Recording

Daniel Lanois has followed up a career producing acclaimed recordings for the likes of U2 and Peter Gabriel with two solo albums which have earned him equal respect as an artist in his own right. Paul Tingen talked to him about the changing directions in his own music.

With a track record that includes hit albums for the Smiths and current chart success with both Blur and the Cranberries, producer Stephen Street is making himself quite a name for his honest and straightforward production approach.

Take some Cajun banjo, an Italian opera singer, and a dash of Robert Fripp. Mix these diverse elements liberally with electronic dance music, and serve as the third album from the Grid, Evolver. Nigel Humberstone talks to the hi-tech duo on the making of this album, and their forthcoming classical project.

The first album from this chart-topping pianist and chanteuse was a million-seller; her second looks set to continue the trend. Ian Gilby was invited into the Craven home studio to discuss the enduring appeal of MOR.

Headlining the biggest electronic music festival in Europe was a US composer almost unknown in the UK. A contemporary of synth pioneer Don Buchla, Suzanne Ciani enjoys enourmous success in America, yet such recognition has eluded her so far this side of the Atlantic.

Chris Rea and engineer Stuart Epps talk to Mark Cunningham about the making of Espresso Logic, life at The Mill studios and their approach to recording Rea's work.

John Dyson is one of the UK's most popular electronic music composers, yet he works with recording equipment that is more state of the ark than state of the art, and his northern pragmatism won't let him give up his day job. Paul White met him at his home studio.

Young Irish engineer Robbie Adams played an important part in the recording of U2's popular and critically-acclaimed albums Achtung Baby and Zooropa. Here he gives Paul Tingen a fascinating insight into the exciting and unorthodox recording methods they used.

Toyah's first pop album for several years, Leap, was recorded not in an expensive commercial studio, but in the type of home recording environment with which many SOS readers will be intimately familiar, as Paul White discovers.

In between tours with Ultravox and appearances on Live Aid, Midge Ure somehow found the time to discuss the writing and recording of his first ever solo LP 'The Gift' and his No.1 single with SOS Editor Ian Gilby.

You don't know his name but you'll have heard his refrains. Composer Paul Bliss writes hits for the best of 'em using a UMI-2B sequencer package and several synthesizers. Ralph Denyer finds out how.