Recording

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.

What's the connection between SOS, a set of bagpipes and Richard Branson's round-the-world balloon escapades?

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

The SOS team answer a reader's cry for help, and assist him to improve his recordings of guitar and vocals.

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?

We visit another group of enterprising SOS readers: TMS (which stands for The Musical Shed) is a six-man business partnership producing hip-hop and garage music for white-label release.

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...

Direct Injection (DI) boxes can be real problem-solvers in the studio, but you have to choose the right one for the job.

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.

You can achieve a lot with just a computer and a soundcard, but when you want to accommodate external sound sources or record with high-quality microphones then you really need to add a hardware mixer to your setup. Here's how to hook it all together for maximum flexibility.

Do hit songs have a hidden ingredient that makes them successful by appealing directly to our emotions? It's a question that musicians and scientists have sought the answer to for many decades. Acoustic researcher Ernest Cholakis has a new take on the theory...

We all want to improve the quality of our recordings, but there's often no need to rush out and buy new equipment. You just have to take a close look at the way you're using what you already have.

Why can't I run Cubase 5.1 on Windows 95? Is there a software package that acts purely as a virtual tape recorder? What is panning law? How can I get equal monitoring levels? Do multi-client soundcards still exist? Which hard disk format is best for PC audio?

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.

There are now lots of different ways to make a stereo master recording of your final mix, so how do you work out which one is best for you?

Why is phase important? What orchestral sample libraries are available for HALion? Where can I get Windows-based ASIO drivers for an Audiomedia III card? Are there really reverb and synth plug-ins supplied with Mac OS X? How can I isolate the vocals from a stereo mix?

Find out how to get the highest-quality audio into your computer music system.

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...

Recorded on eight-track cassette, cLOUDDEAD's extraordinary debut album is an object lesson in lo-fi production and the creative use of budget equipment.