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May 2024
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176 articles
- May 18
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- "You really couldn’t make this up. But they did. And it’s fantastic": 5 Xenomania tracks producers need to hear
- “A wave-folding module destined for success, as it sounds immense”: Noise Lab Wrinkler mk2 review
- U got to book: To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Purple Rain, Airbnb is giving you the chance to stay in Prince’s house from the movie
- May 17
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- “I got kicked off my Fender deal because I couldn't stop using a Les Paul – I can't really live without one”: Lee Downer from Lowlives picks his 3 essential pieces of gear
- “This is turn up the volume, feel good Bon Jovi”: Phil X blows the dust off the talk box for new Bon Jovi single Living Proof
- "It was like finding it on the street": The Beatles' Yesterday and five other songs that were inspired by dreams
- “My tribute to the MOSFET-driven magic of a 1990s classic – the MT10 Mostortion”: Wampler Pedals’ Mofetta is a “supercharged” version of the classic Ibanez overdrive/disortion
- Superbooth 24: Stop the Press - Polyend has launched an analogue compressor pedal with plugin-style controls
- “The LP-6 is a super monitor that’s impressively quiet, accurate and characterless”: Kali Audio LP-6 2nd Wave review
- “A verbatim sonic-twin of Dave’s all-time favourite amplifier”: Friedman Amplification’s Vintage Collection debuts with the PLEX – a 50W tube head based on Dave Friedman’s legendary ‘68 JMP
- Superbooth 2024 live: all the latest synth news from Berlin, as it happens
- “It’s a truly magical pedal, and the hype surrounding it is legitimate”: Diamond Pedals resurrects its Tame Impala-approved Vibrato and it sells out “immediately” – but more are on their way!
- Superbooth 2024: Melbourne Instruments brings its motorised knobs to Delia, which promises “the flexibility of a soft synth with the tactile experience of a classic hardware synth”
- “Expanding our signature aesthetics, ergonomics, and playability to a whole new audience of creators and performers”: Abasi Concepts unveils the Larada Bass, a monster 5-string bass version of the brand’s flagship guitar
- MusicRadar deals of the week: Score up to 90% off electronic music gear at Sweetwater, 25% off Yamaha at Guitar Center and so much more
- Has the mystery of Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft album title just been solved? It looks like the misheard synth preset name has been located...
- “In this case, we’re looking at a bonafide game-changer”: Alesis Strata Prime review
- The 5 instruments you need to know about at Superbooth 2024 – New synths, samplers and drum machines
- May 16
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- "I hope the 126 does everything for you and inspires you in every way it has for me and more": Wolfgang Van Halen's EVH chambered signature model arrives for sale after three years of development
- Walrus extends its Canvas pedal utility line with Power Series supplies
- Unmissable deal alert! Chapman Standard and Pro guitars are half-price at Andertons for a limited time
- “As faithful to the original as humanly possible”: Can Behringer really bring you the sound of a $4,000 Neve hardware compressor for less than $500?
- "It was totally, totally nuts": The Edge was so impressed with Universal Audio's Lion '68 amp pedal, he didn't just add it to his rig – it changed the tone for his intro to U2's Las Vegas Sphere gigs
- "I wish everyone could sit in a room with vintage AC30s or Plexi Marshalls and have that experience, and a lot of people won't – I'm happy we're trying to do that": How Universal Audio rewired the modelling amp pedal concept, and won the Edge over
- Superbooth 24: “Simply plug in and start doing what you do” - Chase Bliss’s Onward is a dynamic sampler pedal that responds to your playing
- Superbooth 24: Erica Synths’ “highly musical” Nightverb desktop reverb unit steps into the light
- Superbooth 24: ASM crosses its Hydrasynth line with silver as it launches two very limited-edition 5th anniversary models
- Superbooth 24: "This isn't just a synth, it's Tom Oberheim's dream, realized": The TEO-5 gives you the classic Oberheim sound at an affordable price point
- Superbooth 24: UDO's Super 8 is a slimmed-down Super Gemini with (almost) everything we loved about that synth - and a cheaper price tag
- May 15
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- Behind-the-scenes footage of Michael J Fox playing guitar ahead of Back To The Future's school dance audition scene confirms he had serious chops back in '85
- Watch Lauten Audio uncannily recreate Metallica’s Black Album drum sound with the original kit, at LA’s One on One studios where the album was recorded
- Apple’s new Music Haptics feature will make it possible to ‘feel’ the music on your iPhone
- Superbooth 24: iZotope announces RX 11, the latest version of “Hollywood’s favourite toolkit for intelligent audio repair”
- "This is sort of blasphemous and sacrilegious… I might have fibbed a little bit and said 'never' with the digital modelling s***": Jim Root reveals he's using the Neural DSP Quad Cortex live with Slipknot, and adding his old PRS guitars to the rig
- Issue 335 of Computer Music is on sale now
- “Dive deeper”: rekordbox 7 promises to give DJs a smarter, leaner and faster way of managing their music
- “A novel and powerful new take on drum generation”: Forever 89 Visco review
- Superbooth 24: “Didn’t know they came in that size!”: Erica Synths supersizes its Bullfrog edu-synth for the classroom
- "It was love at first feel, to quote Bon Scott": Charlie Starr is getting a signature Gibson Les Paul Junior – and it's a stunner
- May 14
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- Lauten Audio announces Tom Mic - which it says is the world's first large diaphragm condenser mic specifically designed for rack and floor toms
- “All the wear and tear from decades of touring is perfectly recreated on this incredible limited edition”: Fender unveils a $20,000 Masterbuilt replica of Joe Strummer’s 1966 Telecaster
- “This will take your tone straight back to the days when Good Vibrations and Fun, Fun, Fun ruled the airwaves!”: Sweetwater teams up with JHS Pedals, Benson Amps and Keeley Electronics for The Beach Boys Studio Effects Collection
- “The Beatles broke up at the right time… Imagine them going through synth pop in the ‘80s. It would have been shocking”: Paul Weller on how the Fab Four “set the benchmark” and being a Billie Eilish fan
- Superbooth 24: "This is the most expressive polyphonic analogue synthesizer ever made": Arturia unveils PolyBrute 12 with doubled polyphony and improved aftertouch
- “Whether laying down scorching leads or simmering rhythm licks, these pickups ensure fiery country tone without the vintage hum”: Seymour Duncan serves up tasty Hot Chicken Strat and Tele pickups for modern country players
- Universal Audio’s new Standard Series mics bring Hemisphere modelling to drum and instrument recording
- Superbooth 24: Moog’s Spectravox is “not just an instrument - it’s a portal into uncharted sonic realms,” but you might have seen it somewhere before
- “More than just a favourite instrument of one of rock's greatest living guitarists”: Eric Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’ 000-28 Martin acoustic is heading to auction (again)
- “It's like a decade of intermittently receiving rape or death threats on the internet”: Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry speaks out on online abuse, cyber misogyny and the rise of deepfake technology
- "If you play any song to me that came out in 2024 I can tell you what DAW it was made on": How To Dress Well
- Superbooth 24: "The ultimate analogue modular system": This colossal £15,000 synth was specially designed for Hans Zimmer, but you can buy one too
- David Gilmour's prestige venue Luck and Strange tour now includes his first US dates in 8 years
- “A legendary Epiphone original comes home to the USA”: Epiphone unveils the US-made Coronet and it is a nitro-finished single-pickup rock ’n’ roll machine
- How to use classic dance sounds in modern deep house
- How to recreate the sound of Kraftwerk's Autobahn in your DAW
- Superbooth 24: Tracker+ updates Polyend's flagship groovebox with 4 new synth engines, stereo sampling, an expanded sequencer and more
- Superbooth 24: "Think the strings of a guitar or keys of a xylophone, but embedded into electronic synthesis": Korg unveils the next prototype for the experimental instrument Acoustic Synthesis_phase 8
- May 13
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- "I'm a fuzz junkie – I've got an obscene amount of fuzz boxes": Feeder's Grant Nicholas picks his essential pieces of gear
- "The most helpful, user-friendly versions yet": Apple Logic Pro for Mac 11/Logic Pro for iPad 2 review
- "He was simply one of the greatest players to ever pick up the instrument": Try these guitar chords that Prince used to elevate his classic songs
- "There is something much more interesting going on there like the Isley Brothers": Bono says Coldplay aren't a rock band
- "People definitely read into it too deeply, but that's how Twitter goes": What exactly is 'mixing in key' and why have DJs been arguing over it?
- "It's a nuclear violin": Yngwie Malmsteen gives us the Strat history lesson with his guitar collection that we didn't know we needed
- "The crowd erupts every time we start playing the riff - people never get sick of it": The Killers' Dave Keuning on the birth of the band's signature tune
- Superbooth 24: Dreadbox reinvents the Murmux analogue synth in a limited-edition 8-voice version called Adept
- "It's probably one of the most challenging things I've taken on for a long time": Brian May pushed himself to the limit for his Jean-Michel Jarre live collaboration, and it paid off big time
- "I’ve finally been able to make my dream a reality": MidiWrist Unleashed offers MIDI control wizardry from your Apple Watch
- May 12
- May 11
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- “He gave me a bunch of pills... I could barely move my arm, so I could only play high up on the neck, and the first thing I did was that riff. I don't remember when I sang 'sex on fire'": The story of Kings of Leon's global smash
- "Getting her to the studio was tough! But once we got her there, she was wonderful. We really sprung Slave... on her": The story of Grace Jones’ Slave to the Rhythm - tempo changes, stacked Roland synth patches and Trevor Horn
- Hone your rock rhythm timing in 20-minutes with this guitar workout
- May 10
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- “Our goal is to further support and enhance the learning experience”: Fender launches Play 1:1, a learning platform offering personalised online and on-demand guitar lessons with its top teachers
- Technics ramps up the RPM as it launches a Lamborghini-themed special edition of the SL-1200 turntable
- A signature Strat from the Edge’s personal collection is heading to auction, expected to fetch upwards of $75,000 for charity
- Zildjian announces Alchem-E Gold-EX, Gold and Bronze electronic drum sets in three different configurations, “We set out to create the most realistic, authentic playing experience across the entire kit and are confident that drummers will agree.”
- How AI is being weaponized in Drake and Kendrick Lamar's rap beef
- “A psychedelic vintage fuzz pushing a long classic reverb, that transforms your guitar’s voice and lets it party!”: Gone Fishing Effects and Kasabian’s Sergio Pizzorno team up for signature fuzzbox
- “The shape of things to come”: Rivolta Guitars unveils the Forma series – three bold, radical, retro electrics that offer Dennis Fano designs at non-boutique prices
- "Despite recording some truly iconic albums that became a huge part of pop culture history, he always felt like one of us": Five seminal records Steve Albini worked on
- "We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry": Apple apologises for controversial iPad Pro ad showing instruments being destroyed
- “This is where my kids play sometimes after school”: Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock built a studio that is like Willy Wonka’s very own guitar gear emporium – and it even has a walk-in pedal closet
- “There’s no way I’m spending more on a Rhodes than a car - it’s ridiculous for a working-class musician”: Prefuse 73
- “Ladies And Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones”: Actor Ian McShane says that he recorded his iconic Slave To The Rhythm spoken-word intro after smoking “a large spliff” with Trevor Horn in the studio
- Billie Eilish has released a 49-second clip of new song Chihiro via Fortnite Festival and it confirms that it’s a synth-led electronic banger
- “These huge machines, created centuries ago, were tackling the same challenges of synthesis and sampling and sound reproduction that we struggle with today": Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood is bringing church organ music to the modular masses
- May 9
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- Slash has a new signature Gibson guitar – and it's an ES-335!
- "This gal comes walking up towards me and she's topless, but she had these incredibly blue eyes and I was trying my best just to look at her eyes": The unexpected story of how John Oates and Iva Davies wrote Icehouse's Electric Blue
- "Despite the teeny tiny size it’s packing loads of useful features": Arturia MiniFuse 1 review
- “The first AI voice changer plugin for your DAW”: Sonarworks SoundID VoiceAI can make your vocal tracks sound like they were sung by someone completely different
- "I’m speaking a musical language with the modular synthesizer as my pen": Meet Arushi Jain, the "modular princess" using synths to reimagine Indian classical music
- "I always think this is the closest anyone has ever come to making the perfect record": The story of The Undertones' punk classic Teenage Kicks
- "This is what Bruce calls his primal scrub": Bob Clearmountain talks mixing and tweaking Springsteen's Born In The USA guitars
- Program a sequencer-based drone with this free plugin
- "Tone-deaf and insulting to artists of every kind": New Apple iPad Pro ad showing musical instruments being destroyed described as "horrendously bad" and "deeply offensive"
- May 8
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- Classic Interview: Steve Albini – "A lot of people in my position are opposed to the home-recording of music. They feel like it cheapens what happens in the studio, but I disagree"
- Acclaimed studio engineer and musician Steve Albini has died aged 61
- “She’s slightly behind the beat but this doesn’t make her sound sloppy; to the contrary, it shows an effortless command of musical time”: A music professor breaks down Amy Winehouse's Back to Black
- “The ultimate recording interface for your favourite DAW”: PreSonus’s new Quantum ES and HD audio interfaces feature instrument inputs that were co-developed with Fender
- “The A&R and the label actually didn’t like it. They were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s a fun song, but it’s never going to get on the radio'": How Train went from nearly splitting up to proving them wrong with smash hit Hey, Soul Sister
- "It was shocking because they still thought of the Beatles as the mop-tops": Let It Be director Michael Lindsay-Hogg on that Paul vs George argument and his newly restored "break-up" movie
- "I had 25 feet to walk over to my kit and figure it out… 20… 15… 10… 5...": Kenny Aronoff recalls his terrifying Jack and Diane drum fill experience
- "I’d never made a guitar before I made the Cloud guitar for Prince": Now the legendary six-string is expected to raise up to $600k at auction
- “Why does it only have drums and vocals?”: Watch Karol G keyboard player Jemma Heigis trying to figure out the chords for Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power Of Love, a song she’s never heard before
- These 6 guitar chords are great for classic rock – and more besides
- "It's the marmite of DAWs!": 7 things I love about Pro Tools (and 3 that I really don't)
- “Suddenly, you’re in a Vangelis type world”: Hans Zimmer on why the expanded, 6-oscillator Minimoog emulation he created with Synapse Audio gives you “something that you’ve never had before”
- "George Harrison said, ‘When the Beatles play a low E, it sounds like a low E. When Duane plays it, it sounds an octave lower!’”: The story of Duane Eddy's Peter Gunn theme
- Computer Music 335 July 2024: free downloads
- Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee are still jamming together: "We’re actually playing a lot of Rush songs" – but there are caveats
- "One of the largest collections of music production software in the world": Native Instruments unveils NI 360 subscription platform
- "The G5024E delivers a rich, resonant tone typical of dreadnought guitars but with a distinct clarity and brightness": Gretsch G5024E Rancher review
- Songwriting tips you can use: Program the perfect bassline in your DAW
- "If you’re into creating interesting vocoder sounds, try feeding a drum machine through the vocoder instead of a vocal": 14 tried and tested vocal effect tips
- Apple’s super-thin new iPad Pro gets an M4 chip, but the much more affordable iPad Air M2 could be the savviest option for music makers
- "The go-to destination for professionals and creatives seeking meaningful connections": Influential music, film and tech festival SXSW is coming to London in 2025
- May 7
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- “I have never experienced anything like that. It was like piano strings, and it was so far off the neck”: Lee Ritenour on the time BB King invited him to play Lucille and the guitar made him work for every note
- "I can't stand them": Slash reveals he isn't a fan of using in-ear monitors live, but he does like using guitar plugins in the studio
- “The best music creation experience in the industry”: Apple announces Logic Pro 11 for Mac and Logic Pro for iPad 2, adding AI-powered bass and keyboard players and built-in stem separation
- Want to channel your inner Daft Punk? Here are 9 of the coolest vocal processing tools
- “A monstrous amplifier that transcends the boundaries of imagination”: Neural DSP launches upgraded Fortin Nameless Suite X plugin – your new digital solution for atom-smashing chug
- "Your ears will fall in love with the new studio tools": Bitwig Studio updated with new multiband compressor and hardware-inspired EQs
- “If it makes it more accessible and achievable for girls to chase their dreams, then it’s a win”: Epiphone and Miranda Lambert team up for a stunning yet affordable take on her top-selling signature Gibson Bluebird acoustic
- May 6
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- "I have a different perspective on all of that": Richie Sambora releases uncut interview footage from Bon Jovi documentary series that sheds new light on the tensions that led to his departure
- “A veritable playground of vintage synthesis and exploration”: Analogue Solutions Ample review
- “An extremely significant and very well executed update to this remarkably powerful audio production platform”: Steinberg Nuendo 13 review
- "It’s simple enough to create the perfect hard-tuned and harmonised effects within our DAW, providing you have the right software": How to harness hard-tuned vocals
- "Inside some of these catchy tunes lie really interesting voicings": Learn 4 guitar chords from the Foo Fighters
- How to hard-tune your vocals using Logic Pro's stock pitch correction plugin
- May 5
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- The 5 foolproof ways to start a guitar solo
- Eric Clapton and the song he said he'd never play live again: “I got at least 150 letters a day directly from people who were dealing with their own grief... and not really having the tools to deal with it"
- Issue 409 of Future Music is out now
- “A highly creative plugin, with enormous capacity that extends way beyond vocal usage”: Antares Vocal Reverb review
- “Holds its own in the shadow of its older Oddity sibling, sporting some really beautiful synthetic textures”: GForce Software Axxess review
- How to achieve the Bon Iver-style Prismizer vocal in your DAW
- May 4
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- How to play Edge-style rhythm guitar with four unusual chords from U2 songs
- “It wins hands down both visually and sonically, and the fact that it’s free makes it a no-brainer”: Cherry Audio Synthesizer Expander Module (SEM) review
- "Rap purists wouldn't dig us as we weren't straight-up rap. We weren't an indie group, or a rock group": Stereo MC Rob Birch on the making of classic '90s album Connected
- "The result is a track that perfectly encapsulates the 'anything goes' atmosphere of the early '90s, and makes a great Christmas record for the discerning raver": The top 10 most unlikely sample sources
- “You now get close to 40 instruments in total which is quite incredible”: Arturia V Collection X review
- How to play mono synth properly: the skills you need to master
- Catching Flies shows us how to breathe life into digital-sounding synth patches
- May 3
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- “I thought he was gonna hook me”: Fran Healy remembers when Travis 'lifted' Noel Gallagher's chords to Wonderwall
- Triad chords could be your new secret guitar weapon: here are 3 reasons why
- A lightweight, affordable option for Jimmy Page ‘Stairway…’ manoeuvres? Danelectro’s new $899 doubleneck electric guitar could be this year’s super-cool sleeper hit
- Superbooth 24: Could the friendly-looking First Love be the FM synth that you fall head over heels for?
- “People deplore AI, but it helps sampling become so much clearer and crisper”: Tourist on how AI tech helped shape his new album, Memory Morning
- "I was probably off my head... it wasn't meant to be a novelty record, it was meant to be an underground record": The story of The Prodigy’s cartoon-sampling rave hit Charly
- “It is with a heavy heart that we announce that all store locations will begin store closing sales today”: End of an era for US gear retail as Sam Ash Music to close
- “This ‘notched’ guitar tone has been used by legends like Carlos Santana and Brian May. It’s a fantastic tone to have at your disposal”: Red Witch unveils Euphemia, an analogue sample hold filter with a twist
- “Duane’s sound was distinctive, original and completely cutting edge at the time”: Brian May pays tribute to late rock ’n’ roll pioneer Duane Eddy and remembers the night his hero played the Red Special
- Stevie Wonder flexes his Clavinet chops as he hits the stage with Gary Clark Jr to perform What About The Children
- Designed "to expand the realms of sound design through intricate motion", this quirky French synth has light sensors and a retro pin matrix
- "The aluminium model is, frankly, a stone-cold bargain": DrumCraft Vanguard snare drums review
- May 2
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- “It’s dynamic and it’s versatile, and thanks no doubt to its enclosed tube it is very ‘amp-y’”: ThorpyFX and Chris Buck apply real valve heat to overdrive and boost with signature Electric Lightning pedal
- “I made Yngwie play on a really slow blues… He sounds even faster”: Dweezil Zappa reveals plans to finish epic all-star track featuring 40 players, including Brian May, and Eddie Van Halen playing a “greatest hits of all of his best guitar licks”
- “There’s no such thing as a wrong note”: Jacob Collier takes you inside his “wise” music room and explains why he can’t stop using a discontinued Native Instruments MIDI keyboard
- 5 common issues every DJ faces and how to fix them: “Aside from your digging, curation, selection and mixing skills, a basic working knowledge of the equipment is essential”
- The samples from every Prodigy album track have been found and detailed in one epic YouTube masterpiece
- CloudVocal's FlashTrack microphone revolutionizes recording with innovative DSP and versatile features
- “Get you to your sound faster”: Reason 13 puts the focus on workflow, and there are new synth and ‘space delay’ devices, too
- “A funk bass stripped down to its essence – beautiful, minimal, well-crafted”: Vulfpeck funk maestro Joe Dart teams up with Sterling By Music Man for super affordable $399 signature bass
- Is this the most disastrous venue launch of all time? Opening show at Co-op Live cancelled after piece of air conditioning unit falls from the ceiling: "To cancel an event whilst people are queuing to get in is an absolute disgrace!"
- “It’s like a T-Rex made out of chocolate cake”: John Petrucci issues update on new Dream Theater album, promising the “Mount Rushmore” of guitar tones – and a special treat for Tonemission users
- Music from Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo and The Weeknd is returning to TikTok, thanks to a “multi-dimensional licensing agreement” with Universal
- "He transformed a piece of samba-flecked elevator music into one of the hardest hip-hop tracks of all time": 10 genius moments in hip-hop sampling history, featuring J Dilla, DJ Premier and more
- Duane Eddy: “Our echo chamber was actually a 2,000-gallon water tank. We went down to the Salt River, visited a junkyard there... and we yelled into tanks”
- “It’s a silly name for a non-silly thing": Tributes paid to "Sultan of Twang", Duane Eddy, who has died aged 86
- May 1
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- “A magnificent synth and worth the large outlay if you make the most of the year's All Access content”: Minimal Audio Current review
- Mr piano mule: Man jailed for attempting to smuggle £4.2m illicit stash into the UK in the back of an upright piano
- “An exploration of China's rich musical heritage”: Arturia’s Augmented Yangtze puts a contemporary spin on 6 classic instruments
- Song Athletics releases its first plugin, a sampler "designed to help you find the joy in your one shot collection"
- "We have a huge vision for our software. Our dream is to change how people create music digitally": Modalics on their pizza-inspired, polyrhythmic beatmaking plugin
- “One second you speak to the driver, and next, you are up there in the air”: It’s ‘Jean-Michel flying car’ as the French electronic music pioneer becomes the world’s first passenger in the KleinVision AirCar
- Thomann's 70th birthday celebrations just got even bigger with the addition of super deals on PRS, Korg, Taylor, AKG, Bose and more
- "Most DAWs include some form of vocoder plugin, so why not use what you already have?": How to use the vocoder in Logic Pro
- "This is when you need to get serious": Signing a music contract? Here are 5 things you really need to look out for