Neatly sidestepping the monotonous beats and cliched melodies that typify too many dance acts, this Swiss-American collaboration are making refreshing music. Simon Trask and Heinrich Zwahlen share a technical obsession.

Despite his Barclay James Harvest and Jim Diamond connections, we let Chas De Whalley speak to Pip Williams. We should have known better.

Chas de Whalley meets legendary Folk Rock svengali, Joe Boyd

The Mix (1)

Part 15. David Mellor looks at how to create the perfect mix.

As PWL's in-house mixer, Pete Hammond can claim to have had a hand in even more chart singles than Stock, Aitken & Waterman. David Bradwell finds out what makes a hit record.

Pickups, headsets, guitars...

Ex-Police drummer and self-styled 'tech-head' Stewart Copeland discusses the merits of owning four Fairlight CMIs, why he's in a group called Animal Logic, and how to write an opera. Logical questions: Nicholas Rowland.

Paul White discusses the more advanced aspects of compression, and includes a table of useful settings.

The Beautiful People: If 60s Were 90s...

The scope of MIDI control has expanded beyond that of simply allowing one synthesiser to control another. Chris Meyer explains how you can now shape a whole mix using the five-pin DIN plug.

As sound-sampling becomes accepted as a technique, what will musicians do with their machines after the novelty has worn off? Chris Meyer takes a sideways look.

funk and hi-tech facilities

Hendrix rises again - thanks to two musicians, a helpful bureaucrat, and a rack-full of Akais

Composer and studio owner Guy Fletcher had a dream: 'The European Suite' was the end result. Ted Fletcher details the work that went into its recording.

Mixing Desk

If you can't afford to be without a fully-featured mixing desk but can't afford the usual asking price, it could be that you haven't checked out Studiomaster's Pro Line Gold. Tim Goodyer has...

Miranda Sex Garden: Sampling The Nation's PA Systems

The man behind Clapton, guitarist supreme Albert Lee talks guitars and playing with Max Kay.

If you're a frustrated synth programmer looking for an outlet to use your talents, you could become a soundtrack writer for computer games. Matthew Vosburgh meets one of Britain's best.

Just what have the Japanese done to the Engrish Ranguage?

Bryan Ferry

You know all those classic sixties and seventies songs you keep hearing on TV ads these days? Well, almost every one you hear is not in fact the original recording but a completely new version. To give you an idea of how such reconstructions are produced, Nigel Beaham-Powell of Streets Ahead Music Productions recounts how he went about reproducing a Bryan Ferry track.

The First Single

and sensible use of mixing time

Chas de Whalley chats to Chris Neil

In the third part of this series on the growing uses of multiple MIDI channelisation, Paul Wiffen looks at the advantage of using separate audio outputs on the Akai S900.

Pete Wingfield in the ring with Soul mate Chas de Whalley