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February 2022

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237 articles

February 28
- Hear the only known soundboard recordings of Led Zeppelin's When The Levee Breaks and The Wanton Song
- On our radar: Black Pines
- Best pedalboard power supplies 2023: our choice of top power supplies for your effects
- Behringer’s Saturn is like a $99 mini synth version of the Roland Jupiter-8
- See Tears For Fears in fine form playing classics and new material for live session
- We think we’ve named every piece of gear in Calvin Harris’s studio
- SampleRadar: 162 free synth orchestra samples
- 6 absolutely free software tools for live performance
- Discover the Enya NEXG: the world's first smart audio guitar
February 27
- Ludwig marks 50 years of Vistalite with Limited Edition kit and snare finishes
- ddrum releases NIO Percussion pad
February 25
- Silktone launches a gnarly Tone Bender Mk1.5-style stompbox with an Active Bias Monitor to help you find the sweet spot
- 100 years of Hans Thomann Senior - a celebration
- SampleRadar: 316 free UK garage samples
- JHS Pedals unveils the Overdrive Preamp, a clone of a DOD classic that “didn’t exist”
- David Byrne on working with Brian Eno: “Sometimes it's not that comfortable”
- Did you know that you can download more than 33,000 BBC sound effect samples for free?
- George Harrison: his 10 greatest Beatles songs
- Mooer’s groundbreaking GTRS Intelligent Guitar has a partner in the form of a colourful 5-watt Bluetooth mini-amplifier
- Behringer channels Roland’s JP-8000 in its new $49 JP-4000 hardware synth
- Questlove steps in to save John Mayer’s gig after Steve Ferrone contracts covid
- KMA Audio Machines unveils the Pylon ATB Noise Gate, promising “silence and control” from the boost-equipped stompbox
- Mixland’s freeTilt! is a free EQ and saturation plugin with just two controls
- Gibson celebrates the life of rock ’n’ roll trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe with new merch line and YouTube mini-doc
- Producer Masterclass: Mousse T on how he remixed Quincy Jones' "Stomp"
- 6 absolutely free software tools for guitarists
February 24
- Behringer unveils an Oberheim OB-Xa-inspired desktop synth and a $99 version of the Sequential Prophet VS
- "It was the best thing I’d ever heard" – Phil Collen talks Def Leppard's Hysteria track-by-track
- Mousse T.: "The studio is my safe space. It’s my big kindergarten where I get to play around - it’s total freedom!"
- Best Yamaha P-45 deals March 2023: The place to find the biggest savings on one of the most popular digital pianos
- See Peter Frampton tell the incredible story of his Phenix Les Paul Custom that survived a fiery plane crash
- 6 absolutely free tools for hip-hop production
- DJ/producer Calvin Harris puts his insane Hollywood home and studio complex up for sale for $25 million
- Behold the guitar instrumental cover of Toto's Africa you didn't know you needed
February 23
- Watch Harley Benton's demo of its affordable new TE-62DB T-style guitar
- Venom Prison’s Ash Gray and Ben Thomas talk Jackson guitars
- “It’s like you have the hardware,” declares Tom Oberheim, as he endorses GForce Software’s OB-E v2 synth plugin
- Daft Punk return (sort of) with 25th anniversary reissue of debut album Homework and classic gig stream
- How Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan prevented Nirvana from breaking up during their early days
- Alai K: "Every time I listen to techno it reminds me of spiritual music, tribal music, like it's done in Africa"
- Improve your problematic mixes with 35% off Baby Audio's Smooth Operator at Gear4Music
- Kia jumps from SUVs to VSTs as it releases move.ment, a free plugin instrument
- Classic interview: KISS' Gene Simmons - “Studio bassists who play with their fingers live have no idea that we can’t hear what they’re playing”
- Mark Lanegan: 9 albums that changed my life - "If any record ever truly saved me, it was this one"
- 12 absolutely free tools for electronic music production
- Forget Bluetooth - the AIAIAI TMA-2 Studio Wireless+ are the headphones you need for music-making
February 22
- Positive Grid is packing a lot into its Spark Mini guitar amp and Bluetooth speaker
- Mark Lanegan passes away, aged 57
- Pioneer reveals two new Serato DJ controllers aimed at battle-style DJs
- Idris Elba moving away from acting career to focus on producing electronic music
- Is the Tampco All-Bender the ultimate Tone Bender-inspired fuzz?
- Nux unveils the NDD-7 Tape Echo – a looper-equipped, midi-compatible digital emulation of a Roland Space Echo
- Love Hultén's TE-LAB is a 'semi-modular sound machine' built from Teenage Engineering modules
- Origin Effects puts vintage bass amp tones at your feet with the BassRIG Super Vintage and ’64 Black Panel overdrive and preamp pedals
- Tahti.studio's free browser-based groovebox updated with open source sample library
- ddrum announces Vinnie Paul signature drum triggers
- Tommy Emmanuel: my 10 guitar heroes
- Solid State Logic unveils X-Delay, new plugin inspired by classic '80s digital delays
February 21
- Ringo Starr recalls life in The Beatles with new photo book, Lifted
- John Mayer: "I'm now at the point where I'm asking, why do I even have to like what I'm writing?"
- Real World Studios adds Dolby Atmos to its Red Room: new toys for the intimate music production and mixing facility
- AudioThing and Hainbach are making Noises: new plugin is a “creative texture instrument”
- Mateus Asato reveals his instrumental guitar take on Tears For Fears classic Everybody Wants To Rule The World
- Now Toneboosters is letting you have 23 of its VST/AU plugins for free
- Interview: "It’s arguably the first guitar effects pedal ever" – Gibson on the return of the FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone and Maestro pedals
- Slash says that the sound of the iPod drove him crazy because “it was so f***ing digital”
- How to get a great guitar sound... without paying an engineer
- SampleRadar: 193 free trance basics samples
- Why Queen's John Deacon is a bass hero
- 10 bass greats pay tribute to the genius of Queen’s John Deacon
- Bass Legends: Queen's John Deacon
February 18
- MixWave launches Tony Royster Jr drum sample library that you can play from your electronic drum set
- Zoom’s F3 is a compact, “battle-ready” 32-bit/192kHz field recorder that you can take anywhere
- A beginner's guide to guitar synth pedals
- Tear the roof off the sucker: Storm Eunice rips through the tent fabric on London’s O2 Arena
- 10 of the most incredible synth film soundtracks from Hollywood history
- Best tube amps 2023: 15 of the finest tube-driven heads, combos and lunchbox amps on the market
- SampleRadar: 280 free analogue circuit samples
- Kanye West says that his Donda 2 album will only be available on his hardware Stem Player
- Boss confirms the RE-2 Space Echo is coming soon
- Waves’ 50% off all plugins and bundles sale has just arrived in time for President’s Day
- TC Electronic launches Impulse, a mini cab sim pedal that comes preloaded with 12 official Celestion IRs
- Sun-El Musician: "I don’t come from an analogue background, it has always been about computers from the word go"
February 17
- GForce Software honours Tom Oberheim with a new documentary, and you can watch it for free
- Queen's Brian May: “Kids today don’t know The Beatles as much as they ought to”
- Mutable Instruments’ Plaits Eurorack module has been reimagined as a free Reason Rack Extension
- Brian May on 9 Queen guitars that aren't his Red Special (plus his Vox AC-30)
- Mesh drum heads vs rubber pads: which are better for electronic drummers?
- Waves’ $10 CR8 sampler plugin could give you all the sampling functions you need and none that you don’t
- Carl Martin unveils the Ampster: a 100% analogue valve pedalboard preamp/DI
- SampleRadar: 500 free IDM samples
- Sally Shapiro: "There’s too much focus on production and not enough on songwriting within electronic music these days"
February 16
- "Great songs, and great blues songs can sound simple, but to get all the elements just right requires a deep understanding" – slide guitarist Martin Harley on the 5 blues albums that changed his life
- Get up to 60% off the legendary tones of Hendrix, Slash, Dimebag and more with IK Multimedia's Presidents of Tone sale
- Save an epic 30% on TrueFire guitar lessons and learn from stars including Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa and Ariel Posen
- Spice up your pentatonic solos the easy way with this guitar lesson
- Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard says he bought the first Mötley Crüe album
- Line 6 brings HX effects to its new Catalyst amp series
- UK music software distributor Time+Space ceases trading, with customers currently unable to access their accounts
- Guitar bargain of 2022? Harley Benton demos its £109 ST-20HH Active
- Hear the Foo Fighters playing thrash metal on surprise new song
February 15
- Universal Audio announces dynamic, condenser and modelling microphones, with a premium range also in the pipeline
- Waves Cosmos is a free sample management tool that organises all your loops and one-shots and then lets you search for the sound you’re looking for
- Fender brings back the George Harrison Rosewood Telecaster
- Best iPhone microphones 2023: top picks for mobile recording, vlogging and video conferencing
- SampleRadar: 171 free '70s synth samples
- Audio Damage explains why it’s decided to let you download 33 of its plugins for free
- Best podcast headphones 2023: an essential tool for your podcast rig
- Tom VR: "I've listed the Korg ARP Odyssey on Gumtree three times, but I always come back to it"
- Gibson launches a pair of Jerry Cantrell signature Songwriter acoustic electric guitars
- Klon klone specialist RYRA unveils the Elegante and the Tramp – a pair of Fender-inspired Tweed-style tube combos
- 6 of the best weird and wonderful guitar sample libraries
- Classic interview - Yngwie Malmsteen: “You think because a singer is there he has something to do with it. He just sings. That’s it"
- Being a bass player is awesome - here are 11 reasons why
- Ibanez releases biggest ever run of Custom Shop instruments as it celebrates Hoshino USA’s 50th anniversary
February 14
- Digital piano vs keyboard: what’s the difference?
- StepicVST: powerhouse MIDI step sequencer plugin breaks free from Ableton Live to work in other DAWs, too
- Find out which Omnisphere preset you can hear in Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance
- Best electronic keyboards 2023: 9 top keyboard options for every budget
- Waves has a free surprise for “everyone using samples in their music”
- Genelec's iconic speakers have been helping producers level-up their monitoring for over 40 years
- Anderson .Paak performed on drums with Eminem at Super Bowl half-time show, but his kit wasn't mic'd-up
- PRS made a silver finish Silver Sky guitar especially for the Superbowl
- Waldorf is “working under pressure” as it teases what looks like a new keyboard
- Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar light up the Super Bowl, as Anderson .Paak plays drums for Eminem
- The Breakdown: David Castellani on his favourite piece of gear, the Elektron Digitakt
February 11
- Teenage Engineering offers £29 PO module range for your Eurorack rig and DIY projects
- Watch Jack White unleash the fuzz on the monster-grooving title-track from new album Fear Of The Dawn
- “A legend returns”: ROLI confirms “revamped” Seaboard MPE controller
- Jonny Greenwood on early Radiohead rehearsals: “The first thing I did was make sure my keyboard was turned off. I must have done months of rehearsals, and they didn’t know that I’d already turned it off”
- Ian McDonald, co-founder of King Crimson and Foreigner, dies aged 75
- The Waves Valentine's Day sale has landed: buy any plugin, get another for free
- Emily Nash: "When I started producing I didn’t think I’d get very far with just Logic Pro on my laptop and a tiny MIDI keyboard. I realise now that's really all I need"
- SampleRadar: 713 free robotic synth-pop samples
- Buy anything on Plugin Boutique, and get Arturia Analog Lab Intro absolutely free
- Best baritone guitars 2023: dive deep with these hollow and solid-bodied baritone guitars
- Gibson celebrates new Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators album by launching limited edition Les Paul Standard
- Darkglass Electronics unveils the smartphone-controllable Exponent 500, its most advanced bass amp yet
- Rick Rubin announces The Creative Act: A Way of Being - “a book on how to be”
- The Breakdown: David Castellani shows us around his modular paradise
February 10
- Generate endless drum samples using AI with the new Synapse Drums service
- The Positive Grid Spark amp now has a foot controller – and it's wireless
- 10 pro tips for adding punch and power to your mixes
- How I taught myself to read music and play the piano (and what it taught me)
- SampleRadar: 502 free '80s samples
- On our radar: Once Human
- Issue 380 of Future Music is out now
- Black Corporation’s Jupiter-8-esque ISE-NIN synth is almost ready for prime time
- Dell has discounted XPS 13 and 15 laptops ahead of President's Day – up to 27% off a music production machine
- We meet the builder behind the vertical pedalboard
- Martina Topley-Bird: "You need to keep adding fresh ideas, you have to challenge yourself. I was hyper-aware that I didn't want these to sound like Massive Attack songs"
February 9
- New Moog documentary series profiles the Giants of electronic music
- Latest Fender Sessions video features Tuareg guitar virtuoso Mdou Moctar
- Best studio monitor stands 2023: optimise your home studio
- SampleRadar: 449 free reversed samples
- Watch Dave play a guitar solo on a flamethrower-equipped Les Paul at the BRIT Awards
- Line 6’s Helix 3.15 firmware update adds 11 new models plus 18 classic Pod Farm effects to the entire HX range
- Watch Ed Sheeran and Bring Me The Horizon team-up to open the BRIT Awards 2022 with Bad Habits
- Best DJ controllers 2023: mix with Traktor, Serato, rekordbox and more
- Robert Pattinson made "ambient electronic music" in his Batman suit while filming new movie
- 9 things every Eurorack beginner should know
- Cost of living crisis: Why high ticket prices for live music are the new normal
February 8
- How to record music at home, the beginner's guide
- Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder jabs back at Nikki Sixx and Motley Crüe, and it involves RHCP drummer Chad Smith
- Record anywhere and everywhere inspiration strikes with the ultra-portable PreSonus AudioBox GO
- Metallica’s Kirk Hammett announces instrumental solo EP
- PreSonus releases AudioBox Go, its “smallest, lightest, most portable audio interface yet”
- Build your own Fuzz Face? Aion FX releases 6 circuits for DIY stompbox enthusiasts
- Save a whopping 50% off Auto-Tune Access with this pitch-perfect offer from Antares
- PinkPantheress set to perform in Roblox as The Brit Awards enter the metaverse
- Peavey promises “premium-quality sound in a travel-ready package” from new Bluetooth-equipped P Series PA system
- Riversong releases the limited edition Glennwood TS6 – a high-end acoustic with an innovative build
- Classic interview: Four Tet - “There’s no room for traditional live performance on Four Tet records. It’s all about sequenced electronic music”
- Flea says return of guitarist John Frusciante has had a “profound impact” on the Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Musiio CEO Hazel Savage on AI in music making: "It's hard to tell if it's AI, or just someone who isn't very good"
- Best piano bench 2023: piano stool options to suit all budgets
- Four Tet’s albums back on streaming services, as Kieran Hebden signs new publishing deal and seeks to take ownership of his masters
- Master the Minimoog Model D and create a classic Minimoog bass sound
- The Fender Strat and Tele prototypes that reveal what might have been
February 7
- Van Halen's A Different Kind Of Truth: Wolfgang looks back on the band's finale 10 years on – "I don't think people understand how much of an effort it was that we were actually able to record an album"
- Best DJ laptops 2023: PC and Mac options for the booth and beyond
- Yngwie Malmsteen: "What I did was I took the entire guitar playing technique, threw it out the window and I applied violin technique"
- New OP-Z controller and editor plugin: use your Teenage Engineering synth like a VST instrument
- Architects guitarist Adam Christianson demos the Neural DSP Quad Cortex
- Trombone Shorty: “In other places it might be guitars and all that stuff, but in New Orleans, brass is the king”
- Classic interview: John Frusciante – "The only album I remember feeling totally and completely confident on 100 per cent was By The Way, and I wasn’t actually challenging myself on that album"
- Sissi Rada: "We were doing an improvised performance with Brian Eno. I wore a burka and played harp with a vibrator"
- Blues, funk and soul singer / guitarist Syl Johnson dies at 85
February 4
- Eddie Vedder on the legacy of grunge: "Girls, Girls, Girls and Mötley Crüe… I hated it"
- NativeAudio unveils the Rising Sun V2, a vintage amp-inspired optical tremolo with dual modes and selectable waveforms
- A solution for your amp modelling needs at home and away? Harley Benton drops the G112A-FR Active Cabinet
- See Eddie Vedder cover The Beatles, REM, Tom Petty and more with Chad Smith and Josh Klinghoffer on first night of solo tour
- Here’s how you can get the IK Multimedia X-Drive virtual distortion pedal plugin for free
- Liam Gallagher enlists Dave Grohl on drums for co-written new single, Everything’s Electric
- TC Electronic goes analogue with its $69 new Bucket Brigade Delay pedal
- Is Leo Nocentelli’s Mardi Gras signature wah the coolest looking Cry Baby of them all?
- SampleRadar: 264 free sampled funk and soul samples
- Watch the first trailer for long-awaited King Crimson documentary
- Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott’s Texas house goes up for sale at $750,000
- Old Blood Noise Endeavors upgrades the Excess V2 Distorting Modulator with more controls and a smaller enclosure
- Krust on Coded Language: "Jungle was representing the underdogs. There’s millions of us, and we needed a soundtrack. We were just saying f*ck off to everybody who didn’t understand us"
- Slate Digital's FG-Dynamics captures the Solid State sound in your DAW
- Hear the new Red Hot Chili Peppers song Black Summer
February 3
- New Stewart Copeland book promises to be the ‘definitive document’ of The Police drummer's career
- Midique’s Kontrl9 looks classier than your average DAW control surface
- Harley Benton doubles down with its new bound TE-62 guitar
- Your pedalboard's missing secret weapon: a preamp?
- John Newman: “I wrote Blame with Calvin Harris with only my laptop in front of me. I recorded the vocals with the laptop mic”
- Billy F Gibbons: 10 guitarists who blew my mind
- Listen to 11 isolated drum tracks from rock drumming legends
- Classic interview: Stewart Copeland on his Police career, "When I did that hi-hat thing, I wasn’t wondering if I’d get away with it. I was thinking, ‘People love that sh*t! I’m doing it, kiss my ass!’"
- How to mix and master for streaming services
February 2
- Interview: Guthrie Govan showcases his super versatile new MJ San Dimas SD24 CM signature guitar
- Acustica Audio starts a Fire with its new one-knob filter plugins
- Can you use studio headphones for general music listening?
- Harley Benton's new ukulele is a solid (mahogany) deal at £29 / €35
- Trentemøller's Career in Gear: "I'm not any good at using compressors. I still haven't figured out exactly how they work"
- Facebook owner Meta is set to purchase AI-focused music software developer Accusonus, according to reports
- You don’t have long to bag $500 of recording software completely free, courtesy of Line 6
- Kfir Ochaion showcases the Donner Seeker Series DST-400 electric guitar
- Shred guitar maestro Michael Angelo Batio shows a very different side to his talents with cover of Nine Inch Nails classic Hurt
- Are Fender's new wedding rings a decent proposal?
- Mateus Asato is posting his incredible guitar videos again: and this time it's an instrumental take on a Beatles classic
- 5 songs guitarists need to hear by… Neil Young
- Graham Nash interview: “I’ve written songs every way you could possibly imagine”
- The 13 bass player types: a spotter's guide
- Gibson launches the BB King Lucille Legacy, giving the ultimate blues guitar a regal makeover
- Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea posts rehearsal footage of John Frusciante following new music clip
February 1
- Takamine celebrates its 60th anniversary in style with the limited edition LTD2022
- Create custom guitar parts in minutes with Session Loops
- HeadRush adds four amps, four effects to its Pedalboard, Gigboard and MX5 floorboard modelling units
- Ableton Live 11.1 released: native support for Apple’s M1 Silicon Macs is now official
- This meme-friendly ‘don’t you lecture me with your $30 haircut’ emoji/sample sequencer is as bonkers as it sounds
- Cort updates Frank Gambale’s eye-catching art deco-inspired signature acoustic with Fishman electronics
- Rivers Cuomo launches Weezify, a streaming platform like Spotify but just for his Weezer demos
- Martin adds 7 top-shelf acoustic guitars to its Modern Deluxe lineup
- Spitfire Audio releases free Philip Glass piano plugin: get the sound of the composer’s baby grand in your DAW