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February 2024
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266 articles
- February 29
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- “It would’ve taken me no time to come up with these two things”: Here’s what happened when a pro film composer tried to use ChatGPT to create an original movie theme
- Get more sounds from your guitar and amp without spending any money
- "It does everything I need it to do – and more": Ed Sheeran reveals two signature 'stadium grade' looper pedals with Headrush… and at very different prices
- Is this Photoshop Firefly for audio? Adobe is working on an AI-powered music generator that can be used to "shape, tweak, and edit" your sounds
- This one-day-only Fender Play deal is the best we’ve ever seen - get a year’s worth of guitar lessons for only $29
- Sidechaining, explained: "Even if you’ve not used it directly in your music-making, you’ll probably have come across it both in the studio and in your daily life"
- Composer Petri Alanko on scoring Alan Wake 2, building his own instruments and his 2000-strong plugin collection: "You start following a tiny lead and it can bring you into this marvellous, different world"
- Moby plays drums, bass, guitar and keys as he re-records the 2002 single you might know best from a famous action movie series
- Is AI coming for your DAW? Google's MusicFX DJ doesn't just generate music - it mixes multiple parts together, too
- "It’s not to do with gear, it’s all to do with the way the brain sends signals to his fingers – that’s what makes Mark so special": the story of the classic Dire Straits song that's often imitated, but rarely mastered
- The 'difficult' Police hit based on a 1980 Casiotone synth preset: "The first song written by AI," reckons Stewart Copeland
- Machine Woman: "Ableton changed my life, but I love using Reason 12, GarageBand and I’m exploring Fruity Loops. They all have their own personality - my sound evolves uniquely in each DAW"
- February 28
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- "Once we had it all arranged, we all looked at each other and it was one of those hairs-standing-up-on-your-arms moments": the story of the landmark Alter Bridge song that won them a greatest guitar solo award
- "It's mental as much as it is physical for me" – Big Wreck founder Ian Thornley's extensive guitar and vocal warmup routines reveal just how much work can go into being a great live performer
- “Instant breaks”: Could Excite Audio’s new drum plugin mean that your crate digging days are at an end?
- The art of the happy accident: 5 times a mistake in the studio ended up being the best part of a track
- “WTF?”: Mark Ronson shares Paul McCartney’s F-bomb video reaction to being told that Foreigner aren’t in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- See Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong cover Nirvana in London, as Courtney Love joins him to perform Cheap Trick and Tom Petty classics
- A tech explains how to change your electric guitar strings like a pro: "The method we're demonstrating here is the quickest, best for stability and easiest to de-string when it’s time"
- “Technology’s moved on far too much to sell people things like this anymore”: Back in 1984, Ultravox’s Midge Ure dismissed the Minimoog as an “antique” and was embracing a digital synth future with the PPG Wave
- "Inhumanly fast arpeggios and chords requiring more than ten fingers to play": Kelly Moran duets with a Disklavier and goes beyond the "physical limits" of a human piano player on her new project
- "Over time, Guitar Tricks has honed its content to be fun, engaging and motivating": Guitar Tricks review
- "The MT-1 Custom is a well-made, highly playable guitar that is ideal for contemporary players seeking a high-performance model on a budget": Soloking MT-1 Custom review
- “Equal to or even better than similarly priced offerings from bigger name brands“: Soloking MS-1 Custom review
- February 27
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- Sepultura announces drummer Eloy Casagrande’s exit from the band, naming Greyson Nekrutman as his replacement, while Casagrande promises to “See you soon on the road!” as Slipknot rumours ramp up
- Watch Billy F Gibbons jam Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do on a Vintera II ‘70s Tele Deluxe with Matt Sweeney, Danielle Haim and Tim Montana
- "I heard Portishead’s Dummy on the radio and thought to myself: ‘I can make that'": Air's Moon Safari is 25 years old, but still sounds like it will be made in 25 years' time. Here's the story of the greatest chillout album ever
- “It captures this dreamy, otherworldly tone that is really unique”: Orangewood unveils the Juniper, a $395 parlour-sized acoustic with a rail humbucker, rubber bridge and heaps of lo-fi indie mojo
- Turn guitar riffs into ambient soundscapes with this free freeze delay plugin
- “I hate it”: Ariana Grande has nothing positive to say about people recreating her voice with AI, and fumes at the “crooks” who stole her studio recordings and uploaded them to TikTok
- “A harmonious blend of legendary, vintage Uni-Vibe textures and innovative, modern prowess”: SolidGoldFX puts Hendrix and Pink Floyd psych tones on tap with the Aurras Optical Vibraphase
- "It's an AI co-pilot for drums": This AI-powered plugin will improvise like a real drummer and generate beats for you in real-time
- “It offers fans, collectors, and musicians a piece of musical history”: Sheeran By Lowden unveils its first-ever hand-built acoustic, and it is an exact replica of Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour stage guitar
- How to use submixing to glue your mix together: "Long before DAWs with massive track counts became the norm, mixers began grouping together and processing similar tracks to help them balance their mix"
- There’s a reason the custom purple guitar Olivia Rodrigo is playing on her Guts world tour looks familiar
- 8 things I love about Ableton Live (and 2 that I really don't): "Live's greatest strength is that it feels like the DAW itself is an instrument"
- “An authentic replica of the guitar designed by legendary automotive designer Ray Dietrich”: Meet the Epiphone and the Gibson Custom Shop’s latest collaboration, the 1963 Firebird I and V
- February 26
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- “It gets a little bit suspect”: Calvin Harris explains why he plans to stop DJing when he hits 50 and retire to the studio to make “other people’s records sound good”
- Want to learn to play guitar solos? This is a great place to start
- This free plugin uses "psychoacoustic wizardry" to pan any sound in 360 degrees and recreate immersive audio using a stereo monitor set-up
- The cheapest tone upgrade ever or a myth: should you be top-wrapping your guitar bridge like Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Derek Trucks, Zakk Wylde and Joe Bonamassa?
- “We have a track count of 316”: The Logic Pro project for Jacob Collier’s acapella version of Bridge Over Troubled Water is a thing of wonder
- Ableton on Live 12's accessibility revolution: "When you say 'accessibility is not on your roadmap', you’re cutting out a lot of musicians from being able to use the tools that you make"
- How to get a vocal sound like Billie Eilish and FINNEAS
- Chase & Status win Producer of the Year at BRIT Awards 2024: "We couldn’t be more proud - we’ve been flying the flag for British music for a long time"
- Folly Group on recording their debut album Down There!: “I always thought the coolest music was recorded outside of studios - I wanted our records to sound like demos”
- Mesa/Boogie amps are officially back on sale in Europe
- "I ain't Mick Jagger": Billy Joel duets with Sting on The Police’s Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, then manages expectations before covering The Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up
- February 25
- February 24
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- “Boundless amounts of creativity in the smallest of footprints”: Waldorf Iridium Core Desktop review
- Rediscover your forgotten sounds with Rando, a simple sampler plugin that lays a random selection across your MIDI keyboard or piano roll
- MGMT on their humble beginnings and return to form: "We demoed Oracular on a Radio Shack mic and a really bad interface with signal bleed. We thought we'd have to redo it, but our producer said there's a character about it we'll never be able to recreate"
- Raül Refree and Pedro Vian: "We mixed the album in analogue with a '70s Trident board. It has no automation, so for me, it was like playing the music all over again... With analogue, you’re trying to give the listener an experience"
- February 23
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- “Part EQ, part filter, and part overdrive, it’s all there… a 100% analogue, all-in-one solution to crafting your core tone”: Chase Bliss’s Condor HiFi takes flight – is this your next always-on tone-shaper?
- “This is your drive section”: Mythos unveils the heroic Herculean Deluxe Overdrive, offering Dumble-style and modded Blues Breaker drive sounds in one pedal
- "It sounds simple enough, but it's not so simple" – are you cleaning your guitar the right way? Master Luthier Jim DeCola can show you how
- “The orchestra and the sheer scale of the event and venue is something I will never forget”: Experience Joe Bonamassa live with a 40-piece orchestra as he announces release of his 2023 Hollywood Bowl set
- Apple releases free Cory Wong Producer Pack for GarageBand and Logic Pro, bringing funky guitar, bass, drum, keys and horn loops to its DAWs
- Daniel Avery on Drone Logic: “I was taking synthesizers and drum machines and putting them through these effect pedals - it was techno with a shoegaze aesthetic”
- Marcus King: "I've been as inspired by the Wu-Tang Clan as I have by Aretha Franklin or Duane Allman"
- "I do believe there’s been a renaissance of guitar players" – Gibson just affirmed its commitment to new guitarists, and Jimmy Page is backing it
- The Depeche Mode track and album that saw them conquer US stadiums: "It's about the concept of fleeing from reality and the evil awakening afterwards. Any kind of fleeing - drugs, alcohol, or whatever"
- Diplo reveals his favourite soft synths and the "quintessential" Ableton stock plugin that's "fundamental" to his productions: "That's where all my sounds started from"
- Goodbye, Yamaha grand piano: Elton John sells his 1992 C6 model for more than $200,000 at auction
- Brian May has officially teamed up with Gibson – but what will their collaboration involve?
- Olivia Rodrigo and Noah Kahan cover each other’s songs and The Beatles launch mini turntable and 3-inch vinyl for Record Store Day
- “We think of Jimmy as an ambassador emeritus of guitars and a music trailblazer in the birth and evolution of rock!” Gibson and Jimmy Page are teaming up for a “multi-year partnership”
- "From ’70s punk to ’80s synth pop to ’90s dance and beyond": How New Order became the ultimate musical trendsetters
- “It is going to become a hangout place, a destination, and I truly want to make it the most welcoming place in music”: Cesar Gueikian on what guitarists can expect at the Gibson Garage London
- February 22
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- How producers are making the rowdy and ridiculous pop edits taking over club culture: "The best edits display a genuine love for the source material, even if it’s some terrible cheesy track"
- 10 mistakes every beginner keyboard player makes
- Arturia expands the KeyLab Essential mk3 range with a new 88-note controller keyboard: "A new standard for stripped-back, multi-octave MIDI control"
- Nylon-string vs steel-string acoustic guitars: what's the difference?
- Maya Shenfeld: "The imperfections, how you process sounds and the fact that you’re working with friends is really what makes the music yours"
- GForce’s OB-EZ packs 8 voices of fat Oberheim goodness into a simple plugin instrument, and it’s currently available for a bargain price
- The very first Prophet-5 review was sweet, spot on and surprisingly prescient: "Think of it as a 5-note Minimoog, and your programs can be stored even when the instrument is turned off!"
- Klevgrand shoots its OneShot! New drum sampler promises to be a “percussion powerhouse” for all your rhythmic requirements
- "A pleasing clarity and weight to the recordings and virtually no need for any background noise reduction processing": Audio-Technica AT2040USB review
- “Mere clichés”: Nickelback’s Rockstar copyright lawsuit win is confirmed as judges rule that the plaintiff is not the only one who can enjoy “singing about being a rockstar”
- The redcoats are coming: Vox launches "extremely limited" British amp invasion
- IK Multimedia unveils hardware room correction system ARC Studio, promising to "instantly upgrade your studio monitors"
- The Tina Turner smash hit she thought was "throwaway pop", but ended up saving her career: "It was David Bowie who first got Capitol interested in reviving Tina's career"
- February 21
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- "The difference is huge": Tool's Justin Chancellor explains why he has no intention of going wireless – or using five-string basses
- How to create an effective buildup and breakdown: "The key to a good breakdown is developing contrast between the drop and the break"
- "The world's smallest MIDI controller": MIDICard is a MIDI keyboard on a credit card that you can fit in your wallet
- Gretsch's dark horses: Are the new $279.99 Jim Dandy Deltoluxe guitars the most exciting new acoustic/electric hybrids around?
- "Sampling just got ten times quicker": Copy and paste sound from YouTube and Spotify directly into your DAW with this incredibly useful new app
- "George Martin knew Robert Moog, and asked him to come to Abbey Road and show us this Moog thing": Paul McCartney on the synth used on the final Beatles album and how its 'noise' created tension in the band
- Boi-1da on working with Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar, his love of FL Studio and his new AI-powered project: "Through the power of generative AI I was able to be in multiple places working on multiple tracks, simultaneously"
- “For speech work, the 24-bit, 192kHz resolution meant recordings were clear and captured plenty of detail”: Audio-Technica AT2020USB-XP review
- “A convenient, effective and affordable mastering solution that anybody can use”: Waves Online Mastering review
- "Experience beatmaking like never before": Wave Alchemy's Triaz is a drum production powerhouse that comes with a ridiculously huge library of 15,000 samples
- "I have no idea what I'm going to play when I get to that solo" – Brian May reveals the classic Queen song he improvises most live… and the track he takes the opposite approach with
- “Vocals are great, the changes, the tempos”: Ariana Grande gets feedback on her new album from her record label in behind-the-scenes studio playback footage
- Mo Kolours: "For basslines I’d use GarageBand, until I borrowed a microKORG off somebody. Man, I loved it so much - I was cranking out 20/30 beats a day"
- SampleRadar: 403 free minimal percussion samples
- The Oasis song Liam hated because it was "reggae": "I remember Our Kid saying 'Why are you writing reggae songs?' And I was like, there speaks a man that has never heard reggae"
- “Nicely immediate and fun when pushed to its extremes”: Minimal Audio Swarm Reverb review
- Issue 332 of Computer Music is on sale now
- February 20
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- “The neck, pickups, playability, and vibe are pure PRS”: PRS Guitars unveils the $499 SE CE 24 Standard Satin – the most affordable guitar it has ever made
- “The pedal faithfully replicates the tone, distortion, and character of the album”: Misfits launch Earth AD overdrive to mark the 40th anniversary of a punk classic
- Four fab Beatles biopics are on the way: Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr will each get a full Sam Mendes movie
- “Get lost in the music”: RipX DAW for Apple Vision Pro is an immersive music production environment that enables you to step inside your sounds
- Who needs a guitar when you've got Elyra, the multitimbral, polyphonic synthesizer that you can strap on and strum?
- “We felt it was the right time to let someone else get creative enjoyment out of his perfectly kept studio guitars”: Gear from the late Iggy Pop and David Bowie guitarist Ricky Gardiner’s collection goes to auction
- “How the hell are we gonna be able to record this live?”: Oppenheimer composer Ludwig Göransson on how a synth sound was crucial when creating a key moment in the movie’s soundtrack
- "The idea was that the computer would give us more time for creativity, but it was just the opposite...": Kraftwerk's Karl Bartos on how technology curbed the band's creativity
- "We put an offer on the table for an Oasis thing… and he said no" – but is Liam Gallagher now playing the long game with a Noel reunion?
- Chester Thompson: 10 albums that define my career - "The funny part is, I actually taught Phil Collins the In The Air Tonight drum fill"
- Back in the '80s Keith Richards correctly predicted how we'd use music technology while discussing the Rolling Stones' battle with it: “We had this big deal called 'stereo' come along in the '60s, and all we did was put mono out of both speakers”
- “We want an entire new generation of players to be able to experience the exact same pedal that Cliff used”: Morley salutes late Metallica bass icon Cliff Burton with the Tribute Power Wah Fuzz reissue
- How to use vintage samplers in a modern studio: "You can pick up a classic sampler for a fraction of their original cost, and adding one to your rig opens up a whole new world of sound design possibilities"
- “Budget preamp that delivers shining audio on a range of instruments”: SR Studio 2-Channel Classic Mic Preamp review
- February 19
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- “I’m just going to play my mandolin, all right?”: Mumford & Sons fan Noah Kahan says he doesn’t care about being cool and weighs in on the Universal Music vs TikTok debate
- TAL's latest plugin emulates the '80s synth behind the classic rave hoover sound, Roland's Alpha Juno 2
- How to work with piano in your DAW
- “A pretty tight little wrecking crew”: St Vincent confirms that her new album will feature Dave Grohl, Cate Le Bon, Josh Freese, and classic analogue synths
- 10 musicians who destroyed their instruments: "For Hendrix, there was something ritualistic about burning a Fender Stratocaster"
- "The one that Johnny gave me in 1994 was always one of my favourite guitars - it carries a lot of history": Gibson and Noel Gallagher reveal strictly-limited run of 20 hand-signed Les Paul Customs
- “An immense logistical hurdle”: here's how much pro audio gear it takes to make the Super Bowl halftime show happen
- The Paul McCartney Beatles song John Lennon hated: "He made us do it a hundred million times. He did everything to make it into a single and it never was, and it never could've been"
- How to design a bass sound using phase distortion synthesis
- The producer's guide to the Roland RE-201 Space Echo: "It can cover everything from simple saturation to wild, out-of-control and bizarre self-oscillation"
- “A surefire hit for spatial audio”: L-Acoustics L-ISA Studio review
- February 18
- February 17
- February 16
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- Can a $249 preamp/drive pedal and a few commonly found stompboxes nail the Dumble amp tones of classic SRV, Eric Johnson and John Mayer tracks?
- Manson Guitar Works launches the super-premium MB GEO Mask Edition, “an identical replica of Bellamy’s Will Of The People stage guitar” right down to the Sustainiac and multi-angled metal finish
- “A testament to the enduring legacy of the shred sleds of the 80s, reborn for today’s generation”: Ready Player One! Kramer shows some love for 8-Bit arcade games with the NightSwan Pixel Hearts
- "Love U GarageBand": PinkPantheress responds to being named Producer of the Year at the 2024 Billboard Women in Music Awards
- How Laurie Anderson made the experimental classic O Superman: "The lyrics are a one-sided conversation, like a prayer to God. I wanted it to be like a Greek chorus – not just one voice – so I used a vocoder"
- Aaron Horn: "My dad banned me from all the studios as a little kid. Every kid just wants to hit a load of buttons, don’t they?"
- Fender's Ultra range gets a wild makeover - exclusive to Guitar Center, the new Tiger's Eye finish looks to be a roaring success
- How to master wavetable synthesis: "From the PPG Wave through to hit plugins like Massive and Serum, this is a synthesis method that has stood the test of time "
- “I don’t know why everybody doesn’t make poly aftertouch synths - it’s pretty stupid. In the ‘70s they did it right”: Beyoncé, The Weeknd and Kanye West collaborator Mike Dean cuts loose on his CS-80, Jupiter-8 and Oberheim Four Voice
- “When you hear that rock and roll thing, it really kind of comes from her”: A lost and previously unheard live recording of rock ’n’ roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe is being released for Record Store Day
- How a lightning storm fried Richie Hawtin's gear and created the sound of F.U.S.E.'s Dimension Intrusion: "My equipment glowed and then shut down. After that, there was something wrong with my Wavestation; it was even more distorted"
- Nektar's Panorama CS12 controller lets you get hands-on with Logic Pro: "CS12 is a completely new take on the DAW controller"
- “It is a tribute to the enduring legacy of tube amplifier culture”: Would you buy a $40,000 guitar amp? Because Jens Ritter has just made one and the Encore is a Fender/Dumble inspired work of art
- Billy Joel explains why he wouldn’t ask Paul McCartney to be in his supergroup, but says he would call Sting, Don Henley and John Mayer
- "The verse melody is subtly strange, and it took me a while to figure out why": A music professor breaks down the theory and production behind Tracy Chapman's Fast Car
- “Like having the greatest hits of synths on speed-dial”: UVI Synth Anthology 4 review
- February 15
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- "Incredibly grateful": Paul McCartney has been reunited with his Beatles Höfner bass guitar after over half a century
- "Is our music abstract and weird? To us it's not! Maybe if you've only listened to pop music, then yeah, it's weirder": How Autechre's radically inventive music-making turned experimentation into electronica
- “He thought he was meeting a ‘kid’ and signing an autograph”: Songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler on his potentially awkward first encounter with Billy Joel and how he ended up working with him on new single Turn The Lights Back On
- Is Cort's new KX707 the best value 7-string guitar with an Evertune bridge that you can buy right now?
- Gibson just quietly unveiled 11 new guitars
- Mixing Night Audio: “I sold my SSL last year. I don’t need to look at gear anymore; I want to look at stuff that’s fun and inspiring and clever and different. That’s the ethos behind our designs”
- The Gretsch Broadkaster party continues with another signature model: this time for Portugal. The Man's John Gourley
- "People are going for the sure shots": Music publishing giants and songwriters score big at Super Bowl 2024, with ad sync fees garnering millions
- Beyoncé releases acapella version of new single Texas Hold ‘Em, which means that countless remixes are probably incoming
- “Makes sampling a joy not a chore”: Serato Sample 2 review
- February 14
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- It’s coming in the air tonight: Cherry Audio releases its first drum machine, a plugin emulation of the Roland CR-78, as used by Phil Collins and Hall & Oates
- “The night before the session she called me up and said, ‘Mark Ronson just called me.’ That happens if you’re Charli XCX, I guess”: Producer Finn Keane on the making of Speed Drive, from the Barbie soundtrack
- "I’ve never heard him play quite like that" – The Dandy Warhols call in Slash, his wah and some AI for new song and video, I’d Like To Help You With Your Problem
- Hannah Thurlow: "Logic has become second nature to me, but Ableton is amazing for manipulating and deconstructing sounds into completely new ideas"
- Four Tet confirms new album, Three, and releases new single, Daydream Repeat
- "No hyperbole, I think this is our best work" – Eddie Vedder claims Pearl Jam raised the bar on new album Dark Matter, but their 2024 tour ticket prices are soaring too
- “I thought it was going to be fine”: PinkPantheress confirms that she lost 80% of the hearing in one of her ears after it was damaged by microphone feedback
- Airhead on working with Brian Eno and James Blake: "The main takeaway from those sessions was that the idea should always take precedence over the technology"
- “The more flavour and colours we have, the merrier!”: Brad Pitt’s revamped Miraval Studios has contemporary and classic Eventide effect processors, including the H9000 and groundbreaking H910
- Computer Music 332 April 2024: free downloads
- "People are gonna flip over this!": Moog's new synth, teased in Usher's Super Bowl half-time show, is revealed by Andrew Huang
- “The potential to create any and every conceivable character of distortion”: BLEASS Fusion review
- How does delay actually work?
- February 13
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- “I imagined a chrome red, I love a good texture”: Fender reveals specs and more details of H.E.R’s custom Super Bowl Stratocaster – and we officially want one
- “People think that Spunk is a lot better than Never Mind The Bollocks, which is very gratifying”: Producer Dave Goodman reveals how he recorded the 'lost' Sex Pistols album, and how it kick-started the punk revolution
- Epiphone and the Gibson Custom Shop team up for the exquisite Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom – a Gibson in all but name?
- Roland teams up with streetwear brand Supreme on special editions of JU-06A and TR-8
- “I never liked it, to be honest, the way it was mixed. But I do recognise that it works”: Brian May says Under Pressure sounded like The Who before David Bowie took out the heavy guitar parts
- Roland Cloud is the easy, affordable way to get your hands on classic synths, drum machines and more
- “It is bound to overshadow everything else in sight and be one of the most exciting new releases of the year”: The Gibson SG Supreme makes a glitzy return
- How to EQ your mix bus: "Much like mix bus compression, it’s important to apply only the EQ that’s needed, rather than use it out of habit"
- Does it matter if Alicia Keys’ ‘voice crack’ was pitch-corrected out of her Super Bowl performance when it was uploaded to YouTube? Not really
- Matmos on sampling dolphins, satellites, electromagnetic disturbances and the mud-dauber wasp for their latest album: "We don't sit at the guitar and sing 'my pain is real', or whatever real musicians do..."
- “A simple and affordable solution”: LANDR Mastering Plugin review
- "I don’t need some w**k award by some geriatric in a cowboy hat": Liam Gallagher is less than bothered about Oasis' Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nomination
- Desolate Guitars provides ultra-realistic, timeless guitar sounds, through iconic amps and real, recorded spring reverb
- February 12
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- “It was the greatest ever”: H.E.R. and Alicia Keys take Usher’s Super Bowl Halftime Show into the red with show-stopping performances on a signature Fender Strat and custom grand piano
- SoundGhost's randomized sampler plugin Jumble is "a heartfelt ode to the limitless possibilities of generative music"
- Donna Summer's estate accuses Kanye West of copyright infringement after denying clearance of I Feel Love sample: "He changed the words, had someone re-sing it or used AI but it’s I Feel Love… copyright infringement!"
- Eric Clapton on Robert Johnson: "When I was younger, Hellhound used to frighten me when I listened to it. The idea that he was really singing about being pursued by demons was too much for me – for a while I really couldn’t deal with it"
- Beyoncé goes country on new songs Texas Hold ‘Em and 16 Carriages, and one track features acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens on banjo and viola
- How to use FM synthesis to design sounds you'll actually use in your music: "Shift your thinking from a subtractive mindset to an FM one and its potential for unique sound design will open up"
- Usher pays tribute to late drummer Aaron Spears during Super Bowl Halftime show
- "An extra screen is always handy for music production but unfortunately it’s at the detriment of comfort here": ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo OLED review
- 9 'alternative' synth plugins that you need to try: "These synths tread their own path, offering a completely different experience that was never expected to be a mainstream phenomenon"
- February 11
- February 10
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- How Radiohead redefined the role of guitar on their landmark album Kid A: "It's scary – everyone feels insecure. I'm a guitarist and suddenly it's like, well, there are no guitars on this track, or drums"
- "One day, Bowie came into my office and asked to play me a demo. I told him it was fantastic. Then he asked me if I'd like to produce it": Unearthed Gus Dudgeon interview reveals how Space Oddity was recorded, and why Tony Visconti turned it down
- Looking for a MIDI guitar with a built-in NES-style chiptune synth? You might want to give Love Hultén a call
- How to process and mix piano for rock and pop music
- How to unlock the power of digital synthesis: "We are now at a brilliant point in synth history where analogue and digital are not only living side by side, but joining forces"
- February 9
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- Blammo Electronics’ new Skronk Machine is a more user-friendly Zonk Machine for a new generation of vintage fuzz freaks
- Duesenberg’s Julietta is the German high-end guitar brand’s most-affordable model yet – and there’s a 28” baritone version “capable of shaking the foundations of everything you came to believe”
- Gibson Master Luthier Jim DeCola has made a brilliant, simple tool to help set up an acoustic guitar – and you can make one too
- 20 Radiohead guitar chords you need to know
- “He approached life with a gusto, intensity, a wicked sense of humour”: 12-string acoustic maestro and prolific guitar designer Paul Brett has died, aged 76
- Taylor Swift confirms that The Eras Tour Concert Film (Taylor’s Version) is coming to Disney Plus with four additional acoustic songs
- How to use Granulator III, the new version of Ableton's powerful granular synth in Live 12: "We were frequently distracted from writing this tutorial by encountering great new sounds to save for later"
- “It just has this resonance to it that I saw someone describe as an angry piano”: Watch Idles’ Mark Bowen give a guided tour of his top three electric guitars
- Issue 406 of Future Music is out now
- It looks like the Access Virus TI 2 has been discontinued: is this the end of the line for one of the greatest synths of the 21st century?
- 9 piano plugins you need to try: "If you have a MIDI keyboard, the sound of a $10,000 grand is just a few clicks away"
- February 8
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- “24 hours only”: HoRNet takes the sting out of buying a new new reverb plugin by letting you download SpringVerb for free, but not for much longer
- "It is an interesting instrument because nobody agrees on it" – Pat Metheny explains the fundamental way the guitar is unique in music
- Do you need to learn music theory to be a great musician?
- Best free DAWs 2024: The best free music production software
- "I think what we’ve had is an embarrassment of riches, really" – Mark Knopfler announces all-star charity band with over 60 members with Gilmour, Ringo, Jeff Beck, Sting, Clapton and Brian May all onboard
- “He was a lot more comfortable when he went into film...”: How Trevor Horn almost talked Hans Zimmer into rapping on The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star
- "Immaculate condition for its age": There’s an original Linn LM-1 drum machine for sale on Reverb, but if you want it, you might have to pay around $35,000
- Steal the signature guitar tricks of the greats including Jeff Beck, Eddie Van Halen and John Frusciante
- Lament bass, varispeed and Eric Clapton: A music professor breaks down the key theory, playing and production ingredients of The Beatles' While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Music theory 101: notes, intervals, scales and chords explained
- "I didn't sit down and think, 'What would be the best drum fill?' I just did it. It could have been anything" : Phil Collins reveals how his iconic In the Air Tonight drum fill was created, and how it became the genesis of '80s gated reverb
- How to design an ethereal ambient piano sound
- February 7
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- Watch Julian Lage tease magic from his Collings OM acoustic as he performs new single Nothing Happens Here live in San Francisco with his ensemble
- “This incredible box dishes out delicious tones unlike those of any pedal ever made”: Danelectro unearths long-lost Steve Ridinger fuzz design from the ‘60s and releases it as the Nichols 66
- Aaron Rash has taken his Nirvana gear journey to a whole new level: he's built the 'Frankenamp' Kurt Cobain used that's the final part in the In Utero tone puzzle
- Windows vs macOS for music production: Which is right for you?
- "All of that other stuff – the outboard gear, the electronics – can continue to evolve but the thing that you hold close to your body, that becomes part of you… you don’t have to keep evolving that" – Fender's Justin Norvell on heritage and progression
- Donner's BackBeat brings together innovation with playability as the only electronic drum kit on the market with customizable LED lighting
- Gibson launches the Les Paul Studio Modern, revamping the classic single-cut with “no-nonsense” stripped-down aesthetics, high-performance specs
- East Coast vs West Coast synthesis: what's the difference?
- “These guitars represent the pinnacle of excellence, blending innovation with the rich heritage of Fender”: The 2024 Custom Collection is a tour de force of high-end guitar design from the Big F Custom Shop
- The beginner's guide to sampling from vinyl: "If you make sample-based music and you’ve never dropped the needle on a record, you’re missing out on a world of inspiration"
- “In a heartbeat, absolutely," says Lindsey Buckingham about whether he'd return to Fleetwood Mac to 'close' their story
- 14 essential piano production tips
- "A few small gripes aside, it’s the perfect first wireless system for players looking to take to the stage cable-free": the t.bone GigA Pro pedal set review
- February 6
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- "I could have been a way better guitar player if I'd just practiced and hadn't put the time into making videos, but nobody would have noticed because no one would have seen me" – YouTuber Paul Davids picks his 3 essential pieces of gear
- Akai Pro’s MPC Key 37 is a standalone synth and sampling keyboard that promises to blend portability with power
- Why an electric piano might be a better choice than an acoustic
- “It weighs less than a Fender Strat”: The M-solo is “the lightest and most compact” portable organ that Hammond has ever produced
- How to choose the right piano sound for your track
- The Dirtywave M8 handheld hardware tracker is getting in shape for summer with a new Model:02 version that offers several physical improvements
- How SOPHIE and her Elektron Monomachine changed the sound of contemporary pop music: "Every single thing you hear should feel like something you've never heard before"
- A 639-year-long musical performance just changed chords for the first time in two years - and it's not set to finish until 2640: "It's a way of trying to slow down our hectic lives"
- “This is just a first step”: Audacity gets free AI plugins for music separation, generation and remixing (oh, and automatic text transcription, too)
- February 5
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- "Phil picked up my second guitar and went up to the microphone and just started singing all these silly songs" – Eric Bell on the unlikely success story of Thin Lizzy's version of Whisky In The Jar
- “Success is something that you attract, not something that you try to chase or catch”: Skrillex offers advice to young music makers as he accepts the Best Dance/Electronic Recording Grammy for Rumble, with Fred Again and Flowdan
- "It was like the blinkers had come off, suddenly everything came into focus": Why engineer Mike Horner rates Dolby Atmos
- "They may not have all the bells and whistles of the bigger brands, but they get the job done": the t.bone EP 4 in-ear monitors review
- Kerry King: "Lombardo is dead to me"
- "Thank you for the immaculate craftsmanship, thank you for the lessons" – Flea leads musician tributes after the passing of Bob Marley & The Wailers bassist and MD Aston 'Family Man' Barrett
- "The countless lives he’s touched, healed, helped and saved will continue his spirit and legacy" – musicians praise the life and legacy of MC5 guitarist and activist Wayne Kramer
- Animoog Galaxy: Moog’s new synth is an Apple Vision Pro exclusive, and promises to be “an immersive experience unlike any other”
- “All I want to do is keep doing this”: Taylor Swift makes Grammys history, as female-dominated awards also honour Boygenius, Miley Cyrus, SZA and Billie Eilish
- February 3
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- “I’m afraid of ghosts! I’m not the guy who’s gonna do anything to a ghost”: Ray Parker Jr shares the story of how he had just three days to write the Ghostbusters theme with $50,000 on the line
- "Brother Wayne Kramer was the best man I’ve ever known": Tributes for MC5 co-founder Wayne Kramer, who has died aged 75
- February 2
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- “We need guitar music that makes those people feel something”: Marty Friedman wishes “slow and painful death” upon the traditional guitar solo and has some ideas on what should replace it
- “I’m told they’re working on it, it’s coming out of the locker”: Daft Punk drummer raises hopes that a new album could be on the way
- “Here’s something special the geniuses at Ernie Ball Music Man have worked up”: Tosin Abasi teases incredible aged metal finish for the Kaizen that’s like nothing we have seen on a guitar before
- “Every bit as clear and crisp as a cable”: Positive Grid Spark Link review
- “It smears out the sound like ketchup on a mayo sandwich”: move over, Sausage Fattener, because Dada Life is now serving its Secret Sauce bundle
- Jeff Beck: "Cozy Powell and I played for about a minute and you could see all the other drummers packing up their kits - he was my John Bonham"
- “When it’s good, it’s very good indeed, and we have to remind ourselves that we’re playing on a sub-$/£400 kit”: Alesis Nitro Max review
- “A new chapter in the evolution of DJing”: Algoriddim brings a reimagined version of djay to Apple Vision Pro, and all versions of the software can now stream and mix songs from Apple Music
- “Jimmy Page once said to me, ‘Have Gibson not been onto you?’ And I said, ‘No, maybe I play too many Strats…’” – John Squire on the signature guitar that never was and why he's going on tour with a Kemper
- Show your gear some love this Valentine's Day and win a €250 thomann voucher
- February 1
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- The 4 inspiring guitar chords you're probably not using but really should be
- We Are The World’s vocal arranger offers his take on why Prince didn’t appear on the USA for Africa single, and suggests that he may have been “afraid” of Michael Jackson
- “More than just Auto-Tune on steroids”: researchers claim to have come up with a new AI-powered method of pitch correction that “surpasses previous tools”
- Mark Knopfler's Brother In Arms Les Paul is the most valuable sale in his guitar auction that raised over $11 million
- “We want to be a guiding star for modern musical instruments”: Ableton and Teenage Engineering veterans launch new company, Forever 89, and tease first product
- Future Music 409: Samples and downloads