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

IQIndustry

Paint the Town K-pop: Singapore readies for BTS takeover

10.20

BTS will close out their monumental year with a month-long takeover of Singapore as the only Southeast Asian stop on The City Arirang circuit, in what’s reportedly the country’s biggest fan…

Read at IQ ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Paint the Town K-pop: Singapore readies for BTS takeover

More from IQ on XLR MAG

IndustryHow Semmel brought a Twitch techno festival to life in Berlin IQ

IndustryTour news: Bon Jovi & Zach Bryan return to stadium circuit IQ

IndustryGlobal Promoters Report 2026 out now: 76 markets profiled IQ

IndustryOver 90% of French festivals troubled as weather-related issues rise, report finds IQ

IndustryUS gov’t sues California ticket broker over ‘depriving’ fans with $120m resale scheme IQ

IndustryMetal and punk the ‘strongest in a decade’ as DWP brings in 1 million to 2026 festivals IQ