Indie Musician News Last Week: Music Teams, Mental Health & MoreTop indie musician news last week included a guide to global music success, how to protect yourself on social media, and more...
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Music Business News Last Week: Spotify, Startups & AI SuccessIn top music business news last week, indie band Deerhoof pulled its music off Spotify, applications for 2025's Music Tectonics Startup Competition opened, an AI created band made waves and much more.
The post Music Business News Last Week: Spotify, Startups & AI Success appeared first on Hypebot.

Fors introduce Pivot FM soft synth The result of years of research and development and inspired by the company’s love of FM synthesis, the latest addition to the Fors range promises to deliver just the right balance of flexibility and simplicity. 

Brazil’s central bank service provider hacked, $140M stolenThe theft occurred after the hackers allegedly compromised an employee of C&M, a software service provider, by buying the employee’s login credentials.

3D Printer Turbo-Charges a Vintage Vehicle[Ryan] of [Fat Lip Collective] has been on a streak of using 3D printing for his car mod projects. From spark plug adapters to exhaust pipes to dash panels, his CAD skills and additive manufacturing tech have played a number of roles in his process.
Most recently, [Ryan] has embarked on a mission to equip an ’80s-era Toyota KE70 Corolla with a turbo engine. The main question there being how to fit the engine back into the car once he’s inserted a salvaged turbo into the exhaust line.
There is a non-trivial amount of stuff that needs to be packed in with the rest of the engine and finding a working configuration that doesn’t get in the way of anything else requires some trial and error. Furthermore, the alignment of the many twisting and turning pieces of schedule 40 pipe that will direct gasses where they need to go needs to be pretty precise.
Juggling all of this would be tedious, time consuming, and error prone if it were not for [Ryan’s] mighty 3D printer. He printed a set of the different elbows and reducers modeled on the schedule 40 pipe that he would likely be using. He added degree markers for easy reference later and flat sections at the ends of each piece so they could be bolted to each other. With this kit of parts in hand, he was able to mock up different arrangements, re-configuring them as he considered the position of other nearby components.

The project is still ongoing. but we’re looking forward to seeing [Ryan] roaring around in his souped-up Corolla soon. In the meantime you can go deeper on ways of adding turbo to vehicles from the ’90s, the innovation of the Mercedes Formula 1 split turbo engine, and see the evolution of a 3D-printed pulsejet turbocharger.
Thanks to [Ryan Ralph] (not the same Ryan) for tipping us off.

Microsoft is closing its local operations in PakistanMicrosoft is closing its operations in Pakistan, marking the end of a 25-year presence in the South Asian nation. The Redmond-based company on Friday told TechCrunch that it is changing its operational model in Pakistan and will now serve its customers through resellers and “other closely located Microsoft offices.” “Our customer agreements and service will […]

From AI artists to Warner’s $1.2bn JV with Bain… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days
Source

“Why waste a good mic on those vocals? Use this and keep expectations low”: Caelum Audio’s Toyphonic Micraliser destroys your vocals and is totally not seriousCaelum Audio has just released a new free plugin, the Toyphonic Micraliser, alongside its International Joke Day sale. This follows on from other intentionally bad quality-sounding freebies like Dustbin and SUBscription.
The new plugin continues Caelum Audio’s trend of releasing freebies that are seemingly designed to poke fun at the music technology industry itself, including the industry’s love of jargon and overpromising on product features.

READ MORE: Kesha: “I’ve never met a man I admire more than Rick Rubin”

Touted as an “Apex Mic Modelling” tool, Caelum Audio explains that “if your singing sounds like a dying cat, this finally kills the cat”.
The plugin uses impulse responses to capture microphone and loudspeaker characteristics, except its timbres are those that recording artists would typically avoid – unless you’re looking to intentionally destroy your mic sound.
A quick listen to the plugin’s effects demonstrates its experimental approach to mic modelling, which, in the right hands, might result in some unique sounds.

As Caelum Audio also details on its website, its new joke plugin also has a plethora of other features to make your vocals sound worse: “Employ the service of modulation via the LFO, Sequencer & Envelope Follower to keep things moving, just because your music is flat and boring doesn’t mean the automation has to be too.” Additionally, users can find “15 ‘ethically’ locally sourced, organic presets… We even blessed you with a randomise button which is like infinite presets, how kind are we?!”
You can download Toyphonic Micraliser for yourself via Caelum Audio’s website – it’s available on both Windows and macOS, as well as iOS and iPadOS.
Learn more at Caelum Audio.
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EAR CANDY: IN DA CULRB, WE ALL FAMHappy Fourth, my bass-blasting bottle rockets!This week’s playlist is serving sparklers, sweaty dance floors, and that one friend yelling “This is my song!” for every track. It’s Independence Day and In Da Clurb, We All Fam. This week’s Ear Candy is built for the moment the sun dips and the real party starts. These are club-ready cuts and beat-heavy bops that explode like fireworks—big, bright, and impossible to ignore. This is your invitation to move something...now hop to it!

Click HERE to access this week's Ear Candy.While you're there, please "Like" the playlist and "Follow" Music Connection's profile so you'll never miss the chance to listen along with MC!The post EAR CANDY: IN DA CULRB, WE ALL FAM first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Sequential unveil the Take 5 Desktop Module Sequential have announced the launch of a new desktop instrument that makes the sounds and capabilities of their popular Take 5 synth available in a more compact and accessible form factor. 

Oberheim announce the TEO-5 Desktop Module The latest addition to the Oberheim line-up packs all of the sounds and features of their TEO-5 polysynth into a desktop-based enclosure that’s less than half the size.

FrozenPlain releases Floe (Beta), a FREE and open-source sample player for macOS and Windows
From developer FrozenPlain comes Floe (Beta), a free and open-source sample player for macOS and Windows. FrozenPlain is a developer we first covered over a decade ago with their Victorian Music Box library for Native Instruments Kontakt. Since then, FrozenPlain has developed its proprietary sample-based instrument players: Mirage and Floe. The journey begins with Mirage, [...]
View post: FrozenPlain releases Floe (Beta), a FREE and open-source sample player for macOS and Windows

Kesha: “I’ve never met a man I admire more than Rick Rubin”Today marks the release of Period, Kesha’s first album since departing Kemosabe Records.
That label was founded by Dr. Luke, with whom she had a lengthy legal battle between 2014 and 2023 after accusing him of numerous counts of sexual misconduct and employment discrimination.
Period is Kesha’s first independent release, and one which she worked on with Rick Rubin. And in a new interview with Billboard, she speaks of her adoration for the legendary producer.

READ MORE: Jacob Collier disagrees with Rick Rubin’s philosophies: “His audience is non-creative people for whom creativity is novel”

Kesha also worked with Rubin on her previous album Gag Order, her final release under contract with Kemosabe.
“If you go back in time, the anger, the disassociation, the feelings of complete isolation, suicidal ideation – all of that, I talk about on [Gag Order],” she explains.
“Thank God I had Rick Rubin to do that record with, because he was such a safe container for all of those emotions. 
“Up until that point in my life, I had no place to go, and I had all of these emotions that were really overwhelming and really difficult to deal with. 
“Of course, I would work on it with my therapist and my friends, and I would do a lot of spiritual work around it. But when I met Rick Rubin, it felt like such a relief for my system, because I could finally put it into the music.”
She goes on: “I had this unsubstantiated idea that I just always had to be happy and keep it together in my music, before I made what is now called Eat the Acid. I got to get out all of that aggression and pain with someone who – I mean, I’ve never met a man that I admire more than Rick Rubin. 
“I got to do it with one of my heroes, and that was a really beautiful gift. And to be honest, even the way that album performed at the time was painful, but I can now see in hindsight that it led me to my newly found freedom.”

In the same interview, Kesha reflects on society’s attitudes to women as she regains her professional independence as a 38-year-old woman.
“In our society, specifically for women in any sort of public-persona position, aging, the concept of time, is made to be our enemy,” she says. 
“Growing up, I was made to believe that by 38 years old, nobody would give a fuck about me. I actually had been told the words, by the time I was free, I would be irrelevant. 
“So to see my fans not only connecting to the music, but turning it into this psychotic, hilarious celebration of the chaos of life, was just so healing to my fucking soul on a very deep level. 
“It was also just like, ‘Oh my God, it’s not true. I’m not irrelevant! I fought this fight, and I’m free, and people do care, people are connecting.’ It made me just feel like, ‘Okay, keep going. Keep going.’”
Kesha’s new album Period is out now. Listen below:

The post Kesha: “I’ve never met a man I admire more than Rick Rubin” appeared first on MusicTech.

Get 50% off Wavesfactory’s Trackspacer dynamic processor at Plugin Boutique
Plugin Boutique is offering 50% off Wavesfactory’s Trackspacer ($29 sale price) dynamic processor until July 31st. People often refer to Wavesfactory’s Trackspacer as a secret weapon for mix engineers because it can replace time-consuming and tedious tasks with simplicity and a speedy workflow. Anything that delivers high-quality results and saves your precious time is worth [...]
View post: Get 50% off Wavesfactory’s Trackspacer dynamic processor at Plugin Boutique

Bob Ezrin says part of being a producer is being a “psychologist”Sure, being a producer takes a lot of technical know-how – but you also need to have a certain grasp of people skills, according to Bob Ezrin, whose credits include the likes of Kiss, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple.
In a new interview with CBC, the legendary producer discusses the many hats professional producers have to wear alongside the technical demands of the job.

READ MORE: M. Shadows: Spotify is run by “career people”: “I’m sure they love music, but they don’t give a damn about bringing up new artists”

“Most people don’t understand what I do for a living, but the role of producer is very similar to the role of director on a film,” Ezrin explains [via Ultimate Guitar].
“You’re dealing with extremely talented, often very high-strung or complicated people, and you’re trying to get the best performance out of them you possibly can, on every level, in terms of their writing, playing, singing, whatever.”
“So you have to deal with them as humans, as personalities. So there’s a component of, like, a psychologist to the role, and a confessor, protector, and all of that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Bob Ezrin notes that many producers also have a big hand in artistic decision making including songwriting and arrangement.
He recalls his part in transforming the emotional sentiment of Beth, one of Kiss’s biggest songs.
“The story about Beth is that, politically, it was always important that the drummer gets at least one song,” Ezrin recalls.
“So, we went through a bunch of songs that Peter Criss had, and this was something that he had written with a friend of his, and it was called Beck, I think about a girl named Becky. It was a little more jaunty, a little less vulnerable. It was kind of like, ‘Screw you, me and the boys are going to go playing,’ and all this stuff.
“So, I said, ‘Do you mind if I take that home, and play with it a little bit?’ And on that piano right there, I sat down and and I slowed the song way down, and I started to play that figure, with a little bit of a walking bass. And suddenly, it was almost like a lullaby. It just became this gentle, sweet thing. And then I tweaked the lyrics, because didn’t want it to be about, ‘Screw you.’ I wanted it to be about the singer being actually the one who was hurt.”

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