All the highlights from GearFest 2025: New synths, studio monitors, mics and moreGearFest UK returned on 19 July for its 2025 edition at Tileyard London with panel talks, swag, prize giveaways, and a boatload of music tech gear to get hands-on with. The show is organised by TYX London, SoundOnSound, and marketing firm Create New Stories, and boasts around 140 exhibitors.

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I headed into London to attend the show for the first time, and found some new studio gems while I was there.
GearFest UK 2025 poster. Image: Press
Where is GearFest held?
Tileyard Studios is a labyrinthine complex of creative spaces that houses commercial sound and video studios, performance venues and an education campus. Plus, it’s also home to the offices of a number of music tech brands, including Ableton, SoundCloud, Spitfire Audio, Apple Music and more. It’s certainly worth checking out if you’re ever near the area.
This setting is as important as the gear itself at GearFest UK. Although space becomes tight as multiple visitors jostle for positions in a compact mixing room to audition studio monitors, you can actually hear what’s going on in a treated room, and pick up acoustic treatment and decor tips for your own creative space while having useful chats with brand reps. There are no cavernous, noisy exhibition halls here, which it’s wholly refreshing.
Tileyard London. Image: Press
Synths galore
Starting in synth land, Arturia’s black and green, limited-edition UFO colourway for the MicroBrute immediately catches my eye. This would be my go-to for squelchy, space-rock basslines on stage, with its supreme portability being a definite selling point. It’s a blast checking out this synth, and I come away with one of the most tasteful branded tote bags I’ve ever seen.
Arturia UFO-edition MicroBrute. Image: Press
At the higher end, I enjoy the playability and huge super-saw tones of the (also-black-and-green) PWM Mantis. This four-voice hybrid-analogue synth handily features full-size keys instead of the mini keys of PWM’s preceding Malevolent. I also experiment with Modal’s recent Carbon 8X and the flamboyant Buchla suitcase models — those synths are a work of art.
Buchla suitcase synth. Image: Press
But where are all the mics and headphones?
A mainstay of home and project studios, you’d expect microphones and headphones to be at the forefront of a trade show like GearFest, but they are more hidden away than expected or aren’t often plugged in to test. Telefunken (SX Pro) has a groovy listening booth for mics, and Focal (KMR), a comfy corner for testing headphones, but there’s little in the way of new gear in this category.
I was hoping to catch Warm Audio’s new WA-CX24 stereo mic, which seemed absent, but I did get to handle Austrian Audio’s dual-output, multi-pattern OC-S10 studio condenser. This mic will finally ship in the coming weeks following its unveiling at NAMM 2025.
The prize for most beautiful mic goes to the Myburgh M1 tube mic, spotted on Funky Junk and Make Noise’s equally stunning stand on the stage of Tileyard’s Gallery venue.
Myburgh M1 tube mic. Image: Press
Studio hardware
There’s a vast array of studio hardware at GearFest, ranging from dream mixing consoles by Neve and API to affordable, powerful audio interfaces from Audient, SSL and others.
One interface that catches my eye is Black Lion Audio’s recent Revolution 14X1, which combines the brand’s expertise in conversion and preamp technology. This particular box has dual mic preamps with Cinemag transformers, two further preamps, four insert points for input processing and hybrid mixing, and a generous three headphone amps.
Neve 8424 console. Image: Press
Three outboard gear brands stand out for their combination of indie sensibility, sound quality and fair pricing.
Firstly, I’d been blown away by online demos of Gainlab Audio’s Empress tube equaliser, which is loosely styled on a Pultec but with the added bonuses of a mid band, a tube boost saturation circuit, and is also stereo. So it is nice to get hands-on with Empress and chat with Makkay, the brand’s brimmingly enthusiastic co-founder. I also try out Wizard, Gainlab’s most recent product, a saturation processor with added EQ and vari-mu compressor sections. It’s not exactly cheap, but Wizard is a versatile, big-sounding box that goes from seductive valve warmth to cool annihilation at the turn of a knob, and I think it’ll be a real hit.
Meanwhile, HLabs’ EQ169 mono mastering EQ, based on a Studer 169, sounds incredibly smooth. I appreciate the Gain Range control for dialling in smaller increments on the stepped pots when mastering.
Finally, on outboard, since establishing a UK division, the wide range of analogue gear from boutique US brand AudioScape has become far more accessible. AudioScape’s products are inspired by classic designs, and I run a drum stem running through their sweet and punchy Pultec-like stereo EQP-2Q into a tastefully slamming Buss Compressor. Sound and build quality both impress.
Gainlab Audio’s outboard range. Image: Press
Mighty monitors
Studio monitors are well represented at GearFest, and I’m keen to check out the new offerings in different sizes as well as listen to brands I’d never auditioned before. Sadly, though, the default position of many brands is to plug in the largest main monitors they manufacture and only show those off. While the stuff of dreams impresses visitors, mid-level monitors that visitors might actually be able to afford are left on plinths, unplugged and neglected.
Bucking this trend are German brands EVE Audio and HEDD Audio.
EVE has all four sizes of its new EXO active monitors in a mixing booth. Rear ported, with DSP control of EQ and digital in/out on board, the EXOs have a more forceful bass-end than you’d expect for their size, even on the second-smallest five-inch model. I think the EXOs will become hugely popular for home studios and Atmos arrays; applications where compact size or being able to mix and match different sizes of speakers is key.
EVE Audio’s new EXO series. Image: Press
HEDD has the new, stripped-back A-Core version of its Type 05 and 07 active nearfields on demo (see our recent review), and switches between those and the original DSP-equipped Type MK2 monitors that impressed me in my 2021 review.
Also on show is a pair of limited-edition Type-20 MK2 three-way monitors in a glorious orange finish. HEDD’s CEO, Dr Freddy Knop, explains that they’ve made ten sets, all in different colours. This is HEDD’s favourite pair, with the colour closely matched to the shade of orange originally used by the garbage disposal trucks in Berlin. I. Want. Them.
A limited edition Type 20 MK2 from HEDD Audio. Image: Press
Also present is Amphion with X versions of its One18 and Two18 passive monitors. They feature new tweeters with lower levels of distortion and a wider frequency range. These monitors impress with their revealing mid-forward voicing yet ample, tight bass extension even without the help of the brand’s Base system sub-woofer stands.
New One18X and Two18X monitors from Amphion. Image: Press
The main event
Panel events are held in a makeshift marquee and cover the gamut of Atmos, mixing skills, classical recording and a live edition of the Mixbus podcast. I attended the Atmos session, with practitioners Penny Eau, Emre Ramazanoglu and Stan Kybert reflecting on their experiences of the format and offering insights into how associated technologies have developed to facilitate Atmos.
A surprise, though, is the unexpected appearance of mixing hero Bob Clearmountain, who emerges mid-session from the rain outside to listen and take shelter. In a near-Biblical moment, the sizable crowd at the back of the marquee parts to let Bob through and take up a well-earned seat towards the front.
Atmos panel discussion chaired by Sound on Sound’s Sam Inglis. Image: Press
Topping all the other experiences of the day, my favourite highlight reveals the perfect partnership of GearFest and Tileyard London. High-end speaker brand PMC’s demo room is set within the working commercial Atmos studio operated by TaP Management, and is a joy to behold. This 9.1.4 system has huge PMC mains for left, right and centre, there are racks of synths around the sides for when creative energy is flowing, and a mood-lit, miked upright piano for more mellow moments.
PMC takes the award for best swag, too, with cans of its own craft IPA commissioned especially for the occasion. I sip on PMC’s beer, sitting on a comfy sofa listening to a world-class Atmos system in an inspiring and seductively vibey studio space. This is a big moment and from here on out, I predict that my gear obsession could become progressively more expensive.
PMC’s demo space inside TaP Management’s Atmos studio at Tileyard. Image: Press
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