Reports on recent appearances by two widely revered names in electro-music, Klaus Schulze and King Crimson.

Category crossing contemporary composer cornered

Crowded House's Woodface album won widespread acclaim for the sheer quality of its songs. Paul Tingen quizes main man Neil Finn on perfecting the three-minute pop song.

Gig Tactics

are bands forgetting how to play live

The co-producer of Level 42's last two records has also lent his keyboard playing skills to the likes of Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Mick Jagger and Talking Heads. He discusses his roles as programmer, synth player and producer with Paul Tingen.

Michel Huygen/Neuronium

This Spanish synthesist explains the working methods and motivation behind his psychotronic musical landscapes.

Mark Fishlock expounds.

Ted Fletcher documents the rise of a talented studio engineer whose recorded credits already include albums by Gary Moore and China Crisis.

Al Jarreau's band itemised and analysed by Jim Betteridge

Creating The Future

Anyone can dream about the studio of the future, but it takes a unique talent to build it in the present. Wally Badarou's personal studio defies conventional ideas of studio design, substituting voice-controlled DMP11s for a large console, and putting the musician first. Paul Tingen listens in.

Chas de Whalley chews the fat with Howard Grey, the young turk behind some of UB40's and Scritti Politti's finest moments

polyphonic sampling for a grand

Eric Clapton at Wembley. Jim 'Slow Brain' Betteridge reports

Bassist Sara Lee and guitar player Andy Gill discuss sonic invention and positive discrimination.

RETROSPECT: the beach boys

celebrating sweet surfurbia - from good vibrations to kokomo

Personal Services

It’s a tough world out there in the 16-track studio jungle, but Abbeydale’s owners have made a success out of providing a ‘personal production service’ for songwriters and bands. What's their secret? Read on...

Tony Horkins confesses a closet liking for the king of Canadian A.O.R. Let the kids rock...

Paul White talks to Tony Visconti about his career, his production methods and his plans for the future.

Janet Angus talks to Jo about his enthralling past and his new studio where surfing is the most serious distraction.

Casio's first foray into the digital drum machine market, the RZ-1, offers all the usual rhythm features plus one extra - the facility to sample four of your own sounds. Mark Jenkins finds out if it matches his expectations.

Bruford & Moraz

Dissecting an unusual fusion

Dan Hartman takes Chas De Whalley to the US of AOR

The man behind Elton’s new mix

Tony Oxley sneers commendably at commercialism in music.

Never mind avoiding presets and programming your own patches... how about rebuilding the whole damn synth? Richard James - aka Polygon Window, Caustic Window, Diceman, Soit PP, Blue Calx, AFX and The Aphex Twin - isn’t happy with his hardware till he’s had the toolbox to it. Phil Ward enters the twilight zone of the lad from Cornwall who’s spearheading the ambient onslaught.