Sony Electronics Launches Closed Monitor Headphones Sony Electronics Inc. today announced the MDR-M1 Reference Closed Monitor Headphones, designed for music creators and sound engineers to produce music in any environment, heard as intended. The headphones host a closed acoustic structure with high sound isolation, exclusively developed driver, and a lightweight and comfortable design that allow users to create in their own environments, as if they were in the studio. The MDR-M1 headphones combine studio sound quality with extreme comfort and reliability, suitable for a wide range of music production and high-resolution audio applications.

Sound Characteristics

The MDR-M1 offers studio sound quality with a carefully tuned acoustic structure to support a wide range of music production, all while offering high-resolution audio. At the core of the sound quality is a uniquely developed driver unit that achieves ultra-wideband playback (5Hz – 80kHz), featuring a combination of a soft edge shape to reproduce low frequencies with sufficient volume and low distortion, and a hard dome shape to accurately reproduce ultra-high frequencies. 

The closed acoustic structure helps eliminate ambient noise and sound leakage from the headphones, making them suitable for use in a variety of production processes, so that each note can be carefully tuned and monitored to support accuracy and authenticity of the creator. A tuned port (Beat Response Control) acts as a ventilation hole to control low frequencies. By optimizing the operation of the diaphragm, there are improved low-frequency transient characteristics, making it possible to accurately reproduce sound with a very tight bass response.

Sony aims to create products that enhance both content creation and listening experiences for professionals and consumers. The MDR-M1 headphones were created in collaboration with some of the top sound engineers in the industry, including Mastering Engineer of Battery Studios, Mike Piacentini, and Recording and Mixing Engineer of Power Station at Berklee NYC, Akihiro Nishimura, to ensure an authentic and enriching music experience.

Mike Piacentini, Mastering Engineer of Battery Studios

"As engineers, we are often tasked to work in a variety of formats, which are all produced in different environments, on ever-changing speaker systems. Throughout the record production process, I believe it is important to have headphones that provide an accurate reference point, whether you are working on near-field monitors, mastering speakers, or an immersive speaker setup.  I've worked alongside the Sony's incredible Tokyo headphone design team, to help create a pair of headphones that are accurate across the frequency spectrum in a variety of use cases. MDR-M1 are a great entry point for any creator who wants to be sure that the sound they are hearing in the studio translates to the end user in the best way possible."

Akihiro Nishimura (Recording and Mixing Engineer of Power Station at Berklee NYC)

"The tonal balance of the MDR-M1 feels very close to the impression of Power Station's Studio A control room. In recording sessions, it is important to care what musicians or singers are listening to when they play or sing. MDR-M1 gives you the same impression of listening in a control room headphone, which makes it easier to create music by listening to each other. The comfort design also makes us focus on music in long sessions. I hope MDR-M1 will become the standard monitoring system for any recording sessions."

Comfort and Design

Engineered with comfort in mind, the MDR-M1 ear pads were carefully designed to achieve both fit and long wearing comfort. Thick, low resilience padding is used to ensure airtight listening, and a new lighter design makes for a precise fit and excellent comfort for long mixing and mastering sessions. The MDR-M1 includes two cables, one is a high quality replaceable, detachable cable with a stereo mini-plug and plug adapter (stereo mini-plug to stereo standard plug) and the second shorter cable is also included and can be used depending on the connected equipment and usage environment for ease of use in a professional setting.

The MDR-M1 will also work seamlessly alongside Sony's 360 Virtual Mixing Environment (360VME) 1 service to free creators from space constraints and heighten reproduction abilities from virtually anywhere.

Pricing and availability

The MDR-M1 headphones are available for $249.99 MSRP USD/ $349.99 MSRP CAD and available for pre-order today at Sony.com and other authorized dealers including Amazon, B&H, Sweetwater and Guitar Center.

For US pre-orders, please visit: https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones/p/mdrm1 

For CAD pre-orders, please visit: https://www.henrys.com/sony-mdr-m1-headphones-pre-order 

For a full list of specs and information or to buy from Sony Electronics directly, please visit:  https://electronics.sony.com/audio/headphones/all-headphones/p/mdrm1 The post Sony Electronics Launches Closed Monitor Headphones  first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

High-Speed Jelly Launcher Destroys ToastYou shouldn’t play with your food. Unless you’re designing some kind of portable cannon to fling it across the room. That’s precisely what [Backhaul Studios] did.
The first step of designing the condiment cannon was deciding what it should fire. Little low-profile tubs of jelly ended up being the ideal. They were stout enough to survive high-speed flight, while their low height was good for aerodynamics. The cannon itself is built from metal and 3D-printed parts. Multiple iterations eventually landed on a flywheel launcher design with big brushless motors and large 6-inch discs. It sounds positively awful in action and can fling jam (jelly) packets at immense speed. From there, it was simply necessary to design a magazine feed system to enable high-speed full-auto jelly delivery.
If you’ve ever hucked ketchup packets at a brick wall, you’ve understood the joy of splattering condiments everywhere. This cannon is just a way to do that faster and more hilariously. We’ve seen other fun builds along these lines before, too. Video after the break.

Another injection of optimism for music rights: Warner gets BBB long-term credit rating from FitchJust last week, prominent music industry analyst William Packer of BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Universal Music Group’s stock for the second time in a year. In a vote of confidence in UMG’s future value, Packer lifted his stock rating from “neutral” to “outperform”. That news came just a few days after we reported the confidence expressed … Continued
Source

YouTube is developing tools to detect AI-generated voices and faces in videosYouTube’s move is part of a growing effort by media platforms to rein in misuse of AI technology
Source

If Wood Isn’t The Biomass Answer, What Is?As we slowly wean ourselves away from our centuries-long love affair with fossil fuels in an attempt to reduce CO2 emissions and combat global warming, there has been a rapid expansion across a broad range of clean energy technologies. Whether it’s a set of solar panels on your roof, a wind farm stretching across the horizon, or even a nuclear plant, it’s clear that we’ll be seeing more green power installations springing up.
One of the green power options is biomass, the burning of waste plant matter as a fuel to generate power. It releases CO2 into the atmosphere, but its carbon neutral green credentials come from that CO2 being re-absorbed by new plants being grown. It’s an attractive idea in infrastructure terms, because existing coal-fired plants can be converted to the new fuel. Where this is being written in the UK we have a particularly large plant doing this, when I toured Drax power station as a spotty young engineering student in the early 1990s it was our largest coal plant; now it runs on imported wood pellets.

Wood Ain’t What You Think It Is
An active coppiced woodland, this one looks about half way through its regrowth cycle. Martinvl, CC BY-SA 4.0
The coal-to-wood story has a very rosy swords-into-ploughshares spin to it, but sadly all isn’t as well as it seems with wood biomass power generation. Nature has a feature expressing concerns about it, both over its effect on the areas from which the wood is harvested, and over the CO2 emissions it creates. The problem is that it produces so much CO2 with such a long renewal time of regrowing all those trees, that over the next century it’s likely to make the CO2 problem worse rather than better. The article has provoked a storm of criticism of the biomass industry from environmentalists, but in doing so do they risk tarnishing the whole biomass sector unfairly?
A millennia-old sustainable farming practice is that of coppicing. This is the repeated harvesting of wood from the same tree in a continuous cycle of cutting and regrowth of the same trees, and a typical coppiced woodland will contain trees at all stages of the cycle. This is a very practical example of carbon neutral biomass production, but the problem is that for a power-station scale operation it becomes one of replacing older trees with hew ones. While a coppiced tree will take in the order of a decade to replace its growth, a new full-sized forest tree takes many decades to do the same. The establishment of a coppiced forest is a slow process meanwhile, so there’s little prospect of their soon achieving the scale to replace the traditional forests harvested by the power industry.
The Answer Lies Down On The Farm
Fortunately, wood represents only one sector of the biomass industry. There’s an alternative model to that of the enormous former coal plant burning wood pellets, and it comes in the form of much smaller local plants running on biomass crops or crop waste from farms, usually in the form of straw. It’s worth looking at these plants in order to remind anyone tempted to dismiss biomass as a whole based on the wood pellet plants that there is a more sustainable alternative.
A straw-fired power station in Cambridgeshire, UK. Michael Trolove, CC-BY-SA 2.0.
A feature of growing up in rural England before the end of the 1980s was that at this time of year the land would be enveloped in a curious smog. We produced much more straw than we could use as a country, and the surplus used to be burned where it lay in the fields. The resulting ash would return what nutrients it contained to the soil, and the land being blanketed by smoke was just part of life.
When the practice was banned it became the norm for combine harvesters to chop the straw and distribute it across the field, where it would be ploughed in to break down naturally. Naturally this represented a significant biomass crop going to waste, so as the demand for green energy rose there appeared local plants all across the country. These typically have a capacity in the tens of MW, and buy their straw under contract from farms within an easy transport radius. This is usually surplus straw from feed crops, but is sometimes also ones specifically grown for biomass such as rye or elephant grass. It’s something of a mark of the season, when the contractors turn up with their huge high-speed baler to process the crop.
In the second half of the 20th century we concentrated on the economies of scale offered by very large coal-burning plants because it was relatively cheap to move a trainload of coal from the colliery to the power station. It’s unlikely that we’d now build similar plants to burn wood unless we already had them left over from the coal era, so it’s important to remind anyone put off biomass power by concerns similar to those in the Nature article that it doesn’t need to be done that way. There is an alternative, it relies on biomass that grows back on a yearly cycle with the harvest, and it could be coming to your county if it hasn’t already.
“Drax power station cooling towers” by [Andrew Whale], CC BY-SA 2.0.

Sony announce MDR-M1 headphones Sony’s new closed-back MDR-M1 headphones promise to combine studio-quality sound with exteme comfort and reliability. 

IK Multimedia releases T-RackS 6 including FREE version
IK Multimedia has released the T-RackS 6, the latest generation of the acclaimed mixing and mastering suite. A free version called T-RackS 6 Intro with three plugins is also available. T-RackS has long been the industry standard for many engineers, and this latest update promises innovation and improvements in significant areas. The new T-RackS 6 [...]
View post: IK Multimedia releases T-RackS 6 including FREE version

Marketing on Bandcamp Friday: Boost Your Sales with These TipsBandcamp Friday is back with three days of commission free sales before the end of the year. Here are some pro tips to marketing on Bandcamp Friday.
The post Marketing on Bandcamp Friday: Boost Your Sales with These Tips appeared first on Hypebot.

Sony targets music creators and sound engineers with its new MDR-M1 Reference Closed Monitor HeadphonesSony is hoping to target music creators and sound engineers who wish to produce in any environment with its new MDR-M1 Reference Closed Monitor Headphones.
Featuring a closed acoustic structure with high sound isolation, a newly developed driver unit for this particular model, and a lightweight design, Sony says these cans offer producers a studio experience from anywhere.

READ MORE: Best headphones for music producers, DJs and musicians

And while comfort and ergonomics are certainly positioned as a selling point of the MDR-M1 headphones, Sony’s primary emphasis lies in sound quality. Their exclusively developed driver unit achieves “ultra-wideband” playback from 5 Hz to 80 kHz. Given that the average human hearing range is between 20 Hz and 20 kHz, it’s safe to say these headphones cover all bases, and then some.

Elsewhere, the headphones feature a closed acoustic structure for the elimination of ambient noise, making them suitable for production where such sounds are detrimental to monitoring. There’s also a tuned port ventilation hole to control low frequencies.
Additionally, Sony has optimised the operation of the diaphragm, meaning improved low-frequency characteristics, and therefore better production decisions with regard to bass frequencies.
The MDR-M1 headphones have been developed in collaboration with top engineers in the industry, including Battery Studios Mastering Engineer Mike Piacentini, and Recording and Mixing Engineer of Power Station at Berklee NYC, Akihiro Nishimura.
Credit: Sony
“As engineers, we are often tasked to work in a variety of formats, which are all produced in different environments, on ever-changing speaker systems,” says Piacentini. “Throughout the record production process, I believe it is important to have headphones that provide an accurate reference point, whether you are working on near-field monitors, mastering speakers, or an immersive speaker setup. I’ve worked alongside the incredible Sony’s Tokyo headphone design team, to help create a pair of headphones that are accurate across the frequency spectrum in a variety of use cases. MDR-M1 are a great entry point for any creator who wants to be sure that the sound they are hearing in the studio translates to the end user in the best way possible.”
Credit: Sony
“The tonal balance of the MDR-M1 feels very close to the impression of Power Station’s Studio A control room,” adds Nishimura. “In recording sessions, it is important to care what musicians or singers are listening to when they play or sing. MDR-M1 gives you the same impression of listening in a control room headphone, which makes it easier to create music by listening to each other. The comfort design also makes us focus on music in long sessions. I hope MDR-M1 will become the standard monitoring system for any recording sessions.”
The MDR-M1 Reference Closed Monitor Headphones are available this month, priced at €249/£209. For more info, head to Sony.
The post Sony targets music creators and sound engineers with its new MDR-M1 Reference Closed Monitor Headphones appeared first on MusicTech.

How to Boost Engagement with Embedded Release LinksLearn how embedding release links in your bio platforms can skyrocket your audience engagement and drive more traffic to your music. Don’t miss out on this simple yet powerful strategy to grow your fanbase and boost streams.
The post How to Boost Engagement with Embedded Release Links appeared first on Hypebot.

Songwriting Split Sheet: A Complete GuideDon't miss out on your fair share! Learn how to protect your earnings with a clear understanding of songwriting splits and the essential songwriting split sheet.
The post Songwriting Split Sheet: A Complete Guide appeared first on Hypebot.

Native Instruments Komplete 15: Release date, specs, price and what to expect from the NI plugin libraryNative Instruments’ Komplete 15 bundle is on the way, packed with a cornucopia of its latest instruments, effects, and sounds.
NI’s Komplete flagship production suite always packs in an array of software instruments, effects and expansions from across its family of brands. For Komplete 15, it offers Kontakt 8, iZotope Ozone 11 Standard, Kithara, and many more. Those who pre-order will also get iZotope’s Neutron 4 mixing suite (worth £239) for free.

READ MORE: Native Instruments Traktor Pro 4 is a game-changing DJ suite for performers

What’s included in Komplete 15?
Like its predecessor, Komplete 14 – which launched back in 2022 – Komplete 15 offers four different versions for varying budgets and needs: Select, Standard, Ultimate, and Collector’s Edition.

Select: A “gateway to professional-grade sound”, Komplete 15 Select offers hand-picked selections of synths, sampled session instruments and other studio-quality effects – curated into three different editions catering to a range of producing disciplines. Beats is aimed at beatmakers working in hip-hop and R&B, Band features sampled instruments for songwriters, and Electronic is angled towards dance music and electronica.
Standard: Comes with “all the sounds you need”, offering more than 95 pro-grade instruments and effects, over 40 Expansions, and over 50,000 sounds.
Ultimate: Has an “extensive array of tools” for professional production, scoring, performance, and sound design. Includes over 150 premium instruments and effects, ranging from cutting-edge synths to symphonic sample libraries, and more than 70 Expansion sound packs.
Collector’s Edition: This tier is described as “virtually limitless”, unlocking “nearly everything” Native Instruments has on offer. More than 165 instruments and effects are available here, along with a total of 120 Expansion sound packs.

Komplete 15 pricing and release date
Komplete 15 is set to arrive 23 September, though pre-orders are available right now at Native Instruments. Its four tiers are priced at $99/€99, $599/€599, $1,199/€1,199 and $1,799/€1,799, respectively. Additionally, users upgrading from a lower tier are able to access reduced prices.

Overall, Komplete 15 highlights include Kontakt 8 – its most “feature-packed version” yet – featuring a new loop playground, interactive idea-generating tools, and a new wavetable modulation engine. There’s also the intuitive mastering plugin, iZotope 11 Standard, with a range of AI-powered tools, and Guitar Rig 7 Pro to put sought-after guitar and bass amp simulators, studio effects, and pedals right at your fingertips.
In total, users will get up to 165 instruments and effects with Komplete 15, including the new Kithara, Vocal Colors, Session Percussionist, Glaze 2, and more.
Komplete 15 will officially launch on 23 September, when pre-orders will be available to use. The full version of the Standard tier is priced at £539, with Ultimate at £1,079 and Collector’s Edition at £1,619.
Find out more or pre-order now over at Native Instruments.
The post Native Instruments Komplete 15: Release date, specs, price and what to expect from the NI plugin library appeared first on MusicTech.

TK Audio introduce DP3 dual preamp TK Audio's new flagship mic preamp offers a wealth of tonal options thanks to switchable modern and vintage-inspired circuits.

Softube’s Model 77 Dual Layer Synth lets you recreate the sounds of the Yamaha CS-80Softube has unveiled the Model 77 Dual Layer Synth, a virtual instrument that “perfectly captures” the sound of three iconic Japanese synthesizers from 1977.
Model 77 brings you the authentic sound of the legendary CS-80, most famously associated with the Blade Runner movie soundtrack and songs like Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. It also emulates the CS-50 and CS-60 from Yamaha’s classic synth line.

READ MORE: Venus Theory’s free plugin lets you play sounds from the Arturia PolyBrute 12

Softube says it has “component modelled and accurately articulated every detail of the circuits” of the three instruments.” The sound, interaction, and performance remain as close to the hardware units as possible, accompanied by an interface that’s been redesigned for an improved and modern workflow.
Model 77 offers access to two layers directly from the front panel, but the focus stays on one layer at a time. Softube has also redesigned the position of the sections to communicate the instrument’s proper signal flow.
For instance, the Ring Mod section on the interface of Model 77 Dual Layer Synth now corresponds to its location in the signal flow. The balance slider is now found between the upper and lower layers so you easily move between the layers while adjusting parameters for each layer.
If vintage sounds are what you’re after, the new Aging Slider lets you dial in oscillator drift and variations over filter cutoff, pulse width, and envelope time. The original factory presets for all three synths are included as well, offering you those classic CS sounds at your fingertips.
Model 77 also comes with support for Polyphonic Aftertouch, the first of Softube instruments to include the feature. Additional features like stereo processing, DAW sync, and an integrated classic reverb are also included, along with seven modules for Softube’s Modular and two for its Amp Room bass and guitar platform.
The Model 77 Dual Layer Synth is available at Softube’s website at an introductory price of $99 (U.P $159) until 3 October 2024.
Check out the synth in action below.

Learn more at Softube.
The post Softube’s Model 77 Dual Layer Synth lets you recreate the sounds of the Yamaha CS-80 appeared first on MusicTech.

North Carolina musician charged over “brazen” AI music streaming fraud scheme that allegedly faked billions of playsA North Carolina musician has been charged by US federal prosecutors in connection with a scheme to create “hundreds of thousands of songs” with artificial intelligence (AI) and using bots to fraudulently stream these tracks billions of times.
According to New York authorities, 52-year-old Michael Smith from Cornelius, North Carolina, allegedly collected over $10 million in royalty payments through the fraudulent operation, which began in 2017. Smith is now being charged with three counts of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, facing a penalty of up to 60 years in prison.

READ MORE: How will young people learn music and production in a post-AI music industry?

“As alleged, Michael Smith fraudulently streamed songs created with artificial intelligence billions of times in order to steal royalties,” US Attorney Damian Williams said in an indictment on Wednesday (September 4).
“Through his brazen fraud scheme, Smith stole millions in royalties that should have been paid to musicians, songwriters, and other rights holders whose songs were legitimately streamed.”
Smith was arrested Wednesday and will face a US magistrate judge in North Carolina. His lawyer has declined comment, Rolling Stone reports.
Per the indictment, Smith allegedly created thousands of accounts on streaming platforms to stream songs. The “bot accounts” were allegedly used to generate about 661,440 streams per day, yielding annual royalties of $1,027,128. At the height of his alleged scheme, the musician is said to have had “as many as 10,000 active bot accounts” running.
Streams were also allegedly spread across thousands of songs to avoid detection from streaming platforms and music distribution companies. The indictment accuses Smith of enlisting the help of the CEO of an AI company and a music promoter, both of whom are unnamed, to create the songs needed. Smith allegedly emailed his two co-conspirators in 2018, saying: “We need to get a TON of songs fast to make this work around the anti-fraud policies these guys are all using now.”
The indictment also alleges that Smith made numerous misrepresentations to streaming platforms to further the fraud. Smith allegedly repeatedly lied to the platforms when he used false names and other information to create the bot accounts and when he agreed to abide by the terms and conditions that prohibited streaming manipulation. A 2019 email from an alleged co-conspirator to Smith reads: “Keep in mind what we’re doing musically here… this is not ‘music,’ it’s ‘instant music’ ;)”.
FBI Acting Assistant Director Christie M. Curtis said that Smith’s alleged scheme “played upon the integrity of the music industry by a concerted attempt to circumvent the streaming platforms’ policies.”
“The FBI remains dedicated to plucking out those who manipulate advanced technology to receive illicit profits and infringe on the genuine artistic talent of others.”
The post North Carolina musician charged over “brazen” AI music streaming fraud scheme that allegedly faked billions of plays appeared first on MusicTech.