Theory / Technical

Love or hate the Yamaha NS10, this unassuming little speaker has found a place in the studios of many of the world's top producers. We trace its history, and investigate why a monitor whose sound has been described as "horrible" became an industry standard.

I keep reading about different types of synthesis like 'wavetable', 'S&S' and 'vector' but I don't know what they are...

In the final part of this two-part Net Notes about broadcasting your audio and video on the Internet, Dave Shapton discusses error correction and quality control, helps you to prepare for your webcast and suggests some solutions for broadcasting live events.

After looking at the development of and theory behind mLAN, Paul Wiffen continues his series on the new FireWire-based music and audio protocol with a practical look at the effect it will have on the gear in our studios and how we connect it together.

Monitor speakers affect nearly all the descisions we make when recording and mixing — yet most of us know very little about how they are designed, and why they sound the way they do. In the first of a new series, Phil Ward explains what goes into the design of typical passive nearfields, and the effects they can have on what we record.

Last month, Paul Wiffen explained how he heard about mLAN — a new data-transfer protocol which will allow us to send audio, MIDI, and even video down one FireWire connector. This month, he finds out from Yoshi Sawada of Yamaha's mLAN development team how the system is likely to work in practice.

A new interfacing standard is just around the corner which can carry digital audio, MIDI, timecode and hard drive communications down a single cable, in addition to the digital video and multimedia signals which the likes of Sony, Apple and others are already sending down it. Paul Wiffen, long an advocate of high-speed digital interfaces, investigates and finds that he may just have a new religion to evangelise.

I have been told that part of the job of 'lining up' an analogue multitrack tape recorder involves using phase to adjust...

Poor studio wiring can lead to hums and buzzes, but you can avoid the worst of these problems by following a few simple rules.

Commercial singles and albums are incorporating ever-more-sophisticated interactive audio and visual content, often using the Enhanced CD format. Janet Harniman-Cook starts this two-part feature with a look at how the format is being used by record companies, and the possibilities that are open to independent musicians.

ISDN is a term that you will have certainly have come across in the pages of SOS over the last few years, but perhaps without really knowing what it does and how it works. Hugh Robjohns explains the relevance of this international digital telecommunications network to the modern musician.

Subtle timing nuances play a large part in the feel of much of today's rhythm-based music. Martin Walker bangs the drum about creative use of groovy time-tweaking functions.

In the final instalment of our series on the techniques and technology of digital audio, Hugh Robjohns contemplates plugging it all together.

Following on from last month's look at digital tape recording formats, Hugh Robjohns turns the spotlight on the techniques and technology of disk-based recording.

In the fourth instalment of our series on the techniques and technology behind digital audio Hugh Robjohns looks at digital tape recording formats.

Though you might not realise it, the audio industry has employed data reduction strategies since the earliest days of digital systems. Hugh Robjohns explains the concepts and explodes some myths.

In the third instalment of our series on the techniques and technology of digital audio, Hugh Robjohns turns his attention to digital audio error detection and correction — and some of the problems associated with them!

Hugh Robjohns continues his look at the techniques and technology of digital audio. This month — quantising and oversampling.

Digital recording systems have been in everyday use now for nearly 20 years, and such systems have become affordable to the project studio owner within the last decade. But what actually is digital recording, how does it work, and are the claims made about its sonic perfection justified? In the first of this new 6-part series, Hugh Robjohns revisits the technology and techniques involved.

Paul White explores the role of both passive and active DI boxes in recording applications.

Setting up your gear for low noise and minimum distortion needn't be a nightmare. Martin Walker gudes you through the process, and shows you how to stand tall, even without headroom.