Alan Hoida looks into the postproduction stage of making a pop video.

More MIDI magic from Roland.

Jay Chapman sets the scene for a regular series written to help you better understand the practicalities of life with the Musical Instrument Digital Interface.

Sound quality has long been a grey area in the world of sampling. Chris Meyer finds out it takes more than "bits" to make a sampler sound good.

In the second part in our series on successful sample looping Chris Meyer concentrates on the mysteries and subtleties of crossfade looping.

Putting It Together

The nitty gritty of choosing appropriate recording and sequencing equipment for use in a school environment.

Multitrack Recording In The Classroom

Our educational consultant describes a basic, 4-track recording session from initial recording to final mixing.

Loudspeakers

The Old Workhorse

We take a close look at this studio stalwart in all its various forms and point out what to look for when buying one second hand.

Why Bands Break Up

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

The MT guide to CD-ROM

Entertainment format of the future, or simply a handy digital storage medium? Ian Waugh writes the (Yellow) book on CD-ROM.

The "guitar player's synthesiser" is now in full production. We analyse the mechanics of the Stepp, and let two musicians - a guitarist and a keyboard player - give their views on its playability.

Even the most advanced of today's hi-tech instruments contain mechanical components that are prone to failure. The trick is to ensure that they just outlast the product to which they're fitted...

Why limit use of your computer to sequencing and librarian functions? Roly Pickering explains what bulletin boards are, how you get onto them and what they can do for you.

Alan Hoida road tests a portable video studio.

Emu Emax II

The first in an occasional series in which David Mellor looks at well-established and respected pieces of musical and audio equipment, and tells you what you need to know to start making music with them.

The Final Frontier?

Is what digital reverb is all about recreating. But how do the mechanics of reverberation work, and what relation do today's digital techniques bear to the real thing? Paul White reports.

Paul White takes a look at what's involved when you start taking on paying customers in your studio.

If you're using one of Roland's D-series synths (or an MT32) and you're tired of doing battle with its programming system, this ST editor/librarian can help. Gordon Reid goes soft on his D5.

The Musical Instrument Digital Interface has revolutionised the way we write and record music. Martin Russ delves deep into MIDI's 10-year history, explains its many recent changes and additions, and looks ahead to see what the future will hold.

Mixing Desk

Not quite a desk in a million - studio owner Gareth Stuart gets to grips with one of TAC's 73 possible variations in their Scorpion mixer range, the 16-8-2+16.

Heave off One, bolt on Two.

Power amp giant test

Austin Armstrong, BSS, C-Audio, MHA Chameleon, and RCF battle it out

In this first article of a new series, John Harris examines basic song arrangement.