Industry Talk

Despite promises that the Internet will soon alter the way we make, promote, and sell our music forever, it would seem the revolution is yet to happen. Or is it? Simon Price explains how the technology required to broadcast your demo anywhere in the world is almost within reach.

If you want to make a living as a producer, masterminding great recordings is not the end of your obligations. You'll have to deal with lawyers, managers, and the business end of record companies — all in the interests of finding work, and ensuring you're paid for it! David Mellor invites you into his parlour...

Computers helped former BBC engineer Clive Williamson and his band Symbiosis through all the stages of CD production, right through to finished discs and artwork. In the first of a two-part series, he explains how he brought digital technology and traditional musicians together to create atmospheric ambient music.

There are now more recording media and data storage formats than ever before. Paul White catches up with Pro Tape's Richard Symons, to discuss the role of tape in a multi-platform future.

SOS reader, songwriter and freelance producer Steven Robinson has some strong opinions on the state of pop music today. In this month's stream of invective, he gets some of it off his chest.

As the final mix looms, the end of the producer's job draws near. But which approach to mixing is best? David Mellor fires up the Moulinex.

Tech 21's founder and inventor of the SansAmp range of solid state, vacuum tube-emulating amplifiers talks to Paul White about the intricacies of reproducing tube circuits without the tubes.

If computers belong in the studio, how come we spend half our time Gaffa-taping up the cracks? As a music technology trainer, Paul D.Lehrman is something of a digital evangelist — but one who's suffering a crisis of faith...

Half teacher, half technician, as a producer you're going to have to coax the best from your charges, identify their strengths and conceal their weaknesses. David Mellor dons the velvet glove...

Multimedia artist Nick Rothwell isn't very old. But he's old enough to remember a time when we didn't need hallucinogenic drugs to have a visual imagination. What's he on?

Alesis made their name with their reverbs, but really came of age with the revolutionary ADAT digital multitrack. Paul White talks to the company's founder and President Keith Barr about the impact of ADAT, and the future of technology in music.

An 'Unplugged' session is going to require a very different studio from a techno track bursting with MIDI bells and whistles. Beyond that, choosing a recording studio is down to that elusive spiritual ingredient, 'the vibe'. David Mellor investigates pop psychology...

Music journalist Rikky Rooksby considers the effect technology is having on music, and tries to extract some of the digit from digital.

The remarkable success of the Drake Music Project is proving that where music technology is concerned, disability is no handicap. Mark J. Prendergast joins the levellers...

Regular SOS contributor Mike Collins blows the trumpet for the Apple Macintosh, whilst sounding a note of caution to those musicians considering the Mac as a work platform today...

Continuing our occasional series of reports from long-term users of studio equipment, this month Brian Heywood talks to two producers about their Soundscape digital recording system, and how they used it to put together a hit track.

Debbie Poyser and Derek Johnson conclude their conversations with the engineers who service with a smile.

Once the artist, their record company and A&R manager have agreed the balance sheet, there are still artistic questions to be resolved. This month, continuing his look at working as a team, David Mellor explains how producer, arranger, programmer and session musician can live together in perfect harmony...

SOS writer Craig Anderton is all for musical literacy, but sees no benefit in instant gratification.

Disaster strikes! Your most essential piece of gear dies on you mysteriously. What should you do? Take it to the professionals, of course. In the first of a two-part feature, Debbie Poyser and Derek Johnson talk to some of the engineers who service with a smile — and find they have some amazing tales to relate from the inspection pit of the music industry.

To the budding pop star, A&R managers hold the power of life and death — and it's not much easier for the producer. David Mellor explains how to win friends and influence people