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

Metallica Opened With ‘Blackened’ and Nobody Got Out Alive

October 9

Happy Mag https://happymag.tv Life burns faster, and so does the setlist. Metallica have moved into the Sphere for 24 shows, and they’re making it very hard to see the same gig twice. ‘Life...

Read at Happy Mag ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Metallica Opened With ‘Blackened’ and Nobody Got Out Alive

More from Happy Mag on XLR MAG

ScenesHere’s the setlist for Placebo’s 30th Anniversary Tour Happy Mag

ScenesSummer Lovin’ Starts Here: The Autumn Hearts’ ‘September’ Happy Mag

ScenesCarmen Olivia on the vulnerable alt-pop of new single ‘Winter Skin’ Happy Mag

ScenesFreddie Gibbs – Move My Way Festival, Carriageworks, Sydney Happy Mag

ScenesNew Music Radar: Brimheim, Wintermelon and Hampton State Forest Happy Mag

ScenesVernal Joy on giving ‘Somewhere Else’ an acoustic second life Happy Mag