Win Soundcraft Si Compact 24 Digital Mixer Worth £6,200

Deadline: 2012-08-13

For this month's competition, Soundcraft have incredibly kindly donated an Si Compact 24 digital mixer, worth a phenomenal £6,200! Despite what its name might suggest, the console is essentially a 40-channel design, featuring 24 mic preamps, eight (four stereo) effect returns, and a further eight channels that can be patched in various ways, depending on your needs.

App Works

Making Music On The Move

JG Harding checks out the Tascam iU2 audio interface, whilst Paul Nagle sneaks a peak at Reactable Mobile tactile synth for iOS and Android.

Arturia Oberheim SEM V

Software Synthesizer

Tom Oberheim’s classic two-voice synth gets the Arturia treatment in the form of the SEM V.

Audiobro LA Scoring Strings 2

Sample Library

Innovative 'remote control' adds new creative dimensions to a leading orchestral strings library.

Brainworx BXsaturator

Multi-band M/S Distortion Plug‑in

Paradoxically, adding distortion in mastering can make tracks sound clearer. That’s the idea of Brainworx's clever multi-band plug-in.

DoReMIR ScoreCleaner

MIDI Transcription Software

Conventional notation software often struggles to turn real MIDI performances into usable scores. ScoreCleaner applies artificial intelligence to the problem...

Ehrlund EHR-M

Condenser Microphone

Instead of cutting corners, Swedish company Ehrlund have added them, by basing their microphone around an unusual triangular diaphragm.

Focusrite ISA Two

Microphone Preamplifier

Making professional‑quality preamps available at project-studio prices has been Focusrite’s forté for many years, and this design doesn’t disappoint.

HH Electronics TNE 112A & TNS 215A

Active PA System

Legendary PA brand HH Electronics is back, with a range of active speakers that employ the latest in sound-system technology.

Hughes & Kettner TubeMeister 18

Valve Guitar Amplifier

Can one guitar amp really meet all your needs, from night-time recording in your bedroom to rocking out at high volume on stage?

Izotope Iris

Software Synthesizer

Izotope’s Iris offers a new take on sound design via its innovative sample resynthesis engine.

Kenton Modular Solo Eurorack

MIDI-to-CV Converter

Lynx Hilo

A-D/D-A Converter & Digital Mixer/Router

Boasting reference-quality converters, the Hilo also promises to be future-proof...

Lynx Hilo | Media

A-D/D-A Converter & Digital Mixer/Router

These technical specifications accompany the Lynx Hilo review that featured in SOS July 2012.

MXR Custom Audio Electronics MC403

Power Supply For Effects Pedals

Rain Recording Event Muse

Silent PC For Music Recording

If you want a computer that’s completely silent, yet portable and powerful enough for location recording, look no further.

RCF Ayra 5

Active Monitors

Italian company RCF are famous for their PA systems, but they also make studio monitors. We put these compact speakers to the test.

Rhythmic Robot | Laboratory

Sample Library

Rob Papen Blade

Software Synthesizer

Is Rob Papen’s Blade the cutting edge of additive synthesis?

Sample Logic Fanfare

Brass Sample Library

This unique library brings the USA’s top marching brass band to a computer near you.

Shure SRH1840

Open-back Headphones

Shure’s assault on the headphone market continues, as they follow up their closed-back models with this flagship open-back design.

Sontronics Halo

Dynamic Microphone

This vintage‑styled mic is designed especially for recording electric guitar. Does it sound as classy as it looks?

Sontronics Halo | Media

Dynamic Microphone

These audio files accompany the Sontronics Halo review that featured in SOS July 2012.

Stage Capacitor Microphones

Spotlight

Does your live vocal sound lack the clarity and detail of your studio recordings? Then you may want to switch over to a capacitor model. Here’s a selection of current options, with links to the SOS review where available.

Stretch That Note | DruMM Series 1 & 2

Sample Library

Waves InPhase

Phase-correction Plug-in

Making similar signals play nicely together sometimes requires more than just a polarity switch. Enter Waves’ phase-manipulation tool.

Zero-G | Nu Metal

Sample Library

4*

2012 SOS Reader Survey

Survey

Have your say for a chance to win an AKG C12VR mic worth £5,700 / $5,499!

Andrija Tokic: Recording Alabama Shakes' Boys & Girls

Interview | Producer

One of the biggest albums of 2012 was recorded in one of the smallest studios — Andrija Tokic's house in Nashville, Tennessee...

Dr Douglas Doherty: Is a lack of warmth an inevitable trait of digital recording?

Sounding Off

François Tétaz: Mixing Gotye's 'Somebody That I Used To Know'

Inside Track | Secrets Of The Mix Engineers

'Somebody That I Used To Know' is a worldwide hit that breaks every rule in the book. Artist Gotye and mix engineer François Tétaz reveal how they made it.

Jono Padmore, Irmin Schmidt & Daniel Miller: Finding The Lost Can Tapes

Interview | Band

With the tape always running in their Cologne studio, Can built up a huge archive of unreleased material. Much of it was brilliant, but all of it was chaotic...

The Art & The Science

Leader

Analogue Multitracks & Video Post-production

Tips & Techniques

Analogue tape is enduringly popular as an audio recording medium, but do enough people know how to use it properly any more? Bob Clearmountain’s experience suggests otherwise...

Arranging For Strings, Part 2

Primer

The second part of our string-arranging series ventures into more dramatic musical territory, and explains how to manipulate orchestral string articulations when creating MIDI arrangements.
• Read Part 1 (June 2012)
• Read Part 3 (August 2012)

Audiobus

Apple Notes

For those suffering the frustrations of moving audio from one app to another, a solution may finally have arrived, in the form of Audiobus.

Convert To Samples

Apple Logic Tips & Techniques

Use Logic's 'Convert To New Sampler Track' function to mimic Recycle and make your own sampled instruments.

Effective Soundchecking

Tips & Techniques

What are the secrets to a successful soundcheck? We asked some of the biggest names in the live sound industry to share their top tips.

Gary Moore 'Parisienne Walkways'

Classic Tracks

'Parisienne Walkways' showcased Gary Moore's virtuoso guitar work and quickly became his signature song. Its recording also provided a young engineer at Morgan Studios with his first, unexpected production credit.

Groove-quantise, Part 1

Steinberg Cubase Tips & Techniques

The groove‑quantise functions in Cubase allow you to tighten your performance without killing that all‑important human feel.
• Read Part 2 (August 2012)

Groups, Folders & Matrices

Cockos Reaper Tips & Techniques

Use Reaper's groups, folders and matrices to organise your mix project.

M/S Processing

Presonus Studio One

In the first of our regular Studio One workshops, we’ll be widening our perspective with M/S processing.

Mix Rescue: Santi Vega

Mixing & Recording Advice

Technically speaking, working with a single-track recording may not be 'mixing', but a surprising amount of useful mixing‑style finessing can still be performed.

Mix Rescue: Santi Vega | Media

Mixing & Recording Advice

These audio files accompany the Mix Rescue article that featured in SOS July 2012.

Pro Tools 10 New Features

Avid Pro Tools Tips & Techniques

Some of the new features in Pro Tools 10 aren’t immediately obvious — but they can be invaluable once you know how to use them.

Rack Extensions

Propellerhead Reason Tips & Techniques

With our racks about to get even more densely populated by Rack Extensions, we may need strategies for keeping on top of the sprawl...

Recording A Singing Guitarist

Tips & Techniques

Many musicians give great live performances when singing and playing guitar at the same time. So why not do it that way in the studio?

Recording A Singing Guitarist | Media

Tips & Techniques

These audio files accompany the Recording A Singing Guitarist article that featured in SOS July 2012.

The Mix Review | July 2012

Analysing Commercial Productions

• Rebecca Ferguson 'Nothing's Real But Love'
• David Guetta 'Without Your'
• Professor Green 'Read All About It'

Up To The Wire

Cakewalk Sonar Tips & Techniques

Thanks to Sonar 64-bit operation, the 14-year-old ReWire protocol is back in the limelight!

Window Cleaner

MOTU Digital Performer Tips & Techniques

Find out how to harness the flexibility of DP’s user interface without being drowned in windows.

Windows 8-compatible Products

PC Notes

Announcements in the touchscreen world of Windows 8-compatible products hint at competition for the iPad.

Notes From The Deadline

TV Music From The Inside

If you thought music for media was a tough job to get into, you should see how hard it is to get out of.

Off The Record (US Edition Only)

Music & Recording Industry News

** This article was originally printed in the US Edition of Sound On Sound only, but is available online to all subscribers. **
Statistics, especially those about the music industry, rarely give you the whole picture, but they can tell you a lot if you know where and how to look...

Studio File: Newman Scoring Stage, Los Angeles

Inside The World's Pro Studios

One of the oldest and largest recording studios in the world, Fox's Newman Scoring Stage is still in constant demand for top-class film scores.

Q. Are expensive multicore cables really worth the money?

Q. Can I pay someone to run my WAV files through a Studer?

Q. How and when should I normalise my mix?

Q. Why is 88.2kHz the best sample rate for recording?