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November 2025

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78 articles

November 11
- “If my first acoustic guitar were as easy to play as this, I’d have been insanely happy”: Fender California Standard Redondo review
- “We’ve listened to our users… we’re giving them more creative freedom to shape their tone”: Universal Audio gives its UAFX amp modelling and effects pedals an almighty power up, adding MIDI connectivity, improving presets and app integration
- KV331 Audio is giving away one of the best iPad synths we've ever tested for free
- “I wanted to create an instrument that feels classic but also pushes players to explore new tones and possibilities”: Fender and Johnny Marr reimagine the Jaguar with a limited edition signature stunner featuring three custom-wound lipstick single-coils
- “Journey wanted to make a musical change. Next thing I know I’m in Denver, Colorado with Neal Schon and we wrote our first song together that night”: How Steve Perry became the voice of Journey and took the band to its peak – before he had to bow out
- “The Purple Rain guitar was in the corner, his lava lamps were everywhere and the mixing desk had been used by Sly and the Family Stone”: Fine Young Cannibals confirm that She Drives Me Crazy was recorded at Paisley Park using Prince’s studio gear
- Behringer clones the classic Korg SQ-10 analogue sequencer with BQ-10
- The early Black Friday guitar deals don't get much better than this sale at Thomann - save up to 69% on two top-rated guitars, a Warm Audio condenser mic, a Behringer synthesizer, and loads more
- “I asked Taylor, ‘How would you feel about putting a five-string guitar on a six-string neck tuned in a very strange way”: Taylor teams up with Jacob Collier for signature acoustics that declare standard tuning DAEAD – and they’re accessibly priced
- “An incredible gesture, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities”: Sam Fender to donate his Mercury winnings to the Music Venue Trust
- “The guitar I built in Kirk’s hands… paying tribute to Tony, Ozzy and Black Sabbath, it was amazing and strange, humbling and epic”: The unique SG built by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian and played by Kirk Hammett at Back to the Beginning heads to auction
- “When it was finished, I collapsed in exhaustion”: How Moby carefully crafted Play and rescued his career
November 10
- We didn’t expect this rising artist to snag a Producer of the Year nod for the 2026 Grammys - but we’re glad he did
- “Delivers outstanding value for budget-conscious users”: the t.bone freeU HT 823 review
- "He closes the guitar case, he hands it to me and he says ‘take care of this for me’”: Shortly before he died, Warren Zevon gave David Letterman a guitar, and after 22 years, it just went “back to work” in the hands of The Killers’ Dave Keuning
- “Once I change something, I can never un-change it”: How the rigid limitations of basic audio editing software were key to the magic of Burial’s greatest album
- “I had a White Stripes fan account when I was 13”: Olivia Rodrigo sings The White Stripes' praises and performs one of their songs as she and Feist help to induct the band into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Stevie sings, Flea slaps and Beck blows on his harmonica: Sly Stone got an all-star tribute at the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony
- “Xania is an extension of me so I look at her as a real person”: Tulisha ‘Nikki’ Jones reveals the person behind her AI ‘artist’ Xania Monet
- “This business can really get tough sometimes, and you have to dig deep inside you. Paul looked for something else to lean on, and the thing he leaned on had no future in it”: How a gifted guitarist’s descent led to the rise of ’70s supergroup Bad Company
November 9
- "Then disaster struck. I parked up and when I came back out I could see that someone had thrown a brick through the rear window of my car...": John Fogerty on the making and meaning of rock’s jauntiest ode to the apocalypse
November 8
- “I got a hacksaw and I chopped down the stand and put the hi-hats down there”: How the right-handed Simon Phillips learned to play left-handed as a young drummer – with inspiration from two fusion legends and some drastic DIY
- “We would like to leave the verdict of price versus value to the customers”: Is the Roland TR-1000 really too expensive?
November 7
- “Lily arrived with the song titles, which is really unusual. She would come in and say, ‘I want to write a song called Dallas Major,’ and we’re like, ‘OK, let’s have some backstory”: The group songwriting sessions that yielded Lily Allen’s West End Girl
- "It's a pain that every producer knows: a desktop full of old sessions, forgotten mixdowns, and endless folders": Struggling to keep track of your DAW projects? This free app can help
- “I love John McLaughlin’s stuff, all those great Mahavishnu Orchestra records. There’s so much there musically. I just admire real musicians”: Journey guitarist Neal Schon on the band’s wild early days and the players who inspire him
- “I sent him some songs… he recorded something and sent it to me. And it was… well, it made me cry”: Charli XCX on how a phrase John Cale once used about the Velvet Underground’s music led to their new Wuthering Heights collaboration
- Best Christmas gifts for music producers 2025: 9 affordable ideas they'll actually use
- MusicRadar deals of the week: The early Black Friday sales continue at Guitar Center, Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, Reverb and more
- “I think that’s what grabbed people – the fact that there were real moments of humanity in it. And the melody was catchy, the rhythm and my vocal was hypnotic”: The story of Cyndi Lauper’s first No.1. hit – later recorded by Miles Davis
- “We wrote the biggest-selling single that Rod ever had, and it took us an hour to put it down. It ended up selling millions all around the world”: When Rod Stewart and drummer Carmine Appice created a controversial disco-era smash hit
November 6
- “Roland has always been extremely good at marrying the playability of its samples with the physical feel of its hardware - this kit is no exception”: Roland VAD316 review
- “For percussionists who want to take matters into their own hands when it comes to effects”: Walrus launch the DFX-1, an effects unit built for drummers
- “If you can live with just two channels, there’s a lot that impresses about this DJ controller”: Native Instruments Traktor MX2 review
- Waves is teasing a free plugin release for Black Friday – sign up today to be first in line
- “To quote Prince, ‘If the first words out of an artist’s mouth when they hit the stage aren’t heard, you’re a horrible engineer’”: Drake’s live sound engineer on why he had to be at the top of his game from first song to last on his recent European tour
- “Practise late at night, rehearse in silence, or warm up on the go – all without losing the soul of your sound”: IK Multimedia unveils the Tonex Plug – is this pocket-sized powerhouse a gamechanger for headphone amps?
- Steinberg unveils Cubase 15, a "major leap forward" for its flagship DAW with new instruments, effects, modulators and AI-powered stem separation
- Everything In Its Right Place: Radiohead switch up their setlist on the second night of reunion tour
- “I don’t know what that is – but it is an awesome guitar and I love it to bits”: Bleed From Within’s Craig ‘Goonzi’ Gowans and Steven Jones on the high-performance shred machines behind their heavyweight metalcore sound
- Waves just made the first move on Black Friday with 3 jaw-dropping offers - and one’s completely free
- “This is a step in the right direction”: Ed Sheeran gives thumbs up to government’s national curriculum changes
- "A substantial, non-trivial percentage appear to be the work of a sprawling network of Bot Accounts": Class action lawsuit claims Spotify claims has overlooked billions of fraudulent streams of Drake's music
November 5
- “If you're looking for a do-it-all acoustic guitar for well under $500, then there really aren't many better options”: Harley Benton CLG-650SM-CE review
- Planet-friendly power for your rig? Ernie Ball declares war on single-use batteries with USB-C rechargeables that promise “consistent, full-voltage performance” for pro musicians
- “We’ve played some big shows in England, but I don’t know about that one": Lindsey Buckingham claims not to know if he’s ever played Glastonbury as he reacts to Florence and the Machine’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain at the 2010 festival
- “For the majority of producers the iMac probably isn’t the right choice”: Apple iMac M4 review
- "Metamorph isn't about replacing the human voice – it's about expanding what's possible when human creativity meets responsible AI": Antares unveils MetaMorph voice modelling plugin
- “What I wanted to achieve was the J-20 sound without the reverb and the trem”: Thorpy FX teams up with boutique amp specialist Lazy J to give guitarists premium vintage Tweed tone in a pedal
- “Create endless, rich, lively soundscapes out of almost any sound”: Soma Laboratory Warp is a digital effect powerhouse with CV control
- “It was the easiest song I ever wrote, and it's the most popular, and that really scares me!”: Inside the towering M83 monolith that left its creator with mixed feelings
- “Once we had that chorus, it’s like everything came from that. Some songs you agonise over, but this was not one of them”: Boy Meets Girl on how having one song rejected led to them writing Whitney Houston’s biggest ‘80s hit
- “A dozen pickup combinations, the ability to summon both humbucker and single-coil sounds, and beautiful woods”: The ultimate semi-hollow? PRS Guitars’ latest 40th Anniversary release is a jaw dropping electric with an “artist grade” top
- “I really think this is the one that I want them to hear. I love this one”: Finneas writes new three-second ‘mnemonic’ for Apple TV
- Radiohead kick off their European tour with a career-spanning setlist in Madrid - here's everything they played and where they're headed next
- Teenage Engineering launches EP-40 Riddim, a spin on its EP-133 sampler deeply inspired by reggae, dancehall and sound system culture
- Wot no hip-hop?: The Billboard Top 30 is rap free – for the first time in 35 years
- Even Better Than The Real Thing? Xania Monet becomes the first AI ‘artist’ to reach the Billboard charts
- “No Pro Tools, no tricks or whistles. We as a band helped change the production of heavy metal records”: With one song, Pantera reinvented their sound to become one of the most influential metal bands of all time
November 4
- “All my new acoustic guitars get to listen to OutKast for about 40 hours the first week they’re in the house”: Jason Isbell shares unorthodox tone tip for new acoustics as he unveils not one but two signature Martins – and a set of strings
- Arturia launches KeyStep Mk2 with OLED display, expanded connectivity and new generative tools
- "Why are we still putting up with this?": AlphaTheta suspends CDJ-3000 firmware update after DJs complain of vanishing playlists
- “I’m still playing my original 1984 guitar on the Oasis 2025 tour, and I wouldn’t have it any other way”: Epiphone goes 'madferit' as it rolls out signature semi-hollows for Oasis's Bonehead and Gem Archer
- “I knew what I wanted but I didn’t know how to get it in a nice co-operative way… I know that I was not always the most pleasant person to work with”: David Byrne admits he was a ‘bossy pants’ in Talking Heads
- "We've seen this before - everyone talks about 'partnership,' but artists end up on the sidelines with scraps": Music Artists Coalition on Universal/Udio deal – More Details Please!
- Stuck for ideas? Here's how to create fresh basslines and melodies with Ableton Live 12’s MIDI tools
- “Step inside the studio that made history”: Universal Audio's new plugin puts "America's Abbey Road" in your DAW
- “With this poisoned music out there, we can bring AI firms to the negotiating table for fair licensing of training data for independent musicians”: Could Poison Pill be the antidote to illegal AI scraping?
November 3
- Eventide’s Temperance Lite is a new modal reverb plugin that lets you tune your reverb tails – and it’s free until December 31
- Musician's Friend just showed patience is overrated with their early Black Friday sale - save up to 50% on D'Angelico, Casio, Shure, Gretsch and more
- “The meaning behind all of this is right in front of our faces, we’re just overlooking it”: Just what was the Radiohead Binary Code theory - and was there any truth in it?
- “Do it yourself, keep it simple, don’t get overblown. You’ve done the Beatles, you’ve done A Day in the Life, you’ve done Sgt Pepper. Now come back to basics”: Paul McCartney on how he kickstarted his solo career in a remote Scottish farmhouse
- "This analogue synth will blow your mind": Behringer unveils SDS-3, a $249 clone of the classic Simmons drum synth
- “I hadn’t stopped from ’62 till ’73 – on demand continuously. And walking away was hard… because I don’t exist if I don’t have a record in the charts”: The cosmic inspiration and bitter irony in one of John Lennon’s last and most poignant songs
- “Every day, you’d go round the house and Johnny would play some riff sat having a spliff in his jimmy-jams. You’d be like, ‘That’s amazing. What’s that?’”: Mike Joyce remembers the early days of The Smiths
- “We started with the drum beat and I was like, ‘Yeah, I want to do something kind of like The Way You Make Me Feel.' And I sat at the Wurly and I went, ‘duh-du-duhh’”: Olivia Dean on writing Man I Need and the Michael Jackson hit that helped to inspire it
- “Together, we can foster a healthy AI ecosystem in which artists, songwriters, music and technology companies can all flourish and create incredible experiences for fans”: Universal and Udio lay down their arms to collaborate on new legal AI platform
November 1
- “I learned synthesis using the Micromoog, so I’ve always had an appreciation for those kinds of synths”: Ambient maestro Steve Hauschildt on the obscure plugins, generative tools and '00s digital synths behind Aeropsia