“Some riffs have that swing. You hear it in the first Van Halen album”: Wolfgang Van Halen's new song echoes classic VH
"It’s very much the kind of idea that mixes heaviness with funkiness”
Artists
“Some riffs have that swing. You hear it in the first Van Halen album”: Wolfgang Van Halen's new song echoes classic VH
"It’s very much the kind of idea that mixes heaviness with funkiness”
“I’m very, very scared for this next generation of writers”: Justin Tranter fires warning shot over the plight of songwriters
He says songwriters have lost out at the expense of streaming platforms
“It’s one of his classics”: Mariah Carey is miffed that her Michael Jackson duet is still unreleased
“There is an issue with his estate,” she says
Steve Porcaro on the rise, fall and resurgence of Toto, working with Michael Jackson and his new solo album
"Yacht Rock! When I first heard that phrase, I groaned. But then I thought, ‘Who cares what it’s called? If it keeps people listening to some great music, I’m happy!'"
The Cars are working on a new album using Ric Ocasek’s old recordings
New biography is out about the new wave band
Lady Gaga on why she quickly gelled with "incredibly gifted" Mayhem collaborator, Cirkut
"His technical proficiency is astonishing but also extremely musical - his musicianship is so well-rounded and rich," she says
Jeremy Allen White on the challenge of playing Bruce Springsteen, and how he approached it
White plays Springsteen in forthcoming biopic
Music Tech
“We wanted to make the barrier as low as we could": Sequential on designing the Fourm and continuing Dave Smith's legacy
With premium features and an entry-level price, Fourm is about to bring a whole new demographic into the Sequential family. We sit down with the company's CEO and Product Designer to find out more
Steve Porcaro on the rise, fall and resurgence of Toto, working with Michael Jackson and his new solo album
"Yacht Rock! When I first heard that phrase, I groaned. But then I thought, ‘Who cares what it’s called? If it keeps people listening to some great music, I’m happy!'"
With the TR-1000 Roland has given analogue purists what they want – so can we move on from X0X clones now?
Roland’s latest drum machine looks great – and its ‘80s inspirations are undisputed classics – but can we agree we now have enough X0X emulations?
“Enough power to keep you in business for at least the next 10 years”: Apple MacBook Air M4 review
Apple's latest lightweight laptop makes a great case to be the centre piece of your studio
“This is the amp that defined the sound of surf and early rock ’n’ roll”: Universal Audio is giving away its new UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp plugin worth $149 for free
Placing the punchy, vintage tones of the Fender Showman in your DAW, Showtime '64 is free until October 31st
“A truly go-anywhere production box that’s determined to keep you away from a laptop”: Akai MPC Live III review
With massively upgraded power, expressive pads and new sequencing tools, Akai’s latest MPC is a DAW-in-a-box powerhouse
“For the first time, we’re moving beyond samples”: Splice unveils free plugin and virtual instrument platform with hundreds of free presets
INSTRUMENT features 1200+ multi-sampled presets built on sounds from Spitfire Audio, the British virtual instrument developer recently acquired by Splice
"The core piano sounds have a rich tone with a surprising amount of depth": Roland E-X50 arranger keyboard review
We test drive Roland's beginner-friendly arranger keyboard
“It’s shocking”: Cardiff band decry the fact AI ‘band’ trained on their music overtakes them on Spotify
Holding Absence tell their listeners to “oppose AI music”
"Legendary analogue sound for the whole band": Universal Audio launches Volt 876 USB Recording Studio, the first rackmount interface in the Volt series
A 24-in/28-out audio interface equipped with eight tube-emulating Vintage mic preamps and eight 1176-style compressors, Volt 876 is an affordable alternative to Apollo at $999
Guitars
"It becomes very hard to put this guitar down": Strandberg Boden N2 Standard review
The next generation of the Swedish firm's headless guitar design has arrived; is this the guitar to finally convince the cynics to try one out?
“This is the amp that defined the sound of surf and early rock ’n’ roll”: Universal Audio is giving away its new UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp plugin worth $149 for free
Placing the punchy, vintage tones of the Fender Showman in your DAW, Showtime '64 is free until October 31st
"There’s something incredibly satisfying about playing through this amp": Laney Lionheart Foundry Super 60 112
This Laney might be tube-less, but still manages to deliver the roar we’ve come to expect from its fan-favourite Lionheart combo
“So, Dave, how do I slash the amp?”: Dave Davies picks up a razor and slashes a speaker on camera to demonstrate how he got the Kinks’ iconic proto-fuzz guitar tone
There are gear demos and then there are gear demos in which a guitar legend performs the most radical amp mod to show us how he got the guitar tone on You Really Got Me
“But there's no bass on there": Flemming Rasmussen is still confused by the Metallica’s production choices ...And Justice For All
Part of it was to annoy Jason Newsted, producer speculates
KHDK Electronics makes pedals for metal's biggest stars; now it's going to make electric guitars too
KHDK Electronics supremo David Karon debuted his new designs at Guitar Summit, in Mannheim, and while they are not all über-metal, the "all pointy" Model 101 certainly is... metal
Mesa/Boogie reissues a cult classic with a design that takes the amp brand back to the beginning
Loved by the likes of John Petrucci, the Mark IIC+ HRG presents super-clean tone at super-high volume and a super-tight crunch voicing for rock and metal rhythms
Seymour Duncan expands Joe Bonamassa range with humbucker set based on pickups from his ‘Bolin Burst’ Les Paul
Like JoBo says, got a cheap Les Paul? Give it a high-end power-up with a pair of replica humbuckers from his iconic Bolin Burst, fresh out the custom shop – and the first 500 sets come signed
Mikael Åkerfeldt has played Cobain’s D-18 and holy grail acoustics from the Martin museum but says his new OM beats the lot
Limited to 74 instruments worldwide, the Opeth frontman's signature model has a truly exquisite three-piece back of Guatemalan rosewood with an East Indian rosewood wedge
Guitar Lessons & Tutorials
Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
With over 84,000 lessons at your disposal, this is one of the best value guitar tuition subscriptions online right now
Can you fix your guitar's frets yourself? We try three innovative approaches from MusicNomad to investigate how they might conquer a major cause of fret buzz
Uneven frets are a common issue with our guitars, but MusicNomad has come up with different ways to empower players to deal with it themselves
How to play like George Harrison on The Beatles' Abbey Road
Learn the guitar style of the most expressive and accomplished playing The Beatle would ever commit to tape
How to play guitar like David Gilmour: Bluesy diads, slides, quarter-tone blues curls and more
Tackle the expressive phrasing and minor pentatonic tricks of one of rock's finest guitarists, David Gilmour
30 essential acoustic guitar chords, with charts
Massively expand your musical vocabulary and songwriting options with these beautiful acoustic guitar chords
"You owe your guitar the chance to be its best": How to clean and polish your guitar frets a better way
We take a look at two different products that can help you get your frets gleaming and your guitar back to its best for smoother bends and clearer vibrato
Play like Jimmy Page! Exclusive video lesson
Key techniques guitar players can learn from the Led Zeppelin legend
How learning and understanding chord symbols can prove a major benefit for sharing your musical ideas
Chord hieroglyphics can take several forms. We unravel the mysteries of one of the most symbolic and common examples
What are the best online guitar lessons in 2025? I review guitar gear for a living and these are my favourite lessons platforms
My pick of the best online guitar courses will get your playing up to speed from the comfort of your own home, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player
Latest Tuition
How to stress test a laptop for music production in any DAW - and why every producer should do it
Get the most out of your machine and find out how far your laptop can really take your recordings
Never miss a MusicRadar thing: Google has made it easier to keep us in your feed
How to make MusicRadar.com a preferred source
Why imposing hard limitations could be the secret to finishing more music
We’re all struggling to fit in music-making between our other time consuming responsibilities. Optimise your process by cutting back on the options
5 creative ways to use distortion in Ableton Live: From punchier drums to dub techno delays
Let's explore how devices including Saturator, Roar and Erosion can help bring a track to life
How to think like a human drummer when building software beats
Ditch the repetitive loops and unlock more dynamic rhythms
10 tips for recording perfect drums
Essential information for anyone who wants to capture a kit
“At certain points in music history it became fashionable to place accents on certain beats”: How to score a drum part
We explore the theory behind beats, and how we score kicks, snares, hats and percussion
10 common electronic drum set issues and how to troubleshoot them
Don’t let annoying gremlins spoil your playing. From no sound to too much noise, most problems can be solved with some simple settings or affordable upgrades - here’s how
The easy guide to recording drums: kit tips, mic placement and setting up your DAW
Inject some feel into your tracks by recording a real human drummer (no jokes, please) playing actual drums!
How to make virtual acoustic drum performances sound like the real thing
If you find that your MIDI recreations of acoustic drum parts are sounding a little robotic, we've got some tips and tricks to bring them to life, along with some great suggestions for acoustic drum plugin suites.
Where to start with a drum kit
Before you start your drumming journey, let’s take a tour of the instrument it’s all about…
6 ways to bring your tracks to life with Ableton Live’s revamped Auto Filter
Let’s explore some sound design tricks and tips using the highlight of Live 12.2 update
How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
If you’ve got Logic, you’re already more than capable of recreating Skrillex’s manipulated reverb, Billie Eilish’s formant shifting and much more…
How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
It’s entirely likely that you could recreate many legacy analogue set-ups with just a few chained plugins. Here, we’ll show you how to get started
How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
Create your own reverb effects with our step-by-step tutorial
“Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
Don't let a brilliant song be swallowed up in a bad mix by following our guide to the central principles of the process
How to master virtually any software synth
Don't let your software arsenal overwhelm you - sometimes the best route to creative success is to mine just one instrument
How to record virtual and live instruments more smoothly by taking stock of your sample buffer
Latency on your plugins and audio recordings can derail a developing musical idea - but if you get a handle on managing your sample buffer you’ll have a much smoother ride
Latest reviews
"It becomes very hard to put this guitar down": Strandberg Boden N2 Standard review
The next generation of the Swedish firm's headless guitar design has arrived; is this the guitar to finally convince the cynics to try one out?
"Remarkably the DTX Pro is capable of layering up to four individual samples - one more than Roland’s flagship V71 module": Yamaha DTX6K5-M review
The first mesh option for Yamaha’s DTX6 lineup offers larger pads and high quality sounds
“Enough power to keep you in business for at least the next 10 years”: Apple MacBook Air M4 review
Apple's latest lightweight laptop makes a great case to be the centre piece of your studio
"There’s something incredibly satisfying about playing through this amp": Laney Lionheart Foundry Super 60 112
This Laney might be tube-less, but still manages to deliver the roar we’ve come to expect from its fan-favourite Lionheart combo
“A truly go-anywhere production box that’s determined to keep you away from a laptop”: Akai MPC Live III review
With massively upgraded power, expressive pads and new sequencing tools, Akai’s latest MPC is a DAW-in-a-box powerhouse
"The core piano sounds have a rich tone with a surprising amount of depth": Roland E-X50 arranger keyboard review
We test drive Roland's beginner-friendly arranger keyboard
"A reliable and arguably preferable alternative to plugin-based solutions": Audient Oria Mini review
Hardware-based room correction is an attractive but often pricey option. Let’s see how this new affordable system performs
“A portable setup that offers a powerful means of recording and practising”: Fender Link I/O and Fender Studio review
Fender introduces Link I/O and Fender Studio, a potentially potent and exceptionally portable little combo
