Tool’s Maynard James Keenan feels they made a “mistake” by not being on streaming platforms sooner: “That’s the gateway into vinyl and CDs”Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan feels the band made a “mistake” by not putting their music on streaming platforms sooner.
The LA rock band – popularly known for their albums 10,000 Days, and more recently, Fear Inoculum – didn’t have their discography on streaming platforms until 2019. At the time, their third album Lateralus (2001) immediately topped the albums chart on Apple Music’s iTunes, even fending off competition from Billie Eilish.

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During his recent appearance on the Allison Hagendorf Show, Keenan reveals that by avoiding streaming sites, he feels the band actually missed out on a new generation of fans.
“I feel like we missed the boat. Like it started with downloads 24 years ago, and then by the time we actually came out, downloads [were] done. We missed 20 years of reaching two generations of people to understand what it is that we do.
“I don’t like listening to the mp3 version, I listen to CDs and vinyl, but that’s the gateway to get them into the vinyl and the CDs. And I feel like we made a mistake not being on those mediums for 20 years. Me every year, saying, ‘We should do this,’” he explains (via NME).
Of their chart-topping success at the time, Keenan says it came as a complete “surprise”: “People didn’t know who we were because we weren’t around. My son just finished law school, and his peers have no idea who we are. They weren’t exposed to it. It’s not on your phone.”
Check out the interview below:

Streaming services have been subject to much debate for years, with artists such as Avenged Sevenfold, James Blake, and St. Vincent having criticised the model for low royalty pay outs and the way it has incentivised songs to be consumable over and over again, meaning songs which are more complex and less likely to be replayed miss out.
Most artists recognise that streaming is ideal if you’re a huge pop star, but for others the market can feel unfair. Avenged Sevenfold have in turn started their own fan club to better reach fans, and Blake has even created his own streaming model called Vault.
Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, has previously compared the streaming market to professional sport. “Football is played by millions of people,” he said, “but there’s a very small number that can live off playing full time.”
Despite the resurgence of physical formats, streaming still remains the most popular way to consume music, and just as Keenan acknowledges, it often acts as a gateway of discovery for younger listeners. Spotify gained 10 million more paying users in just the first half of 2024.
The post Tool’s Maynard James Keenan feels they made a “mistake” by not being on streaming platforms sooner: “That’s the gateway into vinyl and CDs” appeared first on MusicTech.

Is Shure’s MV6 really the best USB microphone for gamers and podcasters right now?£129, shure.com
A pro-quality audio feed is essential for many of our tasks, be it conferencing, podcasting or online gaming. And the less setup you must do to achieve it, the better. A relative of Shure’s popular MV7 podcast mic, the new MV6 is significantly lower in price, coming in at around half the price of the older model.
Dig beneath the surface and you’ll find a bunch of cool automatic features to keep the sound clean and consistent without you having to worry. While a web search will serve up plenty of glowing reviews of the MV6, we’re putting it to the test so you can make up your own mind.

READ MORE: Is Shure’s SM4 a perfect microphone for the home studio?

The MV6 is solidly constructed in black metal and has a sturdy desktop stand to which it can be affixed. There’s also a universal screw thread for using other kinds of stand or a boom. The stand’s foot is large-ish but this is a worthwhile trade-off since it makes the relatively heavy mic super stable at any angle.
The mic comes with a USB-C cable, though its short length means you might need to reach for a longer one. A 3.5-mm headphone socket makes monitoring simple but there’s no XLR output as found on the MV7 so it’s limited to digital input to your computer or iPad. The striking green mic surround is also made of quality metal and this is covered by a foam windshield.
There’s only one physical control on the body: a capacitive mute button, handy for quickly silencing the mic. You’ll handle everything else via the downloadable MOTIV Mix desktop software for macOS and PC, which acts as a basic audio recorder but, more importantly, a way to configure the microphone. You can add input channels from various sources or devices and live-mix them for recording or for sending to another application via the MOTIV Virtual Mix channel. So you could easily send your streams to a DAW for recording.
MOTIV Mix app
In the software, you can control the mic’s various DSP processors. This starts with choosing between a manually-set gain level or Auto-level which intelligently reduces the gain if you move closer to the mic and raises it if you move away — as gamers and podcasters periodically do. In practice, it strikes a nice balance of being reactive but not aggressive. Even when we try to catch it out with quick movements, the results are pretty smooth and balanced.
Next up is a monitor mix control, a fairly straightforward way to blend the signal from your own voice and that sent back from the computer. Then there’s Tone, a way to EQ the sound a little to make it warmer or more clinical, which we find best left on Natural. A real-time denoiser is a clever way to filter out ambient sounds like traffic noise that are superfluous to the recording. This too is effective and, although not quite as capable as a dedicated plugin, it’s impressive for a built-in tool.
Still in beta, MOTIV Mix does have a few rough edges. While you can now save microphone settings as presets, you still cannot access recording quality settings within the app. Hopefully, Shure will continue to update and improve the app to a finished state.
The MV6 without its windshield
The MV6 comes with a foam shield but also has a digital pop stopper which, like most of the other functions, has a variable level in the software. It’s surprisingly effective and better from a visual point of view than having a physical pop shield between yourself and the mic, especially when appearing on video. Shure doesn’t divulge how it works but we’d assume some combination of processes including fast and highly-tuned compression. Finally, you can activate a high-pass filter to roll off bass rumble or proximity effect from voices.
Shure’s MV6 has a cardioid polar pattern and uses ‘Voice Isolation Technology’ – the brand’s own term – to reject sound from the rear and focus on your voice. As such, it’s very directional.
The frequency response of 50 Hz to 15kHz is typical for a dynamic microphone, but you might find other USB mics can stretch up to 20kHz. This perceived technical limitation is actually helpful for picking up vocals in this instance; the impressive voice isolation, close-up use and slightly reduced high-frequency response compared to a condenser make it ideal for capturing voices naturally in a bedroom or other acoustically untreated space. The narrowed frequency response ensures a focus on your vocal range without introducing sibilance, as some condensers do.
The capture of spoken audio is achieved tremendously. Voices are abundantly clear and free of unwanted artefacts thanks to the various digital tools. Pops and ambient noise are successfully removed and when using Auto-level our deliberately inconsistent movement while speaking isn’t an issue.
A streamer using the MV6
Ideally, presenting or streaming would involve a mic mounted on a boom arm — like with the yoke-mounted MV7+ and SM7 — since it can get closer to your mouth and be at head height. But that’s also restrictive in terms of your own movement, plus the MV6 with its clever digital tools does an excellent job of maintaining a strong level when desk mounted, at a wholly different angle than a boom.
If we could, we’d add a physical gain control on the mic body. However, it could be argued that this would only be of any use with Auto-level switched off in the software and in a situation where you could be confident that you’re not going to move around much. Still, some people might prefer that.
MOTIV Mix does a capable job of simple recording though you’d likely want to route sound to a heftier application for podcast production. For simpler gaming or streaming where your sound is just being fed to an app or website that’s less of a concern.
A solidly built and well-thought-out mic with nifty digital tools, the pickup and performance from the MV6 is perfect for podcasters, gamers and streamers alike.

Key features

USB-C
Dynamic, cardioid design
50 Hz to 15 kHz frequency response
Detachable desk stand
Digital popper stopper
3.5-mm headphone output
DSP noise reduction
Auto-level and manual gain-setting
MOTIV Mix software
Capacitive mute button

The post Is Shure’s MV6 really the best USB microphone for gamers and podcasters right now? appeared first on MusicTech.

Cocaine & Rhinestones - Jukeboxes, Bullfighting, and George & TammyIn constructing the mammoth "Cocaine & Rhinestones: A History of George Jones and Tammy Wynette," author Tyler Mahan Coe has effectively combined three separate books: An expertly told love story/cautionary tale, an in-depth reference material, and a philosophical exercise.

Meta’s smart glasses outsell traditional Ray-Bans in some stores, even before AI features roll outThe Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are the top selling product in 60% of all Ray-Ban stores throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, according to Upload VR. The detail came from EssilorLuxottica CFO Stefano Grassi, who revealed during the eyewear giant’s earnings call last week that Ray-Ban Meta proved to be a significant driver for […]
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Mining PAC launches ad for Ted Cruz as early voting begins in TexasMore than 18 million registered voters in the Lone Star State will decide whether to replace Senator Ted Cruz with Representative Colin Allred starting in 2025.

The 1983 Clock Four Decades in the MakingIn 1983, a 14-year-old [Will] saw an LED clock in The Sharper Image store. At $250, it stayed in the store. That was a lot of money back then, especially for most teenagers. But [Will] didn’t forget. After high school, he and a friend planned to build one from scratch. They worked out how they would do it and did a little prototyping, but never really finished. Well, they never really finished at the time. Because 33 years later, [Will] decided to finally put it together. Check it out in the video below.
[Will’s] learned a lot since his original design, plus we have tech today that would have seemed like magic in the late 1980s. But he wanted to stay true to the original design, so there’s no microcontroller or smart LEDs. Just binary counters and a lot of LEDs. There’s even a 555 doing duty as a reset timer.

The original design used the 60 Hz signal from the AC power supply. [Will] made that one concession to modern times and powered the clock from USB-C. That meant adding a reference oscillator, which is a good thing, anyway, as he explains in the post.
The result looks good and we don’t envy him soldering 275 SMD parts! He even graciously made a few and sent one to his old friend.
We don’t know why we were surprised [Will] soldered all those parts. He’s a key member of the people who put on the SMD soldering challenge each year at Supercon. Most LED clock projects from those days used 7-segment displays.

As music industry attention shifts to ‘superfans’, let’s not forget who the experts are – retailers.Kim Bayley, head of the UK's Entertainment Retailers' Association, on streaming, superfans, and music rights companies
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Audio Network, part of SESAC Music Group, partners with Audiomachine for trailer and production musicThe partnership comes at a time when AI is playing an increasingly large role in production music
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Waves announces eMotion LV1 v15Waves Audio, the world-leading developer of audio mixing solutions, announcesthe new version of its eMotion LV1 live mixer software, v15. This new version of LV1 software also powers Waves’ new hardware live mixing console, eMotion LV1 Classic. The new v15 version includes various workflow improvements, as well as compatibility with the new Waves eMo IEM software for immersive in-ear mixing, which is now also shipping.

The new Waves eMo IEM enables immersive in-ear mixing via the eMotion LV1 mixer, bringing clarity, openness, and comfort to in-ear monitors in live shows. eMo IEM is a simple software upgrade to LV1: no expensive external hardware or complex routing is needed. Live sound engineers can simply set the LV1 mixer’s monitor output to Immersive, and the performers will receive immersive monitor sound in their in-ears, with the ability to control 360-degree panning on their own via LV1’s mobile apps.

The v15 update of eMotion LV1 includes additional improvements, including workflow enhancements for plugin navigation, channel naming and aux sends and various new features in LV1’s mobile and tablet apps (new flipped landscape mode in the MixTwin tablet apps; more user control in the MyMon personal monitor mixing app; and more).

The new v15 version of LV1 is also the engine running in the recently announced eMotion LV1 Classic live mixing console—the first fully integrated hardware console by Waves. With 64 stereo channels and 44 stereo buses of industry-leading sound, intuitive workflow, 16 onboard Waves Signature Preamps, and powerful Waves processors included with the console, the new Waves eMotion LV1 Classicis ahardware mixing desk that packs more live mixing power in a compact console than ever before.

“With LV1’s new v15 software update and the eMotion LV1 Classic hardware console, we now offer live mixing solutions that combine superior sound and technological innovation with the user-friendly workflows preferred by audio professionals worldwide,” says Noam Raz, General Manager of Waves Live division. “This release demonstrates our team's commitment to addressing the needs and requirements of our clients. We are entering a pivotal chapter of development and we are enthusiastic to be at the forefront of this exciting evolution!”The post Waves announces eMotion LV1 v15 first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Strange English Teaching Computer Might Have Been Big in Japan[Ctrl-Alt-Rees] bought something strange on an auction site: a Japanese Cefucom-21 from 1983. No? Didn’t ring a bell for us either. The legend on the front boldly proclaims: “CCI Multipurpose SLAP Computer,” so maybe it is some kind of computer, but it is definitely strange. For one thing, the “screen” isn’t a screen at all. [Rees] has found that it has something to do with teaching English. You can see the odd beast in the video below.
We don’t know how common these were in Japan, but they appear to be virtually unknown everywhere else. Inside is a Z80 computer based on a  Sanyo PHC-25, which is a little better known.

The strange screen is offset from the keyboard. There was also a tape drive and a ROM cartridge port. The screen, however, isn’t driven by the computer — you still needed a TV. Instead, it is a window to view a paper graphic stored on a special kind of cartridge. The cartridge simply had images printed on paper. The computer could roll the paper to an image.
Inside, the computer is a fairly conventional Z80 design but with many extras, including a second Z-80. Luckily, the battery, which is known to leak, didn’t completely blow out.
When the video was made, the old box wasn’t working. However, a comment on the video indicates that he’s since got it working and found the software for it, so we are looking forward to a hands-on video soon.
Have you seen one of these before? If you have, we are sure [Rees] would appreciate hearing from you. There seems to be a correlation between odd machines and dual Z-80s. We love seeing these old, forgotten machines.

Sonicbits releases the Exakt FM synth plugin and updates the FREE Exakt Lite to v2.0.
Sonicbits has released the Exakt FM synth plugin and updated the FREE Exakt Lite to v2.0. If you read the opening statement and thought, hang on, Exakt has been around for years; you’re probably not alone. However, despite Exakt Lite being around since 2020, the full version remained in development until now. Now, we finally [...]
View post: Sonicbits releases the Exakt FM synth plugin and updates the FREE Exakt Lite to v2.0.

American Concert D joins Synthogy’s Ivory 3 range American Concert D captures a New York-built Steinway Model D, and benefits from Ivory 3's Continuous Velocity feature and MIDI 2.0 support. 

Free Help with Health Insurance for Musicians & Industry ProfessionalsWith the open enrollment period mandated by the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) about to open and Medicare enrollment underway, the Music Health Alliance is offering free help with health insurance for musicians and industry professionals navigating the complex process.
The post Free Help with Health Insurance for Musicians & Industry Professionals appeared first on Hypebot.

Navigating the Challenge of Being an Indie ArtistNavigating the challenge of being an indie artist is more difficult than ever, with new hurdles emerging at every turn. Learn about the key factors making it harder to succeed independently and how to navigate them.
The post Navigating the Challenge of Being an Indie Artist appeared first on Hypebot.

Future Focused Music Industry Strategies [MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan]As digital growth slows, businesses must shift from maintaining current success to anticipating future problems. Learn why forward-looking music industry strategies are now more crucial than ever to stay competitive. Continue reading
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