April 2010 Magazine Contents

Its tiny, shiny and everything youd expect from a quality Apogee interface.

LA Scoring Strings hopes to set itself apart from the competition with clever devices that make it both more realistic and more user-friendly.

Avantone are best-known for their modern take on the classic Auratone speaker, but they make mics too. Find out how their latest model performs.

There are now several Neve 1073-inspired preamps available — but theyre not always 100 percent faithful to the original design. How close does this new contender from BAE come?

There are plenty of eight-channel Firewire interfaces on the market these days, so what does the Audiofire Pre 8 have that the others dont?

Although the title suggests a collection of sounds taken from the Large Hadron Collider, Electron Smasher is, in fact, a set of heavily processed loops from Big Fish Audio. 

FabFilters powerful plug-in suite brings us advanced modulation possibilities, filters with multiple personalities, and plenty of overdrive.

If you like Izotopes Ozone mastering processor so much you want to use it at the mix, their new Alloy is the plug-in for you.

The new Wavedrum costs a fraction of the price of its predecessor and remains a sonic force to be reckoned with.

Liquidsonics convolution reverb is not only highly affordable, but incorporates some innovative features too.

The Ohm64 is the latest in a recent rash of grid-based control surfaces. Does it stand out from the crowd?

Native Instruments bring you the classic drum sounds of Abbey Road, lovingly sampled at the studio itself.

Where so many sample developers struggle to combine musicality, usability, and value for money in a single product...

Most of us are already committed to a DAW package. But if we were offered an alternative that was affordable, simple to use and ultra-reliable, would we switch? Presonus certainly hope so...

In association with instrument collector Andreas Beurmann, Realsamples have created the Beurmann Edition, a set of eight sampled historic keyboards...

So, there you are, slowly trying to make your way to the escape pod along the dimly lit corridors of your interplanetary cargo ship...

Building on their Sigma design, Sontronics Delta is more rugged, and voiced with guitar cabs in mind.

Audio Examples From Sontronics Delta Ribbon Mic April 2010

This mic preamp and processor is about as flexible a device as you could hope for without taking the modular route — and all in the space of a 2U rack.

The time-domain response of monitors is often sacrificed for level, but this sealed-cabinet design tackles that issue head-on...

Yamahas DTX Multi 12 squeezes an entire electronic drum kit into a single box.

We conclude our tour of the new PT8 AIR plug-ins with neat tricks for filtered rhythmic gating, creating kick and snare tracks from a stereo drum mix, and widening electric guitars.

In 1956, Miles Davis was at Columbia Studios to record an album with the musicians who subsequently became known as his First Great Quintet. Engineer Frank Laico was at the controls...

The ability to quickly create and compare alternative takes is very useful. We look at how its done in Reason and Record.

From subtle warmth to screaming walls of noise, distortion is one of the most versatile effects in the studio engineers armoury.

Recording a passable acoustic guitar sound is fairly easy, but how do you get a great sound? We tried and tested tips and techniques from the worlds most celebrated producers and engineers to show you how...

In a rare interview, legendary engineer and producer Humberto Gatica explains how he and singer Michael Bublé breathed new life into big-band swing music — with stunning results.

The Internet has been all a-Twitter with the launch of the iPad recently. But what can this oversized iPhone offer the recording musician?

Put your own stamp on synthesized sounds with Logic Pro's powerful sound-modelling system, Sculpture.

The introduction of MaxMSP adds an entirely new dimension to Live. We take a look at whats already been created in the three months since its release.

This month, we show how manipulating the phase relationships of some tracks in your mix, plus a little disciplined pruning, can revitalise a flat-sounding track.

These audio files accompany the Mix Rescue article that featured in SOS April 2010.

DP 7.1 is a small update that adds a couple of big new features, including an easy system for saving effect chains.

Audio examples from Acoustic Guitar Recording: April 2010

The silent studio is a real possibility now that solid-state drives are offering unrivalled transfer rates, free from mechanical noise. So why arent we all switching over?

Put together quick and easy drum tracks with Sonar 8.5s Session Drummer 3.

Even with access to the best gear, and commercial experience under your belt, paying attention to your studios acoustics can still pay massive dividends...

A look at fitting IronGear Texas Loco stratocaster pickups, plus general tips.

We show you how to coax a more convincing performance from your VST instruments using Cubases Chorder plug-in.

Audio Examples From Cubase Techniques April 2010

The way I mic up drum-kit overheads normally means that there is a slight level difference between the left and right gain...

I recently recorded a steel‑strung, finger‑picked acoustic guitar track. The problem is that it sounds very 'spiky' and I'm...

I always understood that over‑clocking your computer's CPU could make it unstable and meant you needed noisy fans to cool it...

When clocking an audio interface using an external device, such as a stand‑alone mic preamp with A‑D conversion, is it better...

I'd like to buy a fairly inexpensive PC laptop for production when I'm on the move. Having never used a laptop for audio...

I'd like to use my monitors with both my audio interface and a CD player, because I want to A/B my recordings against my CD...

What do you get when five American jazz musicians lock themselves in the studio with a collection of Steeleye Span albums? Through a series of reinventions, Midlake have won critical applause for their music and plaudits for their self-production skills.

I tend to avoid politics where possible, as I generally consider that the only qualification a politician needs is the ability...

Some of the latest advances in electronic music technology have been geared towards acoustic music — played by robots. For his latest album, guitarist Pat Metheny assembled an entire automated orchestra to back him.

Is yours one of this month's tracks to be scrutinised by the editorial team? Click and find out...

Its nigh-on impossible to make a profit from music these days, so why do we still do it?

Sample libraries are the modern media composers most important asset — so its a shame that using them in real-world projects can land you in legal hot water.