News archive
April 2023
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213 articles
- April 30
- April 29
- April 28
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- Taylor and Original Grain Watches team up for some very classy wrist candy incorporating the high-end acoustic brand’s Urban Ironbark
- Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc reveals his love of the piano and shows you how he recorded his first track in Ableton Live
- Is Nuno Bettencourt one of the top three guitar players in the world? Prince thought so
- Spitfire Audio has packed some of Look Mum No Computer’s finest ‘Obsolete Machines’ into a free LABS plugin
- Watch Joe Bonamassa sit in with Scary Pockets and Joanna Jones for a funkified cover of Back In Black
- What is spectral processing? Get to know the technology behind the next generation of effects plugins
- The most exciting new hardware synths of 2023
- The essential new audio interfaces and mixers of 2023
- Revolutionary new effect plugins for 2023
- The most innovative products of 2023 so far
- Best budget mic preamps: Upgrade your studio setup for less
- Tame Impala reveals his favourite synth and weighs in on the analogue vs digital debate: "I love analogue synths, but I'll never argue they sound better than a digital clone"
- G7th, The Capo Company at Gear Expo 2023: we’ve brought the humble capo into the 21st century
- Electro-Harmonix adds beef to the Keef with the expanded Satisfaction Plus fuzz debuting an all-new Fat mode
- Nugen Audio at Gear Expo 2023: Jotter plugin revealed
- IK Multimedia at Gear Expo 2023: Your gateway to a new world of guitar tone
- Laney at Gear Expo 2023: meet the Ironheart Loudpedal, a surprisingly affordable, two-channel 60W amp in a stompbox
- EastWest Sounds at Gear Expo 2023: Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra includes everything you need to create fantasy film and game soundtracks
- April 27
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- Arturia blows its own trumpet as it launches Augmented Brass plugin
- Teenage Engineering announces the CM-15, a portable microphone that promises great sound whatever the recording situation
- Download 90 free Max for Live devices and learn how to make your own with Ableton's Building Max Devices tutorial pack
- What is FM synthesis? The ultimate beginner's guide
- Should Behringer release the Behremin, its $99 Theremin “interpretation”, or should it keep its hands off?
- NOasis - Noel Gallagher scotches Oasis reunion tour rumours
- Spotify CEO Daniel Ek says that AI “could be potentially huge for creativity”
- DJ Sprinkles on Midtown 120 Blues: "The album is a critique of the commodification of old school deep house. A lot of people miss that point"
- April 26
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- Millenium expands Still Cymbals low-volume cymbal line-up with two new colours
- Travis Barker launches signature Liquid Death enema kit: “How have I had such a successful career in music? I use Liquid Death Mountain Water…in my a**hole”
- Musician’s insurance: Everything you need to know about covering you and your gear
- It might look retro, but the MPC X Special Edition is actually “the most powerful MPC ever”
- Ed Sheeran defends himself against Let’s Get It On plagiarism accusations, arguing that he used an “unprotectable” chord progression
- Sammy Hagar muses on a Van Halen reunion and weighs in on David Lee Roth: "The guy sang so bad last time he was doing shows, it was embarrassing to me"
- 5 Moons could be the wooden multitrack recorder and looper that’s missing from your life
- Doug McKechnie is the 81-year-old synth pioneer you've never heard of: "The history of electronic music needs a rewrite"
- Roland’s updated Jupiter-4, Jupiter-8 and Juno-106 plugins come with a Circuit Mod feature so you can play at being a synth technician
- April 25
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- Josh Scott of JHS Pedals recommends four cheap overdrive pedals so you don’t have to freak out about the Bad Monkey anymore
- YouTube guitar builder Burls Art melts down 1,600 RadioShack dollar coins and turns them into a very cool lap steel guitar
- The soundtrack composer's guide to music software
- Epiphone unveils the latest Les Paul Custom from the Adam Jones Art Collection, and it is a floral, surreal and serious electric guitar
- Is the Nobels ODR-1 the real holy grail overdrive pedal?
- How Wendy Carlos became music technology's greatest living pioneer
- No Pulse detected: Waldorf says goodbye to its affordable analogue synth
- Watch Joe Satriani turn Ice 9 into an epic jam and trade solos with keys player Rai Thistlethwayte after guitar cable breaks mid-song
- Queen’s Roger Taylor: “I can’t take Taylor Hawkins out of my phone”
- Surgeon on how he ditched the studio to record an album with a tabletop live setup: "It’s funny, but people desperately want to know what gear I’m using"
- Baby Audio goes back to 1982 and revives Yamaha’s cult CS01 synth as a plugin
- The Black Keys refer to Noel Gallagher as "the chord lord", even though the Oasis man has said they're meaningless in his songwriting
- Origin Effects puts the holy grail tone mojo of a UA 610 console preamp into a pair of drive/tone shaper pedals for guitar and bass
- Session drummer Jim Keltner recalls John Lennon and George Harrison telling him not to bad-mouth Paul McCartney
- April 24
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- Fred Again, Four Tet and Skrillex close Coachella by smashing Smells Like Teen Spirit into Country Riddim
- “Feel free to use my voice without penalty,” says Grimes, as she weighs in on the AI-generated music debate
- Session drummer Jim Keltner recalls John Lennon and George Harrison telling him not to bad-mouth Paul McCartney
- How many of the synths, drum machines and effects in The Chemical Brothers’ Coachella live setup can you spot?
- Watch Chad Smith break down Red Hot Chili Peppers drum beats and fills in a virtual masterclass with Drumeo
- "We would write, record, and mix two or three songs a day": Youth on collaborating with Paul McCartney
- Watch Ólafur Arnalds’ soothing Korg PS-3100 synth jam: “Sometimes I want to make a whole album just dedicated to this beauty of an instrument,” he says
- 8 easy piano songs every beginner should learn: The Beatles, Coldplay, The Weeknd and more
- April 21
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- NAMM 2023: Keeley Electronics rolls out a No420 Custom Shop edition of its Compressor Mini for those who roll up
- Johnny Marr has a new book coming out that documents his epic guitar collection and the most significant instruments from his career
- Almost 60% of musicians are already using AI in their productions, study suggests
- NAMM 2023: Give your electric guitar the ultimate GNR pickup upgrade with Seymour Duncan’s new Slash 2.0 humbucker set
- Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett was using a Strymon Iridium pedal on his UK tour instead of an amp
- Charlie Puth uses Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson’s vocal recording trick as he painstakingly hones a 2-note phrase in Pro Tools
- NAMM 2023: Taylor raises the bar for its high-end acoustic guitar making with Builder’s Edition model of its flagship 814ce
- Ludwig announces Continental and Continental Club intermediate drum kits
- Best trem systems: From Floyd Rose to Bigsby, Duesenberg to Gotoh, here are the best tremolo systems we've ever used
- Eddie Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher Kramer sells at auction for just under $4 million
- April 20
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- Unidentified Reason Objekt: Swedish DAW developer teases new modelling synth
- Marty Friedman has an interesting theory about why distorted guitars feature in far more top 20 songs in Japan than the US
- Seal on his love for Alice In Chains: "Out of that whole grunge period, they were by far my favourite"
- Molly Tuttle uses an unusual guitar tuning and it's well worth trying
- Focusrite’s FAST Bundle can be yours at a bargain price, but only if you act quickly
- Jon Hopkins launches new beer inspired by one of his tracks and the number 9, and it’s all thanks to something Brian Eno told him
- Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival: 11 of our favourite performances from past years
- Boss’s new ‘all-in-one’ Gigcaster audio mixers give musicians everything they need to start livestreaming (and they might be pretty good for recording, too)
- April 19
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- Air Music Tech’s ‘wild’ new Ether plugin is said to be “a reverb like no other”
- John Mayer sits at the piano and shows how the same chord progression was used by Harry Styles, A-ha… and himself
- Foo Fighters return with new song Rescued, confirm new album But Here We Are for June
- Animals As Leaders guitarist Javier Reyes introduces his new, surprisingly traditional-looking ESP LTD JRV-8 signature model
- Regency is a free phase distortion synth plugin that harks back to Casio’s CZ keyboards
- Watch 4 minutes of young guitarist Matteo Mancuso being outrageously talented at the 2023 NAMM show
- Metallica’s Lars Ulrich silences the haters with impromptu double kick breakdown during Howard Stern interview
- Is the DigiTech Drop the 21st century's unsung hero of effects pedals? Walrus Audio founder Colt Westbrook explains why he loves it
- Better than the real thing? Hear the fake 'lost Oasis album' tearing up the internet, complete with AI-generated Liam Gallagher
- April 18
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- Issue 321 of Computer Music is on sale now
- NAMM 2023: Epiphone unveils a classy retro-styled ES-335 for Jim James of My Morning Jacket
- Nuno Bettencourt says rock songs are “nursery rhymes for adults” and explains his theory for adding depth to simple arrangements
- Heart On My Sleeve, the AI-generated track that sounds like it was recorded by Drake and The Weeknd, has been pulled from streaming services
- Flashback: see remastered footage of Metallica doing press for Master Of Puppets in 1986 with Cliff Burton
- Phil Collen remembers how he was secretly auditioned for Def Leppard during the making of Pyromania without knowing it
- NAMM 2023: The best new music tech gear of the show
- NAMM 2023: Peterson shrinks its super-accurate, feature-packed StroboStomp HD guitar tuner into a mini-pedal format
- Björn Ulvaeus thinks that the Abba Voyage technology is the future: “Our avatars will go on living after we are dead”
- April 17
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- NAMM 2023: InstaChord is the guitar-style instrument that even beginners can play, but will they want to?
- RØDE announces a complete range of new and updated podcast gear
- NAMM 2023: The Myburgh M28: at last, an all-new microphone that is not trying to emulate an old one
- Ever wanted to learn chicken picking? Don't miss this beginners' introduction from guitarist Andy Wood
- NAMM 2023: Antelope Audio's first studio monitor boasts a big spec and an innovative bass design
- NAMM 2023: Fiedler Audio enables you to compose in Dolby Atmos in any DAW, even the stereo-only ones
- April 16
- April 15
- April 14
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- NAMM 2023: Yamaha wants you to ditch the cables with its YH-WL500 wireless headphones for musicians
- NAMM 2023: T-Rex Effects brings the Binson Echorec back to life with a spectacular $2,100 reproduction
- NAMM 2023: Yamaha’s new TC3 TransAcoustic pianos promise the feel of an acoustic upright and the benefits of digital technology
- "It broke my heart" – Jason Everman talks about getting fired from Soundgarden, quitting Nirvana and becoming a decorated US Army Ranger
- NAMM 2023: Guild debuts the Surfliner Deluxe, classing up its affordable retro offset electric with a roasted maple neck and a floating vibrato
- NAMM 2023: Donner’s D1 is a simplified drum machine designed for first-time beatmakers
- NAMM 2023: Yamaha Stage Custom Birch drums get a triple-facelift with new finish options
- NAMM 2023: Audiomovers' Inject plugin brings multi-device audio I/O to your DAW, and you won't need to change the playback engine
- NAMM 2023: Ludwig updates NeuSonic series with new shell sizes and six new finishes
- NAMM 2023: Soundtoys SuperPlate gives you 5 classic reverbs that would cost a fortune and weigh a ton if you had the hardware
- NAMM 2023: Rabea Massaad joins Ernie Ball and is working an an EBMM signature model based on the Sabre
- Madison Cunningham, Mateus Asato, Yvette Young and Emily Hopkins demo the new Universal Audio UAFX delay, reverb and compressor effects pedals
- NAMM 2023: With the Panorama CST MIDI controller, Nektar hopes to make music production a lot less about staring at a computer screen
- NAMM 2023: Dean and thrash icon Kerry King partner for über-metal Overlord USA Custom Shop signature model
- Stand out from the crowd with Guitar Center's fresh set of exclusive Fender, Gibson, Taylor and Schecter guitars
- NAMM 2023: Black BT says SusEx can reduce your pedal needs and revolutionise your keyboard playing
- NAMM 2023: Yamaha launches flagship MIJ FG9 dreadnought, “the pinnacle” of its steel-string acoustic guitar know-how
- NAMM 2023: Beyerdynamic reimagines its iconic M Series of microphones
- Kirk Hammett plays his '59 'Unicorn' black Les Paul on the Stern Show and explains how he came to buy his Greeny 'Burst – but James Hetfield reveals that he was offered it first
- April 13
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- NAMM 2023: Tama announces limited edition Lil’ John Roberts Signature Snare Drum
- NAMM 2023: Sonor launches Kompressor series snare drums
- Mix Check Studio is a free AI tool that tells you what’s wrong with your mix and how to fix it
- NAMM 2023: Ernie Ball Music Man unveils six-string version of Tosin Abasi’s groundbreaking Kaizen electric guitar
- NAMM 2023: LR Baggs promises “game-changing” performance and non-invasive installation from its new HiFi acoustic guitar pickup system
- The new Auto-Tune EFX+ 10.0 and Auto-Key 2 are here take your music-making to the next level
- NAMM 2023: Sony's new MDR-MV1 headphones are aimed at spatial sound creators (and possibly dogs)
- NAMM 2023: Apogee's Jam X is a compact guitar audio interface with a built-in analogue compressor
- NAMM 2023: Fender unveils the RIFF, the take-anywhere Bluetooth audio speaker that doubles as a guitar amp
- NAMM 2023: Duran Duran’s John Taylor has a new signature bass – it’s name is Rio Dream and it’s a Dingwall with four-strings
- NAMM 2023: Hammond’s lightweight and ‘affordable’ XK4 organ promises “the B3 experience you’ve always wanted”
- NAMM 2023: Takamine celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its Sante Fe acoustic with a stunning limited edition cutaway
- NAMM 2023: IK Multimedia's AXE I/O One could be the guitar interface your wallet's been waiting for
- NAMM 2023 live report: rolling news from the world's biggest music-making gear show
- NAMM 2023: Ibanez announces huge signature guitar launch, with new models for Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Paul Stanley, Lari Basilio, Martin Miller and Ichika Nito
- April 12
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- Foo Fighters tease 13-second clip of what appears to be their first new music since Taylor Hawkins’ passing
- NAMM 2023: Watch jazz guitar legend Mark Whitfield play Wes Montgomery’s Four On Six on the newly launched D’Angelico Excel SS Soho he helped design
- NAMM 2023: Polyend announces Tracker Mini, and it looks like a 'best in show' contender
- New report shows that women and non-binary people are still massively underrepresented in production and engineering roles
- NAMM 2023: Jackson and Suicide Silence’s Mark Heylmun team up for a Fishman equipped Pro Series 7-string Rhoads
- NAMM 2023: Sound Particles' 'first ever' 3D synth is a "game changer", according to Jean-Michel Jarre
- NAMM 2023: Amphion's first 3-way monitor in 25 years might have been worth the wait, but is it worth the cost?
- NAMM 2023: You dirty Bastl! Distortion-fuelled mini mixer promises to be your new Bestie
- NAMM 2023: DSM & Humboldt unveils the Simplifier MkII, upgrading the zero-watt stereo guitar amp with revoiced preamps, more dynamics, reverb and more
- NAMM 2023: Create custom pickup configurations on your phone and mod your guitar in real time with the Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch
- NAMM 2023: Neumann updates one of the finest studio monitors ever made, because you should "never be satisfied"
- NAMM 2023: Bitwig Studio 5 is alive - the creative DAW is now a modulating monster
- NAMM 2023: Sterling By Music Man adds St Vincent Goldie to its lineup in epic new release featuring updated Cutlass, Albert Lee and Mariposa models
- NAMM 2023: Behringer switches from synths to mixers with 2 new compact consoles for podcasters, performers, gamers and more
- April 11
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- NAMM 2023: Universal Audio reveals 3 new UAFX pedals: meet the Del-Verb Ambience Companion, Galaxy ‘74 Tape Echo and Reverb and Max Preamp & Dual Compressor
- All hail the Lizard Queen! Josh Scott's vision of a '70s Electro-Harmonix octave fuzz pedal has become a reality for us all
- Behringer offers an update on its “beautiful sounding” Korg Polysix emulation, and says that the Moog-inspired Model 15 is being readied for production
- NAMM 2023: Panel discussion to tell us how to survive "the AI music apocalypse"
- NAMM 2023: Sequential has massively updated the Take 5 synth, but not quite in the way we expected
- Will Timothée Chalamet be singing when he plays Bob Dylan in new biopic? “Of course,” says director James Mangold
- Blast from the past: Suzuki Omnichord
- April 10
- April 8
- April 7
- April 6
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- Fender isn't going to make a Squier Acoustasonic, but it does have big plans
- Previously unheard J Dilla material released as remixable stems on Kano's STEM Player
- NAMM 2023: IK Multimedia launches Total Studio Max 4 bundle and revamps its entire software range
- NAMM 2023: Evans and Sunhouse team-up for the Evans Hybrid Sensory Percussion Sound System
- Walrus Audio confirms affordable prices for new Fundamental Series effects pedals
- Issue 395 of Future Music is out now
- Diddy says that he has to pay Sting $5,000 a day for his use of the Every Breath You Take sample in I’ll Be Missing You
- Josh Klinghoffer on Red Hot Chili Peppers with John Frusciante: "I never want to sound negative about anyone doing music — but I was shocked when I heard their new record”
- Fantastic (free) synths and how to use them: TAL-Vocoder
- April 5
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- Yamaha’s YC stage pianos get new DX7, CP80 and felt piano sounds as part of a free update
- "I had lived in London for a couple of years, but I had never really seen the dark underbelly of it,” – how Ed Sheeran wrote his breakthrough song, The A Team
- Best mini amps for guitar: unlock big tones in a small package
- Joe Bonamassa demos the new Seymour Duncan Cradle Rock '63 Strat pickups
- Nathan Micay says that his new RPG-inspired album, To The God Named Dream, features live banjo and Taylor Swift references
- Sir Brian May and Vox collaborate on affordable special edition amps: “I want people to be able to get the sounds you make in a stadium show into your living room, and these products achieve that"
- FirePressor packs emulations of 4 analogue compressors into one plugin, and it’s currently being given away for free
- Ruston Kelly on the 10 albums that changed his life and how they inspired his new record: "If you really dig into the record, you can hear every single one’s influences"
- April 4
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- Best banjos: Whether you’re into bluegrass, folk, alt, or rock, there's a banjo for you
- Watch Gary Moore dispense wisdom, play jazz and shred blues on a Gibson Explorer in these classic interviews
- The Fender Squier Bullet guitar and bass range is now the Sonic series – and there's new models, specs and finishes
- Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter says that his concerns around the rise of AI “go beyond its use in music creation”
- Arturia’s LX-24 plugin promises to breathe new life into a classic Lexicon digital reverb
- NAMM 2023: Gibson and Kirk Hammett team up for a Murphy Lab replica of his legendary 1979 Flying V
- Peavey goes back to the blueprint with the 6505 1992 Original Amplifier reissue
- One of the earliest live recordings of the Beatles emerges 60 years later, but will we ever get to hear it?
- NAMM 2023: Martin's CEO 10, rabbit and bitcoin guitars dazzle in a limited edition selection from the acoustic giant
- FIRST LOOK: Ableton’s free Live 11.3 update includes Drift, a new MPE-compatible synth that can create sounds “from every era of modern music”
- NAMM 2023: Blackstar pumps up the gain and headroom with the 100-watt Amped 3 guitar amp pedal
- Akai Pro drops a Timbaland edition of the MPC Live 2, and it comes with “the hardest drum sounds ever put inside an MPC”
- Kali Audio's Lone Pine Series studio monitors make professional sound accessible to the budget-conscious producer
- Roland celebrates 404 day with live performances, new streetwear and a free sample pack
- April 3
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- It looks like John Mayer is roadtesting a new PRS SE Silver Sky guitar with a maple fretboard
- Toontrack’s EZkeys 2 makes it even easier to create piano parts for your songs and could even help you write them
- Does your guitar have fret issues? The unique new Tri-Beams straight edge from Music Nomad can help you find out
- NAMM 2023: Hagstrom reveals revamped Swede and Super Swede guitars
- This new Pink Floyd documentary reminds us of the real Dark Side Of The Moon story
- Andrew Scheps talks mixing, production and the legacy of Metallica’s Death Magnetic: “My line is that the loudness war is over because I won… and that was the record that did it"
- Why Earthquaker Devices founder Jamie Stillman has an unbranded $200 'klone' Centaur from Ebay on his pedalboard
- Fender is making your spring a little brighter with 20% off select Fender acoustic guitars
- "If you roll your guitar volume back and have a pedal on, it’ll buffer it and you’ll still have the high end" – Michael Landau talks Strats and shares his top 5 tips for guitarists
- How to get started (and get paid) writing music for sync licensing
- 100 gecs on Skrillex: "He has all this gear and all these synths, but then just uses his laptop - no monitor, no mouse, nothing. All you need is a laptop"
- Is Akuto Studio’s Chord Machine AKT-0.1 an Omnichord for the OP-1 generation?
- How to blend sound design and score to create a modern cinematic soundtrack
- Top Nashville session guitarist blind tests the most coveted overdrive pedals ever… and you might be surprised by what happens
- See Gary Clark Jr play a tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, while Slash, Paul Rodgers, Warren Haynes and Billy Gibbons salute Gary Rossington at the CMT Awards
- April 2
- April 1
