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June 2025

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100 articles

June 14
- Sack The DJ: Apple Music now uses AI to mix tracks
- “At that point all my equipment kind of glowed, and then shut down. 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 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
- MusicRadar deals of the week: My pick of Father's Day deals for musicians include $400 off the Polyend Play+, $200 off a Martin acoustic and so much more
- "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
- Arturia's Mix DRUMS is an "all-in-one" drum processor that promises punchy, pro-sounding drums without the fuss
- “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
- “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
- “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
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
- “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
- "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
- “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
- “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
- “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
- “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
- 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
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
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
- ”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
- "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
- “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
- “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
- “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
- "This is an experiment": Teenage Engineering is letting you choose your own price for the OP-1 Field (no, we're not kidding)
- “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
- “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
- “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 and where. And who the hell are Patchwork?…
- “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
- “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
- “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
- 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
- "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”