Variety is the spice of life it is said and variety is most certainly what we've got for you in this bumper issue - our biggest ever! If you turn to page 12 you'll find the first example of what will be a regular monthly element of this magazine - Gateway's Sound Advice Column, where staff members of the respected Gateway School Of Recording& Music Technology in London reply to questions set by you. This will be your page, devoted solely to the solving of any problems you might have that relate to subjects covered by this magazine.

Despite the extra pages, space is still at a premium which means we have to restrict publication to the most interesting letters or extracted topics from letters that, potentially, will be of benefit to the greatest number of our readers, and not purely to the original author of the letter. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a written reply to every letter we receive but we will always try our best. By the way, it's always a good idea to include a telephone number (if possible) in any correspondence to allow us to contact you during the day if we feel it more productive or necessary to reply by phone, as some queries would require a 20,000 word dissertation otherwise. So now you know where you can get some valuable (and free) advice if you ever need it.

On another tack let me quickly tell you that the winning entries for the Sound On Sound Giant Summer Competition have now been finalised and all winners notified. So, if you entered and have kept your fingers crossed ever since but haven't heard a peep from us yet, then I'm afraid that it means you have not won. Better luck next time. Full details of the prize-giving will be announced in our next issue.

It is rare for any magazine to feature a relatively 'unknown' artist, yet that is precisely what we have done in our interview with synthesist Ian Boddy. Having already released two albums, Ian recently took the bold step of financing and forming his very own record label in order to ensure that his music gets heard - and by as many people as his meagre resources will allow. His story epitomises the plight of many of our readers I am sure and as such I hope you'll agree that the majority of things he has to say on the subject of public awareness of his brand of instrumental electronic music make for interesting reading.