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July 2025

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258 articles

July 31
- "This is a chance for us to stand together and say, 'This can’t continue'”: Brian Eno announces Wembley benefit concert for Palestine
- “Delving into the lush, the infinite, and the experimental”: IK Multimedia launches new reverb plugin module
- "I saw The Beatles and it all made sense. From that point I needed music like I needed air! There was no other choice for me”: The singer who scored two No.1 hits in the '80s with the band that had fired him a decade earlier
- “It’s a sad song, but so many people tell us they had it played at their wedding”: How a dejected indie folk gem became a wedding song staple
- “Heavy rock and metal are bigger than ever in live music”: Rock is here to stay reports Live Nation
- It’s a drummer swap! Ilan Rubin signs on as Foo Fighters' new beat supplier whilst Josh Freese rejoins Nine Inch Nails
- “The band provided me with this ridiculous music and I had to, of course, kind of step up to it”: The enduring appeal of the REM radio smash that Michael Stipe hated
- “A significant cost to incur in a liberal democracy": Why listeners now have to upload biometric data to access certain Spotify songs
July 30
- “Probably the most stupid thing I’ve ever done in my life”: Oasis' first drummer Tony McCarroll reveals the confrontation that led the band to sack him
- “I didn’t know what was going to happen, but they certainly booed, I’ll tell you that. You could hear it all over the place”: How Bob Dylan created one of his greatest songs while controversy erupted around him
- “Rigidity breaks; flexibility endures”: How Nick Cave came to have a more rounded view on artificial intelligence – with the help of an AI Elvis
- “I figured we’d see him later on – the next day or whatever. But no”: Zakk Wylde reflects on the last time he saw Ozzy Osbourne
- “Where words fail, music speaks”: Why storytelling through music surpasses all other art forms
- “Channel the aura of busted pedal delays, dusty tapes, and otherworldly echoes”: Brainworx new bx_pulsar aims to be your brand-new ultimate go-to delay effect
- “There’s joy in doing something again and again”: Hot Chip post vintage footage showing how one of their best loved tracks was created
July 29
- "If you're seeking a polished, smooth, modern distortion, this is most definitely not the stomp box for you": Peavey Decade preamp pedal review
- “If you’re looking for something to use for home practice, then it’s an invaluable tool”: Mooer SD30i Intelligent Amp review
- “Some of the guys never wanted to do that song in the first place. ‘This is crap – too poppy!’ I thought it was great, but I had no idea that it would become the band’s signature tune”: The ’70s hit that reinvented a legendary rock band
- “He didn’t set the bar very high in terms of vocal skills right from the very beginning”: Which rock legend could Ian Anderson be talking about?
- Massive X Player is a new free synth plugin that lets users morph and modulate presets from Native Instruments’ wavetable powerhouse
- "It’s a capitalist mentality and we’re all paying Taylor Swift": Billie Marten speaks out on the difficulties mid range artists are facing
- “Kudos to Akai’s software team”: Roger Linn uploads video that praises the MPC Live II as “the ultimate looper”
- “OMG, modular synthesizers and video games? Sign. Me. Up”: Look Mum No Computer just made their own computer game
- “It’s earth-shaking when I think about it. If I had never met him, where would my life have gone?”: Virtuoso guitarist John McLaughlin pays tribute to a beloved bandmate with a “magical” live album
July 28
- “Why are you doing this!?”: Watch Ozzy Osbourne try to kickstart his ancient ARP 2600 vintage synth
- “They were doing things nobody was doing. Their chords were outrageous, just outrageous”: How the Beatles won over America with one performance
- "It’s amazing how your brain reacts when you’re listening to 50 seconds of music, rather than just a two-bar loop": 8 pro producers show how to break out of the loop and turn basic ideas into finished tracks
- “I have none of that high-speed technical skill of a Steve Vai or a Joe Satriani. What I have is a connection between the mind and the fingers”: How Brian May plays off instinct – and how he and Freddie Mercury battled over a Queen classic
- “We've been sleeping for 30 years. Please excuse us”: The Commodore 64 is back, packed with extra power for chiptune music makers
- “A huge moment, not just for me, but for the future of music”: AI ‘creator’ signs record deal with Hallwood Media
July 27
- "A very capable package that will give beginners the tools they need to make good quality recordings": M-Audio M-Track Duo HD Producer Pack review
July 26
- “I went and got this big cast iron frying pan and a hammer, and I held it up facing this funky old mic and just went, bam!”: Terminator composer Brad Fiedel on the making of his iconic synth-fuelled sci-fi soundtrack
- “A bubbling cauldron full of ancient sounds, but confusing to learn and lacking in space”: Teenage Engineering EP-1320 Medieval review
- “He pretty much wrote the whole song! He just started playing that bass line and we all knew it was killer”: How Alice In Chains’ Mike Inez got the ball rolling for Ozzy Osbourne classic No More Tears – but he never got the chance to record it
July 25
- “Provides a quick solution for a wide range of vocal processing and beyond”: Neural DSP Mantra review
- “I will be honored to do the honors!”: Lucy Dacus is offering to marry fans on her upcoming tour
- “I had no idea that it was being recorded!”: 48 years later, percussionist Ray Cooper tells the story of his ‘lost’ live collaboration with Elton John that's finally getting a release
- "Politicians are not people - they are pernicious, corrupting anomalies, and music reminds people globally that we are not reflected by them": Moby explains why he's teamed up with a Russian teenager on a lush new ambient track
- “My computer blew up on me, but I didn't want to leave the studio without having done anything that day”: How a crashed PC led to the creation of Hide and Seek, the robotic a cappella that introduced millions to the power of vocal processing
- SampleRadar: 205 free glitchy texture samples
- Paul McCartney, Elton John and Questlove feature in the first trailer for Spinal Tap II: The End Continues
- “I’m not a collector. I get guitars, but I give them away. Guitars are like human beings – if you don’t play them, they get sick”: Why John McLaughlin still regrets giving up some vintage guitars – including a '67 Strat gifted to Jeff Beck
- "The guys need a drummer for their album, which will be recorded in September with Rick Rubin producing": Zak Starkey reveals that he once turned down the chance to join Black Sabbath
- “Unparalleled amplification for digital guitar rigs”: Laney expands its Devin Townsend and Guthrie Govan-approved FRFR active speaker range with a compact 1x10 250-watter
- “We were doing that riff and cracking up laughing the whole time”: Zakk Wylde on how a “joke” riff won Ozzy Osbourne his first ever Grammy
July 24
- Is it our imagination, or has a second live Oasis track from the reunion tour just been released?
- "I think he really just held out to do that show”: Tony Iommi speaks of his shock at Ozzy Osbourne’s sudden passing
- “We’d only be in front of 50 people, but he’d be like, ‘We’re gonna write a song on stage, everybody!’”: How rock giants Creed wrote their breakthrough hit – or at least a good chunk of it – while playing a gig
- “It was a shambles from start to finish... you could have seen this at the local theatre": The 'immersive' Elvis Evolution show isn’t the comeback special that some fans were hoping for
- “It stands up in a way you hope it would, by these two kids who were pretty young to be doing that work”: Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’ 1973 album is getting a long-overdue re-release
- “Yngwie had no stage etiquette. He’d walk in front of me going widdle-widdle-widdle over a verse of a song. It was very rude!”: How legendary rock singer Graham Bonnet was upstaged – and almost strangled – by guitar hero Yngwie Malmsteen
July 23
- “Even without its connection to the studio, it's simply a killer fuzz pedal”: EarthQuaker Devices Dirt Transmitter – Rancho de la Luna Limited Edition review
- “You can play everything from Cannibal Corpse to Steely Dan on this if you want to”: Brendon Small of Dethklok is selling some crazy gear on Reverb – including a fretless Iceman and some Epiphone prototypes we’ve never seen before
- “That will be the inscription on my tombstone - 'Here lies the body of David Byrne. Why the big suit?'” How the Talking Heads' frontman's oversized tailoring defined his most iconic performance
- "Ozzy, we love you, wherever you're going”: Chris Martin just treated a Coldplay crowd to a Black Sabbath cover
- “The title came up as a joke at first, but it fitted the song so perfectly – we just had to use it”: How Massive Attack created the groundbreaking ’90s hit that propelled Bristol’s unique music scene into the global spotlight
- “Still the synth and keyboard collection to beat”: Arturia V Collection 11 Pro review
- "The MIDI keyboard that goes beyond MIDI": Nektar introduces Mk3 versions of its Impact LX range of MIDI controller keyboards
- New Taylor Swift documentary hopes to show sides of the star "that they might not know or expect”
- “I hear it as a collection of half-assed songs that they didn’t finish writing because either they were too stoned or they didn’t care any more”: Billy Joel doesn’t think much of The Beatles' White Album
- “I can clearly tell you that this song is not Blaze... it’s kind of an AI schlock bot”: AI-generated songs have been appearing on dead artists’ Spotify pages
- “This guitar is my new gold standard for tone and playability”: Mark Holcomb’s US-made signature PRS is back for good – and it has a figured mango top and ships in a chug-friendly Drop C tuning
- "I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother": The remaining members of Black Sabbath lead the tributes to Ozzy Osbourne, as Elton John and Tom Morello also offer their condolences
July 22
- “Spend a day in my head and you’d realise how crazy I really am”: A close encounter with Ozzy Osbourne at his LA home, when he revealed the most ambitious project of his life – a rock opera about Rasputin
- Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne dies, aged 76
- “Time to blast riffs and throw a TV out a hotel window”: IDLES, Wet Leg and Sam Fender all graduated from the Fender Next programme – meet its Class of 2025, ft. Horsegirl, Lambrini Girls, Man/Woman/Chainsaw and more
- From Nazi rockets to drone motors, the secret military history behind the studio gear we use today
- "Next thing I know the lion’s gone for me": Paul Weller reveals that he was once set upon by a lion on the way to a gig
- Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham appear to tease pre-Fleetwood Mac album reissue with a Sunset Boulevard billboard
- “I would love to get that guitar back. Every other Strat I picked up didn’t have the same feeling”: How Warren Haynes turned to Les Pauls after his favourite Strat was stolen
- "I cannot believe I’m actually typing this": Martin Garrix sings Metallica's praises after they proved to be the unlikely saviours of his Tomorrowland set
- “I feel fine... They keep on referring to what I have as a ‘brain disorder’, so it sounds a lot worse than what I’m feeling”: Billy Joel talks for the first time since the diagnosis that forced him to cancel all upcoming shows
- “So much bass response for something so small and budget friendly”: Laney Amplification debuts the Digbeth Foundry range – affordable, powerful bass amps in combo and head formats
July 21
- “In the ’80s, everybody came out with a power ballad – and we had a great one. It was never a No.1 record, but it’s a song that defines that whole era”: How an incredibly unlucky band finally got a break with a soft rock classic
- "This doesn't align with our values or our submission requirements": The Velvet Sundown have been banned from the Future Sound Awards, which celebrate "the responsible use of AI in music"
- “The groove was a kind of blues groove, and I think I drank a beer, because I wanted to have a kind of slurring sound in my voice”: Stevie Wonder reveals how he recorded the classic Moog synth bassline and “laidback” vocals on Boogie On Reggae Woman
- She made it to space and back without incident, but Katy Perry just narrowly avoided a crash landing while riding a flying mechanical butterfly
- “You may have noticed there’s more cameras than usual up here”: Billie Eilish teases "very, very special" 3D collab with Oscar-winning director James Cameron
July 19
- “This is a proud, working class city and club. An underdog that bites back, just like me”: Snoop Dogg buys a stake in Swansea City FC
- "When we worked with Kurt, I thought, 'What does a producer do?'": Melvins’ Buzz Osborne reckons Kurt Cobain was sacked rather than quit
July 18
- “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy”: Coldplay’s ‘kiss cam’ causes trouble for tech CEO and his date
- “Mick posts, Lindsey likes, AND Stevie likes…. Don’t. Toy. With. Us. We’re fragile”: Fleetwood Mac fans are all a-flutter about latest rumours
- “Richard James is quite a nice young man”: How Aphex Twin and Philip Glass came to work together – and what they thought of each other’s music
- “We won’t stand by and allow other artists be threatened into silence or career cancellation”: Massive Attack and Brian Eno announce grouping of pro-Palestinian artists
- “I gave it to Michael, he said ‘fantastic’ and he wrote that lyric in one stream of consciousness. I would say that song was written in about ten minutes”: How spontaneity was the key for INXS to create a funky No.1 hit
- "The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires”: Steve Miller cancels tour due to... the weather
- “It’s been a life-changer for the existence of the band”: Tobias Forge says Ghost’s gig phone ban has been a success
- "Infinite, unique, new, original audio based on the characteristics of any sample": Output’s new Re-imagine feature in Co-Producer can rework samples to avoid copyright takedowns
- “Knowing the way he’s built, all arrows point to him making full recovery”: Billy Joel’s longtime creative director is hopeful star will be able to play live once more
July 17
- “The anthology fully captures an artist’s tonal journey as he changed rock guitar forever”: Eddie Van Halen’s holy grail tone from a Tonex One mini pedal? IK Multimedia unveils the Brown Sound Anthology
- “Once you’ve seen this film, you’ll never hear Vienna the same way again”: HBO’s new Billy Joel documentary promises to bring a fresh perspective to some of his most famous songs
- “It just isn’t a piece of gear, it’s like this living breathing part of the creative process”: Angel Vivaldi and Charvel unveil state-of-the-art 7-string for levelling up your shred
- “He really didn’t like it the first time we played it”: The controversial Radiohead hit that launched two lawsuits and ended up being performed by Prince
- “Great-sounding, comfortable and stylish headphones with a neutral delivery”: Ollo Audio X1 review
- “I said, ‘Eureka! ...You’ve found that elusive thing, a low-watt amp which reacts perfectly to a guitar”: Sundragon and Jimmy Page team up for the Nymph, a single-watt tube combo for nailing Led Zep tones at home
- “I remember Eddie Van Halen asking me, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where’s that fire, dude?’ But I didn’t want to explain it to him”: George Lynch, the guitar hero who connected with EVH but got burned by Ozzy Osbourne
- “This powerhouse pedal authentically recreates the complex sonic magic of its inspiration”: Boss puts psychedelic Hendrix and Gilmour rotating speaker sounds on the menu with the RT-2 Rotary Ensemble
- Disco inferno: Massive fire breaks out at Tomorrowland EDM festival in Belgium
- "A transparent attempt to control the narrative and present themselves as the good guys": Jane’s Addiction – Farrell and the band are suing each other
July 16
- "Not just a DAW, a behind-the-scenes music recording partner": Universal Audio's Luna updated with AI-powered tools, including voice control and instrument detection
- “He talked to me about fly fishing for two hours and never mentioned a guitar”: Shinedown’s Zach Myers on the “genius” Paul Reed Smith, his forthcoming signature model – and THAT relic’d pink Silver Sky
- “No one's listening to a song going, ‘I used to like this, but he didn't make that sound’. And if they do... those aren't the people you want to be serving anyway”: Barry Can’t Swim has no time for people who have an issue with artists using synth presets
- “By doing maybe one Doors show a month we can fill a hole in our dire finances”: Mercury-nominated UK band Field Music are working as a tribute act
- “Your new best bud for silent shredding!” The Easy Listening from EarthQuaker Devices is an analogue amp simulator mini pedal designed for headphone practice – and it can do amp-less recording too
- “What the GPU offers for audio is an almost unbound level of processing”: We investigate the claim that harnessing GPU can unlock limitless music production potential
- “We were still wearing our ‘More Me’ T-shirts, but we have both matured enough to (very) occasionally ask for ‘Less Me’”: 50 years after leaving Genesis, Peter Gabriel has reunited with Tony Banks for a Dolby Atmos remix of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
- “I have the physical ability, and I have the opportunity. I wish I had the desire, but I don’t”: Miley Cyrus explains why she hasn’t toured since 2014
July 15
- “What you’re getting here is a perfect melding of vintage sound with modern practicality”: Strymon EC-1 Single Head dTape Echo review
- “It embodies everything I love about Fender and condenses it into one instrument”: Ariel Posen’s new Custom Shop signature Strat is A) a thing of beauty, and B) inspired by a… Jazzmaster?
- “If I was a painter, I wouldn’t tell myself, ‘I can’t use these colours’”: System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian on how the synth leads the guitar on his new Scars on Broadway album – and why he doesn’t stick to one style
- “I dedicate the album to his memory. I miss him every day”: Fred Armisen says that the late Steve Albini was “instrumental” in the creation of his new record, 100 Sound Effects
- “He always had a kind word and a quick wit that would slay you where you stand. Then he'd make you smile doing it!”: Bandmates pay tribute to Spinal Tap’s David Kaff
- “I’ve been incredibly busy making music... I suppose I’m going to have to share some of it soon”: Damon Albarn teases a new Gorillaz album "in four languages"
- “But seriously, you know the truth”: Stevie Wonder addresses conspiracy theory that he isn’t actually blind
- “Experience one of the rarest and most coveted vintage amplifiers ever”: Mesa/Boogie puts ‘Crunch Berries’ on the menu as it releases the holy grail amp used by Metallica
- “I invite everybody to go on YouTube and tag ‘Taylor Swift Kiss band’. You’ll see Taylor and her band coming out in Kiss makeup and doing a song. Oh yeah!”: Why Gene Simmons loves Taylor Swift, Radiohead and – of course – his son’s new music
- “I love, love, love, love, love, love, love the guitar parts, specifically in those songs, specifically Friday I'm in Love”: Olivia Rodrigo’s lead guitarist says that she cried after learning that The Cure’s Robert Smith would be joining them on stage
- Irreplaceable: Thieves break into car and steal unreleased Beyoncé music
- “Listen carefully, and you’ll even hear members of the band talking on the tail end of the drum loop!”: Exploring the quirky production and music theory choices of Grace Jones’ classic Slave to the Rhythm
- “Nothing really big happens in the song. It stays in A-minor, there’s no singing, drums or guitars, and it was a smash hit. That’s pretty wild”: Tributes paid to X-Files composer Mark Snow
July 14
- “He’s searching. Anything that comes out of his mouth: that’s pop music. You can really do pretty wild stuff behind that”: Mk.gee’s collaboration with Justin Bieber has arrived on Bieber’s surprise new album, Swag
- “$199 for a synth that retreads the well-worn VA path is a big ask”: Universal Audio Anthem review
- “Love in an elevator? Yeah, I've done it!”: Steven Tyler and Joe Perry on the making of the Aerosmith classic Pump
- "Somebody said to him, 'Did you have a click track?' He said, 'Yes, we did. Ringo, his name was'": Ringo Starr names his proudest moment in The Beatles
- Beyoncé parks her flying car and saddles up an airborne golden stallion for her last few Cowboy Carter dates
- “You sacrifice things you love. I love my guitar”: How a journalist’s joke led Jimi Hendrix to set fire to his guitar for the first time
- “Uptown Girl… it could’ve been a Mozart piece”: Billy Joel reveals the classical music origins of one of his biggest hits in new documentary trailer
July 13
- “They thought he was too short. He wore a beret, and it was just very kind of corny; he sang on one knee! But he had ‘it’ - I saw it’”: How Billy Joel ended up joining the little-known ‘60s band that gave him his break as a recording artist
July 12
- “George Martin came up to me that morning and said, ’Oh, I’ve got a poser for you... I know it’s never been done before, can you do it?“: The story of the greatest thing The Beatles ever recorded
July 11
- “A versatile overdrive and a high-quality octaver – two pedalboard mainstays in one box”: Darkglass Electronics Kaamos review
- “Quite neutral sounding and one of the more comfortable over-ear open-back designs we’ve tried”: Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa review
- “I am happy to accept and concede defeat”: Damon Albarn just admitted that Oasis won
- “Now I’m caught up in the ceaselessly toxic, dysfunctional web of Led Zeppelin interpersonal relationships”: How Phil Collins’ globe-spanning Live Aid journey led to one of the most disastrous reunions ever
- “Ritchie and I wrote some great songs, some really wonderful things”: How Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio combined to create an epic style of heavy music - ‘castle rock’!
- "We played a show at a place in Omaha, Nebraska. It might have been like 12 people there... It's enough to make you quit, for sure”: Exodus’ Gary Holt pulls zero punches in his new autobiography
- "Jeff is devastated": ELO's last ever mega-gig plunged into jeopardy after last-minute cancellation of last night's Manchester show
- “Bowie strolled into my bedroom with a guitar. ’Hey, Nile, listen to this, I think it could be a hit…”: Does Nile Rodgers deserve more credit for Bowie’s 1983 classic?
July 10
- “The day Randy died was the greatest tragedy of my life": Ozzy Osbourne thought he was finished after he was fired by Black Sabbath. Then along came a guitarist named Randy Rhoads
- “If these ‘Inspired By Gibson Custom’ Epiphones aren’t on your radar yet, they should be”: Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom 1957 Les Paul Goldtop review
- “Since I bought that bass, that just really changed my career”: He’s worked with the Who, Jeff Beck, Beyoncé, NIN… Now Pino Palladino teams up with Ernie Ball Music Man for a signature StingRay inspired by the fretless bass that started it all
- “I will say when I first heard it, it was a little like, ‘OK.’ It was that moment when I was like, ‘All right. I’m gonna sing over this. ‘Kay’”: How Amerie created a ‘00s R&B/funk classic with producer Rich Harrison - and a little help from The Meters
- “Liam came up and said, ‘Who’s Sally?’ I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ He said, ‘Is that what you’re singing - so Sally can wait?’ I said, ‘No it isn’t… but it is now'”: How Oasis rustled up the ultimate Britpop anthem
- “Designed for guitarists who need an all-in-one amp for practicing at home, in the studio, or on the go”: Mooer’s F15i Intelligent Amp is a desktop doozie equipped with 55 amp models, 69 effects – and it’s got a touchscreen
- “Freddie rose to the occasion. When we did Radio Ga Ga and the whole audience did the double handclap thing, I remember getting chills in that moment”: Brian May recalls the power and the glory of Queen at Live Aid
- FL Studio 2025 introduces AI assistant that offers music production advice
- “When you went record shopping 20 years ago everything sounded completely different, but now it feels like there’s a blueprint for electronic music that’s been set in stone – and it becomes boring”: Adam Beyer on the evolution of modern dance music
- “The ultimate companion to Tone Master Pro and the ideal solution for players who use modellers at home or on stage”: EVH Gear drops the Hypersonic FR-12 FRFR speaker – 1000-watts to get the most out of your modeller
- Hear Slide Away from Oasis’ first comeback gig, as resurgent band’s massive streaming surge and earnings are revealed
- "We're doing a King Crimson studio album": Singer/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk reveals a new album featuring Robert Fripp and other band members
- “For such a respected music industry vet to move into the space feels really meaningful”: Suno just hired top music talent for their AI music takeover
- “Creativity isn’t like a freight train going down the tracks. It’s something that has to be caressed and treated with a great deal of respect”: How to avoid letting technical problems with the music-making process slow you down
- “The biggest live performer of all time is Taylor Swift. But without the female audience – no Taylor!": Kiss star Gene Simmons says the music industry ain’t what it used to be – and blames “the fans” for putting young bands out of business
- "Some fresh and inspiring sequencing ideas, paired with an underwhelming sound engine": AlphaTheta Chordcat first look
July 9
- “We set out to not just create the greatest day in the history of heavy metal…”: Black Sabbath’s final Back to The Beginning mega-gig just raised £140 million for charity
- “It’s the ultimate in shrednology!” Periphery’s Misha Mansoor spills blood as he turns home shopping TV presenter to unveil new state-of-the-art 7-string Juggernauts from Jackson
- “I can teach a kid that is 10 years old how to beat match in a couple of hours”: David Guetta says that he’s never played a pre-recorded DJ set, and can’t understand why anyone would think that he has
- “This is the most natural-sounding modelling amp on the market today”: Blackstar launches next-gen ID-X combos – complete with 6 amp voices, more than 35 effects, CabRig IR tech and an OLED display
- "Please stop sending me messages telling me to contact their management": Don’t expect Pearl Jam’s Dave Abbruzzese to get back with the band any time soon
- “It has been reimagined as a straightforward, yet versatile and functional instrument relevant for today’s working musician”: Gibson celebrates 50 years in Nashville with limited edition twist on an cult electric played by Adam Jones and Paul Stanley
- “From the very beginning, they never asked me to play more like Duane”: Warren Haynes on what Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts told him when he joined the Allman Brothers Band
- “We have worked for two years to get the guitar just where we want it”: PRS remixes its vintage-inspired NF 53 for the SE line – and it's a serious workhorse electric for under a grand
- "The same pocket-sized powerhouse that earned a cult following, recast for deep-space missions": Arturia's MicroBrute returns from the cosmos in limited-edition UFO version
- “It’s not very heard of. It was the coolest thing ever”: Olivia Rodrigo put her entire Guts touring crew into therapy
- “He would do a fill where you’d think, 'Oh no, there's no way he's going to land on 1' – Jimi would just laugh because they were so silly”: The magic of Mitch Mitchell, the drummer who landed a spot in Hendrix’s band on a coin toss
- "We’ve built something better, designed with musicians in mind": Vochlea wants to reinvent Voice Memos with new AI-powered app Dubnote – and it's free for the next 24 hours
July 8
- “Her love for ornamental melodies and hypnotic lyricism fit perfectly into my sound world”: Producer Danny L Harle enlists “dream collaborator” PinkPantheress for Starlight, a song inspired by ‘90s Eurodance, '00s trance… and Elizabethan madrigals
- “The Downward Spiral became a self-fulfilling prophecy. I wound up distorted – someone I didn't know”: As Nine Inch Nails’ classic album was selling by the million, Trent Reznor was losing his mind
- “It’s become clear that I need surgery to avoid permanent damage”: Joe Trohman to miss remainder of Fall Out Boy’s 2025 shows as he requires operation on injured right hand
- Why you should care about music theory - and 5 reasons you maybe shouldn't
- “I could tell that he was very proud… ‘This is my guy, my guitar player. I found him under a rock in Belfast!’”: Vivian Campbell on his complicated relationship with Ronnie James Dio – and what Dio told Ozzy Osbourne about his playing
- Hurry! These Prime Day keyboard and piano deals are ending soon - score the biggest savings of the year so far on Yamaha, Korg, and Casio at Amazon and beyond
- Richie Hawtin produces short film inspired by '90s Detroit techno scene
- Visco 2.0 turns the boundary-pushing drum machine into a polysynth – and makes one of last year’s best plugins even more of a must-try
- “Ultimately, I believe it will be the end of mankind”: We catch up with synthpop legend Gary Numan to talk sampling, running a record label and the future of music
- “Music is medicine. It can heal you. It really can”: Shinedown’s Brent Smith on finding inspiration in a hurricane, the “genius” Rick Beato, and why you don’t need to be play guitar to write a great rock song
- “We were getting more popular. It was a different level of fame. Alex and I seemed to be able to block those things out. But Neil couldn’t. He was struggling”: Why a classic Rush album spelt trouble for legendary drummer Neil Peart
July 7
- “An extremely well-thought-out and all-encompassing piece of drum education”: Millenium Drums Legendary Drumbook review
- "After 27 fantastic years, I have taken my final steps down the drum riser": Matt Cameron leaves Pearl Jam
- “You end up doing different things with a plugin versus a hardware synth, even if they’re relatively similar”: Rival Consoles on why he still uses a Prophet emulation – even though he owns the real thing
- “I think it’s dodgy to do something like that, to be someone’s friend, and then buy the rug they’re standing on”: How a shrewd power move from Michael Jackson permanently dented his friendship with Paul McCartney
- SampleRadar: 205 free EBM samples
- “I’m gonna need you guys to put that howling to good use”: Sabrina Carpenter is Hungry Like The Wolf as she performs with surprise guests Duran Duran at Hyde Park
- “Blur won the battle, Oasis won the war”: How the Oasis vs Blur chart battle marked Britpop's cultural peak, and the beginning of its end
July 5
- “We are hard work - I get it”: We just witnessed the first night of the Oasis comeback. Here’s our take on the Gallagher brothers’ reconciliation
July 4
- 14 of the best plugins and DAWs you can use on Linux
- "The choices are endless - on every laptop you have access to every sound you could ever want. That can make creativity really hard": Sean and Isom of Foster The People on their duo Peel
- Melbourne Instruments' Roto-Control gets Bitwig Studio integration following 2.0 firmware update
- "The value of music has dropped considerably since I was born – it's not great that less people are trying to perfect their art”: Ezra Collective’s Joe Armon-Jones on the imagined musical apocalypse that inspired his double album, All The Quiet
- “You’ll find it in everything from the Prodigy to Skrillex”: How to get famous sounds and effects using only Logic’s stock plugins
- “The producer said, ‘If you guys can deliver a strong performance of Cum On Feel The Noize, you’ve got a deal'”: How a ’70s glam rock anthem was the key for Randy Rhoads’ old band going all the way to No.1
- Waves just made building a pro-level plugin chain a lot cheaper - grab 2 for $59.99 or 4 for $99.99
- "A lot of instruments feel like interacting with a spreadsheet - we're trying to do something different": Void & Vista's plugins are 'pieces of art for people to make art with'
- “Then his mic fails and Pete Townshend grabs me from one side and says, ‘Let’s help him'. David Bowie grabs me from the other, and with Alison we went out to sing along": Bob Geldof on how Paul McCartney’s Live Aid performance was almost a disaster
- “I spent six months listening only to AC/DC – and it changed my entire approach to songwriting”: How Metallica embraced simplicity – and Mötley Crüe's producer – to create their 30 million selling monster hit
- How to emulate a classic analogue recording system entirely with plugins
- "This is exactly what artists have been worried about – it's theft dressed up as competition": Who is behind The Velvet Sundown, the AI-generated band that blew up the internet?
- "90% of what I do is done on one software synth": Hans Zimmer on the synth plugin that he's been working with for years - and still hasn't run out of ideas
- "This really is the ultimate sound design tool": 6 of the most creative plugin synths for sound design
July 3
- How to use reverb to build impressive-sounding filters, reverses, risers and pads
- “I have to say it was the most bizarre musical experience I think I’ve had”: Queens Of The Stone Age’s Troy Van Leeuwen on what it was like to play for the “bones of six million people” in the Catacombs of Paris
- How Cherry Audio recreated the sound of the world's first commercial polysynth in software: “There may be fewer than six working Novachords on the planet”
- “The Eagles were in the same studio, in the room next to us. They had to pack up and go because we were too loud!”: The highs and lows of Black Sabbath in the ’70s - by Tony Iommi
- Want to learn to play Wonderwall on the guitar? As the start of the Oasis reunion tour approaches, you’re not the only one…
- “The biggest driver right now is people wanting everything fast”: Predicting the future evolution of plugin design
- “Unlocks a new layer of compositional creativity that was absent from previous versions”: Ableton Live 12 Suite review
- "I can't help but smile when using a good wah, and the Vox V863-CA certainly qualifies as more than just a good one": Vox V863-CA Semi-Auto Wah review
- “That’s not how we were. We would never do that”: Ringo has put his foot down over parts of the Beatles biopics
- “If you want to turn sweet sounds into ear-splitting discordance, this is the plugin”: To mark Plugin Week, here’s our pick of the most out-there sound design plugins you should add to your collection
- "For real-time plugins, it’s very hard to do something effective with AI. It’s very good at big brush things”: Leapwing Audio on their stable of forensic mix plugins
- “Years of research, development and deep love of FM synthesis has gone into picking just the right balance of flexibility and simplicity”: Pivot is a ‘no-nonsense’ FM synth plugin from the designer behind one of our favourite hardware instruments
- “Almost everyone thinks it’s strings”: Lorde unmasks the unusual guitar part on her new album that was created using a classic ‘90s Roland V-Guitar processor that’s now “insanely expensive” on the second-hand market
- “Bound to capture djent and thall-loving audiences because of the fine balance of brutality, customisation, and ease-of-use”: Atlas DSP – Your Last Steps review
- “I know there’s going to be at least one more gig - I'm not looking forward to putting the setlist together”: Joe Perry is convinced his band will play again, despite retirement from touring
- “We wrote it in a farmyard in France. We’d never heard of ‘disco music’ at the time. We were singing about the state of the times, and the human condition”: How the Bee Gees channelled angst and despair to create the greatest dancefloor-filler of all time
- “If your flanger is too harsh, try a chorus - if it's too subtle, try a phaser”: How modulation effects work and how to use them
- “How is a clear CD even possible? The data is written on the silver part?”: It’s clear to see that Lorde’s see-through Virgin CD doesn’t play in most CD players
- "It’s simple enough to create the perfect hard-tuned and harmonised effects within our DAW, providing you have the right software": How to harness hard-tuned vocals
July 2
- 5 innovative synth plugins daring to do things differently
- "I want to make something that allows people to express themselves purely and not feel like they’re having to make compromises": Musik Hack on their quest to refine plugin UI design
- "We have mended broken bones and broken hearts. But we have followed this road together, with each other, for each other, no matter what": Foo Fighters mark their 30th anniversary with a new song
- “Doing this makes me feel like he's always going to be here with me”: Meet the guitarist who’s worked his dad’s ashes into his Telecaster
- “Everyone comes back changed”: Bicep on their new collaborative project with Inuit musicians
- “We are honoured to show our love for Ozzy and Black Sabbath”: Judas Priest might not be playing at Back To The Beginning but they have just saluted the OG metal gods with a cover of War Pigs
- “It’s great for squeezing energy out of lacklustre ambient sounds”: Our pick of the very best VCA compressor software emulation plugins for any music project
- “Sometimes I’m surprised by what I can do now, because I could not sing”: As she prepares to release her new album, Vie, Doja Cat says that she now has a lot more knowledge of how to use her voice “as an instrument”
- “And the award for best AI song of the year goes to…”: The Future Sound Awards are new music awards 100% focused on rewarding AI-derived music
- “Thunderous sub-octave, expressive envelope, and lush modulation effects with killer tracking and sustain”: MXR unveils the MB301 Bass Synth – instant funk for your pedalboard
- "Minimal Audio's Rift and Xfer's Serum are by far the most-used plugins in our toolbox": ARMNHMR on their tools of the trade
- “I’m going, ‘Whoa, I just quit my band, put all my eggs in this Thin Lizzy basket, and now we’re breaking up over a beard?!’”: Scott Gorham recalls the band's close shave when Phil Lynott was not tickled by Brian Robertson’s whiskers
- The Oasis song Liam hated because it was 'reggae': "I remember Our Kid saying 'Why are you writing reggae songs?' And I was like, there speaks a man that has never heard reggae"
- “Don't construct a chord that uses eight notes - it’s unplayable on a guitar!”: How to humanise your virtual acoustic instruments in your DAW projects
- Why wait for Prime Day when Thomann's massive Music Days sale will save you up to 65% off big brands right now?
- Billie Joe Armstrong is very much not having the time of his life as he says 'Good Riddance' to fan who gets on stage and plays an Oasis song instead of the 1997 Green Day hit they were supposed to
- “Whether you’re looking to liven up a dull snare or beef up a lacklustre bass sound, these plugins are extremely handy”: Our resident platinum award-winning mixer and producer shares 10 of his go-to plugins
- “We don’t want our music killing people”: Deerhoof just quit Spotify in protest against CEO Daniel Ek’s multi-million dollar investment in AI weapons tech
- “Sometimes I can be brutally honest, and people don't like that. But if you don't like what the answer is going to be, don't ask the question!”: Iron Maiden’s commander-in-chief Steve Harris says that strong leadership is the secret to the band’s success
- “Learning how to mix is almost as important as hitting on your original musical idea”: New to the mixing process? Start here
- “These recordings clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced right from the very beginning”: Early Sabbath demos to be released later this month
July 1
- Ignite your inner guitar god for just 27 cents a day with TrueFire’s July 4th sale - save 60% on online lessons
- "A guitar software instrument can sound incredible – as nuanced and human as the real thing, but only if you know exactly what you are doing with it": The ultimate guide to plugin guitars
- "I never want the sample to be the whole thing - I want to mask it": Loukeman reveals his favourite plugins and unusual production techniques
- "If your singing sounds like a dying cat, this finally kills the cat": This hilariously bad mic modelling plugin is free for International Joke Day
- How to master virtually any software synth
- “It came off the rails quite significantly at the end of Hammer to Fall”: Brian May reveals Queen's Live Aid doubts, and how the band were "lacking oil"
- “It was confusing to me, even when I did the record. I didn’t know that I was playing it in the wrong place”: Guitarist Daryl Stuermer on why Phil Collins had to set him straight when they were recording In The Air Tonight
- “A creative reverb platform built for guitarists, synth players, and sound designers who want studio-grade depth”: With dual reverb engines, 16 algorithms, Crazy Tube Circuits’ Mirage is one serious reverb pedal with no menu-diving required
- “It’s a $20 plugin… I love it because sometimes the problem with digital sounds is they just lack a little bit of character”: Steven Wilson reveals the plugin that's on "almost all" the guitars on his new space rock epic
- “THEY’RE IN THERE!!! And they are LOUD”: Recordings of Oasis soundchecking in Cardiff are now online
- “He wanted something that was a bit more heavier, had a bit more compression to it, a bit more gain”: Laney celebrates Black Sabbath's final show with a limited edition Black Country Customs reissue of Tony Iommi's TI100 signature amp
- “Try this on drums, and you'll end up with something similar to a classic gated drum kit. Eat your heart out, Phil Collins!”: Our go-to plugins for adding flavour to sounds
- “Roger went absolutely nuclear, apoplectic. He had every right to”: Producer Bob Ezrin reveals what led him to fall out with Roger Waters over The Wall
- “As a musician, I don't want to spend time and energy scrolling through endless lists of samples. I don't think that's creative”: Output’s AI-powered Co-Producer picks samples for you, but is it streamlining workflows or outsourcing creativity to AI?
- "Our aim with ShaperBox is to make it easy for any producer to get complex-sounding results, all in one plugin": Cableguys talk modulation-mad multi-effects plugins and more
- $1,200 off one of the best guitar synths on the market is a deal too good to ignore in Sweetwater's epic 4th of July sale
- Hit Record Meter is the free plugin that can assess the commercial appeal of your track. But does it actually work?
- “Their music changed my life – if not saved it”: Band that soundtracked history gets the biopic treatment
- “Nobody was going to freak out. We said, ‘This is going to get done. We just need to find the right person to join the family.’ And we got Steve Vai, thank God”: How the virtuoso Vai put the sizzle into the last big hair metal album of the ’80s
- “A timely reminder that investing in local music isn’t just good sense - it’s a way to boost pride in place and breathe new life into our high streets”: New report shows immense contribution of music tourism to UK economy