“I’ve come to realise that the perfect mix doesn’t exist, although Daft Punk might be able to achieve that”: Producer Ben Böhmer on embracing imperfection in musicHave you ever found yourself stuck in an endless quest for the perfect mix, pouring countless hours into fine-tuning your tracks, only to realise that the ideal sound you seek remains just out of reach?
It’s a struggle many artists are familiar with, including German DJ-producer Ben Böhmer, who recently spoke about his own battle with perfectionism in a new interview.

READ MORE: Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of Nightcall

Speaking to MusicRadar about his upcoming album BLOOM, Böhmer shares how the recording process drove him “crazy” at times, noting that at one point he had a whopping “130 mixdowns”.
“It took me about 18 months to complete the album and most of the songs were finished at a pretty early stage but it took ages to finalise them,” says the producer. “I felt that was easier to do in the past and figured it would get easier as my knowledge about production grew, but I was completely wrong about that.”
“The last 5 or 10 percent drove me crazy from time to time and at one point I had about 130 mixdowns that I gave to other mix engineers but I didn’t like the results that much. In the end I finished it by myself and I’m still not happy, but please don’t write that [laughs].”
Böhmer also notes that while there are moments when he feels “100 percent happy” with his creations, what sounds interesting and good can change over time “because your tastes are always changing.”
“It’s probably normal for the process to drive you mad,” he adds, “but that’s why I enjoy playing live because even if I perform a song from 2016 it’s never too late to make changes to it or add an idea.”
The musician continues: “What really drives me crazy is the mixdown and trying to find the perfect balance between a sound being clean or not clean or the right sound that works between the big stage and home speakers. Now that I’m on album three, I’ve come to realise that the perfect mix doesn’t exist, although Daft Punk might be able to achieve that because they sound amazing everywhere despite their tracks being made with very little equipment.”
BLOOM is due out on 27 September. Check out the single Best Life below.

The post “I’ve come to realise that the perfect mix doesn’t exist, although Daft Punk might be able to achieve that”: Producer Ben Böhmer on embracing imperfection in music appeared first on MusicTech.

IK Multimedia launch iLoud Micro Monitor Pro The iLoud Micro Monitor Pro doubles the power of IK's renowned compact monitors, extends their low-end response down to 42Hz and offers some built-in room calibration functionality. 

IK Multimedia launches “feature-rich, professional version” of its iLoud Micro MonitorIK Multimedia has launched a new “professional” version of its iLoud Micro Monitor, which hosts “double the power” of its standard predecessor.
The IK iLoud Micro Monitor Pro is still small enough to fit in a backpack, and is described as “incredibly balanced with a wide soundstage even at close distances”. It provides 50 watts RMS per speaker and utilises IK’s iLoud “physics-defying” bass down to 42 Hz.

READ MORE: IK Multimedia’s T-RackS 6 packs over 60 analogue-modelled plugins, with a free version available

To keep things compact and portable, each speaker weighs around 3lb./1.4kg each. These are also fitted with a Class-D amplifier, custom-designed drivers, and have a peak SPL (sound pressure level) of over 107 dB.
An advanced DSP (digital signal processor) brings “near-perfect” phase alignment, time coherence and flat frequency response for accuracy. There’s also built-in ARC self-calibration, meaning the speakers adjust to any space for a consistent sound output, and IK’s own X-MONITOR software is integrated for control over speaker parameters and the ability to emulate the sound of other top studio monitors.
As for set up, there’s a tiltable flip foot design and a 3/8” threaded insert, so the iLoud Micro Monitor Pro can be set up in a range of ways, such as on a desktop, mounted on a mic stand, or mounted on a wall. The speakers can also be spread wide apart as there is no link cable.
They can be used independently or bundled together, and IK says this is “the only portable monitoring system that combines the power and essential tools for professionals and audiophiles to perform anywhere”.
Take a closer look in the video below:

iLoud Micro Monitor Pro can be purchased singularly for $/€279.99 (ARC MEMS microphone not included), or as a pair for $/€559.99 (includes ARC MEMS microphone).
Find out more over at IK Multimedia.
The post IK Multimedia launches “feature-rich, professional version” of its iLoud Micro Monitor appeared first on MusicTech.

These speakers prove you can have powerful and accurate sound in ANY roomAdvertorial feature in partnership with IK Multimedia
You spend a lot of time and effort putting your studio together. But, sometimes, there’s one crucial factor that’s overlooked in getting the best results: a studio of any size, from a spare room at home to a professional facility, is sonically imperfect – and each one is different.
Monitor speakers are designed and tested in acoustically ‘dead’ anechoic chambers that offer a neutral response with no reflections. But a real space with irregularly positioned walls, windows and rafters behaves completely differently when it comes to sound.
IK Multimedia’s new iLoud Micro Monitor Pro speakers, the professional version of the company’s popular iLoud Micro Monitors, solve this problem by offering built-in room correction by quickly connecting the special, bundled MEMS microphone.
IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro. Image: Press
Rather than requiring a dedicated audio interface, the iLoud MM Pro monitors can tune their frequency response to any space or any placement automatically without the need for a computer or external box. Connect the microphone to each speaker’s XLR socket, press the Calibrate button and they will tune themselves automatically. Incredibly, each speaker takes just two minutes to calibrate.
Calibration is vital because it can be difficult to jaudge how the shape of the room is affecting your perception of a mix. Does the low-end sound bigger than it actually is because of the monitors’ proximity to a wall, or are high frequencies being lost because of poor monitor placement? It’s very easy to mix a track based on the sound in the room but then find that when played back in another location or on a different system, the balance is wrong.
The aim, of course, is to achieve a sonically accurate picture of your music. While some studios can mitigate these issues with acoustic treatment, that’s a costly process that’s also not usually possible in smaller home studios. Even if correctly installed it doesn’t guarantee to fix everything and it doesn’t help at all if you have to move between mixing locations.
IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro. Image: Press
While the popular iLoud Micro Monitors are great performers, the new Pro model is the first to offer this calibration fully built into the speakers. And, of course, it also works with IK’s included X-MONITOR software should you want to achieve even more accurate results, do an A/B comparison or even quickly hear how your mix sounds in different environments, like in a car or on a smartphone. Furthermore, it also has the capability of emulating the sound of other popular speaker models.
This speedy auto-calibration is especially useful since they are ultra-portable yet offer superb reproduction, meaning they can travel with you without much hassle and then tune themselves to whatever space you happen to find yourself in. Suddenly the compromises associated with compact speakers are no more. And they’re great for using in tandem with larger speakers in a more permanent studio setting too, a common technique in studios for making a mix sound good on different types of monitors.
IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor Pro. Image: Press
Without room calibration, moving to a new space to mix would introduce a whole new set of acoustic variables. In short, you wouldn’t really know what the space was doing to the sound. But with the automatic calibration on the iLoud MM Pro speakers — plus the manual switches for LF and HF shelving — you can be confident that your soundstage is accurate. And all without any tedious experimentation with speaker positioning.
In addition to established studios or producers working on the move, the iLoud MM Pro monitors are also perfect for smaller home studios where space can be at a premium. Not only do they offer rich, room-filling and accurate sound but the quick and easy room calibration can be even more important in these kinds of imperfect spaces. Plus they bring this technology to a much wider audience since you don’t need to invest in lots of extra gear or even necessarily be an expert in acoustics to tune your speakers to your space.
You might have thought that room calibration meant installing large, expensive baffles — indeed, much of the time it has. With this new generation of self-tuning portable monitors, however, accurate reproduction is available anywhere, be it in your pro studio, home studio or even on the road.
Whatever kind of music you make, you can be sure that it will sound its best when mixed on a system you can trust.
Learn more at IK Multimedia.
The post These speakers prove you can have powerful and accurate sound in ANY room appeared first on MusicTech.

Could DC Snares be the drum plugin that makes sample packs obsolete?£49, Plugin Boutique 
The brainchild of multi-award-winning Australian producer Davide Carbone, DC Snares is designed to revolutionise how you create and manipulate percussion. Drawing from his experience in techno group FSOM, remixing high-profile artists like Moby, and designing sound and music for Jaguar car adverts, Carbone’s product is a highly versatile drum engine that goes so much further than just snares.

READ MORE: Are KIT Plugins’ BB F66 and F67 convincing emulations of classic Fairchild compressors?

So, can this plugin replace sample packs, removing the need to paw through thousands of one-shots to find the perfect fit? And if so, is it worth Plugin Boutique’s £49 asking price? There’s certainly a strong case. With its four-slot sound engine, versatile effects, and deep modulation options, DC Snares offers a level of creative control and variety that’s hard to find in sample packs.
For producers seeking a quick fix, its complexity might feel like overkill — but for meticulous sound design geeks, this plugin opens doors to infinite percussive possibilities.
What is DC Snares?
Beneath the Layers
At the core of DC Snares are four sample playback slots, letting you layer different sounds together to create new combinations. The plugin comes with a comprehensive library of bundled samples, ranging from classic rims, snaps, claps, and snare sounds to orchestral booms, longer experimental textures, and characterful vinyl crackle.
Honestly, these sounds are almost worth the price of admission alone. You’re getting 684 samples in total, spanning an incredibly wide range of timbres. This strong foundation makes DC Snares such a powerful percussion tool. In addition, you can drop in your own sounds, or opt for one of three synth engines (sine, noise, and pitched noise), perfect for creating kicks and hats from scratch or augmenting a snare’s low end with a sine tone.
Envelopes
Each sample slot features independent envelopes for amplitude and pitch, providing flexibility when it comes to crafting unique, detailed sounds. In the example below, we apply an aggressive pitch envelope to a sine wave, dial in a rim click for a bit of high-end snap, and layer vinyl crackle on top to achieve a dusty kick drum with a hip-hop vibe.
You might be doing this already within a sample-based workflow in the DAW but DC Snares makes it effortless to creatively blend different elements. To finish things off, we pick out a simple rim sample for the snare and an intriguingly distorted melodic sound.

DC Snares advanced drum synthesis

Advanced Parameters
If all you want to do is layer a couple of samples and maybe tweak an envelope or two, DC Snares’ compact default view gets the job done. But for more involved drum design, clicking the Advanced button opens up a panel of additional controls — and a world of sonic possibilities along with it.
Each sample gets an effects chain with six slots. You can stock these with utilities like EQ, compression, or gating, but we don’t find that necessary given the already high quality of bundled sounds. Instead, we have a lot more fun with the two most creative effects in the set — Resonator and Sizzler.
The former is ideal for transforming percussive content into tonal sounds, while the latter is designed to emulate how snare wires react in physical space. Undoubtedly, you can use it as such for more traditional sounds, but it’s also a quick and dirty way to create the harsher, metallic timbres that you might hear from artists like SOPHIE or Flume.
Check out the example below where we create an unconventional hi-hat with automation on the Sizzler pitch control.

The available dynamic and spectral effects do get the job done but aren’t as effective as your dedicated plugins — no surprises there. The reverb and delay aren’t desperately inspiring either, but remain useful when you’re working quickly or simply getting a vibe going.
If you really want to get your hands dirty, four envelopes can be assigned to many parameters across the plugin. Don’t be afraid to experiment here — it doesn’t take much to freshen up your percussive palette.
Beyond the Snare
Given its versatility, it feels like DC Snares’ name is selling this plugin a little short. It excels in creating all kinds of sounds — and not just those in your typical drum kit either. With each patch chromatically mapped to the piano keys, it doesn’t take long to find seeds from which to grow new loops and tracks.
If you’ve tried synthesising drums from scratch before, you’ll already know you can do an awful lot with a single sine wave. In the following example, we create an aggressive, mutating bass sound by modulating the pitch, the Resonator and Sizzler effects, and a healthy dose of saturation.

Sure, you could do all this in your favourite synth plugin but breaking out of your routine and using more unconventional methods for sound design might inspire some fresh ideas.
Randomisation
Randomiser
Another feature cementing DC Snares as an invaluable creative tool is its randomiser function, allowing you to generate new sounds instantly. It feels a bit like flicking through a sample pack — a process familiar to most producers — except you’re never going to run out of options.
An engaging way to explore the plugin’s potential, we actually spend considerable time using the randomiser. We used it to make each sound in the following example.

Given that you’re rolling the dice each time, reaching the desired result can take a few attempts. In this regard, the randomiser is sorely missing a setting lock to maintain parameters while experimenting.
On the plus side, almost everything it churns out is usable, and if you’re tired of your usual sounds, it doesn’t take long to find something that grabs your attention.
Is DC Snares worth the cost?
If you love crafting detailed drum sounds and don’t mind spending the time to finetune them, DC Snares may be the perfect fit. It’s a highly flexible tool that rewards creative exploration, and in our view, going beyond conventional snare sounds is where it really shines.
If you don’t have the patience for tweaking parameters, a simpler sample pack might suit you better – but given the randomiser and thoughtfully curated presets, even those short on time will get mileage from this plugin.
What’s more, DC Snares definitely delivers value for money — £49 is comparable to what you’d spend on just one or two premium sample packs. And whether you’re making your first foray into drum synthesis or you’re a seasoned sound designer, it’s hard to put a price on the ideas this plugin might inspire.

Key Features

Four playback slots for samples, sine waves, or noise
Independent pitch and amplitude envelopes for each layer
Four assignable envelopes
684 high-quality sounds included
Six effects slots for each layer, plus two bus sends and four master effects slots
Choose from 12 effects including dynamics, saturation, Sizzler and Resonator
Inspiring randomiser function
Real-time waveform displays
Play samples chromatically on the keyboard
Organise sounds using the preset browser

The post Could DC Snares be the drum plugin that makes sample packs obsolete? appeared first on MusicTech.

This vintage Helios mixing console is selling for $2.5 million — here’s whyFancy yourself a piece of music history for a cool $2.5 million? Well, you’re in luck. The Helios mixing desk famously used to record Bob Marley’s timeless classic No Woman, No Cry, is now up for sale.

READ MORE: “I always feel like everything could be better – I finished this album eight times”: Jamie xx reflects on new solo record, In Waves

According to vintage gear marketplace Retro Gear Shop, where the Helios is currently listed, the unit was only recently pulled from its previous owner’s home recording studio: “We went to Jamaica in person to acquire this desk,” states the listing.
Believed to have been manufactured in 1973 and still in full working order, this 20-input, 16-output Helios console spent years at the Harry J Studio in Kingston, Jamaica. Its storied past includes contributions to Bob Marley’s first four studio albums (Soul Rebels, Catch a Fire, Burnin’, Natty Dread) and collaborations with reggae legends like Burning Spear, Bunny Wailer, Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, and Dennis Brown.
Nicknamed the ‘Dub Station’, the console comes in a striking teal finish, and will be sold with a pair of matching colour Yamaha NS10 speakers.
Image: Retro Gear Shop
“Helios consoles are very rare to come by, who knows many other complete Helios consoles are still left available in the world,” Retro Gear says. “Rough estimates put it at only a couple dozen. Most have been parted out for their amazing analog preamp/ equaliser channels.”
“The Helios sound is absolutely legendary, with artists including Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Queen, Jimi Hendrix, Roxy Music and many more having recorded through Helios consoles.”
Priced at a staggering $2.5 million, if sold, the Helios will eclipse the EMI TG12345 MK IV – the iconic mixing desk that recorded Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon and sold for $1.8 million in 2017 — as the most expensive console ever sold.
Learn more at Retro Gear Shop.
The post This vintage Helios mixing console is selling for $2.5 million — here’s why appeared first on MusicTech.

Real-world asset tokenization is the crypto killer app — Polygon execAccording to Colin Butler, financial institutions that don't embrace blockchain technology will lose their relevancy and competitive edge. 

TikTok says that over one in four of Germany’s Top 100 singles of 2023 was popular on its platform before becoming a chart hit in the market'TikTok has disrupted the way hits are created and in doing so, in a sense, started a democratization of the music industry,' said Charlotte Stahl, Head of Music partnerships, EMEA
Source

Bluesky addresses trust and safety concerns around abuse, spam, and moreThe company is in various stages of developing and piloting a range of initiatives focused on dealing with bad actors, harassment, spam, fake accounts, video safety, and more.
© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Upgraded Raster Laser Projector Goes RGBWe’ve covered a scanning laser project by Ben Make’s Everything last year, and now he’s back with a significant update. [Ben]’s latest project now offers a higher resolution and RGB lasers. A couple of previous versions of the device used the same concept of a rotating segmented mirror synchronised to a pulsed laser diode to create scanlines. When projected onto a suitable surface, the distorted, pixelated characters looked quite funky, but there was clearly room for improvement.
More scanlines and a faster horizontal pixel rate
The previous device used slightly inclined mirrors to deflect the beam into scanlines, with one mirror per scanline limiting the vertical resolution. To improve resolution, the mirrors were replaced with identically aligned mirrors of the type used in laser printers for horizontal scanning. An off-the-shelf laser galvo was used for vertical scanning, allowing faster scanning due to its small deflection angle. This setup is quicker than then usual vector galvo application, as the smaller movements require less time to complete. Once the resolution improvement was in hand, the controller upgrade to a Teensy 4 gave more processing bandwidth than the previous Arduino and a consequent massive improvement in image clarity.
Finally, monochrome displays don’t look anywhere near as good as an RGB setup. [Ben] utilised a dedicated RGB laser setup since he had trouble sourcing the appropriate dichroic mirrors to match available lasers. This used four lasers (with two red ones) and the correct dichroic mirrors to combine each laser source into a single beam path, which was then sent to the galvo. [Ben] tried to find a DAC solution fast enough to drive the lasers for a proper colour-mixing input but ended up shelving that idea for now and sticking with direct on-off control. This resulted in a palette of just seven colours, but that’s still a lot better than monochrome.
The project’s execution is excellent, and care was taken to make it operate outdoors with a battery. Even with appropriate safety measures, you don’t really want to play with high-intensity lasers around the house!
Here’s the previous version we covered, a neat DIY laser galvo using steppers, and a much older but very cool RGB vector projector.

Thanks to [Chan] for the tip!

Willie "Prophet" Stiggers Honored with Visionary Award at 2024 SESAC Music AwardsSESAC's Sam Kling, Willie "Prophet" Stiggers, SESAC's Mario Prins  (Photo credit: mèShell studio)

SESAC celebrated its songwriters and music publishers behind the most-performed songs of 2023 across a variety of genres at The Highlight Room in Hollywood last night, September 17, marking the third year the awards took place in Los Angeles.

The event was attended by several top music industry executives, artists, songwriters, and publishers including Bryan Michael Cox, Prophet, Alex Isley, Knox, and Kenyon Dixon, among others.

Jack Harlow continues his winning streak for the fourth year, taking home both Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year with his smash hit “Lovin On Me”. Sony Music Publishing was named Publisher of the Year for the third year in a row, taking home multiple awards including “3D” recorded by Jack Harlow and Jung Kook, as well as “Good Good” recorded by Usher, Summer Walker and 21 Savage, among many others.  

Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC) co-founder, president and CEO, Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, was presented with SESAC’s Visionary Award in recognition of the organization’s ongoing work championing artists and creating equity within the music industry. “Prophet’s dedication to equality and racial justice has inspired us all to do more and build a stronger, more equitable creative community. I'm proud to call him a friend," said Mario Prins, VP, Creative Services.  

Additional award-winning writers include Jimmy Napes;Ariana Grande; Green Day; Fede Vindver; and longtime SESAC songwriter, Traci Hale for her co-write with SESAC writer and performer, Burna Boy.  

“We are honored to celebrate our songwriters and publishers,” shared Sam Kling, Chief Creative Officer, SESAC Performing Rights. “It takes so much effort from so many to bring these songs to life, and we’re thrilled to be able to recognize the dedication and talent of our SESAC family.”

Opening the show was SESAC President & COO, Scott Jungmichel and Chief Creative Officer Sam Kling, as well as VP, Creative Services Mario Prins and VP, Creative Services & Operations Diana Akin Scarfo. Artist and SESAC songwriter Tamara Jade, who performed at the 66th GRAMMY Awards with Jon Batiste and recently toured with Doja Cat, served as the MC for the evening for the second year in a row.   

Sponsors for the event included Bombas, EBOOST, Hasbro, Herban Essentials, Pause Wellness Studio, Pura Vida, Purely Elizabeth, Vacation Sunscreen, and Yeti.   

For event highlights, visit @SESAC on Instagram. A full list of winners is available below and at www.sesac.comThe post Willie "Prophet" Stiggers Honored with Visionary Award at 2024 SESAC Music Awards first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

TuneCore says that tracks within its ‘TuneCore Accelerator’ program ‘experienced nearly 10 billion new streams’ in the first half of 2024TuneCore has released the second edition of its 'TuneCore Accelerator Report'
Source

FLOSS Weekly Episode 801: JBang — Not Your Parents Java AnymoreThis week Jonathan Bennett and Jeff Massie chat with Max Rydahl Andersen about JBang, the cross-platform tool to run Java as a system scripting language. That’s a bit harder than it sounds, particularly to take advantage of Java’s rich debugging capabilities and the ecosystem of libraries that are available. Tune in to get the details, as well as how polyglot files are instrumental to making JBang work!

https://www.jbang.dev/
https://maxandersen.github.io/getting-started-with-java-the-jbang-way/
https://xam.dk

Did you know you can watch the live recording of the show Right on our YouTube Channel? Have someone you’d like us to interview? Let us know, or contact the guest and have them contact us! Take a look at the schedule here.

Direct Download in DRM-free MP3.
If you’d rather read along, here’s the transcript for this week’s episode.
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Universal Audio announce Volt USB Recording Studios Universal Audio have announced a change to their range of Volt audio interfaces, which now come bundled with a range of software that provides users with an all-in-one recording and mixing package.

Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of NightcallKavinsky is teasing a new version of his song Nightcall, which recently broke a record after his performance of the 2010 track at the Olympics closing ceremony in Paris earlier this summer.
At the ceremony, which took place in August, Kavinsky performed the track at the Stade de France along with Belgian singer Angèle. His set fitted among performances from Phoenix, Air and Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig.

READ MORE: “If people hear a slight mistake, it doesn’t matter because they know you’re there doing it”: Nero’s Dan Stephens on live sets

Following his set, Nightcall broke the record for the most Shazam’d song in a single day. It currently has over 7,239,192 Shazams on the music discovery platform at the time of writing. Now, Kavinsky is seemingly teasing a re-release of the track, which is reportedly a revamped version, as performed at the closing ceremony.
Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle have all shared the same teaser via their social media channels. It features a billboard with the names of each artist on it, an image of Kavinsky’s beloved Ferrari Testarossa, and a phone number.
Upon calling the number, a short message from Kavinsky, Phoenix and Angèle plays back before a short snippet of the song. No official release date or further information has yet been provided.

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A post shared by Phoenix (@wearephoenix)

Following the ceremony in Paris, other artists who also performed at the event saw their tracks soar on Shazam too, with Phoenix’s Lisztomania and Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather also having climbed the platform’s chart.
Nightcall was originally produced with Daft Punk’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, and first featured singer Lovefoxxx. It gained mainstream popularity after featuring in the 2011 film, Drive. Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars shared that he was originally asked to sing on the track, but he turned it down as he “thought the song was perfect” and didn’t need his voice.
The post Kavinsky is teasing an ‘Olympics Version’ release of Nightcall appeared first on MusicTech.