Weekly Pull Request
Meet the Editor
What’s up?! My name is Shawn — but my friends (that means you!) can call me “Paps”. I’m among many things, but notably a music producer, photographer, and a creative just like you. This newsletter is all about navigating life as a creative entrepreneur, how to build on our creative lives with technology, and me making mistakes so you don’t have to!
Reflections
This week was a rollercoaster.
Oz, Hulk Hogan, Chuck Mangione…yo reaper…chill dude.
Holy sh*t. What a week.
This week definitely tops the charts for the worst of 2025 overall. This week, we lost three icons, two of which were extremely important to shaping me as a musician.
I’m not going to dive into all of that — I already wrote about that in my latest article, which you can check out here.
As it goes, the only constant is change. And just as Ozzy had written on Vol. 4, we collectively are “going through changes”.
So as I sit here with my refreshing cold-brew, enjoying the Florida sunshine from the comfort & safety of my air-conditioned studio, I’m jamming Billy Strings & Black Sabbath and allowing the good vibes to take over on this Friday while I get some work done.
Welcome to the Weekly Pull Request, where I share cool tech, music, and other interesting things I find throughout the week.
WPR 07/25/2025
Music
CHILDREN OF THE GRAVE - LAMB OF GOD
Lamb of God was one of the first bands with screaming vocals I started listening to, thanks to my cousin. They hold a special place in my library, and hearing them do their take on my favorite song off of “Master Reality” is a dream come true.
This cover is so well done. Lamb of God tastefully mixes in elements of their sound, while staying true to the original.
And can we just talk about Randy singing on this?! So sick. Give this one a listen and be prepared to headbang for the next 4 minutes and 48 seconds.
LET ME HEAR YOU SCREAM - OZZY OSBOURNE
One of my favorites from Ozzy’s catalog that I don’t think gets enough recognition. This song is such a pump up song. Zakk’s heavy riffage and a gang vocal hook that gets stuck in your head is a recipe for conquering all that life puts in front of you.
No one does it like Ozzy did it.
WPR 07/25/2025
Neural DSP Launches ‘Mantra’, the ultimate Vocal Channel Strip
Neural DSP is a music software company most widely known by guitar players for their industry leading guitar plugins, featuring sounds from some of the best players in music today like Rabea Masaad, Tim Henson, Gojira, Plini, Nolly Getgood, and more.
Well, they just dropped the hammer on us again with Mantra, their new vocal channel strip — and music creators, this is a damn good plugin.
Mantra is your whole vocal chain in one intuitive interface, complete with everything that you need to get that vocal to sit nicely in your mix.
I got the demo to try it out, and no joke it replaced about 6 plugins on my usual vocal chain just out of the box. It’s got compression, de-essing, a built-in harmonizer, built-in tuning, and the saturation for rock/metal vocals is awesome.
Now, with any tool, there is a time and place for this plugin. I’m not quite sure I’d use this on intimate or softer vocalists, but on a radio rock single or metal screams, sign me up!
Give it a try. It’s pretty sick.
Not sure if they’re using AI to do this, but the Sculpting tool is insane.
Built in Harmonizer
WPR 07/25/2025
See You On the Other Side - Cover
I had a completely different video planned for this week. However, when the Prince of Darkness passes on, you pay your respects.
In this week’s video, I covered “See You on the Other Side” by Ozzy Osbourne.
BTW - Like and Subscribe 😉
WPR 07/25/2025
Closing Notes
That’s all i have for this week’s pull request. Let’s go ahead and push to main.
Paps.
Build Stuff. Break Stuff. Have Fun.