Meet the ScaleUp Startups exhibiting at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024We’re excited to announce the debut of the ScaleUp Startup Exhibitor Program at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024! Join us at Moscone West in San Francisco from October 28-30 to meet an exciting lineup of startups that are poised to make their mark in the tech world. The ScaleUp Startup Exhibitor Program offers Series A and B […]
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Musk: Polymarket ‘more accurate than polls, as actual money is on the line’The billionaire mogul’s opinion comes as he ramps up his support for Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump.

BlepFX releases FREE Destruqtor distortion plugin
BlepFX releases two new plugins, including Prisma ($20+) and the FREE Destruqtor for macOS, Windows, and Linux. BlepFX is a brand-new indie developer debuting with two new plugins: Destruqtor and Prisma. Destruqtor is available to download for free with a pay-what-you-like option. Before I get into the plugin features, I want to briefly mention the [...]
View post: BlepFX releases FREE Destruqtor distortion plugin

The Turing Machine Made Real, In LEGOThe British mathematician and pioneer of computing Alan Turing published a paper in 1936 which described a Universal Machine, a theoretical model of a computer processor that would later become known as a Turing Machine. Practical computers don’t quite follow the design of a Turing Machine, but if we are prepared to sacrifice its need for an infinitely long paper tape it’s quite possible to build one. This is what [The Bananaman] has done using LEGO as a medium, and if you’d like one for yourself you can even vote for it on the LEGO ideas website.
There’s a video for the project which we’ve placed below, and it goes into quite some detail on the various mechanisms required. Indeed for someone used to physical machinery it’s a better explanation through seeing the various parts than many paper explanations. Not for the first time we’re bowled over by what is possible through the use of the LEGO precision mouldings, this is a machine which would have been difficult and expensive to build in the 1930s by individually machining all its parts.
With just shy of six thousand supporters and a hefty 763 days left at time of writing, there’s plenty of time for it to garner support. But if you want one don’t delay, boost the project by voting for it early.

Thanks [Furby73] for the tip!

Warriors with a song and a purpose honored by the Songwriters of North AmericaThe five honorees at the 2024 SONA Warrior Awards held last night (October 6) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles do much more than write the songs that make the whole world sing. Willie "PROPHET" Stiggers, the late songwriter Andrea Martin, Thomas Scherer, RAYE, and Ross Golan were celebrated by the Songwriters of North America (SONA) at the organization’s fourth annual gala for being extraordinary music creators and visionary business leaders who exemplify SONA’s mission of fostering a community of inclusion and uniting passionate creatives, songwriter advocates, and allies.

The SONA Warrior Awards is an event for songwriters held by songwriters honoring songwriters, artists, executives, and activists. It’s a celebration of music and the people who make it. The awards are not doled out based upon the number of record sales or streams, but to acknowledge the leadership and the impact made by these “warriors,” contributions usually made behind the scenes away from the limelight.

“I was so excited to celebrate the 2024 Warrior Awards honorees in front of a packed and enthusiastic house filled with songwriters and the people who love us. We’re in the background so much of the time, but songwriters and composers are a brilliant, funny, and entertaining bunch with lots to say. And we clean up well! Shining the spotlight and putting mics on us, it was an inspiring and meaningful night,” said SONA CEO Michelle Lewis.

After Lewis welcomed the crowd, she introduced the event’s hosts, songwriters Shane Stevens (Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Carrie Underwood) and Bonnie McKee (Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Kesha).

The United Kingdom-based RAYE was feted first, accepting her award via video after being introduced by GRAMMY nominated songwriter and producer Michael Sabath (Lizzo, Meghan Trainor, the Jonas Brothers). The singer-songwriter is the first woman to win Songwriter of the Year, making history by winning six BRIT Awards, including Best Artist, Best Album, Best Song, and Best Songwriter, after receiving a record seven nominations. She’s written songs for some of the brightest stars in music - from Charli XCX to Beyoncé - but it was RAYE’s own records that scored eight UK top 20 singles, five billion Spotify streams, and registered her first No. 1 single in the UK for the global hit, “Escapism,” which was the best-selling single by a female British artist last year. The certified platinum single was her first to hit the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. RAYE’s triumphs come after overcoming the adversity of a prolonged battle with her record label, eventually resulting in her freedom to release her debut album, “My 21st Century Blues,” independently. She adds her SONA Warrior Award to her prestigious Ivor Novello Award awarded for songwriting and composing.

Songwriter and ASCAP President Paul Williams, a three-time GRAMMY winner, two-time Golden Globe winner, and an Oscar winner, was present to introduce Sylvia Rhone, the chairwoman and CEO of Sony’s EPIC Records, who bestowed the 2024 SONA Warrior Award to the family of the late songwriter Martin. Martin wrote hit songs for powerhouse female R&B stars including Toni Braxton (“I Love Me Some Him”), En Vogue (“Don’t Let Go”), Monica (“Before You Walk Out of my Life”), Angie Stone (“Wish I Didn’t Miss You”), Leona Lewis (“Better in Time”), Melanie Fiona (“It Kills Me”), and SWV (“You’re the One”). Two-time GRAMMY winner Fiona performed in tribute to Martin.

GRAMMY winner Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) presented the 2024 SONA Warrior Award to Scherer. Spending nearly three decades at BMG and its parent company Bertelsmann as an artist, songwriter, music publisher, producer, label owner, and executive, Scherer has quarterbacked the signing and resigning of songwriters including GRAMMY, Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Diane Warren, Bebe Rexha, and Lewis Capaldi. He’s also secured the rights to more than fifty song catalogs by Paul Simon, Mötley Crüe, Five Finger Death Punch, and Gucci Mane among them. In addition to serving as president of music publishing in North America, Scherer was named president of global catalog recordings earlier this year.

Mega-selling and 11-time GRAMMY nominated songwriter, producer, and record executive Benny Blanco (Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran) took the stage to honor Ross Golan, a multiplatinum songwriter, record producer, playwright, and the host of the songwriter-centric podcast “And the Writer Is…” As a powerful advocate, Golan played a role in passing the Music Modernization Act, adding songwriters to and abolishing the 33% rule for the GRAMMY’s Album of the Year category. He’s also the first songwriter to serve as a board member of the National Music Publishers Association. After collecting his 2024 SONA Warrior Award, Golan performed the song he wrote for Ariana Grande, “Dangerous Woman.”

The evening’s final honoree was Stiggers, who is better known as PROPHET, co-founder, CEO, and president of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC). BMAC is a force in the music industry that advocates for racial equity and justice within the music industry on behalf of Black artists

GRAMMY winning and two-time Oscar nominated singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett closed the show with a performance of the empowering hit “Man in the Mirror,” which she co wrote for Michael Jackson.

The SONA Warrior Awards is also a fundraiser for the organization thus the event included a live auction during which guests bided on such prizes as tickets to see the Eagles’ concert at The Sphere in Las Vegas, songwriting sessions with Stevens and Lauren Christy (Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Chris Brown), Henry Diltz photos of legendary singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, and champagne jeroboams. The proceeds of the event and auction help fund SONA’s advocacy work all year long.The post Warriors with a song and a purpose honored by the Songwriters of North America first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Wolff Audio reveal FREQ 500-series EQ FREQ aims to combine the qualities of classic EQs with the improved accuracy and flexibility of modern designs.

JawnCon 0x1 Kicks off Friday, Tickets Almost GoneOf all nature’s miraculous gifts, few can compare to the experience of witnessing a new hacker con grow. If you’re in the Philadelphia area this weekend, you can get a front-row seat to this rare spectacle as JawnCon moves into its second year.
Running Friday into Saturday at Arcadia University, JawnCon 0x1 promises to be a celebration of technology, with a unique bend towards the glory days of the 80s and 90s — back when screeching noises coming out of the back of your computer was nothing to worry about. With talks that cover resurrecting payphones and spinning up your own AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), to a badge that will let attendees literally dial into an array of early Internet services, hackers of a certain vintage should feel right at home.
JawnCon Modem Badge
No gray beard? No problem. The early Internet theme certainly isn’t meant to exclude the younger players. In fact, quite the opposite. There’s an undeniable benefit to studying the fundamentals of any topic, and just as the 4-bit badge from Supercon 2022 gave many attendees their first taste of programming bare metal, JawnCon 0x1 ticket holders will get the opportunity to study protocols and techniques which you don’t often get a chance to work with these days. How you gonna keep ’em down on the farm after they’ve seen pppd?
As of this writing there are still tickets available, but it’s getting down to the wire so we wouldn’t recommending sitting on that fence for too much longer. Judging by what this team managed to pull off in their first year, we’re confident that JawnCon 0x1 (and beyond) are going to be well worth the trip.

‘The best managers in our business are the ones who are patient with their artists and let them develop in a natural way.’MBW's series on the World's Greatest Managers continues with Ian McEvily, whose hotter than the sun client, Dan Nigro, is the key creative collaborator with Chappell Roan and Olivia Rodrigo
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The Kid LAROI is the latest superstar artist to join HYBE’s Weverse fan platformThe HYBE-owned fan platform continues to expand its roster of non-K-pop acts
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WIMS Studio launch WoodVerberator WoodVerberator combines the usual capabilities of a convolution reverb with some handy extras such as built-in dynamics processing, de-essing, amplitude and pitch modulation, stereo field tools and more. 

Taylor Swift is redefining Copyright and Empowering all ArtistsShe isn’t just a pop icon. Taylor Swift is redefining copyright and reshaping the music industry, Discover how her bold moves are changing the rules and empowering artists everywhere.
The post Taylor Swift is redefining Copyright and Empowering all Artists appeared first on Hypebot.

Best Hashtags for Musicians to Boost EngagementLearn the best practices for choosing the best hashtags for musicians to elevate your online presence and engagement. by Lauren Davish of Disc Makers Blog We’ve all heard of a. Continue reading
The post Best Hashtags for Musicians to Boost Engagement appeared first on Hypebot.

“What’s interesting about this song is there’s actually very little going on”: Watch Jack Antonoff break down Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please PleaseJack Antonoff has peeled back the curtain on his production work for Sabrina Carpenter’s chart smashing hit, Please Please Please, revealing how he used the works of ABBA and Electric Light Orchestra as a reference point for its dreamlike synth sound.
The track peaked at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and topped charts across the UK, Australia, Ireland and more. Its influences of disco, country and pop see the track utilise acoustic guitar, a sturdy drum beat, and synth work utilising a classic ARP.

READ MORE: “I always know when it’s done. It’s a feeling”: Jack Antonoff explains how he knows when a track is finished

In the new video for Variety, Antonoff explains, “That reference point of ELO or ABBA, one of the great hallmarks of that is you have incredibly organic, ‘I hear a person playing guitar, I hear a person playing drums, I hear a vocalist,’ and you hear a human being struggling with a machine. I love that sound.
“I always wanna play things in some way like it’s the first time I’ve played them. And one thing that gives, Please Please Please great character is this grand push and pull between things that are gritted and on time, and things that are like floating around. It makes you feel a little bit drunk, a little bit dreamlike.”
He further expands, “[You have] that interplay between hearing a human being very humanly, playing an acoustic guitar a full take all the way through, and then hearing a human being express humanity through a synthesiser by not feeding MIDI, not feeding click, you know? I’m playing an ARP, and this is the hallmark of the whole song, right? So if I have a super tight LinnDrum, then I start playing around with something that is not locked to tempo. The lockness of the LinnDrum makes the song looser, because now I know where the beat is perfectly.”

He adds, “What you start to feel is these exciting moments that to me are very reminiscent of ELO or ABBA where there wasn’t the technology to make things too great and so people are expressing themselves on synthetic instruments and it gave this song an incredible character.”
As for the main chorus, it consists of a large vocal stack. “What’s interesting about this song is there’s actually very little going on, what you really have is one lead and you have three stacks beneath it. So it’s a four stack, but it’s not.”
Antonoff continues, “Essentially what I’m doing here is instead of using too much reverb or delay, I’d rather just have someone do a few more takes that I can spread out. You have two harmonies, doubled each. So the entire vocal stack of the chorus, which to me in my head sounds like the heavens opening up, is literally eight vocals, and three of them barely count. The only other thing I have going on is I have that stack running through a copycat and a space echo, which I’m manipulating in real time. So the EQ of this, the tune, the pitch, it’s all getting fucked with.”
You can watch the full video below:

In other Antonoff news, the esteemed producer recently revealed plans to open accessible studios across the US for those who would normally be priced out of their use. The initiative is still in a very early phase, though Antonoff hopes to roll these out across LGBTQ+ youth centres first.
The post “What’s interesting about this song is there’s actually very little going on”: Watch Jack Antonoff break down Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please appeared first on MusicTech.

StubHub Fake Ticket Lawsuit StallsAs the fight to reign in ticket resellers like Vivid Seats and StubHub heats up in Washington, DC and state legislatures over excessive markups, fees and fake Oasis tickets, Chris Castle revisits a StubHub fake ticket lawsuit stalled in the courts.
The post StubHub Fake Ticket Lawsuit Stalls appeared first on Hypebot.

“I just found a way to make the sound come out”: Rick Rubin says he still doesn’t know the “right way” to program an 808Rick Rubin still doesn’t really know the “right way” to program an 808 drum machine, as he learned to do so without a manual.
He made the confession during his new interview with Rick Beato, in which he explains how his Def Jam label – which he co-founded with Russell Simmons – got started. It’s Yours by rapper T La Rock and DJ Jazzy Jay was the first rap recording made by Rubin, in which he used the iconic Roland machine.

READ MORE: “Everything is white – like you need to fill the space with your music and thoughts”: Beabadoobee on Rick Rubin’s studio, Shangri-La

At this point in time during the 1980s, Rubin felt that no rap albums were really made by professionals, and that “the professionals didn’t know what rap was”. As a result, rap recordings more often turned out as “polished” R&B records.
Rubin, who was much more involved with the culture of DJ-ing, wanted to make a record that captured the real lively essence of this scene, and just how it felt to him when he saw it live: “I wanted to make a record with the Treacherous Three ‘cause they were my favourite group,” he tells Beato. “They’d already made three great records and now they had signed to Sugar Hill and they stopped being great.
“Again, I know nothing about the music industry, all I know is I love this music. I met a guy in my favourite band who made great music and now he’s making not as good music, and I want to say, ‘let’s try doing this together’, and he says, ‘I can’t, I’m signed to Sugar Hill’. I didn’t even know what it meant, and he said, ‘but if you want to make a record, talk to Special K [Kevin Keaton, member of the Treacherous Three]. His brother is T La Rock, and his brother is not signed’.”

He continues, “We recorded this song, It’s Yours, and I had a drum machine that I borrowed from a punk rock band called The Speedies. Eric the guitar player lived in my dorm room. I borrowed his drum machine, an 808, so I had that in my room. He didn’t really use it anymore so I kept it in my room for a long time and programmed loads of beats just for fun and it’s really easy to program. I still don’t really know the right way to program it, I know how I programmed it because I didn’t have the instruction manual so I just found a way to make the sound come out.
“I had a PA in my room and a DJ setup, because I was a DJ at that time and I would DJ at the parties in the dorm… At that time most of the rap records that were coming out were like Kurtis Blow or Jimmy Spicer. When you went to the club you saw that the DJ was a really integral part of the way the music worked and I said, ‘I feel like instead of it being a T La Rock record, it would be better if it was a T La Rock and whoever your DJ is’. He didn’t have a DJ and my favourite was Jazzy Jay.”
You can check out the full Rick Beato interview below:

The post “I just found a way to make the sound come out”: Rick Rubin says he still doesn’t know the “right way” to program an 808 appeared first on MusicTech.