Fiver Friday 553: Faders, Local Content, Mastering Masterclass & More

Boom! Five things for you this Friday.

1. Plugin

Ayaic just released Dragon Fader, and radio people should look at it. It’s a LUFS leveler. You pick a target loudness between minus 50 and minus 10, and it rides the gain to get there while keeping the dynamics alive. It has a true peak limiter built in and runs in Pro Tools as AAX. Think VO reads that all land at the same level without a compressor squashing the life out of them. Intro price is $79 for now, regular is $199.
https://www.kvraudio.com/product/dragon-fader-by-ayaic

2. Inspiration

Joel Oxley is retiring after almost 35 years at WTOP in Washington. He drove across the country listening to stations in Seattle, Chicago and Columbus and heard almost nothing local. His words: too many stations could have been anywhere in the US. His fix is simple. Double or triple the local content. And be relentless about being compelling. I couldn’t agree more. A station that sounds like everybody sounds like nobody, telling this to clients forever!

https://radioink.com/2026/10/07/joel-oxley-leaves-radio-with-a-challenge-to-go-more-local/

3. Music

Love that song!

4. Web/Social/Whatever

Pete Lyman, the Grammy-nominated mastering engineer, is running a masterclass at Infrasonic in Nashville on October 29. He cuts a seven inch record live, start to finish, and walks you through hybrid mastering with gear from Rupert Neve Designs and Wolff Audio. Only 10 seats. If you love records and the craft behind them, grab one.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/infrasonic-the-cutting-sessions-tickets-1998790097989

5. Imaging

Great work from the Netherlands!