How Sennheiser’s HD 480 PRO headphones have become essential to my daily workflowAd feature with Sennheiser
Sennheiser’s new HD 480 PRO headphones offer closed-back isolation and an enjoyable and accurate tonal voicing, with an extended bass response and smooth highs. To top things off, they’re also supremely comfortable.
Despite having only recently been launched, I managed to get early access, so my experience of using these headphones stretches back a few months.
It was a “wow” moment as I strapped on the headphones for the first time, and I’ve been a firm fan ever since. From recording and mixing in the studio during the working day, to more casual listening in the evening at home, I’ve found myself reaching for the HD 480 PROs more and more — so much so that they’re fast becoming my new daily drivers, booting out a pair of open-back planar magnetic headphones.

In session: A balance of comfort and isolation
Credit: Sennheiser
It’s a bright April morning, and I’m getting ready to track rough takes for a new acoustic guitar and singing-led album. The performers don’t need a click track or headphones, but since my studio is a one-room affair, I put on the HD 480 PRO to monitor the signals coming from microphones in the room. A morning of wearing closed-back headphones usually fills me with fear, but any worries quickly dissolve with the HD 480 PRO. While many closed-back headphones clamp your head with considerable force, there’s a more gentle force at play with the Sennheisers, combined with deep and soft ear cups, and cleverly-designed grooves to make things more comfortable for those wearing eyeglasses; often overlooked, but for which I’m really thankful. My audio interface is able to channel plenty of level to the headphones, and I’m pleased to note that I could attach the cable to the opposite ear cup if it was getting in the way of the work being done.
And so, onto the tonal signature of the HD 480 PRO. I’m embarrassed to hand over some of the closed-back headphones in my studio to performers unless I’ve applied drastic EQ correction beforehand — a tweak that’s not easily possible on most audio interfaces — but this is simply not required with these Sennheisers. The harsh, jagged high-mid presence peaks built into competing headphones (presumably to bring out vocal clarity and make things sound ‘exciting’) are contrasted here with a smooth, even yet articulate high-mid range that you can comfortably listen to for hours. The more neutral approach to this particular frequency range helps you home in on how well each microphone is working on the instruments and voices being recorded, and the contribution of a microphone’s own presence peak in its voicing.
Isolation from the outside world is solid too. In my recording situation, I’m able to hear the signals being recorded through the headphones in great detail without much spill from the voices and instruments projecting live into the same room. They are only rough takes, but I can be confident that I can rely on what I’m hearing to be an accurate representation of what’s being recorded. To complete the picture, I notice a really solid bass response that gives a full picture of the proximity effect in this setting, but would be even more handy when tracking a bass guitar or kick drum.
I work for hours, in contentment.
Mixing it up: Firm foundations
Credit: Sennheiser
It’s late in the afternoon, and I now turn my attention to mixing for another album project. Much of my mixing is carried out on planar headphones tuned to a Harman curve that helps mixes translate to loudspeakers and other playback systems. The HD 480 PRO has a similar contour out of the box, so I can use these headphones without EQ to focus acutely on the multitude of editing and mixing decisions I need to make. Bass sounds have a full extension without having to press the ear cups to my ears — great for placing punch stompbox and bass guitar tracks in my mix. And the full mid-range is used to great effect when shaping EQ and dynamics for the competing acoustic chord and melody instruments and vocals in this ever-crucial frequency range. There’s no feeling of the recessed,’ V-shaped’ mid range many headphones have, so I can make informed decisions as I work through the mix. And because the headphones are closed, I can do this without disturbing others around me.
Though the treble presentation is smooth and non-fatiguing, there’s a satisfying, fizzy quality to the air band at the very top of the range — perhaps a psychoacoustic phenomenon associated with the HD 480 PRO’s ultra-wide frequency response reaching up to supersonic 28 kHz (from a super-low 3 Hz). This makes homing in on bad edit points, taming keen transients and auditioning different saturation circuits a breeze. There’s a sensation of excitement at the top end, but when coupled with the smooth high-mids, it’s a tonal voicing that’s always comfortable to listen to.
Songs for the soul: Pleasurable listening, at any volume
Credit: Sennheiser
It’s a laughably short commute from my garden studio to the house, but I’m really glad of the compact carry case that’s included with the HD 480 PRO PLUS model. As well as providing protection in transit, it’s also handily shaped to stack on top of my laptop without sliding away.
After I’ve given my ears a few hours’ rest and the kids have gone to bed, I grasp the opportunity to listen for fun — at a louder level — on the HD 480 PRO.
I enjoy subby yet tight basslines and kick drum on my evergreen reference, Naughtyboy’s La La La, while I’m also enamoured by the smoothness of the top end, which typically has the tendency to poke out on snare sounds in this track. Louis Tomlinson’s The Imposter is my guilty pop pleasure of late: here, too, there’s punchy kicks, assured separation of mid-range chord parts, plus a high end that never becomes harsh despite the bright pop production aesthetics. There’s a deeper stereo field than most closed backs, too, allowing me to get fully immersed in the music — lost in the moment.
To wind things down, I shift to the more sonorous sounds of The Flood from Irish acoustic duo Ye Vagabonds, and I’m delighted that the deep bass extension doesn’t disappear when I scale back to a lower listening level. Another winning feature of HD 480 PRO.
With the day done, I now have a new favourite all-rounder set of headphones.
The post How Sennheiser’s HD 480 PRO headphones have become essential to my daily workflow appeared first on MusicTech.

Ableton Live 12.4 has arrived – here’s everything you need to knowAbleton Live 12.4 has landed, bringing a number of new creative and workflow improvements, as well as new features for Ableton’s Push, Move and Note.
Importantly, Ableton Live 12.4 arrives as a complete free update for existing Live 12 users, so let’s take a closer look at everything that’s new.

Link Audio
Credit: Ableton
Heading up the new features in Ableton Live 12.4 is Link Audio, providing the ability to stream audio between compatible devices on a local network in real time. In other words, within Live and Push, audio from other musicians can appear directly as an input, meaning you can monitor and record external devices without the need for additional hardware, cables or manual latency compensation.
Stem separation improvements
Credit: Ableton
Ableton Live 12.4 also brings a number of improvements to stem separation, which is now described as “more flexible and intuitive” than ever.
Now, in Live’s Arrangement View, producers can separate a specific time selection of an audio clip, rather than having to process an entire clip each time. This is a convenient upgrade, and will no doubt lead to shorter processing time and therefore faster workflows when working with stem separation.
Additionally, there’s now the ability to selectively combine specific stems in a way that best suits your workflow. For example, if you wish, you can combine everything except the vocals in a single stem, and then have the vocals in a separate stem. Finally, there’s now a unified progress bar showing the progress of the entire operation, rather than per stem.
Upgrades to Ableton stock effects
Credit: Ableton
Ableton’s built-in Erosion effect now lets you blend continuously between sine and noise modulation and mono and stereo noise, and offers real-time spectrum visualisation, too.
Meanwhile, Chorus-Ensemble now offers great control over delay time and structure, while Delay gets new LFT time modes and waveforms that offer a “wider range of modulation possibilities”.
Learn View
Your ability to learn how to use Ableton Live in-depth while within the DAW has also been improved, with Learn View – the successor to Help View – offering short video lessons and written explanations on basic workflows and the core concepts of Live.
Updates to Ableton Push
Along with Link Audio, Push now comes with MIDI Mapping, making it easier than ever to control your external gear. You can now create and modify MIDI controller mappings with Push Standalone, customise which control scripts your connected MIDI device uses, and deactivate control scripts entirely to make space for your own custom mappings.
Updates to Move and Note
Producers can now add audio tracks to Move and Note, add audio clips from the library, record directly via microphone – or line-in or USB-C on Move – and warp the resulting sound with an algorithm which maintains the original pitch while altering the tempo, or vice versa.
Additionally, Auto Shift and Erosion – two effects from Live – are now available on Move and Note.
Pricing & availability
Ableton Live 12.4 is free for all existing Live 12 users. Otherwise, Live 12.4 comes in three tiers:

Live 12 Intro – $99 / €79 / £69
Live 12 Standard – $439 / €279 / £259
Live 12 Suite – $749 / €599 / £599

Pricing for Push Move, and Note is as follows:

Push – $999 / €949 / £879
Push Standalone – $1,799 / €1,899 / £1,299
Move – $499 / €499 / £419
Note – $6.99 / €7.99 / £6.99

Learn more at Ableton.
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Native Instruments releases Komplete 26
Native Instruments has released Komplete 26, the latest version of its flagship production collection. The bundle brings together over 190 instruments and effects with more than 180,000 sounds, including professional mixing tools from iZotope and Brainworx. It’s available in four paid tiers, ranging from $99 for Select up to $1,949 for Collector’s Edition. Several new [...]
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Bjooks to launch Beat Gems Kickstarter Written by Oli Freke, Beat Gems will offer an “in-depth exploration of the sounds, circuits and culture of drum machines and their profound influence on modern music”.

Classical Highlights for April 2026Our new reviewers have been thrown into the vast world of new Classical recordings and are finding their footings. Some of the highlights they found this month include literature-inspired music by composer-conductor Daníel Bjarnson, performed by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

What are harmonics? Exploring the fabric of music
Let's explore what harmonics and overtones are, how they constitute the very fabric of music, and how you can apply an understanding of them to your tracks.

OpenAI’s cozy partner Cerebras is on track for a blockbuster IPOAI chip maker Cerebras is heading for a blockbuster IPO that could value it at $26.6 billion or more. It's relationship with OpenAI is deep and rich.

Anode Labs bitcrustBitcrust is a polyphonic synthesizer built on in-house MOS 6581/8580 style DSP. Twelve voices, three oscillators per voice, thirty-six independent chip instances. 64-bit float internally. Synth: 12-voice polyphony, 3 oscillators per voice with independent volume, pan, and ADSR. TPT state-variable filter with simultaneous LP, BP, and HP outputs; switch between 6581 and 8580 curves. Modulation: 8-slot matrix, 9 sources, 65 destinations across synth, arp, and FX. 3 global LFOs (7 shapes, tempo-sync, retrig) and a dedicated modulation envelope. Bipolar depth per slot. Effects: 6-slot rack, freely reorderable, per-slot bypass and dry/wet. Drive, Bitcrusher, Delay, Chorus, Reverb, Compressor, Limiter. Sequencing: Tempo-synced arpeggiator (Up, Down, UpDown, Random). 16-step sequencer with per-step pitch, gate, velocity, and slide. Presets and themes: 115 factory presets across 10 categories, with search, tag filters, favourites, and import/export. 14 bundled themes. Monitors 7 real-time displays: oscilloscope, vectorscope, spectrum analyser, 3D spectrogram, correlation history, LUFS loudness, stereo field. Rail, full-screen, and hidden modes. Formats and platforms: macOS / iPadOS: AUv3, Standalone. App Store, $1.99, universal purchase. Windows x64: VST3, Standalone. Gumroad, €1.99. Linux x64/arm64: VST3, LV2, Standalone. Gumroad, free. While the Apple App Store sits on the review of the MacOS desktop version, get it for free here. Manual, changelog, etc: anode-labs.com/bitcrust Read More

Bitcoin short-term cost basis approaches profitability, but $80K must flip to support firstCrypto markets turned euphoric as BTC traded above $80,000, but a rally through short-term holders’ cost basis is needed to cement the bull trend.

Sunlight Powered, Sunlight Readable: Solar Case for Nook Simple TouchWhen life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. What if life gives you a pile of old e-book readers? Well, when [spiritplumber] got box of old Nook Simple Touch devices, he decided to design solar-powered cases to help boost the old batteries. It makes perfect sense to us: sunlight readable screen, sunlight chargeable battery.
It looks like he’s got a pair of panels built into the 3D printed case. He recommends using any TP4056-based charger, and tying into the battery test points, not the 5 V supply. It won’t hurt anything if you do, apparently, but the device will think it’s plugged in an refuse to turn off the WiFi. That’s no big deal when you’ve got a continental power grid on the other end of the cable, but charging from a small panel on the back of the case doesn’t always give you enough juice to waste on unneeded radio activity. Especially indoors — these panels are apparently big enough to trickle-charge the device under artificial light, which is a nice, if doubtless slow feature.
The design is open source, and includes SketchUp design files as well as the exported .STL, so if you’ve got a hankering to edit this to fit a different e-book reader, you can. He also provides a handy-dandy guide to root this model of Nook, and if you’re on Hackaday we probably don’t need to explain why you might want to.
We’ve seen the Nook Simple Touch go some interesting places — like into the clouds as a glider computer — but solar power is a new hack for this device, at least on this site. We don’t know if [spiritplumber] has a green thumb, but he’s evidently got some environmental bones in his body: his last featured project was about improving quadcopter efficiency with a wing and a prayer.

Udio admits to scraping YouTube audio for AI training in answer to Sony Music lawsuitUdio admitted that its models were trained with “a vast amount of different kinds of sound recordings” gathered from publicly available sources.
Source

DAWJunkie releases Knobs, a FREE random-effects processor plugin
Developer DAWJunkie has released Knobs, a free random-effects processor for macOS and Windows. We’ve been featuring DAWJunkie regularly for a little while now, and over that time, there are a few things we’ve come to expect from every release. The first thing we’ve come to expect is seriously usable sounds wrapped up in a playful [...]
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“I didn’t know what a session was”: Inside PinkPantheress’ evolving production workflowFrom sampling in her bedroom to collaborating with some of the UK’s most in-demand producers, 25-year-old PinkPantheress has come a long way in how she talks about – and makes – music.
Speaking on a new episode of the In Proximity podcast, the 2026 BRITs Producer of the Year offers a candid look at her creative process, breaking down how her earliest tracks were built and how that workflow has evolved over the years.

READ MORE: BRITs Producer of the Year PinkPantheress on how she produces using just her MacBook keyboard

“When I first started, I had a lot of songs that I really wanted to sample or manipulate.” she says. “Speed up, slow it down. That is a form of production. It’s sampling, but in terms of what I was doing, I was being quite low-lift with it.”
Using GarageBand as her main tool, PinkPantheress – real name Victoria Beverley Walker – would rip audio, chop it up, and layer drum loops over the top: “I would take a track, and I would basically take it and then speed it up, slow it down. And then I’d add things to an already existing bit of audio,” she explains. “This was what it was at the beginning.”
“[Then] as time went on, I started to gain a bit more confidence in what I could do, and I also started to collaborate with other people,” says the 25-year-old.
Despite now working with producers like Mura Masa and Oscar Scheller, PinkPantheress admits she was initially unsure about stepping into a traditional studio environment.
“My manager at the time was like, ‘Oh, I want to set you up to do a session.’ I was like, ‘What is a session? Like, I did all this myself – you want me to do a session now?’ I was not offended, but I was like, I don’t want to break this cycle that I’m in of making music my way. And I was all worried and like, I’m gonna hate it. I didn’t know what a session was. I just had no idea.”
According to Walker, that reluctance came from the fact that she viewed herself as a “producer first, and then vocalist last, or like, second, or whatever. So for me, it was like, ‘Well, what is this for?”
That said, that perspective shifted quickly once she began working with others. Watching collaborators in action became a turning point, particularly when she encountered new tools and workflows.
“I’d never used a MIDI controller in my life like that,” she says. “Before then I was just using my keyboard on my laptop, and I thought that was the only way to do it. Then I watched them do it. And I was like, ‘Oh, I can just buy a keyboard and do it myself.’”
These days, her creative process is a mix of working solo and teaming up with others. Some tracks start with ideas from other producers that she reshapes and builds on, while others begin with her own productions before bringing in collaborators to expand on them. Even so, she keeps her circle tight, typically working with just a handful of producers in rotation.
“It was very hard for me – I just wanted to do everything myself,” says PinkPantheress. “But after I collaborated for the first time with Oscar, I was like, yeah, this has to be the norm. It has to be. I mean, there’s a reason it makes your life easier, and I wouldn’t have these songs without these people.”

The post “I didn’t know what a session was”: Inside PinkPantheress’ evolving production workflow appeared first on MusicTech.

Avid introduce Pro Tools 2026.4 The latest version of Pro Tools introduces a powerful new Track Pin function, support for the MPEG‑H immersive broadcast standard, built-in Dolby Headphone Personalization and more.

‘This is fine’ creator says AI startup stole his artThe ad comes from Artisan, the AI startup behind billboards urging businesses to "stop hiring humans."