WIN Focusrite Red 7 Channel Strip

Deadline: 2010-01-31

Worth over £2600, this is your chance to win one of the last-ever production run examples of this superb channel strip. The unit will be signed by Focusrite Chairman Phil Dudderidge, making it a real collector's item not to be missed. Closing date: 31 January 2010

Barefoot Sound MicroMain 27

Active Three-way Monitors

As well as a distinctive design, these huge nearfield monitors offer a frequency and time-domain performance that compares with the best.

Big Fish Audio Acid Jazz City 2

WAV⁄REX⁄Apple Loops⁄Stylus RMX

Big Fish Audio BollyHood Beats

WAV/REX/Apple Loops/Stylus RMX

Cakewalk Sonar 8.5

DAW Software For Windows

It’s not touted as version 9, but the list of improvements certainly makes this year’s upgrade to Cakewalk’s Sonar DAW a big deal.

Doepfer Dark Energy

Synthesizer

The latest product of Doepfer’s modular know-how is the Dark Energy: a compact, powerful and hands-on desktop analogue synthesizer.

FXpansion DCAM Synth Squad

Software Synth Suite

FXpansion’s first foray into the soft-synth world yields some unexpected but welcome results...

Hollow Sun Nebulae

Sample Library

5*

JoeCo BBR1 BlackBox Recorder

24-track Recorder

Recording in a live environment demands simplicity and stability, and this intriguing new product from SADiE co-founder Joe Bull is designed to offer both.

Native Instruments Absynth 5

Software Synthesizer

The fifth version of Absynth introduces even more sound-mangling features and aims to be far more user-friendly than its predecessors. Has it succeeded? Read on...

Neumann TLM102

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

The new TLM102 embodies everything we’ve come to expect from a large-diaphragm Neumann studio mic — except the price!

Novation Nocturn 25

Controller Keyboard

After an extensive programme of selective breeding, Novation have created the Nocturn 25 — an affordable, touch-sensitive controller keyboard.

Soniccouture The Skiddaw Stones

Multi-format

Spectrasonics Trilian

Software Bass Instrument

Spectrasonics’ new STEAM-driven bass module bundles 34GB of electric, acoustic and synth basses into one package. We delve deep and give you the lowdown.

Studio Headphones

Leading Models Compared

Whether recording or mixing, which set of headphones will work for you? We compare a selection of the best models.

TC Electronic Impact Twin

Firewire Audio Interface

Compact and bijou it may be, but the Impact Twin offers 14 channels of simultaneous analogue and digital I/O and is chock-full of TC’s clever DSP technology.

Thermionic Culture Fat Bustard

Summing Mixer

Summing might not sound very ‘rock & roll’, but Thermionic Culture have added a little attitude of their own to this impressive and unique design.

U-he Uhbik

Plug-in Effects Suite [ Mac OS/Windows]

There are countless reverbs, EQs and delay-based effects out there, but U-he’s new Uhbik collection brings some fresh thinking to familiar sounds.

Vox Amplug Acoustic

Acoustic-modelling Guitar Headphone Amp

Waves Vocal Rider

Vocal Levelling Plug-in [Mac OS/Windows]

No matter how many compressors we own, when it comes to getting vocal levels right, there’s no substitute for faders and hard work. Until now...

Playback

Readers’ Music Reviewed

More of your submitted recordings undergo the SOS 'Juke Box Jury' treatment.

Sounding Off

Alex Marten

With musical instruments, it’s the interface that counts...

Upgrade Yourself

Leader

Wayne Bennett & Speech Debelle

Recording Speech Therapy

It took rapper Speech Debelle years to find a producer who could bring to life the sounds in her head. The answer, as Wayne Bennett discovered, was to record her music as if it were a folk album.

An Introduction To Forensic Audio

Detective Phil Manchester

Noisy, muffled, incoherent recordings are an audio engineer’s worst nightmare, but all too often they contain vital evidence in criminal trials. It’s the job of the forensic audio specialist to extract that evidence.

Choosing Guitar-amp Speakers

Guitar Technology

A brief guide to what factors should be considered when choosing replacement speakers for your guitar amps.

Cubase: VST Expression | Audio

Audio Examples From Cubase Techniques January 2010

Elastic Audio — Better Than Beat Detective?

Digidesign (Avid) Pro Tools Tips & Techniques

Many long-term Pro Tools users still rely on Beat Detective, but the newer Elastic Audio often produces better results in half the time.

Live Looping

Ableton Live Notes & Techniques

Live 8’s Looper is ideal for quick, fun composition.

Logic: Audio Output Formats

Logic Notes & Techniques

For every destination you might have for your mix, there’s a correct audio output format. We explain the options.

Mix Rescue: Jay Menon

Mixing & Recording Advice

This month we look at ways to manipulate transients and make use of those all-important send effects, as we take on Jay Menon's ballad, 'Through My Eyes'.

Mix Rescue: Jay Menon | Media

Mixing & Recording Advice

These audio files accompany the Mix Rescue article that featured in SOS January 2010.

Public Enemy ‘Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos’ | Classic Tracks

Producers: The Bomb Squad • Engineer: Nick Sansano

Hank Shocklee’s 1988 collaboration with Public Enemy brought a new aggression to hip-hop — both sonically and politically...

Reason: Productivity Boosts

Reason Notes & Techniques

Boost your Reason productivity with indispensable keyboard shortcuts that make everyday jobs quicker and easier.

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Veronica Ferraro

Inside Track: ‘When Love Takes Over’

When French DJ David Guetta and American singer Kelly Rowland combined to produce one of the biggest crossover hits of 2009, the hands on the faders belonged to Veronica Ferraro.

Shedding Features

Apple Notes

Apple provide great entry-level music software in the shape of Garageband, so why is Mac hardware shedding features that help entry-level musicians?

Studio SOS: Jason Firth

Setting Up A Dual-Purpose Studio

What do you get when you cross a recording musician with a photographer? A nice-looking studio that serves a dual purpose, that’s what...

VST Expression

Steinberg Cubase Tips & Techniques

VST Expression, introduced in Cubase 5, enables you to extract the best from multi-articulation sample libraries.

Warmer Sounds From Digital Synths

Processing Techniques

If your plug-in synths sound a bit cold and clinical, there are plenty of ways to inject some life...

Notes From The Deadline

TV Music From The Inside

No-one likes having their work criticised, especially when the criticism is baffling, surreal and second-hand. But that’s the lot of today’s composer for the media.

Q. Do balanced connections prevent ground loops?

Q. How can I achieve a ‘dry’ sound?

Q. Should I use parallel compression in mastering?

Q. What’s the best way to add a subtle vinyl effect?

SOS Podcast 020

19:00 mins

In this pre-Christmas holiday podcast, Editor in Chief Paul White and Technical Editor Hugh Robjohns comment on gear they are currently testing for coming editions, and in the Sound Advice section pass on Recording Vocals tips about mic choice, positions, processing and acoustics. News Editor Jules Harding highlights recent new product announcements like VOG and Hollow Sun's sampling of the 70-year-old Hammond Novachord, plus Features Editor Sam Inglis introduces what's in the forthcoming magazine.