Custom studio desks by Fletcher & Mils Fletcher & Mils are a family-run business that offer a wide range of bespoke handmade furniture, which now includes a Studio Range aimed at musicans, producers and engineers. 

The best tools for music producers (free sounds included)
From sound design plugins to platforms for sharing your music, explore some of the best tools out there for music producers.

WEEKEND MUST READ: Ex-Spotify Economist Will Page pulls no punchesThis Weekend’s Must Read is the transcript of an interview with music industry economist and truth-teller Will Page, who sat down for a bonus episode of the Your Morning Coffee. Continue reading
The post WEEKEND MUST READ: Ex-Spotify Economist Will Page pulls no punches appeared first on Hypebot.

REWIND: The new music industry’s week in reviewLast week was a busy week by any definition, and the music industry was no exception, with Spotify Wrapped giving too much this year, thoughts on the future of AI,. Continue reading
The post REWIND: The new music industry’s week in review appeared first on Hypebot.

Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. & Indie MusicLast week, our tips and advice for the independent, do-it-yourselfers out there covered how to take the less traveled road to success, how to sell your sheet music for extra. Continue reading
The post Getting It Done: Last Week in D.I.Y. & Indie Music appeared first on Hypebot.

"Let’s be positive and say that the world is shifting towards a more sustainable approach to life on our planet. We can’t rely on return to old ways. Earth has changed and we cannot undo that. Instead, we have to create a cultural shift to engage our changed planet towards a sustainable future. We can use music to communicate, to empower, and to create. Through these efforts music can participate in expanding our bio-cultural diversity. Let’s make it happen and harness music to help us move to a more sustainable future." #Music #artists #world

Audio Modeling partner with GPU Audio Audio Modeling have announced a partnership that will see their SWAM instrument line-up gain support for GPU Audio’s graphics card-powered processing technology.

Tabi Haly Releases 'Hello World' for International Day of People with DisabilitiesTabi Haly sings, “Hello World, We are here, We are strong, And we are more than what we probably let on” as a representative of the disability community. The 39-year-old singer-songwriter/software engineer, who lives with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, has released a single with a gorgeous-sounding acoustic and lyrically uplifting message to the world. The song launched on all streaming media Friday, December 1 in time for the Sunday, December 3 International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPWD) on all streaming media.  

There are two new versions of Tabi’s song “Hello World.” Her version was recorded at the state of the art, James Dolan Recording Studio at New York University. Other New York City favorites that recorded there include hitmakers Lady Gaga and A Great Big World.

One of Tabi’s favorite lyrics is “dreams are brought to life by diversity.”  She writes a lot of disability advocacy songs, but “Hello World” stands out for many reasons, “Life is constantly about introducing yourself to new people, and re-introducing yourself to people you already know in certain ways.”  “Hello World” is Tabi’s wish for people to understand disabled people, “don't judge, but do have dialog. This song is an opportunity to be more open than ever before about diversity.”

The “Hello World” music video will be featured on JP Morgan Chase’s YouTube page on December 3, The International Day of Persons with Disabilities.  That version of the song was recorded at Smash Studios in Midtown. This shows Tabi leading 6 musicians, who are also JP Morgan Chase employees, in the studio. Tabi says, “This is a Chase employee group version of the song; We’d never met, but everyone practiced beforehand, and showed great teamwork as we created a new version of the song for our company.” Directed by Chase video editor Seth Gomez, the video’s message shows JP Morgan Chase wants to be the employer of choice for people with disabilities.”

“Hello World” is also the name of the first Application program that every software engineer learns. Tabi explains why the name is used, “We learn new technology all the time to keep up with its rapid evolution. Therefore, every time we learn something new, it’s ‘Hello World’!”  

Tabi’s a Filipino American, born and raised in Houston, TX.  At age 3, her guitarist/pianist father introduced her to music. Since then, she sang to keep her lungs healthy. She moved to New York State area at age 17, and started writing songs. Tabi moved to New York City when she turned 18, and attended Pace University. After graduating Summa Cum Laude, Tabi began work as a coder, later advancing to her job as a software engineer at JP Morgan Chase.  

She is a professional recording artist with two studio albums: 2022’s “Stance,” 2019’s "I Wrote Life," 2023’s “High Notes” dance remix EP, and a number of singles—notably “Waiting in the Wings,” which Tabi wrote, recorded and released about disability activist Judy Heumann a few weeks before she passed away in Feb 2023.

Tabi is a member of the Recording Academy.   

As a songwriter Tabi uses a mouse and track pad and music software to compose (the disease is progressive, so while she could write in college, she can no longer even put on eyeliner), and she sings into a microphone. Once she is happy with her demo, she presents it to one of the musicians she works with to create the instrumentation. They collaborate on the structure until the song is ready.

Singing isn’t Haly’s only way of dealing with Spinal Muscular Atrophy. She sees occupational and physical therapists regularly. She works through daily range-of-motion exercises and employs home health aides who help her 24 hours a day. At night she sleeps with a ventilator. It’s a physical and mental ordeal. But music keeps her going.

TabiNYC.com

Hollywood Audio Design Cinematic Sound Fx and Sound Design - bundle Cinematic Sound FX and Design - bundle Includes over 4gb of full product format contents. Eerie Cinema : Contents: - 1.75 Gb total content (880 original... Read More

Soundgas hosting Adrian Utley charity auction Soundgas are currently hosting a charity auction for the Moog Little Phatty used by Adrian Utley as the main instrument for his tours and gigs with Portishead over the last 10 years

Kenya Grace is leading the next generation of bedroom producers: “If you can use a DAW, you can do anything you want”“I feel like I’ve learnt so much over the past few months,” says South Africa-born UK-raised singer, songwriter and producer Kenya Grace, whose enchantingly soft viral d’n’b hit Strangers reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in October. As if this achievement wasn’t enough, the track’s breakthrough also resulted in a record-breaking milestone: alongside the legendary Kate Bush, Grace is one of only two female artists to hit the top spot as a sole writer, producer and performer. Strangers also ended Doja Cat’s five-week reign at number one, and sat above all of Drake’s latest releases…. no biggie.

READ MORE: Barry Can’t Swim: “Producers can often overthink – I’m at my best and most creative when I’m underthinking”

Since then, Grace’s rise has been suitably stratospheric. She’s played shows across Europe and the UK; this month, she’ll head on a US tour, too. “It’s been pretty mental, especially the tour, because these are my first ever shows of this size and playing in different countries,” Grace tells MusicTech during a break from rehearsals ahead of her gig at Village Underground in London. “It’s been a very intense process.”

Her ever-growing social and streaming numbers justify such emotions. While Grace’s social media following has grown massively (on Instagram, for example, from under 100k in January to 640k now), her videos have racked up 13.7 million likes on TikTok and, with over 30 million monthly listeners, she’s currently the 126th biggest artist in the world on Spotify. It’s easy to see why Grace says her life has been “a whirlwind”, then.
However, success has been far from overnight. In fact, she’s been putting in the work for over a year, particularly on TikTok and Instagram. “It’s blown my mind how insane it’s gotten,” she says of her popularity on the video-sharing platforms. “It’s definitely changed my entire life.”

Grace grew up with music. The London-based artist – whose conversational vocal style shares similarities with Lily Allen – first got into singing thanks to the choirs she was in while at nursery. At home in Hampshire, her mum would play a lot of neo-soul music – artists like Corinne Bailey Rae and Erykah Badu – which she still loves now (“the vocals are always so on-point”). When she was in junior school, Grace got into musical theatre: “It was then that I started falling in love with singing especially”. After being given a keyboard, she began to write her own songs at home.
Pure and innocent this journey may seem, it’s only half of Kenya Grace’s musical experiences. Going to illegal raves, house parties, and festivals as a teenager led to Grace discovering her favourite genre: drum ‘n’ bass. “It’s always been d’n’b,” she says, citing Camo & Krooked and Chase and Status among her favourites.
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
“Basically every person I knew was a DJ or an MC at that time,” Grace recalls. She also feels that being from Southampton – by the bass-heavy Boomtown festival – had an impact. “I fell in love with the sound; when you go to a club or illegal rave and you hear the bass and drums that loud… it changed something in my brain. I was like ‘this is fucking it! I love it.’”
It was around this time that, while studying music at college, Grace taught herself music production. Inspired by what Kaytranada and Disclosure were releasing – “it was that era when they were topping the charts everywhere; I was obsessed” – she was keen to follow in their footsteps. Despite her course not having much of a focus on music tech or production, Grace’s self-imposed dedication resulted in her staying behind after college to teach herself how to use Apple’s DAW, Logic Pro.
“It’s such an empowering time – back in the day, it would have cost thousands of pounds to get a studio and now it’s relatively affordable and you can have it in your house”
But it wasn’t an easy start. It took her a lot of time to learn the ins and outs of the software. Some time later, Grace dived into YouTube tutorials, which “changed everything,” teaching her the fundamentals of Logic Pro and music production.
This confidence-boosting development came at the right time as, post-college, Grace’s fellow producer friends were asking her to record vocals for their projects. “Once I had a little more knowledge of what was going on, and watching other people on Logic, I felt more confident about going into [recording] sessions.”
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
Studying what her peers were doing led to an epiphany. “I clocked in my head that if I wanted to release music, I was going to have to be able to make it – and make it on a computer – so I could eventually release it.” Despite this, Grace says she “could never voice what I wanted to say and how I wanted it to sound. I then realised, ‘I have to make myself good at this so I can actually do it’.”
After she mastered the production side of things, Grace began sharing snippets of her songs with the world via TikTok and Instagram Reels. Mostly recorded in her bedroom, Grace’s simplistic videos – on which she was either perched on her bed with her Native Instruments Maschine and Aston microphone or sat with the same equipment but in her garden – conveyed a very DIY ethos.
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
Filming herself singing and building the songs from scratch arose from her love of watching videos of beatmaking and finger drumming (“I just think it’s really cool”). Grace thinks this setup, in particular, is engaging to see. “The Maschine and the singing; I see so many cool musicians doing different things on TikTok like that, and I think it fits in there.” This performance style has since crept into the eye of the mainstream, thanks to artists like Grace and the viral videos of Fred Again..’s explosive Maschine performances.

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A post shared by Kenya Grace (@kenyagrace)

Switching between backdrops helped to keep her content intriguing, she considers, although points out that “it wasn’t a calculated decision”. It was purely because she would get bored of doing something one way, and then decide to try something else. “I always want to keep it interesting and try new things,” she says of her approach to social media.
After lots of “random posting”, she started to find an audience: her 2022 single Oranges reeled in over one million Spotify streams, the 2023 follow-up Afterparty Lover surpassed three million, and Meteor blasted off to the tune of four million. But it was Strangers which sent Grace’s career stratospheric: as well as climbing to the top of the UK Top 40, it currently sits at 337 million streams on Spotify alone and has soundtracked over 1.4 million different Instagram reels.
Not bad for a track that Grace and her team initially had “low expectations” of.
“The best thing I ever did was teach myself how to produce – even just in a basic way. If you can use Logic Pro, you have so much power. You can literally do anything, at any time, anywhere you want”
“We were going to release a different song originally, but, after we left it on TikTok and Instagram for a few weeks, something happened and it exceeded everything,” she recalls. “I knew something was slightly different with that video, just because so many more people were using the sound [on their own TikTok videos], so I noticed a difference there… but I did not expect it to be like this. I don’t even think I tried that many things, that’s the craziest thing,” Grace recalls, having uploaded the video only three separate times. In an age where constantly feeding the algorithm and persistently changing up content is often key to viral success, her clips for Strangers connected relatively quickly – much to Grace’s surprise.
“It’s been absolutely mental,” she says.
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
The track has led to Grace infiltrating myriad online niches – ranging from the gamer community to anime fans and petrol heads. The latter was particularly surprising. “It’s so cool,” she says. “I didn’t realise the car community was such a big thing. I had no idea about it until this,” she adds. “I feel like I’ve learned about so many different groups of people.”
The success of Strangers, and that of its ethereal trance-meets-breakbeats follow-up, Only In My Mind (which has clocked up nearly 12 million streams on Spotify), has resulted in Grace playing a string of headline live shows.
Recently, she trialled her works in progress, including freshly-released single Paris, for fans during an in-the-round gig at Corsica Studios in London. “It was so scary,” she says, after performing to just over 300 hardcore fans while streaming live to her TikTok and Instagram. “It was the first time I had ever performed all these songs and the crowd were so supportive of me.” Despite a few technical mishaps, Grace is happy to report that “the vibe was absolutely amazing. I’ve never had people sing my lyrics back to me before, but they were singing along.”
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
This month, she’ll head out on her first live tour across America. Having been in rehearsals the week that MusicTech speaks to her, she details her show as a live/DJ hybrid. “At the moment, the set is me, the Maschine and singing,” she says. “Everything is connected; I made loads of transitions to go in between songs… Hopefully people like it.”
While Grace says she tries not to plan too far into the future “because it makes me so stressed”, she hopes to release an EP or a similar small project. “I have so many songs that I’ve put online but never released”, she teases; “and I feel like some of them need to live on Spotify now.” Although she doesn’t have an exact release date, she’s excited to get more music out into the world and, one day, release an album – “That’s my dream.”
Though Grace’s output will remain a solo project, she’s also open to more artists joining her on her journey. “I really would love to do collabs but I feel that with this project I’ve been making, I have done everything myself, so I want to get that out and then move on afterwards.”
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
Alongside multi-talented artists like herself, PinkPantheress, Nia Archives, Venbee and Charlotte Plank, Grace has undoubtedly helped to birth a new generation of DIY bedroom producer. “I love it,” Grace says of the increased accessibility; “I feel like it’s such an empowering time. Back in the day, it would have cost thousands of pounds to get a studio and now it’s relatively affordable and you can have it in your house.”
She’s eager to spread this message and encourage others to follow suit. At the end of a recent show, a fan approached Grace and asked what her tips would be for aspiring musicians. “For me, the best thing I ever did was teach myself how to produce – even just in a basic way,” she recalls. “If you can use Logic Pro, you have so much power. You can literally do anything, at any time, anywhere you want.”
Beyond that, her advice is: “get on TikTok and Instagram; it’s a huge marketing tool in your pocket. It’s insane. You see it so much with so many people – how many people you can reach, how many people have had their lives so greatly affected just by making videos.”
Kenya Grace, Image: Bella Howard for MusicTech
She recognises that it doesn’t happen for everyone, or straight away, however: “It’s tough – it’s really hard sometimes. You get bad comments, or your videos don’t reach anyone, and there are a lot of things that stand in the way. But, once you do have a moment where you can cut through a little bit, it’s really amazing.”
With artists like Kenya Grace at the forefront of an ever-expanding and endlessly exciting online scene, the future of bedroom beatmaking comfortably remains in inspiring hands.
The post Kenya Grace is leading the next generation of bedroom producers: “If you can use a DAW, you can do anything you want” appeared first on MusicTech.

From Sony Music’s deepfake takedowns to iHeartMedia’s $100m BMI sale proceeds… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days.
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Audiolatry Releases RetroSynth And FREE RetroSynth Lite Synth Plugins
Audiolatry just released the RetroSynth and RetroSynth Lite virtual instrument plugins for Windows and macOS. RetroSynth is now available for €8, which is 71% off the list price of €28, and the RetroSynth Lite is free! The sounds for the RetroSynth Lite are based on vintage synthesizers, although Audiolatry has added manipulation with effects for a [...]
View post: Audiolatry Releases RetroSynth And FREE RetroSynth Lite Synth Plugins

Spotify Wrapped live in London: A Top Of The Pops-style end-of-year celebration at IKEA-turned-superclub DrumshedsSince its arrival almost a decade ago, Spotify’s ingenious digital marketing tool Wrapped has grown from a platform for stans to prove their dedication to a cultural moment in its own right.
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However, until this year’s edition, the meme-spawning phenomenon – whose new-for-2023 highlights include an AI DJ and video messages from artists for their top fans – has remained a virtual affair. Yes, it’s dominating Instagram stories and rightfully sparking discussions on fairer artist pay and shady data collection, but there’s not yet been a physical manifestation to match the frenzy on socials.
That all changed last night (30 November), however, as the debut Spotify Wrapped live show brought a handful of the year’s biggest breakthrough artists (and some well-established names) to Tottenham’s IKEA-turned-superclub, Drumsheds.
Spotify Wrapped Live. Image: Getty
Live-streamed so that those not lucky enough to bag a ticket could still watch, albeit from the comfort of their homes, the choice to broadcast the first Wrapped on TikTok made perfect sense – especially because many of the songs performed throughout the show first went viral on the platform.
The lineup skewed towards 2023’s most popular genres (d’n’b, rap, pop and Afrobeat) and felt like an edgier counterpart to next weekend’s comparatively-commercial Capital FM Jingle Bell Ball at London’s O2 Arena. With the Wrapped hosts, social media favourites Harriet Rose, Big Zuu and Max Balegde, mingling among the crowd on the dancefloor and chatting to celebrity special guests including Louis Theroux, it also felt like a throwback to Top Of The Pops.
Spotify Wrapped Live. Harriet Rose, Big Zuu.Image: Getty
Kicking the night off with a vocally and visually impressive performance of their number one hit Unholy, Sam Smith took to a square stage in the middle of the crowd and was joined by a troupe of suited men inside what looked like a box made out of neon lasers. On the same stage, chart-topping MusicTech cover star Kenya Grace brought her d’n’b-pop hit Strangers to vibrant life in front of pink strobes; Libianca glowed in a ruffled golden dress while delivering the strongest vocal of the night with her track People; and Charli XCX raced through a UK-exclusive live rendition of her huge Barbie-soundtracking hit Speed Drive.
Spotify Wrapped Live, Chase & Status. Image: Press
Spotify Wrapped Live, Sam Smith. Image: Press
Towards the end of the show, the action moved to the huge main stage as London rapper Strandz and a group of dancers worked the runway for Us Against The World, before Chase & Status closed proceedings with their bass-heavy top-five smash Baddadan. Considering d’n’b’s mainstream renaissance this year, scheduling the latter as the finalé made a real statement.
Overall, the pacing of the night’s individual sets felt a little rushed and the general consensus on the train home concluded that there was too much filler chat between acts. Nonetheless, it was undoubtedly a fun way for fans (and industry types) to catch a glimpse of some huge names in quick succession.
Spotify Wrapped Live. Image: Getty
While the sprightly show may have only lasted for just over an hour, with each performer allocated just one song, the first Wrapped delivered on its aim: to present a concise yet sonically-diverse snapshot of the year’s most popular music trends. If Wrapped Live is to become an annual event, we’d like to see more focus on the music next time.
The post Spotify Wrapped live in London: A Top Of The Pops-style end-of-year celebration at IKEA-turned-superclub Drumsheds appeared first on MusicTech.

Jenny Hermanson, Spotify’s MD for the Nordic region, to exit company after 14 yearsSPOT's Sweden-based MD for the Nordic region, Jenny Hermanson, is leaving the company
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