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June 2024

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277 articles

June 29
- “After careful consideration, we are revising our sponsorship model”: South By South West ditches sponsorship by Army and defence contractors
- “I heard some ruckus outside… It was Kurt and Dave from Nirvana who had a note for me, saying, ‘This is not a joke, call Buzz about playing with the Melvins’”: Joe Preston on Thrones, Sunn O))) and life as the underground’s first-call bassist
- "The smaller PRS members are subsidising the larger members to get these preferential conditions”: Fripp, Mary Chain sue the Performing Rights Society
- “We got into the early Cars thing and began to notice a musical similarity between us and them": The story of Weezer's Buddy Holly
- How to make country-style EDM like Avicii
June 28
- “We’ve made it feel like you're playing a tube amp”: Laney rolls out the Lionheart Foundry series – can these feature-packed solid-state combos compete with their tube-driven counterparts?
- "Leave notes to the imagination": Chromeo reveal the secret to bringing funk to electronic music
- “Derek, you could play slide with a ham sandwich and make it sound good”: Watch Derek Trucks use a drumstick as a slide and still make his guitar sing
- "We knew that something about it was really special, but we could not figure it out. Was it the key? Was it the verses?”: Producer and songwriter Dan Nigro on finding the gold in Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe!
- Issue 411 of Future Music is out now
- “Now let’s check out the weird knob”: Shabat built Dweezil Zappa a new signature guitar and it is an HSS S-style “rock machine” like no other
- Away from the crowds, rare backstage footage shows Amy Winehouse covering a classic Beatles song at Glastonbury 2004
- "She wants this set to go down in history": Dua Lipa rumoured to be joined by Calvin Harris, Tame Impala and Cyndi Lauper in surprise Glastonbury appearances
- “Noise-free operation for even the most demanding pedalboards”: Harley Benton launches the mothership of budget pedalboard power supplies, offering 12 isolated outputs for under $150
- “I miss him every minute, of course. I talk to him every day”: Avicii’s father talks about his grief as footage of last ever gig gets wider release
- “It’s MIDI, don’t get mad at me! If I could play bass like that, I would!”: Producer Ian Kirkpatrick on the bassline for Dua Lipa’s Don’t Start Now
- How to craft the perfect synth bassline
- How to play mono synth properly: all the skills you need to master
- "In reality, it looked... odd, with its spare front-panel occupied almost entirely by graphics and sporting two vertically stacked wheels on the left edge": 12 synths that should have been classics, but weren’t
June 27
- “Whether you're upgrading from the SM7B or exploring professional microphones for the first time, the SM7dB is a compelling option that stands out in its category”: Shure SM7dB review
- "Casio has created a high-quality digital piano that provides real bang for your buck, and it’s managed to do it with a certain level of sophistication and style": Casio AP-750 Digital Home Piano review
- “The Beatles are my biggest inspiration and the main thing that was in my ears when I was a child, and this song is just incredible”: Billie Eilish names the Beatles song she wishes she’d written
- “We are still not fully recovered, so sadly our great tour will have a big unplanned break”: Mystery illness forces Neil Young to cancel shows
- How to use an amp simulator with an audio interface
- “I couldn't afford a set of strings, so I'd play the same strings for about six months... and then boil them, so all the crap would come off them, and they'd sound almost new again”: Geezer Butler on Sabbath’s cash-strapped early days
- Which audio interfaces do the pros use?
- “Dave really wants to do another record and just get something fresh out there”: James LoMenzo confirms Megadeth are working towards new album
- How to make a free modern soft synth sound like a dusty old ’70s vintage synth (that cost a fortune!)
- Celebrating 60 years of the synth: the '90s
- What's so special about analogue synthesizers?
- Master 10 classic synth riffs in an instant
June 26
- Give Splice one of your own loops and it will now use AI to find a compatible stack of sounds to go with it
- Major record labels sue AI music generators, alleging "copyright infringement on an almost unimaginable scale"
- “Amazing artistry, writing, talent in that record”: Grammys CEO says that Kendrick's Drake diss track could be nominated
- Honey, I shrunk the decks: Drift launches ultra-compact DJ mix system
- Machinedrum on returning to Impulse Tracker to collaborate with his younger self: “I was reconnecting to my past and taking these songs across the finish line 25 years later”
- "As a little girl I’d had dreams like that and there I was on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. I’ve played there many times, but not with Eric Clapton next to me!": Susan Tedeschi on honouring Jeff Beck and why the Telecaster chose her
- “If you want natural vocals, you’ve come to the wrong place”: Baby Audio’s new Humanoid plugin promises “extreme hard tuning” and vocal transformation
- How to get away with using synth presets
- "We put a whole web browser in a VST plugin": WebSampler just made sampling the internet easier than ever
- Ray Volpe: “Sometimes I won’t touch Ableton for two months, then I’ll be in there every day for 14 hours a day cranking out four crazy ideas back to back”
- The 10 best synth presets ever used, and where to hear them
- SampleRadar Synth Week 2024 special: grab 3,569 free synth samples!
- How to design an ambient drone with your Eurorack modular synth
- Celebrating 60 years of the synth: the '70s
June 25
- “The goal was to build an amp that covers everything while honouring the heritage of its iconic Mark IIC+ predecessor”: John Petrucci teams up with Mesa/Boogie for the feature-stacked JP-2C 1x12 combo
- “We missed being there, and I’m excited to see everyone again back in Anaheim”: NAMM receives massive boost as Fender announces return
- “Enjoy classic P-90 tone without the noise and without major guitar surgery!”: Seymour Duncan makes a great pickup even better as it gives the humbucker-sized Phat Cat the Silencer treatment
- “From tasteful rhythm overdrive to full on, singing lead sounds… Hendrixian walls of speakers tumbling to the ground”: Red Witch promises classic Beano-era Clapton, American Woman and more classic drive and fuzz tones with the Hypostasia
- “Play was made in my bedroom on cheap equipment - I never expected anyone to listen to it”: Moby on producing the best-selling electronica album of all time
- “I see guys playing and it is almost like they are afraid of silence and space. You’ve got to think of playing as a conversation”: Tom Bukovac on 4 mistakes every intermediate player makes – and how to avoid them
- "Despite their dated appearance, these legacy synths offer incredible versatility and potential": 7 classic Logic Pro synths you might have forgotten - but are still worth using today
- "People think you just press a button and make a hit song - if it was that easy, everybody would have one": Who will pay the price for AI-generated samples?
- Thunderbolt vs USB audio interfaces: what's the difference?
- "Pushed to extremes, reverb and delay can become sound sources in their own right": 5 techniques for ambient sound design
- "This is about the human at the center": 50 music tech brands come together to endorse Roland and UMG's Principles for Music Creation with AI
- “I don’t know that there’s ever been a JHS circuit where we experimented more”: JHS Pedals unveils Hard Drive distortion pedal after eight years of high-gain R&D
- “I’m about to pull my catalog from these vultures, enough’s enough”: Is Deadmau5 about to delete Spotify?
- 60 years of the synth: the '80s
- 7 underrated VST synths you might not know about (but really should)
- The 5 synths that gave us synth-pop
- 15 of the greatest synth icons ever: Carlos, Hancock, Jarre and more
June 24
- "His experimentation with the physicality and tonal possibilities of the electric guitar seemingly knew no bound": 5 songs you need to hear by Jeff Beck
- Google’s DeepMind 'V2A' AI technology can create soundtracks for videos based on both their pixels and your text prompts
- "Eddie was doing these extended solos so Tony had to have a word with him about that": Geezer Butler remembers the ups and downs of Black Sabbath being upstaged by Van Halen, and his hopes for a final farewell show with Bill Ward
- Learn to play guitar for just $4.99 a month with this mammoth Fender Play discount - get 60% off for a limited time
- Peak and Summit – the best sounding synthesizers Novation has ever made
- "The biggest online preset library in your DAW": Waves expands the StudioVerse with cloud-based virtual instrument plugin rack StudioVerse Instruments
- “Is this pop? Now it’s R&B… it’s got the double espresso thing going on”: pro pianist Erskine Hawkins creates a new version of Sabrina Carpenter’s hit single based on just the drums and vocals
- "I can’t think of a more iconic way of celebrating this 100-year milestone": The Marshall JTM gets a special spec for Celestion speakers' anniversary
- "The key to creating ambient synth sounds lies in slow and subtle movement": The ultimate guide to ambient sound design
- “I could sing in tune but now I think I’ve gotten so lazy because I sing with Auto-Tune all the time”: Charli XCX on how a reliance on pitch correction software means that her tuning is now "pretty out, because my ear is so used to leaning in”
- "You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that”: Sheryl Crow slams Drake’s use of AI ‘Tupac’
- "Most of my clients have a story to tell - I try to mirror that in the instrument somehow": Synth designer Love Hultén is making some of the weirdest instruments you've ever seen
- Gibson honours Jeff Beck with YardBurst 1959 Les Paul Standard
- “I’m telling you man; you don’t want to incur the wrath of Taylor Swift”: Dave Grohl lights the blue touchpaper on Foo's "Errors Tour"
- “Watch this, he’s not fu*king around!” says Dave Grohl as Shane Hawkins plays drums with Foo Fighters during two consecutive London dates
- Is this the end for the Moog One? Belgian retailer Turnlab says Moog's flagship poly is "now discontinued"
- Dave Grohl spotted using a Gibson Explorer again live with the Foo Fighters – but something about this one suggests it might become a signature model
- 20 speedy synth and synthesis tips
- 5 synths that didn't get the recognition they deserved: "What if synth history had taken a different turn?"
- "It's a great synth, for sure, but $25,000 great? No chance": 5 stupidly expensive vintage synths (and how to get their sound for free)
- 6 criminally underrated hardware synths that you can still buy today
June 22
- Getting better: 5 key ways the Beatles can help improve your guitar playing
- "It’s just going to get better over the next few years until everyone’s going to be wearing them": How VR and AR could change music production
June 21
- Born to strum: Learn 4 Bruce Springsteen guitar chords and inspire your own guitar glory days
- “There’s something about the JCM800 that just feels really good”: Polyphia’s Tim Henson and Scott LePage on why the classic Marshall tube amp has become a mainstay of their backline
- “My finger is here to shred another day!”: Sophie Lloyd feared she was going to lost a finger after ending up in hospital following video shoot for new single
- "It took me approximately 30 minutes to make that beat": DJ Mustard on producing Kendrick Lamar's chart-topping Drake diss track Not Like Us
- "I think the whole thing was turned around in two days": The two-man Cure lineup that recorded one of the greatest film soundtrack songs of all time for The Crow
- "I'm not excited about AI making stuff that a human could do - I want to hear things that humans have never imagined": Imogen Heap on AI, making her own voice model, and a new era of musical collaboration
- "Bitwig Studio evolves with the world around it - but we don't announce features until they are ready": We sit down with Bitwig for a roundtable discussion to mark ten years of its remarkable DAW
- “I know what I’m holding at this stage in my life, that I could tank that market”: Joe Bonamassa says it is not scarcity but the perception of scarcity that drives up prices for vintage gear
- “No Anchorman, no Wes Anderson, and no Lonely Island if Sabotage did not exist”: New Vevo Footnotes version of Beasties Boys' landmark vid unleashed
- “We just met Zakk Wylde so we're gonna ask him and give him a three-minute long session and let him rip”: Polyphia start lining up album number 5
- Struggling to finish a song? This AI music generator could finish it for you
- The Heart Of Rock N’ Roll stops beating: Huey Lewis Broadway musical closes
June 20
- Waves just slashed pretty much every plugin down to only $29.99 - including the channel strip we swear by
- "We can’t deny that going back to it after a few years away has been a joyful experience": Reason Studios Reason 13 review
- "The Beatles were never afraid to experiment with their chord choices inside songs": here are 4 to inspire your guitar playing
- "Analogue sounds better to you whether you know it does or you don't – 6 million years of evolution is not gonna be fooled by 30 years of chip design": The front-of-house sound engineer for Van Halen, Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck talks gear
- Mutator returns: Behringer brings back the legendary ‘90s analogue filter/envelope follower that is said to have been used by Daft Punk, Radiohead, Beck, The Chemical Brothers and Nine Inch Nails
- "Spectral editing and AI-driven audio processing takes a leap forward": Steinberg unveils SpectraLayers 11 with enhanced AI-powered unmixing, workflow enhancements and new user interface
- “2025 is all about Guns N’ Roses”: Slash plots course
- “The problem is, we're missing our commander in chief”: Wendy & Lisa on performing at First Avenue with The Revolution to play Purple Rain without Prince
- I Want It All: Sony snaps up Queen back catalogue for over $1 billion
- Quick Tips: Fire up your inspiration with Live 12’s Generative Tools
- "Artists will be able to sing in languages they don’t speak and perform duets with their younger selves": UMG partners with makers of AI-powered vocal plugin MicDrop
- “No more handing over your smartphone or worrying about intrusive ads”: Zuckerberg and McCartney invest in screen-free children’s audio player
June 19
- Stevie Nicks reveals the two reasons why "there is no chance of putting Fleetwood Mac back together in any way"
- “He started trying to play chords on it and he said ‘Malcolm! Bob! What’s wrong with this instrument? It only plays one note at a time!’”: Robert Margouleff on the first time Stevie Wonder got his hands on the TONTO synth
- “Super quiet, accurate and won’t colour your mix”: Kali Audio LP-8 Second Wave review
- “My songs make the perfect source material - sometimes I write an entire song just to sample it after”: Elsa Hewitt on sampling and remixing her own music
- 7 reasons every creative needs an audio interface
- Is the keyboard easy to learn? Here's 9 reasons why it's one of the best starting points for any new musician
- "I think the only person making new albums these days is Taylor Swift or Olivia Rodrigo. I don't know other people who make albums”: Billy Joel explains why he won’t be releasing another LP
- "Spill your sound into time": Designed in collaboration with Nine Inch Nails' Alessandro Cortini, Make Noise's new Eurorack module is an "audio alchemical experiment"
- "Any synth with a noise generator can be used for basic drum design": How to synthesize drums using noise
- "Distortion can do really interesting things to ambient noise recordings": 6 processing techniques for ambient noise
- Watch: Josh Freese delivers a jaw-dropping version of Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher drum intro at Foo Fighters’ Glasgow gig
June 18
- Yamaha reveals its new flagship acoustic guitar with the FS9
- Polyphia’s Scott LePage teases new signature Ibanez Xiphos – a reimagined über-metal classic from the X Series
- “I’ll see you there!”: George Benson announces 4-day “musical extravaganza” Breezin' With The Stars, with gigs and workshops featuring Tommy Emmanuel, Lee Ritenour, Steve Lukather and more
- “There really are no mistakes. Turn knobs until it sounds good”: Snarky Puppy’s Justin Stanton uses the Moog Little Phatty, Sequential Prophet Rev 2 and Nord Stage 4 to bring you a ‘Synth 101’
- Will upgrading your audio interface improve sound quality? It's time to bust some myths...
- Hold on, are we using our guitar picks right?
- “I just wanted to be able to play the guitar, never mind have one that is a signature model”: Fender and Susan Tedeschi team up for a signature Telecaster based on her 1993 American Standard
- Synth Week 2024: Exhibitor A-Z
- “He was a maniac… he said ‘Turn every knob 180 degrees from where it is now and see what happens’”: How Lindsey Buckingham took Fleetwood Mac on a creative left-turn on Tusk after Rumours
- “I could have never imagined that my guitars would be played by some of the very finest and admired guitarists”: Lowden unveils stunning 50th Anniversary acoustics to celebrate landmark year
- “I’ve been relegated to being the rhythm guitar player in my family - I have a shredding prodigy now who’s really giving me a run for my money”: Tom Morello on making music with his son
- “Get you to your sound faster”: The 'workflow-focused' Reason 13 is here, and there are new synth and ‘space delay’ devices, too
- "He's one of the most talented people I've ever met. He's able to touch every instrument in the room and make it sound magical”: Sabrina Carpenter lavishes praise on Jack Antonoff and has a 3-word response to critics who say his sound has become stale
- “I’m probably gonna buy this. So there you go. Sold already”: Watch the Pretenders’ James Walbourne get to grips with a vintage Gibson Explorer – and no, not the guitar
- "The Beatles happened, and it became the thing to be in a beat group": Classic Charlie Watts interview
- “Unique and inspirational”: SOMA Labs Metaconformer review
- Oberheim: A Legacy of Innovation Reignited
- “We’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners”: Spotify Supremium is on its way
- "Sleep tight, Paul": Stars pay tribute to Sunchyme DJ Dario G
June 17
- Fender Japan brings master ukiyo-e artist Hokusai's work to the Esquire
- "The Quad Cortex is working really well": Jim Root tell us about introducing amp modelling to his Slipknot rig for the first time – and his verdict on the Fender Tonemaster Pro
- "Noise is a powerful building block within sound design and music production": How to use noise in your music-making
- "It's like a jack-of-all-trades thing": Slipknot guitarist Jim Root reveals more to us about the Player Series Strat he liked the look of so much, he bought one from Fender's website
- "It’s all about that filter that Bob Moog patented all those years ago. I can’t live without it": Mike Parker on Dispatches
- Max Martin confirmed as the producer of Coldplay’s new album, Moon Music, as fans are offered special edition versions featuring voice notes and demos from the recording sessions
- "Does anyone know any songs on this playlist?”: Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan addresses the 'elephant/ rhinoceros' in the room
- “We didn’t want any gimmicks. No split screens. No interviews. That would be too Spinal Tap”: Talking Heads on the making of Stop Making Sense
- “So many people hate this thing”: Musician explains why he thinks the DX7 gets a bad rap, then names the 10 greatest song intros it was used on
- "I didn't expect it to be as good as it is": Watch Roger Linn, creator of the original MPC, test out Akai's MPC Live II
- “A superb option for podcasters, streamers and musicians”: Lewitt Ray review
- u-he at Synth Week 2024: "Our plugins are not only fun to use, but they have more than enough depth to satisfy the most discerning musicians, composers and producers"
- Cherry Audio's Chroma Synthesizer – Reviving a Legacy of Innovation
June 15
- Whistle down the wind: The Aussie attempting to save whistling from the cultural dustbin
- Top of the world, Dallas!: Van Halen share awesome HD, remastered pro footage of 1991 free show
- “The Nanobox range gets a sampler and a powerful one at that”: 1010music Nanobox Tangerine review
- “Our version boasts 16 voices and many new features that push the boundaries of what's possible in a synthesizer”: Behringer says that the engineering work involved in creating the Pro-16, which is inspired by the Prophet-5, is “extraordinarily complex”
June 14
- “I like sex, lines, porno shops, smoking weed and quitting jobs”: Fatboy Slim manipulates celebrities into admitting to their ‘bad habits’
- AudioThing’s new Wurly plugin uses both physical modelling and samples to emulate two classic Wurlitzer electric pianos
- “This might actually be my craziest idea yet”: Crazy? No, turning 50lbs of copper wire into a bronze electric guitar that sounds incredible is all in a day’s work for YouTube’s most adventurous luthier
- Watch Phil X demo Joe Satriani’s new 3rd Power Dragon Amplifier – the Marshall-inspired fire-breather Satch will be taking on the road to play classic Van Halen tracks with Sammy Hagar
- Watch: Mick Fleetwood made a memorable drumming cameo appearance with Crowded House last night
- “If you A/B’d the original amp and this, there’s literally no way I could have told the difference”: Laney teams up with Tom Quayle and Martin Miller for Lionheart and Ironheart pedalboard amps
- Ableton wants to “challenge the myth that creativity is something that some people have and others don’t” in its new Doing Music podcast series
- R.E.M. perform acoustic version of Losing My Religion as original lineup reunites for first live performance in 17 years
- “She’s incredibly talented, I think, and her brother as well”: Hear Paul Weller covering Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For?
- A one-year Guitar Tricks subscription just got 55% cheaper for a limited time with this mega Father’s Day offer
- Welcome to the Hotel Las Vegas: Eagles announce Sphere residency
- “Can make subtle harmonic changes or be a hugely creative plugin, but either way it makes your mixes sound better”: Plugin Boutique Scaler EQ review
June 13
- "I would almost rather train for a marathon than tech for them one night": Idles and their producer on unleashing the unpredictable rig of effects and processors they built known as the Crawler Machine
- “Likely to cause confusion, mistake, and deception”: Drake is sued for T-shirt copyright infringement
- “Which band truly epitomizes dad rock today?”: New survey claims to have the answer, at least in the US
- Strings sell… but who’s buying?: Dave Mustaine unleashes signature guitar strings
- “It was one of the most moving pieces of music I'd heard. It hit me in a hard way... Instantly, I knew it was the best thing I'd ever been part of": How I Can’t Make You Love Me links Bonnie Raitt, George Michael, Prince, Adele, Bon Iver and Bruce Hornsby
- Glam session: Def Leppard and Tom Morello join forces for new song Just Like '73
- 6 ways to get more from Waves Tune
- The acclaimed Pearl Jam-inspired Funny Little Boxes 1991 is now a gold standard overdrive pedal
- "It's the face-melting clarity that these pickups deliver which will keep you coming back for more Bay Area thrash antics, time and time again": Harley Benton EX-84 Modern EMG review
- Ariane Grande, Billie Eilish, Travis Scott... Metallica?
- "I'm a nerd like that": Slipknot's Mick Thomson is a huge gearhead, and this video proves it again
- “They’ll never leave your hand”: Yes, it’s the world’s first diamond-encrusted guitar pick
- "It does the job of improving vocal recordings in sub-optimal acoustic spaces": t.akustik PET Vocal Booth review
June 12
- The Gibson App puts a guitar teacher in your pocket
- "I don't really enjoy dance music. I don’t get excited about it… but I love the process of making it”: deadmau5 on being here for the “technical challenges and sonic development”, and how his interest in music production was sparked by Tears for Fears
- "It's very hard for people to understand how monolithic it was, looking at it today. But it was absolutely earthshaking": Was 9 February 1964 the most important day in rock 'n' roll history?
- “Is anyone getting paid for the stuff it’s trained on? How do you even know what it’s trained on?”: Beato on the downsides of AI
- “Of course I made MP3 copies, they’re like hidden in safes all around the world”: Wu-Tang Clan album owner is sued for illegal distribution
- “Ableton is my emotional puke bag!“: Meet GiGi FM, the DJ/producer using gesture motion controllers to make interdimensional club music
- Issue 336 of Computer Music is on sale now
- "This is a never-before-seen effect yielding unlimited sonic exploration": Alexander Panos' Color Transfer bundle has some of the coolest Max for Live devices we've seen all year
- “The chaos is the music, the seed of all new music”: Say hello to the gadget that can ‘play’ any electrical device
- “A completely new and intuitive tool for audio manipulation”: zplane’s Peel Stems plugin brings realtime stem separation to “almost every DAW”
- “Like flying a chariot, or a magic carpet”: Meet Louis Cardozo, the flying pianist
June 11
- “You kept asking for more and the time has finally come”: Grunge’s favourite S-style is making a comeback as G&L Guitars announces the return of the Jerry Cantrell-approved Rampage
- “Our generation owes him our artistic lives – because he opened all the doors in Nashville”: The Bob Dylan album that helped change country music
- “We have tried many germanium transistor types and found that the OC45 transistors added a supernatural feel”: Crazy Tube Circuits cooks up a tasty Dumble/Klon stew with the Unobtanium Raw
- Learn to play guitar – and have fun doing it– with the feature-packed Gibson App
- “There’s something about the sound of those old strings on that old guitar, it’s special”: Wait, what!? Feeder’s Grant Nicholas has not changed the strings on his Jazzmaster for eight years
- “I almost had this adverse reaction, like an overdose”: Daft Punk man Thomas Bangalter releases his 6-hour opera soundtrack
- "Give your music the excitement it deserves": Arturia releases FX Collection 5, adding a new exciter and limiter and two EFX multi-effects
- "Mid-side processing gives producers the ability to sculpt mixes far beyond conventional stereo processing": Here's why you should start mid-side EQing
- “We're proud to offer the opportunity for artists to benefit from new AI technologies rather than be exploited by them”: Kits.AI’s “ethical” new Kits Earn feature promises a “passive income stream” for vocalists who are willing to share their voice
- “The most accessible UIEM to date”: 64 Audio unveils its new Aspire 4 in-ear monitor
- "It was probably in front of 4,000 people": Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti reveal the surprising story of how the chorus of Creed hit Higher was written during a live show
- A Murphy Lab Red Special from the Gibson Custom Shop? “It’s not out of the question,” says Brian May
- "I’ll do it if Pete wants to do it - really wants to do it and do it properly“: Roger Daltrey on The Who's future and how the internet has “ruined” live music
- “He started playing that ‘wakka-wakka’ on the keyboard, and - bam! - there it was”: Chaka Khan on hearing Stevie Wonder playing the Clav intro to Tell Me Something Good for the first time - but only after telling him she didn't like one of his other songs
- “It’s beaten, and it’s a Frankenstein. It’s got a lot of modifications and changed parts…This guitar is a recreation of that idea”: Gibson launches the Charlie Starr Les Paul Junior
- "This is where the ideas become physical things": Get a glimpse inside Korg Berlin's experimental synth-building workshop with Reverb
June 10
- “I had too much going on”: Jazz musician Anomalie reflects on his reworked version of Taylor Swift’s Lavender Haze after hearing the full original track for the first time
- "He didn't want to do Glastonbury and Michael Eavis didn’t want him — he was worried he was going to do a Tin Machine set or a little drum and bass set": When David Bowie played a career-altering Glastonbury festival set… by accident
- 76% of new artists say their career is "not financially sustainable": "New artists face considerable challenges when attempting to turn their passion into sustainable careers"
- “Who would’ve thought that playing with these toys as a kid would evolve into a movie about my life?”: The Pharrell Williams biopic is going to be a Lego movie, and it looks like it could be pretty good
- "Without LFOs, synth sound design would restrict us to constant waveforms and effects with no movement": The ultimate guide to LFOs
- Full Bucket Music looks beyond the Prophet-5 and releases a free plugin emulation of the Six-Trak, a lesser-known Sequential Circuits synth from 1984
- “This is the holy trinity of synths - I don’t need anything more than these three”: Tourist invites us into his new home studio and shows us the trio of synths he kept after ditching most of his gear
- Hear how Waves vocal effects can transform your recorded and live vocals - we've demoed and tested 10 plugins
- "If I could delete one instrument and its entire contribution to music, it would be the saxophone": James Blake says he "hates" the saxophone
June 9
- "I am very aware that so little has happened to the electric guitar from the time that it was conceived to now": A classic interview with innovator Les Paul
- "Bruno Mars might not be your typical guitar slinger, but his funk-inspired pop is full of fantastic chords and interesting voicings": learn 4 of them here
- “Offers a more refined delivery than its predecessor, with flexible EQ”: KRK Rokit 5 G5 review
- "This is a sound that captured the production psyche": How to build an LFO wobble bass
June 8
- How to make hard-quantized beats swing
- “Did I think she’d become the biggest star in the world? You don’t think that, but I did know that she was special”: Liz Rose on how she and Taylor Swift co-wrote All Too Well, and what she thinks about it becoming a fan favourite
June 7
- "It's a group of musicians that Roger has chosen": Pete Townshend is candid about the live lineup of The Who in new interview
- Audio interface vs mixer: Which should you choose for your home studio?
- Blackstar just added a very useful feature with an update of its ID: Core 10 V4 practice amp
- "He didn't just select a stock beat and press play": Prince’s go-to synths and drum machine - a career in music tech gear
- Today is your last chance to grab Waves's bonkers distortion plugin Berzerk for free - exclusive to MusicRadar readers
- “The bit where the sound starts going crazy… that’s all happening live”: Fred again.. and Anderson .Paak face off on the drums as they give a chaotic performance of new track, Places To Be
- How to recreate the tape stop effect with this free plugin
- "I need to make music I want to make, otherwise there's not much point": Kasbo on keeping things simple in the studio and working on his own terms
- “If you’d always yearned for atmospheric ‘proper’ guitar but lacked the playing skills and banks of effects, this is it”: E-instruments Desolate Guitars review
- "The distinctive sound that has helped define genres from '80s pop through to modern EDM": D16 Group's Roland TR-606 emulation Nithonat 2 updated with new sequencer, effects and more
June 6
- "Very well-featured for its price if you want to keep your options as open as possible": Boss IR-2 Amp & Cabinet Simulator Pedal review
- “There is a weight and depth to the sound, which is sonically a cut above, as well as being incredibly authoritative”: SonicProjects OP-X PRO-3 review
- The FabFilter synth preset that inspired the name of Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft was used on one of its songs, and we’re pretty sure we know which one
- How to vinyl scratch in software
- Waves just slashed the price on 20 of their best-selling plugins, including Waves Tune and Vocal Rider at just $35.99 each
- "There were about four jobs with Prince that I wouldn't want for my worst enemy": Keyboardist and MD Morris Hayes on Prince's revolving door of sound engineers and the time his guitar tech tried to sabotage him onstage
- “Everyone can make this tune”: Producer reveals the 3 readily-available Splice loops that power the beat for Sabrina Carpenter’s all–conquering Espresso
- "Making electronic music technology more accessible": Erica Synths and Richie Hawtin's Bullfrog Drums is an educational drum machine inspired by the Roland TR-909
June 5
- "This is one of the best examples of the most collectable guitar ever made": Gibson Custom unveils recreations of Jason Isbell 'Red Eye' 1959 Les Paul Standard
- SampleRadar: 935 free analogue polysynths samples
- “I played something that was soft and easy. I just tried to stay out of the way…and Richard says 'No, no, no, no… go, just burn'”: The Carpenters' Goodbye To Love and the magic of Tony Peluso's guitar solo
- How we test audio interfaces
- "This technique is a great pre-effect for vocals and other lead instruments": How to reverse your reverbs
- "It might be the best, most practical advice I've ever had": Noel Gallagher reveals what Paul Weller told him in 1994
- He coined the term EDM, became the first ever computer musician, AND created the electronic drum kit... meet Richard James Burgess: “I said ‘one day all records will be made this way’, and that prediction came true”
- “Sometimes the instruments just break, and then we have to fix them”: Taylor Swift suffers ANOTHER piano malfunction during a “rain show” on her Eras Tour
- “v3 delivers a well rounded mix of ‘must-haves’ and ‘wants’”: Korg Gadget 3 review
- What is an audio interface and how does it work?
- Computer Music 336 August 2024: free downloads
- “It was intimidating. He's just that good. In the studio, we used to play with our bands, or just us, as we both played everything”: Lenny Kravitz on jamming with Prince, having to tell Michael Jackson to stop singing and being blown away by Mick Jagger
- "I wanted to make something fun, joyful and introspective all at once": Jamie xx announces long-awaited second solo album In Waves
June 4
- How to create stutter and glitch sounds with CableGuys TimeShaper 3
- "The full-size 20” cymbal actually flexes and shimmers when struck, which feels fantastic under-stick": EFnote Pro review
- “Sometimes all the track needs is one synth”: Has Behringer found a techno percussion pearl with its Syncussion SY-1 drum synth reboot?
- Epiphone reveals new Bluegrass Collection featuring an Inspired By Gibson Earl Scruggs banjo and Mandobird
- “A surprisingly capable and very easy to use EQ that you can go as deep with as you wish”: Wavesfactory Equalizer review
- Music theory you can use: musical modes and how to use them in your songwriting in 10 steps
- "My original point was not to devalue the time, effort, or resources involved in creating meaningful works": Spotify CEO responds to backlash over comments on cost of making music
- “This is a kit that will literally grow with them for those early years of playing”: Alesis Debut review
- Issue 410 of Future Music is out now
June 3
- “One of the easiest and classiest-sounding drum instruments in its price range”: Modalics MINDst Drums review
- "The mind is the enemy most of the time": James Hetfield talks about overcoming anxiety and finding faith in his creativity
- "It’s super cheap and I pretty much use it on every track": Demi Riquísimo on his number one synth - and why he hasn't used a synth plugin in a decade
- How to simply reverse your audio with CableGuys TimeShaper
- “He used little gear, took a low fee, and let the band and their music do the talking - and if he could do it all in one take, so much the better”: The genius of 'anti-producer' Steve Albini
- “Never thought I’d be DJing in a carriage”: Nia Archives is set to perform on a train as she heads to the Glastonbury Festival, and you could be on board with her
- "Once I discovered how valuable and useful it is, it just completely changed everything for me": There's a pedal that will make your guitar rig sound better in a mix – and you've probably never considered buying one
- Coming soon: Synth Week 2024
- Musicians outraged as Spotify CEO claims the "cost of creating content" is "close to zero": "Our albums took hundreds of hours of human effort, hard work and creativity"
- Thomann's massive 70th birthday celebration deals keep getting better - unmissable Gibson, Bose, Yamaha and Korg deals just added
June 2
- "We were getting more talented and George began to write lots of songs… he was lucky to get a track on an album." The lost 1971 John Lennon and Yoko Ono interview on the Beatles' split when they insisted Michael Parkinson wore a black sack over his head
- Flip it and reverse it: A history of reversed audio in music production
June 1
- Future Music 412: Samples and downloads
- "For over a minute, the whole track goes on a time-stretch journey": 5 tracks that make creative use of time-stretching