After spending four years recording The Seeds of Love, Tears for Fears are back and touring the world. Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal talk tears and technology with Dan Rue and Tim Goodyer.

Roland Orzabal picks over the Tears' gear

Crying And Shouting With Bath's Finest

Messrs Smith and Orzabal explain how it can take a year to make two singles but only two months to make an album, among other things. Bits in between the chat by Dan Goldstein.

The Wool Hall

If you earn a fortune in royalties from record sales and you want your own recording studio, what do you do? If you're Tears For Fears, you build The Wool Hall. Paul Tingen reports.

The Wool Hall

If you earn a fortune in royalties from record sales and you want your own recording studio, what do you do? If you're Tears For Fears, you build The Wool Hall. Paul Tingen reports.

Jonathan Sorrell is one of a handful of session programmers working with the world's most sophisticated sampling keyboard - the Synclavier. Paul Gilby discovers how it came about.

Richard Burgess, Roland Orzabal and David Lloyd

Why the Thompson Twins, Genesis and Tears For Fears have plumped for plastic.

Recording your own music is only the first step to getting it heard; to do that, you need to deal with A&R people at record companies. Paul Tingen meets them, and discovers why so few bands succeed in impressing them.

Greater reliance on hi-tech instruments in the studio means there's more demand for people able to programme them. Paul Gilby spoke first to Karin Clayton about her recently formed agency that supplies programmers for studio sessions, and then to Fairlight programmer Simon Lloyd about his work.

A complete history of record production accompanied by quotations and anecdotes from no fewer than 18 of the world's leading producers.

Volume isn't everything

Jazz rock reggae punk funk folk joke.

We share with you the simple guitar chord trick upon which most pop music is based.

Adrian Deevoy goes larynx-in-hand to seek advice from Britain's most swinging singing teacher, Tona de Brett

The pick of 1983's equipment releases.

Who's Where, What's What

Sixty Something

Part 6: Sixty something. Dave reflects on originality and where to find it.

Confessions Of A Home Recordist

Confessions of a home recordist. Stephen Bennett on the delights and dangers of bedroom recording.

This month: Farfisa to Fuller.

Part 9 - Hammond to Hanert.

including The A-to-Z of Analogue

Another year, another host of hardware to look back on. We take you through the goodies and the baddies that came out during '84, just in case you missed any of them.

Software Stumbling

The software revolution hits a snag.