From his formative days experimenting with Torchsong, William Orbit has made good through his remixes and a new outfit called Bass-o-matic. Tim Goodyer watches time catch up with a techno-prophet.

Zoo TV

MT goes backstage at U2's multimedia spectacular and discovers the technical realities behind Eno and the band's vision. Engineer Dave Lemmink unveils the system that redefines stadium rock

TAC Bullet Console

Is TAC's versatile Bullet a new big gun in the compact console market? Dave Lockwood reports.

You thought multi-timbral MIDI was only for synthesisers and samplers? You thought wrong, as Paul Wiffen proves with his analysis of Mode 4 on the Yamaha SPX90 effects processor.

'Noise Gates' are now an inherent part of modern recording practice. We explain their function and provide some practical applications.

Bronski Beat reveal all in The Garden, as their new album, Age of Consent, storms the charts.

'Are Friends Electric?' and 'Cars' will go down in the musical history books as classics of their genre but the writer of those hits, Gary Numan, has yet to match his early successes. Mark Jenkins met up with him during sessions for a forthcoming album at Rock City studios, Shepperton, only to discover that the Numan of today is finding it tough to get airplay for his recent work...

MIDI & Multitrack

Part 10: David Mellor looks at ways of getting the best of both worlds by combining a MIDI system with a multitrack tape recorder.

The concluding part of our short series on studio wiring based around the Fostex B16.

Effects processing is now an integral part of a recording studio - large or small. Aaron Hallas goes back to basics in this introduction to sound treatment.

After producing artists ranging from Bomb the Bass and S 'Xpress to Bryan Ferry and Wet Wet Wet, Pascal Gabriel is about to begin his own career as a recording artist. Tim Goodyer discovers a Lovechild.

More and more mixer manufacturers are waking up to the benefits MIDI can offer in a mixdown situation by incorporating MIDI-controlled muting on their products. Engineer/musician David Mellor checks out what the PC can do.

Real World

Real World music

12 Channel Mixer/12 Track Recorder

"It's Cruel To Make A Computer Work This Hard..."

Digidesign, pioneers of low-cost professional digital audio tools, have broken the multitrack barrier, pushing the Macintosh to its limits to offer four to 16 tracks of (relatively) affordable hard disk recording. Paul D. Lehrman can hardly believe his eyes...

explains Ambisonic recording (3D sound)

After an apprenticeship under the wing of the Frankies' Trevor Horn, Simon Darlow spreads his own; he talks to Paul Tingen about the hazards of writing, playing and producing your own album.

10 CC, LGT, Mainframe, Ian Boddy

From Curved Air to Sky, and beyond with the Synclavier II

A mixer from Simmons? Why not? The application of MIDI control to audio mixers is resulting in a radical departure from traditional designs, as Tony Hastings found out when he road-tested the SPM8:2 recently.

Record Producer

The man who turned the music of Duran Duran, Kajagoogoo, Human League and Magazine into hits, discloses his hit-making formulae, recording methods and well-equipped home studio.