Recording

All fingers and thumbs in front of a keyboard? John Walden provides a few pointers to make sequencing using a MIDI guitar controller a less fretful experience.

In this final part of our series looking at the alternative systems available for recording and mixing, Paul White outlines his own system and the reasons for building it that way.

Just when you thought it was safe to dip your hand in your pocket and buy that ideal studio, Paul White throws digital mixers into the frame.

What do you need to put together to create your own studio? Paul White investigates practical options for a core system based on preferred methods of creating music.

Paul White and Dave Lockwood strum up a few tried-and trusted methods of improving your studio guitar sound.

Following on from last month's look at the advantages and pitfalls of analogue and digital tape, and hardware tapeless recorders, Paul White turns his attention to the ways in which computers can be used in audio recording.

Confusing, isn't it? Where once the only recording option was tape, you can now put a whole studio inside a desktop PC or opt for an all-in-one recording and mixing hardware solution. Then again, you could stick to tape, or buy a separate hard disk recorder. In the first of this short series, Paul White examines the choices.

Mastering is the final link in your sonic chain. David Mellor helps you make sure it's not the weak one...

Setting up your gear for low noise and minimum distortion needn't be a nightmare. Martin Walker gudes you through the process, and shows you how to stand tall, even without headroom.

Last time, Benedict Grant explained how to properly mike an acoustic drum kit. In this concluding part of our short series, he turns his attention to committing kit sounds to multitrack.

A job helping to provide the sounds and recording the music for an animated Christmas special has SOS contributor Paul Ward hastily upgrading his studio and exploring the deepest recesses of his synth collection, in search of sleigh bells and singing reindeer patches...

Have you ever been faced with recreating a mix that you haven't worked on for weeks? Martin Walker explains how he manages to do just that, without the benefit of expensive automated mixers or a tape-op with a notebook!