Universal Audio has today announced Volt Gen 2 and Volt Max, a range of six bus-powered USB audio interfaces that replace the original Volt line. The new models move to 32-bit conversion, swap the single Vintage preamp mode for three Tone Shaping modes, and bring onboard compression presets, ADAT expansion and monitoring features to the top of the range. We have the details.

If controlling level is one use for compression, the other has to be creating the sounds themselves. With consistent compression being the mix helper no engineer wants to be without, here we explore every aspect of Auto Threshold inside the Fabs’ ever-evolving super squeezer.

Signal Tools Co. has announced the Pro Knob Series, a range of single-control mixing plugins, alongside Pro Knob Rack, a free host for chaining them together. Aimed at engineers who want to make processing decisions by ear rather than by parameter, the launch includes a library of chains built by engineers with major-label credits. We have the details.

Austrian Audio has announced the OC616, a multi-pattern large-diaphragm condenser microphone hand-built in Vienna. It brings the CKR12 capsule and five polar patterns from the company's OC818 flagship to a lower price point, aimed at musicians and producers working in project and home studios. We have the details.

tokyomeltdown has announced EQ Mirror, a measurement plugin that draws an equaliser curve to show what is really being applied to a track. It is the developer's first plugin, aimed at engineers who find analogue-style EQs hard to read, and it helps you understand the EQ profile before you remove it from the session. We have the details.

Studio assistants are back, as AI, and they sound confident whether they're right or not. Here's why AI audio still needs a human check before it ships.

Plugin Resale has announced the launch of a free, commission-free marketplace for second-hand audio plugin licences. Created by French mastering engineer and YouTuber Victor Malvolti, it lets producers and engineers sell licences they no longer use and buy others at a lower price. We have the details.

Spitfire Audio has today announced Phoenix, a deep hybrid synthesiser created with Grammy-nominated composer, producer and technologist BT. It combines sounds from BT's private archive of vintage synthesiser, sampler, cassette and vinyl recordings with orchestral material from Spitfire's libraries, built on a stereo-from-the-ground-up architecture. We have the details.

Colour coding in Pro Tools can help to make navigating sessions quicker and easier. Colour can be applied to tracks, clips, groups or markers. In this article Paul Maunder explores the various colour coding options and the reasons why using them makes sense for your sessions.

As part of the studio landscape for over 30 years, Synchro Arts’ VocAlign has set out to deliver natural-sounding vocal alignment quickly and accurately. Here we explore its new features on a stacked sextet of three parts in need of a little VocAlign 7 magic all in one window…

Apple has announced the M6 and M5 Pro Mac mini, along with the M5 Max and M5 Ultra Mac Studio, with shipping beginning on September 22nd 2026. In this article, we'll answer which desktop Mac an audio professional should buy and whether now is the time to upgrade from an older model, or whether an existing model will still meet our needs.

In the 2020s, engineers must produce mixes that translate on a multitude of playback devices. Using very few controls, here we explore the latest solution from CodWaves that sets out make bass audible to a greater number of listeners.

Naturl Audio has announced version 1.1 of the AL-1, a significant update to the mastering limiter it launched in March. Shaped by user feedback since release, the update targets distortion and sonic changes under heavy limiting, and adds a feature that opens the plug-in up to post and broadcast delivery work. We have the details.

Ferrofish has announced the VERTOpro series, three compact Dante converters that replace its long-running VERTO range. Shown at IBC 2026, the VERTOpro MX, VERTOpro 64, and VERTOpro 32 go beyond straight format conversion, adding a routing matrix, front-panel control, and a colour display in the same half-rack format. We have the details.

Kraxton Labs has announced AAF Sync, a standalone macOS and Windows application that automates reconforming in Pro Tools. It works entirely from the AAF metadata of the old and new picture cuts, with no reference video, EDL, or audio analysis involved, and targets post teams handling picture changes after the audio edit is underway. We have the details.

Zynaptiq has announced LOUD and WIDE, two new plug-ins covering loudness processing and stereo imaging, alongside refreshed MASTER III and ZAP VI bundles that now include both new plugins. LOUD folds several existing Zynaptiq engines into one lightweight processor, while WIDE brings the company's spectral processing to stereo widening and mono-to-stereo upmixing. We have the details.

Offering speed and convenience covering many mix situations, the plugin channel strip’s appeal has bedded in with countless ITB mix engineers who love their familiarity and homogeneity in one place. Whether it’s a simple console classic, or an unlimited digital delight, here is our pick of the strips for the perfect mix…

Generative AI is built to guess the most likely answer, which rules out the happy accidents that gave us gated reverb. Here is what that costs audio pros.

In this article, we look at a selection of free plugins from our searchable database that help us manage image width, whether it's tightening the image width, opening out the stereo width or making stereo from a mono track.

In this article, first published in the Fall edition of CAS Quarterly and republished here with permission, Jon Greasley, CAS, with Jamie Hardt, CAS, explores the latest edition of the loudness spec ATSC A/85 and highlights what the changes mean to working audio post-production professionals. Over to Jon and James…

Antares has announced AutoTune Advanced, a new flagship pitch correction plugin with a vibrato-preserving DVA engine, a low-latency Live mode, and MIDI control.

Billed as the new flagship AutoTune plugin for automatic pitch correction, AutoTune Advanced brings new features and performance, including advanced vibrato and formant shaping tools, as well as better system performance. Here we take our first look at AutoTune Advanced’s latest performance-enhancing features.

A group of sound designers, recordists, mixers, and sound effects library companies has today announced the Professional Sound Alliance (PSA), a new coalition campaigning for fair licensing of professional sound. Its focus is the unlicensed use of sound effects libraries, both in film, TV, and game production and in the training of commercial AI models. We have the details.

Synchro Arts has today announced VocAlign 7, the latest version of its long-running vocal alignment plugin. The headline change is a move away from one-track-at-a-time editing towards a single workspace that handles a whole vocal session, which should matter most to anyone regularly working with large stacks of doubles and backing vocals. We have the details.

Waves has announced Tracks Live 2.0, a ground-up rebuild of its multitrack recording software for live sound engineers. It will work alongside most live systems, but the bigger story is how tightly it now connects to Waves' own eMotion LV1 mixer. We have the details.

Everyone blames production sound or the post team when audio needs fixing, but the real problem sits with who controls the schedule, crew and budget.

LEWITT has today announced the LW6, a pair of wireless studio headphones built for mixing, mastering, monitoring and recording. The Austrian brand is known for its studio microphones, and the LW6 marks its move into a new category it describes as wireless headphones that meet the requirements of experienced studio professionals. We have the details.

The Track Presets feature in Pro Tools allows you to save, overwrite and recall custom configurations of tracks, plugin chains, routing and media. Track Presets can also include level, panning and send configurations. This is an extremely useful feature which can help to save you time if you regularly work with similar configurations of tracks and plugins. In this article, Paul Maunder explains everything you need to know.

Doing exactly what it says, Big Talk Button sets out to reconnect producers and engineers with the talent. With a number of really useful talkback modes and features, here we show what Big Talk Button can do without a console in sight.

The Field Recording Slack community has today announced a Handheld Gadgets sound effects library, crowdsourced by 87 sound designers and recordists and made available to the public in exchange for a charity donation rather than a purchase. We have the details.

With more tools designed to unweave mixes, knowing the differences between them can help engineers choose the right separation tool. Here, we look at a selection and discuss what might set one apart from another.

Promising to conjure the sound of a very special mastering compressor as heard on millions of records, Howies179 sets out to recreate sublime platinum-selling sounds from the land of Denmark. Here we fire up Metric Halo’s resurrected virtual hit-maker to find out whether it deserves a slot in your DAW.

reminitone has released ESSPLIT, a Pro Tools AudioSuite plug-in built for editors who prefer to de-ess and shape breaths by hand rather than leave it to an automatic de-esser. It automates the tedious part of that workflow, finding and splitting the relevant audio, while leaving every level decision to the editor. We have the details.

MeterPlugs has announced Perception AB 1.5, an update to its loudness-matched A/B comparison plugin that brings Dolby Atmos support into the workflow for the first time. The update lets engineers compare processing choices on immersive material the same way they already do on stereo, whether they're working across a full bed or a single object track. We have the details.

In his article The Software Subscription Bubble May Be Set To Burst, Russ pointed out some key differences between areas of the industry where subscriptions have become normalised and widely accepted and the Pro Audio industry where opposition to subscriptions seems more persistent and ingrained. If so many of us object to subscriptions, what’s stopping us from not using them in our studios?

Freelance audio pros share how they stop slow-paying clients wrecking their cash flow, from upfront deposits to holding back masters until payment clears.

Saturation is one of the best-represented categories in our free plugin database, with 94 entries. Saturation covers a wide range of effects, from amp-sims to distortion to valve and tape sounds. Recently, we focused on tube saturation; in this article, we focus on a selection of free tape saturation plugins.

Window Configurations in Pro Tools provide a convenient way to save and recall the size, position and display state of your Edit, Mix, plug-in and other windows. In this article and the accompanying video, Paul Maunder demonstrates how Window Configurations can be used to speed up your workflow, particularly when working with larger sessions.

In its recent update, Penteo version 8 brought independent decorrelation control across every dimension of an upmix, allowing users to increase envelopment and spaciousness in the immersive soundfield, reduce image collapse, and improve externalisation on headphones via binaural monitoring. Immersive Audio Engineer Emre Ramazanoglu put it to the test in his own workflow…

A growing number of generative AI sound effects tools are hitting the market, and as we have seen, audio professionals worry about how they might negatively affect our businesses. Sound Designer and co-owner of Dallas Audio Post, René Coronado, has taken to social media to explain why he isn't afraid of generative AI sound effects services. We discuss.

Quietly pushing the boundaries of what can be expected from a virtual instrument, Dreamtonics recently completed a VI trilogy with Instrument X. Featuring stunning sounds that composers need to hear for themselves, here we fire up an orchestral chameleon that conjures astonishing sounds without using a single sample.

Eventide has announced a new suite of immersive algorithms for the H9000 Harmonizer, expanding the processor's reverb, pitch shifting and upmixing tools for multichannel production. The update draws on the extra processing headroom introduced with H9000 Gen2 and is aimed at engineers working across Quad, 5.1, 5.1.2 and 7.1 formats. We have the details.

Kit Plugins has released BB Chamber D, a reverb plugin that emulates the acoustic chamber from Blackbird Studio D. The chamber has been used on a significant number of commercial recordings, and the plugin extends the original hardware setup with adjustable parameters and integrated processing. We have the details.

zplane has today announced TIMBRE, a real-time formant-shifting plugin designed to reshape the character of vocals, drums, instruments and full mixes without affecting pitch. Built on an expanded version of the company's ÉLASTIQUE technology, it offers a different approach to tone manipulation than EQ or pitch shifting. We have the details.

Unnamed tracks, 15GB ZIPs, stereo that is really mono. Working engineers name the session prep failures that cost them hours before a fader moves.

If you deliver Atmos mixes, you already know the QC checklist: loudness relationships across an album, silent objects hiding in the ADM metadata, binaural re-renders and MP4s for anyone who can't play the file back. Immersive Master Pro has handled most of that since launch. Immersive mix engineer Mark Gittins explains what's changed in version 1.5 and how the new IAMF and Eclipsa Audio support push it beyond Atmos delivery.

Universal Audio today announced LUNA 3.0, a landmark update to its award-winning DAW for macOS and Windows, alongside UAD Spark Studio, a new subscription service that bundles LUNA Studio with the company's complete native plug-in library and virtual instrument collection.

Many home studios use a single audio interface and a single pair of stereo monitors, and the de facto standard is to run a pair of cables between them and control the monitoring level from the audio interface. Once you get past this basic setup, whether it's more speakers or more inputs, it can start getting complicated. This article covers some of the issues and pitfalls of using an external monitor controller.

In this article, we will share up-to-date information about which pro audio applications and plug-ins are compatible with macOS Golden Gate. This article and companion searchable database will be constantly updated as the information and compatibility status change.

Audient has today announced Horizon, a new flagship Thunderbolt 3 audio interface range for the professional studio market, we have the details.