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How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

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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.

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Guitar.comGuitars

“I’ve got CDs and cassettes full of them – I just can’t get away from it”: Tony Iommi has a massive stockpile of unheard riffs

September 14

At 78 years old, Black Sabbath legend and heavy metal pioneer Tony Iommi is showing no signs of slowing down. A year on from the death of his Sabbath bandmate and longtime friend Ozzy Osbourne , the guitarist is gearing

Read at Guitar.com ↗

GuitarsNoel Gallagher reveals the “best bit of advice I’ve ever been given” from Johnny Marr about buying guitars Guitar.com

Guitars“We will vigorously defend what we believe is a meritless lawsuit”: Mastodon respond to legal action from Brent Hinds’ estate Guitar.com

“It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet

Guitars“It’s about having a space that’s big enough to tell 132 years of stories” Gibson’s Mark Agnesi on why Miami’s new Gibson Garage is its biggest yet Guitar.com

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