KORG Collection 6 is 50% OFF at Plugin Boutique
Plugin Boutique is offering 50% off KORG Collection 6, dropping the software instrument bundle from $399 to $199 until July 21st. KORG Collection 6 is a huge bundle of official KORG software instruments and effects. It covers A LOT of stuff, including analog classics, digital workstations, physical modeling, pianos, organs, grooveboxes, and effects. If you [...]
View post: KORG Collection 6 is 50% OFF at Plugin Boutique

Undertone Audio’s MPEQ-1 goes virtual Undertone Audio’s MPEQ-1 plug-in is said to capture the sound and flexibility of the real thing, while adding some creative tools that extend its capabilities beyond what was possible in the hardware version.

UMG’s Bravado targets A$AP Rocky merch bootleggers on ‘Don’t Be Dumb’ tour with trademark suit, seizure orderA trademark infringement complaint was filed on Thursday June 11
Source

Karanyi Sounds Cloudmax 3Cloudmax 3 turns any audio into rhythmic patterns, harmonic layers, or musical textures. Cloudmax 3 is not a reverb and not a straight granular tool. It pairs a granular texture engine with a tuned modal resonator — so you get both the smear and a musical body underneath it. If you've tried to get this sound with reverb + granular + EQ chained together, you'll understand what's different in 30 seconds of demo. Vocals Make vocals huge. Smear a single take into a wall of breath. Cloud Models stack grains under the dry signal, dual reverb pushes it into the room. Guitars Add depth to guitars. Slide a granular tail under a clean DI. Resonator adds body, motion modulates the air around it. Percussion Build crazy rhythmic FX. Tempo-synced grains chop loops into new patterns. Texture Pitch Modes lock everything in key. Foley & Sound Design Ambiences from anything. Drop in a field recording, footstep, or breath. Cloudmax 3 stretches it into a cinematic bed. Read More

James Blake is frustrated with the “fake” music industry : “If you’re an artist…You’re probably doing better than you think”James Blake has vented his frustrations about the music industry in 2026, noting how today’s artists are contending with bot farms and promotion tactics that are fuelled by financial incentives.
In his Instagram Story, Blake spotlights comment sections filled with bots, AI slop, and an entire system that is “faked”. Blake also believes many music critics (but not all) are now driven by financial backing from labels, and has since clarified that he feels bad for those who are underpaid and are being replaced by these figures.

READ MORE: “If you’re a musician and you support this degenerate shit, you’re disgusting”: SZA calls out the “vultures” training AI on tracks without permission

In his story, he writes, “Can’t trust a review because blogs/mags stopped making money so journalists now get paid off by labels. Can’t trust a comment section cause it’s full of fake fan accounts saying ‘omg their voice’ to create bandwagon effect. Can’t trust YouTube numbers because labels buy them.
“Can’t trust streaming numbers because labels pay for bot farms to drive discovery. Can’t even trust that a song was made by human beings. If you’re an artist, remember that in 2026 there’s not a single part of the system that isn’t faked. You’re probably doing better than you think.”
In the comment section, he goes on to add: “Just to be clear, I didn’t say *all journalists* – there are of course journalists who are not paid off or given perks for their critiques. Sadly they are becoming rarer and it has cheapened the craft (that I respect) for everyone else. It has also cast doubt upon the work being reviewed, which is a shame.
“This is obviously not a particularly new thing. In entertainment, and media at large, this has always existed. It has just become far more prevalent with the algorithms and bots making it easier to sway the public.”
He concludes, “I feel bad for the increasingly underpaid critics and journalists with integrity, that they’re dragged into it. I have come up alongside many of you and respect your work and dedication. But I’m watching you be replaced one by one for figures who will say what is asked of them.”

View this post on Instagram

Blake often speaks out against modern music industry struggles, including low royalty rates from streaming services and how artists lack ownership of fan data, meaning they don’t know how to directly reach out to those who support them. In 2024, he launched his own streaming platform, Vault.
Find out more about James Blake or view his full list of tour dates via the official James Blake website.
The post James Blake is frustrated with the “fake” music industry : “If you’re an artist…You’re probably doing better than you think” appeared first on MusicTech.

DNA Track Purifier is a FREE Trackspacer-style plugin for Windows
Mike Sorrentino has released DNA Track Purifier, a free Trackspacer-style sidechain dynamic processor designed to reduce frequency masking between competing tracks. Mike is a musician, composer, producer, and solo developer from Rome, Italy. DNA Track Purifier is his first software release, and it comes as a free plugin with an optional paid PRO version. The [...]
View post: DNA Track Purifier is a FREE Trackspacer-style plugin for Windows

Minimal Audio launch Memory Rites Minimal Audio's latest Current expansion kits the soft synth out with an array of new sounds, and launches alongside a new plug-in that provides users who don’t own Current with access to the sounds in its individual expansion packs. 

Orra Audio releases Orra Pump, a FREE tempo-synced modulation filter
Orra Audio has released Orra Pump, a free (pay-what-you-can) tempo-synced modulation filter for macOS and Windows. David from Orra Audio reached out to let me know about the new release, and I was very happy to see another freebie from their team. We covered Orra Audio’s Tone Zone in April, and that one got a [...]
View post: Orra Audio releases Orra Pump, a FREE tempo-synced modulation filter

Tributes pour in for Clive Davis, the music executive behind Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and others, after he dies at 94Music executive and record producer Clive Davis has passed away at 94, his family have confirmed.
Davis founded Arista Records, and helped to shape the music careers of Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Christina Aguilera, and many others. He had recently been in hospital due to respiratory problems and was recovering at his home in Manhattan, New York, where he passed away surrounded by loved ones.
In a statement shared by his family (via the BBC), they say, “To the world, our father was the iconic music legend whose vision, instincts, and relentless pursuit of excellence shaped the soundtrack of countless lives. He discovered, mentored, and championed the greatest artists in modern music history, leaving an indelible mark on culture that will endure for generations.”
They add, “To his family, Clive was Dad and Granddaddy, the steady presence at the centre of our lives, the source of wisdom, strength, encouragement, and unconditional love.”

Born in Brooklyn in 1932, Davis spent seven decades working in music, and was active within the industry until his death. Davis received a full scholarship to study at Harvard Law. He had no prior knowledge of the music industry when he joined Columbia Records at the age of 28, and took night classes to learn about copyright law, contracts and litigation.
Davis was promoted to vice-president of the record label in 1965 and eventually became president. He signed artists such as Santana, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd and more. He was played by Stanley Tucci in the Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, and also worked as one of its producers. He earned five Grammy Awards across his career, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a non-performer in 2000.
A number of musicians and industry figures who worked with Davis throughout his long career have paid tribute online. Springsteen writes on his website, “Over here on E Street, we mourn the death of the great record man and close friend Clive Davis. At 22 years old, he changed my life when he signed me to Columbia Records. He treated me with the same respect and kindness as a 22-year-old nobody as he did after all my success. A great man. All our prayers and love.”

View this post on Instagram

Santana states, (via Variety), “Clive Davis was a visionary. He could hear the intangible before anyone else could see it. He believed in Santana from the beginning, and years later he believed in us again. That kind of faith is a beautiful blessing, and I will always be grateful.
“Clive understood that music is more than entertainment. Music is a healing force. It brings people together beyond fear, beyond separation, beyond borders. He dedicated his life to championing artists and helping them share their gifts with the world… I thank Clive for his friendship, his trust, and his belief in Santana.”
Billy Joel states, “Clive Davis convinced me to sign with Columbia Records many years ago. He recognised the talent of great musicians and understood the power of contemporary music.
“I will always be grateful to Clive for his recognition of the critical importance of songwriting. He undoubtedly enhanced the stature of the music industry during his tenure as president of Columbia Records.”
The post Tributes pour in for Clive Davis, the music executive behind Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen and others, after he dies at 94 appeared first on MusicTech.

Is Oeksound’s Soothe3 the most transparent resonance suppressor yet?£199 / £45 upgrade / rent-to own available, oeksound.com
I reviewed Soothe2 in 2020. At the time, it was the undisputed champion of resonance suppression plugins. But since then, there’s been a tidal wave of competitors vying for the crown. Not content to rest on its laurels, Oeksound has finally released an update with improved sound, a streamlined interface and unique new features. It may be just enough to keep Soothe at the top of every producer’s essentials.

READ MORE: Imagine Plugins is changing who gets to make plugins

Soothe is the perfect tool to reach for when you’re wanting to tame multiple unwanted resonances. Although you could potentially notch these out using a standard EQ, it would be incredibly time consuming, whereas Soothe reacts dynamically in real-time to remove these out as they appear. The plugin window has had a re-jig since version 2, but it won’t take long to readjust if you’re upgrading. The separate controls for Sharpness and Selectivity have been simplified to a single Detail dial which you turn up if you want to target narrow notches, or down to make broader reductions.
Other controls, like Attack and Release have been made more prominent, and the stereo section that lets you switch between and edit the Left/Right and M/S balance has been moved to a collapsible sidebar. It’s here that we find the Tilt section, which is one of Soothe3’s new features. This lets you increase or decrease the Detail, Attack and Release amounts in the upper or lower portions of the spectrum. This is a welcome addition as it gives you more flexibility to target something like a kick drum more broadly, whilst narrowing in on sharp cymbal resonances within the same instance. That said, it would be even better if you could control the Detail amount via each node instead, which is something you can do with Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator Pro. Technically, the more you boost a node, the narrower the cuts become, but we find the results relatively negligible in practice. In fairness, the Tilt controls are effective for most tasks.

The sidebar also includes a new Max Cut control that raises a line to set the maximum amount of reduction Soothe is allowed to make. This is useful to drive the processing harder without any massive cuts from rogue frequencies.
The largest part of the interface provides a live visual of the suppressed frequencies. I’m not sure what tweaks have been made to the ballistics, but it feels smoother and easier to read than its predecessor. Here you can double-click to add up to eight nodes, with eight shapes including a new tilt and bandpass. I’m especially happy about the bandpass as it means you have a much quicker way to focus on a small region whereas before, you had to use a combination of low-cut and high-cut.
There are Soft and Hard modes, as before. Soft is the mode that most will use as it has an adaptive threshold that reacts to the relative levels of resonances, and works well with more dynamic sources. Hard mode has a fixed threshold and is used for more aggressive control, or when using the plugin to sidechain duck another instrument. Both algorithms have been improved to give a cleaner, more transparent output.
Oeksound Soothe3 Max Cut. Image: Press
To get a better idea of how they sound, I push things to the extreme and compare the delta (removed) signal of Soothe3 with both Soothe2 and Waves Curves Equator. There’s a positive leap in cleanness between Soothe 2 and the Waves, and then a further leap with this new algorithm. On Ultra quality Soothe3 is silky smooth, with an open high end and minimal artefacts. It also has an improved ability to focus on resonances when the Detail control is turned up, which means less damage to the surrounding material. More than the various new features and user interface, this is what really makes the upgrade worthwhile to me. Some engineers complain that these kinds of tools can ruin mixes by making them sound over-processed, but this new algorithm allows you to dig into the signal while keeping things more transparent. Of course, you do still need to use your judgement to make sure you don’t overcook things.
Quality settings have been simplified to just Normal, High and Ultra in version 3, with no separate controls for oversampling. You can engage a separate feature in the settings menu that will always render on Ultra, giving the cleanest and most accurate sound. Also added is the ability to run Soothe3 in both linear phase and low latency mode. Linear phase might give better results if you’re processing in parallel, or provide more stable panning when using unlinked stereo. Oeksound released Soothe Live a few years back to provide an ultra-low-latency option for live sound and tracking, but this new version improves on that even more, with zero samples of latency at base sample rates. This makes it a fantastic option for controlling unpredictable live performances whether on-stage or whilst tracking.
For anyone working in Atmos and surround, the final new feature will be a legitimate game-changer; Soothe can now function in multichannel setups up to 9.1.6. There are various options for grouping and linking channels, and you can assign nodes to only affect certain channels. You also get separate metering and delta controls so you can hone in on problem areas, making Soothe3 a useful tool for taming multichannel masters.
Oeksound Soothe3 controls. Image: Press
If you’re looking for a simple resonance suppressor plugin and you don’t need some of Soothe3’s features such as the super transparent sound, low-latency mode and surround support, then there are cheaper options available such as Baby Audio’s Smooth Operator Pro and Three Body Technology SpecCraft, to name a couple.
Soothe3 isn’t cheap, but it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re serious about audio. Tweaks and new additions have refined an already excellent plugin. The sound quality now keeps up with—and often surpasses—the competition, while the interface is quicker and more pleasurable to work with. It’s definitely worth the upgrade price of £45 for existing users.
Despite a flood of competition, it turns out the real Soothe2 killer ended up being Soothe3.

Key features

Resonance suppression plugin
VST3, AU, AAX (requires iLok account)
Updated algorithms
Transparent Soft mode with adaptive threshold
More aggressive Hard mode with fixed threshold
New Low Latency mode adds zero samples at base sample rates
Streamlined, resizable window with simplified Detail control
Flexible nodes with 8 band shapes
Tilt controls for Detail, Attack and Release
New Linear Phase mode & Max cut parameter
Up to 9.1.6 multichannel support

The post Is Oeksound’s Soothe3 the most transparent resonance suppressor yet? appeared first on MusicTech.

The Rolling Stones Song Keith Richards Wrote in His Sleep — and Almost Refused to ReleaseKeith Richards woke up with no memory of writing it. He thought it was a joke. Then his manager released it without telling him — and he heard it on the radio in Omaha. The story behind "Satisfaction."

lun.wtf TapeSoleTapeSole: The producer-focused effect chain plugin that includes 9 essential effects with features that save time and cpu... Here's What's inside: • Analog - 7 console emulations across 7 eras, plus analog-ifying color FX and stereo tools. • EQ - 6-band parametric with dynamic EQ and a multiband stereo width mode. • Dynamics - 4 classic compressor flavors (FET, Vari-Mu, two Optos). • Drive - 8 distortion engines, from amp grit to tube warmth. • SendFX - reverb, delay, modulation and filter strips, all reorderable. • Tape - reel-to-reel saturation, wow, flutter, hiss, tape speed, and aging effects. • Vinyl - record-player grime with noise, crackle, RPM control, and wobble. • IR Loader - load your own impulse responses. • Degrade - bitcrush, sample-rate mangling and codec rot. Then it all hits the Master section which includes: • Realtime pitch shifter (with formant option). • Two styles of multi-band compression/saturation • 6-band master EQ • Limiter/Maximizer • 3-mode clipper • 5-minute recorder to capture your processed input to drag straight into your DAW. All of the essentials, under one roof. Available as VST3 + AU • Windows & macOS. Read More

The AI world is getting ‘loopy’The loop takes agentic AI a step further by authorizing a swarm of agents to work continuously in the background, endlessly.

DPA Mics Play a Crucial Role in Groundbreaking Immersive Audio Live EventsAccording to recent news from DPA Microphones, "For the worldwide anniversary tour celebrating AIR’s iconic debut album, Moon Safari, the French musical duo set out to deliver a live experience that felt as rich, precise and atmospheric as the record itself. Monitor Engineers Julien Vouillon and Florentin Convert had two goals: to recreate a sound as close as possible to the album and provide a fully immersive listening experience. To achieve this, the pair relied heavily on the clarity, precision and natural imaging of DPA Microphones. The result was a mix of solid technical innovation and audio quality that AIR’s music deserves."

“Since the rise of in-ears, a concert has to sound like the record—both at front of house and in the monitors,” Vouillon says. “AIR’s music demands that level of detail and space. The system is centered around binaural processing via spatial audio processing software (SPAT Revolution), feeding the musicians a spatially accurate, responsive ‘room’ inside their in-ears. But the immersive mix only worked with captured ambience that was stunningly clean and true. That’s where DPA came in.”

“What surprised us was how the DPA mics gave us the same drum sound every night, no matter the venue. You really hear the instruments as they are, not some interpretation of them, which is what makes the immersive mix feel like a studio recording happening live,” said Convert.

“Our goal was to get the musicians to listen to their own album, live. With the DPA 5100 and SPAT Revolution, we recovered what is always missing from classic in-ears: the natural 3D of the room, the air and the space,” added Vouillon.

According to a statement, Convert "immediately recognized the microphone as the ideal match for their approach."

“It’s discreet, easy to use and reproduces the natural 3D of the room,” he explains. “With SPAT Revolution, it adds the air and space that are always missing in classic in-ears.”

"To complement the main surround capture, the team relied on several models from DPA’s pencil microphone lineup, including the 2012 Compact Cardioid, 2015 Wide Cardioid and 2017 Shotgun Microphones for the ambience feed," they say.

According to Vouillon, “A crucial point was minimizing the delay between front-of-house and the ambience. If the system was too offset, the musicians would feel it immediately. The solution was adding a pair of DPA 2015s in ORTF stereo format facing the stage, helping musicians feel grounded in the physical space.”

Of AIR's live album release, Vouillon said that, "The vinyl was created directly from the live stereo monitor mix combined with the DPA 5100 room capture, mixed live during the performances and not reworked in the studio afterward. The only post-production step was mastering by Alex Gopher. It’s a good demonstration of how accurately the immersive monitoring system translated the live experience."

Vouillon adds, “The real refinement came when we added pink noise into the sidechain. It keeps the compression active until just the right moment, making the audience reactions feel natural and alive.” Vouillon, who long relied on other ambient microphone solutions, says the transition to DPA felt like a breakthrough. “After Florentin introduced me to the DPA mics, I was blown away. The mics have perfect transients and depth, and zero artifacts. I’ve replaced all my old habits with the DPA range.”

For more information, visit dpamicrophones.com.The post DPA Mics Play a Crucial Role in Groundbreaking Immersive Audio Live Events first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Music industry leaders, megastars pay tribute to Clive DavisRob Stringer, Patti Smith, Alicia Keys, the Lipmans, Merck Mercuriadis, and more pay tribute to legendary record exec
Source