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

MusicRadarGear

Starting to record at home? Grab these essentials to make life a lot easier

October 13

RECORDING WEEK 2026: You've spruced up your computer and acquired the software to record with (your DAW, in other words), and you've even bought a microphone.

Read at MusicRadar ↗

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Starting to record at home? Grab these essentials to make life a lot easier

More from MusicRadar on XLR MAG

Gear“Jaco was unbelievable”: Al Di Meola recalls his collaborations with Jaco Pastorius, Phil Collins and more MusicRadar

Gear10 mic tips for recording drums, piano and other instruments in your DAW MusicRadar

GearBubblegum is a free Melodyne-style note editor for Windows, Mac and Linux MusicRadar

GearBuyer's guides MusicRadar

GearSombr stumbles over his lyrics but Lindsey Buckingham delivers a blistering guitar solo as they duet MusicRadar

Gear"Pasta, cereal, toilet roll and tinned fruit": Matthew Herbert has made an entire album from samples of everyday food items MusicRadar