A collection of CDs which should be the sampler's delight are the stars of this month's Patchwork. If your music needs a boost from Ed Stratton, Coldcut or Pascal Gabriel, check out these disks.

Fela Kuti And King Sunny Ade

The King and the President of Nigerian music explain the effect Juju and Afro-Pop have had on white Rock music. Report by Michael Shore

Part two of this series on combining live instrument performances and MIDI recording looks at a typical session in the studio of Ollie Crooke and Simon Thomas.

Are They A Good Mix?

mixing the pop world's most powerful cocktail: should your music have a message?

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...

Making new music from old. Simon Trask talks to the musicians and DJs who made a No. 1 hit from a drum machine and other peoples' records.

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.

A synth is only as good as its sounds - and that goes for any synth controller too - sax, violin, guitar... Ollie Crooke And Simon Thomas look at sound programming for MIDI controllers.

What is Library Music? What does a Music Library do? Freelance engineer Richard Elen answers these questions and more as he takes a look inside one of the world's premier recorded music libraries.

Bill Nelson talks Synths Vs Guitars with Gary Cooper

Tim Goodyer pays Genesis' legendary keyboardsman a visit to hear all about life in one of rock's most longstanding and influential bands and their 16th LP.

Part 5 sees software specialist Jay Chapman exploring the innermost secrets of 'channel voice messages' and more in his continuing analysis of the MIDI protocol.

Paul White and Dan Goldstein on how to beat the problems of venturing into a professional studio for the first time. If you’re new to recording, the advice is unmissable.

Who helped make Climie Fisher's single a hit? And the Pet Shop Boys', and Depeche Mode's, and Bananarama's? David Bradwell investigates the latest action in the Stock, Aitken & Waterman production stable.

Cutting a record

Make your own music, make your own record, make your own luck

Back in 1985, Propaganda made an astonishing debut with 'Dr. Mabuse' and the classic album 'A Secret Wish'. After years of silence, a split with ZTT records, and the departure of three-quarters of the original line-up, Michael Mertens is back with a new-look Propaganda, and feeds the party line to Nigel Humberstone.

Co-founder of the techno movement, Model 500's Juan Atkins discusses yesterday's technology and influences, and tomorrow's music. Technospeak: Simon Trask.

From their excellent 1984 debut single 'Venceremos', Working Week have charted a unique course between fashionability and credibility. Simon Trask works out with Simon Booth.

It began with an illicit remix of Suzanne Vega and it's already earned them their own album release. Simon Trask tracks down the elusive DNA musical partnership to ask who, how and why.

Frankfurt Fair Preview

How it was done in the heyday of Pop - Philip Bashe tracked down the bands your dad snogged along to and found out the history of the '60s hits

With the predominance of the workstation synth, and the rise and rise of essentially preset instruments, what has become of the 'traditional' synthesizer? Paul Hazel turns the spotlight on Roland's JD800 and Korg's Wavestation, two recent instruments which answer the question — but in very different ways.

...comes just above the Allen & Heath contents page blurb. Which tells the prospective Allen & Heath reader that on page 57 is Mel Lambert's story of mixer manufacturer Allen & Heath.

The backstage view of the mammoth Tull operation from Tony Freeman, one of those without whom... nervous times among the cigarette stubs.