From a clothes and record shop to an electronics company to a sound system to an excellent album and charting single, London's Funki Dreds are on the move. Tim Goodyer talks tech to Soul II Soul's Jazzie B.

As Soul II Soul return this month with a third album, Paul Ireson reports from their private studio on the writing and recording of more club classics.

After producing artists ranging from Bomb the Bass and S 'Xpress to Bryan Ferry and Wet Wet Wet, Pascal Gabriel is about to begin his own career as a recording artist. Tim Goodyer discovers a Lovechild.

From their excellent 1984 debut single 'Venceremos', Working Week have charted a unique course between fashionability and credibility. Simon Trask works out with Simon Booth.

Martyn Ware has been spending a lot of time producing other people's projects since Heaven 17 faded away, but now a second BEF album is in progress. Interview by Paul Ireson.

...aka The Moody Boys, Voyager and Urban Jungle, and remixer by appointment to KLF, System 7 and many others. Phil Ward uncovers the real Tony Thorpe.

Jazzer who likes to mix his rhythms

The Beautiful People: If 60s Were 90s...

Vie Marshall raps with the bad young brother himself about Ataris, Creator and reader-friendly manuals

Meeting the music business and business of making music on their own terms saw one London band building a studio as well as a reputation from the ground up. Simon Trask gets in deep with Double Trouble.

Abandoning guitars for samplers, Skin became Fluke and discovered new artistic freedom. Simon Trask listens to the man/machine argument from people who've learned both sides of it.

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a founder of the YMO before becoming one of David Sylvian's favoured partners. Now, fresh from a Japanese and a series of film scores he tells Tim Goodyer about his latest LP.

Riding the ambient house wave, The Orb have released a concept album that mixes dance beats with new age textures. Tim Goodyer tunes in to Alex Paterson and Thrash as they chill out with technology.

Despite the tendency of creative professions to be more liberal than others, women make up only a tiny proportion of producers and engineers in the music industry. Paul Tingen reports on this sad state of affairs.

The Problem With MIDI...

Engineer Jim Ebdon shares some secrets about getting a heavy live sound, and Andrew Levy explains the band’s approach to recording

British Music Fair Show Report

This year's British Music Fair attracted hordes of equipment-hungry punters eager to see what the future of music might hold. Simon Trask was there asking the same question.

To mime or not to mime, that is the question. Just when does miming stop being a convenient practice in presenting music TV programs and start to have an effect on the music itself?

Drum Machine

As the drum machine goes from strength to strength, Yamaha give it a new dimension by adding a synth-style "bend" wheel. Simon Trask wonders if the beatbox will ever be the same again.