SOUND ON SOUND
To find the exact phrase, put the words in quotes or join them together with a plus sign e.g. live+recording or "live recording".
To find, say, all live recording articles that mention Avid, enter: live+recording +avid - and use sidebar filters to narrow down searches further.
Editor In Chief Paul White evaluates how best to define your music, and whether it is of commercial merit or not.
Extending the modelling approach they pioneered with the original Variax electric, Line 6 have now taken a shot at reproducing the sounds of different miked acoustic guitars. Almost completely immune to feedback, the Variax Acoustic will clearly be a hit in some live applications, but does it sound good enough to record?
As a creative, stable and above all fun way of combining audio loops in real time, Ableton's Live has proved an ideal counterpart to Rewire-compatible applications such as Cubase. With version 4 offering a wealth of new features, including MIDI sequencing, could Live now replace traditional sequencers altogether?
When the epic, studio-created drum sounds of the 1980s had to be translated to a stage setting, sample triggering from drum kits came to the fore — and our man Gavin Harrison began his personal quest for the ultimate setup...
Layering hardware sound modules to create new sounds is a simple matter, but things are not nearly as easy when you are working with virtual instruments in Logic. Here are a few useful workarounds...
The market for software that emulates guitar amplifiers is pretty crowded these days, but Native Instruments have found a new angle with a modular program that comes with a dedicated hardware controller and interface.
This stylish eight-channel preamp and converter offers front-panel instrument inputs and M&S stereo decoding.
In the age of iTunes, if you want to sell your music, you have to be able to get it online. But to do this, you need to understand a ton of Internet technology. Does this man have the answer?
Buying a music computer from a specialist builder is an increasingly popular option for the PC musician. We rounded up some of the leading names in music PCs to find out exactly what they offer.
Intel's latest chipsets are finding their way into new PCs — but do they offer any advantages to the computer musician?
This innovative rectangular-capsule design aims to combine the desirable attributes of small- and large-diaphragm sounds.
Digidesign's Samplecell products once had a huge army of users, many of whom still have well-loved sample libraries stranded in this format. We look at the options available to continue using these sample patches in Pro Tools.
I often see reviews for mic preamps and channel strips in SOS and I'm wondering if I need one. I currently plug a condenser mic into a small mixer, which provides phantom power, which then feeds into my M-Audio Delta soundcard. Is there a good reason to pay money for a box that seems to do something I am already able to do?
I've been comparing two records, and both sound massive in the studio compared with our mixes but when you press the mono button, on one it disappears, and when you press it on the other it doesn't change one bit! How do they do it?
I noticed a quiet high-pitched whine coming from my Tannoy Reveal Active monitors, which are plugged into my Spirit Folio F14 mixer. Eventually I found that the whine stops when I press the button on my Edirol DA2496 soundcard to select an external word clock. I would rather get to the source of the problem and sort it out. Can you help?
I bought some CDs of new sound banks for my Korg Wavestation off eBay recently, only to find that most of them are in System Exclusive (SysEx) format rather than MIDI files. I have loaded sounds into my synths from MIDI files before using Cubase, but I don't know how to do it with a SysEx file. Can you help?
When using a compressor and an EQ as insert effects on a snare drum, is it better to use compression followed by EQ or EQ first then compression?
I am concerned about my hearing getting damaged — more at live gigs than in the studio — and I'm wondering how I'd go about getting my hearing checked. Also, is there anything I can do to reduce the risk of damaging my hearing if I'm attending or playing regularly at loud gigs regularly?
I am told that it is possible to remove the vocals from a CD track by reversing the phase of one of the stereo channels. Is this correct and, if so, how does it work? Also, is the reverse possible — can you remove the rest of the track to just leave the vocals?SOS Forum Post
I am having serious earthing problems which are making it difficult for me to record a clean guitar sound. All my leads are good, and I don't have this problem with any of my other equipment — just the guitar stuff. Could it be a problem with my domestic mains supply?