The producers, studios, DJs and artists affected by LA wildfires — and how you can helpWe’ll be updating this page as more information as it happens. 
Los Angeles is still enduring the massive wildfires that sparked last week. Since the blazes began in Southern California on 7 January, 24 lives have been claimed, 16 people are reported missing, over 180,000 people have been displaced from their homes, more than 13,000 structures have been destroyed, and the two biggest blazes, the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, are yet to be contained.

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As one of the world’s greatest hubs for music, hundreds of artists, producers, engineers, and other industry professionals have lost their homes, studios and equipment. Furthermore, numerous acclaimed music studios were lost as well. This public document lists those affected and how to donate.
Madlib, the legendary hip-hop producer who’s worked with MF DOOM, De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Anderson .Paak, Freddie Gibbs, and countless others, lost his home in the Palisades fire along with his entire record collection, which fueled his sample-heavy production style. As of 2016, he was estimated to own over 16,000 records, many of them extremely rare. Also lost were many pieces of his recording equipment.
On Madlib’s Donorbox page, a statement assures that donations are directed to “provide assistance to help Madlib with immediate personal needs, essentials like clothing, temporary housing, transportation costs and the tools Madlib needs to continue creating the music that has touched so many lives.”
Madlib performing at Blue Note Jazz Festival in 2023. Image: Richard Bord/Getty Images
Another production hero, Bob Clearmountain, lost his home and studio as well. Clearmountain’s credits are all over rock and roll history. He has made records for Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan Adams. He is also a revered mixer who ran the board at Live Aid, The Concert for New York for 9/11, and the tribute performances for the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
The home of Jeffrey Paradise, the sole remaining member of the modern electronic project Poolside, was destroyed in the Palisades fire along with his home studio: “It’s all gone. Every piece of gear. Every guitar. Every flier I saved. Every record I dug for years and years. It’s all gone in an instant,” he wrote on Instagram.

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Harbor Studios — a staple of the Los Angeles recording community from when Joe Zawinul was recording works for Weather Report until Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj recorded their newest albums — is now gone. On Instagram, the team wrote “This is not the end of Harbor. We are restarting from scratch (again)… nothing we haven’t done before…We will come back stronger from this.”
Other major players in the world of music who have been affected include Mark “Spike” Stent, a producer who’s contributed to music from Madonna to Massive Attack to Coldplay to Frank Ocean, whose home burned down. Jhené Aiko, Diane Warren, Harry Mack, and Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith, lost their homes as well.
However, as the destruction continues, the global music community is coming together to aid in relief. Several benefit concerts have already been announced by giant promoters such as Live Nation and Insomniac plus independent entities including Another Planet Entertainment and Framework.
Some organizations are already working to provide relief throughout the city. Universal Music Group cancelled its Grammy-week events and is donating those allocated funds to fire relief. MusiCares, the non-profit arm of The Recording Academy is currently distributing immediate assistance specifically to over 1,000 musicians, and The NAMM Foundation has also started the LA Fires Relief Fund in response to the devastation:
“Needs-based assistance will be provided to NAMM members, employees of NAMM member companies, music education programs, and music makers affected by the January 2025 fires,” the website reads.

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Certain individuals in music have made significant contributions as well. Beyoncé donated $2.5 million to a fire relief fund she established through her charity, BeyGOOD. Members of the classic rock band, Eagles, pledged the same amount to FireAid, the title of Live Nation’s benefit concert. Beatles drummer Ringo Starr is now donating the proceeds from his country concerts, Ringo & Friends At The Ryman, to fire relief as well.
These efforts are not reserved for major artists and organizations, though. Many other members of the LA community are doing their part to help.
Tristan Hoogland, a mixer and engineer for artists like Flume, James Blake, and SG Lewis has launched an equipment drive for musicians asking for donations of guitars, cables, synths, mics, and everything else musicians need to continue working in spite of the loss. Alex Rodriguez, who owns the LA record store Record Safari, is donating rare records from his personal collection for crate diggers who may have lost rare gems. Leaving Records, an independent ambient label is hosting its own benefit concert and giving the funds directly to struggling artists.
For anyone who is in immediate need of assistance, in the same sheet listing the music industry professionals who have been affected, there are also tabs for musician-specific resources and general resources to help with housing, transportation, food and other essential items, mental health and more.
For those who are interested in donating or volunteering to support relief efforts, Billboard has collated a comprehensive list of organizations that are addressing the situation.
Firefighters battle the Eaton Fire in Pasadena, California, on January 7, 2025. Image: David McNew/Getty Images
Here are some organisations MusicTech recommends:

The Mutual Aid Los Angeles Network has created an exhaustive list of ways those affected by the fires can find food, shelter, goods, pet care, money, WiFi, and means of charging their electronic devices.
The CA Fire Foundation works with local fire agencies as well as other community groups to financially support residents who have been affected by the fires. They also focus on supporting firefighters and their families.
World Central Kitchen provides free meals to first responders and families impacted by the fires.
Animal Wellness Foundation has opened its old veterinary care center to shelter animals that evacuated owners could not bring with them. Donations will go towards housing and feeding the animals.

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Forget the Coax, Wire Up Your Antennas with Cat 6 CableThese days, anything with copper in it is expensive. If you doubt that, a walk into any Home Depot electrical department, where the wire is locked up tighter than Fort Knox, will prove otherwise. Coaxial cable is a particularly expensive species, which is a pity for hams and other radio enthusiasts since it’s the only thing we can use for antenna feedlines.
Or is it? [Steve (VE6WZ)] has found a way to use ordinary Cat 6 Ethernet cable for antenna feed lines that seems pretty clever. As he points out, Ethernet cables are designed to handle frequencies that coincide nicely with most of the interesting amateur radio bands, and their insertion losses are acceptably low, especially for Cat 6 cable. The twisted pairs are also a balanced system that’s good at rejecting common mode noise. Cat 6 cable also has four pairs of conductors, allowing you to feed multiple antennas with one cable, or to distribute power to amplifiers and switches along with antenna feeds.
The downside? Cat6 conductor pairs have a characteristic impedance of around 100 ohms, which isn’t a match for the 50-ohm feedline impedance universally expected by ham radios. Also, the relatively small wires probably aren’t up to the job of carrying much current, limiting their use to feedlines for receive-only antennas. That works for [Steve] since he uses Cat 6 to support his massive Beverage antenna farm (Beverage antennas are non-resonant horizontal antennas that live close to the ground and point in the direction of the signal, rather than broadside to the signal as with a resonant antenna like a dipole.) Each antenna in his farm has a transimpedance amplifier that needs to be powered, plus switching relays so he can turn the correct antennas on for the signals he wants to receive. He describes the amps in detail in the video below, along with the custom impedance-matching transformers he uses and the combining gear.
Coax will probably still be the cable of choice for most feedline applications, but it’s nice to know there are alternatives. And who knows—if you stick to QRP work, maybe Cat 6 could even be used for transmitting.

ASCAP offers $1M in emergency relief to LA songwritersASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) had announced that it will distribute $1 million in emergency relief to songwriter and composer in the Los Angeles area.
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On… Los Angeles, The Grammys, and The Recording Academy’s TV gamble.MBW founder Tim Ingham's latest 'Review' for MBW+ subscribers
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Tascam’s Hi-Res Editor gains Apple Silicon support The latest version of Tascam Hi-Res Editor introduces some handy new features, and is now natively supported on Apple Silicon processors. 

FLOSS Weekly Episode 816: Open Source AIThis week, Jonathan Bennett and Aaron Newcomb chat with Simon Phipps and Stefano Maffulli about Open Source AI. Why did we need a new definition? Has it been controversial? And why did OSI step into this particular conversation?

https://opensource.org/ai

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Overloud TH-U Essentials Guitar Amp Sim is FREE until January 20
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View post: Overloud TH-U Essentials Guitar Amp Sim is FREE until January 20

Free Intro to Marketing Music on Snapchat Webinar ThursdayA free webinar on marketing music on Snapchat with Jon Bonigno, Manager of Snap Music Partnerships will be held this Thursday, January 16th.
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Donner update Essential D1 drum machine firmware The latest D1 firmware introduces aftertouch support for the instrument's Drum Roll function, new Function Button Latch and All Sound Off options, and also tackles a range of bugs.

NAMM 2025 Live: Latest rumours, news and products from the biggest music technology show in the worldThe NAMM Show 2025 is taking place on 21 -25 January in Anaheim, California, despite speculation that the tragic Los Angeles Wildfires might impact the world’s biggest music technology trade show. And, judging by the schedule and exhibitors, it’s certainly set to be an action-packed edition of the 123-year-old convention.
Held annually at the Anaheim Convention Centre, the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show brings together over 3,500 music brands, over 150 performing acts, and 75,000 attendees. This year, the show is spread across five days rather than the usual four, bursting with even more music workshops, panels, performances and products. Plus, a handful of music technology’s most notable brands are returning after being MIA from the show for several years, including Behringer, Fender, Marshall, Gibson and more — presumably with a load of new gear to show off.
MusicTech will be on the show floor across the entire exhibit, keeping you in the loop about all the cool gear we find, from synths, plugins and samplers to headphones, audio interfaces, MIDI controllers, and all the other wacky stuff we find along the way.
We’re updating this page with all the latest music technology rumours, news and products from the NAMM Show. We’ve also published a rundown of what to expect at NAMM 2025, with insights from NAMM CEO John Mlynczak, who also reassures the team is “closely monitoring LA wildfires”.
Let’s go.
Reloop’s new Keypad MIDI controller and RMX-30 Bluetooth DJ mixer
Reloop is an often overlooked brand that specialises in affordable DJ and studio gear. At NAMM 2025, it’ll demo the new Keypad MIDI controller and the RMX-30 Bluetooth DJ mixer, among other products.
The Keypad — which, admittedly, looks cluttered and jam-packed at first glance — is a MIDI controller for Bitwig, but can be used with any other DAW. It sports 25 velocity-sensitive keys, pitch and modulation wheels, and 16 velocity-sensitive, aftertouch-equipped RGB pads. Eight full channel strips feature line faders, an endless encoder (pan), two potentiometers (send/return), and three illuminated function buttons (Channel, Solo, Rec). A DAW section is where you can find transport controls and an OLED display to check parameters. This is shipping now for $249/£219/€249  Read the full article.
Image: Reloop
Reloop’s RMX-30 BT is a three-channel DJ mixer designed for small events or home DJing. Theres’ nothing fancy going on here, with Reloop’s focus being convenience and connectivity. With eight inputs and four outputs, you should be able to hook up everything you need for a basic DJ setup, with control over your mix with a 3-band EQ and gain control on each channel strip, plus a dedicated mic channel with 2-band EQ and gain control. Naturally, with BT in the name, you’ll be able to stream music over Bluetooth from your smartphone or other wireless device. This is also shipping now for €230/$250/£200.
DPA Microphones acquires Austrian Audio

We didn’t see this one coming. Both exhibiting at this year’s show are Austrian Audio and DPA Microphones. These two mic brands are revered in their respective fields, with DPA being a powerful force in broadcasting solutions and miniature mic categories, with a respectable offering of studio mics. Austrian Audio, meanwhile, was founded by ex-AKG engineers and has made strides in home recording, streaming and headphone monitoring. Now, Austrian Audio will operate under DPA Microphones as the brands develop “a broader product range” and continue to “address the high end of the market”.
Read the full article. 
 
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