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A group of music and film heavyweights led by Hans Zimmer has taken one step further in its plans to transform the BBC’s historic former Maida Vale Studios into a “state-of-the-art” music centre.

Following the sale of the building in 2023 for an estimated £10.5 million, a public consultation took place last year that invited local partners to offer feedback on the proposed development.

That consultation has now ended, and a planning application has been submitted by Mavis Partnership LLC, a group led by Zimmer that includes business partner Steve Kofsky and British film producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan. Westminster City Council will review the application on April 1.

The application details plans to build two separate wings for music and film. The “Audio wing” will feature four “world-class” music studios alongside several additional composer suites and 30 music practice rooms, while the “Visual wing” will contain “high-tech facilities” for film post-production, including sound stages, foley studios, screening rooms and editing suites.

Originally constructed in 1909 as an ice rink, the Grade II-listed Maida Vale Studios has played host to artists such as The Beatles, David Bowie, Amy Winehouse and Beyoncé, and was the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra since 1934. The historic BBC Radiophonic Workshop was based at Maida Vale until its closure in 1998.

In 2018, the BBC announced plans to move its live music hub to a new facility in East London, a decision opposed by a number of artists, including Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and Geoff Barrow of Portishead.

“The proposed studio will be one of the only such facilities in the world and the first in the UK, creating a venue of national importance to UK creative industries,” reads a statement on the group website.

Dear Reality is giving away 11 immersive audio plugins for free.

This week, Sennheiser has announced Dear Reality will be closing up shop as it consolidates its “immersive audio initiatives”, and it’s making 11 of the company’s plugins available as a free download until July 31.

German software developer Dear Reality launched in 2014 with a focus on immersive audio and virtual acoustics, and the company was acquired by Sennheiser in 2019.

Output’s AI-powered Co-Producer listens to your project and chooses samples for you

Today, Output unveils Co-Producer, a new plugin that sits on your master bus and listens to your project, analyzing its rhythm and harmony before suggesting royalty-free samples from Output’s library to augment the track.

If you are a songwriter or producer that likes to work with sample libraries, you’ve likely spent a considerable amount of time scrolling through a seemingly endless list of sounds, seeking out samples that spark inspiration or fit with an existing project.

Output’s Co-Producer is designed to speed up that process, which the company describes as “one of the biggest challenges in music production”. Billed as “the fastest way to find samples that fit your music”, Co-Producer is an AI-powered plugin.

Open up Co-Producer and you’ll be given the option to play either four or eight bars of audio into the plugin to be analyzed. Before searching for appropriate samples, you’re asked to provide Co-Producer with your track’s key signature, and given the option to add a text prompt that tells the plugin what instrument, genre or vibe you’re looking for.

Once you’ve hit the search button, Co-Producer will return a list of samples that should match up harmonically and rhythmically with your project. You’re able to preview the sounds from within the plugin, with sounds synced to the appropriate key and tempo, before dragging and dropping to your timeline. Samples can also be dropped into Output’s sampler plugin Arcade to be transformed into playable instruments.

Co-Producer is a subscription-based plugin that gives users access to a regularly updated library of “premium, musician-made” samples. Output gives all subscribers unlimited access to its entire sample library, rather than operating a credit-based system like sample platforms such as Splice.

“We built Co-Producer to address the real frustrations of music makers. After talking with thousands of writers and producers, it was clear that endlessly scrolling for samples held back creativity,” says Output CEO Gregg Lehrman.

“Artists want sounds that fit their track from the start, with the ability to preview them in context and drag-and-drop directly from within their DAW. They also don’t like the credits system that many companies have.”

“We’re not using AI to generate audio—we’re using it to improve how music makers work,” adds Spencer Salazar, Output’s Head of R&D. “By combining language models, audio analysis, and a scalable engine, we deliver high-quality, musician-made results that are 100% free and clear to use.”

Here’s the official walkthrough:

Output Co-Producer is available now for $9.99/month and a 7-day free trial is available.

Find out more on Output website.