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

Tone DeafScenes

Sydney’s Mardi Gras Party Is Returning With a New Underground Home

11.05

Sydney’s Mardi Gras Party is coming back, and this time, it’s heading underground. After sitting out the 2026 festival, the much-loved event will return on Saturday, March 6th, 2027, with a brand new…

Read at Tone Deaf ↗

Also covered by: Happy Mag

One letter a week, starting soon.

Latest

Sydney’s Mardi Gras Party Is Returning With a New Underground Home

More from Tone Deaf on XLR MAG

ScenesCourtney Barnett, Party Dozen and KAIIT to Play Free, All-Ages Melbourne Show Tone Deaf

ScenesRiverboats Music Festival Is Giving Emerging Regional Artists Their Moment in the Spotlight Tone Deaf

ScenesThe Presets’ ‘My People’ Among First Inductees Into Australia’s National Songbook Tone Deaf

ScenesQueens of the Stone Age Reveal Their Favourite Australian Songs, From AC/DC to Kylie Minogue Tone Deaf

ScenesLaneway Festival 2027 Adds Kim Petras, ADÉLA, Jane Remover and More Sideshows Tone Deaf