HITS Act, Sound Design Discoveries, and More

Hello Friends,

Nathan here. This week we’re breaking down what the HITS Act really means for music makers, exploring some fun sound design experiments, spotlighting the talented mixing engineer Kauner Michael, and sharing the latest update to our Rareform on Rotation playlist.

Let’s jump in.

NEW PROJECTS

Stoked to share that our sound design made it into the Train Dreams campaign!

Appreciate our friends at LIVEBAD for bringing us along for the ride. Swoon, by Trey Anderson and myself, found its way into this spot for Oh, Hi! 

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ATTENTION COMPOSERS!

We are looking for more composers and producers interested in joining our new production music catalog RPM (Rareform Production Music). If you have experience in production music and would like to contribute, please reach out to our RPM Catalog Manager Yssa at [email protected] and send some examples of your best work.

ENGINEER SPOTLIGHT — KAUNER MICHAEL

This week, I want to give a well-deserved shoutout to the incredibly talented Kauner Michael — a mixing engineer whose ear for detail keeps raising the bar.

Kauner just wrapped mixing and mastering Ashez Jermaine’s brand-new single 5 Star, which dropped today. It’s another reminder of how clean, powerful, and dynamic his mixes are.

Beyond music mixing, Kauner also specializes in trailerized and remixed versions of songs for sync placements, crafting versions built to hit hard in film, TV, and advertising. He recently joined Payday Music Publishing (formerly Ultra Publishing) as a freelance audio engineer, adding his skills to their powerhouse roster. You can check out their work here.

From mixing and mastering to recording and vocal tuning/editing, Kauner brings the same precision and creativity to every project. If you missed it, we also did a deep-dive feature on his process in our blog: Shaping Soundscapes: Kauner Michael’s Approach to Modern Audio Production — worth a read if you’re into the craft behind world-class mixes.

If you want your tracks to hit harder, sound cleaner, and stand out in any context, connect with Kauner and let him work his magic.

Our On Rotation playlist just got a fresh update for the new month! These tracks are what we’re into lately, stuff we’ve been revisiting, and sounds that are just hitting right at the moment.

Now live on Spotify if you want to dive in!

The HITS Act is now officially law. It gives music creators the option to deduct up to $150,000 in recording expenses like studio time, musicians, and production costs—all in the year they're spent, instead of spreading them out over time.

This is likely to matter most for independent labels, producers, and artists working at higher production budgets. If you're running a leaner setup, it might not change much. But it's still a meaningful shift in how music is treated in federal tax policy, now a bit more in line with film and TV.

Saw a Reel the other day that’s pretty interesting. A sound designer drops some salt in water, sets a hydrophone, and holds a small metal mallet over it, ready to record.

It’s a simple setup, but the thought behind it says a lot. In sound design, small choices like that can totally change the outcome. Sometimes it's the subtlest moves that get you the most interesting results.

That’s it for this week! Stay safe out there friends!

-Nathan

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Checkout Echelon — our first cinematic sound pack built for film composers and music producers looking to level up their sound and land more placements.

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