Another in our 'How It Works' series. David Mellor kicks off a two-part investigation into the practicalities of bins, horns, tweeters and woofers. Baffled? You won't be once you've read this!

Continuing our 'How It Works' series, David Mellor lays bare the facts about the applications and workings of the commonest types of microphone.

Last month, David Mellor explained how loudspeaker drive units work and how manufacturers sometimes try to pull the acoustic wadding over our ears. Part 2 tells the story of how the loudspeaker works as a system, the reason for crossovers, and gives a couple of hints on how to make BIY (bodge-it-yourself) cabinets.

If a pair of trendy phono leads for your record player can cost as much as £100 or more, how much should it cost to cable up your studio? David Mellor has the answer...

Do you live in peace with your cassette recorder? Or is your life full of mangled tape misery and longings for lost high frequencies? Confirmed reel-to-reelie David Mellor explains the problems that bedevil the cassette format, and offers some advice to make the medium work for you rather than against you.

From the humblest of 4-track cassette recorders to the might of 48-track digital, multitrack is the technique used for 99.9% of all commercial recordings. David Mellor looks at the background to this powerful tool and wonders how we ever managed without it.

How it Works

Part one of a series on designing and building a digital percussion sampling device.

Drum Machine

In the second instalment of our 'How It Works' series, engineer/musician David Mellor focuses on the operational principles of digital audio systems.

You can always get more out of your equipment if you know more about it. David Mellor begins a new series that explores the innermost workings of various studio devices. This month: the Tape Recorder.

David Mellor continues our 'How It Works' series with an investigation of the many ways available to help silence your recordings!

Otherwise known as the big black box at the bottom of the rack, the power amplifier is the most unglamorous piece of audio equipment known to man. David Mellor seeks out its finer qualities.

What is a Noise Gate? What on earth is a MIDI Noise Gate? David Mellor supplies the answers and explains some standard and not so standard gating techniques, with special reference to the BSS Audio DPR 502 MIDI Noise Gate.

How it Works

Part three, and a look at the design thinking behind this astonishing MIDI-controlled sampling unit.

An Alternative To Tape

From the analogue to the digital era, magnetic tape has been the prime production medium for recorded music for several decades. David Mellor examines new developments in recording and speculates where they might lead.

the stereo chorus 400

Geoff Levin tries the latest word in psychoacoustic enhancement, and finds it involves analysing the entire frequency spectrum, then time-aligning parts of it. What do the results sound like in the studio?

Tone Controls

explains Ambisonic recording (3D sound)

Signal Processors - Frequency Response Modification

Phil 'DIYal-a-disc' Walsh delves into the world of frequency response modification

Subharmonic Synthesiser

This subharmonic synthesiser promises to do for your bottom end what an aural exciter does for your top.

JL Cooper PPS2 MIDI/Tape Synchroniser

This compact device from time code pioneers JL Cooper makes light work of your MIDI-to-tape sync needs.