Emily Dashiell, Jeff Gunkel, Carlos Monnaco promoted to SVP roles at Capitol Christian Music GroupThe three veterans of Capitol CMG see a bright future for Christian and Gospel music
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IK Multimedia Giving Away FREE Orange OR120 Amp Sim to AmpliTube 5 CS Users
IK Multimedia is giving away free copies of its Orange OR120 amp and matching cab sim to AmpliTube 5 CS users during August.  The company has been giving away a new amp each month for the second half of 2024 for users of its free AmpliTube 5 CS guitar rig software platform.  For August, IK [...]
View post: IK Multimedia Giving Away FREE Orange OR120 Amp Sim to AmpliTube 5 CS Users

Adapter Salad: Making Your Own Server Cables Because HP Won’t Sell Them To YouThe world is tough and uncaring sometimes, especially if you’re at home tinkering with HP Enterprise equipment. If you’re in the same boat as [Neel Chauhan], you might have found that HPE is less than interested in interacting with small individual customers. Thus, when a cable was needed, [Neel] was out of luck. The simple solution was to assemble a substitute one instead!
[Neel] had a HPE ProLiant ML110 Gen11 server, which was to be used as network-attached storage (NAS). Unfortunately, it was bought as an open box, and lacked an appropriate serial-attached SCSI (SAS) cable. Sadly, HPE support was of no assistance in sourcing one.
SlimSAS LP x8 to dual MiniSAS x4 cables aren’t easy to find from anyone else, it turns out. Thus, [Neel] turned to Amazon for help sourcing a combination of parts to make this work. A SlimSAS LP 8X to 2x MiniSAS SFF-8643 cable was used, along with a pair of Mini SAS SFF-8087 to SAS HD SFF-8643 female adapters. From there, SFF-8087 cables could be used to hook up to the actual SAS devices required. The total cost? $102.15.
The stack of cables and adapters looks a bit silly, but it works—and it got [Neel]’s NAS up and running. It’s frustrating when you have to go to such lengths, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen hackers have to recreate obscure cables or connectors from scratch! What’s the craziest adapter salad you’ve ever made?

At REX Studio, music production is personal“I never really thought I’d be a producer. I mean, I was always in bands and around studios…but I wanted to be a hairdresser. I cut hair for a year or two in my 20s as a junior and was about to qualify, then my flat got robbed.”
Macks Faulkron is sitting in the throne of REX Studio, relaxed but animated, surrounded by synths, guitar pedals, vintage studio gear, and the pink velvet walls of the main studio room. It’s in this chair that, for over 15 years, the Grammy-nominated producer has recorded, mixed and written for artists such as Caroline Polachek, Sky Ferreira, A.G Cook, Years and Years, BADBADNOTGOOD, and Picture Parlour.
Speaking with a propah Bri’ish accent, flashing regular cheeky grins, and occasionally twisting his (truly fantastic) moustache, Macks is taking us through the whirlwind of REX Studio’s founding in 2009.
REX Studio. Image: Phil Sharp
“In my flat was my solo record that I was making around being in these bands. So that got robbed — it was before I had hard drives with backups, so it was just on a laptop,” he says. “I’d been working on it for a couple of years. I had all the songs, I had a manager, I’d just played Field Day [festival in London], and I was still in another band. So I had to quit my job.”
Wait, why did he have to quit his job?
“There was loads going on but I just quit. I left London, I left my flat, and I moved into a house in Bournemouth that was vacant for a few months. And I just went back to making this record from scratch.”
Macks quickly found himself leaning into the production side of music-making more than ever. In this small room, he’d write and produce new material, exploring new techniques on a budget and still armed with his first-ever tape machine, a Tascam 388 eight-track mixer. When he felt it was time to return to London, he looked on Gumtree and found a cheap room in the basement of a building in Highbury. Now known as the Silver Room at REX, it was the cosy studio that Macks brought musicians and friends to, and where he’d learn that he could make a career out of producing for other people.
REX Studio’s Tascam 388. Image: Phil Sharp
REX’s location is prime — a two-minute walk from Highbury and Islington tube station, surrounded by a few pubs and coffee shops (“Classic!”, laughs Macks as I rock up with a coffee from Pret). In the quietest moments during our interview, you can even feel the slight, distant rumble of the Victoria tube line.
“Sound of the underground over here,” Macks chuckles.
“I just thought, ‘fuck it, I’m young, I’ll do it. Here’s a space in Highbury — I’m basically from Highbury, what are the chances of that?’” he continues of moving into REX. “Fast forward 15 years, there’s no other studios around here.”
He still remembers his earliest sessions in the studio — a track he wrote called Laser Lips that he professes was “fucking good” — and the help he had from the studio landlord, who was also a mix engineer. In the Silver Room, Macks made most of his tracks with a TubeTech preamp, a Fender Deville amp, a guitar, and a vocal mic. REX has grown into a fully-fledged commercial studio, now with the Pink Room boasting a drum booth, high-end outboard, Sequential and Moog synthesizers, a guitar collection, three pairs of studio monitors — but still space for his trusty Tascam.
Macks has learned a lot about music production in his 15 years at REX. Sure — lessons in production techniques, gear, arranging and all the technical stuff. But, perhaps most crucially, he’s learned about the importance of people and personality when working with artists on their music.
REX Studio’s synth rack. Image: Phil Sharp
“Every artist is different, but the end goal is always the same — to understand the vision and help realise the sound. End of the day, it’s the artist’s music, and my role is just to facilitate that,” he says. “Not having the ego to be like, ‘No, this idea has to be exactly like this.’ Because if I put my ego in and want a song, especially if I’m writing with an artist, it will never get cut. It’s not my record — I’m working with people.”
People often talk about the bond they have with their hairdressers and barbers. Does Macks see a connection between the intimacy of a haircut and a recording session?
“When I’d get to my hairdresser shift at 10 am, [my client] would sit down and…It’s just chattin’. Work troubles, boyfriend troubles, a leak in the flat or whatever. It could get deeper but, yeah, there was always an element of therapy. And it’s the same in music,” Macks says.
“First time you do a writing session, an artist comes in and you’re getting to know them for the first time. And they’re coming to write a song with you and give it all their heart. Psychologically, it’s quite a lot to take on for both sides. I remember from experience when recording as an artist how important my music and ideas were to me personally, but how vulnerable it felt to put things out there to the producers and collaborators in the room. I try to create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing what they want because that’s what I always wanted more than anything.”
REX Studio. Image: Phil Sharp
Macks puts this personable attitude into practice regularly, seeing it succeed most recently with UK indie act Picture Parlour. After watching them play at the London festival All Points East, Macks ended up in contact with their label and soon had the band in the room at REX Studio, where he says they “really connected, both personally and musically.”
The first track they recorded in those sessions was Face In the Picture, which became the lead track of Picture Parlour’s EP, released in June. Macks shares some of the in-the-moment techniques he executed when developing the demos, such as recording without the click track to encourage looser timing — “I personally wanted to feel the energy and the spirit of what I had witnessed on stage. I think we really accomplished that,” he says.
Macks is a producer that’s all about the ‘vibes’. He’s able to harness his rich technical knowledge in an instant and has a lust for studio gear, but his ability to elicit personality from a track or moment is what gives him an edge. He says, simply, that “style and character” are the two components that make an outstanding piece of art, whether it’s music or on canvas — his fine art degree taught him that, he reckons. You definitely feel a sense of style and character when walking into REX, whether through the soft lights, bold artwork, vintage gear, or just from Macks himself.
REX Studio. Image: Phil Sharp
Macks is adamant that he’s not an analogue, vintage purist but admits he prefers working hands-on with gear rather than sitting at a computer. Besides, his clients have come to enjoy the character his Tascam gives to their music.
He mimics a conversation with artists: “‘Can we run it through the tape machine?’ Sure can. ‘Can we record straight to tape?’ Definitely. That’s the vibe.”
Such an impact this old-school Tascam 388 has had on his recording sessions, that he’s set up a bespoke online service for it. Now, artists can get their tracks sent through the REX Studio tape machine and other coveted gear to instantly add that feel of vintage tape to a digital mix, with Macks’ ears across the track, for “considerably less than a hefty production fee,” he says.
Macks Faulkron and his Tascam 388. Image: Thomasin Waite
“We have indie artists such as Andy Shauf, Tame Impala and Mac DeMarco to thank for bringing this thing back into light, but I like to think I’m doing my bit too,” Macks continues.
Although Macks has spent the past 15 years curating his studio with considered gear picks, I wonder whether he’s pressured into certain purchases in an effort to align with so-called industry-standard studios. Does he need a Neumann U 87, for example?
“As a commercial studio, you do need to get the bits that people just want to have or expect and that’s fair. It’s a really good clean mic,” he says. “The irony is, when I did have a U 87, artists were like, ‘Oh, nah, I don’t want the U 87.’
“But the studio can be cheap — you don’t need to have all these expensive pieces of gear or anything; it can be something really crappy. I think Brian Eno’s favourite pedal is this Behringer guitar amp simulator —” Macks points to a blue Behringer pedal on the floor. “I didn’t know that when I got it, someone just told me and I was like, ‘Really?!’”
Macks adds that he’s not really got a shopping list of studio gear but, looking to the next 15 years of REX, he jokes that he’d love to be 99 per cent analogue by 2039.
REX Studio. Image: Phil Sharp
“I look back on the past 15 years and it’s been a blast,” he says, candidly. “Honestly, to be an indie studio in the current climate feels like a massive achievement on its own, and I’m always so thankful for the support of the labels and artists that choose to work with me in either capacity as an independent business. If I can continue to do that for the next 15, that would be a privilege.”
The REX Studio team and Macks have truly excelled at creating a relaxed, inspiring space for artists. The humble producer is also hungry for more challenges and opportunities, it seems, considering his desire to innovate with online services and communicate with engaged TikTok and Instagram audiences.
We doubt he’s ready to give thanks to the burglars who ransacked his old London flat, but it speaks volumes that Macks was able to transform such misfortune into REX Studio.
Learn more about REX Studio. 
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Celebrate 808 Day with these killer deals over at Plugin BoutiqueToday marks one of the most important days in the calendar – at least for us music tech folk – 808 Day. Yep, 8 August is the one day a year we get to wax lyrical about our love of the 808 sound, first pioneered by Roland with its TR-808 Rhythm Composer in 1980 and now a cornerstone of hip-hop, EDM and beyond.
While the original TR-808 was only in production between 1980 and 1982 – and is thus an elusive beast to get your hands on in 2024 – the 808 sound is still an essential tool in any producer’s arsenal. And what better time to ensure your toolkit is decked out than 808 Day itself?

READ MORE: Roland teams up with New Balance for 808-styled sneaker, bringing together “the worlds of music, fashion, and technology” for 808 Day

Over at Plugin Boutique, you can get your hands on a range of kick and sub bass plugins at a reduced price for a limited time only.
Take the Nepheton 2 by D16 Group, for example, a recreation of the iconic TR-808. Usually priced at $119, until 11 August it’s only $59. That’s a cool 50%, or $60 off. An intuitive digital drum machine, the Nepheton 2 boasts all the “nuances of the 808’s booming sounds perfectly reproduced”. There’s also a fully-fledged FX section for shaping your sound, and a range of presets if you want to get stuck in straight off the bat.
There’s also a range of ultra-affordable 808-type plugins by W.A. Production to be had, including Fundamental Bass, Presser By Aiden Kenway, KickShaper and Put Me On Drums.
And finally, if you’re looking for “unrivalled versatility in synth bass creation”, Air’s Sub Factory is half price until September 5, at $39.99 down from $79.99.
This plugin “goes far beyond classic 808 bass presets, offering a comprehensive sonic palette suitable for R&B, hip-hop, drum ‘n’ bass and pop”. It features dual wavetable engines and an additional sample engine, so producers have “unprecedented control” over their bass sounds.

There’s loads more 808-style plugins available at a discount right now. Head to Plugin Boutique now to browse and find the right deal for you.
The post Celebrate 808 Day with these killer deals over at Plugin Boutique appeared first on MusicTech.

SM Entertainment reports $185m in Q2 sales, driven by near-doubling of concert revenueHowever, the company's bottom line was dragged down by weak performances at subsidiary businesses
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Audial Music has launched a new AI-powered audio production platformAudial Music has announced the launch of a “groundbreaking” new AI music tools platform.
Per a press release, the new platform promises “cutting-edge artificial intelligence with user-friendly interfaces to offer a comprehensive suite of tools for musicians, producers, and audio enthusiasts” as a way of transforming the digital music production landscape.

READ MORE: DJ Fresh on why he launched AI-powered start-up Voice-Swap 

One of the major innovations it offers is an advanced AI stem splitter, which can separate full mixes into individual components including vocals, bass, drums, and other instruments. It provides a means of isolating certain parts or removing vocals while maintaining the quality of the audio, addressing a key challenge in the wider industry.
“Our AI stem splitter represents a significant leap forward in audio separation technology,” says Zach Farrell, founder of Audial Music AI, which was created last year. “Whether you’re looking to remove vocals from a song, isolate specific instruments, or create remix-ready stems, our platform delivers professional-grade results with just a few clicks.”
The new platform also boasts an AI MIDI converter and generator, bridging the gap between audio and MIDI. Users are able to transform audio recordings into MIDI data or use AI to generate new MIDI compositions using AI.
Other features include a BPM and key finder, free AI mastering, a vocal isolator and a RMS analyser for users to gain insights into the dynamics of their tracks.
“Our goal is to make professional-grade audio tools accessible to everyone,” adds Farrell. “From hobbyist producers to established studios, our AI-powered platform democratizes advanced audio processing techniques.”
The post Audial Music has launched a new AI-powered audio production platform appeared first on MusicTech.

AIR Music Tech release Sub Factory In celebration of this year’s 808 Day, AIR Music Technology release a new software synthesizer designed specifically for creating deep and powerful bass sounds. 

Facebook Warning Removal Program: How to Get Out of ‘Facebook Jail’Facebook creators who have been 'warned' of violations have a new way to get out of 'Facebook jail,' thanks to the new Facebook warning removal program.
The post Facebook Warning Removal Program: How to Get Out of ‘Facebook Jail’ appeared first on Hypebot.

From drum machines to AI: How musicians can lead the way for labelsMusicians are using AI technology to enhance their creativity and shape the future of music. Keep reading to discover how labels can learn from these innovative artists. by Michael Nevins,. Continue reading
The post From drum machines to AI: How musicians can lead the way for labels appeared first on Hypebot.

Instagram Views is now the top metric for all contentMeta is making Views the primary metric for Instagram content. Creators can track Views across Reels, Stories, photos, and more. According to a post on Instagram‘s creators account, the combined. Continue reading
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Exclusive Sonicstate giveaway: get the MOK Miniraze virtual synth for FREE
Sonicstate has partnered with MOK to create an exclusive giveaway for all its Patrons, where you can get the MOK Miniraze virtual synth for free. Sonicstate Patreons can claim a free copy of the MOK Miniraze virtual synth ($49 value). The offer is open to all Sonicstate Patrons, including the free tier. If you aren’t [...]
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EP-1320 Medieval from Teenage Engineering Teenage Engineering's new EP-1320 Medieval instrument heads back to the Middle Ages, packing in everything from multi-sampled hurdy-gurdies to sword and arrow sound effects.

Drake just dropped 100GB of unreleased content – and it gives you a peek into the sound of Abbey Road StudiosDrake has once again surprised the music world with his latest content drop, offering fans a glimpse into his creative process at the legendary Abbey Road Studios via 100GB of unreleased content.
This treasure trove, available on the newly launched website 100gigs.org, includes unreleased tracks, demos, and exclusive behind-the-scenes footage. It also marks the first major release from the Canadian rapper following his ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar.
The pair have been trading diss tracks for the last couple of months, with Drake only featuring on tracks like Snowd4y’s Wag Gwan Delilah and Gordo’s Sideways during this period.

READ MORE: The beat for Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss Not Like Us was created in 30 minutes

With the new drop, fans now have an epic 100GB worth of fresh material to explore. Among the highlights of Drake’s latest release are three brand-new songs: It’s Up, featuring the dynamic duo of Young Thug and 21 Savage, Housekeeping Knows, a collaboration with Bitch From Da Souf rapper Latto, and a new Drake track titled Blue Green Red.
Beyond the music, fans can also dive into intimate studio sessions from the iconic Abbey Road Studios as well as from Barbados, alongside a variety of never-before-seen video content. In a moment that epitomises the behind-the-scenes chaos of music production, we see Drake’s producer, Noah “40” Shebib, working on tracks at Abbey Road before he accidentally knocks out the power for the audio interface running Pro Tools.
In short, it’s a lot of footage for a lot of stuff. Drake and his label OVO Sound have also shared screenshots of the site via their socials, inviting fans to dig away at the media dump.
Check out the new tracks via Drake’s new “plottttwistttttt” Instagram account below.

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The post Drake just dropped 100GB of unreleased content – and it gives you a peek into the sound of Abbey Road Studios appeared first on MusicTech.

Tornado Cash sanctions effective, reveal Ethereum weakness: NY FedCooperation with the US Treasury sanctions on Tornado Cash was strongest at the user level and weaker further along the settlement chain.