Skip to content

XLR MAG

Latest

On the calendar

· Trade shows and launch events, this week's stories from each corner of the industry, and what its press is covering.

On view

This week, from that corner the newest stories from the corner of the industry you picked

The wire their own posts, translated

How records get made in 2026 from the industry's own reports

Sources

Fetched every three hours, linked to the original

About

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

Guitar.comGuitars

The iconic British folk guitarist that Richard Thompson claims is the “original guitar hero”

September 17

Of the most influential guitar players of all time, heavyweights like Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix often get the first mentions.

Electric guitars & amps

Read at Guitar.com ↗

Related

GuitarsYou won’t believe how long it took Matt Bellamy’s guitar tech to capture all his amp sounds Guitar.com

GuitarsDoes tonewood really matter? This is how the wood your guitar’s made of affects the sound Guitar.com

GuitarsBrian May was asked what guitar he’d have used if he hadn’t built the Red Special: the answer may surprise you Guitar.com

GuitarsFender recreates Lee Sklar’s highly customised P-Bass – but you’ll need to write on it yourself Guitar.com

GuitarsGibson and Baggs tackle muddy live performance sound with the new HiFi DNA acoustic pickup system Guitar.com

Guitars“Never let a corporation tell you what the rules are”: Former Fender Custom Shop head takes swipe at former employer with pointed S-style build Guitar.com

More from Guitar.com on XLR MAG.