SOUND ON SOUND
In last month's issue, Paul Farrer offered hints and tips for making your programmed MIDI instruments seem more real. This month it's the the turn of drums and percussion.
Many of today's digital effects processors offer you considerable control over the creation of artificial ambiences for your music, and if you know how reverberation works in real spaces, you'll be better equipped for designing fake ones. Hugh Robjohns boldly goes...
Ask a dozen engineers how to make great vocal recordings and you'll get a dozen different answers — but there are some ground rules, as Hugh Robjohns explains.
Hugh Robjohns continues his history of stereo recording techniques with a look at the development of spaced microphone arrays.
You probably don't realise how noisy your computer studio is until you turn everything off and enjoy the silence. Paul D. Lehrman explains how you can arrange your setup to reduce noise and restore peace to your working environment.
This month, MacOS evangelist Martin Russ reports back from the recent optimistic Apple Expo show, and dishes out some more tips on file management.
If you have a cheap Dolby Surround decoder in your home — say as part of a 'home cinema' entertainment system — and a stereo mixer as part of your recording setup, you have everything you need to start mixing in Surround sound. Hugh Robjohns explains how to enter another dimension...
Brian Heywood studio tests PC scoring/sequencing package Musicator, which has just gone audio, as well as handing out a few PC Notes Awards for '96...
Derek Johnson plugs a Swiss TOS-based computer, reveals plans for more Atari shows, and sets the record straight on Atari hard drives...
If you have to decide what to delete on your PC before installing a new program, it's time to consider a bigger disk drive. In the first of this two-part series, Martin Walker explains why size isn't all you have to consider when making your choice...
Experienced engineers know that recording the spoken voice properly is actually more difficult than recording a singer. Hugh Robjohns explains why this is so, and passes on some hints and tips for developing a good technique.
Craig Anderton explains how you can use your multi-effects unit to create contemporary short delay treatments.
How can adding randomness to your monitoring improve its accuracy? Acoustic designer Andrew Parry explains how applying Early Sound Scattering (ESS) design principles can help to make studio control rooms of different dimensions sound subjectively similar.
Derek Johnson brings you more news from the platform that wouldn't die... the ST.
Most budding engineers will, at some time, have to tackle a performer who wants to sing and play the guitar at the same time. Mic type and placement can make a big difference to the quality of the result obtained, as Hugh Robjohns explains..
Brian Heywood discusses the powerful new soundcard from Terratec, plugs a couple of musical web sites, and entreats software developers to stop trying to reinvent the wheel...
AARRGGH! Just as you were about to save your computer crashes, destroying the only record of your latest musical opus. What should be your next step? Before you douse your PC in aviation fuel and set it ablaze, calm down, and hearken unto the soothing advice of Crashmeister Janet Harniman-Cook...
Many people have trouble adding new software cards to a PC. If your slots are full to overflowing, and every card is fighting for its own resources, you will almost certainly encounter problems. Fortunately, Martin Walker is here to lead you through the minefield.
Brian Heywood concludes his look at PC soundcards by considering some of the issues involved in using them to record and play back digital audio.
Hard disk recording is what everyone seems to be talking about, with new systems being released, at all levels of the market, almost every month. For anyone confused about how hard disk recording works, Martin Russ points out a few things you might not have considered...