XLR

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

XLR is a magazine, a radar and a diary about music gear and the making of music — for the people who make records and put on shows, wherever they do it.

The name is the three-pin connector that every signal in the business passes through: the microphone on stage and in the booth, the line to the desk, the DMX cable that runs the lights. Studio, stage and lighting rig share it, and so does this magazine. Every few hours XLR collects what the makers shipped, what the reviewers heard, what the studios and the touring crews are doing, which producers and collectives are surfacing and what they are saying — synths and modular, plugins and DAWs, guitars and drums, microphones, monitors, PA and lights, the rooms and the people — from a few hundred sources in English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese and more, then plots what is moving. The editor writes a letter every few days. Nothing is sold here; when a link leads to a shop, that is the maker's shop, not ours.

← XLR Archive

Modern DrummerDrums

Vans Warped Tour 2026

August 19

Last year the legendary Vans Warped Tour returned in celebration of its 30th anniversary and the concerts took place in Washington D.C., Long Beach, and in Orlando, FL. For Warped Tour 2026, it came to the same three cit

Vintage & reissues

Read at Modern Drummer ↗

One letter a week, in your inbox.

Latest

Vans Warped Tour 2026

Related

DrumsZildjian Jam 2026 Modern Drummer

ScenesThe Still Out reissue coming; song w/ Adam Franklin of Swervedriver (who they reformed to open for) out now BrooklynVegan

GearHIFIMAN Electronics to Roar into CanJam SoCal ‘26 with an Extensive Collection of New Models and Classic Designs Headphone.Guru

ScenesSpike Island marks 50th anniversary with a night of art, music and performance Crack Magazine

DAW & pluginsPittsburgh Modular Lifeforms SV-2 Semi-modular Revisits Classic East Coast Analog Synthesis Synth and Software

ScenesTaking Back Sunday announce ‘Louder Now’ 20th anniversary reissue with bonus 7″ (exclusive vinyl) BrooklynVegan