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· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

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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.

← XLR Archive

Guitar PlayerGuitars

"Money, it's a gas…” Pink Floyd collaborates with the UK's Royal Mint to release $6,400 18-carat gold guitar pick

September 11

From Brian May to Billy Gibbons, many players have found great joy in swapping traditional guitar picks for coins. Pink Floyd have just flipped the entire concept on its head with an 18-carat gold pick that’ll fetch four

Electric guitars & amps

Read at Guitar Player ↗

GuitarsGuitar Center is inviting players to test its new in-house guitar brand – but you’ll need to sign an NDA 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

Guitars"The Telecaster is a different animal!” Bruce Springsteen’s onstage sweating kept shorting his guitar out. Here's what he did about it… Guitar Player

We review the Positive Grid Spark Pedal Amp and Effects Modeler: “There’s a lot to love here — the fact that it costs under $200 makes it all the more impressive”

GuitarsWe review the Positive Grid Spark Pedal Amp and Effects Modeler: “There’s a lot to love here — the fact that it costs under $200 makes it all the more impressive” Guitar Player

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