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

Rolling Stone MusicScenes

Rolling Stone’s 2026 Musicians on Musicians Event Will Feature Don Toliver, Malcolm Todd, Alex Warren, and Megan Moroney

October 6

The annual event is slated for Oct. 23 at Los Angeles’ United Theater on Broadway, hosted by Saturday Night Live ’s James Austin Johnson. Tickets go on sale Oct.…

Read at Rolling Stone Music ↗

Also covered by: Rolling Stone Brasil

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Rolling Stone’s 2026 Musicians on Musicians Event Will Feature Don Toliver, Malcolm Todd, Alex Warren, and Megan Moroney

More from Rolling Stone Music on XLR MAG

ScenesFreddie Jackson, Soul Crooner Who Dominated R&B Charts, Dead at 70 Rolling Stone Music

ScenesFKA Twigs Wins Fight to Terminate Her NDA With Shia LaBeouf Rolling Stone Music

ScenesWatch Queen + Adam Lambert’s Last ‘We Will Rock You’ at Final Show in 2024 Rolling Stone Music

ScenesWhy Is Everyone Singing 5 Seconds of Summer During Harry Styles Shows? Rolling Stone Music

ScenesJustin Timberlake Is Finally Ready to Take Accountability for All of His Beatboxing Rolling Stone Music

Scenes‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ Is the Vintage Rock Song of the Year: Watch Five Great Versions Rolling Stone Music