About us

gearnews.com is the go-to blog with red-hot, up-to-the-second news for musicians, producers and engineers.

We work with well-informed sources, and constantly scan the worldwide web for leaks, rumours and exciting news. We have high editorial standards for content creation and use the utmost care. We won’t publish the typical soulless industry press releases or boring advertorial. That’s not our thing.

Who are we?

We are proper gear nerds. We’re into anything that’s got to do with music and studio equipment. That’s why you won’t find just news here, but also the latest buzz and rumours, columns and tips for musicians. gearnews.com is always highly topical and transparent. Our authors work independently. Manufacturer’s opinions will be labelled accordingly.

A word about the business side of things: Gearnews is part of Musikernetzwerk, a network of websites for musicians, producers, DJs, audio and live engineers owned by Remise 3 Medienservice GmbH, a daughter company of Thomann. Other sites in the Musikernetzwerk (which translates into English as ‘musicians’ network’) include our sister Gearnews sites in German and Spanish, as well as other German-language sites like bonedo.de and dj-lab.de. We link to affiliate partner pages – including Thomann and Plugin Boutique – and receive income from our readers’ purchases there. This income helps finance our site.

While we have strong links to Thomann, we’re editorially independent from the company. That includes Thomann’s own inhouse brands like Harley Benton and t.akustik. We’re committed to reporting on and reviewing Thomann’s products objectively and fairly, just as we do with any product from any other manufacturer. Your trust in our objectivity and transparency about what we do is incredibly important to us. If you have any questions, please contact the editorial team here.

So, now that’s out of the way, here’s the team:

Jef Stone (Guitar) | mail: jef (at) gearnews (com)

I grew up in a house full of guitars, as my father was forever building electric guitars on the families kitchen table. I spent my teenage years trying to tame a 100 watt Marshall JCM 800 and matching 4 x 12 cab in a bedroom, only just large enough for a bed. I’d bought it not REALLY understanding exactly how loud 100 watts is. At this young age I started to experiment with recording and MIDI and cut my teeth on Pro 24 and Notator on an Atari synced to a Foster R8 with an MTC-1.

Playing in bands and working in recording studios for many years, I learned to mix, record and eventually worked as a sound engineer. I also worked for many of the UKs large pro audio retailers, where I helped to set up DAWs in everything from local studios, music technology colleges all the way through to world famous recording facilities like Air Studios and The Strongroom. As I couldn’t help myself, I even owned my own recording studio in London for a while. There I learnt a lot about recording guitars, dealing with bands and getting quality results anyhow.

Over the years I have acquired a very sizeable guitar collection, which includes many guitars that I have built myself. I’m a total hoarder of effect pedals and valve amps and I’m a certified guitar geek. So there are not many that I have not owned at least once. Whether Parker Fly guitars or Klon Centaur pedals, I’ve had them all. Now running the annual Analogue To Digital music show in the UK, plus the Vintage Guitar Fair, I get to be busy throughout the year and also get to rub shoulders with many other guitar lovers, luthiers, manufacturers and pro players.

My tastes in music includes everything from Dinosaur Jr to Squarepusher.

Robin Vincent (Synthesizers) | mail: robin (at) gearnews (com)

I’ve been messing around with computers and music since the 1980’s and did my first gig with guitar and a Commodore 64 back in 1988. In the 90’s I ran the PC Product department at Turnkey (“Europe’s largest music tech store”) released a couple of books on the subject and helped design the Carillon AC-1 audio PC and bring it to market as Technical Director.

After taking a year out to become a rock star (an on-going endeavour) in 2006 I setup and ran the UK operation of audio PC manufacturer Rain Computers. In 2013 I was able to form Molten Music Technology (MMT) to continue building audio PCs under my own steam. This independence has enabled me to diversify into different projects like The Pro Tools PC, writing articles for Sound On Sound magazine, and creating videos about music technology on the surprisingly successful MMT YouTube channel.

I live with my wife and three young kids in the wilds of Norfolk where I like to create meditative music and produce electronic soundscapes for cathedrals.

Bob Malkowski (Live and Guitar) | mail: bob (at) gearnews (com)

Over the last two decades, I’ve been fortunate enough to make a living both as a professional musician, and a sound engineer. Originally training as a studio engineer, I worked my apprenticeship working on classical recordings with some of the best engineers in the industry.

It’s been the world of live performance and live sound that really shaped me though. I’ve toured internationally as a drummer, keyboard player and guitarist. I’ve also spent years in hot, sweaty sound booths mixing bands and doing live sound. From clubs to stadiums, I’ve been fortunate to pretty much see it all.

A little older and (arguably) wiser, I’ve spent the last few years sharing my knowledge of music technology and musicianship through writing and blogging. It’s great to be part of the team at Gearnews and to connect with fellow musicians and engineers!

Stefan Wyeth (Studio Tech) | mail: stefan (at) gearnews (com)

I grew up around music and the entertainment business studying several instruments at school, but it was computers and software that had the greatest impact on me. I learned early on that it could allow me to mimic some of the sounds I heard on my favorite records, and thus began the obsession. With my writing, it has always been a lifelong passion for me and I try my best to use my experience to breakdown barriers for readers and demystify different aspects of the music industry and make it easier for musicians to navigate and earn a living in the ever-changing tech-driven world in which we find ourselves.

Lasse Eilers (Studio, Keyboards and Synthesizers) | mail: lasse (at) gearnews (com)

Rob Puricelli (Synthesizers) | mail: rob (at) gearnews (com)

Julian Schmauch (Tech and Guitar) | mail: julian (at) gearnews (de)

Adam Douglas (Studio, Keyboards and Synthesizers) | mail: adam (at) gearnews (com)