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

See Bruce Springsteen Finally Play ‘Western Stars’ Songs in Public

11.10

He also told dirty jokes at the annual Stand Up For Heroes charity show, which raised nearly $6 million for veterans groups and their families

Read at Rolling Stone Music ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

See Bruce Springsteen Finally Play ‘Western Stars’ Songs in Public

More from Rolling Stone Music on XLR MAG

ScenesWhy Is Everyone So Mad at Supreme’s Elliott Smith Collaboration? Rolling Stone Music

ScenesMumford & Sons, Halestorm, Chris Stapleton Set to Perform at 2026 CMA Awards Rolling Stone Music

ScenesTeilz Has Lived Many Lives, But Her Pop Moment Is Just Beginning Rolling Stone Music

ScenesPalehound Return With First Album in Nearly Four Years Rolling Stone Music

ScenesNick Cannon Defends Feud With Eminem Over Mariah Carey: ‘You Can’t Come at My Wife’ Rolling Stone Music

ScenesBilly Joel Announces Return to Stage and ‘A Little Music’ After Brain Disorder Diagnosis Rolling Stone Music