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August 2025

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243 articles

August 31
- “A synthesizer enhances worship. When we use the synthesizer, we sing even more enthusiastically”: Exploring the link between spirituality and synthesizers
- “My mind’s the most cosmic place I could ever visit. All I have to do is zone out and play the guitar, and before you know it, I’ve visited places unheard of”: Remembering Brent Hinds, the maverick who trampled metal guitar underfoot with Mastodon
August 30
- “An excellent build and pretty formidable soundset make it a desirable studio-based keyboard”: Arturia AstroLab 88 review
- “I'll never be able to sing that perfectly in tune. But I don't want to. I'm human": Meet the real artists that are victims of AI fake tracks
- “Without Chuck Berry there wouldn't have been The Beatles or the Stones. But none of those guys attended his funeral, which I thought was very strange”: Gene Simmons recalls his eulogy for a rock ’n’ roll legend
August 29
- “I have been gigging for well over 20 years now, and have experienced - and learned from - each and every mistake on this list!”: 11 live mistakes every drummer makes
- “He said, ‘So, what about playing for me?’ I said, ‘Play what?’ He said, ‘Drums.’ I said, ‘Really? That would be so dope'”: The many drummers of Prince
- “It was deemed that an artist could sample ‘an unrecognisable portion of a work’ without the need to declare the sample or indeed pay the original artist”: When sampling ruled the world - and drummers didn’t get paid!
- “I never liked film music very much”: World famous film composer John Williams makes startling admission
- “The way she delivered it was more important than the actual subject matter. Her delivery of that chorus is so powerful”: How The Cranberries created the monster hit Zombie
- “We pillaged a few things from Freddie’s solo work and refashioned them. It was a great labour love”: Brian May recalls how a Queen album was created after the loss of Freddie Mercury
- Electronic drumming pioneers: 11 trailblazing players who raised the bar for electronic and hybrid drumming
- "Programming realistic, groovy drum parts is well within any desktop producer’s abilities": How to program MIDI drums that sound like the real thing
- “There's so many of these so-called vocal experts that I could kick 'em right in the balls”: Ex-Skid Row man goes on wonderfully unhinged rant about Youtube armchair critics
- “AI could prove incredibly useful, from configuring our kits to generating the sounds in our head”: Where might electronic drums go next? Here are 9 of our predictions
August 28
- “Well designed, feature rich and reasonably priced interface expander or standalone line level USB interface”: SSL Alpha 8 review
- "Tony Banks got wind of it. From then on, we knew that Pete could leave at any time, but we had a 150-show tour to do": Phil Collins discusses his legendary career in far-reaching documentary
- “Any musician should be able to find a brilliant new colour to add to a developing mix”: EastWest Lo-Fi review
- “I started pacing around the room - usually I take notes but I was just taking it all in. I went ‘Play it again'”: How Dave Grohl delivered the incredible Smells Like Teen Spirit drum track
- "I look forward to hearing everyone’s interpretation - don’t hold back”: Remix Madonna's Ray of Light and win $12,000 of music gear
- “This may sound pretty obvious, but we only have 4 limbs. So, as a drummer this means the most drum elements we can play at any one time is 4”: How to think like a human drummer when building software beats
- “It wasn’t music that I really resonated with”: Josh Freese lifts the lid on his departure from the Foo Fighters
- "You may as well just remove the front head so that you can get a mic right in on the beater point": 10 tips for recording perfect drums
- “Each effect in the PX-1 delivers the genuine sound and response of the pedal it’s based on”: A compact series stompbox you can turn into any one of 16 classic Boss effects? Meet the Plugout FX
- “C’mon bro... It could generate $2M for teen cancer”: Zak Starkey pleads with Axl Rose to give the go-ahead for charity cover of Bolan classic
- “I had no way to play Hotel California live. I played so many guitar tracks on that song”: Don Felder on why he had to mod his white Gibson doubleneck to play the Eagles’ biggest hit – and how he got the idea from Chet Atkins
- “Crazy winds” wreak havoc at Nevada’s Burning Man festival
- 11 great movies, documentaries and shows that drummers should check out
August 27
- "It's often more difficult to play with a consistently even feel at slower tempos than fast ones": 10 tips to help drummers to develop better timing
- “At certain points in music history it became fashionable to place accents on certain beats”: How to score a drum part
- “The most psychopathic contract a session musician could ever be handed”: Cradle of Filth guitarist Ashok fired mid-tour, days after keyboardist wife Zoë Marie Federoff quits citing low pay and “toxic” atmosphere
- “He’s like, ’I’m not a technical guy. I’m not a musician. But I bring my taste”: Daron Malakian on what Rick Rubin brings as a producer
- “I just had to sit there, drink a bit, have a cigarette, wink at the band”: Why David Bowie ditched promoting Low and instead became Iggy Pop’s keyboard player
- The Weeknd is looking to raise $1 billion using his back catalogue as collateral
- “With practice, players can perform swells, shifts, or rhythmic changes in their delay sound as they play”: Jack White’s Third Man Hardware teams up with Black Mountain for the Roto-Echo, the delay pedal you can control with your foot
- "He created rolling barrages of tribal intensity": When British rock drumming ruled the world
- Bitwig takes its flagship DAW to "another level" with Bitwig Studio 6, bringing improved automation, key signature awareness and a host of workflow enhancements
- “Dumb idea to give a guitar away that has meant so much to you. I had given it to a 12 year-old kid, shortly after Creedence broke up”: John Fogerty explains why he let go of the iconic guitar he played on his classic hits – and at Woodstock
- “The minute you put a microphone right up against the skin of a drum you've got a problem because it doesn't sound like it's supposed to”: How the rules of drum recording were shaped over decades of trial and error
- "Instead of just strumming some really stupid chords, I made something out of it": Sting sued by ex-Police colleagues for a share of Every Breath You Take royalties
- “An immersive activation filled with gaming stations, giveaways, live game streams and DJ performances”: Gorillaz announce London Fortnite pop up event
- “I’m not getting any sound from one of my pads!”: 10 common electronic drum set issues and how to troubleshoot them
- Coming like a ghost town: The UK has lost a quarter of its clubs and late night venues since 2020
- “It's the first heavy metal riff ever written – and I wrote it!”: How Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page combined to create a groundbreaking song – and then argued over the writing credit
August 26
- "Refrain from sarcastically asking 'Do you need my sticks too?', because you already know that the answer is 'Yes’": The 10 people drummers will inevitably encounter when playing a gig
- “I was blown away with the distinct Tony Iommi and Black Sabbath sound I was able to get out of them”: Gibson goes back to the beginning, reissuing its first-ever signature pickup, the Tony Iommi humbucker
- “We used to play that song faster”: Slipknot’s Eloy Casagrande reveals the secret lessons he gave his Sepultura replacement
- “It was a difficult moment to be hit in the face and then asked to sing a song. It was a tragic moment for me”: How a singer’s spell in Black Sabbath turned into a nightmare
- “It’s kind of gothic post-punk... it went by the wayside”: Spandau Ballet drop a lost early track for new box set
- “Porcaro makes the whole process look effortless and easy. We can bet that this didn't happen by accident, or overnight!”: Exploring the genius of Jeff Porcaro's Rosanna Shuffle
- “This book truly conveys what it felt like to be a member of the Smiths”: Mike Joyce’s memoir set to be published in November
- "Isn’t recording drums a total nightmare? No, that’s a myth – recording drums is actually surprisingly easy": The simple guide to recording drums: kit tips, mic placement and setting up your DAW
- "We asked ourselves, what if we could rebuild the legendary K2000 V.A.S.T. synthesizer, but using today’s technology?": Kurzweil's K2061 and K2088 synths are now shipping
- “He’s not a tremendously talented player, so when he plays, it disarms the situation. He’s not a freaky guitar player or drummer... He approaches records like a plumber ”: Bartees Strange on superproducer Jack Antonoff
- “If you can hear it, the chances are other listeners will too!”: How to make virtual acoustic drum performances sound like the real thing
- “To those that have said I inspired them to start drumming, the first thing I say is: ‘I apologise to your parents!’”: A rare interview with legendary drummer Neil Peart of Rush
- 6 drum processing techniques to help you program state-of-the-art beats
- "Grohl's randomised fills and relentless single strokes at the end of the song makes this one of his greatest drum performances on record": Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock's drumming legends
- Forwards Festival 2025 review: Orbital and Barry Can’t Swim bring the beats, while Olivia Dean and Jorja Smith do their best to make make fans forget that there’s no Doechii
August 25
- “There’s a lot of good music left”: Springsteen releases Born To Run out-take onto streaming platforms
- “Who wants to tell him?”: The busking drummer who unknowingly performed a Chili Peppers song in front of Chad Smith
- John Bonham considered him 'a god' and Buddy Rich called him 'the inspiration for every big-name drummer in the business': The story of Gene Krupa, the king of swing
- “Much like its predecessor, the 909 was also a commercial flop, and arguably more so than the 808”: How the drum machine grew into a viable alternative to real drummers
- “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
- "Play eighth notes on the hi-hat, kick on one and three, snare on two and four and you’re playing AC/DC”: 13 easy drum songs every beginner should learn
- "I wanted to make the greatest rock record that I'd ever heard. I wanted it to sound enormous, to grab you by your throat": How Bruce Springsteen saved his career with Born To Run
August 24
- "We had no idea that what we were doing was groundbreaking or revolutionary": Read our classic interview with Wrecking Crew legend Hal Blaine
- “Liminal is set in the borderlands between song and non-song (or ‘nong’ as we call it)": Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe’s new album in their own words
- "How can you tell a drummer's at the door?": 20 of the best drummer jokes ever
August 23
- “One night Zeppelin were all going down the boozer and I said, 'You guys bugger off but Bonzo, you stay behind because I've got an idea’”: The genius behind John Bonham’s towering When the Levee Breaks drum sound
- What’s on Josh Homme’s to-do list when Queens Of The Stone Age play Sheffield next week?
- "Sometimes you get to the double time in Paradise City and think, ‘Man, I’ve got to play this now!?’”: How drummer Frank Ferrer powered Guns N’ Roses for 19 years
- "I've analysed hundreds of players over the years. They're all a part of what I do": Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
August 22
- “A versatile set with dry and dark tonal qualities”: Zultan 25 Series Cymbals review
- “He came in, and just on the first take, I was like, ‘Oh my God. I didn't know that a person playing eighth notes could do that much”: How Pino Palladino transformed the simple bassline in Miley Cyrus’s End of the World into something "so much better"
- “We came off stage and looked at each other in amazement, because all that singing from the audience was so extreme. And I said to Freddie, ‘Maybe we should be harnessing this kind of energy’”: How Queen created the mother of all rock anthems
- “We decided that our audiences would come along with us, rather than it being down to us to feed them a conventional diet”: Paul McCartney on how the '60s avant-garde influenced the Beatles
- 'Illness' forces The Who to postpone Philly date on final US tour
- “We tried it as a laugh in sound check one day. Drummer II and I loved it so much that we stayed with it”: The secret sauce behind Sleep Token’s live drum sound
- MusicRadar deals of the week: Score a massive $1,000 off Roland V-Drums, up to $320 off a range of Fender guitars, and so much more
- “Back At It”: Are the rump Jane’s Addiction recording an album without Perry Farrell?
- “His influence is referenced by many contemporary drummers and he has no doubt spawned his fair share of copyists”: 6 of the most inspirational drummers of all time
- “Instead of shouting ‘Maiden! Maiden!’ they were going ‘Sooty! Sooty!’”: Iron Maiden legend Nicko McBrain's funniest moment
- Where to start with a drum kit
- "Every effort should be made to accommodate one if possible": Is an acoustic or an electronic drum kit better for beginners?
- TAMA STAR at Drums Week 2025: Unmatched craftsmanship, iconic sound — the strongest name in drums just got even stronger
- TAMA Kick Pedals at Drums Week 2025: Precision, Power, Performance — engineered for drummers who demand the fastest, smoothest response
- Zildjian Alchem-e Kits at Drums Week 2025: The feel of real drums meets limitless electronic expression – redefine your sound
- Vic Firth Terra Drumsticks at Drums Week 2025: Natural feel, unrivalled balance – crafted from sustainable hickory for drummers who play with purpose
August 21
- Spotify responds to Apple Music’s new AutoMix feature by letting you turn your playlists into ready-made DJ sets with “seamless transitions”
- "They may be the spiritual successor to Sony’s Scheps-approved mixing cans, but they tread their own path": Sony MDR-M1 review
- Beatles Anthology compilations, documentary and book all restored, revamped, repackaged and reissued this autumn
- “Can someone fill me in pls. Cause I actually don’t know who this is?” Some Fortnite players have never heard of Gorillaz
- “When Bowie lived with me, he kept pushing me, saying, 'You’ve gotta keep changing. You can’t keep repeating yourself’”: The legendary rock singer whose band stopped him from recording with David Bowie
- “There were plenty of drummers who could copy what Nicko did, but we don't want one of those. We didn’t want a clone”: Bruce Dickinson on why Maiden chose a drummer with a different feel
- “I didn’t feel the compassion, let’s put it that way”: Al Jardine criticises Mike Love’s speech at Brian Wilson’s funeral
- Loopcloud's Flip Sample feature transforms any sample from its library with a single click
- "Classic and timeless": Slingerland Drums are back, and Bruno Mars' drummer and JR Robinson are on board
August 20
- “Each guitar includes a 40th-anniversary certificate hand-signed by Paul Reed Smith”: PRS swaps maple for mango to give its flagship Custom 24 an eye-popping satin nitro makeover
- "It is not a polite instrument – nor is it clean, safe, or obvious": Cherry Audio revives the cult classic Crumar Spirit in its latest plugin
- “Sometimes swinging all the elements of the drums doesn't make it groove better”: Breakout producer Silva Bumpa on the secret to creating sub bass and UKG rhythms
- “Thom sat down and played it in three takes, then just burst into tears afterwards”: How Jeff Buckley saved Radiohead’s Fake Plastic Trees
- “The place went wild, and after 4 minutes and 27 seconds of what sounded like Justin Bieber, I found out the worst news imaginable”: EDM DJ Gryffin on the moment he learned that he’d been duped into performing with a Justin Bieber impersonator
- “This has been through thick and thin… one of our crew fell on a stair, the whole neck snapped right off”: Swedish heavyweights Orbit Culture show us their ESP guitars – and tell us why the EverTune bridge was a game-changer
- “I was playing the Fender Strat that Jimi Hendrix gave me. We wound up plugging the guitar straight into the board. That’s why it’s such a clean tone on that track”: Billy Gibbons on the making of ZZ Top's greatest blues song
- “I guess I’m buying a new Gibson”: Cesar Gueikian teases Custom Shop replica of Marty McFly’s “1955” ES-345 – but hunt goes on for original Back To The Future guitar
- “It was my bad… crossed wires”: Calvin Harris shuts down talk of a feud with Miley Cyrus after teasing a new song that previously had her vocals on it
- “They all thought it was a bonkers idea but it worked. It was already a great song, but that one little thing made it different”: How the Eagles made somebody else’s song their own – and defined the sound of country rock
- “It’s disorienting, impractical and slightly dystopian – but it's like nothing I’ve ever done before”: I tried making music in VR and I’m never going back
- “After five minutes, I was like, can I just go back to the dressing room? My legs had turned to jelly”: Noel Gallagher on 'grossly underestimating' the band's tour, the gig he's most looking forward to playing and, yes, what he thinks of Liam now
August 19
- “Fender Designed alnico pickups, vintage-tinted gloss neck finishes, and nickel-plated hardware for an authentic old-school vibe”: Squier channels the Fender archive for 10 stunning yet affordable Classic Vibe electric and bass guitars
- Kylie Minogue’s Tension tour keyboard player reveals the compact synth she uses to create those big disco sounds
- "This can't be serious": Billboard reveals the top producers of the 21st century so far – and people aren't happy
- “I said, ‘It’s really beautiful – why would you say it’s not for the Chili Peppers?’ And he said, ‘That’s not what we do’”: How the Red Hot Chili Peppers broke new ground to create their life-changing hit
- “For players who employ a twin tube-amp setup for their tones, the Tube Head Switch is indispensable”: Harley Benton rolls out affordable solution for players with two tube amps sharing same speaker cabinet
- “I of course fully endorse ANY mods done to any of my designs, let alone from the great Hammett”: Kirk Hammett orders up custom Thinline version of Jack White’s Fender Triplecaster – and gets one for White, too
- “I don’t have many guitar players’ albums on my iPhone, but I can tell you this – Jeff is there”: John McLaughlin discusses the magic of Jeff Beck – and names his favourite underrated guitarist
- “An erratic semantic output”: Trump’s speech patterns become avant-garde compositions in a new work by British musician Martin Gordon
August 18
- BBC Ozzy Osbourne documentary mysteriously moved from tonight’s schedules
- "No strings attached": The Crow Hill Company releases Lo-Fi Strings, a free tape-treated string library with a warm and nostalgic sound
- “I’m doing what I love doing the most: Being in front of an audience. A live audience, not a television audience”: Chubby Checker’s unusual reason for skipping his Hall Of Fame induction
- WoO.1 is a pocket-sized sampler designed for endless on-the-go looping
- "I downloaded it two years ago and it changed my life - it's one of my favourite synths": Rudimental reveal their favourite plugins for drum 'n' bass production
- “People may not realise how special it is for me to hear my dad talking or to see him”: Yoko and Sean Ono Lennon announce new Lennon box set
- “I was imprisoned wrongfully and sent away to the penitentiary for many, many years”: John Fogerty on the long struggle to own his songs again
August 17
- “I love this band and I love the people and the music… it's an oddly fulfilling experience": Colin Brittain on life behind the kit with Linkin Park
- “The piano just started speaking to me”: How Kate Bush stunned David Gilmour with a masterpiece of songwriting she made at just 13 years old
August 16
- “New look, new display, new features, proper MIDI out – this is a big update and we truly rate it”: Novation Launch Control XL 3 review
- “I don’t know anything about what’s going on in that world now, at all”: Robert Plant reveals why he turned down the chance to appear at the Back To The Beginning show
- “I don’t hear the song as being about Syd Barrett – I hear it as describing the failed bromance between David Gilmour and Roger Waters”: A music professor breaks down Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here
August 15
- “He stopped what he was doing, went to the fridge, gave the guy a beer and continued, completely in the zone – I've no idea how we did what we did but it became magic”: The rowdy live sets and field recordings behind Monolake's dub techno classic Hongkong
- "It's one of the most powerful software sound design tools on earth – and it's free": Try out this modular audio processing playground used by Aphex Twin
- “A quality, backpack-friendly controller that's under £50”: Arturia MicroLab Mk3 review
- “We have a business need to become more efficient and reduce operational costs due to continued loss-making because of demand reduction”: Redundancies loom at struggling acoustic firm Lowden
- Dubreq unveils Stylophone Gen X-2 – and you can play it without the stylus
- People = Cash: Slipknot eyeing up a £120 million catalogue sale to investment firm
August 14
- “Festivals are being cancelled due to extreme weather, and grassroots venues are grappling with rising energy costs”: Brian Eno and others urge government to cancel new North Sea oilfield
- “We started a musical style, we started a revolution, we changed the guitar world and how it’s played”: Dave Mustaine announces Megadeth’s final album and farewell tour
- “We were very proud but there was a taste left in our mouths, it was a dark time in so many ways”: Radiohead release surprise new live album
- “He had his own vocabulary. He had his own way of constructing chords. His own understanding of how they go on the neck”: Steve Vai on why Allan Holdsworth – the fusion virtuoso who wrote his own rules – was the GOAT
- Largest subwoofers ever made unleashed: “Incredibly powerful, efficient, and fast”
- “I said to him, ‘I want to be as proud of an album as I am of the Eras Tour.’ And he was like, ‘Do you understand what kind of pressure that is?’”: Taylor Swift on how she threw down the creative gauntlet to Max Martin for new album The Life Of A Showgirl
- “A classic Stage Rhodes, which plays like a dream and sounds every bit as classy as its timeless heritage would suggest”: Rhodes Stage 61 review
- "Take your pig squeals to the next level": Ablaze's Screamer is a vocal production plugin "crafted for metalheads, by metalheads"
- “It’s acoustic, it’s electronic, it’s in flux and it’s great”: Sonicware Liven Evoke review
- “The computer case you can’t buy… 'cause it’s free!”: Teenage Engineering's latest experiment is a free computer case made from one piece of foldable plastic
- “The installation mirrors the song’s structure, step by step, turning lyrics and melody into a visual path”: Wembley Stadium unveils an all yellow Coldplay-related artwork to mark the band’s residency
- “When times are very uncertain, people really love to go back to when they felt secure - a more reassuring time”: We speak to the company aiming to repopularise the personal cassette player
- “He did this encore. Went off. They made him come out again. Another encore. They wouldn't stop. He came out for three encores”: Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Brad Whitford on the time they were completely upstaged by their support act, a young Rory Gallagher
- “Steven just doesn’t want to tour, and he can’t tour”: Joe Perry confirms no more touring for Aerosmith
- “The most talked-about guitar of the summer is coming to the Gibson Garage London”: P-90s, Light Aging from the Murphy Lab, handwritten Oasis lyrics, signed… The Gibson Custom Noel Gallagher Les Paul Standard has been unveiled
- “One of the executives at Warner Records said, ‘David, you are your own Yoko Ono’”: David Byrne on alienating his audience, Talking Heads and a sideline in stand up comedy
- Left-handed guitarists have been overlooked for too long, but Thomann’s up to 20% off Lefty Deals sale changes that
August 13
- “A girlfriend bought me a Portastudio because she said I was wasting my time trying to be a fashion designer… she bullied me into committing to music”: Seal on how a Tascam four-track and two chords changed his life as he found his identity on guitar
- “A highly flexible mic with an excellent overall delivery”: Warm Audio Fen-tone Ribbon Mic review
- “There are ways to use AI that can actually increase human creativity”: There I Ruined It creator argues for a more nuanced view of AI in music
- “A retro-refined take on a classic Gretsch design”: Like the Jack Antonoff signature Gretsch? Then you are going to love the CVT Electromatic
- “When you need merciless metal tone and speed for days…”: Jackson adds Warrior, King V and Concert Bass to its limited edition Pro Plus Pure Metal range
- “A spontaneous and what I thought would be a fun thing”: Chrissie Hynde to release a new album of duets featuring Debbie Harry, Dave Gahan and Rufus Wainwright
- “It’s impossible to make a record if you’re having to clear a horse noise”: How The Avalanches assembled their surreal monument of weird, Frontier Psychiatrist, from a huge range of samples
- They can go for that: Hall & Oates appear to have reached a settlement in their legal dispute
- “Its authenticity is beguiling, as is its playability”: Rhodes Wurli review
- “He was a very untraditional player, even though he had learned the traditional approach to blues to start with”: Carlos Santana on what made Jeff Beck a guitar great, and why he had to get into character to cover Michael Jackson
- “Back of headstock reveals: #1 Edward Van Halen Model”: Eddie Van Halen’s 1982 Kramer – also owned by Mick Mars – heads to the auction block. Is this the next multi-million dollar guitar?
- Critter & Guitari's Organelle S2 can be anything you want it to be: synth, sampler, sequencer, drum machine, effects unit and more
August 12
- "For a player who sits in the crossover between vintage tone and modern playability, it’s hard to imagine a guitar more perfectly suited": Fender American Ultra Luxe Vintage '60s Stratocaster review
- “With the middle pickup from the Modern Eagle V added to the mix, you can easily dial in the classic scooped tones”: PRS promises spanky Strat-esque tones and a lot more from its limited run PRS CE 24 Special
- “How lucky I was to share in a little of Ozzy’s magic?” Producer Andrew Watt pays tribute to his departed friend
- “Most of the tone came from how much timber had taken off the neck, almost to Ibanez levels of thinness”: Bare Knuckle supremo Tim Mills reveals the tone secrets of Jimmy Page’s legendary ‘Number One’ Les Paul Standard
- SampleRadar: 167 free processed 808 and 909 samples
- “It’s pretty hard to find something that Chris is bad at but I think we’ve found it”: Watch Chris Hemsworth’s painful-looking first drumming lesson
- “We’re playing the first album, the second album, the third album and then the fourth one is... a mystery”: Gorillaz set to preview new music at upcoming Copper Box gig
- “Our first true multi-effect, a little museum of the rare and strange for you to wander around”: Chase Bliss invites adventurous players to rummage around the Lost + Found – 12 mixable modes, from Slow-Verb shoegaze to Gen Lite lo-fi textures
- “They were unfairly dismissed by critics and listeners with ‘good taste’ as mindlessly primitive”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Black Sabbath's Iron Man
- “We’ve redefined the balance between heritage and innovation”: Fender combines old-school mojo with 21st-century playability on the American Ultra Luxe Vintage series
- “Many of the Pro’s advantages are less towards sound, and more on the side of enhanced playability”: Alesis Nitro Pro review
- Taylor Swift announces new album, The Life Of A Showgirl, and drops a strong musical hint that Max Martin is back in the producer's chair
- "He's not using a guitar amp. He's using a Tascam 424": JHS Pedals puts a Portastudio in a pedal to help you recreate Mk.gee's "elastic, lo-fi tones"
August 11
- "Once I’ve played those four notes, then I can start to improvise”: Mark Knopfler on the Dire Straits song he's come to accept that he has to start in the same way every time
- Kind of moo: Dairy farmers are playing their cows jazz music in a bid to improve their milk yields
- "We’ve been working on something different": Auxy launches macOS version of mobile music-making app and teases forthcoming hardware instrument
- “If you’re given the choice between boxing kangaroos and John Lennon you choose John Lennon”: The strange, brief existence of the John Lennon-fronted supergroup hidden for decades
- “We’ve had the privilege of working with many remarkable talents over the years, but this visit was truly special”: Bob Dylan spent two days recording in Albany last week
- “RIP Bobby”: Eric Clapton pays tribute to Bobby Whitlock, the Memphis musician who sang and played keyboards in Derek and the Dominos and recorded with George Harrison
- Nine Inch Nails have just played their first show back with drummer Josh Freese
- Eventide is giving away a killer $99 distortion plugin for free
- "The clean and medium-gain sound is where it truly flexes its sonic muscles": Hotone Pulze Mini Bluetooth Amplifier review
August 10
- "Evolves the SH-101 template while still capturing the sound of the original": Donner Essential L1 review
August 9
- “She bounded on in this bizarre, eye-catching outfit of striped stockings and a black leotard”: Local journalist recalls early encounter with Charli XCX at Bishop’s Stortford music fest
- “They had the arrangement and I went, ‘Oh, this is finally my David Gilmour moment.’ The hair on my arms stood up”: Keith Scott on the making of Bryan Adams’ (Everything I Do) I Do It For You – the record-breaking hit no one saw coming
August 8
- “I wanted to bring a new generation to this iconic street. It’s been so integral to British music”: Yungblud launches his B.R.A.T store in the heart of Denmark Street
- “I thought this had blown over. The Who has a new drummer… this is old news and it’s completely wrong.”: Zak Starkey claps back at Roger Daltrey's "character assassination" claims as the drama surrounding his departure from The Who rumbles on
- It might be a little ugly, but Lambda Synthetics' PolyPulse could be the instrument that finally breaks you out of the 16-step grid
- "It’s something that looked and felt like a Fender but was something I could afford at that point": Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee Ochoa says that her Fender signature model is actually based on a Fender copy
- “It's a really good chord progression, I couldn't believe no-one else had used it”: How the Cure sidestepped the gloom and wrote one of the most uplifting songs ever recorded
- “With no smartphone app, no IR loader, and just a single knob for control, it does away with all the distractions”: Earthquaker Devices Easy Listening review
- “We were hoping for the best. We wanted it to be the best. Then Ozzy came in singing and sounded great, and everybody was like: 'This is gonna be fine, they’re gonna kill it'": Lars Ulrich on hearing Ozzy Osbourne’s last soundcheck
- "Everybody was screaming out, 'what record is that?!' It wasn't a record – it was the 808": Roland celebrates 45 years of the TR-808 with Rhythm Creators video series
- “I don’t know if that’s just me wanting to like the one that’s less popular”: Laufey and Clairo rank Taylor Swift albums and weigh in on the Folklore vs Evermore debate
- "The TR-808's bass drum is undoubtedly the most recognisable electronic kick sound of all time": How to get the perfect 808s
August 7
- “It’s safe to say it has become the talk of the town every time it is used”: Gibson teases release of the P-90-equipped Les Paul Noel Gallagher has been playing at the Oasis reunion shows
- “Literally the first chord I hit on it after I put it together just gave me goosebumps”: Nirvana tone guru Aaron Rash solves Kurt Cobain’s Heart-Shaped Box guitar mystery – and opens Pandora’s box for the tonewood debate
- "I’m not sure about the legalities of it, but I have no problem with him memorialising the greats": Tupac’s stepbrother says he’s OK with Rod Stewart’s AI ‘tribute’ to Ozzy Osbourne and other dead stars
- “It’s not signed, sealed and delivered... but speaking to me and asking my opinion I would love to do it”: After being "blown away" by U2 at the Sphere, Lars Ulrich suggests that Metallica would be keen to play there in 2026
- “It was just the name that rhymed with ‘fan’”: Eminem’s ex-manager says 'Stan' was not a deliberate portmanteau
- PWM declares Mantis "the next generation of OSCar" as V2 update adds original wavetables from the cult classic synth
- "This isn't just a piano, it's the 1901 Steinway B heard across albums from Elton John, David Bowie, and Fleetwood Mac": Spitfire Audio's latest instrument captures the sound of the historic Strawberry Studios
August 6
- New David Gilmour tour film and live album confirmed for later this year - watch him dip into the Pink Floyd songbook in the trailer
- “An irate fan pulled a gun on them in their dressing room. They stopped using our name immediately”: How a fake version of a popular British band managed to deceive American fans
- “Transforms your audio from phone-quality to studio-ready instantly. Just plug in and create, anywhere, anytime”: Blackstar’s audio interface range just got a lot more portable with the pocket-sized Polar Go
- “We didn’t even have time to run over the performance thoroughly”: Earth Wind & Fire reveal that they had just 24 hours to prepare for their Lollapalooza guest slot with Sabrina Carpenter
- “It kind of spoils it a bit for me": Here's why Paul Weller won’t be going to any of the Oasis reunion shows
- “They are officially on our investigative team right now”: They found Paul McCartney’s missing Höfner 500/1 violin bass – can the Lost Bass Project find Marty McFly’s Gibson ES-345 from Back To The Future?
- “With no tickets left, the FOMO kicks in hard”: A sold-out Swedish music festival is testing the theory that punters would 'give a kidney' for a chance to attend
- “These are time-tested hues that have been popular through decades”: John Mayer’s PRS SE Silver Sky Rosewood gets a refresh with four all-new solid-colour finishes “inspired by traditional American fashion”
- “When the bubble bursts, the grandiose claims about the technology will be shown to be massively overblown”: AI in music production – where should we draw the line?
August 5
- “This launch marks a fresh chapter for Epiphone acoustics, and we can’t wait for players to experience them”: Epiphone resurrects a 1963 Dove and five other classic acoustics with some help from the Gibson Custom Shop
- "I don't have the personality or the playing style to fulfill what he needs": Francis Dunnery quits John Payne’s Asia after just one gig
- New American start-up Tiny Vinyl launches some... tiny vinyl
- “They’ve raised me on the greatest songs of all time”: Sabrina Carpenter gets her Let’s Groove on and celebrates September a month early as she's joined on stage by Earth, Wind & Fire at Lollapalooza
- "No complex bus routing and no endless plugin stacks": iZotopeʼs colourful new FXEQ multi-effects plugin lets you “paint” with saturation, reverb, and delay
- “BB held one note for 12 bars… I set my guitar down, and I walked off the stage. That was the biggest musical lesson I’ve ever learned”: Zach Myers on Shinedown’s secret weapon, the limitations of shred, and that time he got schooled by BB King
- “This is the craziest, most disrespectful thing I ever saw in my LIFE”: Rod Stewart’s ‘tribute’ to Ozzy Osbourne has gone down like a bucket of cold sick
- "Ruins transforms the electric guitar into a study of collapse, texture, and spatial memory": Slate + Ash releases experimental virtual guitar instrument developed with Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley
- “Highlights just how often people are experiencing the dangerous side effects of being exposed to loud music”: New survey shows over half of Gen Z have already experienced hearing problems
- “I remember my first concert. It was a very memorable night and I watched this incredible band”: After duetting with Weezer, Olivia Rodrigo wraps up her Guts era by teasing her third album
- “It was kind of a character assassination and it was incredibly upsetting”: Roger Daltrey on Zak Starkey’s reaction to his Who ‘sacking’
- “I got up and started walking round the room, singing 'Walking round the room, ya, ya, walking round the room’”: The surprising origins and intricate musical theory behind an iconic Police masterpiece
- 'Superlungs' Terry Reid, the man who turned down Led Zep and Deep Purple, dies, aged 75
- "This next track is a four watermelon banger": Serato DJ 4.0 overhauls the DJ software's library with new search tools, easier analysis and an emoji rating system
August 4
- “Found some cassettes in the attic!”: Former Revolution keyboard player Lisa Coleman reveals that she’s just discovered her own ‘vault’ of classic Prince recordings
- “It makes it sound like the music that I grew up on – the music that made me fall in love with dance music”: Why Silva Bumpa created his own R&B instrumental just to remix it into the garage-inspired Feel Da Same
- With guitar amps starting from just £44, Thomann’s massive Hughes & Kettner sale just made modernizing your rig a lot cheaper
- “I don't know if we're going to get back to Bohemian Rhapsody-length songs, but attention span is slowly creeping back up”: Song lengths are increasing after years-long decline, according to BBC study
- “How could you have been so stupid? You’re a Beatle, boy, a Beatle. Your face is in every damn corner of the planet”: The embarrassing blunder that caused Paul McCartney to be jailed for nine days
- “There was no planning. I was as shocked as everyone else”: Eric Prydz reveals why he’s changed his mind about playing THE hit
- “The highest fidelity playback for serious studio use”: Kali Audio announces new multi-use HP-1 headphones
August 1
- "The new IR Manager software promises to add extra functionality and sonic scape to this already formidable amp": Fender Tone Master Deluxe Reverb Blonde and IR Manager review
- “We never became so famous that we hated each other or fell out”: Saint Etienne on longevity, studio technology and recording their final album, International
- 6 ways to bring your tracks to life with Ableton Live’s revamped Auto Filter
- “People are less willing to listen to electronic music that is made by a Black woman”: PinkPantheress says she’s being overlooked as an artist
- Spinal Tap to release fourth album, The End Continues, in September
- Enigmatic producer Burial releases a new 23 minute EP, Comafields and Imaginary Festival