Features archive

December 2024

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37 articles

December 30
- "If you were surprised by the 'Top' songs in your Spotify Wrapped, it might be because the difference between your top 5 and top 100 streamed songs is just a tiny number of plays": Get more streams in 2025
- "We need Jungle I’m afraid": 2024 - the year in pop
December 27
- "You can learn hundreds of songs with a few easy chords and some basic rhythm playing chops": Master five classic songs with just a handful of chords
December 26
- “Kurt was sitting in the bathtub with a Walkman on, listening to the song, and when the tape ended, he kissed me and said, 'Oh, finally, now I don't have to be the only songwriter in the band!'”: Dave Grohl's evolution as a songwriter
December 25
- “People have used it as their wedding song. I often think, ‘Hey, did you listen to the lyrics?’”: The classic number one hit with a sting in its tail
December 23
- “Suddenly the sun shone and it was, ‘Wow!’”: How ELO’s Jeff Lynne created his masterpiece Mr. Blue Sky - and how a little joke at the end of the song was misheard by millions
December 20
- Best Holiday Gift for 2024 - Sennheiser MD 421 Kompakt Recording Microphone
- 7 festive free plugins we found under the Christmas tree
- Music = Science and Einstein + Jazz = Genius: Stuck in a musical rut? Why not give the ‘Coltrane Circle’ a spin?
December 19
- “It’s better in every way. The second version took what the first could do and made it five times as useful”: Waleed on Digitakt II, Ableton Live and overcoming creative block
- “Jon had the laser-focus about becoming a rock star at age 19... he knew how to negotiate the business”: Session ace Tim Pierce on his blazing solo on Bon Jovi’s Runaway – and the hunger that propelled Jon Bon Jovi to superstardom
- “Because the guy’s got a knife, he’s fairly persuasive!”: How Paul McCartney survived a mugging - and a mutiny - to create his solo masterpiece
December 18
- The top music documentaries to watch this Christmas (and where to find them)
December 17
- "There is no getting around the fact that he repeats the phrase 'simply having a wonderful Christmastime' 17 times": A music professor breaks down the theory behind Paul McCartney's Wonderful Christmastime
December 16
- "I'm struggling to see the value of this thing. Is it actually overpriced or is there something I'm missing?": Why is the Teenage Engineering OP-XY so expensive?
- “There is a certain sound you can only get from pushing the air, by turning the amps up, running those tubes super hot”: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on what it takes to cover Hendrix, his fistful of Dumbles and the secret to a cookin’ overdrive
December 13
- “The less stuff you have, the easier it is to make music": Why Billie Eilish's When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? is a modern masterpiece
December 12
- “They spent hours building up hundreds of vocal tracks from single notes - then they ‘played’ a traditional mixing desk like a keyboard”: The pioneering techniques that brought static sounds to life
- Can AI mix better than a real mix engineer? We put iZotope's AI-powered Neutron 5 to the test to find out
- “A friend left music quietly playing for Eno while he was in hospital, which was thought to have inspired his initial idea for Music for Airports”: The origins and evolution of ambient techno
December 11
- “The quest for clarity and loudness can only go so far”: Bibio on his career-long fascination with tape recording, budget samplers and vintage pedals
- “If your flanger is too harsh, try a chorus - if it's too subtle, try a phaser”: How modulation effects work and how to use them
December 10
- “I signed some contracts back in the ‘90s that I thought were amazing - I celebrated with a bottle of champagne. I look back now and think, ‘how the hell did I agree to sign this?’”: Sasha on breaking into dance music - and why it's not any easier in 2024
- “I'm not afraid of breaking the rules": Viral 67-year-old producer The Last DJ shares his essential techno tips
- “It's Christmaaaas!”: How Slade created a festive classic - with a little help from John Lennon
December 9
- "People like the feeling of anticipating what's going to come next - almost like ascending to the top of a rollercoaster before the breath-taking plunge": Write better songs by learning song forms
- “This particular 808 is arguably the single most important drum machine in history”: The origin of house music in 5 key tracks
- “I’ve got the 303 but I don’t know how to work it - it’s making all these crazy sounds!”: How a small group of Chicago producers invented house and changed music forever
December 6
- “Beyoncé does not make mistakes. She does, however, make some counterintuitive choices - and this song includes a few of them”: The flawed genius of pop's biggest anthems, from Hey Jude to Hey Ya!
- “At first people only saw me as grandpa playing music, but then they wanted to listen. They love the banging techno!”: Meet the viral 67-year-old producer raving into retirement - and proving that techno has no age limit
December 5
- “It was a huge disappointment when it didn’t make it to number one”: 40 years on, the story of Wham!’s Last Christmas
- "The Prophet-5 is undoubtedly one of the most iconic and influential synths ever built": The story of Sequential Circuits in 10 synths, sequencers and drum machines
- “Those looped dance music breakdowns and drops have been done a million times before - so tweak them a little!”: New to working with loops? Start here
December 4
- “The new high-powered mover from Hoover - it’s a little groover!”: What Brian Johnson sang before his audition for AC/DC
- “I feel like because I did not make it, I must be cheating”: Is using commercially available samples in a track really that much of a problem?
December 3
- “You’ve ruined the song!”: The bust-ups, bickering, tantrums and tech that made The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me an ’80s anthem
December 1
- Content Funding on MusicRadar