Traditionally this is the time of year when there are few new or exciting products to review because everyone has been holding back their surprises for the APRS show or waiting for the British Music Fair. However, this year the slack period just hasn't materialised and my living room is now piled to the ceiling with products vying for my attention. If this seems like an enviable task, just consider the implications; how would you like to spend days learning to program the latest in digital whatsits only to have to give it back just as soon as you'd got used to having it around? Mixing desks are another problem, do you know how many leads you need to make up to patch a mixing desk into your system? The best part of quite a few, that's how many.

But my pet gripe is microphone reviews; one isn't so bad and two I can face but how do you find time to plough through a dozen or so giving each one the attention it deserves? What is this, an appeal for sympathy for the editor? No, it's an appeal for someone reading this to say 'I love reviewing microphones, I'll write detailed and accurate reviews for you in no time flat in exchange for your highly attractive page payment rate.'

Well that's the appeal out of the way so what's next? This month sees the start of the long awaited series on video production which is being written for us by Alan Hoida, BBC editor and ex-member of the Pewke Band. We intend to cover most aspects involved in the production of band videos and we start off this month with a look at the equipment involved. If anyone is already involved in this kind of work, please give us a call and maybe you could write a piece for us yourself.

That's all for this month so it's time for me to put on my climbing boots and tackle that mountain in the front room.