Recording

Over the last decade, Mouse On Mars have become one of the leading names in European electronic music. Their experimental approach brings together analogue and digital, lo-fi and hi-fi, real instruments and samples to create an organic-sounding whole.

Musicality isn't everything when you're trying to make a decent-sounding recording at home, even if you're as talented as the multi-instrumentalist Harding family. So the SOS team travelled north to help them get their engineering techniques up to scratch.

What is the difference between audio and data CD-Rs? Surely digital audio is just data?

I'm going to be adding some woodwind parts to a track, recording flute, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones one at a time. Can you offer any advice on how to mike them up?

I have recorded an acoustic guitar into Cubase SX, both with a mic and DI'd. As I had expected, there are some phase issues...

I read that the level meters in most DAWs don't give a true indication of when audio is peaking, and that audio which looks like it's below 0dBFS may actually be peaking above it, causing distortion when played back. Is this true?

For the 2002 album Heathen, David Bowie and Tony Visconti revived one of the greatest artist/producer partnerships in pop history. Following the success of that project, the duo have again worked closely together on Bowie's new album, Reality.

With the death of producer Sam Phillips, the music industry has lost one of its greatest pioneers. In an interview given towards the end of his life, he looked back on his work with greats like Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash, most of whom were unknowns before they signed to his Sun Records label.

Liam Watson went against the grain to build a studio with the retro sound he loved. And now that sound is back in fashion, he's had a number one album with the White Stripes.

Equipment specifications often give input and output levels with units like dBu, dBV and dBFS. What's the difference?

Another look inside an SOS reader's home studio...

I regularly make stereo location recordings of orchestras, using Cool Edit Pro for editing and mastering. If I simply...

I've been recording vocals using a Neumann TLM103 mic going through a Dbx 386 tube preamp, and using the Dbx's converters to send a digital signal into a Roland VS1680 multitracker. I understood the Dbx was virtually impossible to clip, but experience proves otherwise! What am I doing wrong?

Q How can I use VST instruments live?

I'm interested in using my VST instruments when...

If you want to incorporate live drumming into your sequencer-based productions, your drummer will almost certainly have to play along to some sort of click track. However, if you're not careful, it could easily end up being more a hindrance than a help.

We answer one of the most common queries from those just starting out with home recording.

Kieran Hebden of Four Tet is a producer who puts the intelligence into Intelligent Dance Music.

It seems that almost everyone who's heard Goldfrapp's debut album Felt Mountain has fallen under their spell. Now the duo have returned with a second, Black Cherry, and a harder, synth-based sound.

The success of soul legend Solomon Burke's comeback album is a testament to the virtues of keeping things simple in the studio.

A gaggle of famous MCs, a star of the extreme sports world, and a laptop recording setup in a hotel bedroom: could the MuskaBeatz project show the way ahead for rap music?

Dozens of your recording questions receive poignant answers from SOS's editorial experts.