What is a chorus in a song? Understanding its role and importance
Dive into the role of a chorus in a song, how it enhances the emotional impact of music, and tips for writing your own.

Spotify offers ‘context’ to Hypebot’s streamshare payouts postSpotify reached out to take issue with Hypebot's reporting on the streamer's Substack "The Truth About Streaming Payouts."
The post Spotify offers ‘context’ to Hypebot’s streamshare payouts post appeared first on Hypebot.

Lewis Capaldi Is Back on the Road. We Need to Talk About the Mental Health Toll of TouringThe widely-adored Scottish singer-songwriter is back on tour after a long hiatus due to health issues; his story is becoming increasingly common.
The post Lewis Capaldi Is Back on the Road. We Need to Talk About the Mental Health Toll of Touring appeared first on Hypebot.

The best gifts for DJs this holiday season After 11 months of taking song requests, Christmas is the one time of year DJs get to ask for something they want, so here are some of the best gifts this holiday season.
Whether they’re a bedroom dreamer, mobile party starter, or club resident, pick from 10 present ideas for the vinyl and digital DJs that they’ll actually use – and I should know, because I’m all of the above.
Curated by the MusicTech team, choose from a setlist of designer slipmats, modular headphones, a DJ-specific flash drive and more from familiar brands like AlphaTheta, Native Instruments, and Teenage Engineering. Get in quick, and you may even find a Black Friday bargain or two.
Give their turntables a designer Defected Records upgrade – £8 each
[deals ids=”7gQ0L5fgT9RphlLRlOfE69″]
Whether they’re rocking vintage Technics 1210s or set to unwrap new decks, slipmats are an essential addition for protecting records from scratches and a vinyl DJ’s kryptonite – vibrations. Defected’s 16oz designs don’t merely evoke memories of their favourite dance track or artist – they also come in six different styles intentionally sold separately so you can mix and match. If you can’t choose, simply buy the lot and use them as table mats for Christmas dinner.
Protect their lugs with Alpine earplugs
[deals ids=”3st1lgYeRoCTCQrCz7QfHr”]

Like a large number of DJs, I suffer from tinnitus and at times it can be infuriating. Protecting my hearing in the booth has become more important than ever, and so a solid pair of earplugs is a must-have. Custom earplugs can be costly, but Alpine’s off-the-peg MusicSafe Pro aim to match that performance for 100 uses. The plugs come complete with three sets of filters for 16, 19 & 22dB, a carry case, cord so you don’t lose them, and a cleaning spray.
The UDG Ultimate DIGI is the Rolls-Royce of headphone bags
[deals ids=”qHCBEbkxXH2uHukttagXh”]
The carry case that comes with most DJ headphones can veer into chocolate teapot territory. UDG’s headphone holder will protect their precious cans from damage during transit and is something of a tardis when it comes to storing digital DJ essentials such as flash drives and spare cables. Made from Ballistic Nylon – developed for use in flak jackets – it looks like the sort of thing Lucian Fox would make for Batman if he had a set at Sankeys. Now there’s an idea. You can also shop Thomann’s remaining Black Friday weekend deals now.
Milty’s ZeroStat 3 might just fix their vinyl
[deals ids=”2Mfm47Al6yaAEmefxlTVgb”]

Another static revenger for vinyl DJs, the Milty Zerostat 3 is a battery-free gun that zaps away unwanted pops. A few slow squeezes will neutralise charges and restore clean playback. It’s durable, dead simple to use, and equally effective on both new and vintage records. For crate diggers with OCD (so, er, all of them), Milty’s anti-static taser is designed for those demanding pristine, noise-free mixes – just make sure they carry the paperwork with them in case security questions why they’re packing.
Gift them AIAIAI’s DJ headphones with a difference
[deals ids=”6fdUKNPlwWY7LNUHcmT3HS”]

Danish audio company AIAIAI has long been a pioneer in headphone design. Its TMA range is fully modular, allowing you to build your own to match their lifestyle or choose from ready-made configurations for studio, DJ, or everyday use. The lightweight TMA-2 DJ XE are built for marathon sets thanks to an anti-fatigue design, while at the top end, the TMA-2 DJ Wireless claims a ‘world first’ with an ultra-low-latency, cable-free connection. AIAIAI’s emphasis on modularity also makes its headphones easy to repair.
SanDisk’s AlphaTheta Flash Drive is my DJ stick of choice
[deals ids=”3ZteyckVTa4LLYMAQcPf8H”]
I bet you’ve never thought about gifting someone a USB stick for Christmas, but hear me out. I’ve been using SanDisk’s AlphaTheta Flash Drive since the summer, and it’s now the centre of my digital DJing world. First off, it’s optimised for Rekordbox, my DJ software of choice. It’s got masses of storage, meaning I now carry around all my playlists, not just some, and the lightning-fast speeds mean no lag when uploading songs or loading tracks. Plus, that glorious dual USB-C/USB-A connectivity ensures seamless transfers between laptop and CDJ.
Illuminate their streamed sets with Nanoleaf lighting
[deals ids=”33Rfhdb9nYrtglfrGFl6Wp”]
Nanoleaf is a smart lighting brand, a bit like Philips Hue, and I’m one of those insufferable tech nerds with Wi-Fi bulbs throughout my house. Try multicolour tiles from Nanoleaf’s Shapes range, like these Ultra Black Triangles, and there’s added Engine DJ integration allowing those with compatible decks and controllers to configure and trigger their own lighting display during sets. Great for bedroom DJs, streaming sets from the studio, or even mobile DJs performing at parties. Nanoleaf goes big on Black Friday, so check out its other deals here.
Ride the riddim with Teenage Engineering’s EP-40 & EP-2350
[deals ids=”3fTTzcNVF5OaQv2wOCtiV8″]

Arguably the MusicTech team’s favourite pick for what we’d like for Christmas, Teenage Engineering’s latest stroke of genius is the EP-40 Riddim sampler and EP-2350 Ting microphone. Available as a bundle for a short time only, this reggae sounds sampler, sequencer and composer can be connected to turntables and mixers for on-the-fly sound system-inspired creativity. That’s thanks to a menagerie of mono poly voices, loops, and effects all wrapped up in a beautiful lo-fi design. TE has even produced a full accessories range ripe for gifting, including these adorable Riddim n’ ‘Ting’ socks. Sold.
Treat them to Native Instruments’ clever new DJ controller
[deals ids=”21In8j72T98NNWu7dif0x1″]

I had the privilege of reviewing the Native Instruments Traktor MX2 in October, and it sets a new benchmark for affordable DJ controllers. It costs a bit more than entry-level options like AlphaTheta’s altogether competent DDJ-FLX2, but the extra bang for your buck is considerable and could well set a bedroom DJ on the way to something far more creative. If they’re the sort of person who prefers to experiment rather than paint by numbers, this is the controller for them.
HEDD Audio’s DJ monitors got top marks from MusicTech
[deals ids=”LFzsM3FeWPVsfN5PeQq0c”]

A favourite from our best small studio monitors to buy in 2025, HEDD Audio’s TYPE 05 A-CORE speakers received a coveted 10/10 score and MusicTech Excellence Award when we reviewed them back in June. Hand-built in Berlin with an all-analogue design and featuring the holy trinity of XLR, TRS and RCA inputs, we love the tactility of control knobs for volume, bass and treble EQs without being distracted by yet another app. While designed for everyone from bedroom DJs to mobile performers, a small studio setup is probably their happy place.
The post The best gifts for DJs this holiday season  appeared first on MusicTech.

Acon Digital announce Extract:Dialogue 2 Extract:Dialogue 2 introduces a whole host of new features including real-time reverb reduction, per-audio stem EQ, optional Mid-Side processing and a redesigned mixer-style interface that gives users direct control over dialogue, noise and ambience levels.

Track Record: Shure CEO Christine Schyvinck on the company’s 100th anniversaryWhen you type the word “microphone” into a Google image search, the first item that comes up is Shure’s SM58. Everyone from the biggest performers in the world to artists taking the stage for the first time uses the famous wired vocal mic.

READ MORE: How AlphaTheta’s CDJ-3000X is finding an unexpected new audience

The SM58 is just one staple of the audio market that Shure has released since it opened its doors in 1925. When MusicTech asks Shure Chairman, President, and CEO Christine Schyvinck about its full century of success, she’s quick to reel off the core values Mr Shure – as she calls founder Sidney N. Shure – laid out so long ago.
“Listening to our customers, always making high-quality solutions, dealing in our business practices in the most ethical way possible, and showing respect to each other and our partners,” Schyvinck says. Mr. Shure started out as a one-man show, helping every customer and building every product, she notes. “Those values are engraved in our brains.”
Schyvinck herself joined Shure in 1989 as a Quality Control Engineer, then held positions such as Vice President of Corporate Quality, Vice President of Operations, and Chief Operating Officer, stepping into the top role in 2016. She now oversees thousands of employees on five continents, but an essential part of her job is making everyone feel like they are a part of a family, as she did for the company’s recent 100-year celebrations.
“We spend a lot of time in the field trying to figure out what customers are trying to get done in their day jobs”
“We have more people outside of the United States than we have inside, and we really wanted to make sure that this celebration let everybody participate,” Schyvinck says. “In many locations, musical entertainment was provided by the associates. We have a passion for the products that we make because we have that interest and curiosity with our own hobbies and our own interests.”
Audio quality is a passion for Schyvinck and Shure, which is why the SM58 remains the legendary product it is decades after its introduction in 1966.
“If you count the fact that SM58 heads go on a lot of wireless solutions, that would be more than half of our business. We never worry about that product,” Schyvinck remarks with a big smile, explaining how, after nearly 60 years, its technical components haven’t changed. “Maybe some kind of material becomes unavailable, or a supplier changes. But by and large, the construction of the product is the same.”
“Any podcast, any livestream for gaming, you’re going to see Shure microphones being used”
Timeless Sound
There’s no need to change the SM58 because everyone still loves its sound, and as Shure ventured into gaming and podcasting, Schyvinck saw new opportunities for another classic product that remains beloved for its audio quality: the SM7 voiceover mic, which was developed in 1973.
Gamers had started adopting the SM7, but they wanted a product that could plug directly into their computers. So Shure’s engineers went to work developing the MOTIV series.
“We had this decades-old product with this little brother, the MOTIV line, coming out around the same time. Popularity was growing, and the need was growing during the pandemic,” Schyvinck says. “Those solutions are ubiquitous. Any podcast, any livestream for gaming, you’re going to see those microphones being used.”
Schyvinck knows what mics are being used in gaming and podcasting because she takes pains to stay updated on what’s happening in the audio market. “I make sure that the executive team gets out and about,” she says, mentioning a recent tour of the Chicago Bulls’ arena home, the United Center. She and her team saw, from end to end, what it takes to broadcast an NBA game. “We spend a lot of time in the field trying to figure out what customers are trying to get done in their day jobs.”
That on-the-ground experience is, for Schyvinck, crucial to being able to live out Mr Shure’s values – the principles that have guided the company to its pole position in audio technology.
“Shure has a reputation for being easy to work with and having very rugged, reliable solutions. At the same time, we’re known for exceptional audio and intelligibility. Those are the tools that we want to use for all of our innovations going forward,” she says. “A hundred down, and another hundred in front of us.”
The post Track Record: Shure CEO Christine Schyvinck on the company’s 100th anniversary appeared first on MusicTech.

Xilentch releases XMTubePre, a FREE mastering tube preamp plugin
Xilentch has been busy over the past few months, and after releasing XMLimiter V2 and XMTape&Clip, the developer has added another plugin to the XM series: XMTubePre. XMTubePre follows the same design philosophy as previous releases; the intention is to recreate the feeling of expensive hardware in a free, simple plugin. In this case, Xilentch [...]
View post: Xilentch releases XMTubePre, a FREE mastering tube preamp plugin

How to remove background noise from your vocals within seconds using BandLab’s Voice CleanerAd feature with BandLab. Editor’s note: BandLab Technologies and MusicTech are both a part of the Caldecott Music Group.
Music creators habitually record their ideas into their phones. It’s comforting to know that all the musical snippets you may want to revisit are in your pocket, but if you’re just using your phone’s basic built-in audio recorder, the ever-growing list of ideas can be intimidating to unravel. This is why more songwriters opt for smarter apps like BandLab Studio to organise and store their creativity.

 
Having your instrumental and vocal ideas in one place is much more efficient than singing into the void. But a noisy vocal recording can easily take you out of your flow state while making music. The distracting environmental sounds won’t match the pristine sonic quality of the virtual instruments you’re working with. Suddenly, the mood is ruined.
BandLab Studio’s Denoise feature is a helpful tool to snap vocals into focus. But when it comes to vocal isolation, it’s the new AI Voice Cleaner that’s hard to beat. It removes ambience from recordings so that you can adapt even the roughest phone-recorded vocals into your mix.
Testing different environments
As the holiday season is already in motion, many musicians hope to travel with a compact, portable setup. This was me on Thanksgiving week, as I left New York to visit my in-laws in Milwaukee. Though I didn’t plan to work every day, I wanted to be able to capture moments of inspiration on my phone. With so many distractions in and around the house, I had small windows of opportunity to do so.
Away from the chatter, I found some peace in the bathroom to record a verse I had in mind. With droplets of water and plenty of natural reverb, the environment was less than ideal to record in.
But this is where the Voice Cleaner shines. Using my earbud microphone, I recorded the part into the BandLab Studio app on my phone. One tap on the resulting audio clip, and the Voice Cleaner option comes right up, with three options to choose from: Noise Remover, DeReverb, and AutoEQ.
This was my first time using Voice Cleaner, so I left the AutoEQ switch off at first. All I had to do was select Apply to separate my voice from the rumble and echoes bouncing off the tiles. My vocals sounded clean and dry with very minimal artefacts. Intrigued, I ran the Voice Cleaner again, this time switching only AutoEQ on. Now, each word was crisper and clearer.
Here’s the process, step by step.

Having heard what the Voice Cleaner is capable of, I wanted to challenge it further by turning the bathroom fan on. Despite the loud noise, the Voice Cleaner differentiated my voice from its surroundings. It was a bit grainier compared to the earlier version, but it was still usable as a scratch vocal in a demo track.

Denoise vs AI Voice Cleaner
BandLab Studio’s AI tools are available with a Membership, but you can still benefit from the regular Denoise feature in the free version of the app.
Denoise can reduce the volume of consistent interference, like an AC running in an acoustically treated room. Try it on vocals that you recorded outdoors, and it’ll fall short.
To compare, I re-recorded the same verse on a balcony by the river. In the following video, you’ll hear the raw recording, as well as how Denoise and Voice Cleaner each processed the vocals.

There was plenty of wind, as well as boats and cars passing by. Might Denoise work better indoors? Let’s run the test again, this time in the kitchen, with the water running in the background.

Evidently, Denoise can suppress some noise. But it can’t eliminate all types of noise and reverb.
Taking mobile recordings to the next level
Although it’s as close to a miracle-worker as you can get, there are challenges even Voice Cleaner can’t overcome.
While recording another take in a separate room, the earbud microphone picked up the family dog’s barks in the background. With Voice Cleaner, I managed to erase one of them. But the other bark, though muffled, was still there. Would I use the voice-cleaned version over the original take, though? Absolutely.

Organised creativity, stored in the cloud
My biggest takeaway from this experiment is that with BandLab’s Voice Cleaner, any vocal recording can find a place in your productions.
In a basic voice memo app, you can’t record to a click, and importing a voice memo into a DAW and building a track around it requires a significant amount of effort. Before you can focus on the instrumentation or what comes next in the song, you’ll first have to quantise the recording. Then, you’ll have several stages of EQ, noise suppression, gating, and audio editing to look forward to.
That’s a lot of work for a scratch vocal that may not even appear in the final version of a song.
Now, imagine opening up BandLab Studio from the get-go instead. Maybe you already have a few chords in mind, so you write the notes in on a synth track. Maybe you look into the vast collection of BandLab Sounds to find a sample to start your song with. Maybe you grab a full instrumental from BandLab Beats to keep your focus on your songwriting process.
Next, you record your melodic and lyrical ideas on the grid. You hit Voice Cleaner, which gives you a clean slate to mix your vocals into the instrumental. You confidently run your voice through AutoPitch, apply a vocal FX preset, or build your own chain with EQ, compressor, reverb, and delay.
Because BandLab Studio files get stored in the cloud, you have access to your sessions on your smartphone, tablet, and computer. An idea you start on the road can quickly turn into a fleshed-out arrangement before you get back home. By combining the power of Voice Cleaner with a USB microphone, you can even achieve studio-quality vocals you’ll want to keep forever.
No matter how you use it, you’ll always be ahead of the details that hinder your creative output with Voice Cleaner.
The post How to remove background noise from your vocals within seconds using BandLab’s Voice Cleaner appeared first on MusicTech.

Larry Taylor PatchUtilPatchUtil converts Roland D-50 and JD-800 patch bank files between the various formats used by the hardware and software instruments. PatchUtil can also list patches in a bank file and verify SysEx files. Read More

Fusaka goes live as Ethereum edges closer to ‘instant feel’ UXHow Ethereum's new PeerDAS feature slashes fees, boosts data capacity and paves the way for lightning-fast user experiences on the network.

Steve Cropper: October 21, 1941-December 3, 2025In memory of the great Steve Cropper, who has tragically passed away, we're publishing this interview with Harvey Kubernik (Copyright 2007, 2025).

I remember a Hollywood May 1975 visit to Cherokee Studios on Fairfax Avenue during Rod Stewart’s Atlantic Crossing sessions. Steve Cropper, Stewart and engineer Tom Dowd regaled me with anecdotes about Stax Records.  I went out to eat with Rod and Cherokee co-owner Con Merton, at the Cock ‘n Bull tavern on Sunset Blvd. Excellent trout. 

Steve Cropper: “I don’t think there ever was or ever will be a band that had the magnetism that Booker T. & the M.G.’s had, whether they backed somebody or played on their own.  In our high school days and upbringing, we had that band mentality thing, because if some guy wants to go out there and ego stage, he’s gonna blow it for everybody else. We learned to play as a unit in the studio. We were there not for ourselves but for the artist we were playing behind. In the studio, when I was writing songs and starting to record them, I always saw it in my head as a finished product. I knew where to go with it. Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper. Al Jackson, Booker, Duck, and I grew up playing nightclubs in Memphis. Wayne Jackson grew up that way. You have to play as a unit. Playing live, like at Monterey, if a vocalist is not there, I’m playing vocal parts. When a vocalist is there, I back off and play rhythm and fills.

“The way I recall it, they took us over to the festival in a school bus, we could hear the music, we heard a concert going in that afternoon. Now, we didn’t play until that night but they took us over early, ‘cause some of the guys wanted to hear some of the other artists. And, the Association was on stage as we pulled up, and I will never forget that. And here’s a connection, and I always loved their records on the radio, the influence of the Association in 1966, ’67, that the bridge on ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’ that I wrote with Otis was inspired by my like for their music. Hearing them was a little thing, but that was the inspiration for it, because we knew we had a hit, and we wanted to make it pop. 

“To me the Association loved R&B but they were a pop group. You know what I’m saying? So that’s sort of the way I was trying to go with that.  Of course, with Otis singing it it became an Otis song. He got the idea when he was staying at a houseboat later when he was workin’ the Fillmore West. 

“The Monterey DVD that Pennebaker put together Booker and I did interviews for it. The music leaps off the film. There was an energy. And there’s no need  for me to be bragging on myself and I don’t ever do that, and it’s not an ego thing and all that, but I don’t think there ever was or will ever be a band that had the magnetism that Booker T. and the MG’s had. Whether they backed someone or played on their own

“I saw one band that night, a band from Canada. The Paupers. They blew me away. Because they had a style unlike anyone else. We also saw the Electric Flag. I didn’t know who I was seeing. It was like Stax, and I didn’t know until later Michael Bloomfield’s devoted love for Stax and the Staple Singers. I liked the ‘Flag that day. 

“And we flew up there from L.A. on the plane with Paul Buttterfield. I saw his set. He was awesome, and years later we worked with him with Levon Helm. 

"At Monterey, we didn’t have to do sound check, rehearsal, nothing. Just plug up and go out there and play. Our clothing was different than the flower children. And that was the start of ‘be yourself and do your own thing.’ It was sort of a break away from freedom of teachers, from home, from parents, from society. That’s how that all got started. This freedom that we weren’t allowed. And, I think it was all around the Vietnam time, and we felt very goverened by the government, that they were gonna tell us what to do, when to do, where to do, how to do, because of the (military) draft. 

“And I think when music started as more of a religious thing. And, the smell was in the air. (laughs). If you didn’t do anything by then you definitely got a contact high at that concert. (laughs). Earlier when we had the Mar-Keys with the hit song ‘Last Night,’ we were on a show in front of 30,000 people in the Orange Bowl in Jacksonville (Florida), with the Everly Brothers, Tex Ritter and Jerry Lee Lewis. 

“Otis had found his audience, and Monterey helped him cross over to a wider white pop market. They already knew how big he was in Europe and Europe was not an ethnic rhythm and blues audience. It was more general. He was big in France and he was big in England. And he was big, and Phil Walden and Atlantic knew that, and they wanted that same kind of recognition over here, and they were finding it very difficult to get pop radio play. No problem getting R&B play whatsoever. So, we knew what we wanted to do. Without question, the Stax Volt tour itself of England and Europe changed everybody’s life. It changed the musicians and the executive end. Most of the guys in the band never played in front of 100 people in a nightclub, except Wayne Jackson and Duck Dunn, because of our success with ‘Last Night.’ 

“Everybody came home from England with a whole different opinion about themselves. I mean, if I remember, we were treated like the Beatles over there. I mean, when the Beatles came here. We were treated with more like royalty and respect in England. It was amazing. Hundreds of people trying to touch us. They used to have to line bodyguards up so we could get from the stage to the bus. We’d never seen that before. That was something unheard of, especially in the States. It changed everybody’s egos. And things started happening, and all of a sudden, the whole aura around Stax started changing because everybody all of a sudden wanted to be an individual. They didn’t want to work as a team anymore, and I was fighting for the team. I fought for that team big time. 

“To me it was like the greatest basketball team that ever came together. When they went into the studio together things magic happen. And they won. And winning was to have a hit record. A hit single on the charts. And then the other thing that happened historically was that in 1968, was the day that Martin Luther King was assassinated, that whole musical aura at Stax the bubble was burst. Never was the same and will never ever be the same. 

“You know, I always said it didn’t have to happen in the first place and why did it have to happen in Memphis? A quiet town and everybody got along. You look back, and there were things happening around me that I wasn’t aware of. My buddies didn’t talk to me about it. We never had a problem. We went to each other’s houses, we hung out, we went to restaurants together, we were blood brothers if anything else. We were family. Big time family. So, this sort of changed everybody’s lives without question. So thank God Monterey was before that. And, we had a lot of hit records in San Francisco. 

“Al Jackson, Booker, Duck and I grew up playing nightclubs in Memphis. Wayne Jackson grew up that way. So we had that band mentality thing and we worked as a unit. Because some guy who wants to go out and ego on stage is gonna blow it for everybody else. You know what I’m saying?  You have to play as a unit. We learned that in the studio, and we were there, not for ourselves but for the artist we were playing behind. Playing live, like at Monterey, if a vocalist is not there, I’m playing vocal parts. When a vocalist is there I back off and play rhythm and fills.     

“One of the things that I recall is a very big compliment coming from Phil Walden, ‘cause Phil was about Phil, and Phil was also about Otis Redding. And they told Phil at Monterey, and you know we went on really late that night, and there had been some delays with the equipment because it was drizzling, and stuff. Someone running the festival came backstage back to Phil and said, ‘you know we’re really only going to have time for Otis Redding. Let’s just bring Otis straight on.’ And Phil said, ‘Baloney.’ You’re not touchin’ this show. These guys are gonna go out and do the same thing they always do.’ Which meant we brought out Booker T. and the MG’s, we did one or two songs, and brought out Wayne (Jackson) and them, and did ‘Philly Dog’ and maybe ‘Last Night,’ and then we brought out Otis. And, that’s the way we did it, and Phil stuck to his guns. 

“The other thing that happened was that about three or four songs into the set, the (Musicians) Union there came back and said ‘we’re gonna have to shut this show down because we’re over curfew.’ And, Phil went over to them, ‘You ain’t touchin’ this. Them boys are gonna finish this show!’ So we didn’t know what was going on. We heard about this later. Everything Otis touched he made it his own, like Sam Cooke’s ‘Shake.’ 

“All of those things, you listen to them, and it is sort of like a great actor, like if Gene Hackman takes a part, or if James Stewart takes a part, they become that character. And at the time you watched it you became part of them. You know what I’m saying? You don’t think about somebody else doing it. At Monterey, that audience sat out through the rain to see us, or wait to see Otis Redding, and that’s the first time I ever experienced that. And they were more curious than anything else. Because they heard and heard who Otis was.” The post Steve Cropper: October 21, 1941-December 3, 2025 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Got writers block? Kestrel Write’s DAW-like lyric workstation could be the solutionIf you’re looking for a way to up your lyric writing game, Kestrel Write might be the perfect solution. The new app is a DAW-like poetry workstation, adopting a ‘time-line’ based interface that allows you to freely drag, drop and play with your lyrics like never before.
Designed by Robert Birdsey, the app offers a number of tools to work around even the worst case of writer’s block. Rather than being taunted by the vision of a blank word document, Kestrel Write’s DAW-inspired design places your lyrics within its ‘Arrangement’ timeline. There, you can easily rearrange your verses, choruses and other sections to explore new ideas.

READ MORE: “It’s not as laid-back as everyone thinks it is”: How Tanis scores movies and makes music from her NYC apartment

While the coloured section blocks make it easy to visualise your song structure, the app also serves as a great way of streamlining your creative process. Rather than losing track of your lyrics across various notes apps and word documents, Kestrel Write offers a centralised way of storing all your lyrics. That’s because, alongside your Lyric Blocks, there’s also an ‘Ideation Column’ on the side at all times to jot down any new ideas without having to leave the app.
Kestrel Write also goes the extra mile to aid the songwriting process, thanks to its selection of AI features – but not the kind you’re thinking of. Rather than an AI cloud, the app has its own offline, private and intuitive AI. This means that you can take advantage of a Rhyme Engine to help diversify your lyrics, as well as a Concept Explorer if you’re wanting some more help thinking of new metaphors, similes or keep to add in any extra sensory details.
There’s also tools to detect Syllable Counts to work out if a line needs re-jigging, a Stress Meter Analysis to visualise the rhythm of your words, and even a one-click tool to shift perspective from first to third person.
Of course, the private AI tools have their limits. Kestrel Write doesn’t want to entirely write a song for you, hence its decision to keep the AI to a minimum and keep it primarily offline and private. The decision also means that the app can be used entirely offline, which is super practical for writers on the go without a stable internet connection.
But, if you’re still wanting the assurance that the tech wont fully take the wheel, the app gives the option of adjusting the ‘Temperature’, which essentially decides how much you want the AI to interfere creatively or provide suggestions. You can also select your Genre Bias to make sure suggestions will still suit your personal style.
Kestrel Write is available on the App Store for $29.99.
The post Got writers block? Kestrel Write’s DAW-like lyric workstation could be the solution appeared first on MusicTech.

Andy Jassy says Amazon’s Nvidia competitor chip is already a multibillion-dollar businessCan any company, big or small, really topple Nvidia's AI chip dominance? Maybe not entirely, but Amazon is already making big bucks trying.

Franken-engine Plays Its Own Swan Song at 15k RPMBack during WWII, Chrysler bodged five inline-6 engines together to create the powerful A57 multibank tank engine. [Maisteer] has some high-revving inline-4 motorcycle engines he’s trying to put together too, but unlike 1940s Chrysler, he also has a trombone… and a lot more RPMs to deal with.
The Chrysler flatheads were revving at a few thousand RPM– their redline was almost certainly in the three-thousand range. [Maisteer] is working at 15,000 RPM, which is where the real challenge of this build lies: the trombone in the image is just for fun. He wanted to use a heavy chain to link the crankshafts, but at that rotational speed, a heavy chain becomes really heavy— or at least, it feels a force many times its weight due to centrifugal force. The lietmotief of this video is a quote by an automotive engineer to the effect that chains don’t work over 10,000 RPM.
That leads to a few problems for the intrepid “not an engineer” that take most of the video to deal with and ultimately doom the engine linkage– for now. Not before he gets an iconic 8-cylinder sound out (plus some fire) out of a trombone, though. Of particular note is the maker-type workflow Hackaday readers will appreciate: he 3D scans the engines, CADs up parts he needs and sends away to have them CNC’d and SLS printed.
Hacking motorcycle engines into cars is nothing new. Hacking them together into franken-engines is something we see less often.
Thanks to [Keith Olson] for the tip! Remember, if you want to toot your own horn– or toot about someone else’s project, for that matter–the tips line is always open.

MBW10: A Decade of Headlines That Shaped the Modern Music IndustryMusic Business Worldwide marks its tenth anniversary with a comprehensive retrospective magazine charting the transformation of an entire industry.
Source