Zynaptiq introduce Loud & Wide Loud and Wide bring two new mixing and mastering-focused plug-ins to the Zynaptiq range, and come along with updates to two of the company's bundles. 

Nothing Headphone (1) Pro: price, Metropolis Studios collab, studio features and specsBritish tech brand Nothing has released the Headphone (1) Pro, placing a focus on music producers and critical listeners. A collaboration with Metropolis Studios brings a Flat EQ and a handful of other sound profiles. Meanwhile, a triple-driver architecture, Hi-Res playback, and real-time Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation are designed for a “detailed and customisable listening experience”, says Nothing in a press release
The new headphones build on the Nothing Headphone (1), which MusicTech scored a 7/10 in 2025. They sport a similar design, with rectangular earcups inspired by tape cassettes, but have a slightly different design and a few new controls. Nothing is known for its quirky approach to design; that’s partly thanks to Teenage Engineering, which has worked on Nothing designs since 2021. The Headphone (1) Pro is available in black and white, and comes with a very 90s-style carry case.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro.
How much is the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro?
Nothing’s Headphone (1) Pro is priced at $399, which is $100 more than the original Headphone (1). You can purchase the Headphone (1) Pro from 29 September 2026.
What are the highlights of the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro?
As eye-catching as the cassette-tape-inspired design is, the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro’s build isn’t just about looks. The lightweight titanium and aluminium design, with a padded headband and soft cushions, is intended for comfortable listening over a long period. Couple that with up to 46dB of Adaptive Active Noise Cancellation — made possible with a 10-mic system — and you’ll likely be suitably immersed on long-haul flights and deep listening sessions.
Hi-Res wireless and wired playback will make those listening sessions even more detailed. If you’re hooked up to your music player via the supplied USB-C cable, you can get audio fidelity up to 24-bit/192kHz. With the supplied aux cable, or with compatible wireless systems, you can get up to 24-bit/96kHz fidelity.
Whatever the fidelity, you’ll be listening to your music on Nothing’s triple-driver system. The three drivers comprise:

A 40mm dynamic bass driver, specialising in frequencies between 20Hz and 10kHz. Nothing says that “a PEEK+PU surround keeps the low-end tight, and the PET Electroplated Metal-Ceramic Dome cuts distortion when things get loud.”
A precision dynamic driver for sounds between 5kHz and 15kHz. A PEN diaphragm is on board to ensure clarity in the mid-range, particularly on vocals, which apparently feel “more present”, according to Nothing
A Treble xMEMS driver, handling audio content from 10kHz up to 40kHz. Nothing says the sillicon diaphragm helps “deliver transient responses without distortion, boost harmonics and textures so instruments feel richer, more detailed.”

Spatial audio is present on the Headphone (1) Pro, with head tracking and five different modes to choose from. A custom EQ, via the Nothing X app, lets you dial in the sound you want, with a selection of EQ presets including five by Metropolis Studios.
The rechargeable battery on the Headphone (1) Pro lasts for 30 hours with ANC on; up to 68 hours with ANC off. They’re fast-charge-enabled, so you’ll get two hours of listening time with a quick five-minute charge.
Which features make the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro suitable for music producers and creators?
Nothing’s collaboration with Metropolis Studios brings a few features specific to music producers and creators, but there’s more going on besides.
The Flat EQ, which you can toggle via a switch inside the left earcup, is a neutral EQ profile. This is designed for critical listening sessions, comparing mixdowns, and reviewing tracks. When switched on, Flat EQ also disables transparency mode, spatial audio and all other EQ settings.
Elsewhere, a Studio B preset for the headphones’ spatial audio mode emulates the sound of the room in Metropolis Studios’ Studio B. Nothing says that it’s “designed for focussed listening; it’s open, airy and clear.” Metropolis also produced five genre-based EQ profiles for the headphones: Neo-Jazz, British Rock, UK Rap + Grime, Electronica and UK bass.

Why do I need the Nothing X app?
You don’t need the app to start listening to your music with the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro. But if you’re interested in the full set of features — like personalised sound profiles, Metropolis Studios’ EQ, and Dual Connection — the app is essential.
I don’t have a Nothing Phone — is the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro still worth getting?
You don’t need a Nothing Phone to use the Headphone (1) Pro. iOS and other Android users can still get the Nothing X app, and the headphones are compatible with macOS, Linux and Windows. If you’re not using a Nothing Phone, the main feature you won’t get is ChatGPT integration.
Our review, publishing shortly, will have more info on the Headphone (1) Pro’s compatibility outside of NothingOS.
Should I buy the Nothing Headphone (1) Pro?
Stay tuned for MusicTech’s full review.
Want more gear drops? Check out MusicTech’s news section.
The post Nothing Headphone (1) Pro: price, Metropolis Studios collab, studio features and specs appeared first on MusicTech.

NYX-DSP Bad TeaNYX-DSP has released Bad Tea, a sensor-driven automatic double tracking (ADT) plugin for Windows and macOS. Since Ken Townsend came up with ADT at Abbey Road, the basic approach has hardly changed. Even in software, most popular plugins are emulations of the original tape setup: a delayed copy moved around by an LFO. Bad Tea takes a different route. Bad Tea uses sensor arrays that analyse the incoming audio continuously and use it to steer shifts in Time, Amplitude and Pitch (TAP) on the wet path. Each knob sets the range the double can move through, and the sensors decide where in that range it sits from moment to moment, so the double moves with the performance. The plugin started out as "Better ADT" and kept growing. An LFO adds traditional modulation on top, four tape-inspired Harmonics models add colour, and both the dry and wet paths have their own level, pan and EQ. Used gently, it does the job it was built for on vocals. At higher settings, it can be used for chorus, saturation and larger-scale reshaping of a wide range of sources. Key features: Time, Amplitude and Pitch circuits, all driven by sensors that follow the input, so the double reacts to the performance. LFO with rate and depth for classic ADT modulation or larger movement. Harmonics: four oversampled tape-inspired saturation models with wow and flutter. Separate dry and wet paths, each with its own level, pan and 3-band EQ. Light and dark panel finishes. Pricing and availability Bad Tea is available now for £25 from nyx-dsp.com. A fully functional 7-day trial is available: Formats: VST3 (Windows and macOS), AU (macOS). macOS 12 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel. Windows 10 or later, 64-bit. License key activation with no iLok. Each license can be activated on up to 3 machines. Product page and trial: https://nyx-dsp.com/bad-tea.html User guide (PDF): https://nyx-dsp.com/manuals/BAD-Tea-Manual.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpSl9ZMIJ98 Read More

Source: Inference provider Modal Labs closing in on $750M round at $15.75B valuationThe new financing is expected to more than triples the AI infrastructure startup's valuation from just four months ago.

Vaux Records' Craig Ericson, FounderYears with Company: Less than one

Address: Portland, OR

Web: vauxrecords.com

Email: vauxrecords.com/contact

Clients: J Noire

BACKGROUND

Craig Ericson, the founder of Rise Records, is a vaunted figure in the world of alternative and heavy music, having signed and developed an avalanche of heavy hitters including Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping With Sirens, and Beartooth. He sold Rise in 2015, but now he’s back in the game with a new label, Vaux Records.

Rising Up

I started Rise in 1991 and then got serious about it in 2000. It slowly kept getting bigger and bigger. BMG was sniffing around and announced they were looking to buy independent labels. I only had eight employees, and it was getting chaotic. And BMG made a killer offer. I wasn’t looking to sell, so I got a good deal. 

Outside the Labels

I opened a bar with a friend, and it did not do well. COVID happened, and it shut down. I’m part owner of a pizza restaurant in Portland, which is doing great. I was flipping houses. I would buy a mid-century modern house and fix it up. I did that five times, and then my back started hurting. I’ve been raising my daughter, too. 

Back In

Last year, I decided to start a new label. I have six bands signed, and one announced [J Noire]. Over the next few months, I’m going to be announcing a slew of bands, and it’s going to be diverse. It’s under the rock umbrella, but it’s going to have some metalcore, some industrial vibe, a female-fronted band, a band from Switzerland… It’s been fun schmoozing and doing the hustle again.

The Itch

Rise was kicking butt when I sold it. It still is. Back then, I was like, ‘I’d be crazy to start a new label.’ But then you start missing it. You see all your music industry friends on Facebook and Instagram. I was a part of all that, and suddenly I wasn’t. It’s more than just a business. It’s the camaraderie, the traveling, all that stuff. Discovering new bands is euphoric. It’s addictive almost. I never was doing it for the money. Maybe that’s why it worked in the first place. 

Yes, Master

I’m going to own the masters, which is pretty rare these days. I’m not really into licensing. If I’m going to put all the money into it and risk everything, I need that asset not to go away after a few years.

Staying Hard

The music I focus on has always been under the rock umbrella: hardcore, punk, metal. It’s guitar-based and mainly heavy. There are probably 50 subgenres of rock: death metal, black metal, speed metal, hardcore, shoegaze. I like it heavy, but I would sign Dashboard Confessional in a second. I don’t want to try something too new. I know all the people in the heavy music industry, and it’s where I fit. 

Seeking Developing Acts

It’s going to be hard to sign an established band, because I have limited resources. [I’m looking for] baby bands. They’re not going to kick your ass over the contract too much, because they’re unknown. I do really fair deals, so they’re not going to get ripped off; it’s just I don’t have to pay a shitload of money upfront. You sign big bands for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if it flops you’re out. So it’s a little more safe. And young bands typically tend to be these hardcore, metalcore bands. There’s no other genre or scene where you can sign bands made up of 20 year olds.

Doing A&R

Have you heard of Sumerian Records? They put out Bad Omens and Poppy and Asking Alexandria. I worked for Ash [Avildsen] for like six months as an A&R guy. It didn’t work out long-term, but I had fun doing it. It wasn’t quite for me. I needed to be the boss. I had to ask for permission too much. It was a little too slow; I work faster.

J NOIRE

When I moved to Tennessee, my neighbor was Hugh McDonald, the bass player of Bon Jovi. I got to know him and his wife, and his stepson was in a metal band called Guillotine doing covers at JBJ’s Nashville. And I’m like, ‘Bro, you’re too good to just play covers on Monday nights at the bar.’ 

Tour, Tour, Tour

The biggest thing is touring. That’s the number one goal—get on the road. If you’re not actively touring, it’s pretty much impossible to make it to the next level. Number two is good videos and a publicist. Play-listing can get you somewhere now, but word of mouth is still king.

Roster Size

Once I hit 10 bands, that’s probably all I’m going to be able to do for now. Maybe it’s 12. Maybe it’s eight. Whenever I say I’m done signing, the next day some band comes along. There’s always room for a good band. When a label says, ‘Our roster’s full. Thanks for the inquiry,’ it’s just them being nice, because they’ll sign at any moment if the artist is that special. 

Putting Rise Artists On YouTube

Back when it was MySpace, you could post a whole album for free. And then MySpace went away, so there was nowhere you could listen to music for free except YouTube. And back then, the big labels didn’t even post their videos. I was like, ‘Let’s post every single song.’ We literally put thousands of songs on YouTube. And it worked. We were streaming a million a day. And we were getting paid for it. Our best marketing tool was writing us big checks.

[The labels] don’t like to give away music. They wanted to post maybe one song, but not the whole album. And then people started downloading illegally, which helped me immensely, because they were downloading all of my bands. It’s ironic that illegal downloading helped my label. 

History and Principles

I have a pretty good track record of being good to my bands, helping them get big, paying royalties on time. No bullshit. So if an artist signs to my label, they should know what to expect. There shouldn’t be a lot of bad surprises. Honesty, integrity… all that shit. 

The Familial Touch

I’m proud of how I treated all the bands on Rise. I had a great relationship with just about all of them. They come to my house before the tours, stay the night at my house, and we have a barbecue. It’s a family affair once they’re in.

The Road Warrior Mindset

Have that mentality of trying to play every weekend. Look up a town an hour away, find a local band, and tour with them. Don’t wait for shit to happen. Be proactive. You’ve got to self-promote. A lot of people are too cool to self-promote, but you have to in the beginning. If you just record and never play, it’s never going to happen. Make friends with the other bands in town. Support them. Play the city a few hours from you, and then play the one a few more hours away. Get big in your region as best you can. And the singer should always sell merch after they play. They should run to the merch tables and meet their fans, because when that happens you sell way more merch. Go out and mingle. 

Don’t Just Take a Label’s Word

Have all the things [a label promises] in writing. They should commit to the recording budget, hopefully a publicist, and some digital ad money. Make them pay for things. That’s the whole point—they front things, and you split the money afterwards. It’s a simple business concept. The post Vaux Records' Craig Ericson, Founder first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Canadian ‘crypto king’ set to represent himself at fraud trialAiden Pleterski was allegedly behind a crypto Ponzi scheme between 2021 and 2022 that resulted in a kidnapping and related criminal charges.

Synthetic Aperture Radar Drone Gets Interferometric Imaging
It’s been more than a year since [Henrik Forstén] built the first iteration of his synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) imaging drone, and he’s certainly been productive in the meantime. Not only did he develop a much more powerful autofocus algorithm to clean up the radar images, but he also extended the software to create high-resolution interferometric images.
The main limitation of the original radar system was the GPS, which only had a resolution of about one meter; the autofocus algorithm owed much of its improved clarity to an improved estimation of the drone’s position. A simpler, though more expensive, solution was to add an RTK-capable GPS receiver. RTK (Real-Time Kinematic) receivers use a fixed ground station to constantly transmit a correction signal, letting them reach a couple centimeters of accuracy. Since the drone doesn’t actually need to know its position in real time, it can also use PPK (Post-Processing Kinematic) positioning, which compares recorded GPS signals after the flight to obtain similarly accurate positions.
[Henrik] also implemented a few other hardware improvements, including stabilizing the phase-locked loop used to generate the radar’s frequency sweep. The controller FPGA’s SD card interface had too low a bandwidth to record data in real time, so [Henrik] also implemented a simple, fast compression algorithm to speed that up. Most significantly, he also developed a program for interferometric imaging. The drone flies the same path twice at different altitudes; by comparing phase information from different passes, it’s possible to detect a target’s elevation. Normally, the radar program assumes constant elevation, making tall objects seem to lean toward the radar source; an interferogram, on the other hand, allowed [Henrik] to generate a detailed elevation map.
[Henrik] is no stranger to synthetic aperture radar; we’ve previously covered a bike-mounted iteration and a budget SAR system. If the concepts behind this are still a bit fuzzy, we’ve also covered a guide to making your own SAR setup.

Live Nation to open 4,400-capacity Nashville venue The Truth on October 1, with sold-out Miranda Lambert showLive Nation first unveiled The Truth in October 2025
Source

Infrasonic: The Cutting Sessions Infrasonic will be running a one-day masterclass event focused on hybrid mastering, mastering for vinyl and vinyl cutting at their Infrasonic Nashville facility on 29 October 2026.

Run native VST2 plugins on first-generation Akai MPC/Force standalone units
Thanks to developer sd88me, you can now run native VST2 plugins on first-generation Akai MPC/Force standalone units. MPC users are familiar with the various pros and cons of working in standalone and controller modes. One of the main complaints about the standalone workflow is that you can’t run third-party plugins on MPC OS. Well, you [...]
View post: Run native VST2 plugins on first-generation Akai MPC/Force standalone units

The Asura from Animal Factory Amps Boutique effects pedal and Eurorack manufacturer Animal Factory Amps have announced that the new compact synth they were showing off at this year’s Superbooth is almost ready for shipping.

Monomodule is a FREE Elektron Monomachine emulator for your DAW
Shnolk has released Monomodule, a free and open-source Elektron Monomachine emulator for macOS, Windows, and Linux. Monomodule runs the original Monomachine DSP program instruction by instruction inside an emulated Motorola DSP56300. It covers all 22 machines across the GND, SID, SuperWave, DigiPRO, FM+, VO, and FX families, along with the filters, amplitude controls, delay, and [...]
View post: Monomodule is a FREE Elektron Monomachine emulator for your DAW

“I don’t hear too many women using that effect”: The mystery number one item UNIIQU3 would have in her dream studioIf you could design your dream studio without any concern whatsoever for budget, which pieces of gear would you pick? That’s the question we ask prominent musicians and producers in our My Forever Studio podcast, giving them six slots to fill with the music gear of their wildest fantasies.
The latest guest on the show is UNIIQU3, a DJ, producer and Jersey Club veteran who’s opened for Beyoncé and been sampled by Doechii. So yeah, her resume is pretty stacked.
In her fantasy Forever Studio, the Microdosing producer wastes no time picking out her first item, and explains how its underrepresentation among women producers adds to its allure: the talk box.
“I don’t hear too many women using that effect. I think it’s kind of a dude thing,” she says. “So I definitely need a talk box. I just think it’s so cool. I feel like that’s definitely on my bucket list of things I wanna have for my Forever Studio.”

READ MORE: “It’s so important”: Nick Hakim explains why every producer should learn their DAW’s key commands

This is her dream studio, bear in mind, so she’s keen to customise the imaginary talk box to make it her own, too…
“And since the sky’s the limit, we’re gonna customise it – it’s gonna be pink. Or maybe if it had an LED light on it that goes with your voice, and changes as you do a different pitch, that would be sick!”
She continues: “As a vocalist, I’ve always been figuring out ways to elevate how I sound, but also by still capturing my essence of UNIIQU3. I feel like at this point of my career, my voice is very recognisable, to the point where my fans are like, ‘That’s you!’
“So I have always been a fan of that. Those songs have always stuck out to me, when they came on the radio, and also recently just seeing acts like Chromeo use it live, I just think that’s so cool and playful, it’s so funky. And I’m pretty sure it’s a skill that I definitely would have to master in terms of just using my breath, and pronouncing the words right. But I feel like it would be able to take my productions to a different place.”
“But I feel like having that talk box, I would just make my own unique sound, and it wouldn’t be something that’s like a plugin default setting. It would be something that’s specifically unique to me, because nobody’s ever gonna sound the same using a talk box.”
Season 8 of MusicTech’s My Forever Studio is well underway, and we’re challenging some of modern music’s top producers and artists to put together their fantasy Forever Studio using whatever gear they could desire.
While it’s an environment for freedom, there are some strict rules in the Forever Studio. Guests are permitted a limited number of items in their creative space, so they have to choose carefully. There will be nostalgia. There will be anecdotes. There may be gags. But there will be no bundles!
Subscribe to My Forever Studio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and check out all episodes so far via MusicTech.

The post “I don’t hear too many women using that effect”: The mystery number one item UNIIQU3 would have in her dream studio appeared first on MusicTech.

Get Safari Audio Camel Strip FREE exclusively at BPB
Safari Audio is giving away Camel Strip, its $49 vintage-inspired channel strip plugin, exclusively to BPB readers. Add Camel Strip to your cart on the official product page and enter the code BPB100OFF at checkout. It will reduce the price from $49 to $0. The promo ends on October 5th. A big thanks to Safari [...]
View post: Get Safari Audio Camel Strip FREE exclusively at BPB

VocAlign 7: Syncing vocals has never been easierAd feature with Synchro Arts
Nothing is more essential to a song than the vocals. Whatever the genre or style, a top-notch vocal production can mean the difference between an award-winning earworm and a high-fidelity flop. So, when it’s time to double track some vocals, stack up harmonies, or tighten the background vocals, a generation of producers have turned to one hyper-specialised plugin: VocAlign.
In essence, this plugin does what its name promises – aligns the timing and the pitch between multiple vocal tracks. That might sound simple, but the ability to automate what used to require painstaking manual edits was a game-changer when Synchro Arts first introduced the software in 1995. Originally intended for ADR in film and television, VocAlign has become a studio essential for music producers, recording engineers, and post-production professionals in the decades since.
Across four decades, the process of using VocAlign has remained remarkably consistent: you select a vocal take as your Guide track, another as the Dub track, and then align the two. Working through the session track by track, you slowly pull all the song’s vocal parts together into a perfectly synced performance.
The new VocAlign 7 takes that trusted workflow and expands it into the multi-track domain. In perhaps the most significant overhaul in the plugin’s history, VocAlign 7 brings all your vocal tracks into a single plugin window. In this central view, you can quickly capture vocal tracks all in one go, resulting in a bird’s-eye view of your entire vocal processing session.

Crucially, it’s now possible to designate multiple guide tracks within a single session. In practice, this means that you can independently pair guide and dub tracks for the verse, chorus, bridge and so on, without ever needing to leave the VocAlign window. And, when there is more than one guide track active, tracks are automatically colour-coded to keep things tidy, with a handy routing map available to view groupings.
Add in the fact that, in comparison to other vocal alignment plugins, VocAlign can host unlimited tracks, and it’s now far more efficient to jump around a session’s worth of vocal stacks all within a single editing environment.
VocAlign 7 also brings big improvements to how audio clips are handled. You now have the ability to apply specific changes to individual audio clips, even when they sit on the same track. These changes can be made by selecting the clip and adjusting the settings module on the right of the window.

Another nice new time-saving shortcut is the ability to select multiple tracks that you want to affect before dialling in the settings in one go. Previously, you had to go through the hassle of manually creating subgroups to achieve this functionality.
To try all this out, I put VocAlign to the test on an old session that I knew was filled with tricky double tracks. Operating manually, I remember it taking an endless series of precision edits to shift the timing of individual words before the takes would match up. By comparison, VocAlign 7 whipped my vocals into shape with a click of a button.
That saved time let me get to work tweaking individual clips at my leisure — and that is where much of the magic lies. Setting custom percentages for match and pitch difference across each section of the song gave me the tight—but not overly produced—sound I’d been aiming for but never quite achieved when working by hand.

Of course, an update wouldn’t really feel ‘new’ without some eye-candy. VocAlign 7 brings a fresh analysis section to the table with a real-time display that maps acoustic energy levels across all tracks. As anyone who’s worked with spectral editing plugins will know, having that kind of visual reinforcement helps take the guesswork out of the process by letting you spot exactly where edits are needed.
Vocalign 7 also addresses the biggest sticking point for users of Ableton Live and FL Studio – the lack of ARA support.
While the majority of DAWs now support ARA—an extension that enables high-powered pitch and time plugins to run effectively— there are still a few holdouts. Previously, if you were using a non-ARA DAW, you were forced to route audio into the plugin via a side-chain and then record your tracks into VocAlign (in real-time!) before editing could even begin.
In practice, this meant that many Ableton Live and FL Studio users would end up jumping to a second audio workstation whenever they needed to do serious vocal editing work. VocAlign 7 puts that painful process to bed with a new ‘instant capture’ feature for non-ARA DAWs. This is a massive quality of life improvement for affected users.
Those who invest in the Pro version can expect plenty of new bells and whistles as well.
Image: Press
A new formant tool can be used to add some creative spice to a vocal part beyond simple pitch correction, and the SmartPitch feature offers ‘intelligent tuning’ to apply tuning for backing vocals only when needed. In a very nice touch, there are now tools to lock off audio regions to prevent the pitch and timing corrections from affecting sections you want to preserve.
Owners of VocAlign’s sister software, RePitch 2, will also enjoy seamless connection between the two plugins via an updated SynchroLink 2.0. Any pitch or time changes are automatically mirrored in both plugins, making it a cinch to jump back and forth without having to double up on work.
Taking these features together, the 7th iteration of VocAlign offers some serious productivity gains. Importantly, however, it does so without upsetting workflow paradigms that engineers have grown comfortable with over decades of use. There are no left-field surprises here, just refinement.
For studio engineers working to tight deadlines, this is not an update to skip.
Get VocAlign 7 and RePitch 2 now. 
The post VocAlign 7: Syncing vocals has never been easier appeared first on MusicTech.