How Brooklyn’s The Lot Radio has thrived as an independent station for 10 yearsIn 2015, five years after moving to New York, Belgian expat François Vaxelaire took a long walk through his neighbourhood in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. He was tired of freelancing as a photographer and videographer and anxiously contemplating his future when he noticed a “for lease” sign on a long-abandoned fenced-off lot. Immediately, his mind was racing with ideas.

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“Everything connected in my brain in half a second, like in movies, and I’m not a person like that at all. I was like, ‘Wait, I’m gonna do something here’. And two seconds later, ‘I’m gonna do radio’,” he reflects during a recent conversation at The Lot Radio, the beloved independent internet radio station he built on that triangular plot of land once home to a gas station.
“10 years ago, I had no idea what I was doing, but I felt in my gut it was important,” he adds.
Nine months after that spontaneous dream, in February 2016, Vaxelaire launched The Lot Radio from a converted shipping container he tricked out for the space, along with picnic tables for people to listen in person. Since the beginning, he’s remained dedicated to ensuring it remains self-sustaining and to offering a great experience for the DJs, who play for free.
The booth is decked out with the latest gear (including two Pioneer CDJ-3000s, CDJ-2000NX2s, and Technics SL-1200s plus Funktion-One monitors) with an adaptable setup. But, crucially, it’s designed to be a warm, welcoming community space. “New York is a tough city. I really wanted to create a little island of freedom for all the music lovers,” Vaxelaire shares.
Image: The Lot Radio
“The first year was insane,” he reflects, sharing his surprise at how many of his dream guests came through early on. A debut year filled with pinch-me moments is topped by one of his long-time favourites, Antal, the founder of Amsterdam’s Rush Hour Music, who ended up playing five hours because he loved the space. (He’s since returned several times, most recently in March.) That moment made Vaxelaire feel he was onto something good. Most of their dream DJs have already played the decks, yet he would love to have Theo Parrish and Maurice Fulton one day.
Vaxelaire cites the physical space as a core part of The Lot’s ongoing success, one that connects the online world with the tangible one, where DJs can meet their heroes, future collaborators and fans. “The strength and magic of Lot Radio is in the triangle,” he asserts. “In a city where everything is expensive…it’s an actual third space in NYC. We feel so lucky and attached to the triangle.”
Impressively, the non-profit radio station is fully sustained by sales from the small café window at one end of the shipping container. Since the public area is outdoors, it makes most of its money during the warmer months (although New York regularly faces spring and summer rain). “It’s busy until the end of October. Without that high season, we die, because in the winter we lose so much money. Basically, we make enough money in the summer to survive the winter. And every year, maybe we’re able to buy a new CDJ,” Vaxelaire explains. He has one full-time and one part-time staff member, along with six baristas to help the business run smoothly. (The baristas are also passionate about music—Sasha Cwalino, who DJs as deep creep, started as a barista and is now on staff and a radio regular.)
Kiosk café at The Lot Radio. Image: The Lot Radio
“Since day one, the kiosk [café] has been saving us. We had no idea if it would work. Online streaming projects will always hit the same issue at some point where they [run out of] money; it’s impossible to sustain [without sponsors],” Vaxelaire posits.
“It’s important for us to be critical about who we collaborate with, so the fact that we are completely independent economically is really freeing… When we do a collaboration it means we really believe in it.”
Most of the collabs don’t make The Lot money, although some offer paid DJ gigs. They include Lot DJ lineups at the Museum of Modern Art, Making Time fest in Philadelphia, HORST Festival in Belgium with Brussels’ Kiosk Radio (launched in 2017 by his friend), and even at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, home to an impressive record collection.
“My day-to-day isn’t sexy at all, but I feel extremely lucky. Everyone is happy to come and be here, that’s rare [in a workplace],” Vaxelaire says. His passion for the project is evident the moment he begins speaking about it. It’s made him a beloved behind-the-scenes figure on the scene, evidenced by the fact that so many DJs are excited to play pro bono on The Lot.
Love Injection’s magazine stand. Image: The Lot Radio
The Lot currently boasts 200 local resident DJs across the genre spectrum (including ambient, indie, punk and rap) on its schedule who host monthly or weekly shows. Brooklyn underground house power couple Barbie Bertisch and Paul Raffaele, who DJ as Love Injection, have the longest-running show on The Lot. It’s a second home to them, one where Bertisch celebrated her thirtieth birthday and their baby shower. (They offer free copies of their music zine, also named Love Injection, at a custom stand on The Lot.)
“It’s been such a constant for us through so much change. I’ve had jobs come and go, the pandemic, babies. When we take a weekend off, it feels weird,” Raffaele reflects. “It feels untethered [when we skip],” Bertisch adds. “It’s the anchor to our week.”
The multi-hyphenate duo launched their project shortly before The Lot, so they appreciate the space it’s given them to experiment and grow, without deference to streaming or audience numbers. “We’ve grown symbiotically. I don’t know what Love Injection would be without The Lot,” Raffaele says.

“[The Lot] are actual angels; Francois, Karl [Scholz] of Karlala Soundsystem [whose custom pink speakers pump up outdoor fêtes around the city, including the Lot’s Juneteenth block party]. These are people that are dedicating the middle of their lives to art and culture and helping people without any major recognition,” Raffaele commends.
They assert that part of its success is that people want to support it; for example, Raffaele often lends his graphic design skills. “People want to give to The Lot. There are jobs you do for money and jobs you want to do. It’s the latter,” Bertisch says.
While The Lot is an important hub for NYC DJs and electronic music fans, it’s important to Vaxelaire to represent the rich eclecticism of the city’s ever-evolving sound on their airwaves. During his first year, he received feedback that he wasn’t fully encompassing New York music, so he’s aimed to do so ever since. “It became bigger than us; it was part of NYC, so we had the responsibility to represent NYC,” the Belgian creative says.
Image: The Lot Radio
In fact, the station reflects the sonic shifts of the underground Brooklyn scenes, welcoming a new generation of NYC Gen Z DJs—many who are influenced by Jersey club and footwork—and ravers that came of age during the pandemic, while still making space for the many local legends and other great DJs here.
“It has lived through these generational intervals, which are getting shorter now because culture is moving so fast,” Raffaele says. “There are very different eras of The Lot, which will continue; it’ll keep putting a mirror up to what’s going on in the Brooklyn underground.”
Bertisch echoes the many Lot fans by asserting that losing it would have a “monumental” impact on the local scene. “It’s the town square for New York’s underground,” she explains. “The Lot has become the place where people who would otherwise never cross paths end up rubbing against each other, because the New York underground is so many things at once…Where else would we gather?”
This is why the city closing The Lot in October 2024 for eight months was such a disappointment. The Department of Health shut them down after they applied to renovate in order to move from a temporary structure permit to permanent building status. Vaxelaire continued radio operations, but with the café shuttered into the summer, they had no money coming in and a slim window of survival.

Vaxeliare names the Office of Nightlife, who acted as a helpful interlocutor between The Lot and the city departments of health and buildings, as essential to their reopening and, consequently, their survival. (Former Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the department, along with hiring the city’s first “nightlife mayor” in 2018. The Lot recently hosted current nightlife mayor Jeffrey Garcia for an hour-long interview.)
This isn’t the first time they’ve had to close and quickly adapt. At the start of the lockdown, they switched to having DJs stream from home, thanks to former core team member Pauline Lament, who helped them connect to their system virtually. The Lot was one of the first bars to be able to reopen, thanks to their fully outdoor seating, becoming a safe, much-needed gathering space for New Yorkers after months of quarantining in small apartments. Shortly before the pandemic struck, The Lot team visited sunny Los Angeles to look into launching an outpost there. They discovered that attaining a liquor license was even more complicated than in NYC, so they dropped the idea.
Vaxelaire’s next dream for The Lot in the coming years is to secure a ten- to 15-year lease. He’s almost done with the renovations and is currently working with a local architecture studio to build a new space using two stacked shipping containers. “I want The Lot Radio to be part of New York City as a whole, to be the independent online radio of New York City.”
He appreciates the fresh talent and sounds the young people involved with The Lot bring in, and while he’ll always stay involved and help his project thrive, he wants to pass the leadership torch to someone younger in the near future.
“I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I give my whole heart to this project. I really try to have this little island of freedom, creativity and a sacred place for music in the heart of New York. That it’s been ten years is insane.”
The post How Brooklyn’s The Lot Radio has thrived as an independent station for 10 years appeared first on MusicTech.

This free sample pack from Rex Studio offers 42 loops and 59 one shots run through a vintage Tascam 388 tape machineAd feature with BandLab Sounds.
As a music producer, you can never have too many samples at your disposal. And thanks to a new collaboration between Macks Faulkron’s Rex Studio, BandLab and MusicTech, we’re pleased to bring you a new professionally recorded sample pack totally free.
Available via BandLab Sounds, the Rex Studio Tascam 388 pack spans 42 loops – 26 drum loops, four bass, eight guitar and four other sounds including flutes and more – and 59 one shots, all recorded through the rare eight-track Tascam 388 analogue recording console and tape machine at Rex Studio in Islington, London.
Since the opening of Rex Studio in 2009, big-name artists – including Sky Ferreira, Labrinth, BADBADNOTGOOD, Picture Parlour, and Caroline Polachek – have flocked to the facility to flavour their music with the unmistakable analogue flavour of the Tascam 388. And with the new BandLab Sounds Rex Studio Tascam 388 sample pack, you can add this vintage vibe to your productions.
“Can we run it through the tape machine?” is a regular request he gets from artists working at the studio, as he told MusicTech when we visited the facility last year. “Definitely, that’s the vibe,” he tells them.
Rex Studio has built such a reputation for the flavour the Tascam 388 adds to mixes that Macks Faulkron has even set up a bespoke online service, through which artists can have their digital mixes sent through the unit for a vintage tape feel.
BandLab Sounds offers a versatile sampling interface, with the ability to audition individual samples before you download them, edit their tempo and key, and trim to your desired length. There are also attack, release and tone parameters for further tweaking any sound, plus the option to reverse it before downloading.
A significant portion of the time spent sampling is in finding the perfect sample for your project. But to speed things up, BandLab Sounds has organised the samples in the Rex Studio Tascam 388 pack by key, tempo, character, length and instrument, so you can locate what you’re looking for quickly.
Speaking on the last 15 years running Rex Studio, Macks Faulkron told MusicTech: “It’s been a blast. 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.”
Download the Rex Studio Tascam 388 sample pack.
[Editor’s Note: BandLab and MusicTech are both part of Caldecott Music Group]
The post This free sample pack from Rex Studio offers 42 loops and 59 one shots run through a vintage Tascam 388 tape machine appeared first on MusicTech.

High-leverage crypto trader James Wynn liquidated again, this time for $4.8MJames Wynn, famous for his leveraged crypto bets, said he was "back with a vengeance," but was liquidated just one day after opening new positions.

Spotify spotted working on a ‘SongDNA’ feature that showcases the people behind your favorite musicSpotify is developing a new “SongDNA” feature that lets users explore music through the people behind it — from writers and producers to vocalists and engineers.

Printing an Air-Powered Integrated Circuit for Squishy RobotsThere’s no rule that says that logic circuits must always use electrically conductive materials, which is why you can use water, air or even purely mechanical means to implement logic circuits. When it comes to [soiboi soft]’s squishy robots, it thus makes sense to turn the typical semiconductor control circuitry into an air-powered version as much as possible.
We previously featured the soft and squishy salamander robot that [soiboi] created using pneumatic muscles. While rather agile, it still has to drag a whole umbilical of pneumatic tubes along, with one tube per function. Most of the research is on microfluidics, but fortunately air is just a fluid that’s heavily challenged in the density department, allowing the designs to be adapted to create structures like gates and resistors.
A transistor or valve using a silicone membrane. (Credit: soiboi soft, YouTube)
Logically, a voltage potential or a pressure differential isn’t so different, and can be used in a similar way. A transistor for example is akin to the vacuum tube, which in British English is called a valve for good reason. Through creative use of a flexible silicone membrane and rigid channels, pulling a vacuum in the ‘gate’ channel allows flow through the other two channels.
Similarly, a ‘resistor’ is simply a narrowing of a channel, thus resisting flow. The main difference compared to the microfluidics versions is everything is a much larger scale. This does make it printable on a standard FDM printer, which is a major benefit.
Quantifying these pneumatic resistors took a bit of work, using a pressure sensor to determine their impact, but after that the first pneumatic logic circuits could be designed. The resistors are useful here as pull-downs, to ensure that any charge (air) is removed, while not impeding activation.
The design, as shown in the top image, is a 5-stage ring oscillator that provides locomotion to a set of five pneumatic muscles. As demonstrated at the end of video, this design allows for the entire walking motion to be powered using a single input of compressed air, not unlike the semiconductor equivalent running off a battery.
While the somewhat bulky nature of pneumatic logic prevents it from implementing very complex logic, using it for implementing something as predictable as a walking pattern as demonstrated seems like an ideal use case. When it comes to making these squishy robots stand-alone, it likely can reduce the overall bulk of the package, not to mention the power usage. We are looking forward to how [soiboi]’s squishy robots develop and integrate these pneumatic circuits.

Key Songs In The Life Of… Jack AntonoffThe multi-Grammy-winning hitmaker unveils his personal autobiography in song
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moe. and TELEFUNKEN Celebrate 35 Years with Rock The PinkThirty-five years on the road is no small feat—but for jam-rock veterans moe., the milestone comes with both volume and vision. The beloved six-piece band is marking its 35th anniversary with a twist on its trademark sound setup: bright pink TELEFUNKEN M80 microphones, used to raise awareness for Rock The Pink, a breast cancer initiative that fuses music and philanthropy.

The idea is simple but powerful. For the entire month of October, TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik will donate a portion of proceeds from sales of its M80 PINK dynamic vocal mic to Rock The Pink. At the same time, moe. is putting their own personal spin on the effort by autographing and auctioning off the same pink mics used onstage—with all proceeds going to the same charity.

It’s a fitting gesture for a band that’s built its career on connection, community, and the long jam.

moe. isn’t the type of band to compromise on tone, no matter how good the cause. Their stage manager and longtime front-of-house mixer Frank Hopkins says that, even when touring under wildly different conditions, one piece of gear remains non-negotiable.

“We carry our own Telefunken vocal mics everywhere,” Hopkins says. “We have so many open microphones and loud sources on stage… rejection and isolation are paramount, and the nice natural beefy tone we get from our M80s dependably night after night is a must have for moe.”

The pink version, it turns out, sounds just as good—and looks even better.

Formed at the University at Buffalo back in 1989, moe. has spent the last three and a half decades evolving from a scrappy college jam band into a cornerstone of the American improvisational rock scene. Their debut album Fatboy dropped in 1992, landing them alongside contemporaries like Phish and Widespread Panic in the growing jam-band movement.

Over the years, they’ve shared the stage with The Allman Brothers, The Who, and countless others, while headlining major venues from Radio City Music Hall to Bonnaroo (five times, no less). As American Songwriter once put it, the band’s “mind-bending musicality” and "witty, insightful songwriting” have made them a force of nature in modern rock.

This latest collaboration adds another layer to their legacy—one that goes beyond music. For TELEFUNKEN, which will showcase its lineup at AES in Long Beach on October 23–24 (Booth #303), the partnership is a way to spotlight both their gear and their giving spirit.

For moe., it’s about using the spotlight for something larger than themselves. Pink microphones may not change the world—but for a few weeks this fall, they’ll certainly help fund the fight.

Learn more about moe. and Rock The Pink.

The post moe. and TELEFUNKEN Celebrate 35 Years with Rock The Pink first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Spotify DJ “levels up” with Spanish voice requests, typed requests and personalised suggestion featuresSpotify has announced that its DJ feature has received an upgrade designed to give users even more ways to interact with it, allowing for more control over sessions.
Introducing the new DJ Livi, the platform has given millions of its Spanish-speaking listeners the ability to make music requests in their native language.

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Responding to strong customer demand for a typed request feature, you can also now either type or voice your request depending on your needs or preferences. Not only does this provide greater accessibility, it also gives users the ability to more discreetly make requests while commuting or out in public, for example.
Users looking for personalised suggestions to kickstart their Spotify DJ sessions also have three more prompt suggestions.
As Spotify explains in its press statement, you can make a DJ music request using the following steps: Search DJ on Spotify, press play and DJ will serve up a curated mix of music and commentary tailored to you. To switch up the vibe, tap the DJ button in the bottom right-hand corner and give DJ your request.”
“As a reminder, DJ can handle a combination of genre, mood, artist, or activity-related requests. For example, you could try ‘Play some cozy folk music for fall,’ or ‘Give me spooky tunes for my Halloween party.’
“Since DJ requests launched, fans have asked for everything from workout music to chill vibes, with country, hip-hop, and rock among the most popular genres,” says Spotify.
The post Spotify DJ “levels up” with Spanish voice requests, typed requests and personalised suggestion features appeared first on MusicTech.

Remembering Professor Emerita Jeanne Shapiro  Bamberger, a pioneer in music educationMIT Music and Theater Arts fondly remembers the legacy of Professor Emerita Jeanne Shapiro Bamberger, who passed away peacefully at home in Berkeley, California, of natural causes on Dec. 12, 2024 at the age of 100. For three decades at the Institute, Bamberger found ways to use computers to engage students and help them learn music. A trained pianist who became fascinated with the idea of using technology to gain insights into music education, Bamberger ultimately helped to change how music was taught at MIT and elsewhere.Bamberger was born on Feb. 11, 1924 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mother, Gertrude Shapiro (nee Kulberg), from a Romanian Jewish family, studied child psychology and was active in the League of Women Voters. Her father, Morse Shapiro, of Lithuanian and Polish Jewish heritage, was a groundbreaking pediatric cardiologist.In 1969, Bamberger began her 32-year career at MIT, initially in the former MIT Education Department. While at MIT, Bamberger became the first woman to earn tenure in the Music and Theater Arts Section. She was know for pioneering the use of computer languages to teach children to learn music. She also used her computer innovations to study how children — and by extension, all humans — learn music, and this vector in particular became her life's work.Ahead of her time, Bamberger worked in the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab in the 1980s and developed computer languages (MusicLogo and Impromptu) while at the MIT Division for Study and Research in Education from 1975 to 1995. She became associate professor in music and theater arts in 1981, earned tenure soon thereafter, and chaired the department in 1989-90. During this period, she continued to perform as a concert pianist, taking part in concerts with the MIT Symphony Orchestra, and actively playing chamber music both at MIT and in the community. She also taught at the Harvard University Department of Education.Institute Professor Marcus Thompson recollects, “During her time with us as a senior professor she was clearly a jewel in the crown. For someone who had studied piano with an historic legend in Artur Schnabel, who had studied with and known at least one of the French Six, Darius Milhaud, and worked with French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, she was among that group of our professors who continually advocated for a new music building, considered the possibility of a graduate program in music at a time when we were being pushed to grow, at a time when she was our only senior woman when the need to do better was finally seen.” Both the dedicated music building and the graduate music program are now a reality.Bamberger loved her work and was beloved and admired by her students and colleagues. Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor Evan Ziporyn shares that she “was very much a shaping presence for our section — MIT Music and Theater Arts wouldn't be what we are today without her contributions. She’s also just a very cool person — I mean, how many 90-year-old academics end up working with Herbie Hancock and taking their research to the White House?” Ziporyn adds that “among 7 million other singular accomplishments,” Bamberger published numerous articles and books including “The Art of Listening” with Howard Brofsky, “The Mind Behind the Musical Ear,” “Developing Musical Intuitions,” and “Discovering the Musical Mind.”While at MIT, Bamberger took many students under her wing and assisted many more with their academic careers. Elaine Chew SM ’98, PhD ’00, an operations researcher, pianist, current professor of engineering at King’s College London, and mentee of Bamberger, says, “I would not be doing what I am today if not for Jeanne. A child prodigy turned music philosopher, Jeanne was a pioneer in music and AI long before it was fashionable. She was deeply interested in people and passionate about how we learn. I will not forget the day when I came to her with complaints about things not working. Rather than telling me what to do, Jeanne said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ prompting me to reflect on and develop my own sense of agency.” (Chew speaks more on Bamberger’s inspirational role in a 2016 interview.)All told, Bamberger had a creative, fertile mind and loved to ask probing questions, a quality she passed to her progeny and community — it was her excitement and her passion.While a professor at MIT, Bamberger was a force to be reckoned with. In addition to her long and productive academic career — in which she published four books and nearly 20 book chapters — she was politically active and supported the anti-Vietnam war and the civil rights movements. She continued teaching and publishing her work well into her 90s and had a strong community of companions and colleagues to the end. In 2002, Bamberger became professor emerita at MIT and moved to Berkeley, California, continuing to teach in the Music Department at the University of California at Berkeley.At 100, she was predeceased by her former husband, Frank K. Bamberger. She is survived by her two sons, Joshua and Paul (Chip); four grandchildren — Jerehme, Kaela, Eli, and Noah; and many caring relatives and friends.

Sam Gellaitry’s ‘curious’ is a tribute to his younger self— and his greatest influencesAnywhere Here Is Perfect; the idiomatic, polite conclusion to a thousand hazy late-night taxi journeys — and an apt title for the debut full-length album of Scottish producer, DJ, singer and songwriter Sam Gellaitry, slated for release on 7 November via Major Recordings. ‘Always rejoice when you get to your destination in one piece,’ instructs the official messaging. ‘Anything can happen.’

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If the album’s first two singles are to go by, anything can indeed happen. CURIOUS is a certified dancefloor filler driven by no-holds-barred bass and haywire beat slicing, interspersed with vocals from both Gellaitry and the track’s featured artist, indie-pop crossover star Toro Y Moi. Its genesis is highly personal, however, traceable to some of its creator’s most formative influences and even to his very earliest days of making music on the family computer as a wide-eyed 12-year-old.
Gellaitry, who is set to share the stage this month with the likes of Justice, Kaytranada, and Madeon, is not one to sit still. His decision at the outset to work with vocals as a lead instrument was key to the formulation of CURIOUS, and who better to enlist than one of his greatest influences?
“I could actually tell you the exact date I heard Toro Y Moi for the first time, because it was on a TV show,” laughs the producer, “October 2010, and it was on Waterloo Road. I’ve been a fan since then. The more I listened to his stuff— as well as people like Tame Impala, James Blake, even Sampha— producing and singing became my main focus. He’s the big reason as to why I started singing. So having him as a feature is a really nice, full circle moment for me. A lot of my vocal style is inspired by his; we do actually have a similar tone at times. So I feel like having us on the same track, sonically it really meshes well.”
Image: Press
Toro Y Moi was given free rein to write his own parts and send as much material as he pleased for Gellaitry to chop and piece together according to his own vision. The result might be vocally led, but for Gellaitry that vision begins invariably from the fundamentals of rhythm, which in this case came courtesy of the sounds of the Linndrum.
“I always start with the beat,” he explains. “All of my choices, including melodic choices, stem from the beat. The beat informs exactly the top line I’m going to go for. I used to do it with synthesisers: high, solo synths would be take on the melody that I’m now using my voice for. But nowadays, I’ll loop a beat and start doing mumble takes. I always feel like I’m uncovering a melody that’s already in the beat when I’m singing. And, when I’m done with the melody, it’s like I’m uncovering lyrics which are already in the melody! Sometimes, when you’re doing scratch takes, you’ll sing in a certain way, and the melody will lend itself to certain vowel sounds as well. It’s quite a subconscious experience!”
As for recording those vocals, Gellaitry’s go-to vocal signal chain might come as a surprise: “I recorded my vocals through a 1073 preamp, using an SM58 mic,” he explains, almost sheepishly. “It’s a weird one, using a cheap mic. I do have a [Neumann] U87 [condenser microphone], but the room I work in is not treated very much. So I just use the dynamic mic, which is actually better than the one that picks up every single corner of the room. Hopefully I’ll be able to fix that at one point… [laughs] but it’s fun. I just crank the EQ on the 1073 and I’m pretty much good to go!”
Image: Press
It’s an unpretentious workflow that sits comfortably alongside Gellaitry’s choice of DAW: FL Studio. The highly accessible software has been a constant in the producer’s output since day one, and his fluency with it is clear. Aside from its lead vocal chain, all of CURIOUS was crafted in the box. “It feels like a deep thing to think about my relationship with that software,” Gellaitry reflects, “because it really just changed so much in my life, and I’ve been working with it for so long— 16 years! In fact, it’s probably been one of the most consistent things in my life! I just, kind of, lose myself when I’m on it.
“It was my brother who told me about it; I was 10 and he was remixing stuff with samples— Happy Hardcore kind of stuff— on our family laptop. He told me about this software you could actually make your own music on. To me, at that age, it just sounded like utopia. This couldn’t be a real thing! And that was FL Studio. It was a mystical place to me.”
FL Studio became the producer’s go-to DAW, playing a central role in one of Gellaitry’s most formative experiences as a young musician, when he unsolicitedly sent a demo to one of his heroes in the hopes of receiving some guidance. The undulating bass and deftly chopped rhythms of CURIOUS tips its hat more than a little to the locomotive rhythms of French house; most notably Daft Punk’s 2001 Discovery cut Face To Face and its featured vocalist and co-producer Todd Edwards. Edwards, explains Gellaitry, was the first person to ever provide him with direct feedback on a track.
Image: Press
“I sent him the first song I ever wrote, when I was 12, on MySpace. I can’t remember exactly what he said… something like, it was good and it was on the right track. I mean, it was a very basic song. But to be fair, for my first song, it could have been worse! [laughs]. But it’s insane that he got back to me, because he’s always been a huge inspiration. In hindsight, I do think about how he must have felt, having some 12-year-old from Scotland message him on MySpace… must have been a bit weird, right? But the internet was a smaller place back then.
“To be honest, there aren’t many other songs in the French house genre that I know of which really sound like Face To Face. Which makes me really think it was Todd who had a huge influence on the production in that song. The chops are so small, it’s almost like you’re jumping into different rooms. CURIOUS is almost a homage to him.”
A near-homage it may be, but the track has its own fair share of in-the-box wizardry which is all of Gellaitry’s own; witness its blend of three different UVI Falcon-crafted bass sounds (“something I’ve not done ever, really”) or its harsh use of multi band compression on the mix bus to maintain a sense of space while squeezing certain frequency bands as far as they will tolerate (“even if I’m using vintage sounds for drums, it will still have a modern feel from the squash that I’m putting it through!”).

“A lot of unorthodox ways of doing things,” reflects Gellaitry, “But the older I get, the more I’m opening myself up to imperfections. The amount of times I’ve been too precious on a song, and it’s just never come out…!” As for the producer’s choice of plugins and instruments, one go-to developer is Swedish company Klevgrand. “They have a compressor that sounds great and is visually really clear. Just really helpful to have. And before anything else— they have a really clean noise reducer [Brusfri], which basically listens to and learns the sound, and then just cuts it out. Really clean. They have a really good de-esser as well [Esspresso]. All their stuff is really visually intuitive. It’s quite modern looking. It just makes sense. There’s nothing too shiny or glossy. Just a really good interface.”
Now that Anywhere Here Is Perfect is ready for release, what’s next for Gellaitry? “Knowing me, man, I’m probably going to do a ‘180’ from this sound I’m on,” laughs the producer. “Getting this album to the finish line, having it all in one sound, I can see myself going into a deep exploration of something completely different. It’ll be nice, being freed up a bit— maybe to work on other people’s stuff. But, mainly, I’m just going to enjoy the fact that it’s finished.”
The post Sam Gellaitry’s ‘curious’ is a tribute to his younger self— and his greatest influences appeared first on MusicTech.

Get Stagecraft Software Parity EQ for FREE on BPB (3,000 Keys Available)
Stagecraft Software is giving away 3,000 free copies of Parity EQ, a powerful equalizer plugin typically priced at $75, exclusively to Bedroom Producers Blog readers. Parity EQ isn’t your average EQ. It’s designed for movement, modulation, and creative filtering. Rather than simply cutting or boosting frequencies, it can react dynamically to your music. This allows [...]
View post: Get Stagecraft Software Parity EQ for FREE on BPB (3,000 Keys Available)

For Fans, Band Merch Offers a Connection Deeper Than Commerce A discussion with emerging artists, Deloyd Elze and mer marcum, on how merch connects bands and fans on a deeper level, courtesy of our friends at Softside.
The post For Fans, Band Merch Offers a Connection Deeper Than Commerce appeared first on Hypebot.

New Ticketmaster President to lead ‘AI transformation’ amid legal battlesSaumil Mehta has been named Global Ticketmaster President. He has a strong background in tech including 6 years at Square and joins with a mandate to "accelerate an AI transformation."
The post New Ticketmaster President to lead ‘AI transformation’ amid legal battles appeared first on Hypebot.

Saint Mike DSP releases Ceiling Fan clipper/limiter plugin and it’s FREE for a limited time
Saint Mike DSP has released Ceiling Fan, a FREE (limited-time offer) clipper/limiter plugin for macOS and Windows. I believe the Ceiling Fan from Saint Mike DSP was released a couple of weeks ago, but I missed it on release, and I thought I’d share the news for anyone else who hasn’t checked it out yet. [...]
View post: Saint Mike DSP releases Ceiling Fan clipper/limiter plugin and it’s FREE for a limited time

ZAK Sound AsteroidAsteroid is a virtual instrument built for futuristic sounds that push your music into new dimensions. From deep cosmic drones to shimmering pads and crystalline synth keys, each preset brings a unique, otherworldly character. Read More