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October 2024

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224 articles

October 21
- Discover high-precision sound with the Austrian Audio Hi-X20 headphones
- “We ask his fans to raise a glass in his memory”: Ex-Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno dead at 66
- “I changed the sound of music forever”: Cher joins Dua Lipa to sing Believe - minus the Auto-Tune - at the Rock & Hall of Fame, as she’s inducted by Zendaya
- This massive study compares 2,368 synths, samplers and drum machines from 1896 to the present day - and the results might surprise you
- “Everything that Dream Theater fans want!”: 5 highlights from their landmark London show
- "Kraftwerk is not a band, it’s a concept": How Kraftwerk introduced the world to electronic music - and showed us that we could make it too
- “I was going to buy a Minimoog because Keith Emerson had one. I was in the store and I was trying it out and I hear a voice behind me say ‘you don’t want that’”: Why Foreigner’s Al Greenwood said no to the Minimoog and bought a little-known synth instead
- "We're here to deconstruct the elements of music theory that will demonstrably make your music better”: The pillars of music theory made simple
- Loved by Jeff Buckley, despised by Courtney Love: the singer who famously urinated on her A&R man’s desk
- “Taylor is the ‘now’ one. We are the ‘still now’”: Ringo Starr has his say on people comparing Taylor Swift to The Beatles
- “Is everyone OK? You think that two rock dads wrote my female rage album about the horrors of being pregnant and accepting suburbia?”: Halsey on the reaction to their Nine Inch Nails-produced album, If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, in 2021
- “You could present an audience with 13 minutes of guitar improvisation and they would actually thank you for it!”: The very best of Peter Frampton
October 20
- There's no need to suffer with high (or low) action anymore: How to adjust the string height on your electric guitar and bass
October 18
- “I see no reason for not playing Belfast”: What Rory Gallagher said about recording his greatest album
- Martin Scorsese confirmed to direct film of Robbie Robertson tribute concert
- "It's possible to make great songs with little to no knowledge of music theory": 5 simple music theory hacks to make your tracks stand out
- Bruno Mars jumps on the drums for APT, his new single with Blackpink’s Rosé that’s served with a pinch of Toni Basil
- “We were finally given the schedule last night, and it is not to our satisfaction. So we are staying home”: Foreigner drummer decides to skip Rock & Hall of Fame induction
- “The problem is, if there’s something good on there, you hear that in three or four other records. Do I care? Not really. None of us are reinventing the wheel“: Hardt Antoine on the art of sampling and establishing a signature sound
- “I have a great deal of respect for Ed Sheeran. He fought his corner and stood up not only for himself but the whole music industry”: A quick-fire guide to copyrighting your music
- "Think you can stop what we do? I doubt it!": A group of Irish kids recorded a viral drum 'n' bass track - 6 million views later, it's up for a Grammy Award
- Don’t wait for Black Friday – right now you can enjoy a massive 15% off all PRS SE guitars from now until Christmas
- “Every artist could say that - ‘I don’t want that’ - and it would disappear. But you know artists hide behind management”: Robert Smith on his frustrations with Ticketmaster and dynamic pricing
- MusicRadar deals of the week: Score a massive $1,000 off a seriously limited Larrivee acoustic, as well as hundreds off Fender, Ibanez, PRS and more
- “I wanted Alice In Chains to be a guitar duo band - because of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Aerosmith”: Jerry Cantrell on his love of classic guitar harmonies
October 17
- No music theory? No problem! LANDR's AI-powered Composer plugin will instantly generate "chord progressions, basslines, melodies, and harmonies" for you
- “Why are you doing this?”: Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell recalls his conversation with Tom Petty after he’d sent him the songs he’d written for his side project
- “A new Inspired by Gibson Custom signature model from one of Japan’s most well-loved guitarists”: Epiphone and Tak Matsumoto strike gold with 1955 Les Paul Standard based on his vintage original
- Jonas Brothers gig stopped after laser pen is pointed in Nick Jonas’s face
- “You realise these things are designed for hospitals, and MRI machines?”: Joe Bonamassa reveals the secret to keeping his tube amps sounding their best night after night – and he “nicked it” from Angus Young
- SoundCloud confirms that electronic music fans are its most engaged listeners, and that the popularity of trance in particular is on the rise
- "Many offer 'vintage-sounding' samples, but we’re offering the real thing": Tracklib announces "first of its kind" royalty-free sample packs made up of authentic '70s recordings
- Talking Heads pose the questions on US game show Jeopardy - take them on here
- “Over 400 effects based on those of the award-winning Axe-Fx III”: Fractal launches the VP4 ‘Virtual Pedalboard’ – a compact, hugely configurable digital multi-effects unit that could give your 'board the night off
- “Muscular, articulate rock tones were the tones I always sought, but I made a name for myself in the ‘80s when you needed a little more aggression”: Friedman unveils the Jake E. Lee signature IR-J dual-channel tube preamp pedal
- “John Lennon’s death had a huge effect on me. He was the one who invited me to drink with The Beatles”: How Foreigner’s Mick Jones connected with a hero
- Native Instruments discontinues Maschine MK1 and MK2, but new Maschine software is on the way - with stem separation and more
- “The whole second verse of that song is ‘80s song titles, strung together as sentences”: No one knew about the lyrical Easter eggs I dropped into a Rihanna hit single, says songwriter Evan Kidd Bogart
- One Direction singer Liam Payne, aged 31, dies in Buenos Aires
- “My original guitar hero has always been Brian May”: The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts on her new (red) special friend
- “Spreads those SidStation ripples even further”: Elektron’s Syntakt gets new sounds and a Euclidean sequencer
October 16
- “An all-round upgrade to the formula of the original, but it’s unlikely to convince any sceptics”: Elektron Digitakt II review
- “Huge sounds, overwhelming options, great value and easy modulation, all in a crazily priced package”: The Synth Factory Horizen review
- “That album makes me tear up. It makes me emotional, just because I think, wow, imagine being there in that crowd, listening to one of the greatest bands of all time”: Charli XCX on the Daft Punk album that hits different
- “Why would you lend your talents to Michael Jackson?”: Alex Van Halen told Eddie not to play on Beat It
- Coming soon: MusicRadar's Recording Week 2024
- “I am very honoured to be a Gretsch signature guitarist because I have been a massive fan for so long”: Gretsch unveils a stunning limited edition semi-hollow electric for Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore
- “It was three weeks before the release, and he said: ‘I know it will be number one’”: How ATB accidentally came up with the hook for the chart-topping 9PM (Till I Come) while showing off his studio to impress a date
- “The Les Paul approach, where you play everything yourself and you’re bouncing tracks around”: How Lindsey Buckingham reinvented Fleetwood Mac
- “Just ask Kiss, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones - all bands that became globally recognised brands”: How to build an artist identity that cuts through the noise
- "I didn’t know how to work any of it. It felt like being at the controls of a spacecraft: a spacecraft that I had absolutely no idea how to fly": Elton John says he’s never got over his Hammond organ “phobia”
- “It’s a task that most of us can’t be bothered with, but it’ll pay off in the long run”: Never cleaned your synths? Here's how – and why – to do it properly
- “I became a better player because I had to follow Randy Rhoads”: How Jake E. Lee found fame with Ozzy
- “Nirvana was an honest expression of not being ashamed to put your angst on the front page”: Run DMC rapper talks about how he relates to Kurt Cobain
- “The world’s greatest guitarist is what everyone says. It’s kind of a dicey title”: A deep dive into the Van Halen catalogue proves the point
October 15
- “It’s a mixture of a jam band, me as a singer-songwriter, and programming with late ‘90s, early 2000s dance music technology of the day”: Johnny Marr on how “Moogs, Korg 101s and Space Echo” shared space with guitar to shape his sound with the Healers
- “Has Oberheim running through its samples, like a stick of rock!”: GForce Software Oberheim DMX review
- "Where the Foxgear units shine is being fully integrated, including the power stage": Foxgear 100W Series review
- "The Jeval is a decent integrated pedal solution as a fly rig or pedalboard gigging solution": Baroni Jeval review
- “It’s designed to push boundaries and redefine what a Fender guitar can be”: Fender unveils the American Ultra II, US-made classic models revamped for high-performance feel and tone
- “Can someone explain what is happening right now? Y’all got my heart pounding!!!!”: Fleetwood Mac are revamping their social media accounts and fans are getting excited
- Supercharge your next production with up to 50% off instruments and effects in the unmissable Native Instruments NKS partner sale
- “Brian and myself were talking the other day, and we both said that if we feel we have some good material, why not?”: Roger Taylor teases possibility of new Queen music
- Small might be beautiful, but even with an upgraded A17 Pro chip and Apple Intelligence support, is the new iPad mini’s appeal big enough?
- “That was the beginning of the greatest love affair of my life”: Fred Again on how swapping a Boss 8-track recorder for his first DAW ignited his passion for music making
- “It’s taking experience from playing some of the greats”: Future Sound Systems Cric is a pin matrix-equipped analogue dream synth
- "My new plugin does ridiculous things": Baby Audio and Andrew Huang release Transit 2, the latest version of their multi-effects plugin that "kills static mixes"
- "I can't help but wonder how much music Computer Music has had a hand in bringing to life over the years. What a magazine": Computer Music magazine to close after 25 years in print
- “That’s the most wild thing I’ve ever seen anyone do”: Fred Again on watching Brian Eno break the rules in the studio
- “I think we're about to have a big resurgence now in kids picking up guitars, and I think we've got the Gallagher brothers to thank for it”: Should we be hopeful about the future of guitar music?
- “Watching his hands in the studio, I learnt something I never knew”: Steve Cropper on ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ secret sauce
- “It’s not just about louder sound – it’s about achieving a more responsive, resonant instrument that truly comes to life in your hands”: Furch unveils the Booster Soundport, a player-facing “resonator” to transform acoustic performance
- “Sometimes there’s just a hole in the stage. That’s alright! Ok, where was I?”: Olivia Rodrigo falls down a hole – but makes impressive recovery
- I can do it with a broken guitar: the story of the smashed-up Taylor Swift-themed acoustic takes another turn as it’s flipped for more than than it sold for when it was still in one piece
- “Breaks down the complex task of mastering but we’d love different options on how to pay for it”: Softube Flow Mastering Suite review
- “Each instrument comes with a custom hardshell case, a signed COA from Robert Smith and directly supports life-saving cancer research”: Schecter and the Cure’s Robert Smith join forces for charity with the release of the Shellflower UltraCure
- Roland’s latest SP-404 MKII special edition comes loaded with sounds from Moodymann’s KDJ Records – and it’s limited to just 600 units
- Baby Audio's Transit 2 reinvents the best-selling transition and motion effects tool designed in collaboration with Andrew Huang
October 14
- “I was like, ‘This is so me. She was one of the first women who was dressing kind of like a boy, and I was so drawn to that. She’s the coolest”: Billie Eilish on her new-found appreciation of a ‘00s pop-punk icon
- "One of the best covers of this I've heard": Finneas delivers a heartrending take on Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge
- “As far as guitar playing goes, go to the old school - Randy Rhoads, Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen”: The wisdom of Dimebag in the final issue of Total Guitar
- Beatles ‘64, new Scorsese-produced fab four documentary, announced
- “I’m so happy for these bitches... They’re doing great. Fans are drawn to them because they’re awesome”: Billie Eilish on the mega-success of Roan, Charli and Sabrina Carpenter
- "A guitar software instrument can sound incredible - as nuanced and human as the real thing, but only if you know exactly what you are doing with it": The ultimate guide to software guitar
- Focal’s Lensys Professional are the new big siblings to one of our favourite sets of studio headphones
- “You had Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck and all these great guitar players, but Jimi blew everybody’s socks off!”: Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones on the genius of Hendrix
- “It can control practically anything you can imagine”: New to MIDI? Start here
- “The nuclear option”: Fred Durst and Limp Bizkit sue Universal over “millions” in unpaid royalties
- "It's instant breakcore!": EB-Blasphemy is a break-slicing, generative multi-effects plugin that we can't believe is free
- “Then on-air, is where it gets nuts”: How Prince’s final, legendary guitar performance on SNL was saved by a quick-thinking audio engineer
- “Large swathes of the country are missing out on seeing artists”: New figures suggest much of the UK is becoming a ‘touring desert’
- "As a musician, you've lost money before you've even got off the ground”: A shocking analysis of the disparity between promoting music compared to other sectors
- “It’s pretty awkward to hold and you have to make sure water doesn’t spill out... but it’s definitely playable”: Burls Art unveils his guitar-quarium
- “Jimi Hendrix songs which only you can listen to!”: Previously unheard demos are up for auction - but they’re not cheap!
- “So I met her, and her dad was from down the road from me in Penarth! As she sang, I remember just thinking, wow”: Bass legend Pino Palladino on getting an unexpected call from Rick Rubin to play on an album by a “young British artist”
October 13
- “A unique-sounding synth plugin to create absorbing sounds and textures”: Expressive E Noisy 2 review
October 12
- “We’re scared of the media asking us intrusive questions and trying to pick holes in our relationship”: Liam Gallagher on why there’ll be no Oasis reunion interviews
- “We know people want to hear the best-of... we don’t want to be a legacy band that just plays its greatest hits and then that’s it”: James Hetfield on why Metallica will always play new songs
- Watch breakout UK artist Yunè Pinku flip a piano sample and build a beat from scratch
October 11
- “I’ve always said that I don’t play the guitar, I play the strings”: Ernie Ball and John Mayer team up for signature Silver Slinky guitar strings in a unique gauge that could be the Goldilocks option between heavy and light
- See Tool and BEAT drummer Danny Carey warming up behind his enormous kit
- “This thing’s f***ing sick! This one’s good!”: Watch Jared James Nichols unleash Blues Power magic on Lester Williams’ “Texas Troubador” 1954 Stratocaster, one of the most vibe-y Strats you will see
- "You simply do not need thousands of pounds of high-end gear and a top-end studio to create a great track": 8 mixing and mastering techniques every bedroom producer should know
- “That sarcasm became the song”: Pharrell Williams says his mega-hit Happy isn’t as sincere and joyful as you think, and that he’ll never stop loving former Neptunes partner Chad Hugo
- “Greeny is my Excalibur!”: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett says he’s still in love with that famous guitar
- “Okay, if I were to meet David Bowie, would I feel okay about showing David Bowie this album?”: Modular synthesist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith on making meditative electronic masterpiece, Ears
- “The record industry is, pretty much, dead”: Al Di Meola speaks out about the lack of opportunities for young musicians
- “I almost think of it as audio archaeology”: Universal Audio CEO Bill Putnam Jr on the brand’s decades-long quest to capture the spirit of classic studio gear in software
- “Clean explores the wild side of compression and brings the interactivity of distortion circuits to a clean signal”: Chase Bliss unveils Clean, a studio-quality analogue compressor with a “fun” twist
- Jonny Greenwood: Radiohead have "no plans" for 2025
- “I’m kind of fascinated with that tipping point where the artist can say ‘I don't need you anymore. Why would I need you?’”: Are record labels at risk of irrelevance? this industry expert thinks so
- “Johnny offered his services to the band”: What Noel Gallagher said when one of his heroes almost joined Oasis
- “It’s the perfect combination of vintage Fender vibe and modern high-tech performance”: Fender expands its Tone Master lineup with a tweed-covered '59 Bassman – a lightweight, digital-brained 4x10 with mojo to burn
- “This finish uses real silver in the paint… before the final clear coat is applied, the silver oxidises naturally, allowing the finish to change over time”: Ernie Ball Music Man launches Tosin Abasi's Kaizen in Gallium and it is the coolest finish ever
October 10
- “When I do the solo I’m actually out front on the stage with Olivia jumping around, but we MIDI-mapped the expression pedal so it’ll do all the whammy changes”: Olivia Rodrigo guitarist Emily Rosenfield spills her Guts World Tour secrets
- Slice beats, humanise grooves and work around the 4-track limit: 9 tips to help you get started with Ableton Move
- “It’s always hard to try to find the right innovation sweet spot, because you can do things that are too far ahead of the market”: ROLI CEO Roland Lamb on Airwave, setting music free and the challenges of innovating in today's industry
- “If Beethoven himself were here today, and he was sitting at the piano, what would the approach be?”: Jon Batiste takes Für Elise to unexpected places as he previews his Beethoven Blues album
- "We joined our creative forces and, in the end, we brought together the best of both worlds": BABYMETAL and Electric Callboy team up to create their own free videogame
- “My playing has always sucked, but it sells!”: The guitarist who co-wrote two of the most famous songs of all time admits he is no virtuoso
- Here's how you can win a $7,500 vintage Minimoog signed by Peter Gabriel
- “I was sort of hot in those days!”: The guitarist who had the cojones to replace Gary Moore in Thin Lizzy - and the chops to play alongside David Gilmour in Pink Floyd.
- "Signature models mean just that. You play the same bass I play, and you're probably better at it than I am": Blink-182's Mark Hoppus gives us the lowdown on his brand-new Fender bass and discloses why he has switched to the Neural DSP Quad Cortex
- “When we signed a record deal with Warner Brothers, she was cleaning toilets on the same day”: Will the rocketing cost of being a musician eventually kill the industry?
- “Probably some of the dumbest sh*t this band has ever put out… I want it”: Green Day fans are loving the crazy formats for Dookie ‘De-Mastered’
- Olivia Rodrigo sparks intense speculation that she’ll be headlining Glastonbury 2025 with announcement of rescheduled UK Guts World Tour dates
- “Spreading Utopia into fully surround speakers... 27 moving curtains... bespoke instruments: an aluphone, a circular flute and a reverb chamber... in a personal chapel”: Take cover, it’s Bjork’s new book
- “I’ve always wondered why there isn’t more support in this industry - not just for the artists, or the band, but for the crew, the people working their asses off from 7 in the morning to 2 in the morning": Backline demand mental health action
- "The idea of gamifying the Mind Games album has manifested as an incredible limited edition speaker and radio": Sean Ono Lennon and Teenage Engineering launch tribute OB-4 for $999
- AlphaTheta brings its A-game with the new all-in-one XDJ-AZ controller
- "Mixing on the XDJ-AZ is a hugely rewarding experience, with nothing feeling clunky or cramped": AlphaTheta XDJ-AZ review
October 9
- Cherry Audio’s Atomika revives a classic Soviet-era synthesizer
- “A new keybed, solid DAW integration, touch-sensitive controls, and deep configuration”: Arturia KeyLab 61 mk3 review
- “It's harder to put creators in the centre. It's harder to give them more creative control. But it's worth doing”: Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava on how the new Studio One integration brings the Splice ecosystem directly into the workflows of creators
- “The entire creative process of listening, playing, and creating is brought together in a single guitar”: Yamaha’s new TG3 C TransAcoustic is a cutaway dreadnought with reverb, delay, chorus, looper… And Bluetooth
- “I’ve been shredding on the guitar lately. Which has been nice”: Billie Eilish goes behind the scenes on her Hit Me Hard And Soft tour, her first with a full band
- “I would play solo piano gigs and a producer for Daft Punk came into the bar one night. He asked me if I wanted to join an all-female electronic band”: LP Giobbi on transitioning from jazz to dance music - and remixing Taylor Swift
- “He played a solo that I thought was not great. I said, ‘I feel like you could do better!’”: What Rick Rubin told legendary guitarist Joe Perry during the recording of Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s mega-hit collaboration Walk This Way
- “The compressor we always wanted but couldn’t find”: Polyend Press is stereo analogue hardware with the convenience of a plugin
- "We want to make our platform available to more people": Neural DSP's Francisco Cresp on what its new Nano Cortex means for the innovative company
- Studio One becomes the first DAW to integrate Splice as PreSonus launches Studio One Pro 7
- "That noise. I'll never get past that sound of him wailing. I could hear, 'Oh he's gone. He's gone.' My life as I knew it was completely over": Lisa Marie Presley remembers the day her father died
- Is mixing and mastering a dying art? Research shows that 8 in 10 tracks from DIY musicians exceed Spotify’s recommended loudness levels - and clipping was found in more than half
- Here’s one you’ll all know – Mk.gee plays the same song 12 times in one gig
October 8
- “Slicker than ever and although some of the improvements are quite nuanced, the incoming Sonarworks SoundID integration and monitoring extras will no doubt be suitably welcomed”: Universal Audio Apollo x8 Gen 2 review
- “The world’s most authentic amp models, no UA hardware required”: Universal Audio releases its industry standard UAFX amp modelling pedals as plugins
- “Like having a seasoned engineer in a classic analogue studio”: Universal Audio unveils new vocal production plugin Topline Vocal Suite
- “A brilliant piece of kit that’s more than a match for the demands of the modern producer/engineer”: Universal Audio Apollo x4 Gen 2 review
- “Built for the stars, ready for your studio”: Universal Audio launches the next generation of Apollo X audio interfaces with auto-gain and onboard monitor correction
- Arturia’s Synthx V plugin updates “one of the most revered synthesizer architectures of a generation” with tools that offer “advanced sound design possibilities”
- Stills and Young reunite at Harvest Moon charity festival
- “I heard that the CEO, Uli Behringer, lost sleep over that episode. He could not comprehend why a pedal company would tell you to buy other people's stuff”: JHS Pedals’ Josh Scott on praising his rivals and seeing his stomps being used by the stars
- “These are very touch-sensitive and very dynamic”: Give your Tele a tone makeover fit for a blues superstar with the Seymour Duncan Joe Bonamassa 1950 Broadcaster pickup set
- “The same professional versatility and playability as its PLUS counterpart but without all the fancy aesthetics”: Harley Benton rolls out a hot-rodded S-style for under $200 with the all-new ST-Modern HSS
- "Every movement and gesture creates a new sound unique to them, which will make music much more expressive, and could even lead to new genres of music": ROLI unveils the Airwave, an expressive new way of learning and creating using its MPE instruments
- “He was not happy about the situation…”: Neil Finn talks Fleetwood Mac and stepping into Lyndsey Buckingham’s shoes
- Finneas announces North American For Cryin’ Out Loud tour for February and March 2025
- “Designed for everyone from singer-songwriters and buskers to acoustic duos and electric players”: Positive Grid launches Spark Edge, the take-anywhere 65W amp and PA speaker with 36 amp models, 50 effects and heaps of smart features
- “He had a natural feel for music that you can’t teach - his first take was often perfect, and that’s extremely unusual”: Careless Whisper guitarist Hugh Burns on George Michael’s “remarkable talent”
- Replace drum tracks on the fly with the DDJ-GRV6 controller from AlphaTheta
- Guitar Center's Guitar-A-Thon proves guitarists don't need Amazon's Big Deal Days: save up to 35% on gear, including a mind-blowing $430 saving on the D'Angelico Premier Bedford
- “It wasn’t the mics or the compressors or the tape – it was the foot and his drum! That’s how you got that sound": Uptown Funk co-producer Jeff Bhasker on capturing ‘retro’ drum sounds
- “She has left an indelible mark on the word and an unfillable chasm in our hearts”: Teenage prodigy Nell Smith dies, aged 17
- Ableton Move aims to be the perfect hardware sketchpad for Live
- "For some, Move might prove to be a gamechanger, but others will likely struggle to fit it into their creative workflow": Ableton Move review
October 7
- Chaka Khan hits the heights with Sheila E as they perform I’m Every Woman at the American Music Awards 50th Anniversary Special
- “I swear to you when you just get a moment and you just listen, you’ll never be able to unhear it”: Pharrell Williams thinks that his falsetto vocals on one particular song sound like Mickey Mouse
- “We are tired of professional ticket touts abusing the ticket marketplace and stealing tickets out of fans’ hands, only to immediately relist them at inflated prices”: New survey finds that touts make £145 million each year from UK music fans
- “You just watch her walk in a room and it’s very easy to understand that she’s so composed, she’s graceful, she’s gracious”: Sabrina Carpenter on Taylor Swift
- "I have not thought lyrically since about the year 2000, 2001... I'm smart enough to not come back for the encore”: Henry Rollins on why he’s done with music
- "Mackie has gone above and beyond to make the ShowBox an absolute no-brainer for buskers and small live performances": Mackie ShowBox battery-powered all-in-one PA review
- “I called Taylor and we cut the drums in his home studio”: The Struts’ frontman Luke Spiller says that he and Taylor Hawkins lost out to Billie Eilish on the No Time To Die Bond theme
- “It has a reputation for being a big, dumb, four-chord song, but there’s more going on than I expected”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Oasis’s Wonderwall
- “It’s a very concerted effort I make to not do that, and to try to be influenced by things that I love and not what’s current”: Sabrina Carpenter songwriter Amy Allen on why she doesn’t listen to other contemporary pop hits
October 4
- Levelling and polishing your guitar frets might have just got a whole lot easier with the MusicNomad U File and Fret Polisher
- Pink Floyd are in the Money as they seal their back catalogue deal for £400 million
- “The Sound of Silence was the first song I wrote which seemed to come from some place that I didn’t inhabit”: Paul Simon tells all in a new three-and-a-half-hour documentary
- "It's a job many of us guitarists and bassists put off – or even avoid entirely – but it's surprising how much of a difference it makes": How to clean your guitar better
- “A complete all-in-one solution for the gigging musician requiring a powerful, compact ampless rig”: Amp modeller and profiler market heats up as IK Multimedia celebrates one year of TONEX with huge (and free) effects upgrade
- "I dream of the studio being a place that anyone can access, not just those with the money to do so": Jack Antonoff reveals plans to make public recording studios available to those who can't afford them
- “Kate Bush is the only person who can get Kate Bush back on stage. I’ve tried persuading her recently, actually. Gently”: David Gilmour on carpentry, trousers and the return of Kate Bush
- “The look and feel of a long-treasured musical companion”: Gibson expands Les Paul Standard range with satin nitro finishes and a plain mahogany topped model with a warmer tone and “punchier mids”
- “Would you like to speak to my audio engineers?”: Sabrina Carpenter claps back and confirms that she sings “live every show 100%” on her Short n’ Sweet tour
- “As far as I’m concerned, with Andy not being here, it’s impossible to have a reunion of The Smiths”: Mike Joyce scotches Smiths reunion rumblings
- How to buy and sell gig tickets (and when to run a mile)
- “It was the first piece of gear that I got in New York - it had this thunderous low end to it”: How a Prophet-5, a kalimba and a prog rock sample inspired the genesis of Bonobo’s biggest track
- "Everything being diatonic is not some sort of requirement or restriction on things sounding good": Fans and music theory experts unpick Nirvana's About a Girl
- “He’s enabled fans to achieve the iconic blink-182 tone they've always dreamed of”: Fender and Mark Hoppus team up for limited edition signature Jaguar Bass
- How ‘the loudest band in New York’ built an album out of a DIY synth (literally)
October 3
- “I was making music completely on my own; I found it quite weird including other people in a process that felt very personal”: Rising producer Yunè Pinku on DAWs, Madonna and shaking off the cobwebs of lockdown
- “Whether a listener is using Airpods or in Berghain next to a wall of speakers, the objective is to try to create a mood in people’s minds”: Producer and engineer Matt Karmil on crafting a mix that translates to any environment
- "There are few producers who haven’t employed – or lusted after – it at some point or another, such is its legendary status": Why does everyone love the UREI/UA 1176 compressor?
- “We actually pooled all our money, the whole band fund, and we were able to afford one cabinet and one amp to share – even the guitar was borrowed!”: The Offspring’s Dexter Holland recalls recording the landmark Smash on its 30th anniversary
- “We were messing with different keys and then we heard the second verse jump up. It sounds like she’s having this idea in real-time": Jack Antonoff explains that unusual key change in Sabrina Carpenter’s Please Please Please
- "This will help artists and producers who don’t have the option of hiring someone like me": Spike AI puts an AI chatbot based on chart-topping mix engineer Spike Stent inside your DAW
- Ever wanted to play your synth like a violin? A Japanese DIY enthusiast has made that a reality
- "You guys definitely have to be the first band into the Sphere, because this is the future": U2's live sound engineer on how he persuaded Bono and The Edge to be the Las Vegas Sphere's first resident band
- “They believed that if you learn the song or even hear it before you record it, it's going to sound rehearsed”: Kathy Sledge on why producers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards didn’t play We Are Family to Sister Sledge right up until they recorded it
- “She thought anything could be pop - she wanted pop to be pushed to its extremes”: Sophie’s brother and studio engineer on completing her final album and the legacy she leaves behind
- Roland just unveiled its V-Drums Quiet Design VQD106 kits, delivering “the lowest playing-noise in the history of electronic drum kits”
October 2
- “Not only a fantastic-sounding electric guitar for stage and studio use but is also equally enjoyable as a songwriting tool and is considered by many to be the ideal ‘couch guitar’”: Gibson brings back the ES-330
- “Ideal for players who love the dreadnought tone in a more comfortable size”: Martin debuts all-new body size and salutes Hawaiian influence on steel-string acoustics with the koa-backed O’ahu HG-28
- M-Audio’s new Forty Series monitors promise “precision sound, adaptability, and seamless connectivity” no matter where you’re working
- Behringer's Grind is a hybrid semi-modular synth that borrows oscillators from a beloved Mutable Instruments module
- “For those of you who didn’t get a chance to rock out in-person, now you can have the best seats in the house!”: Here’s when you can watch Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour concert special on Netflix
- “The first thing I played for Steven on this piano was this; I played that for him and he said, ‘What is that? What are you going to do with that?’”: John Williams recalls the first time he played the Jaws theme for Spielberg in new documentary
- “You’ve only got to look at the dynamic potential of 10 fingers on a keyboard compared to 10 fingers on a guitar ”: Steve Howe on six-string explorations and how a Novation Summit opened a window into fresh chord voicings on his new solo album
- “We embarked on a mission to craft the ultimate pedalboards that meet Greg's every need”: Jam Pedals teams up with Greg Koch for Koch Ness Monster signature multi-effects units
- “Our philosophy is that you should not be limited to a budget to buy the instrument of your dreams”: Harley Benton to ship direct in the US as budget-gear superpower partners with Reverb
- This new immersive music and dance-based VR game aims to alleviate anxiety in young people
- “One Platform. Infinite sounds”: Audiomodern’s Soundbox MPE-compatible sampler is all-in-one musical machine for endless instrument creation and customisation
October 1
- Issue 340 of Computer Music is on sale now
- "Most people who are real dyed-in-the-wool Gibson people, they'll say behind closed doors, when the internet's not watching, that their favourite pickup is a P-90": Joe Bonamassa introduces new Epiphone signature guitar with the 1955 Les Paul
- LR Baggs is making guitars now – can the pickup expert bring something unique to the market with its AEG-1?
- Want 33,000 classic sound effects for free? The BBC have just opened up the ultimate resource of nostalgia-inducing samples
- “That’s incredible… that is nuts”: Tom Cruise gets a Royal Albert Hall organ lesson from Anna Lapwood after a surprise appearance at Top Gun: Maverick in Concert
- "Back in the Stu with Stuart Price": Madonna is back in the studio with Hung Up mastermind Stuart Price
- Vintage-inspired drum machines, glitchy reverbs and an Arturia Polybrute 12 library: 7 of the coolest free plugins we discovered this month
- “An enhanced application that is nonetheless reassuringly familiar and reasonably priced”: Native Instruments Traktor Pro 4 review
- “At least we don’t need the wall hanger”: Man seemingly spends $4,000 on a guitar signed by Taylor Swift and then immediately destroys it
- “It’s become indispensable - I use it on almost everything because you simply can’t go wrong with it!”: Mastering engineer and musician Rafael Anton Irisarri on the piece of gear that he calls his “secret weapon”
- “If you’re doing your accounts then organisation is good, if you’re making art it’s good to work a bit blind and a bit weird”: 5 workflow tips from Hardt Antoine’s house track masterclass
- Is this the end of wired audio? AlphaTheta launches the new wireless HDJ-F10 headphones for DJs
- "The HDJ-F10s sound (mostly) great, and look good, but are they worth the £469 price tag just to remove a wire on the stage?": AlphaTheta HDJ-F10-TX review