Stuck for a good string sound or one you haven't used a hundred times before? Tom McLaughlin explains how an old guitar, a violin bow and a little ingenuity can work wonders.

Will Digital Audio Tape bring digital clarity to domestic tape recording or will the major record companies use it to impose restrictions on what you can do with recordings you've already paid for?

Coldcut, David Ruffy

Wilf Smarties looks for the perfect beat in two new HitSound sample CDs, from production team Coldcut and drummer David Ruffy.

Curiosity Killed The Cat's producer Glenn Skinner gets a few things of his chest this month.

Tony Reed gets Turbot charged

A string arrangement can make or break a song — Ian Gardiner digs up a few basic rules for right-on arranging.

This month, we've devoted all of our news pages to two special show reports; from Chicago's NAMM fest, and London's APRS — the products which'll be making next year's news...

gossip column

The anti-christ of studio recording, Dave Goodman, talks to Chas de Whalley

An Appreciation

John Cage - The life & the legacy

In the third of an occasional series on the professional bodies who look after the interests of musicians and engineers, David Mellor talks to the APRS, the body which represents many of this country's leading recording studios.