All the stuff the Sun leaves out!

Fretless Bass Playing

Colin Hodgkinson wide-eyed and fretless.

Jon Tiven talks to Gus Dudgeon about Elton, Bowie and recording in general.

Flattening the earth, contextualising the computer.

Readers' patches galore... This month's cream of the crop includes patches for the Casio CZ101, Roland Alpha Juno 2, Korg DW8000, and Yamaha DX7.

Could you make music using only samples from natural sources? Paul Tingen talks to a band who've done just that in an attempt to draw attention to our environment.

The urbane Mr Palmer talks to Hank Bordowitz about crossing over from cult status to general acceptance.

The man who took the credit for production on Pink Floyd's superlative 'Dark Side Of The Moon' album has since had ten years of album success with his own creation: The Alan Parsons Project. Richard Elen managed to track him down to London's Mayfair Studios, to discuss the appliance of music technology in his recordings.

Not quite a household name, but an American jazz fusion guitarist whose attitude to improvisation and performing with new technology is starting a quiet revolution. Dan Goldstein gets the lowdown.

Tip from the topmost of twang

A behind-the-scenes glimpse at their global light and sound show

'What are this spring's colours?' asks ultra-fashionable Richard Walmsley

Second part in our 'what do they do?' series. This month, what you do with the job.

Etcetera

Split as they are (these pages) into Studios and Recording, Instruments and Equipment, and Etcetera (for news pieces with no homes to go to).

MIDI Merger

From the humble origins of their Pocket Merge, Anatek have refined a powerful eight-way MIDI merging system that could become essential to the serious MIDI studio. Vic Lennard merges with the elite.

Hints, Tips & News From The World Of Music Software

More hints and tips from the software manufacturers themselves. This month: C-Lab, Steinberg, Coda, and Dr. T.

The Box

Tapetalk's latest species of Box soundstage analyser turns out to be a very useful device to have in the studio.

MIDI Controller

While the keyboard player, horn player and guitarist have enjoyed the benefits of the MIDI revolution, the humble bassist has been sadly neglected. Ollie Crooke gets down to (MIDI) basics.

Kawai's latest 16-voice multitimbral keyboard is packed with features and aimed fairly and squarely at D50/ESQ territory. Its PCM sampled waveforms include drums and percussion, a host of standard and exotic instruments, as well as the best of the additive synth waveforms gleaned from the K5. It also has one ace up its sleeve - its price. Ian Gilby tells it like it is.

Mixing in the MIDI Age

This two-part feature covers both the art and technology of mixing. The first article on page 48, 'Mixing Essentials', covers audio mixing in general, from a more basic level, and applies to any sort of studio mixing task. The second part, 'Mixing With MIDI’, starts on page 54 and covers techniques made possible by MIDI, specifically automated mixing and sending MIDI instruments direct to your master tape. Craig Anderton is your guide.

Janet Angus reports on Dave Foister's varied activities at the Guildhall.