“I really wish I had chosen different words”: Suno CEO reflects on his controversial comments that most people “don’t enjoy” making musicMikey Shulman, the co-founder and CEO of AI music platform Suno, has reflected on his controversial opinion last year that most people “don’t enjoy” making music, and it seems he has some regret.
Shulman made the comment during an interview on the 20VC podcast last year, when he claimed that most people don’t enjoy the majority of the time they spend making music because of how time consuming the process is, but also because it “takes a lot of practice” and “you need to get really good at an instrument or really good at a piece of production software”.

READ MORE: BandLab introduces new AI loop-matching tool, Palette

Shulman was met with significant backlash from musicians, who felt the labour of making music is a labour of love, and that it should be time consuming. Looking back on the controversy now in a new interview with Billboard, Shulman admits: “I really wish I had chosen different words.”
He doesn’t expand much more on his thoughts within the piece, but does add, “I do have a lot of respect for music.” Elsewhere in the interview, Shulman has shared his vision for the future of Suno, stating that it is working on to create a “verticalised” service, incorporating a TikTok-like social media feed known as Hooks, a streaming service, and a number of different music tools to target “anyone from “Grammy winners to grandmas”.
“When we talk about ‘verticalising’ inside the company, it’s not like we want to smush TikTok and Spotify together,” he adds. “Those two things already exist, and that is not going to reap a lot of benefits … I’m thinking, ‘How do I make discovery way better than it is now?’ Because we are able to do something no one else can do. [The point of Hooks] is to get you off of the feed, playing with content and remixing it. That’s the kind of discovery that doesn’t exist right now.”
Shulman also tells Billboard that Suno doesn’t have a “fixed pie mentality” when it comes to its place in the music industry: “We want to grow the pie and make the music industry even bigger.”
The post “I really wish I had chosen different words”: Suno CEO reflects on his controversial comments that most people “don’t enjoy” making music appeared first on MusicTech.

IK Multimedia ARC Studio is an effective, low-priced room correction system for the home studio£249 (street price), ikmultimedia.com
Room EQ is an incredibly useful tool that takes care of any inadequacies in the frequency response of your control room or home studio. You’d typically run it as a plugin within a DAW, or through a system-wide app on your computer, but this software-only approach uses a computer CPU and adds latency to the monitoring system. Frustratingly, on most DAWs you have to insert the room correction as a plugin at the end of the master bus chain, and then remember to turn it off when exporting a mix, which makes it impossible to properly monitor a real-time bounce running through external hardware.

READ MORE: Audient’s ORIA Mini review: A giant leap for hardware-hosted room EQ and monitor control

IK’s ARC Studio aims to do away with such frustrations with a hybrid, hardware and software solution. It boasts the lowest price for a complete system of this type including the more recent Oria Mini (around £350) and the Trinnov Nova found in commercial studios (£4,000 upwards).
Image: Press
What is ARC Studio?
IK Multimedia’s ARC Studio is a box that sits between your main audio interface outputs and monitors, offering a complete package for measuring room correction profiles and then hosting them.
Once you measure the room profile with the included microphone, you can load it up onto the Studio and work away with EQ-corrected monitors, with minimal latency. Just like competing products, there are also EQ profiles that allow you to audition your mix using virtual monitors, to see how it sounds on a car stereo, phone speakers and so on.
The hardware is simple and uncluttered. The front panel houses just two LEDs to indicate power and signal level, plus a single illuminated button to toggle the correction on and off. On the back, there are stereo XLR inputs and outputs, a USB-C port for loading and switching profiles from the computer, and a power socket. Unfortunately, there’s no digital input, so you’re stuck with an extra round of analogue-to-digital conversion inside the box that might be of lesser quality than those in the audio interface being used.
Image: Press
How do you set up ARC Studio?
To get going with ARC Studio, you need an audio interface with a mic preamp and phantom power. The measurement software prompts you to plug the microphone in, turn phantom on and set an appropriate level, and then place the microphone at different positions (and different heights) in the listening position while short sine sweeps are played on the monitors. I opt for the more accurate, 21-position measurement, and it is straightforward and relatively swift, at under 15 minutes.
If you’ve used Sonarworks, the ARC measurement process seems more primitive since the monitors send no ‘clicky’ triangulation signals to calculate exact points for the various measurement positions in the room. With ARC, you need to remember where you’ve been and try to be consistent, which isn’t that easy. That all said, the final profile is based on an average of the room response in all these positions, so it probably doesn’t matter as much as you’d expect.
ARC X. Image: Press
How well does ARC Studio work?
In use, the ARC X software fares incredibly well. My room has a large desk, plus a window to one side, and neither of these aspects can be adequately fixed with the basic filters on my main monitors. ARC X takes care of the frequency response (including the difference between left and right), and I can easily select and tweak the target curve by using or modifying one of the preset ones. For example, critical listening might use the standard target curve with a full mid range, while a general listening curve with a pleasing, gentle mid scoop could avoid fatigue. Emulations of other speaker systems are also handy, most notably for checking whether kicks and basslines can be distinguished on phone speakers.
With ARC studio, there’s no faffing with switching plugins on and off. I work with the low-latency Natural Phase mode (1.4 ms latency) with no issues when tracking, and then switching to the more accurate Linear Phase mode (42 ms) for playback.
The correction is less extreme and more pleasant to listen to than my usual Sonarworks profile, with a strong phantom centre image from ARC, versus a slightly hollow result with Sonarworks.
A set-and-forget approach works best here, with the measured profile loaded into the ARC hardware and the room correction always switched on. This works splendidly, but it’s a little less simple if you want to switch between different room correction profiles (or virtual monitoring systems) as these things need to be done in the software, with the USB cable connected. In practice though, you get used to having a calibrated monitoring system where you begin to trust the translation across to other playback systems. The novelty of checking mixes on a virtual Bluetooth or phone speaker wears off to become a final quality control check rather than a regular occurrence.
The simplicity of the hardware will appeal to those who don’t really have a burning desire to keep tweaking their monitoring system, and if you already have monitoring controls on your audio interface or monitor controller (there are no fancy monitor controls or significant remote control options here, unlike the competing Oria Mini from Audient and Sonarworks).
There are a couple of frustrations with the hardware. The measurement mic is flimsy, its plastic build nearly as hollow as a Kinder egg shell. And there’s not quite enough weight in the Studio’s metal case to stop it tipping up under the weight of the connected XLR cables when placed on top of other outboard gear.
Speaker browser in ARC X. Image: Press
Is ARC Studio right for you?
If you work primarily on a single set of studio monitors, then the ARC Studio is a winning option, unrivalled at its price point. Load your correction profile up and happily work away on mixes that translate well to other systems, without noticeable latency or stress on your computer’s CPU.
The ARC X correction sounds natural and there’s a lot to be said for the hardware’s simplicity. That said, if you need slightly more in terms of profile switching on-device, monitor/remote control options, or a digital input, you might dream of an ARC Studio Pro. In the meantime, you’ll be better served by an Oria Mini (around £100 more for the equivalent bundle).

Key features

Hardware / software room EQ package
Stereo XLR inputs and outputs
Simple LED metering on hardware
Modes: Natural Phase (1.4 ms latency) ; Linear Phase (42 ms latency)
USB-C port for connection to computer
External DC power supply (included)
Measurement mic and ARC X software included

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Sales automation startup Rox AI hits $1.2B valuation, sources sayRox, founded in 2024 by the former chief growth officer of New Relic, offers an AI-native alternative to CRM tools.

Philip Glass' Akhnaten Rises at the LA OperaAbove: John Holiday as Akhnaten and Sun-Ly Pierce as Nefertiti in LA Opera's 2026 production of Akhnaten. Photo credit: Cory Weaver

It's been four days since this writer attended the LA Opera's production of Philip Glass' Akhnaten at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on a Sunday afternoon in March, and still, more time is needed to process it all. The music, the visuals, everything is so wonderfully overwhelming and absolutely breathtaking, some reflection is required to fully appreciate the whole event.

John Holiday in the title role of LA Opera's 2026 production of Akhnaten. Photo credit: Cory Weaver

In our recent feature Opera for All, Akhnaten director Phelim McDermott explained that, "There is a theory that Akhnaten was the first monotheist. In ancient Egypt, there’s all these different gods, and he said, ‘No, no, enough of that. Enough of the multi-God stuff. There’s just going to be one God, and it’s the sun.’ So he replaced all the other gods with this idea that the sun is the God and that he was the embodiment of this. God on earth. He had this reign of, I think it was only 14 years where he built this whole city, and then they got rid of him, and then Tutankhamun came in. So the opera is about ideas. They’re about musical meditations on the idea."

Yuntong Han as the High Priest of Amon in LA Opera's 2026 production of Akhnaten.  Photo credit: Cory Weaver.

"Musical meditations on the idea" is a great way of looking at this, and for anyone expecting a standard narrative in a traditional storytelling format, Akhnaten might prove heavy going. As is the case with much of Glass' work, you have to let it happen to you. It's possible that lovers of David Lynch movies will catch on quickly; you have to experience the art rather than follow it with a proverbial finger under the line.

Countertenor John Holiday, in the role of Akhnaten himself, told us that, "I would think that one of the most beautiful things that they would experience, but they may not be looking for, is that this is a type of music that is very transcendental. It transcends the current time. It transcends what they’ve been used to, because there are so many patterns in it. One can be kind of low in it. It becomes very meditative. And what I, as a singer, have to remind myself is that you can’t phone it in. You have to pay attention. And because there are so many patterns, people can, it also lends itself to ear worms. But I think that people are going to find that there is a meditative aspect of it, and I, as a singer, really love that."

There are, of course, themes. There is a story. Akhnaten was a very real Egyptian Pharaoh who, during his 17-year reign, created the first monotheistic religion. Up until then, the Egyptians worshipped multiple gods and, after Akhnaten, they went back to that system of worship. But for those 17 years (which were subsequently, swiftly, swept under the rug), Akhnaten implemented a one-god system.

The opera is the story of his life, but it's not easy to follow the political and theological through-lines. That said, you really don't need to. Sit back, buckle up, open your mind, and enjoy.

So Young Park as Queen Tye and Zachary James as Amenhotep III in LA Opera's 2026 production of Akhnaten. Photo credit: Cory Weaver

The music is gorgeous. Hypnotic, and certainly meditative. The orchestra is impeccable. The juggling is, perhaps surprisingly, captivating. And the scenery is spectacular. All in all, a glorious production.

Photos by Cory WeaverThe post Philip Glass' Akhnaten Rises at the LA Opera first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

quantovox VoxomatVoxomat adds a unique human-meets-machine character to your tracks. It transforms simple basslines into talkative, morphing sequences, while offering endless possibilities for non-pitched sounds like drums. Higher-pitched inputs can trigger complex harmonic shaping effects – the resulting inharmonic textures and FM-style intermodulation deliver a grit typical of Lo-Fi aesthetics. Conversely, these frequency modulation effects can also be smoothed out by using harmonically dense inputs, such as overdriven tones or overtone-rich sawtooth-based sounds. Using the plugin's modulation options in parallel opens wider sonic possibilities – for example, adding powerful chiptune effects to any source or mimicking the aggressive, harmonically shifting "tearing" sound of hard-synced oscillators. Based on the Ringotron engine, Voxomat utilizes a hybrid modulation architecture combining audio-rate modulation with resonators. Features: • Complex rhythmic movement driven by an array of synced LFOs for deep, malleable modulation. • Integrated envelope follower for responsive modulation. • Touchscreen-friendly modulation sequencer for pitch FX control. • Powerful resonant vocalizer for synth basses and all overtone-rich bass timbres. • On unpitched inputs like drums, effects range from whispers to glottal textures and stronger vocal glitches. • For pitched inputs, higher registers can more easily uncover robotic qualities as complex frequency relationships yield unique, inharmonic textures. • The user interface is designed to blend algorithmic automation with tactile control, turning the effect into a responsive performance tool. • Each preset features a set of primary performance controls pre-mapped for automation and expressive live play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rz30aLDKAM&list=PLbokWO8YipvXRZFnp1eXZQf9Y_FFh5hM2&index=3 Read More

MBW just launched Music Business Worldwide Magazine. Have you subscribed yet?To celebrate the launch, we're offering 50% off the first year of all new MBW+ subscriptions
Source

Mapping The Sound Field Of An Acoustic LevitatorSound! It’s a thing you hear, moreso than something you see with your eyes. And yet, it is possible to visualize sound with various techniques. [PlasmatronX] demonstrates this well, using a special scanning technique to visually capture the sound field inside an acoustic levitation device. 
If you’re unfamiliar, acoustic levitation devices like this use ultrasound to create standing waves that can hold small, lightweight particles in mid-air. The various nodes of the standing wave are where particles will end up hovering. [PlasmatronX] was trying to calibrate such a device, but it proved difficult without being able to see what was going on with the sound field. Hence, the desire to image it!
Imaging the sound field was achieved with a Schlieren optical setup, which can capture variations in air density as changes in brightness in an image. Normally, Schlieren imaging only works in a two-dimensional slice. However, [PlasmatronX] was able to lean on computed tomography techniques to create a volumetric representation of the sound field in 3D. He refers to this as “computerized acoustical tomography.” Images were captured of the acoustic levitation rig from different angles using the Schlieren optics rig, and then the images were processed in Python to recreate a 3D image of the sound field.
We’ve seen some other entertaining applications of computed tomography techniques before, like inspecting packets of Pokemon cards. Video after the break.

Grainferno from Baby Audio Baby Audio’s latest release has been built on a new granular engine that’s capable of turning samples into everything from synth-like tonal instruments to lush, evolving atmospheres or “volatile digital noise”.

BandLab introduces new AI loop-matching tool, Palette[Editor’s note: BandLab Technologies and MusicTech are both part of the Caldecott Music Group.]

BandLab has expanded its collection of intelligent AI Smart Tools with a new AI loop-matching tool, Palette.

While BandLab already boasts a slew of AI features, from its Voice Cleaner to its AI FX Preset Generator, Palette comes as the perfect tool to help producers find complementary loops for their projects in a single click. All the tool needs is for a user to input their preferred key, genre, instrument and BPM – then Palette can get to work.

READ MORE: Johnny Keirle on amplifying the Super Bowl halftime show: “I’ve fought really hard to create a proper audio concert experience”

In BandLab, you can use Palette by selecting it on the ‘New Track’ pop-up. There, you pick your your preferences, and Palette with generate two instruments in-line with your selections. Then you’ve got the option to bulk up your sound with up to three more instruments.
In terms of preferences, users are able to choose from a selection of 10 genres, spanning from pop, to R&B, to trap. Once that’s in place, paired with a user’s other BPM, key and instrumental selections, Palette is able to filter through BandLab’s Sound Library of 250,000 royalty-free samples.
If a user isn’t entirely satisfied with Palette’s offering of loops, they can tweak each track with a selection of sliders. You can also click to ‘Regenerate’ to find new loops, as well as delete any loop you don’t like. Then you’re left with a perfect, multi-layered “production ready” track to utilise in the studio.
For those keen to utilise Palette’s AI loop-matching, you’ll have to be a BandLab member. That’ll cost you $14.95 a month, and allow you to utilise the platform’s entire library of sounds and intelligent tools.
Elsewhere, BandLab has continued to back the growth and development of AI tools in music. Last July, BandLab Licensing started allowing creators to opt in to train AI models by marking a song as ‘open to AI licensing’.
For more information, head to BandLab.
Credit: BandLab
The post BandLab introduces new AI loop-matching tool, Palette appeared first on MusicTech.

Get iZotope Neutron 5 Elements for FREE + a massive plugin bundle until March 17th
iZotope Japan is giving away Neutron 5 Elements for free as part of a large freebie bundle that includes 45 plugins and the Luna DAW. The offer runs until March 17th, 2026. Neutron 5 Elements normally costs $55, so this is a pretty sweet deal. Most of the other stuff in the bundle was either [...]
View post: Get iZotope Neutron 5 Elements for FREE + a massive plugin bundle until March 17th

Bitwig Studio 6 has arrived: Everything you need to know about the latest version of the popular DAW platformBitwig Studio 6 has arrived, bringing a number of new features and workflow improvements to the popular DAW platform.
Aiming to deliver “fresh and faster ways to work”, Bitwig Studio 6 includes a hefty upgrade to its automation editing capabilities, new editing options and project-wide key signature, which helps producers craft melodies by guiding them within a predefined key.

READ MORE: Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20x

There’s also been a number of updates to the platform’s user interface, aiming to provide smoother navigation and easier customisation. Let’s take a closer look at what’s new in Bitwig Studio 6:
Upgrades to automation editing

Bitwig Studio 6 brings two new ways to edit automation and access automation curves. Firstly, you can now press the A key to switch to Automation Mode, and overlay each track with the parameter last touched. All automation for any track can also now be accessed in the Detail Editor panel.
There’s also been a number of changes to the automation editing workflow in a bid to make the experience more “unified”, Bitwig says. They include the ability to click near a line to quickly move it up or down, to freely drag automation points past others to overwrite them, and the ability to press H for hold behaviour, meaning a parameter will stay at a flat value until the next automation point. There’s also an upgraded algorithm for the freehand pencil tool, making hand-drawn curves clean, simple ones which can be easily edited later.
Automation clips
Credit: Bitwig
In Bitwig Studio 6, automation can be manipulated in clips – similar to the platform’s audio and note clips – with possibilities including independent looping and start times, sliding clip contents in time, and stretching clips. These clips exist alongside traditional track automation, and can be saved to the library for later use.
Clip aliases
Credit: Bitwig
In a totally new feature for Bitwig Studio 6, clip aliases present a new way to create structure and sequence in your music. Essentially, instead of duplicating a clip across a track, you can now drag it as an alias, meaning all clips under that alias will be edited when one of them is, with other clip settings remaining unchanged. Clip aliases work with audio, note and automation clips.
Project-wide key signature
Credit: Bitwig
As well as standard tempo and time signature information, projects in Bitwig Studio 6 can now be set to a specific key signature, helping producers guide notes and create melodies, chords and harmonies. A Snap to Key function can be utilised by pressing the letter K on your keyboard, which can also be combined with the Pencil tool for “speedy creation that’s always in key”. There’s also a Quantize to Key function which snaps existing notes or clips to a chosen scale.
This new key signature can also be used to control note FX, with six note-shifting devices – including Arpeggiator, Randomize, and Key Filter+ – compatible with the Use Global Key option.
Updated user interface
Credit: Bitwig
There’s also been a number of updates to Bitwig’s user interface in version 6. Editing tools are now laid out as a palette on the right side of the interface, grid appearance can be adjusted from each editor via the Editor Settings menu, project-wide visual controls are accessible by right clicking the top of the Bitwig window, and track headers are now more dynamic when resized.
Additionally, Bitwig Studio 6 features a new Arranger Auto Zoom feature – which makes a selected track or lane larger while keeping everything else the same size – and Clip Launcher, which displays the clip position and loop count for each track.
Pricing & availability
Bitwig Studio 6 is available as a free upgrade to all existing Bitwig users. Meanwhile, new Bitwig customers can get the latest version now at a number of tiered price points, with Bitwig Studio Essentials, Bitwig Studio Producer and the full version o f Bitwig Studio priced at £79, £169, £339, respectively.
All the new features detailed above are available in all three versions of Bitwig Studio.
Learn more at Bitwig.
The post Bitwig Studio 6 has arrived: Everything you need to know about the latest version of the popular DAW platform appeared first on MusicTech.

Overloud introduce Gem Comp160 The latest arrival to Overloud’s Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of the iconic dbx 160.

Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20xMusic technology company Musical Beings – founded by former employees of Google, Waves Audio, Wix, and Simply – has launched Tembo, a new child- and beginner-friendly step sequencer, sampler and drum machine with an intuitive, game-style interface.
Looking like something akin to a draughts board, Tembo is made entirely of wood – a decision taken by Musical Beings to make the unit more inviting than other drum machines and samplers in the category that are often metal or monochrome.

READ MORE: The MacBook Neo is Apple’s cheapest MacBook model ever – will it be any good for music production?

“We chose to make Tembo out of wood to get people feeling natural next to it,” says co-founder Ayal Rosenberg. “This is something I want to keep on the dining table, because it’s inviting and pleasant to look at. Wood integrates naturally into any room.”
Beneath its exterior, Tembo houses a five-channel, 16-step sequencer, with sequences created by placing circular magnets – or “Beats” – on the user’s chosen positions.
You’ll notice, though, that the grid is only eight blocks across. That’s because you can position your Beats in specific ways to make use of 16th note subdivisions, too. By placing a Beat on the first position it will trigger the first 16th note, while stacking two Beats on the first position triggers the first two 16th notes of the sequence. You can flip a Beat over to add a step to the second 16th note alone.
Tembo’s deceptively comprehensive set of controls is completed by dedicated pitch and volume knobs for each of the five channels – plus a send for adding delay and reverb effects – as well as global tempo, swing and pattern length controls in the bottom left corner of the unit.

In terms of onboard sounds, Tembo has eight sample packs, with the ability to add your own samples via either its XLR/TRS input or built-in microphone. There’s also dual USB-C/MIDI connections so more seasoned musicians can connect the device to their DAW or external instruments.
“We’re not professional musicians but music is huge in our lives,” reflects Rosenberg, Musical Beings co-founder.
“We’ve been playing and making music our whole lives as amateurs. But we never felt truly good at it or highly musical. We want to change this. We want everyone to feel musical, especially the youngest musicians.”
“If you search for step sequencers or drum machines, they look complex and intimidating, even if they are also beautiful,” he continues.
Tembo is live now on Kickstarter, with nearly £700,000 pledged, well over its £37k goal. A number of tiers are available to get your own, ranging between $369 and $549.
 Learn more at Musical Beings.
The post Tembo is a beginner-friendly sequencer and sampler made of wood – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter goal by nearly 20x appeared first on MusicTech.

How Daniel Avery remixed every track on his alt-metal album in six weeksAfter Daniel Avery spent almost three years submerged in the production style of his 2025 electronic/alt-metal album, Tremor, one might think his identity was wrapped up in the music. But when the British producer decided to remix the LP as Tremor (Midnight Versions), he approached them with complete separation — as if he was working with another artist’s music.

READ MORE: Johnny Keirle on amplifying the Super Bowl halftime show: “I’ve fought really hard to create a proper audio concert experience”

“I really like being presented with someone else’s folder of ideas and imagination, and then shaping it into something else,” Avery says. “Even though I was extremely familiar with [Tremor], that separation felt liberating. I treated each one with the [night]club front and center. I told myself I was never going to be too precious with the originals. Some of the tracks bear a strong resemblance, but some of them do not. That was conscious. I wanted to treat every remix as if it were its own track.”
For Midnight Versions, Avery was the sole remixer for every track on the original. This wasn’t the initial plan. Avery, the dance music producer, took his hand at remixing Tremor by Avery, the electronic/alt-metal producer, and ended up remixing all of Tremor’s 13 tracks in six weeks.
“I [remixed] Greasy off the Racing Line and Rapture in Blue, and I was so happy with the results that I just kept going,” says Avery, the dance music producer. “It was nice to work in a more urgent way. I’ve always found that the club music I’ve made that’s connected the most has come about without much thought.”
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
Midnight Versions ended up taking on a life of its own. The club versions captured the same energy he poured into Tremor, but they needed their own order to tell their own story. It’s not an extension of the original; it’s a freestanding release that exists in the same sonic universe as Tremor.
“I was so proud, and still am so proud of Tremor. It really feels like such an honest representation of where my head was at in that moment. It always had its own very strong identity,” Avery says. “[With] Midnight Versions, I could just open another door to that world.”
Avery has spent most of his professional life in the club world. So, even though songs on Tremor are fit for vigorous mosh pits (he especially shouts out Soundiron’s guitar plugin Axe Machina for that), driving elements such as distortion and basslines connect back to the rave. These were often his bridge between the originals and the remixes.
Greasy off the Racing Line features legendary alt-rock singer Allison Mosshart leading a fiery choir of the damned from the speakers with her relentless, frightening tone. However, Avery’s Midnight Version filters down the intense dissonance and replaces it with a high-speed jungle beat.

So, for Mosshart’s vocal to retain its power in the less busy mix, Avery simply added a layer of distortion with FabFilter Saturn to make it more “demonic.” Instead of the front of an evil battalion, the voice becomes the kind of unshakable utterance that infects the mind during a deep, dancefloor flow state.
“There’s not tons done to [the vocal] at all,” Avery says. “The way it was made on the original was compressed heavily. So, [I added] distortion, particularly in the real top end of it. ‘A demonic phone call’ is the brief I gave myself.”
Not every track on Tremor is as foreboding. Some reflect Avery’s talent for crafting intricate electronic music. One such piece is the enchanting harmonic ambient composition, Neon Pulse. For that Midnight Version, he crafted a breakbeat out of his massive library of live and electronic drums he’s accrued over the years. Then he slightly rearranged the original, which was a freeform synth jam, to align. Another key addition was the Reese bass, one of the classic sounds of electronic club music.
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
“Adding that Reese bass is something that I’ve been doing on a few remixes recently, and I think it’s starting to become a slight signature sound of mine,” Avery explains. “There’s a breakbeat. There’s a beautiful melody. But then this Reese bass, which is very melodic but has a real weight to it, is able to give it that propulsive quality.”
The Midnight Version of Rapture in Blue follows a similar formula. The song, which features the sweet vocals of Cecile Believe, shifts from dense indie to pristine breakbeat, borrowing the layers from the original for burning effects on the remix.
But that cleanliness to the sound actually demonstrates the one aspect of Midnight Versions where Avery wasn’t able to separate the remixes from the originals —at least not on his own. After he finished an initial rendition of the Rapture in Blue remix, he played it live and discovered the mixdown was not fit for the club.

“I obviously still had my brain too deep inside Tremor. Even though I thought I’d made a club version of it, it was way too muddy, way too murky. No separation,” Avery says. “The whole idea of the original is that it’s extremely dense, layered, and tightly woven. That’s what creates that wall of sound.”
To release the new versions from that, Avery brought in Pearson Sound to complete the mixdowns. Similar to how Avery approached each remix as if the tracks were made by another artist, Pearson Sound asked Avery which songs from other artists he would want the remixes to sound like.
“The way my brain was working, I was thinking ‘Which DJ would I love to hand this one to?’” Avery says. “Once that first one was done, I knew that I could call on Pearson Sound to do the mixing, which gave me more creative freedom. The real intricacies of the dynamics are going to be dialed in at the last moment. I can just see what happens.”
Image: Kalpesh Lathigra
The “let’s see what happens” attitude was the key to Midnight Versions. Avery wanted to make some remixes of Tremor for the club, and it happened to go so well that he made a complete counterpart to the album. When the approach is built on a lack of expectations, there’s no telling where the music might end up.
The post How Daniel Avery remixed every track on his alt-metal album in six weeks appeared first on MusicTech.

Ford’s new AI assistant will help fleet owners know if seatbelts are being usedFord rolled out an AI assistant this week that can monitor and analyze millions of data points to help its Ford Pro commercial customers boost their bottom line. The bet, and one that most other automakers are making, is that there’s money to be made in software. Even if it’s free. Ford Pro AI debuted […]