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August 2020

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149 articles

August 31
- Rick Beato shows how to recreate Alex Van Halen's 1984 snare drum sound
August 30
- James Hetfield has "tons of material" written for next Metallica album, also has venomous species of snake named after him
- Dave Grohl accepts 10 year-old Nandi Bushell's drum-off challenge, counters with Them Crooked Vultures song
August 29
- Watch Roland's Hybrid Drums: From Studio to Stage video course in full
August 28
- Smashing Pumpkins debut a pair of new tracks with much more to follow
- Get a hold of your playing with Fender's Mojo Grip
- Foo Fighters and Rush producer Nick Raskulinecz on how he records drums
- Carlsbro announces Okto A percussion pad
- Billie Joe Armstrong's 21st Century Breakdown Strat is up for sale
- Inside Martin Garrix's amazing refurbished STMPD recording studios: “The initial plan was just to give it a fresh paint job. Then it got a little out of hand”
- The 25 greatest basslines of all time
- Algoriddim’s Neural Mix Pro music player lets you separate vocal, drum and instrument tracks so that you can sample them in your DAW
August 27
- Seymour Duncan winds Brad Paisley a secret weapon for his Esquire
- The beginner's guide to: garage music
- Learn some new old-school heavy metal with Spirit Adrift's Nate Garrett
- Behringer’s first ARP 2500 Eurorack modules are here, and they’re seriously cheap
- Revv launches its G2 amp-in-a-box overdrive in ltd edition gold enclosure
- 4 VST plugins that every electronic music producer wishes existed
- Kemper adds a host of new effects with Profiler OS 7.5 update
- Vick Audio reissues the No 13 Fuzz
- Nine Inch Nails’ Alessandro Cortini is selling his ultra-rare Buchla 406 synth: “If you know what this is and you’re interested, DM me!”
August 26
- Reason Studios’ Friktion is an expressive string synth that “simply sounds real”
- How to work from home when you’re a professional musician: producers and composers reveal their lockdown workarounds
- The Pineapple Thief's Bruce Soord talks new album Versions Of The Truth, Gavin Harrison and his 5 tips for musicians
- See the Gretsch Custom Shop's stunning 2020 guitars
- Issue 361 of Future Music is on sale now
- Disclosure to launch new album with massive Minecraft world featuring 3 nightclubs and 8-bit musical Easter eggs
August 25
- Arturia releases MicroFreak Vocoder Edition, and there’s a pleasant surprise for owners of the original synth, too
- Akai’s EWI Solo is the electronic wind instrument that you can play with anywhere
- Fender Tim Armstrong Anniversary Hellcat announced: "It's very loyal to the original guitar I’ve had since I was a teenager"
- PRS's "Snarling Tiger" Private Stock creation looks grrrreat
- There’s more to Audified’s one-knob VocalMint Compressor plugin than meets the eye
- Increase your acoustic guitar's resonance with this "second back"
August 24
- Sub Focus and Wilkinson: "We just wanted to do something with a bit more depth and ambition”
- Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle dies, aged 38
August 21
- The Track: GLXY break down She Sings for Me ft. DRS
- Exclusive: Simon Phillips shows how he plays DarWin - Nightmare Of My Dreams
- Steve Lukather and Ringo Starr join forces on new song
- 10 of the greatest Gibson ES-335 guitar tones of all time
- Is Native Instruments about to offload Traktor to Allen & Heath?
- See Post Malone play a guitar cover of Eric Johnson's Cliffs Of Dover
- So you want to be a... videogames composer: Fortnite, Assassin’s Creed, Borderlands and God of War soundtrack man Cris Velasco - "Be a go-getter, be creative, be cool to be around"
- 5 songs producers need to hear by… Stock Aitken Waterman
August 20
- Who better to be working on the Behringer BBG clone than a long-standing collaborator with Wolfgang Palm himself?
- Rick Beato recreates Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin Ramble On acoustic guitar sound
- Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion touring line-up reunites to play Beatles and AC/DC covers
- The moon-powered Quadrivium synth plugin sounds out of this world
- Paul Gilbert explains why he's switched to using thinner guitar picks
August 19
- Brian Setzer is having a rockabilly riot of a guitar sale with Reverb
- Run out of room for any more modular synths? Perhaps now's the time to go VR
- Unreleased Rory Gallagher/Jerry Lee Lewis track unearthed
- Transform your Roland TR-707/727 drum machine into an 808, 909 or LinnDrum with this ROM expansion
- "I’ve learned a lot from Pearl Jam!” – Nothing But Thieves guitarist Joe Langridge-Brown on the 10 albums that changed his life
- Catalinbread strikes with Naga Viper Treble Booster Gallery limited edition
- The Korg Krome EX now comes in a copper finish, but hurry it's in limited numbers
- Next-gen Korg Volca Sample improves on the original's biggest niggles
August 18
- Sabian unveils the Chick Corea Royalty Ride LE: based on Roy Haynes' revered ride cymbal
- Zultan cymbals is celebrating its 20th anniversary, and wants you to be involved!
- The Antares Auto-Tune Unlimited subscription gives you access to all plugins and unlimited free upgrades
- This 1000 oscillator drone synth has been under construction since lockdown and hearing is believing
- Meet Circle Guitar, the 250BPM robo-plucker in a six-string
- Warwick unleashes the Gnomes – bass heads you can fit in your pocket
August 17
- Warm Audio riffs on two classic pedals with the Foxy Tone Box and Jet Phaser
- Joe Bonamassa is playing the Ryman in Nashville and you're all invited
- Liverpool's legendary Cavern Club under threat as covid-19 lockdown bites
- Stars of rock and metal pay tribute to the late UFO bassist Pete Way
- Has Apple's roadmap for the release of its ARM-based MacBook Pros, iMacs and Mac Pros just been leaked?
- How to deal with negative reviews
- This miniature tribute to the Marble Machine X is a mechanical, Meccano-esque synth wonder
- SampleRadar: 1,000 free drum samples
August 14
- Prism Sound’s Lyra audio interface delivers added creativity during lockdown
- Take a first look at Kenny Wayne Shepherd's new signature Fender Stratocaster
- Pioneers of delay: 10 innovative players who transformed guitar tone using echo and delay pedals
- Cort unveils new flagship "high-intensity" KX model: the KX500 Etched
- Paul Gilbert on how YouTube could be killing classic rock vibrato
- Steve Lukather delivers a brutal 7am wake-up call to his neighbours after being disturbed by leaf blowers
- Blackstar releases Unity Elite bass amp and cabs
August 13
- Harley Benton's DNAfx GiT Multi-FX promises stunning bang-for-buck
- Fender Tone Master Blonde edition amps offer a new finish, speaker and impulse responses
- Mixbucket is a simple and free way for producers and collaborators to share feedback on their music
- Fender announces two exotic Acoustasonic Stratocaster finishes
- Fender unveils three new portable, feature-packed Acoustic Series amps
- Revehō launches The Slight modular travel guitar via Kickstarter
- Behringer’s RD-6 drum machine arrives in an eye-popping range of colour options
- My top 10 concept albums – by The Ocean's Robin Staps
August 12
- Free IK AmpliTube SVX plugin: download “legendary bass tones” for nothing
- Phil Collins: viral In The Air Tonight reaction video puts the song back in the charts
- Darkglass's SQUID is rising from the depths to get you
- Fender reveals California Traditional acoustic line up
- Native Instruments’ Co-Founder and President step down to make way for “a new generation of leadership”
- Could Aloha be the low-latency app that finally makes virtual band rehearsals a reality?
- Dave Grohl pays tribute to Trini Lopez: "My 1967 Trini Lopez signature guitar is the sound of our band"
- Behringer claims that its new PPG Wave synth clone sounds “truly amazing”
- In Flames: "We had no idea when we created this thing" – Clayman 20th anniversary track by track interview
August 11
- Singer and guitarist Trini López dies aged 83 from Coronavirus
- A more affordable Universal Audio Apollo audio interface is here, but it’s not as new as you might think
- Carmine Appice on how John Bohnam ‘borrowed’ his fills from Vanilla Fudge
- Brent Mason's heavily modded Telecaster gets official Fender Stories Collection edition
- DW launches the Pi Piccolo snare
- 5 reasons why 5G will be amazing for music lovers and producers
- Roland’s TR-8S gets a free FM synthesis engine, making it “the most complete drum machine ever”
- Erica Synths turns up the pressure with the Das Kleine Fusion Eurorack modular synth
- Lukas Nelson interview: "It’s like being in a masterclass, seeing how Neil Young works"
- Fantastic Negrito Live Stream With Orange Amps coming Thursday
August 10
- The 2021 Winter NAMM Show is cancelled
- New mini Fender Squier Strat, Jazzmaster and Precision Bass guitars announced
- Fender announces 4 new guitar and bass effects pedals – including a wah
- Fender reveals new Road Worn relic'd Vintera Tele and Strat guitars
- “Forget presets”: Sonible’s smart:reverb plugin promises to listen to your sound and create a custom space for it
- 13 great Fender Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitar player moments
- Watch one-armed drummer Jack Thomas play Duality by Slipknot
- The Netflix ‘ta-dum’ sound features a reversed electric guitar sample that was created using ‘90s effect processors
- Iron Maiden and Deep Purple producer Martin Birch dies, age 71
August 8
- Free hybrid drum samples: 324 Roland 808 kick, snare, clap, tom and percussion hits
August 7
- 5 songs producers need to hear by… Jam & Lewis
- Hear Dream Theater's John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy reunited on Terminal Velocity
- Harley Benton unveils the SC-Custom II guitar series with 10 affordable models
- Watch Jason Isbell show his vintage guitar collection – including his '59 'Redeye' Gibson Les Paul
- 10 of the greatest Telecaster tones ever
- Check out all our blues guitar skills lessons in one place
- Eric Johnson focuses on using string stretches in your licks for latest charity guitar lesson
August 6
- 8 ways to ruin a David Gilmour guitar solo
- Neck Deep guitarist Sam Bowden: 10 albums that changed my life
- Acoustik Attak claims its guitar picks will give players "enhanced sound waves"
- Could this be the simplest and easiest AI mastering plugin yet?
August 5
- Jason Isbell teaches a great slide guitar lick for standard tuning with his '53 Tele
- Can technology help save live music, and what’s the future of gigs and festivals?
- PRS Guitars launch a limited run of CE 24 Standard Satin models in Europe
- ToneGym is an online ear-training platform that could help you to master music theory and write better songs
- Watch: spiff is an “adaptive transient processor” which aims to make fixing tricky mixing problems easy
- 10 of the best Les Paul tones of all time
- Gibson reveals signature Les Paul Junior for Neil Young guitarist Lukas Nelson
- discoDSP’s free OB-Xd VST synth plugin has been updated, and it now looks more like a classic Oberheim than ever
- Watch Nuno Bettencourt, Brian May, Steve Vai, Tosin Abasi, Yngwie Malmsteen and Zakk Wylde play Bohemian Rhapsody
August 4
- The Lava Music x Chemist Creations collaborative guitar embraces minimalism
- Fender and Shawn Mendes harness flower power with a Musicmaster model
- The price is slight for Harley Benton's new electro acoustic guitar model
- Apple launches “the most powerful 27-inch iMac ever,” but is now the right time for music makers to buy?
- Akai MPK mini mk3: "world’s best-selling USB MIDI keyboard controller” now looks slicker and plays better
- Pianotone 600 is a free VST plugin that emulates a ‘70s keyboard you probably haven’t heard of
August 3
- Classic interview: Buddy Guy – "If people come see you, I think you should give them every damn thing you’ve got"
- Could Apple’s first ARM-powered silicon MacBooks be $200 cheaper than the current Intel models?
- Norwegian guitarist Tora Dahle Aagård teaches technique and tone
- See rare footage of Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy jamming onstage
- Can HoRNet’s low-cost MasterTool plugin “make your tracks sound good without effort”?
- Not so Way Huge after all: the MkV Green Rhino is a smaller overdrive pedal
- Caparison has really gone to town with the spec on Mattias Eklundh's new 8-string
August 2
- Eric Moore announced as GEWA G9 artist and brand ambassador
- Stewart Copeland launches podcast: My Dad The Spy