Mixing / Production

The creative force in the modern pop music business seems, increasingly, to reside with songwriter/producers like Gary Miller, who specialise in getting the best out of artists in collaboration.

Multi-band compression is one of the most powerful processing techniques available to the recording engineer. However, if you don't know how to apply it effectively it can just as easily ruin the sound of your entire production.

A PC with CD burner and soundcard provides the ideal means to preserve old tape recordings or transfer your vinyl collection to CD.

Is it safe to switch all my gear off using one power switch? How can I get a vocal sound that's dry, but fits in the mix? How can I measure my soundcard's background noise level? Can I connect my keyboard's output to a mic input on my desk? How can I calculate the frequency of individual pitches? Will silica gel have a limited lifespan in my mic box? 

Dance-rockers the Sneaker Pimps have spent years in the studio together. For their next move, they're going to split up - virtually...

To be successful in the music business today, you need to be flexible and multi-skilled — but not many people take these qualities as far as Damien Egan...

Groove Control loop libraries allow you much more flexibility than traditional sample CD-ROMs, if you know how to get the most out of them.

One of the most influential jazz keyboardists ever, Herbie Hancock is renowned for his innovative use of electronics and new production techniques.

How can I produce aggressive female vocals? Mac Or Windows? How do I eliminate flanging MIDI notes? Can I use Virtual Guitarist with Logic on a Mac? Should I record at a 24-bit resolution?

Over the years, Iceland has produced more than its fair share of innovative, experimental pop music. The country's latest hot exports, Sigur Ros, are currently recording an album in a disused swimming pool...

What can you do when you've reached the limits of technical innovation? According to Garbage, the answer is to go back to the basics of songwriting.

For his latest solo project, innovative DJ and producer Howie B set himself a difficult challenge: to create live, improvisational dance music with a minimal setup.

Queen's seminal 1975 album and the worldwide hit from it, 'Bohemian Rhapsody', might almost have been tailor-made for surround sound. Now guitarist Brian May and engineer/surround specialist Elliot Scheiner have remixed this masterpiece for what promises to be a genre-defining DVD-Audio release.

Roger Linn's name may be forever associated with the birth of the first serious, sample-based drum machine in 1979, but now, after years away from instrument design, he's back with a new guitar-oriented product offering rhythmic filter effects.

The Wavestation can prove extremely frustrating to use, but can produce sounds that are almost impossible to recreate on any other instrument. So here's some hands-on advice for getting the best from Korg's Wavestation series of synthesizers.

It's one thing to make music in your bedroom, quite another to run a successful record label from it. No wonder Mike Paradinas doesn't get much time to tidy up...

Once Rob Davis was a pop star himself with Mud. Now his songs have taken Kylie Minogue and Sophie Ellis-Bextor to the top of the charts.

The Strokes' Is This It was many critics' choice for the best album of 2001, and has gone platinum in the UK. Remarkably, it was recorded in a basic New York project studio by a then-unknown producer.

UK garage is the biggest underground dance music phenomenon for years, and has taken London collective So Solid Crew to the top of the charts. Crew member Swiss talks to SOS about their approach to production.

One-time SOS writer Mark Cunningham hadn't produced an album for almost 10 years — until a soulful ex-prisoner inspired him to get back behind the desk...

In this final part of our series, we look at how the major project studio-oriented MIDI + Audio sequencers (DAWs) currently handle surround.