This year’s GearFest UK to take place at Tileyard London on 13 JulyThis year’s GearFest UK – the event that hosts some of the world’s top audio brands showcasing a massive selection of microphones, monitors, synthesisers, interfaces and more – will take place at Tileyard London on Saturday 13 July.
Now in its third year, 2024’s GearFest UK will see exhibits from the likes of Focusrite, Moog, Genelec, PMC, SSL, Steinberg, AMS Never, Neumann, Kii Audio, Spitfire Audio, Pioneer, Focal, Rhodes, Nord and Arturia, with many more yet to be announced.

READ MORE: Behringer to revive Mutronics’ classic Mutator filter unit

Sponsored by Sound On Sound, the event will also see panel talks with studio engineers, producers and music industry experts throughout the day, while Dolby will also take over Tileyard’s TYX Studios to offer workshops and demonstrate Dolby Atmos mixes via the facility’s 7.2.4 Neumann monitoring system.
Tickets are available to purchase now via Eventbrite, priced at £15. Tickets will also be available on the day for £20 each.
The event will open its doors at 10:00 and the first 100 people through the door will be in with a chance to win a series of prizes, including a full studio setup. The show will then close at 18:00, but GearFest promises the bar and food stalls will remain open following this…
For more information, head to GearFest UK.
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Music Production for Women: EmpowHer Sound Music Production for Women have announced an upcoming series of free beginner music production masterclasses that will be taking place in four cities across the US.

Beaufort brass library from Orchestral Tools Beaufort captures a range of expressive, emotive solo and ensemble brass performances that complement Orchestral Tools' existing brass libraries. 

From TikTok’s music investment team to Sony’s reported Queen catalog acquisition… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days…
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Behringer to revive Mutronics’ classic Mutator filter unitBehringer loves a bit of nostalgia. In 2022, the German audio company revived the Mu-Tron Bi-Phase dual-phase shifter as the Dual Phase, and it recently announced a replica of the Syncussion SY-1. Now the company is set to release its latest Mutronics clone.
The Behringer Mutator promises to emulate the exact feel of its legendary ’90s counterpart. The quirky dual analog filter, with its built-in modulation, allowed many notable acts to craft weird and wonderful soundscapes – notably Beck, Daft Punk, Radiohead, The Chemical Brothers and even Nine Inch Nails indulged in a bit of Mutator magic.

READ MORE: Behringer revives “hidden techno gem” with the Syncussion SY-1 analogue drum and percussion synth

The original 1996 Mutator effects unit had to cease production due to a key component becoming unavailable. Thankfully, Behringer is committed to making its replica as true to the ’96 model as possible. Each of the Mutator’s dual channels has a voltage-controlled filter, allowing users to churn out those signature vintage synth-like sweeps.
In an announcement on Facebook, the company shares that it has collaborated with the Mutator’s original creator, Nigel Bradbury. “Nigel Bradbury is now actively working with us to not only bring back the Mutator but also to dramatically enhance it with new features,” Behringer writes.
“His expertise and vision are invaluable in ensuring that the new Mutator stays true to its roots while offering modern advancements that meet today’s musical demands.”

We are thrilled to announce the revival of the iconic Mutator, in collaboration with its original creator, Nigel…
Posted by Behringer on Thursday, June 20, 2024

In response to fan feedback, there will also be a desktop version of the Mutator to allow rack mounting. “It’s clear that most people prefer a desktop version of the Mutator that can also be rack-mounted,” Behringer writes. “The advantage is that it needs less space, is Eurorack ready, and can be 19” rack-mounted if needed.”

After reviewing the feedback from our recent post, it’s clear that most people prefer a desktop version of the Mutator…
Posted by Behringer on Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Bradbury was only paid £50 a week to work on the original unit back in the ’90s. Eventually, he even had to cease work as it was “uneconomic and comfortable” for him to continue. Thankfully, Behringer’s replica creation and commitment to praising Bradbury will shine a spotlight on the engineer’s work.
Behringer is yet to confirm a release date for the new unit, but we’ll endeavour to keep you in the loop as we find out more.
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KKR acquires live music giant Superstruct in $1.4bn deal (UPDATE)KKR is making the investment in Superstruct through its $8bn European Fund VI
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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”.

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“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.”

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“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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