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About

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.

← XLR Archive

Guitar PlayerGuitars

“George was my favorite Beatle, but the music was very simple…” Why Robben Ford’s dream gig with George Harrison turned sour

September 10

George Harrison’s Dark Horse tour in 1974 has gone down in rock history for all the wrong reasons. The shows were plagued with issues, and the run was so bad that the Beatle wouldn’t tour again for another 17 years. For

Read at Guitar Player ↗

"That Echoplex sound Eddie did at the end of Eruption was such an old trick. I thought it was cheesy. But Eddie was from the NEXT generation…" Joe Perry looks back over a lifetime of guitar playing

Guitars"That Echoplex sound Eddie did at the end of Eruption was such an old trick. I thought it was cheesy. But Eddie was from the NEXT generation…" Joe Perry looks back over a lifetime of guitar playing Guitar Player

GuitarsNew Van Halen book to include a 7" of their earliest-known song –a steal to you at only, um, $475 Guitar Player

GuitarsSteve Lukather on working with Eddie Van Halen, Michael Jackson, George Benson and other music giants: “I’ve had an extraordinary life” Guitar Player

GuitarsHe's played with Mike Keneally, Marco Minnemann, and Ron Thal. Now Phi Yaan-Zek shows you how he uses the melodic minor scale Guitar Player

GuitarsEddie Van Halen was asked to do a satellite linkup with Jason Becker – he insisted on doing it in person Guitar Player

"They said, 'The secret to singles is 120 beats per minute…' But we're not a single band." The Megadeth album that makes Dave Mustaine feel queazy – and how he’d change it

Guitars"They said, 'The secret to singles is 120 beats per minute…' But we're not a single band." The Megadeth album that makes Dave Mustaine feel queazy – and how he’d change it Guitar Player

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