw a role for us here to build a music archive primarily aimed at preservation,” the post states. “This Spotify scrape is our humble attempt to start such a ‘preservation archive’ for music. Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start.”
According to Anna’s Archive, much of the audio originates from Spotify itself. Popular tracks are stored in their original 160kbps format, while less-played songs have been reencoded into smaller files to save space. The archive is said to contain about 37 percent of all songs available on Spotify as of July 2025. Metadata torrents are already live, while the audio files are being released in stages, starting with the most-streamed tracks.
Legally, however, the project sits on very shaky ground. Spotify licenses the vast majority of its catalogue under strict agreements with labels and rights holders, and mass scraping and redistribution of audio files – preservation-minded or not – violates both its terms of service and copyright law in many jurisdictions.
Following the announcement, the streaming giant released a statement confirming it had identified and disabled the accounts responsible: “Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” the company says. “We’ve implemented new safeguards for these types of anti-copyright attacks and are actively monitoring for suspicious behavior. Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy, and we are actively working with our industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights.”
The post Shadow library claims it “backed up Spotify” – all 300TB of it appeared first on MusicTech.

Embertone offers E.L.V.E.S. festive choir instrument for Kontakt FREE for a limited time
Embertone has released E.L.V.E.S., a free virtual choir instrument for Kontakt, available for a limited time during the holiday season. E.L.V.E.S. stands for “Embertone Lyrical Voice Elevation System, although the name very much serves the purpose of being an acronym for elves. This is a playful holiday sample library designed to sound like a tiny [...]
View post: Embertone offers E.L.V.E.S. festive choir instrument for Kontakt FREE for a limited time

How to easily remove background noise from vocals with one clickAd feature with Sony and BandLab. Editor’s note: BandLab Technologies and MusicTech are both part of Caldecott Music Group.
Your best microphone is surely the one you have with you when inspiration strikes. And, as many singers, rappers and vocalists will understand, a creative idea for a melody or phrase might spark while you’re on a walk, on the train, or even in a laundry room. These are noisy places, and microphones on modern smartphones and earbuds are probably going to pick up some background noise, even if they capture your voice very effectively.
You might think that it takes audio wizardry to salvage your vocal recording from the hubbub of a laundry dryer or noisy reflections in a bathroom, but BandLab’s Voice Cleaner will help you with just one tap.
BandLab’s new feature is available directly from the BandLab app on your smartphone and in your browser. But just how convincing is this new AI-powered feature? Can it really help your vocal recording shine, even in the weirdest of environments?
To find out, we’re testing the effectiveness of BandLab’s Voice Cleaner in three areas: Background noise, room reflections, and frequency issues. You can watch below as we record vocals in bustling woodland, a living room with poor acoustics, and a shower room — all using the microphone of a cheap pair of wired earbuds.

How does BandLab Voice Cleaner work?
BandLab’s Voice Cleaner uses an AI-powered engine to remove background noise, reduce unwanted echoes, and balance the frequencies in your vocal recordings. These are cleanly integrated into there features, which you can toggle on or off: Noise Remover, DeReverb and AutoEQ.
To access these tools, simply click on your audio recording within your BandLab project, click Voice Cleaner, and wait a few seconds for it to work its magic.
Voice Cleaner is available to all BandLab users with a BandLab Membership.
A BandLab Membership gives you over 50 additional creator tools within the BandLab app in your web browser or on your iPad, iPhone or Android device. This lets you compose, create and arrange music, with innovative tools built in, including automatic track mixing, visual EQ, advanced voice processing and auto-generation with Extend, Re-compose and Layer composition and arrangement features. Along with Voice Cleaner comes Voice Changer, which lets you change the sound of your voice with 15 different vocal styles.
BandLab’s Membership price is currently at its lowest ever, at just $70 for the year, which is the equivalent of $5.80 per month. You can claim this deal now at BandLab.com.
The post How to easily remove background noise from vocals with one click appeared first on MusicTech.

ROYAL 2 virtual bassist plugin by UJAM is only $9 at Plugin Boutique
Plugin Boutique is currently offering the ROYAL 2 virtual bass guitar plugin by UJAM for just $9, down from the regular $119 price tag. That’s a massive 92% discount, available until January 4th (and you also get a free gift with your purchase). ROYAL 2 is part of UJAM’s Virtual Bassist series. It shares the [...]
View post: ROYAL 2 virtual bassist plugin by UJAM is only $9 at Plugin Boutique

UJAM release Virtual Pianist Grit Virtual Pianist Grit is the second electric piano to join the Virtual Pianist line-up, and is said to offer a distinctly more rugged and expressive voice that its predecessor, Vibe.

AllMusic Loves 2025 ReissuesScanning the reissues and other archival releases loved by ten of our editors, it's clear that 2025 was an outstanding year for vintage live recordings as well as a myriad multi-disc compilations catering to explorers of old school R&B, synth pop, British folk, German rock, and more, even electroclash. Here are our individual editors' personal selections for the reissues and archival albums that came out this year.

Vinyl Minded, Gift Guide Edition Vol. 2Frank Sinatra

Long Ago, Far Away (1943-1951) (SING)

5XLP Deluxe Box Set

Five albums, all jam-packed with live gems by Ol' Blue Eyes, originally recorded in the '40s and very early '50s. The bulk were recorded in New York or at the Hollywood Bowl, with a few from Philadelphia. But regardless of the geographical location, all 10 sides of vinyl showcase The Voice at his very best. Smooth, emotion-inducing, and just on it!

Frank's "Ol' Man River," at the Hollywood Bowl, is a show-stopper, and it's impossible not to get goosebumps when he croons "I Fall in Love Too Easily." His banter between songs is a glorious time capsule; there are moments when he just stops short of chastising the crowd for getting too excited.

The packaging here is exquisite. "Paired with a deluxe booklet featuring expert liner notes, rare photos, and vintage memorabilia, every set is unique—each vinyl record is visually distinct, ensuring no two are alike," reads a statement.

“What SING has done with these mono broadcast recordings is nothing short of revolutionary – and remarkable,” said world-renowned Sinatra expert and author Charles L. Granata. “Engineer Harry Hess has taken the vintage sonics to an entirely new level by using professional AI tools to separate Sinatra’s voice from the orchestra, clean it and raise the volume and re-integrate it with the instrumental backing so it has more presence and stands more prominently at the forefront of the recording. This judicious use of professional AI tools has enabled SING to build on the inherent fidelity of these recordings. No gimmickry, fakery or psycho-acoustic tricks were used. Harry’s innovative, targeted and sensitive use of the burgeoning technology in a very specific way resulted in recordings that remain faithful to the artist’s performance while allowing it to shine as never before.”

If the full box set is a stretch financially, there is single LP called Frank Sinatra at the Hollywood Bowl 1943-1948, which picks out some highlights. There's also an album which picks out the best of Sinatra's Christmas on the Air tunes, which is disc 5 in the box set, just in time for the holidays. They've thought of everything.

Ray Charles

No One Does It Like Ray Charles

Come Live With Me

Love Country Style

Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (Tangerine Record Corp.)

There aren't many voices that can follow Sinatra, but Ray Charles certainly has one of them.

Tangerine has remastered and reissued a bunch of classic Charles albums while, in No One Does It Like Ray Charles, they've dropped a new and quite stunning compilation, "collecting for the first time ever a number of mid-1960s singles, B-sides, and non-LP tracks never before gathered together on a single cohesive album," they say. "The instant classic collection captures Ray Charles at the height of his powers, offering a rare glimpse into a prolific and creatively explosive moment in his career."

"Without Love (There is Nothing)" is spellbinding, as is "Something's Wrong." At his peak, Charles' voice finds its way to your very core and wraps itself around your soul.

All of these albums, on stunning orange vinyl (Tangerine -- see what they did there?) are quite beautiful. Ray's version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" on Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul is worth the price of that particular album alone. But there's no filler on any of these.The post Vinyl Minded, Gift Guide Edition Vol. 2 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Palmer Luckey’s Erebor hits $4.3B valuation as regulators advance bank charterLuckey-backed Erebor raised $350 million at a $4.35 billion valuation as OCC and FDIC approvals signal momentum for crypto- and AI-focused banking.

OpenAI says AI browsers may always be vulnerable to prompt injection attacksOpenAI says prompt injections will always be a risk for AI browsers with agentic capabilities, like Atlas. But the firm is beefing up its cybersecurity with an 'LLM-based automated attacker.'

Christmas Ornament Has Hidden Compartment, Clever DesignIf you need something clever for a gift, consider this two-part 3D-printed Christmas ornament that has a small secret compartment. But there’s a catch: the print is a challenging one. So make sure your printer is up to the task before you begin (or just mash PRINT and find out).
Want a challenging print that’s also useful? This two-piece ornament has a small gift area inside, and prints without supports.
This design is from [Angus] of [Maker’s Muse] and it’s not just eye-catching, but meticulously designed specifically for 3D printing. In fact, [Angus]’s video (embedded under the page break) is a great round-up of thoughtful design for manufacture (DFM) issues when it comes to filament-based 3D printing.
The ornament prints without supports, which is interesting right off the bat because rounded surfaces (like fillets, or a spherical surface) facing the build plate — even when slightly truncated to provide a flat bottom — are basically very sharp overhangs. That’s a feature that doesn’t generally end up with a good surface finish. [Angus] has a clever solution, and replaces a small section with a flat incline. One can’t tell anything is off by looking at the end result, but it makes all the difference when printing.
There are all kinds of little insights into the specific challenges 3D printing brings, and [Angus] does a fantastic job of highlighting them as he explains his design and addresses the challenges he faced. One spot in particular is the flat area underneath the hang hole. This triangular area is an unsupported bridge, and because of its particular shape, it is trickier to print than normal bridges. The workable solution consists of countersinking a smaller triangle within, but [Angus] is interested in improving this area further and is eager to hear ideas on how to do so. We wonder if he’s tried an approach we covered to get better bridges.
Want to print your own? 3D files are available direct from [Angus]’s site in a pay-what-you-like format. If your 3D printer is up to it, you should be able to make a few before Christmas. But if you’d prefer to set your sights on next year with something that uses power and hardware, this tiny marble machine ornament should raise some eyebrows.

Wavesfactory Trackspacer is Now Just $29 in 50% Off Plugin Boutique Deal
Plugin Boutique is currently offering Wavesfactory Trackspacer for just $29, down from $59 in a 50% off deal. The holiday promo for the dynamic EQ and sidechain compressor plugin will expire on December 31, 2025.  Trackspacer is a 64-bit only release for macOS (VST, AU, AAX) and Windows (VST, AAX). Wavesfactory describes Trackspacer as similar [...]
View post: Wavesfactory Trackspacer is Now Just $29 in 50% Off Plugin Boutique Deal