Those little snippets that make the musician's life worth living

A History Of Knobs

guitar controls: big ones, small ones, useful ones, icky-kacky ones...

Programming your own DX sounds is not so difficult when there's someone to guide you. Kevin Stratton, product specialist with Yamaha USA, explains how to create vocal-like sounds and reverb with this FM synthesizer.

Producer Pro

Video software upgrade

Or, where is the difference twixt analogue and digital?

Porky, king of the cutting room

Drums & more — guaranteed no puns about electrical goods!

Touring With Nik Kershaw

Drummer Mark Price tells what it's really like to be up there on stage. Did anyone say terrifying?

Fostex Foundation 2000

session guitar from Heaven 17 to Art Garfunkel

Tips & News From The World Of Music Software

More hints and tips from the world of music software.

Seminal German avant garde composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius was in London recently to promote a new solo album, 'Gift of the Moment'. Dan Goldstein was granted a brief audience.

Power Chords PC Sequencer

Your questions answered

Thomas Dolby explains his new strategy

Film and library music composer Mark Thomas is currently recording several albums worth of orchestral library music. We catch up with him at Battery Studios...

Why Bands Break Up

A unique Making Music survey; plus a quiz to find out if you're the splitting type.

Alesis Quadraverb Plus and Datadisk SQ

Upgrading your equipment doesn't always mean selling the old stuff and replacing it entirely: new facilities and features may be only a chip away. Tony Hastings looks at updated versions of two Alesis units.

The mouth behind Nik Kershaw opens to Mike Hrano

how it works

What makes one recording engineer better than another, and how can you improve your recording engineering skills? In this introduction to a new series on recording techniques, David Mellor outlines an engineer's role in the studio, and explains why a good engineer is so important.

With Cubase and Notator fighting it out at the top end, Steinberg appear to have left Pro24 to defend its once dominant position in the mid-priced ST sequencer market. Now reinforcements are available with the release of Cubeat, a cut-down version of Cubase. David Hughes takes it into battle.

RETROSPECT: miles davis

what can a 63-year-old jazz trumpeter teach you about playing? rather a lot, actually

Of all the instruments that became popular in the heyday of the "big synth" a few years back, Roland's Jupiter 8 has stood the test of time the best. Tim Goodyer, a self-confessed JP8 addict, explains why.