Steinberg says SpectraLayers 11 is a “breakthrough” in audio processing thanks to deeper AI integrationSteinberg’s SpectraLayers has had a makeover. With a bucketload of AI-driven improvements and powerful restoration and unmixing tools, SpectraLayers 11 vows to take audio editing and restoration to an entirely new level.

READ MORE: The best DAWs for music producers in all genres, styles and workflows

SpectraLayers 11 offers a range of features geared towards repairing and cleaning up live recordings. Users can take advantage of the Unmix Chorus module to separate lead and backing vocals, while the Unmix Crowd Noise module goes a step further, allowing you to fully remove crowd ambience from a live track.
Unmix technology also extends to instrumental isolation. Steinberg has improved its Unmix Song feature, allowing users to extract up to seven different instruments from any given track. The advanced technology will surely be useful for separating stems, making it simpler to re-imagine and remix any given project.
AI has also helped Steinberg produce a speech and vocal repair feature, Voice DeClip. Trained on hours of clips and non-clipped recordings, Steinberg insists the module has been extensively trained. As a result, Voice DeClip should be able to extract vocals from any given environment, no matter how loud or chaotic.

Alongisde the new unmixing technology, SpectraLayers’ new Transfer Brush tool should allow users to shift between source and destination layers in real time, while the Transient Pencil allows users the freedom to draw, sculpt and shape transients directly in the spectrogram.
Workflow has also been vastly improved for SpectraLayers’ 11th edition. Steinberg has introduced new dedicated panels for modules, as well as the option to chain modules and save your chains as presets.
SpectraLayers Elements 11 is currently available for £68, while the Pro edition is £254.
For more information, head to Steinberg’s website.

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How to Grow A Fanbase [Angela Tyler]Learn how to leverage social media, email marketing, and fan collaborations to build a loyal and engaged audience. by Angela Tyler, owner of Muddy Paw PR. Your fans are everything.. Continue reading
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5 creative ways to share music using QR codesHere are some innovative ways to share music and expand an audience with QR codes. Learn how these simple codes can make promoting your music more effective and engaging. by. Continue reading
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UMG partners with SoundLabs to launch AI vocal plug-in MicDropUniversal Music Group and SoundLabs are launching MicDrop, a groundbreaking AI vocal plug-in. Find out how this new tool will change the way artists create music. via Celebrity Access SoundLabs,. Continue reading
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Avid launch Pro Tools 2024.6 The latest version of Pro Tools introduces an extensive list of features along with ARA2 support for multiple third-party plug-ins.

Shaq reveals why Ice Cube stopped him from releasing a Dr. Dre-produced track named That’s GangstaBasketball legend, DJ, and rapper Shaquille O’Neal has spoken about the time Ice Cube stopped him from releasing a Dr. Dre-produced song named That’s Gangsta.
Speaking on a new episode of The Big Podcast, Shaq recalls how Cube had decided to scrap the song because he thought the former NBA star was “more than just gangsta”.

READ MORE: “We didn’t want to live and die by someone else’s sword”: Avenged Sevenfold’s Zacky Vengeance on ditching major labels and nurturing better fan connections with the blockchain

“Cube was executive producing one of my records and he put me in the studio with Dr. Dre,” Shaq says. “I did a song called That’s Gangsta. Cube heard it and was like, ‘Nope. We’re not releasing this.’ Dre did the beat.”
“I thought it was nice,” he adds, “and then I played it for Cube… He was like, ‘Shaq, you’re a fucking Laker, bro. I don’t want you talking about nothing gangsta. We not doing none of that shit.’ And it never came out.”
Explaining his reasons for pulling the brakes on the release, Cube says: “Shaq is a dope MC, but I just felt the record was off-brand for him because, to me, he’s more than just gangsta.”
“He’s loved by millions, loved by kids. He already established that. And why go backward when you’re already forward? You’re already a household name.”
For Shaq, that incident taught him an important life lesson — to “stay true to who you are,” he says.
“Cause I ain’t gonna lie. You guys wanna be basketball players, I wanted to be y’all growing up.”
The athlete-turned-rapper has released four studio albums thus far, with his first, Shaq Diesel, going platinum.
Watch the full interview below.

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Universal Music signs deal to train AI to make “ultra-high fidelity vocal models” of its artistsUniversal Music has inked a deal with artificial intelligence start-up SoundLabs to create “official ultra-high fidelity vocal models for artists using their own voice data for training while retaining control over ownership and giving them full artistic approval and control of the output”.

READ MORE: From Kraftwerk to AI – Berlin’s love affair with music technology

The deal means that singers on Universal’s roster can train AI models using their own voices and retain ownership of the results. They will also have full control over how they’re used. In theory, this could also mean they could record a new album without actually singing a single word themselves.
In a press release, Universal Music say: “It empowers artists and producers to explore bleeding-edge vocal transformations, including voice-to-voice, voice-to-instrument, speech-to-singing, language transposition, and a myriad of previously impossible vocal transformations. Together, UMG and SoundLabs are collaborating to allow UMG artists to create custom vocal models that will be available for their exclusive creative use cases, and not available to the general public.”
“It’s a tremendous honour to be working with the forward-thinking and creatively aligned Universal Music Group,” adds SoundLabs founder BT, who famously worked on the 1986 hit Blue Skies, featuring Tori Amos. “We believe the future of music creation is decidedly human.
“Artificial intelligence, when used ethically and trained consensually, has the Promethean ability to unlock unimaginable new creative insights, diminish friction in the creative process and democratise creativity for artists, fans, and creators of all stripes.
“We are designing tools not to replace human artists, but to amplify human creativity.”
Although the use of AI in music remains controversial, its use is accelerating fast; almost two-thirds of young creatives are embracing AI in their music making, according to a recent study.
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Queen sell catalogue to Sony Music for £1 billion in biggest acquisition of its kindQueen have reportedly agreed to sell their back catalogue to Sony Music for a record-breaking $1.27million, making it the biggest acquisition of its kind.

READ MORE: Jacob Collier makes Glastonbury 2023 crowd his choir with Queen cover

Sources told Variety that Sony is now in the process of acquiring the band’s back catalogue, alongside merchandising and other business opportunities, but not revenue from live performances.
Sony has acquired several other artists’ back catalogues in recent years, including Bruce Springsteen’s (which went for $500million) and Bob Dylan’s. The label also has a 50 per cent stake in Michael Jackson‘s music catalogue, valued at roughly $600 million (£471 million).
Variety also reports that another bidder, whose identity remains unknown, almost secured Queen’s catalogue, but had not offered more than $900million.
The situation is made somewhat more complicated by the fact that Disney has owned the band’s recording rights in the US and Canada since sometime in the ’90s. Universal Music Group are currently their worldwide distributor and will remain so for the next few years until that deal expires.
According to company filings, Queen’s surviving members – Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon – and the estate of late frontman Freddie Mercury are all equal shareholders in Queen Productions Ltd and reported revenues of $52 million (£40.8 million) in 2022.
Big-name artists selling their back catalogues has become an increasingly common occurrence in recent years and a variety of firms have been involved, from traditional major music publishers and recording entities like Sony and private equity investors to hybrid rights management or asset management companies, such as Hipgnosis. Various factors have been pointed to in order to explain this trend, from the expectation that the value of owning catalogues will soon fall in the face of streaming services to recouping losses in touring revenue from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The beat for Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss Not Like Us was created in 30 minutesDJ Mustard has lifted the veil on the making of Kendrick Lamar’s fiery Drake diss track Not Like Us.
The LA-based producer describes his role in Lamar’s diss anthem in a new Billboard interview, saying: “I heard the song when everyone else heard it.”

READ MORE: “He said ‘What’s wrong with this instrument? It only plays one note at a time!” Producer recalls Stevie Wonder’s first encounter with the TONTO synth

“I never heard it before, I wasn’t in the studio with him, I had never heard that song.”
For the uninitiated, Not Like Us was released last month amid a highly public feud between Lamar and Drake that saw both rappers trading insults with a flurry of diss tracks that range from cheeky digs at each other’s music to accusations of domestic violence.
Speaking about the inspiration behind his latest beat, Mustard says that “when I was making it, in the back of my head was ‘What would Dr. Dre do if Lil Jon was in the studio and they were collaborating on the beat?’ That was my thought process.”
“It took me approximately 30 minutes to make that beat,” he adds. “I didn’t know [Lamar] was going to gas that beat like that.”

Not Like Us marks the fifth Drake diss song Kendrick has dropped since March. The track soared to the Number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart upon its release, garnering over 70 million streams in the first week alone.
“I got into a place where I’m just gonna send [Kendrick Lamar] like, five beats a day. He never responded until like 12 at night and was like ‘This is fire,’” Mustard says. “I don’t think I even understood how big [the song] was until it got to number 1 and I was like ‘This is the biggest song of my life!’ But I was just happy to have a song with Kendrick.”
On Wednesday (19 June), Lamar performed the diss anthem a whopping five times in a row during the grand finale of his Pop Out: Ken & Friends Juneteenth concert. For the final rendition of the song, the artist brought DJ Mustard, Steve Lacy, NBA star Russell Westbrook, and radio host Big Boy, among others, on stage to join him in the performance.

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Five audio randomization tips to break your writer’s blockIt happens to the best of us. There comes a time when the music just isn’t flowing. It can happen at any time during the music production process: sound design, sequencing and even mixing. Don’t despair though, as randomization is a fun and surprisingly effective method of getting past the doldrums and back into a flow state.

READ MORE: Learn how to create custom voice and instrument audio stems with AI

Brian Eno knew this well and, in 1975, developed the Oblique Strategies, a set of cards with vague instructions written on them like “Turn it upside down” and “Cut a vital connection”. What these are meant to do is get you thinking in a different — but highly creative — way.
You don’t need to fork out for a set of the cards (though they are worth looking into). In a similarly creatively inspiring way, try employing randomization in your production process. Below are five ways to use chance to spice up your track at the sound design, processing and sequencing stages. If you like what you get, freeze the track or bounce out the audio to preserve it. Or use it as inspiration for a new idea and keep going.
Spice up synthesizer sound design with sample and hold
Not feeling inspired by any of the presets in your soft synth? Sounds lacking in movement and interest? Try using sample and hold to add some unpredictability to your patches.
Sample and hold is a circuit that samples (grabs) the voltage of a constantly changing signal and holds (freezes) its value at a constant level for a specific period of time. This adds a ‘bubbly’ effect, perfect for livening up static pads or, in this case, the low-pass filter on a bass.
Not every synth has sample and hold. It’s more common on emulations of older analogue synths, like the Roland Cloud System-100 in this example.
First, patch out from the noise generator to give the sample and hold a random signal to clock to. Next, connect a cable from the S&H circuit to the external CV In on LFO-1 and set it to S&H. Then another patch out to LFO in on the VCF. Make sure the LFO control is up. Play with the Sample Time slider on the sample and hold circuit to change the speed of the effect. Finally, dial in the appropriate cutoff and resonance levels.

Here’s the effect in action with a beat after being bounced to audio and arranged:

Throw the dice with randomization plugins
There are some plugins out there that are designed to add random movement to a signal. This can be especially useful when processing or mixing pads or audio beds: sounds that could benefit from some movement and change.
One such plugin is Randomachine by Soundevice Digital. It has a number of different effects like distortion, pan and reverb, all of which turn on and off at different intervals. You can set the trigger to transient, DAW tempo sync or MIDI.
Drop Randomachine into an effects slot on a pad, such as this string patch made with U-he Zebra 2. Set the Trigger to Sync and then tweak the different effects controls until you get something that catches the ear. Don’t worry too much about precision. Remember, you’re letting chance take the reins.

Here’s the finished pad now run through more reverb and with the same beat as before.

Cycle randomly through Recycle loops
Dr. OctoRex, the loop player in Reason Studios’ Reason DAW, has a random way to audition loops. Any loop will work, as long as it’s been turned into a Rex file first. (If you don’t have Reason, don’t fret. Many other DAWs can do a similar thing.)
Load Dr. OctoRex into your Reason project. Using the Browser plus Run button, audition loops. Once you find one that sounds promising, hit the Copy Loop To Track button in the bottom half of the device. (Be sure and turn off Run or you’ll hear two copies of the same loop play when you start the transport.)
Now when you cycle through loops using the Select next loop buttons, you’ll hear the new loops playing according to the MIDI pattern of the first loop. This can yield all sorts of unique patterns that you would never think of on your own.

Here’s a processed random loop playing with a techno beat.

Randomize your step sequences
Some step sequencers have random functions, which can help you develop unusual patterns for leads and basslines.
Phoscyon 2, an emulation of the Roland TB-303, has an intuitive sequencer with plenty of randomization parameters. You can even export the sequence as a MIDI file and use it with another instrument.
In the Phoscyon 2 sequencer, use the Amount knobs under Random to add or subtract the number of notes, slides and accents. Finally, click Export and Drag MIDI file to the target lane in your DAW. If you don’t like it, try again!

Here’s a random acid sequence driving U-he’s Hive instead of Phoscyon’s internal synth engine.

Add chance to DAW sequences
Most DAWs have built-in features to randomize sequences. In Ableton Live there are two ways.
First, add a copy of the stock Random MIDI effect plugin before an instrument in a MIDI clip, such as in this percussion pattern. Increase the amount of Chance and Choices to change the notes randomly – in this case, the triggered percussion sounds.
Next, try playing with the Random function inside the piano roll. Click on the MIDI clip then at the bottom of the piano roll, press the button to reveal the Chance lane. Finally, hit Randomize to vary the probability that any note will play during the sequence. Lower the percentage from 100% for a less chaotic result.

Here’s that Latin percussion track with a strong beat and additional processing.

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Logic Pro 11 is amazing for macOS users — but what about the rest of us?£199 / $199, apple.com
Apple acquired Logic Pro from eMagic in 2002 and has built it into one of the most powerful DAWs on the planet. With a relatively affordable price of £199, the entry barrier to its professional-grade music production tools is today incredibly low — so long as you’re a macOS user. And the investment is worth it, particularly thanks to the free upgrade plan, meaning if you already own the DAW, the new Logic Pro 11 update is ready for you to download.

READ MORE: The best DAWs for music producers in all genres, styles and workflows

If you’re new to music production or considering switching from a different DAW, there are some compelling reasons to choose Logic Pro 11. Having your computer, operating system and DAW all built by the same company comes with its positives, including far fewer bugs and a higher likelihood of stellar performance. Plus, built-in stem separation, spatial audio mixing features, a killer library of stock samples and plugins, and impressive arrangement tools makes Logic Pro even more tempting.
But is it really the DAW for you?
Logic Pro 11 tracks
Logic Pro 11 is Apple through and through
You’ll need a Mac from 2017 or later to support Logic Pro 11 — Intel Macs are supported for now but you can expect this to quietly and gradually change over the next couple of years, with newer features requiring Apple Silicon.
This transition has already started, with the new stem separation tool in Logic 11 only available on M-powered systems. Other applications, such as RipX DAW, can do more advanced stem separation on macOS and Windows anyway, but Apple’s trajectory will inevitably be towards its own processor chips.
But Apple goes even deeper into its ecosystem — Logic Pro only supports Audio Unit format plugins. To be fair, most third-party plugins come in all major formats, but if you do have VST-only versions of your favourite plugins, you’ll have to try using a wrapper (a plugin that converts one format to another in real time) to get them working in Logic Pro.
It’s a shame that Apple is still so restrictive on this front, but we’re glad that many plugin developers have adapted to build AU versions of their software, at least.
Logic Pro 11 mixer
Logic Pro 11’s stock plugins
Logic’s instruments and effects library is incredible, boasting 108 effects and 28 instruments. It includes venerable classics from older versions of Logic Pro to new, state-of-the-art synths, samplers and instrument libraries.
There’s a wealth of sounds too; up to 72GB of selectively-downloadable loops and banks including over 13,000 Apple loops and 1,250 sampler instruments. This is all managed using a handy, searchable library interface inside the app, with easy drag-and-drop of content into a project.
The Drummer instrument from Logic Pro X is now joined by two other Studio Assistants — Bass Player and Keyboard Player — which are tied to the new Studio Bass and Piano instruments. Essentially, these auto-generate melodies and patterns based on settings that you make, but in a way that all hangs together in terms of timing, musicality and structure. You can tweak all kinds of parameters and use the new chord track to have the parts follow your changes. It’s super smart and is genuinely useful to have Logic create ideas or backing parts for songs, even if just for experimentation or inspiration.
You can think of the Studio Assistants as collaborators coming up with melodies and beats by themselves, not based on any kind of conventional MIDI sequencer but operating as their own engines.
Of course, you can ‘direct’ these, choosing different levels of complexity and intensity for the melodies and patterns, as well as settings specific to each instrument. For example, the piano has tweaks for grace notes, humanization and fill complexity, plus a manual option gives you more control on which notes are played. Still, the smart generative mode is more likely to create parts you wouldn’t have thought of yourself.
The new chord tracks, which Steinberg’s Cubase has had for some time, make these parts more flexible as they can follow your song’s key structure rather than being static.
The Studio Assistants are much more creative than standard MIDI generators and have a genuinely musical feel. Hopefully we will see more added in future, like guitars or even vocal generators.
Apple is among the first developers to integrate such AI-powered technology directly into a DAW. The new stem splitter tool is effective as well, though it’s a technology that has been adopted by a number of competitors like FL Studio and is presently done more comprehensively by RipX DAW.
Logic Pro Session Players
Logic Pro 11’s spatial audio tools
Aside from its top-level tracking and editing tools, Logic excels in its support for surround sound mixing and exporting. Increasingly important in today’s world of Dolby Atmos and spatial audio for film, TV and music, Logic’s approach is actually among the friendlier ones out there. And while surround mixing is something of an art, it’s easier to understand here than on some other platforms.
At the other end of the spectrum, Live Loops is a grid-based method of triggering and sequencing parts and loops that makes Logic a fun way to work with music in a style quite unlike its conventional timeline-based tools. And Remix FX turns the whole thing into a DJ-style performance tool.
Do you really need Logic Pro 11?
There’s a lot of choice for aspiring producers now, and tools like GarageBand and BandLab Studio are free if your needs don’t extend much beyond simple audio tracking and putting together beats. Stepping up to Logic Pro, however, takes you into a world of infinitely more powerful options. You can still do the simple tasks, but the arsenal of plugins, loops, advanced editing, programming and mixing tools and support for scoring and working with video open up immense creative potential. Even if you don’t use those features now, you can learn them later and expand your skill set.
Users of other DAWs can often be married to their workflows and invested in a particular platform. Ableton Live, for example, is popular with electronic and performance-based artists, while it arguably lacks the sheer depth of features that Logic Pro boasts. On the other hand, perhaps it’s overkill for your workflow.
But there’s also the attractive price point to consider and lifetime free updates. It’s incredible value considering its feature set and the extras that Apple throws in, such as Logic Remote, a free iOS app for comprehensively controlling your sessions. And then there’s iCloud syncing and decent project exchange with the iPad version of Logic Pro.
We still think Apple should consider opening the DAW up to systems outside of macOS. But, for now, if you can bear to be tied into Apple’s world, Logic Pro offers an unbeatable combination of features and value.
Logic Pro 11 output
Key features

Up to 32-bit, 192kHz audio
108 effect and 28 instrument plugins
72 GB of downloadable content
Session Player instruments
Mastering assistant
Sound-to-picture support
Powerful surround features
Loop and Remix modes
Logic Remote for iOS
Works with Logic Pro for iPad

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Aptos Labs, NBCUniversal partner for Web3 fan experiences, gamingMore fun is in store for filmgoers like Free Renfield The Game and the Excorcist 3: Believer premiums.

SpaceX debuts portable Starlink Mini for $599SpaceX unveiled Starlink Mini, a more portable version of its satellite internet product that is small enough to fit inside a backpack.  Early Starlink customers were invited to purchase the Starlink Mini kit for $599, according to an invitation sent to customers and viewed by TechCrunch. That’s $100 more than the standard Starlink kit. They […]
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Bktherula Rules the EchoAtlanta rapper Bktherula is just 21 years old, yet it feels like she's been around forever. It's been five years since she broke out with the "Left Right" track in 2019 when, by our math, she would have been just 16. She started making music long before that, when she was nine. By the age of 13, she was uploading to Soundcloud.

All of which means that, despite the fact that she can only now legally drink, she has bags of experience behind her. This year's LVL5 P2 album is her fifth, which is basically insane.

At the Echoplex, Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 19, a respectably-sized crowd gave Bktherula all of the love in their collective locker, as the rapper blasted through a short, sweet set. "Bkbkbk," she repeatedly told us, resulting in mass whoops and cheers.

The setlist was perfect, as one banger after another snapped out: "Tan," the aforementioned "Left Right," "Pssyonft," and a riotous "Shakin It."

By the end, crowd members had been invited on stage to literally shake it ("21 and up"), and Bk was promising to "sign titties" at the merch table. A triumph.

Earlier, British non-binary rapper and singer Skaiwater saw an energetic set inspire the sort of circle pits and stage diving you'd normally see at a punk show. The Lil Nas X-approved artist jumps genres and blurs every line that there is to blur. We'll be looking out for more.

The post Bktherula Rules the Echo first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Electronic Etch-A-Sketch, No Microcontroller RequiredIn a lot of ways, Etch-A-Sketch is the perfect toy; simple, easy to use, creative, endlessly engaging, and as a bonus, it’s completely mechanical. We find that last attribute to be a big part of its charm, but that’s not to say an electronic version of the classic toy can’t be pretty cool, especially when it’s done without the aid of a microcontroller.
This is one of those “because I can” projects that we always find so interesting, and more so because it wasn’t entirely clear to [BigZaphod] that he had the skills to pull it off. While his initial design centered around a bunch of 8×8 LED matrix displays and a 256×4-bit RAM chip, the rest of it was a lot of hand-waving. After a few experiments with addressing the LEDs, [Zaphod] started filling in the blanks with a refresh circuit using a 555 — naturally — and a pair of counters. Properly debounced encoders for the horizontal and vertical controls came next, along with more counters to track the cursor and a host of other circuits that ended up looking like a “one of each” selection from the 7400-series catalog.
While we do wish for a schematic on this one, it’s still a pretty enjoyable video, and the end product seems to work really well. The electronic version has a few features the original lacks, such as wrapping the cursor to the other side of the screen. We’d imagine that the buttons on the encoders could be put to work, too; perhaps a click could make it so you can move the cursor without leaving a trail behind. That might be a challenge to execute in logic, but then again, that was the point of the whole thing.
Still jonesing for that mechanical Etch-A-Sketch experience? Not a problem.