Spitfire Audio capture BBC Radiophonic Workshop Spitfire Audio's new BBC Radiophonic Workshop library provides users with access to the sounds behind classic shows such as Doctor Who, the Goon Show, Blake’s 7, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Living Planet and many more. 

Avicii collaborator says he doesn’t approve of new posthumous release: “He is the only one who knew when his songs were finished”Avicii collaborator Sandro Cavazza has slammed the recent release of Forever Yours, a track the late producer was working on before his death in 2018.
On 14 February, a new version of Avicii’s 2016 track Forever Yours was released under the title Forever Yours – Tim’s 2016 Ibiza Version, featuring Cavazza as a vocalist. However, the Swedish singer-songwriter has since clarified that he never gave consent for the track to be released as a single.

READ MORE: BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive will be made available for the first time for use by musical artists and producers

“Just so you all know. I have not agreed on releasing this as a single,” Cavazza writes in a new Instagram post. “I have only agreed on releasing Tim’s demo version of Forever Yours as a part of a full live album release from Tim’s last show, but since that album wasn’t released today and this is now being portrayed as a single, featuring me, I feel like I need to speak up.”
The musician also shares that he has repeatedly rejected requests from Avicii’s family and record label over the years to drop the “unreleased material” they worked on.

“I have for years now been asked by the family and Pinguettes recordings to release the unreleased material I have done together with Tim and I have consistently said no,” he says. “A lot of you probably wonder why those songs never have come out and the truth is that I don’t want to release any of those songs without Tim being here.”
“He is the only one who knew when his songs were finished and I do and will continue to respect that.”
Cavazza continues: “I therefore wish that Pinguettes recordings, Per Sundin and Tim’s family will respect that decision as well and that they think twice about what the most respectful way to treat Tim’s memory is ‘cause I don’t think this is it.”
Avicii – real name Tim Bergling – was a pioneering figure in the EDM genre. Renowned for hits like Wake Me Up and Levels, the Swedish DJ-producer retired from touring in 2016 at the age of 26, after several years of stress and mental health struggles.

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Could Google NotebookLM help you never read a gear manual again?To RTFM or not to RTFM? While concerns rise about AI‘s impact on the music industry, some creatives like producer Myler Melodies have found AI tools that can aid musicians without threatening their artistry. Powered by Google’s Gemini AI technology, NotebookLM is one resource that could help you make sense of those confusing gear manuals.
First introduced in July 2023, NotebookLM can wade through documents and PDFs on your behalf. That means, if you upload a complex synth manual, it can process all of the information and understand every feature in under a minute. Then you’re free to ask questions, with NotebookLM serving as an all-knowing teacher.

READ MORE: AI training on copyrighted content ruled not “fair use” by US court – how could this impact the music industry?

In a YouTube video, Mylar Melodies shows just how impressive the technology can be. After uploading a 223-page Torso T1 sequencer manual, NotebookLM processes everything within 30 seconds. After processing, he is presented with a summary of what the manual contains, and a prompt to ask any questions.
When Mylar Melodies types in his first question, “How do I set up MIDI channel on the Torso T1?”, NotebookLM provides a response within moments. It provides a simple step-by-step guide, including certain steps in bold to make it even clearer to follow.

Most significantly, the response also provides citations. Each citation can be clicked, and show you exactly where the AI technology has sourced the information from the provided PDF. That means that, even if the step doesn’t quite feel clear enough, you can click and find the information it’s watered down.
Unlike other AI chatbots and tools, NotebookLM is grounded, meaning its knowledge is centred entirely around the notes and sources you provide. Due to the “grounded” nature of NotebookLM, the responses will only seek information from the documents you provide, meaning it wont get confused and trawl through every gear manual available on the internet.
“It’s obviously only as clever as the sources,” MylarMelodies explains. “But you can feed multiple documents into it.”
“If you were researching some classic bits of kit, like a DX7, you could put loads of reference manuals into it,” MylarMelodies says. “[It would then be able to use] multiple sources… it’s like ChatGPT, except, unlike ChatGPT, it is limited in its data source to just the documents.”
It also has an Audio Overview option, which essentially generates a podcast for you to listen to if you’d prefer to listen to the information instead. As he waits, MylarMelodies jokingly falls asleep on his chair – but it only takes five minutes to generate 40 minutes of relatively fluid conversation.
The podcast does sound strange – it’s likely been trained on hours of co-hosted shows. The pair of hosts welcome the listener like your standard podcast, with a warm “Hey everyone, welcome back for another deep dive.” The AI even pops in a few “ums”, and has the other host making affirmative “right”s, to make it feel more human. It’s a weird back-and-forth exchange that does manage to uncannily conversational.
There’s even the option to basically ‘call in’ to the show. The ‘join’ option allows you to cut into the chatter and ask a question. When MylarMelodies does this, the pair of hosts even respond saying “It’s great you’re asking questions” and “Yeah, we want this to be fun for you, our listener.”
When introducing NotebookLM back in 2023, Google explained that it aimed to help people navigate the information overload of the internet. “We know people are struggling with the rapid growth of information – it’s everywhere and it’s overwhelming,” the post reads.
“As we’ve been talking with students, professors and knowledge workers, one of the biggest challenges is synthesizing facts and ideas from multiple sources,” it continues. “You often have the sources you want, but it’s time-consuming to make the connections. We started to explore what we could build that would help people make connections faster in the midst of all this data, especially using sources they care most about.”
In other AI music news, a US district court has ruled that using copyrighted material without permission to train AI does not constitute “fair use”, marking a crucial moment in the ongoing legal conversation surrounding AI and copyright.
Read more music production news
 
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After raising $1 billion, fintech Varo closes another $29 million, replaces founder CEOFintech Varo has been hoping to raise a $55 million Series G round but has, so far, closed on $29 million to date, according to a new SEC filing. Varo declined to comment on this new round but the fintech has raised just over $1 billion in funding since its 2015 inception, according to PitchBook.  […]
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Bitfinex Bitcoin long positions reach $5.1B — Is someone buying or hedging?Analysts speculate that the Bitcoin bull run is ready to resume after Bitfinex longs soar to $5.1 billion. Are they mistaken?

Homebrew CPU Gets a Beautiful Rotating Cube Demo[James Sharman] designed and built his own 8-bit computer from scratch using TTL logic chips, including a VGA adapter, and you can watch it run a glorious rotating cube demo in the video below.
The rotating cube is the product of roughly 3,500 lines of custom assembly code and looks fantastic, running at 30 frames per second with shading effects from multiple light sources. Great results considering the computing power of his system is roughly on par with vintage 8-bit home computers, and the graphics capabilities are limited. [James]’s computer uses a tile map instead of a frame buffer, so getting 3D content rendered was a challenge.
The video is about 20 seconds of demo followed by a detailed technical discussion on how exactly one implements everything required for a 3D cube, from basic math to optimization. If a deep dive into that sort of thing is up your alley, give it a watch!
We’ve featured [James]’ fascinating work on his homebrew computer before. Here’s more detail on his custom VGA adapter, and his best shot at making it (kinda) run DOOM.

Krysta Youngs (BTS, TXT, TAEYEON) on songwriting for K-pop artists
Krysta Youngs (BTS, TXT, TAEYEON) shares her tips and perspectives on the world of songwriting for K-pop groups and artists.

BMI Presents 29th Annual Key West Songwriters Festival LineupThe annual Key West Songwriters Festival presented by BMI announced today the first details behind the five-day event, set to take place April 30th through May 4th. In its 29th year, the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and Rams Head Presents will welcome more than 150 BMI creators as the island transforms into Music City. Multi-day offerings of free and ticketed shows will include veteran songwriters to the next big hitmakers as they showcase the artistry behind their songs while also introducing new music to audiences. Additional songwriters will continue to be revealed and schedules will be made available in late March at www.keywestsongwritersfestival.com.The “unparalleled five-day experience for music fans” (Keys News) will feature stripped-down and full-band performances from Nashville’s hit songwriters and local favorites such as Chuck Cannon, Bob DiPiero, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Raul Malo, Lee Thomas Miller, Taylor Phillips, Liz Rose, Jeffrey Steele and Bridgette Tatum. Prominent newcomers like Matt Castillo, Bre Kennedy, Jackson Nance, DJ Smoke and The Kentucky Gentlemen will make their debut. The festival will commence with the official “Sunset Pier Kick Off Party” at the Ocean Key Resort & Spa, on Wednesday (4/30), featuring Dylan Altman, Robert Randolph and Guthrie Trapp. As previously announced, Nate Smith will headline the Coffee Butler Amphitheater on Thursday (5/01) with support from Chase Matthew and tickets are available here. The annual free block party at Main Stage Duval Street will be held on Saturday (5/03) with talent to be announced soon.After making their inaugural debut at last year’s festival, “Sunday Songs: Music & Mimosas” at Williams Hall will return on Sunday (5/04) as well as hourly rounds from the Key West Woman’s Club at Hellings Curry Museum and intimate theater showcases at La Te Da. New venues will be on display such as the Marquesa Hotel, The Alamo and Island Dogs while Rams Head Southernmost Bar & Restaurant will be the event’s headquarters. Longstanding popular destination spots throughout the island will return like Key West Theater, Southernmost Resort, Blue Heaven, Dante’s Key West Pool Bar & Restaurant and San Carlos Institute.“We're excited for another year of collaborating with BMI and the amazing venues across the island to highlight the industry’s best songwriting talent,” said Kyle Muehlhauser, owner of the Key West Songwriters Festival and Rams Head Presents.Additional info on Platinum passes and ticketed shows at the Key West Theater and San Carlos Institute will be available here. Proceeds from the five-day event benefit the BMI Foundation, a nonprofit founded in 1985 that supports music education and creation through various grants and scholarships, along with the Michelle Foundation, a Key West-based nonprofit that helps children and families in need. Over the years, the festival has provided a platform for established and emerging songwriters to showcase their work through one-of-a-kind experiences. Notable BMI alums include Luke Combs, Florida Georgia Line, Maren Morris, Jelly Roll, Cole Swindell and more.The 29th Annual Key West Songwriters Festival is sponsored by Delta Air Lines, Gallagher, HD Radio and Texas Roadhouse. Songwriters will have the opportunity to enjoy the “Lift Off to the Kickoff” event at BNA in Delta’s Sky Club as Delta Air Lines is the official airline for the festival.The post BMI Presents 29th Annual Key West Songwriters Festival Lineup first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Cool WAV Vitality Vol. 10 - Vital100 Presets. 7 Custom Themes. Analog Synthesizers sampled: Sequential Take 5, KORG Minilogue XD. Wavetables used: Cool WAV, *Dash Glitch, Ocean Swift, Producer Hive. Great for Trap, Hip-Hop,... Read More

TuneCore launches new ‘Advanced Trends and Analytics’ dashboard for for self-releasing artistsThe new dashboard features cross-platform performance tracking and real-time engagement metrics, among other functions
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BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive will be made available for the first time for use by musical artists and producersPreviously labelled the “unsung heroes of British electronica”, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop had a pivotal impact on electronic music. Their legacy is everywhere, from the grandiose, whirring sci-fi soundtracks of Hans Zimmer to the pulsing dance tunes of Brian Eno. Now, the BBC has compiled the sound effects unit’s rich archive of experimental sounds and samples into one bundle.
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive contains a wealth of samples, ranging from vintage synthesisers, tape loops, as well as iconic sounds crafted by the unit. The 98 presets and 1,087 unique sounds allows you to play with the sounds that helped breathe life into shows like Doctor Who – from crafting the theme song, giving the Daleks a voice and even allowing the TARDIS to take flight.

READ MORE: Qrion: “My process is to first sit down in a chair and think about a specific moment – a memory, sound, or smell”

The gang helped soundtrack The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Quatermass and the Pit, and plenty of samples tap into the unit’s love of eerie, unnerving sci-fi. Mark Ayres’ The Top of the Stairs captures a dark, creeping tension, while James Malpas’ Secret Tunnel sample emits a sense of discovery, brighter synths pulsing with curiosity.
The library will also contain recordings from a variety of microphones, as well as the EMT turntable and Rogers loudspeakers made especially for the BBC. There’s also the Maida Vale plate and spring reverbs, modular synthesizers, tape machines, EMS Vocoder, Echo chamber, Roland Vocoder SVC-350 and Eventide H-3000.

While the bundle boasts ample archival offerings, there’s also a slew of newer performances and samples to patch-up older recordings; remaining members of the Workshop such as Dick Mills, Mark Ayres, Glynis Jones have all stepped into the studio yet again to clean up old recordings. There’s also some new collaborators involved, such as ex-The Prodigy drummer Kieron Pepper.
While the original recordings were hand-crafted, Spitfire Audio’s Solar engine will allow even more ways to tweak and manipulate the original samples. Speaking about the new, digital potential of the bundle, composer, sound designer and Radiophonic Workshop archivist Mark Ayres hopes that the bundle will inspire the next generation of electronic musicians.
“As a kid born in the 1960s, I realised there was a department at the BBC that was purely for making bonkers noises. It blew my mind!” he says. “I’m the youngest member of the core Radiophonic Workshop – and I’m 64! We’re not going to be around forever.”
“It was really important to leave a creative tool, inspired by our work, for other people to use going forward,” he continues. “I hope we’ve made an instrument that will inspire future generations.”

Spitfire Audio’s Head of Recording, Harry Wilson has also said that he hopes the bundle will inspire future generations. Just like the forward-thinking unit, the new digital bundle should be perfect for creating even more unique, innovative sounds.
“We’re not just looking back at what the members were doing way back when,” he explains. “We’re projecting a strand of their work into the future and saying: if the Workshop was engaged with a similar process now, what would it sound like?”
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop archive is currently available at an introductory offer of £119.00 until 17th March.
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“It was like six in the morning…”: How Ian James produced the beat for Doechii’s Denial Is A RiverThis year, Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal was crowned Best Rap Album at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards. The mixtape also saw Doechii herself being nominated for Best New Artist, as well as Nissan Altima earning a nomination nod for Best Rap Performance. However, Denial Is A River has proven to be the stand-out track of the bunch, amassing over 132 million streams on Spotify at the time of writing.
Back in October, producer Ian James took to YouTube to explain how he coined the track’s beat. Inspired by the sound of MF DOOM, James’ first version of the beat was created in 2022 by fluke. It was a last-minute panic, pieced together just to upload something for his followers. “It was like 6:00 in the morning… I’m scrambling through my record collection, trying to find drum breaks to chop up, trying to find samples,” he recalled.

READ MORE: It looks like Spotify lossless audio is coming later this year

He’d set himself a goal to post a new beat every day, and he’d realised he’d forgotten to make something that day. Luckily, he came across a vinyl of Paul Nice’s 5 Fingers Of Death. “I was going through it, and I was like ‘ooo, this has some drums, this has some a sample I can chop up,” he said. “So, I’m making the beat… and I’m super tired. [Eventually,] I’m like man, this beat’s not finished, but I’m just kind of stuck.”

The original beat is called MF DOOM Type Beat – Golden, and can still be found on his YouTube. Despite James not being fully satisfied, it gained traction online. With thousands of people loving the beat, James felt like he was on to a winner. “So, I pitched it around!” he explained.
Walking through the beat, he explains that the original beat was created from a single stab from a sample. Unfortunately, label didn’t have much time to clear the original sample – but it was a quick fix, as James just tweaked one chord. “Luckily, all I had to do was replay one chord and then just pitch it back around!” he said.

Elsewhere, he points out more Paul Nice samples – like the opening vocal snippet of “hey, I thought it was all over.” There’s also another vocal chop right as the beat drops to heighten the “impact”, in James’ words, as well as scratch splices, horn samples, and vocals with added delay.
Throughout, James is adamant that the beat is “simple.” Besides the samples, there’s kick drums, snares and hi-hats, and a simple bassline. “You don’t need to do anything crazy!” he insisted. “You don’t have to have all these layers, it just has to have a vibe… don’t overthink it.”

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University lecturer claims to have created a new dance genre using AI – but does it sound that new?Lecturer by day, DJ by night, Dr. Somdip Dey has spent years researching how AI might impact the music industry. While his Data Science research at York St John focuses primarily on generative AI and large language models, his latest project could potentially revolutionise EDM forever.
With the help of AI, Dr. Dey has analysed current trends to predict the next successful EDM sub-genre. After processing festival lineups, streaming numbers, online social media popularity and news coverage, the AI cherry-picked the most popular sonic elements and structures. The final product is, in theory, the future of EDM: Infinity Wave.

READ MORE: AI training on copyrighted content ruled not “fair use” by US court – how could this impact the music industry?

Using the AI findings as a guide, Dr. Dey himself then produced the world’s first Infinity Wave track released under the lecturer’s DJ alias, InteliDey. I Don’t Think is EDM on hyperdrive, melding melodic techno with a sprinkle of progressive house. It’s a track bursting with trance-y beat drops, with a thumping beat well-worthy of a packed dance floor.

This isn’t InteliDey’s first time working with AI, either. Back in April 2022, InteliDey released the entirely AI-generated Twerk That Ass, and in 2021 he also released Wake Me Up For The Party.
However, Infinity Wave strives to remain human-produced. The AI research is merely intended to help pinpoint what audiences want. “Infinity Wave introduces an entirely new production methodology that bridges traditional electronic music production with AI-enhanced creative insights,” Dr. Dey explains. “I actively encourage students to experiment with AI as a tool for ideation and sound design.”

The project will not only push forward Dr. Dey’s personal research, but also inspire his students. “Infinity Wave presents an exciting intersection of music and technology that directly benefits our students,” Dr Dey explains. “My research into AI-driven music analysis showcases how machine learning and big data can be applied to the creative industries.”
“Students at York St John are increasingly exploring how AI can generate insights beyond traditional sectors, and Infinity Wave offers a real-world case study,” he concludes.
Dr. Dey’s work is a peek into how AI’s data analysis skills could pave the future for music. And this is only the beginning of Dr. Dey’s musical journey; he hopes to expand the world of Infinity Wave. In the future, he plans to fine-tune “visuals, lighting and evolving landscapes” for a fully immersive live experience.
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Brian Eno: “I am probably one of the most prominent turd polishers in the business”According to Brian Eno, you should never delete even your most horrendous musical creations as you never know when they may come in handy.
Eno himself never deletes anything, with his logic behind keeping and working on his most tragic drafts is that they can’t really get any worse. Because of this, he’s sometimes able to work them into something completely different or even use just a part of a piece for another project.

READ MORE: Brian Eno: “‘Why do we like music?’ is as interesting as ‘How did the universe start?’”

MusicTech attended a series of workshops from Eno ran by the School of Song earlier this year, where he advised participants to work on their crappy demos: Try to polish a turd,” he said. “I am probably one of the most prominent turd polishers in the business.”
Eno also confessed that he’s got thousands of song ideas that he’s collected over the years, and though you may need some strong organisational skills to keep hold of all your off-cuts, it’s a method that he believes can be really useful. He further explained, “I don’t ever let anything go out of play, the point about the archive is to keep all the saucepans on the stove… Sometimes I will give it a title like, ‘Possibly the shittest piece of music I’ve ever done.’”

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Eno is known for his unconventional and freeing approaches to making music – the ambient legend has previously shared that he loves to use gear in ways it wasn’t designed for: “Most equipment is invented to do an existing job faster, or cheaper, more cleanly, or more easily,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Times. “What I like to do is to discover what you can do with it that isn’t historical – something that it wasn’t designed for, something new (I’m sure the inventors of early microphones didn’t anticipate that their tools would lead to totally new ways of singing, just as the inventors of multitrack recording probably didn’t imagine Bohemian Rhapsody).”
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Music mashup creation tool MashApp launches in the US with licensing deals from all three major labelsMashApp, a new music mashup tool, is now available in the US via the Apple App Store, with licensing deals from all three major labels.
The app allows users to easily mash popular hits together without the need for extensive music production knowledge. It hosts a catalogue of tracks from labels such as Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group (including Warner Chappell Music and Warner Recorded Music), as well as Kobalt Music and Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG). Featured artists include the likes of Peggy Gou, Doja Cat, Dom Dolla, and a whole lot more.

READ MORE: Looking to give your studio space a makeover? Nanoleaf has permanently slashed the prices of some of its LED light packages by 30%

Artists, songwriters and rightsholders are provided with content attribution for all user creations made within the app. Users can weave together tracks available through the platform into a single, personalised playback, and can experiment with simple, intuitive settings for duration, start and end points, plus the use of vocals, instruments, and tools for tempo adjustments.
Fans can also share web links to allow MashApp’s userbase to experience their audio combinations as well as follow other creators on the app. Members of the MashApp community can use parts of select tracks and listen to ‘mashups’ for free, or subscribe to MashApp’s Premium tier for unlimited, ad-free mashup listening and to unlock the app’s “full creative potential.”
Check out the video below to see how it works:

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“MashApp’s mission is to bring the joy of playing with music creation to non-musicians, to let people play with their favourite music, as they have long done through DJing, mix tapes, mashups, and karaoke,” comments MashApp CEO and founder, Ian Henderson (a former Spotify executive). “We want this new creative play to be a great experience for fans, but also for artists. This requires close partnerships with record labels and music publishers, and we’re excited that our partners have embraced our vision.”
Find out more about MashApp or download it now from the US Apple App Store.
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