Randy Staub: Recording Evanenscence's 'What You Want' | Media

Robert Plant 'Angel Dance'

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.

Nashville Guitars: Recording Today's Country Guitar Sounds

Interview | Engineers

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?

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.

Devo | Mark Mothersbaugh

Four Decades Of De-evolution

Pioneers of everything from circuit-bending to multimedia art, Devo have always belonged to the future.

MGMT

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.

Faust: Hans Joachim Irmler

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.

Plan B

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.

Porcupine Tree

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...

Phil Thornalley: Torn

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’...

Ray Davies

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.

Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Humberto Gatica

Inside Track: Michael Bublé ‘You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You’

In a rare interview, legendary engineer and producer Humberto Gatica explains how he and singer Michael Bublé breathed new life into big-band swing music — with stunning results.