WIN Rob Papen soft synths + personal web tuition from Mr.P himself

Deadline: 2008-12-31

Deadline: 31 December 2008. This month, thanks to our friends at Toontrack USA, who manage the Rob Papen range in America, we've got two cracking prizes to give away. The first comprises the latest versions of all four of Rob Papen's products - Blue, Albino, Predator and RG - plus a one-on-one web masterclass with Mr Papen himself! Second prize is the full bundle of software, without the private tuition.
Prize kindly donated by Toontrack USA. Tel: +1 310 270 6300.

Adam A5

Active Nearfield Monitors

Adam have gained a strong reputation for the quality and value for money of their larger reference monitors, but have they had to make any compromises in their smallest model?

Akai MPC5000

Sampling Workstation

Akai's MPC has been with us for 20 years now — an incredibly long time in music production. So is the latest addition to this venerable range, the MPC5000, a worthy bearer of its standard?

Eiosis E2 Transienter

Transient Processing Plug-in [Mac / PC]

Eiosis' innovative plug-in processor allows you to completely isolate transients so that they can be processed independently of the rest of the audio.

Guitar Technology

Reviews, Tips and Techniques

• Schertler DYN-G Acoustic Instrument Pickup
• Boss DD7 Digital Delay Pedal

HHB CDR882 DualBurn

Dual-drive CD Recorder

Newer technologies may be available, but the CD is still alive and kicking... and this unique stand-alone recorder is arguably the pinnacle of CD technology.

JZ Black Hole

Large-diaphragm Condenser Microphone

It's easy to see where the Black Hole gets its name, but this novel microphone isn't all about appearances...

Moog Voyager Old School

Analogue Synthesizer

The Voyager Old School sees Moog returning to their roots, but is there a place for an all-analogue, 1970s-style synth in the 21st century?

New Releases On Test

Sample Library

Another crop of sound libraries fall under the scrutiny of the SOS reviews team:
• Project SAM Symphobia
• Propellerhead Reason Electric Bass
• Big Fish Audio Found Percussion
• Project SAM Woodwind Libraries

Spectrasonics Omnisphere

Software Synthesizer[Mac/PC]

Spectrasonics' ambitious new sample-based power synth explores the realms of psychoacoustics and organic synthesis while running on a STEAM engine — what can this all mean? Let's find out...

SPL Phonitor

Headphone Amplifier & Spatial Processor

Mixing on headphones is undoubtedly convenient, but you can never be sure if your mixes will translate well to speakers. This high-quality headphone amp and processor aims to address that problem.

Synergy Audio PC

Music Computer

Digital Village enjoy an established reputation for their custom music PCs, and are clearly looking to build upon that with their new Synergy range...

Thermionic Culture Rooster

Valve Microphone Preamp & EQ

Is this latest addition to the Thermionic Culture flock something for the company to crow about?

Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0

Virtual Drum Instrument [Mac & PC]

Toontrack's DFH Superior received excellent reviews but perhaps didn't really make the impact that it deserved. Will the drums and cymbals of their new Superior Drummer 2.0 make a greater splash?

Zplane Vielklang

Automatic Harmony Generation Software [Mac/PC]

Will Zplane's musically intelligent software make the world a more harmonious place?

Doug Rogers of EastWest

Sampling The World

As they celebrate 20 years in the business, sample library pioneers EastWest are on the verge of relaunching LA's legendary United-Western studio complex. They've also developed an innovative sample-playback engine to power their next generation of virtual instruments.

Elbow

Craig Potter: Recording The Seldom Seen Kid

When they began work on The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow had no record label and no producer. Two years later, it's brought them mainstream success at last.

Playback

Readers' Music Reviewed

Sponsored by breed-media.co.uk

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Jacquire King

Kings Of Leon: Sex On Fire

For the recording of their fourth album Only By The Night, Kings Of Leon and co-producer Jacquire King decided to aim high. The result: a worldwide smash and a long-awaited breakthrough in the band's native US.

Sounding Off

Sam Inglis

Make me a record that sounds worse than My Bloody Valentine, and I'll make you a star.

CPU Cores

PC Notes

If you're shopping for a new CPU, the number of processor cores it has may not be the most important factor in how well it runs your music software. Read on to find out why...

Looking After Logic

Performance & Maintenance Tips

Housekeeping tasks might not be as much fun as making music, but staying on top of them should ensure safely backed-up tracks and a hassle-free system performing at its best.

Mix Rescue: Pocket Lips

Hip-hop processing

When you're trying to achieve a tight, commercial hip-hop sound, you might need to resort to some heavy processing — but not on every track...

Mix Rescue: Pocket Lips | Audio Files

Hear For Yourself

Here are the links to the MP3 and WAV files that accompany the December 2008 Mix Rescue article for our newsstand/bookstore readers who do not have eSub-access to the main web article and don't fancy typing in all the long URLs by hand.

Plug-in Management In Digital Performer

Digital Performer Notes & Techniques

If you've lots of third-party plug-ins in different formats, it can be a pain to keep tabs on where they're stored and which version to use. We explain how DP's plug-in manager functionality can help, as well as offering guidance on DP6 features, including the essential new 'pre-generation'.

Pocket iPhone Studio

Apple Notes

As iPhone-mania continues to grip the world, developers have been releasing music-related applications, some of which offer a surprising level of sophistication. Forget the idea of a laptop studio — it's time for the pocket studio!

Reason ReGroove: Getting Your Groove On

Reason Notes & Techniques

Think computer music's got no soul? Think again! Join us as we explore Reason's ReGroove mixer...

The Pogues 'Fairytale Of New York' | Classic Tracks

Producer: Steve Lillywhite • Engineers: Chris Dickie, Steve Lillywhite

A Christmas song was an unexpected move from a group like the Pogues, but the story of heartbreak and pain that is 'Fairytale Of New York' eventually became the band's biggest commercial success.

Transient Shaping With Sonar 8's TS64

Sonar Notes & Techniques

There's more to dynamics than compression and expansion, and now transient shaping is part of Sonar 8, courtesy of the TS64 Transient Shaper plug-in.

Using Window Configurations

Digidesign (Avid) Pro Tools Tips & Techniques

You can save time and cut down on mouse-clicks by using Pro Tools' window management features.

Vocal Processing

Steinberg Cubase Tips & Techniques

Having done your best to capture a high-quality recording of your vocals, how best do you go about processing them so they work in your mix?

What's The Frequency?

A Guide To Effective EQ

Manipulating the frequency spectrum is one of the most important skills in recording and mixing. We explain the different types of EQ you can use in your mix and share some tips on how to get the best from them.

Notes From The Deadline

TV Music From The Inside

Progress is a wonderful thing, if you're a composer of music for the media and you dream of a poolside studio in the Bahamas.

Q. Can I use multiple controllers with my software?

Q. Which mixer should I choose for drum recordings?

Q. Why does my USB mixer make a whining sound?

SOS Podcast 010

19:06 mins

We visit the UK's Music Live show in Birmingham, talk to TV composer Paul Farrer, and bring you the latest news, as well as answer your studio-related questions.