Comment / Opinion

This month: Louis Tomlinson & Steve Aoki, Stormzy, Sturgill Simpson, Sarah Jarosz and our Classic Mix is Toni Braxton ‘Un-break My Heart’ (1996).

Our esteemed Editor In Chief offers some sage advice to budding audio students...

We’d all love to work with the LSO at Abbey Road. But if we don’t have the budget, are we betraying British musicians by looking overseas?

Automation is a double-edged sword...

Could it be the idea of using software live is ‘sexy’ and sells units, but the back-end task of making it function solidly is not?

This month: Ariana Grande, Tim McGraw, Zara Larsson, Kelsea Ballerini and our Classic Mix is Gloria Gaynor ‘I Will Survive’ (1978).

Opinion seems divided as to whether rented software is a good idea, but what about renting hardware?

Pretentious hairy people have influenced the world of art in more ways than you might expect.

What’s in a name? A lot — if you play your cards right.

Valuable lessons from a media composer...

This month: Starley • Flume • Gnash • La La Land (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) • Classic Mix: Domenico Modugno ‘Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare)’

As I suspected might be the case, this year’s NAMM show turned out to be mainly evolutionary rather than revolutionary...

Being precious about your artistic sensibilities is all very well — as long as you don’t mind no-one ever hearing your music.

As expectations for live performances increase, the line between stage and studio engineering blurs.

Speak like an idiot or sound intelligent: take your pick. You can’t do both...

This month: Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) • Ed Sheeran • Sean Paul featuring Dua Lipa • Jax Jones featuring Raye • Clean Bandit featuring Sean Paul & Anne-Marie • Classic Mix: Mungo Jerry ‘In The Summertime’ (1970)

Our Editor-in-Chief is worried that we are becoming ever more dependent on a computer industry that sees audio as a very small part of its business...

Large-format mixing consoles have been in decline for years — but could there be life in them yet?

The secret of success is to deal with failure in the right way. Which is easier when your failures don’t cost thousands of innocent lives.

It should go without saying that the most important task recording and mix engineers need to focus on is listening, but we are being distracted from that task.

We examine the production of some recent hits to help you brush up on your listening skills: Neiked featuring Dyo • Rae Sremmurd featuring Gucci Mane • Michael Ball & Alfie Boe • The Rolling Stones • Robbie Williams • Classic Mix: George Michael ‘Careless Whisper’ (1984 Single Version).