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

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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

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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

Ultimate GuitarGuitars

Kurt Cobain Said He Ripped Off The Pixies' Sense Of Dynamics: 'Gouge Away' Shows It In Its Original Form [News]

September 16

Tab Spotlight : Joey Santiago got the song's guitar tone without a single pedal, running straight into a Marshall and throwing blankets over his cabinets to keep the sound dry. The tab itself is worth double-checking aga

Electric guitars & amps

Read at Ultimate Guitar ↗

Guitars'I'd Say One In Three People In The Crowd Liked Us': Original Primus Guitarist On Band's Beginnings &Amp; Origin Of The 'Primus Sucks' Slogan [News] Ultimate Guitar

GuitarsGretsch's Unusual Folding Guitar That Beat The Travel Guitar Market By 40 Years: The Bikini [News] Ultimate Guitar

GuitarsPointy Guitars Weren't Just For Metal Players: 'A Quick Way You Could Have A Makeover,' Author Explains [News] Ultimate Guitar

“The most natural, studio‑grade live tone ever achieved from an acoustic guitar”: Gibson and Baggs might have just revolutionized acoustic guitar pickups

Guitars“The most natural, studio‑grade live tone ever achieved from an acoustic guitar”: Gibson and Baggs might have just revolutionized acoustic guitar pickups Guitar World

Have Gibson and Baggs cracked the code for amplified acoustic guitar tone? Their new HiFi DNA pickup system promises “unprecedented realism, dynamic nuance, and clarity”

GearHave Gibson and Baggs cracked the code for amplified acoustic guitar tone? Their new HiFi DNA pickup system promises “unprecedented realism, dynamic nuance, and clarity” MusicRadar

“We want you to get twice your money’s worth. If we’ve made a $600 guitar and you’re like, ‘I’d have paid $1,200,’ that’s a home run”: Jack Higginbotham on why PRS needed a CEO, and why it’s him

Guitars“We want you to get twice your money’s worth. If we’ve made a $600 guitar and you’re like, ‘I’d have paid $1,200,’ that’s a home run”: Jack Higginbotham on why PRS needed a CEO, and why it’s him Guitar World

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