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January 2025

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211 articles

January 25
- "The Layers is a subtle and unique pedal, with a lot of expressive depth": MXR Layers review
- How to connect your audio interface to your computer – for both PC and Mac users
- “Technology is cool, but you’ve got to use it as opposed to letting it use you”: Why Prince never allowed gear to lead the way and how we can take back control of our tech
January 24
- NAMM 2025: “Looking for a guitar that blends modern specs with raw, uncompromising power? We call it the ST-Modern HH Plus” – Harley Benton’s hotly anticipated dual humbucker S-style is here
- NAMM 2025: StudioLogic’s new SL mk2 MIDI keyboards promise tight control of both the Numa Player 2 software and your favourite DAW
- “I used it to show people that the way they were portraying me wasn’t breaking me": How Taylor Swift created a self-empowering pop classic
- NAMM 2025: "Unlike anything seen before" - Melbourne Instruments' new desktop device could revolutionise studio software and hardware control, and is designed to work great with Ableton Live
- NAMM 2025: “The NAMM Show has always been an excuse for guitar-makers to pull out all the stops”: Gibson turns the clock back to 1955 for a commemorative Murphy Lab Les Paul in five holy grail custom colours
- NAMM 2025: Roland V-Stage serves up legendary, pro-keyboard sounds in two new premium-priced packages
- NAMM 2025: Behringer's BX1 synth might well be the biggest surprise of the show, but it's not the on-the-nose Yamaha clone you might have been expecting
- NAMM 2025: Hands-on with Korg's first ever synth as it comes back to life as the MiniKorg 700Sm
- NAMM 2025: “I’ve honestly never felt a smoother neck in my life”: Cory Wong feels the humbucker heat as the funk guitar virtuoso and Ernie Ball Music Man team up for StingRay II and StingRay II Deluxe
- NAMM 2025: We can now get a proper look at Kurzweil’s new K20 series synths, which promise to be a VAST improvement on the ‘90s classic that inspired them
- “You gotta ask him that. We sort of know…” Did Shaun Ryder just reveal who’s playing drums for Oasis this summer?
- NAMM 2025: “The all-new Hypersonic Mode will kick that pitch shift straight into the stratosphere”: DigiTech and MonoNeon team up for a radical new Whammy Pedal for guitar and bass with three-octave range
- NAMM 2025: "In a few years there will be no piano that doesn't have a camera": Can ROLI’s AI-powered, hand-tracking Piano rewrite learning to play?
- NAMM 2025: “You place the wah, and leave it there, and that’s the tone”: With a little help from Bob Rock, Dunlop honours David Bowie’s maestro of the cocked wah, Mick Ronson, with signature Cry Baby
- “When used in conjunction with other unextended chords, it will sound amazing”: How to enhance your songwriting with major sevenths
- MusicRadar deals of the week: Score £400 off Kirk Hammett's Epiphone Greeny Les Paul, £200 off Casio pianos, and so much more
January 23
- NAMM 2025: “If you think of just the word ‘guitar,’ I think of a Martin D-28:” Bluegrass virtuoso Billy Strings teams up with Martin for a pair of signature acoustic guitars based on his pre-war 1940 dreadnought
- “Oh, no no no! Nobody knows what we look like!”: How bass legend Nathan East almost blew Daft Punk’s cover... then "got lucky" on their biggest hit
- NAMM 2025: Shure takes to the stage with new instrument, headset and vocal mics
- NAMM 2025: “The approachable playability and inspiring tone that made Fender an icon of rock and roll” – Strats and Teles at $599? Fender's budget-friendly Standard series is its most affordable yet
- NAMM 2025: ROLI’s Piano is a larger keyboard for use with its Airwave hand-tracking hardware and music learning software, but is it large enough?
- “Calling anything with a loop or sample in it ‘hardgroove’ is kinda annoying and often misunderstands what the sound actually is”: Exploring the hardgroove genre
- NAMM 2025: “The highly anticipated Sterling version of the original EBMM Kaizen has arrived”: Sterling By Music Man adds Tosin Abasi’s Kaizen, Rabea Massaad’s Sabre and Ryan “Fluff” Bruce’s StingRay to artist lineup
- How to connect a MIDI keyboard to your audio interface
- "All you need is an iPhone and a VR headset to bring musicians together for performance, practice, or teaching": UK researchers create avatar-based platform for low-latency remote collaboration
- NAMM 2025: Beyerdynamic amps up the individuality with new in-ear monitor range and pro studio headphones
- NAMM 2025: “These pedals bring the sounds of the great Marshall amps of history onto the pedalboard” – Classic sounds, classy aesthetic – meet Marshall's new overdrive pedals series
- NAMM 2025: "The Alan Parsons Plugin Project" - PSP Audioware helps the legendary engineer to recreate the famous Wobbler effect that he used on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon
- NAMM 2025: Korg teases a pair of ‘concept’ audio interfaces, and one of them has a MiniKorg 700S analogue filter in it
- NAMM 2025: “A more versatile and professional instrument for those looking for the unique rubber bridge sound”: Orangewood unveils Seymour Duncan-equipped Juniper II acoustic and baritone rubber bridge acoustics
- Look, ma, no wires: Roland teases its WT-10 wireless drum trigger and DH-10 receiver
- NAMM 2025: Donner launches Essential L1, a budget analogue synth with detachable keyboard that's inspired by the Roland SH-101
- “When I'm 90, I'll still be the Material Girl!”: Madonna’s signature song was released 40 years ago today
January 22
- "Fans will know it from the cover of his debut solo album": Jeff Beck’s famous Les Paul sells for more than £1m!
- “I don't think Morrissey liked me. I don't think he liked my friendship with Johnny”: Producer John Porter on shaping The Smiths’ most iconic tracks, and why he’s auctioning a treasure trove of original acetates
- NAMM 2025: “With hardware this tough, you have a companion for life”: Bitwig enters the hardware world with the Bitwig Connect 4/12
- NAMM 2025 live report: rolling news from the world's biggest music-making gear show
- NAMM 2025: "This is the beginning of a really long journey": Native Instruments teams up with Akai, Korg, Novation and more to "empower millions of music creators"
- NAMM 2025: Neve's 88C VCA compressor brings the iconic console sound to your desktop
- “It was devastating!”: Robert Plant recalls the first time Led Zeppelin played together in new documentary teaser
- “The fact that he said he can’t sing, I think, disproves that we’re related, ’cause I’m not funny": Billy Corgan comes face to face with comedian Bill Burr and admits that he probably isn't his half brother after all
- “Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
January 21
- “John introduced a heavier, more intense element that Phil Lynott absolutely embraced”: How guitar hero John Sykes revitalised Thin Lizzy
- “A well-made and affordable headphone that is light, comfortable and a reliable choice for studio recording”: Tascam TH-11 review
- “It was a job. Play a stadium, play a theatre…”: The words of Garth Hudson of The Band, who has died at 87
- NAMM 2025: “The signature tones of a guitar legend on your pedalboard”: Joe Satriani teams up with IK Multimedia for limited edition Tonex One that comes loaded with 20 of Satch’s own presets
- NAMM 2025: Come for the organs, stay for the pianos and synths - Viscount unveils its Legend One stage keyboard
- “Forget the name on the headstock, at this price this Les Paul is a steal”: Epiphone Joe Bonamassa 1955 Les Paul Standard review
- NAMM 2025: “Good things come in small packages”: Orange Amps launches Baby series, three solid-state micro amp heads that weigh just 3kg but pack a 100-watt Class A/B punch
- NAMM 2025: Feel the rhythm in your feet with Polyend Step, “the first fully programmable drum machine in guitar pedal form”
- NAMM 2025: “Increase and decrease voltage with volt by volt precision”: AmpRx launches Brownie – a voltage optimising power supply to make your tube amp perform at its best (and maybe help you finally nail Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Brown Sound’)
- How to connect your audio interface to your iPhone or iPad
- “He and I played some sweet music together. He was a great musician”: Thin Lizzy legend Scott Gorham pays tribute to his former bandmate John Sykes
- NAMM 2025: “Combines an outstanding selection of chorus tones, all in a budget-friendly and space-saving enclosure”: Nobels CHO-mini is a stereo mini pedal with three different chorus modes
- “Let's go back to the mid-'80s where dance music began”: Your guide to creating a classic house track from scratch
- NAMM 2025: Novation collaborates with GForce Software on the ultimate software version of the Bass Station
- NAMM 2025: Roland makes a cheeky bid for performance keyboard supremacy with the new V-Stage 76 and 88
- NAMM 2025: Roland's new VMH-S100 studio headphones have double-sided connectivity and come with a 3-month subscription to the Roland Cloud
- NAMM 2025: "It absolutely suited the high-quality and beautiful recording that was taking place in the '80s" - The Roland Jazz Chorus and its "king of clean" guitar tone is coming to a DAW near you
January 20
- NAMM 2025: Universal Audio delivers a big update to Luna - its free DAW just got even better
- Sabrina Carpenter has an 80% chance of winning the Grammy for Record Of The Year, says new study
- “You’re Slash! From Stoke! I’m from Stoke!”: How the Guns N’ Roses legend bonded with Robbie Williams by covering Queen classics
- “A lot of people tell me they enjoyed that album. It’s hard for me to relate to people enjoying that kind of pain”: What Bob Dylan said about his classic album released 50 years ago
- "I know it, but I don't know the drum bits... But as soon as I walked on it was like being picked up and carried by the music": How Zak Starkey overcame nerves to play drums in a Beatles tribute band at the Cavern Club
- "I'm fascinated and horrified in equal measure... Everything is about to change": As you might expect, Gary Numan has some thoughts on the use of AI in music
- NAMM 2025: Stylophone’s CPM DF-8 is a ‘beauty and the beast’ filter that can purr or squeal, but that’s only half the sound design story
- “This single is going to change the sound of club music for the next 15 years”: How a song intended to be an album track would leave a massive mark on music’s future
January 19
- Streaming, live performance, and direct-to-fan sales are on the rise: How to make money from music in 2025
- “I was doing a gig, I dropped the pick, and I was drunk. I was afraid if I bent over to pick it up, I'd fall. So I played the rest of the show without the pick and started to really like it’”: What Jeff Beck told his friend Joe Perry
January 18
- “I don't know how to do this. You would think I do, but it's not one of these things you ever know how to do”: Why Paul McCartney’s intuition-led attitude to songwriting is worth taking onboard
- “Ironic, self-aware, intimate, DIY... a song that builds power as it unfolds”: The making of Bad Guy, Billie Eilish’s biggest hit
January 17
- NAMM 2025: “This innovative neck-to-body construction delivers more tone, sustain, and stability”: Eastman debuts the FullerTone series – all-new bolt-on electrics with a retro vibe and innovative neck joint
- “I saw the punches in my mind: Bam! Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam! Bam, bam, bam!”: How a surprise call from a movie icon inspired a classic ’80s rock anthem
- NAMM 2025: “A cornucopia of metal guitar specs” – ESP unveils LTD signature models for Slipknot's Mick Thomson, Whitechapel's Alex Wade, Rammstein's Richard Kruspe and more in epic launch
- "It costs too much and we don't need it but, yes, we really do want one": Teenage Engineering OP-XY review
- NAMM 2025: Melbourne Instruments teases new MIDI controller with motorized knobs
- FireAid is go: Billie Eilish, Joni Mitchell, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Dave Matthews, John Mayer and more pile on for mega charity gig
- “Sound is almost like a drug. It’s so pure that when it goes in your ears, it instantly does something to you”: The centrality of music and sound in David Lynch's work
- NAMM 2025: Nord’s Piano 6 promises “greater flexibility for performance and sound creation”
- NAMM 2025: “That’s my little secret weapon… Old Blue” – Morley teams up with Pantera’s Rex Brown for signature wah pedal with an “intense monstrous sweep”
- NAMM 2025: Offering both digital and analogue control, Flock Audio’s Switch takes takes audio routing to the next level
- NAMM 2025: “We do not want to spend our anniversary only looking back” – PRS unveils “roadworthy workhorse” Standard 24 Satin as Swamp Ash Special makes comeback, announces big updates to pickups, hardware and electronics
- “It’s not really enjoyable to make music now," says the CEO of an AI music-making platform, but don't worry - he's here to help
- NAMM 2025: "I want people to sound a little less guitar-y and more magical!": Yvette Young and Walrus Audio's Qi Etherealizer might well be the atmospheric guitar pedal you'll want to use with any instrument or voice
- “The album was played in LaGuardia Airport for a brief period, but travellers said it ‘induced unease’ and sounded like funeral music”: A music professor breaks down Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music For Airports
- How to make 8-bit video game sounds in your DAW with a free synth
- NAMM 2025: Korg gets into the turntable game with its Vestax-inspired Handytraxx range
January 16
- “The VQD could well unlock drumming for people who otherwise can’t possibly play a kit at home”: Roland VQD106 review
- NAMM 2025: “Morph across the spacetime spectrum”: Pigtronix unveils the Cosmosis I, shrinking its smash-hit ambient reverb into a compact single-footswitch pedal
- NAMM 2025: Audient unveils iD48, a flagship 8-channel 24x32 audio interface that makes integrating outboard gear quick and easy
- NAMM 2025: “Guitarists can fully capture the essence of their favorite guitar gear without owning the physical hardware” – Has Mooer captured the amp profiling market with the GS1000?
- NAMM 2025: Have all your keyboards always connected with Heritage Audio's Synth Buddy, a 10 to 1 reversible and fully passive stereo switch
- "I realised the key was wrong - it was like this puzzle we were trying to piece together.”: How Chappell Roan’s Good Luck, Babe! went from album cast-off to global smash
- "It would be Number One all over the world... but it kills Judas Priest!”: The heavy metal legends’ secret pop project with Stock Aitken Waterman
- NAMM 2025: IK Multimedia unveils the Tonex Cab, a state-of-the-art FRFR speaker for your digital guitar rig that is designed for “muscle, articulation and a rich multi-dimensional sound”
- NAMM 2025: You (probably) can't afford them, but Focal's $50k Utopia Mains might be your new dream monitors
- NAMM 2025: Scaler 3 promises to widen the feature set of one of our favourite songwriting tools
- NAMM 2025: Boss promises great tone at practice-friendly volumes and “world-class recorded tones with no engineering experience required” from the compact Waza Tube Amp Expander Core
- NAMM 2025: It’s a Stylophone, but not as we know it - CPM DS-2 is a compact, portable analogue drone synth that's now available to order
- “He sounded like when I talk to him in person, so I said, ‘Well, that’s the mic'": Why Justin Timberlake's engineer has him singing through a classic low-budget vocal mic on his latest tour
- NAMM 2025: Make your electric guitar sound like an acoustic, a sitar, a banjo… An analogue synth? Boss unveils the V-800 V-Guitar Processor, a unit that allows players “completely transform their sound at the push of a button”
- “We quite like the CR-78 hats, but you can use anything else that adopts a similar lightness of touch”: How to create a low-key ambient techno beat in your DAW
- NAMM 2025: The MiniKorg 700S finally lives up to its name as Korg releases a downsized version of its classic ‘70s synth
- NAMM 2025: Korg’s revived Kronos workstation promises faster operation and fresh sounds – but otherwise looks remarkably familiar
- NAMM 2025: The Multi/Poly returns in module form – it’s still great, and we still think Korg is underselling it
January 15
- NAMM 2025: Make a pro-quality mix anywhere with Mackie’s new battery-powered ProFX10 GO
- “Presents a supremely intuitive workflow and fantastic quality preamps”: SSL 2+ MKII review
- "People were always asking me, but I never used to tell them": Trevor Horn finally dishes out his sampling and drum machine tips in a new studio interview
- “The biggest and best all-in-one modular step sequencer, offering flexibility and playability”: Analogue Solutions AS500-SEQ review
- NAMM 2025: Musik Hack to showcase its sound-enhancing plugin Fuel at this year's show
- NAMM 2025: XILS-lab promises "virtual Vangelis" with its new Yamaha CS-80 emulation
- “It’s just the same word over and over. Even a baby can sing, ‘Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene’”: How Dolly Parton created a country classic later covered by The White Stripes, Beyoncé and more
- “I’m sorry I ruined your song!”: Mike Portnoy hears Taylor Swift's Shake It Off for the first time and plays along... with surprising results
- “Nile's riff on Get Lucky is a classic example of a funk riff, where the second of each 16th-note duplet is slightly delayed”: Locking down the theory of groove
January 14
- Fingerboard care basics: 6 things you need you need know about how to clean and condition your guitar fretboard
- “How long will Shergold be one of the unknown pleasures of electric guitar if it carries on making guitars as good as this?”: Shergold Masquerader Standard SM11 review
- NAMM 2025: “A solid body electric guitar built around one idea: Playfulness”: Verso unveils Sine, a totally unique electric guitar with three-dimensional pickup movement for “a new layer of expressiveness”
- “It just doesn’t sound like anything else”: Believe it or not, synth-pop legend Howard Jones had never owned a Prophet-5 before, but he’s got one now
- NAMM 2025: Reloop's Keypad Pro is a portable, wireless MIDI controller that'll play nice with Bitwig Studio
- NAMM 2025: “The perfect end-of-chain solution when your gig requires your practice to become perfection”: Walrus Audio expands utility stompbox range with the Canvas Rehearsal
- “It’s by no means necessary to attend a music production school to have a career in electronic music - this is, in fact, a relatively new concept”: Opinions vary on the value of music production schools in 2025
- NAMM 2025: “Mesa/Boogie has faithfully recreated the original formula – complete with ominous low end, harmonically rich top end, and that unmistakable midrange scoop”: The ‘90s spec two-channel Dual Rectifier is officially back
- “I should have been dead that night!”: Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley recalls the moment he almost died on stage
- “He was such a perfectionist, attention to detail, every part”: Orianthi on what she learned from Michael Jackson and how the King of Pop was so exacting he even directed her guitar tone
- "It's the hip-hop version of the burning of the Library of Alexandria": Madlib launches fundraiser after losing home, gear and extensive record collection in LA wildfires
- “I wanted to do it as if it was brand new”: Eric Clapton on his classic MTV Unplugged performance - which now features previously unseen footage
- “We believe we could make this happen for under $500”: Behringer asks for user suggestions as it considers making an “affordable” version of the classic E-MU SP-1200 sampler
- Use this classic free Computer Music synth to generate bubbling movement across your track
January 13
- Proggy pentatonic! How to use the good ol’ pentatonic scale in cool new ways
- “George is certainly not a rock player, and neither is Ringo. They’re both swing musicians”: Producer T Bone Burnett on the country roots of the Beatles
- “Thanks to all those that have enjoyed it without understanding it”: Rage Against the Machine's most controversial track exceeds a billion streams
- “A great tribute to his life and music. I think if you love Bob’s music you should see this great movie”: Neil Young's review of new Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown is in
- “I don't think the term ‘Heavy Metal’ was used for Led Zeppelin”: So what was the first metal album to hit No 1 in the US?
- "It really didn’t occur to us that this could be the end of our world": Renowned producer Bob Clearmountain's home studio destroyed by LA wildfires
- “To the end he had that edge of deep authenticity in his voice I could only wonder at”: Springsteen, and others, pay tribute to Sam Moore
- “I’m gonna have to go with Espresso": Trent Reznor’s favourite song of 2024 isn’t what you’d expect it to be
- “At certain points in music history it became fashionable to place accents on certain beats”: How to score a drum part
January 10
- “Inspired by the popular Iron Label series, these instruments feature an all-black aesthetic, including a matte black finish and black hardware”: These new Ibanez Blackout acoustic guitars are… kinda metal looking
- “Definitely one of the most unique pieces to come through our showroom”: It was left in a nightclub in '74, then “hidden in a closet for decades”, now Mike Bloomfield’s custom-painted 1966 Telecaster is up for sale
- NAMM 2025: Nord announces Organ 3 with improved organ engine, new modulation effects and rotary speaker emulation
- “In a world where AI is starting to impact in so many areas of tech, it is notable and perhaps refreshing that this gets no mention in this release”: Steinberg Cubase Pro 14 review
- “The battery promises ‘hours’ of wireless playing time. The modelling tech promises a lot of different tones”: Mooer unveils the Hornet 15W Li, a take-anywhere combo packed with effects, guitar tuner, presets and 9 preamp types
- “This new line aims to bring an unprecedented combination of performance and affordability”: Ibanez unveils stunning new AZ series, HSS and HH S-styles with flame-maple finishes and dyna-MIX switching for just $549 street
- “He's playing acoustic guitar, but a lot of it sounds like us. Ed really pushes himself”: Dani Filth on Cradle Of Filth's collaboration with… Ed Sheeran
- “There is still no power but we have survived”: Joe Bonamassa returns to Nerdville West, after LA wildfires threaten home and vintage gear collection
- “If you like someone’s work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to”: What can songwriters learn from Bob Dylan's view on absorbing influences?
- Make your instrument recordings more dynamic with this slick modulation hack
January 9
- “As production becomes more cloud-oriented, many are questioning whether desktop DAWs are beginning to show their limitations”: How online DAWs are ushering in a new era for music making
- “There was a minute in the ‘80s where I was just being a lunatic. I got it into my head that I should think more about music and I cut a demo with Toto”: Rob Lowe says that his wild antics led him to believe that he should consider a career in soft rock
- “I said, 'We don't do that. We don't steal stuff.' I always felt bad about it”: How Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry acquired Jeff Beck's fuzz pedal - and what he did to pay him back
- "There’s a strange magnetism to this machine - it’s like it carried its history with it": Ringo Starr's Studer A80 tape machine is going up for auction
- “A lot of times Prince’s drums were LinnDrums. That wasn’t a human playing the drums on some of the Prince songs. That too was a machine”: will.i.am says that musicians should be inspired by AI in the same way that he was inspired by Prince
- “I fell off the bed laughing!” Why Jimmy Page thought a Whitesnake video was hilarious - and why he ended up making an album with that band’s singer David Coverdale
- NAMM 2025: New MIDI-integrated Rhodes pianos merge old-school craft with extended expression via polyphonic aftertouch
- “A moment I won't forget in a hurry”: Amateur musician unknowingly performs Green Day classic in front of Billie Joe Armstrong
- "It was a place of musical freedom": California studio where Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat recorded destroyed by wildfires
- How to get this classic Sega-inspired synth for free and use it to create next level chiptune sounds
January 8
- “They're poised to have a breakthrough year”: Can Shazam really predict music's next superstars?
- "It's pure analogue": Deadmau5 teams up with Telegrapher for limited-edition versions of its studio monitors
- “How do people do that? No click, he played through it and ‘bam’”: Prince’s ability to keep time when he was recording drums was remarkable, says his engineer, but it also made things difficult during the editing process
- "The soulful rough edges are what set your tracks apart from algorithmically-generated TikTok bops": 7 ways to make electronic music sound more human
- “Quality sound, volume on tap, and plenty of flexibility”: Positive Grid Spark Edge review
- “It's rare to encounter a song from the last 70 years or so that doesn’t involve it in some way”: How to work with reverb effectively
January 7
- “Faithfully recreated with modern upgrades, this amp defined ‘90s rock – powering metal, nu-metal, rap-rock, grunge, pop-punk and more”: Mesa/Boogie announces imminent return of the '90s era two-channel Dual Rectifier
- “We’ve never met, but I’m most impressed with Jack. He’s fearless and certainly innovative”: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter to perform at NAMM 2025 and present TEC Innovation Award to Jack White
- "We’re here to break the barriers and put powerful instruments into the hands of real musicians, not collectors": Here's the 2025 update on all the synths and drum machines that Behringer has announced that aren't in the shops yet
- “There might be a new song happening very soon... We’re in a great place creatively”: The Edge suggests new U2 single might be imminent
- "Anybody who thinks they can do exactly the same thing they did 50 years ago is mad": Deep Purple's Ian Paice and others on the demands of playing drums in your 60s and 70s
- Which streaming service pays artists the most per stream? Benn Jordan has crunched the numbers - and the answer will surprise you
- “Personally owned and used by one of Britain’s most favoured of all rock ‘n’ roll guitarists”: One of Status Quo legend Rick Parfitt’s stage-played Fender Telecasters is up for sale
- “Kim Deal with Bruce Springsteen’s guitar”: Statue of Rory Gallagher is unveiled in Belfast... but fans aren’t happy
- "A new era of accidental techno is upon us": 2025's new DIY drum machine craze is here, and all you need is a flashlight and an FM radio
- “A lot of the guitar parts were totally within my ability, but there were a couple that I just couldn’t navigate”: Steve Vai reveals the King Crimson riff that had him beat and the tip from Robert Fripp that helped him nail it
- "For me, it was essential - even though nobody has ever asked me what my qualifications are”: Should you consider music production school?
- “You could think of this as theft, but it’s standard practice in the folk world”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
January 6
- “The music never felt like a safe choice, but it always felt like the right one”: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross celebrate winning Golden Globe for Challengers soundtrack
- “The lyrics and music to Tiptoe Through the Tulips will be free for anyone to copy, perform, record, adapt, or interpolate into their own song”: The classic songs that are entering the public domain in 2025
- "That's just basically D, B minor, E minor, A. That's the scope of all the chords in the entire song" : Finneas reveals how Billie Eilish's worldwide smash Birds of a Feather was written in 10 minutes, and has the simplest of structures
- "I'd have preferred for Uli to ask my permission. Even if he thinks it is legal, I question whether it is ethical": Roger Linn slams Behringer's unauthorized LinnDrum clone
- “I’m not the technical producer, I’ve learned how to use a compressor but I haven’t learned why it does what it does”: Revisiting the intuitive production skills that made Avicii a superstar
- “Coming up with a solo is like searching for treasure”: Mark Tremonti reveals his favourite Alter Bridge and Creed songs - and discusses his heavy new album
- “I’m not part of the inner circle - I never have been”: Julian Lennon says that he's always been "very much on the outside" as far as The Beatles are concerned
- “He was a great guitar player. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, so obviously he really knows the instrument”: Which grunge icon could Joe Satriani be talking about?
- “I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose”: Woody Guthrie's songwriting philosophy debated
- Sonicware CyDrums is a "next-gen digital drum synth" that promises four-dimensional sound
- “Stick to our chords”: Chris Martin rags Jacob Collier for his reharmonisation antics as they duet on a simultaneously stripped-down and more complex version of Coldplay’s Fix You
- “Many games were replete with quirky arpeggios, an abundance of pulse wave-based lead melodies and generally frantic delivery”: Exploring the retro video game-inspired chiptune universe
January 3
- “This supercharged amp-in-a-box pulls no punches in channeling the hallmark haymaker that inspired it”: Keeley Electronics and Sweetwater team up for exclusive $99 fuzz, overdrive/distortion and reverb pedal collection
- “There’s something about the harmonics of a V8 that’s just mind-blowingly badass and powerful sounding”: Mesa/Boogie founder Randall Smith on how his high-gain amp designs were influenced by hotrodded muscle cars
- “When I finally left the hospital I was still in a wheelchair and couldn’t use my left arm… but I was determined to make music again”: Guitarist teaches himself to play one-handed after suffering “devastating” stroke
- “People were like, ‘Your tone was really great.’ ‘Yeah, it was the Crush!’”: Orianthi played live on television for millions of viewers using her $219 Orange practice amp
- Neil Young WILL play "corporate turn-off" Glastonbury after all
- "More trucks, more drivers, more gasoline, more travel. And we've already seen a lot of bands canceling tours. You're gonna see a lot more, because I know where we're at": Avenged Sevenfold star says touring is now "almost impossible" for most bands
- "Each time I'm about to play it, I take a deep breath and I exhale on that first note": 5 songs guitarists need to hear by… Rush
- Get strumming: The 22 essential beginner, blues and folk guitar chords every guitarist should learn first
- "I looked at my bandmates and missed them already and I felt sad to see such joy in Neil’s face when we were down to the last few bars of our last song played together": Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee recall Rush's final live moments
- “The next time a musician says to you 'shall we try this a little more allegro?' you will know exactly what they mean”: The quick guide to the theory behind tempo and bpm
January 2
- “Atomika goes an awful lot further than the original Polivoks”: Cherry Audio Atomika review
- 30 essential acoustic guitar chords, with charts
- "It’s a common misconception among the unconverted that the Grateful Dead’s music was characterised by aimless noodling, rather than by deftly deployed fretboard know-how": 5 songs guitarists need to hear by the Grateful Dead
- “In an age of artifice, media management and manufactured pop stars she’s come through as a breath of fresh air": Inside the making of Adele's seminal second album, 21
- "A corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be": Neil Young will not, repeat not, be playing Glastonbury, blaming BBC demands "we were not interested in"
- “People like The Stones, or later on The Kinks. They all really liked us and thought that we had something special": The Liverbirds on life as Britain’s first female rock band
- “If she had, like, 3 more hours in the day, she would just figure out what we do and she wouldn't need any of us”: What Max Martin said to Ryan Tedder about Taylor Swift and music production after they’d both won Grammys for working on her 1989 album
January 1
- “Have you ever wondered why we find ourselves counting to 4 before we then go back to 1, and start all over again?”: Breaking apart the theory behind beatmaking
- “The experimental effects box and sample mangler you didn't know you wanted… but it's not quite finished”: Torso Electronics S-4 review
- “New Year’s Day set the template for a more direct sonic vision for U2 - and marked the point at which they shifted their gaze towards political issues around the globe”: The making of an ’80s rock classic
- “If you had suggested this in 2015, you would have been laughed out of the room”: Music is now reportedly bigger than cinema globally