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

Black Rooster AudioMakers

Gear vs Skill: Where Your Money Actually Buys Better Mixes

09.06

A huge plugin folder won't fix bad gain staging. An honest hierarchy of what moves your mixes forward, and where good tools genuinely help.

Read at Black Rooster Audio ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Gear vs Skill: Where Your Money Actually Buys Better Mixes

More from Black Rooster Audio on XLR MAG

MakersBlue vs Black: Two SC-5 VCA Compressors, and When to Use Each Black Rooster Audio

MakersTension and Release: Harmony Tricks Every Producer Should Steal Black Rooster Audio

MakersThe Best Analog Bus Compressor? Making the Case for Vari-Mu Black Rooster Audio

MakersEar Fatigue Is Real: How to Mix When Your Ears Lie Black Rooster Audio

MakersThe Best Tape Saturation Plugin: Warmth, Glue, and Knowing When to Stop Black Rooster Audio

MakersHow to Land Your First Paying Mixing Clients Black Rooster Audio