Kelly Moran on prepared pianos, the Prophet 12, and why compression is overratedSince studying piano and electronic music from a young age, Kelly Moran’s journey has seen her perfect the art of preparing pianos — placing objects on the strings to radically alter the sonic character of the instrument. A series of experimental releases helped her get signed to the legendary Warp imprint, and then the pandemic intervened, leading her to rethink her approach to creating tracks.

READ MORE: “It’s not as laid-back as everyone thinks it is”: How Tanis scores movies and makes music from her NYC apartment

On her new album Don’t Trust Mirrors, Kelly Moran transforms her prepared piano recordings into hypnotic, loop-driven compositions, blended with rich analogue synthesis. We discuss her unconventional approach to processing, why she sampled every note of her piano into a VST, and why she barely uses compression.
Hi Kelly! Can you tell us about the trajectory of your career to this point? How did you get started in music?
I started playing piano when I was six and subsequently picked up string bass, guitar, clarinet, oboe and singing. I began writing my own music as a teenager and got Logic so I could record and produce. I studied composition, piano and electronic music in college, thinking I would eventually become a professor, then spent my postgrad years as a piano accompanist for ballet dancers, opera singers and classical instrumentalists. I put out some experimental prepared piano records in 2016 and 2017 that got some attention, which led to me getting signed to Warp in 2018. Since then, I’ve been making more records, touring, writing music for other artists, scoring and trying not to lose my mind in the chaos of the music industry.
Don’t Trust Mirrors has just come out on Warp Records. You started writing this in 2019, pre-lockdown. How did that time shape the direction of the album?
In 2019, I was very interested in writing prepared piano music, but I wanted to make it more loop-based and repetitive since my prior album, Ultraviolet, had been very loose and improvisatory. That was the initial goal, but the album ended up spiralling in a few different directions from there. I started writing this music on my childhood piano at my mom’s house in 2019, but when I moved back to the city, I ended up working on a lot of the synth parts at my apartment in Brooklyn.
Prophet 12. Image: Press
You are known for your use of a prepared piano, but can you give us some insight into what exactly that is?
It’s a technique where you put objects between the piano strings to alter the sound of the instrument. It allows you to be creative because you can draw out a new tone from the instrument depending on how you prepare it, so it can be a very personal way of altering the sound of the piano. I like to use metal screws, but you can also use rubber, wood, plastic and other materials. Anyone who attempts this technique should do some research first to make sure they’re not going to hurt the piano with what they put inside it!
Piano preparations. Image: Press
The album’s title track is truly mesmerising. Can you tell us about how you approach layering such different rhythms and textures?
Prepared piano can be a tricky texture to work with, and it takes time to find sounds that will complement it since the preparations make the “attack” of the piano so sharp and you don’t want to use sounds that will clash with that sharpness. For Don’t Trust Mirrors I stuck mainly to sub bass and altering the acoustic piano sounds. My friend, the artist Bibio, added guitar and synth textures to the end of the track. He used textures that complemented the piano so well.
The whole album sounds incredibly natural and organic. How much do you process your sound as opposed to just letting the character of the instruments shine through?
I’m pretty minimal when it comes to putting effects on the prepared piano because it is already so rich sonically; usually, I just play around with delays and reverbs to enhance it! But the other major thing is I employ a ton of EQ — when you prepare a piano, you are triggering different harmonics and overtones, and you don’t necessarily want all of them present, so I always have a few different EQ cuts on each prepared piano stem to get rid of any unwanted resonances.
DTM EQ. Image: Press
I loved playing around with delay to add more rhythm to my prepared piano patterns – the sharp attack of the piano creates some delightful textures.

I honestly love a lot of the built-in effects in Logic, especially the delays. I use Delay Designer all the time and just adjust the parameters by ear to make it sound the way I want it to.
I try to be careful about selecting the sounds that surround the piano so they enhance each other and don’t fight on the frequency spectrum. The preparation consists of already processing the sound of the piano, so I try to be very delicate when handling these tones!
Tell us a bit about your studio workflow and the process of starting to build a track.
Usually, I just sit at the piano and improvise until my hands start playing something that feels or sounds good, then I record it and build off that. I have a pair of Rode NT5s that I’ve used to record all my piano music since college.
Rode NT5 mics on piano. Image: Press
You’ve toured extensively and will be headed back on the road in support of the new album. How is your live show constructed, both from a performance and a gear point of view?
I sampled every note of my prepared piano into a VST so I could recreate the sound on a MIDI keyboard onstage when I play. Since most venues don’t let you prepare the piano, this allows me to recreate the sound of my prepared piano and mix it live in a way that sounds faithful to the album. I play it through Kontakt, and I’m always editing it to make it more dynamically sensitive. For shows where I can’t play or prepare a grand piano, I use my VST as my primary performance medium, but I also mix it with some other sounds to make it more dynamic and interesting.
What’s your latest gear or plugin purchase?
I recently bought Particle Reverb by Kentaro, and it was worth every penny. It’s an amazing granular reverb plugin; I use it all the time now.
Here’s my prepared piano instrument in Kontakt with Particle Reverb:
Kelly’s prepared piano instrument in Kontakt with Particle Reverb, photo by press
What’s the best free plugin you own, and why do you love it?
Buffer Override by Destroy FX. I downloaded it for free when I was 18 and still use it all the time. This screenshot is taken from the session for my track Above the Vapours.
Buffer Override. Image: Press
What’s been the biggest investment in your studio setup?
It’s definitely my Prophet 12 synthesizer. I’m not a big gear person, so I invested in something that I know I’d be able to explore for many years and not get tired of. It’s the only synth I own, and I can’t imagine needing another synth for a long time since I can do so much with it.
Prophet 12. Image: Press
The other piece of gear that’s been truly helpful for me in the past year has been the RME Babyface. It’s super lightweight and portable, which makes it easy to bring on tour. I’ve only had it a year, but it looks like it’s been through war since some sound guys felt the need to duct tape XLR cables to it at one of my shows!
RME Babyface. Image: Press
Do you have a dream piece of gear?
I’d love to own my own Yamaha Disklavier someday, but for now, I’m very lucky that I get to go to the Yamaha studios in NYC to use theirs. My dream piano costs over $100,000, so let’s manifest that one day I’ll be rich enough to buy one for myself!
What’s a music production myth you think needs debunking?
I’ve gone most of my life without ever using compression on anything. I think it’s overrated. Perhaps it’s because I am classically trained and try to be sensitive with dynamics when I am performing, so I can’t imagine squishing them with an algorithm in post.
Listen to Kelly Moran’s Don’t Trust Mirrors
The post Kelly Moran on prepared pianos, the Prophet 12, and why compression is overrated appeared first on MusicTech.

How These DIY Artists Won a GRAMMYThis week, Ari is joined by Grammy winners Matt B and Angela Benson to share their path to success working as a married team.

Kalshi raises $1B at $11B valuation, doubling value in under two monthsThe latest funding comes less than two months after Kalshi announced that it raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation.

Soyuz launch the V1 Until now, the Soyuz range has been occupied exclusively by capacitor mics, but their latest announcement sees them introduce a newly designed dynamic model.

LoRa Repeater Lasts 5 Years on PVC Pipe and D CellsSometimes it makes sense to go with plain old batteries and off-the-shelf PVC pipe. That’s the thinking behind [Bertrand Selva]’s clever LoRaTube project.
PVC pipe houses a self-contained LoRa repeater, complete with a big stack of D-size alkaline cells.
LoRa is a fantastic solution for long-range and low-power wireless communication (and popular, judging by the number of projects built around it) and LoRaTube provides an autonomous repeater, contained entirely in a length of PVC pipe. Out the top comes the antenna and inside is all the necessary hardware, along with a stack of good old D-sized alkaline cells feeding a supercap-buffered power supply of his own design. It’s weatherproof, inexpensive, self-contained, and thanks to extremely low standby current should last a good five years by [Bertrand]’s reckoning.
One can make a quick LoRa repeater in about an hour but while the core hardware can be inexpensive, supporting electronics and components (not to mention enclosure) for off-grid deployment can quickly add significant cost. Solar panels, charge controllers, and a rechargeable power supply also add potential points of failure. Sometimes it makes more sense to go cheap, simple, and rugged. Eighteen D-sized alkaline cells stacked in a PVC tube is as rugged as it is affordable, especially if one gets several years’ worth of operation out of it.
You can watch [Bertrand] raise a LoRaTube repeater and do a range test in the video (French), embedded below. Source code and CAD files are on the project page. Black outdoor helper cat not included.

10th Annual Christmas Songwriting Competition Opens for EntriesAspiring songwriters have a festive opportunity to share their original holiday music. The 10th Annual Christmas Songwriting Competition is now accepting submissions for original Christmas or holiday songs, offering both recognition and a chance to break into the music industry.

Participants can submit songs they’ve written or co-written—the kind of originals that could one day stand alongside classics like “Last Christmas” by Wham! or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.”

The competition offers several rewards. The top winner will receive a Christmas Songwriting trophy, a memento for the mantel, and potentially a songwriting contract with a major music publishing house. Additionally, the top 15 finalists will see their songs featured on a Christmas/Holiday compilation CD, which will be promoted to radio stations across the United States and Canada—providing valuable exposure for emerging songwriters and artists.

Last year’s winners demonstrated the spirit of collaboration in holiday music. Ben Winship and Tim O’Brien (pictured) took top honors for their playful entry “Santa Ate a Gummy.” The duo reflected on their success, saying,

“This is a great honor to win the top prize… we are thrilled to have been selected.”

Second place went to Austria’s Karin Bachner and Tobias M. Hoffmann for “In The Mood For Christmas,” while Jan Edwards, Lucy LeBlanc, and Corey Lee Barker claimed third with “Mingle Neath The Mistletoe.” All three winning songs were co-writes, emphasizing the collaborative nature of creating holiday music.

Songwriters looking to enter have until December 23 to submit their work. For more information and entry details, visit Songwriting.net’s Christmas competition page.

For inspiration, listening to past Christmas classics can spark ideas:

The next holiday hit could be yours—the stage is open for new voices this season!The post 10th Annual Christmas Songwriting Competition Opens for Entries first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Extrasensory VEX Expressive MIDI ControlTurn any MIDI device into an expressive control instrument. Works with any VST, AU, or hardware that responds to MIDI. VEX is a MIDI FX plugin that transforms plain controller moves into rich, performance-grade modulation. Insert it on a MIDI track, feed it data from any controller, and route the output to your synths, samplers, and FX. Instead of drawing static automation or fighting stiff knobs and faders, VEX lets you shape how control signals behave over time—smoothing, curving, exaggerating, or "playing" parameters as if they were instruments of their own. Use it to breathe life into filters, reverbs, delays, granular engines, or any parameter that accepts MIDI CC, aftertouch, or other control data. Read More

Get the Wave Alchemy Reverb Bundle for only $20 until December 7
Wave Alchemy has unleashed a massive deal on its Reverb Bundle, which is now just $20 at Plugin Boutique until December 7. I was blown away (much like everyone else) with Wave Alchemy’s free Magic7 reverb. It’s a fantastic emulation of the legendary Bricasti M7 reverb and an absolute killer freebie. If you liked that [...]
View post: Get the Wave Alchemy Reverb Bundle for only $20 until December 7

Jorja Smith’s label FAMM seeks share of royalties from viral track ‘I Run’ amid AI allegations, calls for industry ‘guardrails’ to protect artistsLabel claims the track was created using AI trained on the British singer's music
Source

Get these solid closed-back studio headphones for just $49 in this lingering Cyber Monday deal at zZoundsOfficially, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are in the rear-view mirror, but as retailers try to outcompete each other for how long they can drag out their sales, that’s where you can jump in, take advantage and bag yourself a killer deal in the Cyber Weekend aftermath.
If you’re in the market for a new pair of studio headphones – either just a spare pair, or a replacement after the earcup cushions in yours started flaking (a curse I am currently afflicted with) – these AKG K92 closed-back studio headphones might just be the ticket.
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These cans were originally priced at $89, but for a limited time post Cyber Weekend you can grab ‘em for just $49. So what does $49 get you in this case?
The AKG K92s pack pro-grade 40mm drivers for the accurate playback of even the subtlest nuances; there’s no point having a monitoring system if you’re not confident your mixes will translate in different environments. And these cans deliver solidly here.

READ MORE: Cyber Monday music deals 2025: The best deals we’ve found on synths, DJ controllers and plugins

They deliver a balanced frequency range, with an extended low-frequency response which gives definition to elements like kick drums and bass guitar, while a detailed high-frequency response reveals the nuance in vocals, guitars and acoustic instruments.
The K92s’ closed-back design minimises audio leakage – but why is this important? Well, as the sound is kept to your ears only, you don’t need to worry about the bleed from a click track making it into your recordings, for example.
They’re ergonomic, too; an exposed headband design keeps the headphones comfortable and light, while breathable, lightweight ear pads encircle your ears rather than putting pressure on them. Visuals areimportant, too, right? So these headphones sport golden accents for effortlessly stylish appeal.
Don’t wait around, we don’t expect this deal to be live for much longer…
Get yours at zZounds.
The post Get these solid closed-back studio headphones for just $49 in this lingering Cyber Monday deal at zZounds appeared first on MusicTech.

Suno has acquired Songkick: What it means for ArtistsControversial AI music platform Suno acquired Songkick as part of its new deal with Warner Music Group. But why would an AI music creation tool want to own a struggling concert listing service?
The post Suno has acquired Songkick: What it means for Artists appeared first on Hypebot.

Condenser mic specialist Soyuz launches its first dynamic microphoneSoyuz has long built a reputation for its handcrafted condenser microphones, but now the boutique LA audio brand forays into the world of dynamic mics with the V1 Dynamic.
The V1 Dynamic, Soyuz says, aims to bridge the gap between stage and studio, pairing condenser-like clarity with the more forgiving nature of dynamic microphones. Named after the Vostok 1 – the first spacecraft to launch a human into space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961 – the V1 Dynamic celebrates Soyuz’s foray into “new creative and technical territory”.

READ MORE: Score Tekno for just $69 as Baby Audio slashes prices up to 89% for Cyber Week

As Soyuz explains, the V1 Dynamic features a cardioid polar pattern, and boasts a “naturally extended top end” and balanced midrange, as well as a “focused low end”, and requires “no EQ to come alive”. There’s also a controlled proximity effect, meaning performers can play close to the grille without fear of sonic mud.
At the mic’s core is a custom Soyuz transformer, with a precision-machined headbasket which is not only aesthetically pleasing, but which also “serves as an acoustic component” before sound even reaches the capsule inside.
“The V1 Dynamic is an important milestone for us,” says David Brown, President and Co-Founder of Soyuz Microphones.
“We had always considered building a dynamic mic someday, but we held off until we could create something truly unique that felt genuinely like a Soyuz in both sound and design. It’s durable, musical, and simple. It’s a dynamic sounding dynamic.”
Credit: Soyuz
The V1 Dynamic arrives as the result of hands-on testing and direct feedback from a range of working artists, including Beck, LCD Soundsystem, My Chemical Romance and more.
“I love this Soyuz V1 microphone,” said Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids. “The tone is clear, responsive, bright, and true. It looks great – like it would be on the do-not-touch-without-permission shelf in a fancy studio…Singing with it makes me feel like I’m Serge Gainsbourg or Iggy Pop in the 60s on a legendary TV performance.”
“I absolutely love the mic,” adds indie band Hand Habits. “It’s been my new live mic lately. It rejects a lot of the background sound so impressively. It also almost feels like it compresses internally, giving it a nice dynamic response when singing. Nice top end. Highly recommend it.”
The V1 Dynamic comes in Silver and Matte Black finishes, and comes with a custom mic clip and canvas carrying bag. Price-wise, the V1 Dynamic clocks in at $279.
Learn more at Soyuz Microphones.
The post Condenser mic specialist Soyuz launches its first dynamic microphone appeared first on MusicTech.

Sonica is a New Music Platform Putting Artists Back in ControlNo hidden fees, no commissions, no algorithms, no AI — Sonica is the latest startup offering artists ethics-aligned streaming with 100% ownership of revenues and rights.
The post Sonica is a New Music Platform Putting Artists Back in Control appeared first on Hypebot.

Drawmer unveil 1979 channel strip Drawmer say that their latest release has been designed to offer a modern take on the classic channel strip, combining a versatile mic preamp with a comprehensive EQ section and vintage-style compression. 

Get 90% off the United Plugins WideFire + get UVI Model D for FREE
WideFire is an analogue-style saturation plugin by JMG Sound/United Plugins that takes an interesting approach to audio widening, and now you can get it for 90% off at AudioDeluxe! The WideFire plugin typically sells for $29, but with a 90% discount, you can pick it up for just $3 (I’m not sure how long the [...]
View post: Get 90% off the United Plugins WideFire + get UVI Model D for FREE