Three pins, and nearly every signal in this business passes through them.

The magazine is named after the cable: the microphone in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX run that fires the lights. Studio, stage and rig share the same cable. Most magazines pick one of the three. This one covers all of it, because the people we read do too — the engineer mixing a record on Tuesday is on front of house by Saturday.

Around a hundred and sixty sources, in English, Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Chinese and Italian: makers and their release notes, reviewers who put a hand on the thing, studios and touring crews, the producers and collectives surfacing this month and the scenes they came out of. Synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lighting. What the trade is talking about is counted and plotted. The editor's letter has just started; it will find its rhythm.

For each story: a headline, a short excerpt, one picture and the link out. We never reprint the article, and the picture belongs to the maker or the photographer. A German review appears in German and a Japanese one in Japanese, as the writer published it; the link goes to the original.

Nothing is sold on this site. When a link leads to a shop, it is the maker's shop, not ours.

← XLR MAG Archive

Happy MagScenes

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is getting a live-action film

October 8

Happy Mag https://happymag.tv Let’s be real for a sec, the only thing we really want to know is: will Keanu Reeves return? When Reeves appeared onstage at E3 in 2019 to promote Cyberpunk...

Read at Happy Mag ↗

Also covered by: Consequence

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

‘Cyberpunk 2077’ is getting a live-action film

More from Happy Mag on XLR MAG

ScenesSee the setlist for Radio Free Alice’s 2026 festival run Happy Mag

ScenesConrad and Gary on Les Gigantiques and the art of making noise together Happy Mag

ScenesGoonbag are figuring out just how loud four people can get Happy Mag

ScenesKARHEIN – ‘Remember’ is indie rock perfection, beautifully recorded Happy Mag

ScenesThe techno-spliced existentialism of Zankarlmang’s Auto Immune Happy Mag

ScenesOn his EP, Nohland’s smooth production complements his diarist songwriting Happy Mag