I remember taking the backs off cheap radios and "tweaking" the baffling array of circuitry long before understanding anything about electronics. Construction of a Mullard Unilex hi-fi followed in time, but building a square wave generator at school was the first real step towards a hobby with audible results! By this time I had also learnt to play rudimentary guitar and heard Terry Riley, John Fahey and Captain Beefheart to name but a few.

The end of schooling and the start of work enabled me to acquire a Sony TC377. An early discovery was that cross-connection of the line inputs/outputs produced a marvellous echo effect when replayed through a Hafler enhanced hi-fi. This was in 1971 long before Frippertronics became popular; I've been delaying sounds for years too (well, seconds anyway).

During the past eleven years assorted Sony, Ferrograph, Akai, Pioneer, JVC and Revox open reel machines have come and gone. A Teac A3440 was acquired last year and this is definitely staying for the time being. Varispeed tuning, silent punch ins and the ability to mix tracks cleanly are true luxuries after bouncing signals between ancient two track machinery. Ancillary equipment has been updated as my knowledge of electronics and ability to construct useful devices has improved (practice may not make perfect but it does produce better signal to noise ratios in time). Passive mixers and one transistor fuzz boxes have been replaced by a low budget, but effective, rack of units.

The system currently centres around a 12 input to 3 stereo pairs output mixer of my own design (though I admit to borrowing heavily from published circuits for various stages); it features parametric equalisation per channel, effects send/return, monitoring facilities etc. Power supply is external (for hum free operation) and this also feeds Bi-Pak amplifiers which drive Videotone Minmax IIs. Although I record almost exclusively in Sennheiser phones, for comfort, the Videotones are useful for checking how things will sound on hi-fi systems. Other home built units include 4 compressors (a passable substitute for noise reduction if used with care and plenty of EQ during each stage of recording to maintain presence and cut out hiss), a fiendish fuzz-sustain, tremolo unit, assorted mic pre-amps and an ETI touch organ with CMOS 4024 octave divider. Bi-Pak graphic EQs and Maplin long spring lines have been assembled in pairs with peak LED circuits per channel and are very useful items.

The recording system is completed by an Ibanez AD150 analogue delay, Small Stone Phaser, Pignose practice combo, Sony Stowaway and TC-K5511, Teac A-3300SX and Shure and Grampian mics (some of these being borrowed from friends when necessary).

As well as piling up technology I have spent some while learning to make music, classical guitar and music theory being the main areas of formal study. In addition I mess around with electric guitar, bass guitar, marimbas, a VL-Tone and musique concrete techniques. The A-3440 allows multi-tracking on a lavish scale and this has affected the way I assemble my ideas. Typically pieces of music are cudgelled onto tape in the following manner: an Electro-Harmonix rhythm machine is used to provide a guide on channel 1. Then prearranged guitar, bass and keyboards are added to channels 2, 3, 4. These are mixed onto channel 1 (the drums being erased in the process) and extra tracks of music and/or real world noises added as appropriate on channels 2, 3, 4. This melee may be bounced onto another machine, mixed to stereo and returned to the A-3440 for more multi-tracking before a final mixdown.

The 8 tracks can be built up for a complete piece; the temptation to go further has to be curtailed at present. Without companders it is almost impossible to maintain any real presence or sense of dynamics on the first tracks after 8 have been mixed to stereo by the above process. I prefer to rearrange the music and use echo to fatten up the sound rather than add extra muddy tracks. I have tried a great variety of tape and am currently using Racal Zonal back-coated. This is not quite as good as TDK or Maxell but quite acceptable and much cheaper.

Any attempt to explain musical creation ought to be prefaced by this statement: "Music critics will tell you how music is made (and how good or bad it is) but musicians will tell you the process defies explanation." Certainly I can't explain how my tunes appear (though they often grow from simple note patterns) or why I currently like the keys of E minor and D major more than any others. Sometimes I suspect the music I produce is my choice of tunes and tempi, the machinery's choice of timbre and a mutual understanding that each can only push the other so far in arranging overdubs, use of effects etc. Knowing I can split a difficult guitar part into several overdubs allows each to be developed separately (often to the point where the composite track could not have been played in one take).

Similarly with other instruments. This has led to me composing many pieces as a series of interacting and overlaid note patterns. Obviously I could use sequencers, trigger pulses, clocks, et al but I feel this would be to the detriment of my music. Most electromusic sounds to me to be machine controlled and lacking in humanity. Improved touch-sensitivity, filters and dynamic range are making synthesisers more useful but sequencers, like drum machines, are not subtle enough for my liking (or at least those within my price range aren't).

R. Stevie More (an American home recordist who may have invented the phrase "up against the wall recording" and whose records are well worth finding) claims that no effects units are necessary: the process of recording instruments and voices on to domestic tape decks introduces more than enough distortion and peculiar tonal qualities. I don't entirely agree, but the home studio operative should have an innate understanding of how, say, an untreated cymbal will sound after a couple of track bounces and a few remixes before deciding what effects to apply to it. Recording a complete piece of music to produce as natural a sound as possible has been a good way, for me at least, of learning about the quirks of a particular system. I like my set-up and this is as important as its signal to noise ratio or overdub qualities. Everyone knows headphones have to be comfortable; this applies equally to all your machinery. Unless you're at peace with your Teac creativity goes out of the window.

In an attempt to become fabulously well to do and adored by millions The Same (a band of which I am allegedly the major part) recorded an LP on my system during September and October last year. I thought we had produced a subtle fusion of Terry Riley, Captain Beefheart and John Fahey with references to the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa. One critic recently described Sync or Swim, by The Same as "calm noise blending electronics and acoustic guitar and reflecting the peaceful Wiltshire countryside where it was made", which just goes to show you should never judge your own music!

Future plans include some improvement of instrumental abilities (obviously), acquisition of noise reduction and an E&MM digital delay line and construction of a polyphonic synthesiser for string and brass effects.

'Sync or Swim' by The Same is available direct from Robert Cox, £3.50 including p&p">(Contact Details).