MusicRadar's greatest hits of 2012: December

News
By
published

The battle of the drummers and the gear of the year

The Drummer's World Cup: popular.
The Drummer's World Cup: popular.

2012 has been a great sporting year, and our friends at Rhythm magazine kept us on the edge of our seats with their fiercely contest Drummer's World Cup.

We also rounded-up the very best hi-tech and guitar gear of 2012 and heard from Michael Schenker and Jack Douglas.

Here are MusicRadar's biggest new articles from December 2012…

Drummer's World Cup Winner Crowned!
See who's been voted Champion!

The best music tech gear of the year: 2012
DAWs, plug-ins, synths, drum machines, controllers, apps and more

The best guitar gear of the year: 2012
The cream of this year's crop of new products

Michael Schenker picks 10 essential guitar albums
The axe legend names the must-hear discs

Production legend Jack Douglas on 18 career-defining records
Aerosmith, John Lennon, Cheap Trick, Patti Smith and more

The MusicRadar Team
The MusicRadar Team

MusicRadar is the internet's most popular website for music-makers of all kinds, be they guitarists, drummers, keyboard players, DJs or producers.

GEAR: We help musicians find the best gear with top-ranking gear round-ups and high-quality, authoritative reviews by a wide team of highly experienced experts.

TIPS: We also provide tuition, from bite-sized tips to advanced work-outs and guidance from recognised musicians and stars.

STARS: We talk to artists and musicians about their creative processes, digging deep into the nuts and bolts of their gear and technique. We give fans an insight into the actual craft of music-making that no other music website can.

More about music industry
Harry Styles

Sony Music says it has removed over 75,000 deepfake tracks from streaming platforms, which include voice models of Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Queen
Microphone

“The music industry is a profoundly dangerous place”: New report reveals the shockingly high suicide level within the music industry
Donna Summer

“We had very few notes written down - just some chord changes. We had the attitude that the song would not get airplay anyway”: From Pavement to Donna Summer, here’s six more B-sides that became huge against the odds
See more latest
Most Popular
Rick Springfield
"I thought I had just broken my wrist”: Rick Springfield reveals he has brain damage from fall 25 years ago
Amanda Seyfried
“This is what I learned to play during the pandemic for almost two years”: Amanda Seyfried just showed off her new-found dulcimer skills and proved that she’d be the perfect fit for Cameron Crowe’s Joni Mitchell biopic
herbie
SampleRadar: 273 free funk keys samples
Gibson Warren Haynes Les Paul Standard: the Gov't Mule frontman's signature LP arrives in '60s Cherry, sans pickguard, and has cream-covered P-90 DC pickups.
“Being mostly a humbucker guy, I’m really loving the hum-free P-90s”: Warren Haynes’ signature Gibson Les Paul Standard is here and it’s a plain-topped '60s Cherry beauty with an onboard boost
kr-55c
Cherry Audio steps out with an emulation of '80s Korg drum machine used by Joe Jackson and Depeche Mode
arturia
Arturia releases 88-key version of the KeyLab mk3 MIDI controller keyboard with new fully-weighted hammer-action keybed
Mike + The Mechanics
“It’s a pretty heavy lyric. I said, ‘Are we sure we can write a song about death?’”: How Mike + The Mechanics channelled grief to create a classic ’80s No.1
The xx
"Have time apart, learn new skills, get new musical ideas and experiences… it’s been a healthy break”: The xx reveal their return to the studio in new social snap
Drake
“I understand that this next chapter may leave you feeling uneasy”: What could Drake mean by his cryptic Instagram post?
Hans Zimmer Dune 2
“It’s not really a sore point. It’s just such a stupid point”: Here's why Hans Zimmer’s Dune 2 soundtrack didn’t get an Oscar nomination