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Gnarls Barkley & The Atlanta Sound
Ben Allen
Their combination of Southern soul and hip-hop gave Gnarls Barkley one of the biggest hits of the year, thanks in part to the mixing wizardry of Ben Allen.
Mixing R&B
After 17 years mixing almost everything that came out of Jam & Lewis's Flyte Tyme Studios, there's very little Steve Hodge doesn't know about making R&B records work.
Scissor Sisters: Recording Ta-Dah
Babydaddy • Dan Grech-Marguerat
The Scissor Sisters' first album, recorded in a Manhattan apartment, sold 3.5 million copies worldwide. The follow-up sees them expanding their horizons, while keeping their DIY ethos very much intact.
Artist/Producer
As a solo artist, producer and member of the Velvet Underground, John Cale has had a hand in some of the most influential records ever made.
Writing & Producing With Robbie Williams
Despite his best efforts, Stephen Duffy's solo work never quite made him a superstar — but it did get him one of the best co-writing gigs around.
Producing Kasabian & Arctic Monkeys
Jim Abbiss decided to go back to basics and make records the way he wanted to make them. The result? The fastest-selling debut album in history...
Uwe Schmidt: Recording Yellow Fever!
Yellow Magic Orchestra goes Latino
Yellow Magic Orchestra helped pioneer the use of electronic instruments and sampling. Now Uwe Schmidt, aka Señor Coconut, has used the same techniques to render their greatest hits as Latin dances, with contributions from all three original YMO members.
Recording Morph The Cat
Morph The Cat, Donald Fagen's third solo album in 24 years, sees Fagen and engineer Elliott Scheiner continue their quest for the best possible sound quality — which, it seems, comes only from analogue recording.
Folk Music For The 21st Century
The idea of bringing folk music up to date is not a new one, but few people have taken it quite as far as Jim Moray. His material may be traditional, but his approach to music technology is as modern as it gets.
Recording David Gilmour's On An Island
Andy Jackson
David Gilmour's chart-topping solo album was recorded on his own Astoria houseboat, a floating slice of studio heaven. Engineer Andy Jackson describes the making of the album.
Producing Eminem & Fiona Apple
Mike Elizondo
Mike Elizondo has gone from being Dr Dre's right-hand man, co-writing some of the biggest hip-hop hits of recent years, to being an innovative producer in his own right.
Roger Nichols: Across The Board
The Current State Of Affairs
What can we, as engineers or musicians, do to prevent our recorded legacy being lost?
Record Producer
When British traditional music got a dose of rock & roll excitement, it was an American who sat in the producer's chair. Oh, and Joe Boyd also discovered a little-known band called the Pink Floyd...
Richard Aitken of Nimrod Productions
In the past, tie-in video games have had to use samples to recreate real orchestral soundtracks from the original TV series or film. With 24: The Game, however, it was the other way around.
Writing & Producing in LA
The success of Avril Lavigne's debut album Let Go catapulted The Matrix to the front rank of songwriters and producers. Since then, they've moved in ever wider musical circles, culminating in their work with nu-metal pioneers Korn.
Producing Hip-Hop
Miami is now a hip-hop centre to rival New York and LA, and Cool & Dre are two of its most active beatmakers, songwriters and producers.
Craig Bauer
Craig Bauer has been part of Kanye West's career from the beginning, and as a mix engineer on the smash hit Late Registration album, he had to marry West's artistic perfectionism with his own technical standards.
Producing The Darkness's One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back
Roy Thomas Baker
Recording the One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back album, Roy Thomas Baker and the Darkness used 400 reels of tape, up to 1000 tracks per song and a year in the studio — not to mention custom-made panpipes. Find out more...
John Fryer
The likes of Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and Nine Inch Nails all owe a sonic debt to engineer/producer John Fryer, who explains his approach to production.
Harry Gregson-Williams
Harry Gregson-Williams's drive to explore original ideas and sounds has made him one of Hollywood's leading composers, scoring everything from romantic comedies to spy thrillers and historical dramas.
Inside Track | Secrets Of The Mix Engineers
Thirty years after Led Zeppelin ended, Robert Plant has reached a second career high. His latest hit album was tracked and mixed by Mike Poole, using a mouth-watering selection of vintage equipment.
Recording Today's Country Guitar Sounds
With country guitars, what you hear on the record is what was played in the studio. We asked Nashville's leading engineers how they capture those tones.
Mike Vernon: Producing British Blues
Interview | Producer
Mike Vernon produced some of the greatest blues records of all time. A full decade after retiring, he's back in the studio with some of the British blues scene's brightest lights.
Happy Birthday Sound On Sound!
Milestones
Some of the friends we've made over the years share their congratulations on our 25th birthday!
Labrinth: Producing Tinie Tempah
Interview | Music Production
The man behind the biggest UK single of the year — 'Pass Out' by Tinie Tempah — is 21-year-old musical prodigy and maverick Labrinth.
Oval (aka Markus Popp): Recording Oh And O
Electronica Production
One of electronica’s most adventurous spirits, Markus Popp has returned with an album that sounds surprisingly... musical. But is everything as it seems?
Mike Strange Jr: Eminem Recovery
Inside Track | Secrets Of The Mix Engineers
Eminem's Recovery has been one of the biggest hit albums of the year, spawning two number one singles — all recorded and mixed by Eminem's long-term engineer, Mike Strange.
Jon Burton: Mixing & Recording The Prodigy Live
Interview | Engineer
As the Prodigy's chief live sound engineer, Jon Burton gets to unleash untold kilowatts of bass power on an unsuspecting world. He has also made multitrack recordings of every show on their 26-month world tour.
Silver Apples: Early Electronica
Interview | Band
Silver Apples jammed with Jimi Hendrix, counted John Lennon as a fan, and produced extraordinary electronic music — with nothing but a drum kit and a pile of electrical junk.
Paul Worley: Producing Lady Antebellum
Interview | Producer
Nashville heavy-hitter Paul Worley was so impressed by Lady Antebellum that he gave up his high-profile job at Warner Bros to produce them. With Clarke Schleicher at the desk, the gamble paid off in style.
Four Decades Of De-evolution
Pioneers of everything from circuit-bending to multimedia art, Devo have always belonged to the future.
Andrew VanWyngarden & Ben Goldwasser: Recording Congratulations
MGMT could have followed up their smash hit debut album with more of the same. Instead, they headed straight into left field, with help from a legend of British psychedelia.
40 Years Of Krautrock
In 1969, Faust used their massive record company advance to build a unique studio and a collection of weird, custom-made effects units. The same experimental spirit lives on in their new album, Faust Is Last.
Producing The Defamation Of Strickland Banks
Plan B entered the public eye as a rapper, but it’s as a soul singer that he has conquered the charts. He and his production team revisit the tortuous story behind The Defamation Of Strickland Banks.
Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: David R Ferguson
Inside Track: Johnny Cash | American VI: Ain’t No Grave
Sometimes the simplest-sounding music takes the most work to get right, and so it was with Johnny Cash’s posthumous hit album American VI: Ain’t No Grave. Engineer and mixer David R Ferguson was on hand at every stage of Rick Rubin’s production.
Steven Wilson: Recording & Marketing Porcupine Tree
Every new Porcupine Tree album sells over a quarter of a million copies. And with founder Steven Wilson in control of everything from songwriting to shrink-wrapping, there’s no middle man to take a cut. Read his valuable advice for SOS readers wishing to do likewise...
From Rock Producer To Pop Songwriter
Phil Thornalley learned his trade as a rock engineer and producer in the ’80s. Then he co-wrote a little-known song called ‘Torn’...
Five Decades In The Studio
Legendary songwriter and Kinks frontman Ray Davies got his first taste of recording in 1964, and he’s never looked back.
The Stargate Writing & Production Team
Mikkel Eriksen
From humble beginnings in provincial Norway, the Stargate team have gone on to become one of America’s leading hit factories. Songwriter and producer Mikkel Eriksen explains how their hard work and talent brought success.
Dave Stewart: Creating A New Album From Archive Material
Time Trial: Bringing Multitracks and MIDI into the 21st Century
Dave Stewart’s career has spanned several generations of music technology (from National Health band in the 1970s to hits with partner Barbara Gaskin. For his latest project, he faced the challenge of bringing his old multitracks and MIDI sequences into the computer age.
Sound On Sound : Est. 1985