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June 2025

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280 articles

June 30
- "It’s just $50, and it’s the best reverb for the buck": Video game soundtrack composer Jason Graves reveals his go-to reverb plugin behind the sounds of Still Wakes the Deep
- “There is a special place in hell for those people that went for this business model”: Are plugin subscription services really as bad as some people say?
- How to record virtual and live instruments more smoothly by taking stock of your DAW's sample buffer
- "It's a stupendously powerful tool": 10 of the best sampler plugins in 2025
- “I won’t miss being in a sh** band with horrible humans”: Mastodon guitarist slams ex-bandmates
- “She thought anything could be pop - she wanted pop to be pushed to its extremes”: Sophie’s brother and studio engineer talks completing her final album and the legacy she left behind
- Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: The Wave Warden Odin 2
- PreSonus at Plugin Week 2025: Studio One Pro 7.2 takes you all the way from idea to finished track - without adding a single third-party plugin
- “He is perhaps the best songwriter to come out of England, he is a Glastonbury legend and a personal hero of mine”: Olivia Rodrigo surprises fans during her headline Glastonbury set by duetting with The Cure’s Robert Smith
- “It’s one of the greatest cities ever, it’s given the world so much”: Black Sabbath have been awarded the freedom of Brum
- Excite Audio collaborates with KSHMR to create a new Bloom instrument that brings the sound of Indian music to any DAW, and you can grab the Lite version for just $5
- “It's absolutely not necessary – people can get by their whole careers without knowing music theory": Producer Lawrence Hart on the mixed blessings of classical training and the importance of being ‘scrappy’ in the studio
- The beginners guide to virtual instruments: What are 'VIs', 'plugins' and 'VSTs' anyway? And how can you make the best use of them in your music?
- “The idea that singing with deliberate Auto-Tune makes you a fraud or that not having a traditional band means you must not be a ‘real artist’ is like, the most boring take ever”: Charli XCX addresses "boomer vibe" criticism of her Glastonbury performance
- “They are the three classics that I love to listen to, and they all remind me of certain times in my life”: McCartney names his all time top three albums
- The ultimate soft synth showdown: Serum 2, Pigments 6, Phase Plant, Vital and Massive X: But which is best?
- Roland at Plugin Week 2025: TR-707/TR-727 - Buy one, get one free!
- Eventide at Plugin Week 2025: Eventide H3000 Factory MK II Brings the Legendary H3000 Harmonizer® to Your DAW
- Expressive E at Plugin Week 2025: Discover Soliste — A next-gen MPE string plugin suite for real-time expression
- Sonible at Plugin Week 2025: Rewriting the reverb rulebook with the intuitive, AI-powered smart:reverb 2
- EastWest Sounds at Plugin Week 2025: Introducing LO-FI & Ancient Kingdom PLUS get ComposerCloud+ for its lowest price ever
- Dreamtonics at Plugin Week 2025: Add vocals to your songs with Synthesizer V Studio 2 Pro – No singing required
- Antares at Plugin Week 2025: AutoTune's AI-Powered vocal chain delivers pro results without the guesswork
- u-he at Plugin Week 2025: u-he's MFM2 More Feedback Machine is a sound designer's dream with four independent delay lines, multimode filters, a flexible mod matrix and more
- IK Multimedia at Plugin Week 2025: Total Studio 5 MAX v2 is an all-in-one production toolbox that offers unbeatable value and convenience
June 29
- “It was the height of our popularity. And of course, when you’ve peaked there’s nowhere to go but down”: How the ‘Worst Band In The World’ had their revenge with the noisiest No.1 album of all time
- “We're talking about measurable increases in dopamine, reduced anxiety, and better emotional resilience”: Why making music is actually good for you
- Plugin Week 2025: Exhibitor A-Z
June 28
- “Mick came in with a song, but it was very Dylan-esque. It was like a ballad. ‘No, no. Let’s rethink. What if we push the beat up a bit?’”: How The Rolling Stones created their Satanic, samba-fuelled masterpiece Sympathy For The Devil
- "I like childlike exploration. Maybe it's a bit of ego, but it feels good to discover things": Tresor resident Nadia Struiwigh on why she avoids tutorials and keeps things 'loose' in the studio
- "I woke up the next day and I was like, ‘Oh, it’s over. I know it’s over'": Lorde used MDMA therapy to cure her stage fright
June 27
- “Neil Young’s career has been conducted on his own terms”: BBC confirm that they won’t be showing his Glastonbury set “at the artist’s request”
- “I pretty much haven't worked since 2020”: How the effects of Long COVID have harmed professional musicians and DJs
- "In a blind test of 100 musicians, it beat the $200 plugin 3-to-1. Not bad for a free app": AudioKit releases Synth One J6, a free Juno-inspired synth for iOS
- "He thought of all the sounds we chose as my voices - these machines are singing and crying and talking or laughing in the same way that we do”: Lorde on the Frank Ocean collaborator who helped to humanise the synth sounds on her new album, Virgin
- "There's not a shred of evidence on the internet that this band has ever existed": This apparently AI-generated artist is racking up hundreds of thousands of Spotify streams
- “The energy on that train was unreal”: Sam Ryder performs an impromptu set for passengers on a Glastonbury-bound train
- Glastonbury 2025 secret act rumours: odds shorten on Lewis Capaldi and Robbie Williams enters the fray
- “We were even encouraged to dig out some particularly gnarly old stuff that hadn’t seen the light of day in years”: Freqport FreqInOut FO1 review
- "On this particular occasion, I dropped some beats, apparently. I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find them!": Zak Starkey on his Who sacking, plus advice for new Oasis drummer and Ringo-playing actor
June 26
- “These all-new models are packed with the performance and attitude that defined the electrifying sound of the ‘80s!”: Harley Benton erupts with retro shred fever as it launches the Floyd-equipped ST-80FR Series
- “My head was full of, ‘it’s going to be a disaster’”: Bob Geldof looks back at Live Aid in new trailer for 40th anniversary documentary, When Rock 'n' Roll Took On the World
- “The guitar is like a spaceship, like a Formula 1 car”: Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s “Mega-Wing” active pickup system had so much output that it blew up his amps one by one
- “No, I would be honoured...”: Who would Ozzy Osbourne like to do a duet with?
- Excite Audio and KSHMR team up for South Asian-inspired software instrument based on authentic recordings
- Digitakt II’s new firmware update adds a major user-requested feature – and finally lets it step out of the shadow of the original
- “Okay, there’s not really an easy way to describe what this thing does”: Behringer launches the BM-15M Murf Box, a $129 animated filter pedal inspired by a Moog classic from the ‘00s
- “He played a chord and I was like, ‘this might be the best chord I’ve ever heard in my life’”: PinkPantheress on the pop star who she says is like “AI in a person, musically”, and has also been praised by Taylor Swift and Elton John
- “Your passport to deep vibes and low-altitude cruising. No turbulence, just pure vibes”: Deadmau5 launches his own 24/7 Youtube stream
- “Bowie gave them the song but Mick wrote the intro — and it’s the lick of all licks”: Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott pays tribute to ex-Mott The Hoople and Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs
- “The Tritone was universally loved by the crew but the vibes clashed with the palette of the Soft Focus Deluxe”: Catalinbread is selling off its prototype guitar pedals, and the first is a “B-side” pitch echo from its smash-hit shoegaze stompbox
- “The show can go on even in the midst of sheer, utter embarrassment”: LeAnn Rimes' teeth fall out but she finishes her set
- Best guitar VSTs 2025: Get the best simulated guitar tones for your next production
- Start your Independence Day weekend with a bang, as the Musician's Friend 4th of July sale lands early - score up to $850 off Music Man, $200 off Elektron and more
June 25
- “Unbeatable... A guitar built for sessions, ready for all occasions”: Duesenberg Alliance Series Tom Bukovac Session Man review
- “I had a raincoat with a squiggly design on the back and I thought it would cool on a guitar”: Strandberg and Plini team up for signature version of Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
- “We were thinking… how loud could this place get?”: Taylor Swift’s first live performance since taking ownership of her original masters was of one of her biggest hits
- 8 things you can do with Ableton Live's updated Auto Filter device
- “She got them to think a little bit about what their rights were”: Five Finger Death Punch take Swift action
- “When you talk about just knowledge of music and of instrumentation, he is a literal genius”: Shinedown frontman Brent Smith on what makes Rick Beato a great producer
- “He was the leader of the band, he would write the setlist, he would deal with the fan clubs and the merchandise, co-produce the albums and co-write the music. He, to me, was a role model”: Which A-list metal drummer could Mike Portnoy be talking about?
- "There’s been all kinds of backstage wrangling": Emily Eavis “does not believe” that Neil Young’s Glastonbury set will be shown on the BBC
- New data reveals The Beatles song that most guitarists, pianists and drummers want to learn to play - but bassists have a different favourite
- Roland finds inner peace with Mood Pan, an electronic percussion instrument designed to help you "discover the restorative power of music"
- These huge drum deals at Sweetwater are about to disappear – here’s your last chance to bag up to 60% off electronic drums, cymbals, sticks and more
- “I really hope the patchwork is a hint about Glastonbury”: Fans might have worked out the identity of at least one Glastonbury secret act
- “Its voice is earthy, honest and uncomplicated… seasoned and soulful”: Taylor adds all-new Grand Pacific models to its state-of-the-art but vintage-voiced Gold Label range
- "An honest pair of compact, affordable monitors that are easy to set up": KRK Systems Kreate 5 review review
- “McCartney masterfully works his way around this theoretical dead end”: The lesser-heard theory tricks that lay behind the magic of the Beatles' Yesterday
- “Seriously, I recorded half of that album in my underpants”: How Daniel Bedingfield's bedroom-produced No. 1 rewrote the rules of pop - before he disappeared for decades
June 24
- “We spent more than four years in research and development, working closely with Herman to get everything exactly right”: PRS activates total shred mode for the launch of Herman Li’s feature-packed Chleo signature electric
- “Don’t miss this rare opportunity to own an accessible tribute to one of the world’s most famous, cherished, and valuable electric guitars”: Epiphone unveils Inspired By Gibson Custom version of Jeff Beck’s iconic 1954 Oxblood Les Paul
- "Everyone knew it would be carnage from the moment it was announced": PinkPantheress drops out of Glastonbury set with last-minute replacement
- “Got a sharp pain in my stomach, thought it was food poisoning, turned out to be appendicitis”: Steven Van Zandt to sit out next few Springsteen dates due to emergency surgery
- “I hit guitars really hard, and sometimes it makes them sound small”: Yungblud reveals his secret to making acoustic guitars sound massive – and drops a hint as to what his next signature electric might look like
- “We are the inventors of electro”: Emmanuel Macron wants French house to be added to UNESCO heritage list
- “Hildur’s instrument kind of occupies the typical guitar frequencies, and it feeds back. She often calls it a Jimi Hendrix cello”: Osmium - a new collective featuring Hildur Guðnadóttir - talk self-built instruments and exploring wild frontiers of sound
- “It's a big, warm, beautiful thing that surrounds you with gentle weirdness, essentially”: Glastonbury’s ambient-focused Tree Stage returns, complete with a quadrophonic sound system and Jon Hopkins’ Embodiment Breathing experience
- “Digital Bath is the most complex pedal we have ever developed. It took us nearly two years to get it absolutely perfect”: KHDK teams up with Chino Moreno for a delay that promises “immersive, melancholic textures” and an iconic Deftones tone
- "Hal heard one of the older guys say to another older musician, ‘These guys are going to wreck the business playing this rock & roll'": Wrecking Crew director explains how the group of LA’s elite session musicians got their name
- GForce Software makes FM synthesis simple with Halogen FM
- “Nothing prepares you for having it snatched away. My life was torn apart”: Missing – £150,000 18th-century violin. Last seen in a North London pub
- “Our Mick has passed, my heart just hit the ground”: Mick Ralphs, guitarist for Mott The Hoople and Bad Company, has died aged 81
- “It was not necessarily the record that in my mind I had planned on, but that’s the way creativity works”: Springsteen explains why he “wasn’t happy” with Born In The USA
June 23
- “It’s my favourite synth ever, but it takes a few days to program”: Jamie xx on the ultra-rare vintage synthesizer that shaped the sound of some of his biggest hits
- “And let me tell you... she is the biggest brat I have ever known”: After a surprise duet with Jamiroquai, Dua Lipa brings out Charli XCX at the second of her Wembley Stadium shows
- “It’s a cheap guitar, it sounds very direct, I did everything wrong, but I think they’re perfect notes”: Mark Knopfler names his favourite guitar solo
- “We wanted to, but they weren’t interested”: Pulp are not one of the ‘secret’ acts playing Glastonbury
- “I’d done way worse than just licking the bass. Humping and stuff like that!”: The raunchy video that powered a hair metal anthem all the way to No.1
- This unreleased Korg synth will be making its first live appearance in Floating Points' Glastonbury set
- “They are not powerless in the face of human monstrosity”: Greatest Hits Radio to broadcast 10-hour recreation of Live Aid
June 22
- “The smashing glass, the police sirens — it’s telling a story with sound. You’re seeing a movie running through your head”: In a house that was home to two Beatles, a heavy metal masterpiece was born
- “It took 400 audio tracks for me to get it to throw an error, which is frankly insane”: Asus ProArt P16 review
June 21
- “When I asked him what he thought of what I was doing, glam rock, he said, ‘Yeah, it’s great, but it’s just rock ’n’ roll with lipstick on!’”: How David Bowie and John Lennon bonded to create a funky No.1 hit that slammed celebrity culture
- "It was like I had died and gone to heaven. It was a really emotional moment”: Jimmy Page and the Robinson brothers tell the story of Live At The Greek
- “A worthy addition to Moog’s long history of analogue synths”: Moog Messenger review
June 20
- “At times it can really feel like more of a multi-effects pedal rather than just a straight reverb pedal”: Electro-Harmonix Oceans Abyss review
- “We’ll push the boat out here and say that this could be its finest synth plugin to date”: Cherry Audio ODC 2800 review
- “Although it might not feel natural, when you translate what he does for guitar, it sounds different”: Adrian Smith on how Steve Harris is the secret to Iron Maiden’s triple-guitar attack – and the prog instincts driving their sonic evolution
- Did Sabrina Carpenter “switch it up like Nintendo” and incorporate a melody from Zelda’s Lullaby into Espresso? We’re not so sure
- “I think Roger just got lost. Roger’s finding it difficult. I have to be careful what I say about Roger because he gets angry if I say anything about him at all": Pete Townshend has his say on Zak Starkey’s protracted dismissal from The Who
June 19
- “I was never a ‘wrecker’ at all… that’s a terrible insulting name”: Legendary bassist Carol Kaye says she’s “turning down” the invitation to be at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony later this year
- “You bought it, you put it into the charts, not us": How a novelty sample almost derailed the Prodigy's fledgling career
- The unlikely encounter between a pre-fame Freddie Mercury and David Bowie at a London market
- “I love the show - I love the show more than I did the gig”: The Who’s Pete Townshend says he’s more of a fan of the Live Aid musical than the historic event that inspired it
- Expressive E launches its all new super-realistic virtual strings collection
- "He was one of the most talented people I've worked with. He went in the mic booth, put the headphones on, I let the track run down one time, instrumental, and when I rewound it he said he was ready”: The making of 2Pac’s era-defining hit California Love
- “Did he expect to find us as we had been seven years earlier, ready to start to work with him again?”: The strange, sad day that Syd Barrett unexpectedly showed up in the studio when Pink Floyd were making Wish You Were Here
June 18
- “There was talk about doing a pedal release in conjunction with the album, and the Dirt Transmitter was the perfect fit”: EarthQuaker Devices joins forces with Dave Catching of Rancho de la Luna to bring back an old EQD fuzz classic
- “Don’t need to be perfect. I want it to feel like I’m in the room by myself”: The first trailer for Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere shows The Boss recording Nebraska on his 4-track PortaStudio
- “That is so huge, and I wish somebody would have told me that when I was a kid”: Jason Isbell has some advice for any young player who has just bought their first acoustic guitar
- "There was this huge existential threat of what it meant for the world of songwriting”: Thinking Out Loud plagiarism case is finally dismissed and Ed Sheeran’s co-writer breathes a sigh of relief
- “You could clone me - but why the [eff] would you want to?”: Iced tea laced with Ozzy Osbourne’s DNA, anyone?
- "Splice is now built directly into Pro Tools": Avid launches Pro Tools 2025.6 with Splice integration, AI speech-to-text engine and more
- “Use each side on its own or stack them for a wall of sound that’s articulate and powerful”: Cornerstone’s revamped Imperium V2 is a Dumble x TS-style stompbox that really is the definition of a 2-in-1 overdrive
- "There’s also an entitled, spoiled aspect to this": Josh Homme on his subterranean Alive In The Catacombs gig to 6 million skeletons
June 17
- Sonicware's LIVEN Evoke is a "nostalgia-evoking ambient music box" fusing acoustic and electronic sounds
- “Listings are getting taken down everywhere, so grab it before it disappears”: $2,000 for a $69 Klon clone? Some people are selling Behringer’s "Lawsuit" era Centaur Overdrive for crazy money online
- “That shouldn’t be a headline, but if you would like to make that the headline of this article...”: Haim push back again against people who question their songwriting, production skills and musicianship - despite a glowing endorsement from Bono
- Universal Audio's Anthem synth plugin promises to "put the biggest, baddest analogue sounds at your fingertips"
- “The most important thing is to be true to yourself so that, when you play, it sounds like you”: Fender gives Richie Kotzen’s head-turning MIJ signature Strat a global release
- Wanna be Their Man?: The Bootleg Beatles are after a new Paul McCartney
- “This modern version captures the look and vibe of his original, with only the features that Marcus finds essential”: Marcus King’s new signature Gibson ES-345 is the evolution of a family heirloom and offers a stripped down take on the original
- “Perfect for on-stage performance, in-studio recording or at-home practice”: Supro teams up with Two Notes for the IR-equipped Airwave – a vintage-voiced 25W tube combo with 21st-century functionality
- Who are Glastonbury's secret acts for 2025? Here's what the bookies reckon
- “I said to those guys, ‘I would like us to do something where you become Marlon Brando — where you can still be bad boys but there has to be an element of vulnerability’”: How producer Bob Ezrin added a new dimension to Kiss
- “It’s really kind of a miracle cure for those that have the Klon blues”: Keeley Electronics’ new Manis Overdrive remixes the classic K-style drive recipe for those who don’t like the original (and those who do)
- Here comes the sons: Zak Starkey, James McCartney and Sean Lennon unite on Rip Off
- “Every time I sing it I feel so honored”: Beyoncé wraps up her London residency by thanking Paul McCartney for writing “one of the best songs ever made”
- “There’s a freedom of thought that doesn’t exist elsewhere”: How and why California became the heart of the synthesizer world
- “It sounds like I’m making this up… but something happened”: How a sudden weather event help shape the sound of Richie Hawtin’s ‘90s Warp Records classic
June 16
- “An absolute disgrace”: Sam Ryder channels Brian May with a stadium-sized electric guitar performance of God Save The King, but not everyone's happy about it
- "I was gobsmacked. I said 'it's OK, it's fine', but Noel insisted I take it": How an Oasis recording engineer ended up with Noel Gallagher’s Wonderwall acoustic guitar after Liam Gallagher had smashed his '70s Fender at Abbey Road
- “No one ever knew the number, so it never rang”: The intriguing mystery of the ringing phone captured at the end of David Bowie’s Life on Mars
- “I got it right and Roger got it wrong... he came in a bar too early”: Zak Starkey offers a detailed explanation of the on-stage incident that led to him being fired from The Who
- "In previous years, due to wearable tech issues, we saw a rise of nearly 700 extra 999 calls in a weekend": British Police encourage moshing festival-goers to take off their smartwatches
- “In my opinion, as someone who was there, Randy never reached his peak. He was just getting started. I’m laughing at the thought of Randy reaching his peak with just two albums!”: The genius of Randy Rhoads — by his former bandmate
- "If you're tired of being one of the only women in the room when it comes to music production, we know how you feel": Music Production for Women announces free workshops in London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Berlin
June 15
- “At the heart of our band is...three musicians. And a salesman”: Bono suggests next U2 album will have a looser, less produced feel
- “They told me to start playing along, but I didn’t even know what key the song was in. And by the end they said, ‘You’re the only one who made it to the end of the song — you’re hired!’”: The madness of Captain Beefheart’s masterpiece Trout Mask Replica
- “One of the most iconic synthesizers of all time, in a highly usable and great sounding piece of software”: GForce Software Oberheim TVS Pro review
- “It’s about reconfiguring what a human voice is so it’s not just aesthetic, but political”: Lyra Pramuk turns vocal processing into protest on new project Hymnal
June 14
- “They said, 'how can you possibly do this, Brian?' I said, 'something got inside of me - I had to do something'”: Unpicking the Beach Boys' classic that confirmed Brian Wilson’s creative genius
- Sack The DJ: Apple Music now uses AI to mix tracks
- “I grew up in the greatest time in the history of mankind to be a musician. But now the deck is heavily stacked against old farts like myself!”: The classic rock singer exiled by his old band after writing their biggest hits
- “A good all round headphone suited to recording, mixing and mastering”: Adam Audio H200 Headphones review
June 13
- You don't need to be a music theory expert to make electronic music, but it helps - here's our guide to the basics
- “I met Dylan’s manager and they were just like, ‘Bob’s very grateful for all the sync money of that song’”: How Ed Sheeran generated royalties for Bob Dylan by borrowing from Jimi Hendrix
- “I dragged George Harrison in to listen to it on the way back from a Beatles session. He didn’t get it at all”: When the first Led Zeppelin album confused a Beatle — and was ignored by Mick Jagger
- "It’s been a tough few years": UK gear retailer PMT closes its doors, makes 96 staff redundant and sells £2.4m of stock to Gear4Music
- “I’ll cry if I go... I’d have done that gig for nothing, you know?” Zak Starkey on why he won’t be at any of the Oasis comeback gigs
June 12
- “Built for full-spectrum sound at high volume, providing the flexibility and control you need to explore new sonic territories”: Gretsch’s unveils new MIJ high-end semi-hollows with redesigned bodies and Pro Twin Six humbuckers
- “I don’t know if there’s any other artists in the world who make me so happy. They understood how to make fun music without it feeling cheesy or corny”: Sabrina Carpenter on her musical heroes, why she decided to release a new album so soon... and Rush
- Tick, tick, tick, tick, boom! Camtronome is the essential musical metronome app that you didn’t know you needed
- “They came up to my father and said ‘your son is brilliant at music, he’d be an incredible musician... I could’ve been a flutist”: Donald Trump is claiming musical bones
- “One of the most organic, alive-feeling synths I’ve tried – even if it occasionally feels like it’s trying to pick a fight”: Erica Synths Steampipe review
- Arturia's Mix DRUMS is an "all-in-one" drum processor that promises punchy, pro-sounding drums without the fuss
- “It doesn’t get anywhere close to The Dark Side Of The Moon, but a few years ago it had clocked up 12 million sales. That’s pretty big!”: Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson on the band’s classic album — with the “bloody awful” cover
- “A bold new take on a classic metal machine”: Having ridden the wave of popular demand, Jackson’s Surfcaster offset has landed – and it’s built for speed
- “There is no question that there’s enough quality audio here to cater for every musical taste and presents a massive amount of editing options”: Alesis Strata Club review
- “The single biggest leap Line 6 has made in its near 30 year history of modelling amps”: Line 6 debuts all-new AI tech as it supercharges its amp modelling platform with the Helix Stadium series
- “A true gentleman and a great artist”: Tributes paid to Nitzer Ebb frontman Douglas McCarthy
- “It's the best song we ever did - It proves the best that you do isn't always the most successful”: 10 underrated Air tracks you absolutely need to hear
- “I said, ‘Rick, I’m playing one note, how do I play less?’ He said, ‘I know you can do it’”: Tom Petty keyboard player Benmont Tench says that being produced by Rick Rubin on Johnny Cash’s American IV album was like solving a puzzle
- “The world mourns a genius today”: Bandmates, friends and stars pay tribute to Brian Wilson
- “There is really only one chord in the whole song. E… something”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Sly & The Family Stone's Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
- “The recording of Appetite For Destruction eventually cost $365,000. It was an outrageous amount to spend on a debut. I worried that we would never dig out of that hole”: Guns N’ Roses’ former manager Alan Niven on the making of a rock classic
June 11
- Brian Wilson, co-founder of the Beach Boys and one of the most influential writers and producers in pop history, has died aged 82
- “I’ve actually performed it with him, and I’m afraid to say that during the soundcheck, I broke down”: The story behind The Beach Boys’ timeless masterpiece God Only Knows, a Brian Wilson co-creation that had a profound emotional impact on Paul McCartney
- “A fresh, distinctive kind of guitar that feels like the perfect introduction for those that only know us for our acoustics”: Orangewood teams up with TreeTone Guitars for its first-ever electric, and it’s a baritone semi-hollow offset priced just $695
- Paul McCartney unwittingly met the girl who’d later inspire the Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home years before writing the song
- “If you see me in my music, I haven’t done my job, but if you see yourself, my job is done”: Brandi Carlile reveals the songwriting maxim that Joni Mitchell lives by
- Teenage Engineering's TX-6, TP-7 and CM-15 are back in black
- “I’ve personally taken a lot of inspiration from the UK dance music scene": Mixwave just captured Sleep Token’s drummer – II – and trapped him inside a plugin
- “I get anxiety because I believe guitars should be played”: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has too many guitars and has been anonymously selling them online
- “The engineer was so happy with the sound, he was not even mad about it. You know if an engineer likes a piece of gear, it must be pretty good”: Jack White says his new Fender amp sounded so good that he rerecorded half of the guitars on No Name with it
- "I wanted to sit down, open any plugin, and just start turning knobs": Dialr takes the headache out of MIDI mapping with "world's first" AI-powered plugin controller
- “I just do want to say that I know I can never, ever, ever, ever, ever attempt to replace or imitate Amy. I’m in awe of her”: Raye on her decision to work with Amy Winehouse producer Mark Ronson, and dealing with those inevitable comparisons
- Neil Peart called him 'the Wood Whisperer' and now he's blended metal and timber in DW's new SonicPly shells
- “We’re celebrating the fact that we survived this! What remains is the true essence of what this music is about”: Ozzy Osbourne's '80s bandmate says it was "a blessing" to work with the singer
- Piano basics: the black notes - what are they for and how do you use them?
- "They’ve got 13 songs they’re happy with and they are discussing when they can release it”: The Rolling Stones are busy recording a new album in London
- “Let’s go nefew! It’s time!”: Snoop Dogg’s biopic is flying high with a young Netflix star set to step into the seminal rapper’s sneakers
June 10
- "Up there as one of the better value for money metal guitars that you can currently buy": Spira S-450 TPP review
- “It features a smaller, parlour-sized body that is reminiscent of a scaled-down SJ-200 in overall shape”: Gibson has just unveiled a new Les Paul like no other
- “And so the first thing I do is put it in the middle position and play Oh Well”: Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on that time he brought Duane Allman’s 1957 Les Paul to a Metallica show and ended up playing Kirk Hammett's Greeny
- “He’s now going around making up lies because I threw his band off the bill”: A band just got booted off the line-up for Ozzy Osbourne’s Black Sabbath Back To The Beginning megagig… But who?
- "A tape delay plugin that finally sounds like the real thing": Heritage Audio takes on the legendary Echoplex with its TAPEoPLEX plugin
- “Pigments is becoming so powerful it risks making the V Collection look obsolete”: Arturia Pigments review
- “Midnight, I got the call: come down to the studio. Finally, he’s ready. We’re talking. And then…”: British neo-soul pioneer Omar recalls the unusual reason why his first attempt to record with Stevie Wonder came to nothing
- “You’re used to Ozzy running around, but he certainly won’t be doing that for this show”: Tony Iommi has “excitement mixed with fear” ahead of Ozzy and Black Sabbath’s farewell gig
- "And then this Tumblr comes out and says all this stuff. And I was just, like, shocked:” Scooter Braun says he didn’t see the Taylor Swift feud coming
- “Mark and Laura had built their trademark sound with some unique specs and features on their primary instruments… we wanted to be able to share that”: Fender unveils DiMarzio-loaded signature Strat and Jazz Bass for Khruangbin’s Mark Speer and Laura Lee
- Arturia launches MiniFreak Vocoder Edition and drops firmware update for existing owners
- "From the moment his music reached me in the early 1970s, it became a part of my soul": Music stars align to pay homage to Sly Stone who died yesterday, aged 82
- “So yeah, we caused an earthquake - something to go on the CV”: The beloved British band whose comeback gig actually made the earth move
- “I said, ‘Damn, I wish I could have cut that song faster!’ So what we did was speed the tape up, which took the pitch up. If you listen to it, it’ll make sense!”: How a master guitarist made a cult classic instrumental album
- “I’m trying not to get angry, but it’s very difficult”: Richard Hawley to play one final show at renowned UK venue next week
- From Parlour to Jumbo: The beginner's guide to acoustic guitar body shapes (and which one is right for you)
- The ultimate guide to the circle of fifths and how it can help you make better music
- “Encouraged billions of users, all wilfully, and without a license”: Eminem is suing Meta for a potential $1million
June 9
- “A groundbreaking innovator, and a true pioneer who redefined the landscape of pop, funk, and rock music”: Sly Stone, leader of Sly and the Family Stone, has died aged 82
- “He said to me, ‘Hey man, your upstrokes are weak!’ I’m like, ‘You effin’ what?’ But he was right”: Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith says you never stop learning as a player
- “Do you really want to know why we stopped Netflix? You will not disrespect Prince on my watch": Prince Legacy representative speaks out on cancelled documentary, and outlines future release plans
- “Due to digital, music now has a terrible sort of housewifely tidiness. It's possible to fix absolutely everything”: Brian Eno on sonic perfectionism, Bowie and his new collaborative double album with Beatie Wolfe
- Olivia Rodrigo and David Byrne ignore the nasty weather and get down at the New York Governor’s Ball fest
- “Warner Brothers wanted another Layla. I thought, 'well, if you sit down and write a song in a formatted way, it's not so hard’”: The Grammy-winning hit that Eric Clapton wrote to order, with a little help from Foreigner’s Mick Jones
- Your chance to win Kurt Cobain's plectrum — used during Nirvana’s legendary MTV Unplugged show
- “Thank you, Scousers”: McCartney joins Springsteen to play Can’t Buy Me Love at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium
- Codec, one of our favourite free lo-fi plugins, just got an update
- “If you were to look at his amp settings onstage, you’d be like, ‘Why is he doing that!? Turn that down”: Lifeguard on adventures in improvised sound, creative epiphanies, and how they found the balance between abstract noise and pop hooks
- “I was like - there has to be a different way to express how I’m feeling”: How Lorde established herself as Bowie's creative heir with her weirdest and most brilliant single
June 8
- “Never let your publishing go. You look at where your songs could end up; you could get a couple of million each time your song is used in an advertisement”: The best music industry advice Sharon Osbourne has ever been given
- Have you seen this woman? The Menendez Brothers are searching for the thief who stole their record bag from Fabric
- “It wasn’t just my decision to fire Ozzy. It was a band decision. It was either we break up or we carry on without him”: Tony Iommi says they had to get rid of Ozzy Osbourne to make Black Sabbath great again
- “A highly flexible yet portable unit that is easy to use but can also be configured to taste”: Zoom H6 Essential review
June 7
- "They should’ve been honoured. It would have sounded better than any rubbish song they wrote": The unbelievable story of Aphex Twin's laziest remix
- “When I'm listening to Dear Prudence or those other great Beatles songs, you’re aware of what the bass is doing. That doesn’t happen with the Stones”: Why Gene Simmons calls Paul McCartney the king of bassists
June 6
- “Ribbon tweeters are sometimes criticised for their limited vertical dispersion, here this is not noticeable unless you are sitting very close”: Adam Audio D3V Monitor review
- ”TaTa is a living, learning, autonomous music artist built with AI. She’s the first artist of a new generation”: Timbaland just created an entirely artificial artist and its debut single is out soon
- "I booked an arena tour and a lot of those shows were, like, half full. There were some nights where I was like, 'This is awkward'": Lorde reflects on the "damage" she suffered when her Melodrama tour was hit by low ticket sales
- After decades of rumours, Madonna finally confirms the Ray of Light remix album, 27 years after it was shelved
- "No complicated signal routing, no phase issues, no stress": Time Off Audio's Dime [ms] makes mid/side easy
- “They’ll go, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t tell you what to do.’ But then you hear the record later and you’re not on it! They took you off and there’s a saxophone solo on there instead”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
- “I wrote Manchild on a random Tuesday with Amy and Jack”: Is synth-pop-country a genre? Sabrina Carpenter’s new single suggests that is, and she’s positioning it as a song of the summer contender
- "I’ve been a Live user for around 20 years, and it’s probably the effect I turn to most regularly": Ableton Live 12.2 gives this "incredibly versatile" device a much-needed refresh - and rectifies Push 3’s most notable missing feature
June 5
- “Will definitely please those who are a fan of the sound already, but standalone price is expensive”: Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus plugin review
- “I immediately heard the melody in my head. I just felt intuitively, ‘This is gonna be something’”: How Madonna created a dancefloor classic — with a sample that other artists could only dream of using
- "I loved it so much that I hunted down the synths he used": Ethel Cain's ethereal new song features a Yamaha DX7S heard on the Twin Peaks soundtrack
- “The big take-home is the overall playability of this wonderful keyboard, we simply got lost for hours in the enjoyment of playing”: Nord Piano 6 review
- “They start the song and then they just… it feels like a run-on sentence to me. I can’t find the hook. I can’t find the chorus. It just keeps on going, and then it ends”: Barry Manilow says that songwriting has changed, but he won’t be changing with it
- “Studio-grade tone shaping in a compact pedal format that is purpose-built for low-end instruments, not just adapted from guitar gear”: Empress Effects unveils the Bass ParaEQ, the world’s first parametric EQ pedal designed especially for bass
- “It creates a tone that you can't find in Guitar Center”: Disiniblud on the self-built instruments, obscure Eurorack modules and marathon Ableton sessions behind their wildly imaginative self-titled debut
- “Designed to be featherlight without compromising tone”: Kiesel debuts the Kyber – a customisable, super-shreddable and radically contoured electric guitar that weighs as little as 6lbs
- “The end result - rights holders get paid even less, nobody has the right to opt in or out and as artists we have zero visibility on what these license details will entail”: The reaction to a report that major labels are in talks with AI firms
- “I got to know her music pretty well, Houdini and the like. I just think she’s great and it was such a great thing to get up with her. The band were fantastic - they played it really well”: Neil Finn on how his unlikely duet with Dua Lipa came about
- “I'm never going to get there. I might get to where I can try to, and I'm not going to give up. I'm going to try”: Huey Lewis hasn’t given up on making new music
- AI-BBA – Björn Ulvaeus is using AI to write a new musical: “It usually comes out with garbage, but sometimes there is something in it that gives you another idea”
June 4
- “Looks, feels and sounds far more expensive than it actually is”: Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom 1960 Les Paul Special Double Cut Reissue TV Yellow review
- “For the record, I have never been consulted in any way about this pedal, it has never been authorised by me”: Bill Finnegan sues Behringer parent company over Klon Centaur clone
- “The people I’ve met, the stories I’ve heard and the places I’ve wound up in has been an absolute odyssey”: Exhibition featuring life-sized photos of 100 legendary artists' guitars to open in London
- “The baritone Tele was made uniquely for me, and Paul’s mandolin has been with him for decades. We’re heartbroken": Someone just stole Heart’s gear on the eve of their comeback tour
- "You can absolutely craft some great mixes on these": JBL 305P MkII review
- "This is an experiment": Teenage Engineering is letting you choose your own price for the OP-1 Field (no, we're not kidding)
- “They were just asking for it”: When Kurt Cobain deliberately sabotaged Nirvana’s Top of the Pops appearance
- “After I’d finished with the food mixer, I threw it over the balcony and it hit some kid on the head - he found me afterwards and said ‘can you sign this’”: How Aphex Twin almost knocked out a fan at his weirdest gig ever
- The vocals on Billie Eilish’s Birds Of A Feather are consistently out of tune, says this musician, and he thinks he knows why
- “This is the new rock ’n’ roll Metallica. The riffs are greasier, bluesier, dirtier”: How the heavy metal heroes shook things up with Load
- “Not just Wayne’s sound but Wayne's attitude, and the grit and the rawness of Detroit and of the MC5”: Two gain circuits, one knob, one punk legend – MXR launches limited edition Jail Guitar Doors Drive in memory of Wayne Kramer
- “He said, 'You can tell people I’m not dying'. He wants people to know that”: Howard Stern gives Billy Joel fans a good-news update following the star’s brain disorder diagnosis
- “So as I record this video, just know it's not for a transaction, it's not for an Apple card, it's not for a favor… It's for you”: Joe Bonamassa just posted a creepy deepfaked love letter and is understandably freaked out by it
- “No one has seen this guitar since 1985, and we need to find it”: Gibson teams up with Back To The Future cast to launch global hunt for Marty McFly’s lost ES-345
- This AI-powered plugin could be a game-changingly useful tool for drum production
June 3
- “1956 marks the year that Ted first had guitars made with his newly coined 'humbucker' pickups. It also happens to be the year I was born”: PRS pays tribute to a legend of guitar design with the limited edition McCarty SC56
- "If you've been unsure of making the jump to Bitwig Studio, then Connect might just be the sweetener to seal the deal": Bitwig Connect 4/12 review
- “We’d gone backwards. We still enjoyed playing, but I did wonder how much longer the band would last”: Iron Maiden guitarist Dave Murray on the highs and lows of the band’s 50-year odyssey
- "I said, ‘I have this other idea!’ and that I wanted to work on this song with guitar. They were just like, ‘Let’s do it’": Natasha Bedingfield on how she made the 2004 hit that became a viral sensation 20 years later
- “This natural sounding overdrive pedal can work as a clean boost, ‘on the edge’ crunch, or a sweet singing overdrive”: Mad Professor’s refreshed Dumble-inspired overdrive pedal is here
- Spotify says it got your Wrapped 2024 wrong. But this year it's going to fix it
- "Raw, warm, and beautifully expressive": Rhodes releases Wurli, a virtual instrument based on the Wurlitzer 200A
- “Robbie came to us in 2022 with an idea... His favourite guitar was the 1953 Esquire he used for many years with Paul McCartney”: Robbie McIntosh and Monty’s unveil pickup set offering best of both worlds for Tele and Esquire fans
- Glastonbury 2025 line-up times: Who's on when, where and how you can watch them from anywhere. And who the hell are Patchwork?…
- Reference tracks can be your secret weapon when mixing - but be mindful of replicating other artists' creative decisions
- “It’s always a guy... It’s like, we’re playing with wireless. Are you an idiot?”: Haim hit back at keyboard warriors who accuse them of not playing their instruments live on stage, and the rock establishment’s refusal to accept them
- “Ableton allows me more room for playful experimentation - it’s more creatively fulfilling than Logic”: Maria Somerville on the DAWs, uilleann pipes and vintage Korg drum machines behind new album Luster
- “As far as we’re concerned, the band never really broke up”: Are Talking Heads about to announce a reunion 50 years to the day since their first gig?
- “Each time I pressed Enter on the Akai S1000 I saw my life changing”: Air’s Nicolas Godin reveals the secrets of their Sexy Boy
- “He was a master of the cryptic instruction. He’d say, ‘This song, can you loosen its tie a little?’”: How The Strokes created the most influential rock song of the early 21st Century
- “When we first opened, we never imagined that we’d still be in London three years on”: Abba: Voyage just got four new songs to mark its third anniversary
- “Well suited for everything from bluesy porch pickin’ to speakeasy swingin’”: Gretsch drops two limited edition Jim Dandy parlour and concert acoustics with solid spruce tops and off-the-charts vintage mojo
June 2
- “A good-looking kit which won’t break the bank”: DrumCraft Urban Beats review
- “It's built in Jack White's spirit, with abundant potential for dialling in sounds that range from the practical and useable to wild and anarchic”: Donner x Third Man Hardware Triple Threat review
- David Lynch’s collection of studio gear is up for auction, and it includes a classic ‘80s sampling keyboard, a Fender Rhodes and the original affordable pocket synth
- “Gracefully injects authentic grit and harmonic girth into our developing tracks”: Arturia Tape J-37 review
- "No menu diving. No friction. Just expressive control at your fingertips": Excite Audio's Motion: Fractal plugin is a granular powerhouse for twisting, stretching and scattering sounds
- SampleRadar: 533 free MIDI orchestra samples
- "It’s a weird kind of tech-bro nightmare future... the economic structure is morally wrong": Thom Yorke says AI steals from artists and devalues humanity
- “You know, I could sing into the stratosphere. Now, I've lost a little of that, but I've gained other things”: Daryl Hall reflects on how his singing voice has changed, and why he thinks it’s now “more appropriate sounding”
- “My hair caught fire, and my hearing was never the same again”: When Keith Moon overdid the pyrotechnics for the Who’s most explosive television moment
June 1
- Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: TDR Nova