Doc Martin on mixing vintage and modern gear, and why you should try releasing your music independentlyCalifornia’s Doc Martin has cemented himself as a house music veteran, with almost 40 years of experience in the studio and behind the decks, and running his own label, Sublevel, for 25 years. The producer and DJ has performed around the world, alongside iconic acts such as Larry Heard, Frankie Knuckles, Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, and even Daft Punk in their early days; but Doc Martin hasn’t slowed down after decades of success, and has continued creating and performing for the love of the game. This year, he’s releasing a slew of new original music, remixes, and collaborations with the likes of Harry Romero and D’Julz.
With such an extensive career, we’ve taken the chance to access Doc’s workspace in this issue of Studio Files, to learn how he balances vintage and modern gear, why he’s streamlining his setup, and what advice he’d give to producers looking to release music on their own terms.
Hey Doc! Your DJ career has taken you across the globe and onstage with some musical icons. How much does this impact your creative decisions when you sit down and make music in the studio?
I try not to get caught up in what’s hot at the moment. I’m pretty genre illiterate when it comes to that. I might hear elements that excite me in different styles of music, and bring them into a song or groove I’m working on.
Before social media, different cities and countries had their own musical vibe. England, Germany, Japan, New York, Chicago, and Detroit all had their own thing going on, for example. That was one of the things that was exciting to me: experiencing different sounds and vibes from city to city.
You’ve seen and been part of some massive changes in the dance world. What can the new wave of producers and DJs learn from earlier eras of electronic music?
There are a ton of new producers who are coming up with fresh ideas, but there are people who’ve been at this for a while who you can learn from. The most important thing is to have your music be a reflection of you. Sometimes songs come together in a day, sometimes it’s weeks or months. I wouldn’t use AI just because the notes fit; you should try to experiment. You might come up with something that is completely your own.
Image: Doc Martin
Your latest release is a remix of Jeremiah’s Move — what’s your general approach to an edit or remix?
The original was a record that I played through at least three copies of. This was a staple at the Sublevel parties. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original while giving it that West Coast vibe. I added congas, drums, stuttered hi-hats, fattened the bass up a bit, and played a dub-style keyboard part in the background, with a few acid edits and ran it through my Soundcraft board. It was more of a re-edit with post-production added to it. I wanted to keep the integrity of the original.
Tell us about your studio.
My studio is located in a storefront by the beach in Oceanside, California, between Los Angeles and San Diego. It started as a place where I could do pre-production, and it transformed into a lot more than that — I can really take my time and experiment with sounds and effects. It’s a mixture of analogue and digital equipment, and after all this time, I’m still learning how to get different things out of my gear. I’m pretty much self-taught, so I have my own way of doing things. I’ve always said that I’m just a DJ who makes records.
Your gear collection is practically a museum — particularly in the drum machines. How often are you reaching for the vintage Roland drum machines, and what do they bring to your music?
I use my vintage gear a lot and will run them through effects. I love my Studio Electronics SE-1X, and use it a whole lot. The bass is so warm, and hits in all the right places. I’ve found that my Roland machines all have their own personality. Whereas modern gear often all sounds the same, so then it’s up to you to make it sound different. I will also still use my TC Electronic Fireworx effects if needed. As most people know, there is no right or wrong; it’s just what works for you!
TR-909. Image: Doc Martin
Tell us about how you use the DJM V10 — this isn’t a DJ mixer for the lighthearted, right?
I absolutely love this mixer. I did product testing for this with Pioneer DJ. I love the compressors on each channel, which help make a tighter blend when mixing newer tracks with older ones, which I do a lot. The crossover on the mixer is also a plus. The way you can blend records together on this mixer is super smooth as well. In the beginning, most people would see it and get intimidated — so many knobs and features — but I think now it’s become an industry standard. I love the AlphaTheta Euphonia 4 Channel Rotary mixer as well. I have an affection for rotary mixers, as I helped with the development of the Rane MP2015 mixer.

View this post on Instagram

What’s been the biggest investment in your studio?
I’ve been very fortunate when it comes to acquiring equipment. Finding unheard of deals on gear. Getting a 909 for $300 back in the day from an ambient producer. I guess you could say I’ve got good gear karma. I would say the Akai MPC X is the most expensive piece of gear that I’ve bought in the last few years. The jury is still out on this one for me. I got it fully loaded. I’m still comparing it to my MPC 2000; I definitely need to spend more time with it.
How do you see your sound and studio evolving in the next few years?
I’m going to streamline even more. I’ve got a ton of great analogue gear sitting here that someone could be using on their own journey. I’m always learning new things, and have been fortunate to work with people who live in their studios.
Have you felt yourself actively changing your productions to align with what streaming platforms seem to desire right now? Is that something you have to consider?
To be honest, not really. There are very few labels that can keep up a crazy release schedule and deliver quality, interesting music. It becomes more cookie-cutter, just to fill a release schedule. I look for stuff that I can pull out five years from now and will still sound good. To me, it’s not who has the most new records that wins. Believe me, I’ve been sucked into that mind frame before. I really love having a relationship with the music I play.
TC Electronic Fireworx. Image: Doc Martin
You’ve released music on some of dance music’s most iconic labels and have 20 years of experience running Sublevel. Is there any advice you’d give to new producers looking to sign their music to labels?
I’ve been so fortunate to have been released on so many great labels. Not all of them were big records at all, but it was 100% us. Sublevel was an outlet for me and Lillia to release our own music, as I didn’t have a big budget to release a ton of other people’s music. We were vinyl-only when we started. 25 years in now, and we are working harder than ever to cut through the noise. I would recommend that every up-and-coming producer release music on their own to see how it’s done. It will give them a better understanding of what’s involved in releasing music.
Don’t get discouraged if you send stuff out and don’t hear back from the labels. Keep grinding and working to get your music out there.
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
That whoever has the most gear wins. I’ve been to studios where there are tons of keyboards just sitting there collecting dust. I’ve been guilty of this as well. I remember doing a record in the early 90s in Hackney, London. We turned the finished project in on a metal cassette mixed on four channels. The label was like, ‘How did you get it to sound this good on a cassette?’ We used maybe four pieces of gear.
Who gave you the biggest lesson in your career? Can you tell us about how it impacted you?
In the early days, I would say Blakkat (Mark Bell). I spent endless hours in Blackpool, England, learning about techniques, effects, and live mixing. Now I would say Joeski (his way of putting together music is crazy), Harry Romero (how can everything sound so fat and big and still have vibe?), Homero Espinosa (so good on those deep vibes), and Andreas Henneberg has really impressed me as well. All of these I’ve got to sit in the studio with, and can feel their love for what they do.
The post Doc Martin on mixing vintage and modern gear, and why you should try releasing your music independently appeared first on MusicTech.

Roland says its new AI melody generator, Melody Flip, puts “human intent” at the centre of the processRoland has introduced Melody Flip, a new AI tool that generates melodic ideas based on your own audio and works directly inside your DAW.
Developed in collaboration with Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Melody Flip combines research in AI-assisted music creation with Roland’s long history of building tools for musicians.
“Melody Flip is designed to expand creative possibilities, embodying Roland’s vision of technology as a partner that coexists with the creative process,” says the company.
Throughout development, Roland worked closely with artists to ensure the software reflects how musicians actually create, experiment, and refine ideas in the studio.

READ MORE: “Make the internet weird”: This new Chrome extension lets you control YouTube videos with a surfing cat

As Roland is keen to emphasise, Melody Flip is not a fully automated composition tool, but a way to give producers a starting point when inspiration runs dry – while still keeping you in control of the process.
So what does that actually mean in practice?
Melody Flip lets creators import an audio file, and the software analyses its musical characteristics – things like structure, BPM, key, chord progression, genre, and mood.
From there, it draws on a library of around 300 “creative palettes” (predefined musical styles and tonal directions) to generate melody ideas that fit the DNA of your track.
Users can then pick, tweak, chop, or rebuild them however they want, treating the technology like an “active collaborator”. Roland says that the result is a new kind of production workflow where humans and software work side by side to bring music to life.
Despite its name, Melody Flip can generate not just melodies but chord, bass, and drum parts as well. All of these can be exported in both audio and MIDI formats.
“Roland has always been committed to supporting the evolution of music culture through electronic musical instruments and production tools,” says Roland CEO and Representative Director Masahiro Minowa.
“Melody Flip represents a significant step forward in the era of responsibly developed AI, introducing a future in which technology and people work together and elevate creativity. As we move forward, Roland will continue to expand the boundaries of musical expression with innovative products and services that amplify creators’ instincts and connect human sensitivity with the full potential of technology.”
Melody Flip is available for macOS and Windows and works as a plug-in within major DAWs. Like other Roland software products, Melody Flip will be delivered via the Roland Cloud Manager, with a free trial scheduled to launch in May 2026.
Learn more at Roland.
The post Roland says its new AI melody generator, Melody Flip, puts “human intent” at the centre of the process appeared first on MusicTech.

Native Instruments CEO issues new update on insolvency proceedings: “We are working to secure a healthy, financially sustainable future”Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams has issued an official update on the company’s insolvency proceedings, reiterating its determination to “secure a healthy, financially sustainable future”.
Native Instruments caused a ripple in the music production world when it announced it was entering preliminary insolvency proceedings in January 2026. NI is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of music-making software and hardware – behind the likes of Massive, Kontakt, Maschine and many more – so the news naturally caused its user base considerable concern.

READ MORE: European retailers are pulling headphones following study claiming harmful substances exist in select models

Nick Williams sought to partially dispel those concerns a few days later when he confirmed business would “continue as usual” at Native Instruments, as the Berlin-based brand – which also has under its umbrella iZotope, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance – looked to restructure to secure its future.
Now, Williams has issued another update on the company’s restructuring process, commending the “loyalty” of the Native Instruments user base and speaking about its “active M&A (mergers & acquisitions process)”, which is seeing “strong interest from multiple parties with deep roots in audio and technology”.
You can read the statement in full below:
“I want to share a direct update on the restructuring process underway here at Native Instruments. Business continues as usual across Native Instruments, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx. Our products, platforms, services, downloads, and customer service remain fully available.
The support we are receiving from our partners, artists, and community has been extraordinary. This loyalty isn’t something we take for granted, and it’s a reflection of what Native Instruments means to the people and businesses we work with every day.
At the end of January I said: “We are working diligently and responsibly to secure a healthy, financially sustainable future for Native Instruments.” This remains true – and our determination to achieve a sustainable future is strengthened and energised by your support.
We are currently in an active M&A process that is progressing well, with strong interest from multiple parties with deep roots in audio and technology. We see a clear path to achieve our goal to provide continuity for creators, customers, and partners.
As part of the restructuring process, Native Instruments GmbH and a number of our German entities will shortly be moving through expected legal steps, including transitioning from “preliminary insolvency” into formal “insolvency” proceedings where applicable. These are expected steps in the process we are working through.
What gives me confidence in our future isn’t just the progress we’re making – it’s also the extraordinary passion and dedication of the entire team here at Native Instruments. We continue to deliver every day, building and shipping products, and looking after our customers.
We’ll continue to share significant updates as we have them.”
The post Native Instruments CEO issues new update on insolvency proceedings: “We are working to secure a healthy, financially sustainable future” appeared first on MusicTech.

Get the UVI Shade Creative EQ and Filter for only $29 (70% OFF)
UVI is now offering the Shade creative EQ and filter plugin for just $29 (previously $99), in a 70% off deal exclusively available at Plugin Boutique.  The deal expires on March 31, 2026.  Shade is a 64-bit-only macOS and Windows plugin for AU, AAX, VST, and VST3.  When you buy Shade, you can also score [...]
View post: Get the UVI Shade Creative EQ and Filter for only $29 (70% OFF)

More Ways to Stream and Sample on AllMusicWe've recently launched more ways to discover new sounds on AllMusic: Embedded Bandcamp album players and Apple Music players on artist pages. Find out how you can help us grow this library of links.

BMG sues Anthropic for infringement, alleging AI firm’s $380B valuation was built on ‘stolen copyrighted works’BMG Rights Management has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Anthropic, the AI giant behind the Claude AI chatbot.
Source

Music modes: What they are and how to use them
Learn about what musical modes are, the seven common diatonic modes, and how you can use them to achieve new colors in your music.

Nothing CEO Carl Pei says smartphone apps will disappear as AI agents take their placeNothing CEO Carl Pei says AI agents will eventually replace apps, shifting smartphones toward systems that understand intent and act on a user's behalf.

Repurposing Old AMD APUs For AI WorkThe BC250 is what AMD calls an APU, or Accelerated Processing Unit. It combines a GPU and CPU into a single unit, and was originally built to serve as the heart of certain Samsung rack mount servers. If you know where to find cheap surplus units of the BC250, you can put them to good use for AI work, as [akandr] demonstrates.
The first thing you’ll have to figure out is how to take an individual BC250 APU and get it up and running. It’s effectively a full system-on-chip, combining a Zen 2 CPU with a Cyan Skillfish RDNA 1.5 GPU. However, it was originally intended to run inside a rackmount server unit rather than a standalone machine. To get it going, you’ll need to hook it up with power and some kind of cooling solution.
From there, it’s a matter of software. [akandr] explains how to get AI workflows running on the BC250 using Ollama and Vulkan, while noting useful hacks to improve performance like disabling the GUI and tweaking the CPU governor. The hardware can be used with a wide range of different models depending on what you’re trying to achieve, it just takes some careful management of the APU’s resources to get the most out of it. Thankfully, that’s all in the guide on GitHub.
We’ve already seen these AMD APUs repurposed before for gaming use. Unfortunately the word is out already  about their capabilities, so prices have risen significantly in response to demand. Still, if you manage to score a BC250 and do something cool with it yourself, be sure to let us know on the tipsline!

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX Toontrack’s staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a one-of-a-kind instrument that’s been created using a mixture of sampling and synthesis. 

Temecula DSP releases MDV-II, a FREE Alesis Midiverb II emulation
Temecula DSP has released MDV-II, a free Alesis Midiverb II emulation for macOS and Windows. When it comes to sought-after studio gear, Alesis isn’t a brand name that instantly comes to mind. But the typically budget-friendly manufacturer has produced a few models that have become must-haves for many producers over the years, and none more [...]
View post: Temecula DSP releases MDV-II, a FREE Alesis Midiverb II emulation

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope iZotope’s powerful mix-referencing plug-in now includes a new capture process that’s compatible with popular streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music. 

“Make the internet weird”: This new Chrome extension lets you control YouTube videos with a surfing cat“What if you could control YouTube with a surfing cat?” It’s a question posed by music software label A Vinyl Bar in Shibuya, as it launches its new Chrome extension, Speed Surfer.
So, what is Speed Surfer? Well, it basically offers you the ability to control audio in your Chrome browser – including audio speed and filter levels – with a tiny surfing cat as your interface. That’s pretty much it.

READ MORE: European retailers are pulling headphones following study claiming harmful substances exist in select models

“Slow it down. Speed it up. Make the internet weird,” the company says, as it urges users to play with audio while watching YouTube videos like never before.
Naturally, such an extension was just begging to be experimented with, so in the name of journalism, I added it to my Chrome browser myself and tried my hand at some on-the-fly YouTube DJing.
The interface is super simple; your surfing cat sits on a grid, with audio speed on the X axis and filter level – which spans between low-pass and high-pass – on the Y axis. You can adjust the speed of audio between 0.50x and 1.50x the original. 
The Y axis offers no filter frequency value, which actually feels refreshing, as it’s all too easy as a producer to work with your eyes and not your ears, as you should. I am not calling myself a producer for clicking on a surfing cat while a YouTube video plays in the background, to be clear. Or should I?
There’s also a Chaos button in the bottom right corner, which seems to randomise the values of both the speed and filter without any rhyme or reason. As a consequence, it doesn’t serve much artistic benefit while listening to your favourite tunes, but hey, why not.
And that’s pretty much it. I found it surprisingly fun to add filter sweeps to some of my favourite songs, and the gamified interface makes things all the more entertaining.
Speed Surfer is totally free, so head to the Chrome Web Store to try it out for yourself.
The post “Make the internet weird”: This new Chrome extension lets you control YouTube videos with a surfing cat appeared first on MusicTech.

Lese TeuriTeuri is for Distortion Morphing. Teuri's "Cellular Distortion" system puts multiple distortion models at different points on an XY pad and lets you live in the tension between them. Drag through the grid and blend through textures that were never meant to coexist. ragged fuzz bleeding into clinical overdrive, soft saturation collapsing into bitcrush. No snapping, no quantizing, just continuous, organic layers of deterioration. Since the different models can produce sound at different levels, Teuri internally handles these differences to give you a smooth morphing experience. Highlights Model Selection Teuri comes with a broad palette of distortion characters; from analog circuit models to experimental processes that have no hardware counterpart. Whether you're reaching for the warmth of a pushed tube stage, the grind of a germanium fuzz distortion, or something that treats your audio less like a signal and more like a material to be torn apart, Teuri's model selection is built to cover the full range of what distortion can mean. Distortion Cells Different distortion models are added on an XY pad, and the internal "Positional Blending" system handles smooth blending between them, regardless of model. The "blender" also attempts to balance between the gain differences that the models have in real-time. Modulate More Teuri has a modulation system, similar to the one in Glow and Smear. Offering up to four modulators which can be optionally synchronized to the DAW's BPM & retriggered by the DAW's playback state. More Features Input / output balancing system. A bunch of different distortion models. Some are tailored to experimental sound design, some are reminiscent of classic style distortion. A selection of embedded demo presets. Vectorized, resizable interface. YouTube.com/watch?v=DZyURXEKu1w YouTube.com/watch?v=5Bic7Pm7kKM Read More

How This UK Indie Label Sold 25K Records For 1 Band First WeekThis week, Ari is joined by Mark Orr, founder of Lab Records, to break down modern indie label deals, marketing, and artist strategy.