SOUND ON SOUND
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!
Many of us can now afford the once-unthinkable luxury of making our own CDs, for one-off music demos, mass CD duplication or general data storage. But a few of us know the full story behind the numerous 'Book' standards governing the kind of data that can be stored on a CD. Mike Collins colours by numbers...
Paul White finds a few ways around the restricted breath-control facilities of the Yamaha VL70m.
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...
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.
At the January NAMM show in 1987, Roland launched their D50, which mixed synthesis and sampled sounds in one package, a compbination which has remained popular to the current day. Paul Wiffen examines how S&S evolved into the most widespread form of sound generation on the market.
This month, Derek Johnson checks out a couple of new software versions, and finds that Electronic Cow's Sound Chip Synth is moovin' on up...
Storing large PC-based hard disk recording projects can become tricky, especially when you need to make regular backups too. Martin Walker looks at the options available.
In the first part of this new series, David Mellor gives his personal slant on creating a studio that will stay with you as your recording skills and budget improve.
There's no gain without pain. Martin Russ experiences the joys and agonies of a new computer — the Apple Power Mac 7300.
This month, Martin Walker has some chips and a little sauce, as well as investigating some mysteriously disappearing features in Cubase — Cakewalk Home Studio; Cubase VST.
Taking a compact DAT machine out and about can gain you some unique recordings, but can also present you with some unique problems.
Paul White explains why a great reverb doesn't always make a mix sound better.
Drum kit miking is a black art as far as many project studio owners are concerned. Yet, as Benedict Grant explains in the first of this two‑part series, there's no need to let the kit beat you...
Upgrading is becoming a regular task for many PC owners. Martin Walker gets stuck in once again, looking at hard drives, memory expansions, and faster processors.
Chris Carter offers insight into motivation and stress in the studio and some possible solutions.
Paul White concludes his series with an exhortation to unleash your creativity...
Why is no-one giving Mac sequencers away for nothing? Martin Russ dives into the sobering world of shareware and freeware.
Using a sampler without some sort of hard drive is just not an option these days, which means that some understanding of SCSI is necessary. Devoted Akai samplist Paul Farrer explains some of the pitfalls that can befall the unwary user of SCSI'd up samplers, and examines some of the other cross-platform issues that can complicate sampling.
Associating sounds with MIDI datafiles is not difficult, but does require some initial setting up. If your sequences never seem to sound the same as they did last time, Martin Walker may have the answers.