October 2010 Magazine Contents

New to the world of video production and unsure what gear to buy? Our guide to the five best options in three categories will get you started.

Neat Video is designed to deal with the kind of chroma (colour) and luma (black and white) noise that appears in digital video...

Could API's latest 500-series module be an essential purchase for Lunchbox users?

Designed as a hand-held live vocal mic, this mic has a cardioid pickup pattern, and seems very robustly engineered.

British 'boutique' outboard manufacturers seem to be rather thin on the ground these days, but if this Pultec clone is anything to go by, newcomers Cartec look set to make a big impression.

The classic nightmare scenario for anyone involved in setting up microphones, whether for a studio or location recording or...

Hardly a month goes by that a new handheld stereo recorder doesn't turn up at SOS Towers, but the Rekord M has to be the...

The Faderfox controllers are bijou and boutique, and theres five of them to choose from.

How do you make a piezo-miked acoustic guitar sound like a real miked acoustic? Fishman have improved on their already impressive answer to that question...

For low-volume rehearsals and jam sessions, most options to date have been quite limited, particularly for creating separate monitor mixes. The JamHub range aims to make the whole process that little bit easier and more immediate.

With the ever-increasing number of users turning to DSLR still cameras for video, more and more accessories are being released...

With so many different bundled and third-party colour correction plug-ins available, do Colorista 2s new features offer anything special?

With the latest version of their unique object oriented DAW, Magix are targeting both mastering and recording engineers.

Prodipe say they wanted to offer a high-quality, live-sound, cardioid-pattern dynamic mic at a very affordable price.

The latest version of Reason incorporates new arrangement tools and two powerful new instruments, and even lets you record samples. Meanwhile, sister application Record continues to develop too...

Rotolight enter the competitive LED lighting market with a compact, battery-powered offering and plenty of accessories.

Rycote made waves in the studio world recently with their universal shockmount, which improved on the ageing 'cat's cradle'...

Scans new laptop is as powerful as many desktop computers and aims to eliminate the unreliability so often characteristic of off-the-peg machines.

You wait 70 years for a Novachord, then two come along at once... 

Sontronics mics usually sound as distinctive as they look - and this one looks more distinctive than most!

These audio files accompany the Sontronics Saturn review that featured in SOS October 2010.

With Steinberg continuing to focus on features for audio post-production, is Nuendo still a relevant option for those working strictly in music?

Building to a price inevitably entails compromises. The art is in choosing the right ones...

Toontracks new sampling software instrument is simple to use, but also far deeper than it initially appears to be...

Toontrack's EZ Drummer and Superior Dummer have proved hugely popular, in part because of the availability of expansion...

Acoustic Toy Museum is one of the more bizarre offerings from Ultimate Sound Bank, and is volume 10 of the UVI Soundcard range.

The peculiarly named Mono Lancet is an analogue synth of the old school, boasting two oscillators, a filter with a debilitating debt to Moog, and knobs galore!

Picture this: you're working in an edit suite and the director comes and looks over your shoulder. "Let's try a lens flare”,...

The Viennese maestros celebrate 10 years of sample creation with a foray into the world of vocals.

Anyone with a passing interest in synthesizers, especially of the unfinished, unobtainable and commercially disastrous variety, knows of the RSF Polykobol II. Few have ever played one — but now theres PolyKB...

Zero‑G's Disco Gold provides over 800 loops presented in a 24‑bit, 44.1kHz stereo format, with some 1.7Gb of sample material in all.

Logic and reason dont just form the basis of rational thought — they also make for inspired composition...

There seems to be a nasty bout of CPU throttling going around. But don't despair: we may have a cure...

In the final part of this short series, we investigate a more advanced use of scripting to create a simple step sequencer. • Read Part 1 • Read Part 2 • Read Part 3

When is a multi-band compressor not a compressor? When it's an equaliser!

We explore a cunning workaround to enhance Ableton Live's already powerful 'Follow Actions' feature.

Digital Performer version 7.1 has been out for a while, but we're still feeling the love for some of its new features...

Eminem's Recovery has been one of the biggest hit albums of the year, spawning two number one singles — all recorded and mixed by Eminem's long-term engineer, Mike Strange.

In a wallet-friendly departure this month, we rescue a reader's track with nothing more than careful use of Logic Pro's built-in plug-ins...

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

Use parameter modulation to create clearer mixes.

These project files accompany the Reaper Technique column that featured in SOS October 2010.

Creating your own project templates is one of those useful housekeeping jobs you can do when you’re in a less creative mood.

Does Pro Tools sometimes take an unwarranted dislike to one of your hard drives? Here's how to deal with it, and how to let non-admin users join the Pro Tools party.

Handheld shots can look great, but too much camera shake can give the viewer a headache! We take a look at three budget rigs for keeping shots steady, and find out whether electronic image stabilisation can help.

The SOS team are confronted by a confusion of speakers this month, and opt for a cost-effective DIY approach to sorting out Tony Rigg's studio acoustics.

Traditional acoustic materials from mineral and synthetic sources are subject to environmental concerns and possible health issues. Now there are affordable, green alternatives, but how suitable are they for the home studio?

We've had some goodies from Apple recently, but now it gets serious: the updated Mac Pro is finally here!

I've been trying to use a pair of AKG C414s in a coincident X-Y mode, but am finding it physically difficult to mount the...

I have a pretty basic recording setup and, up until now, have just been making vocal and guitar recordings using an Audio‑...

I'm interested in buying a small digital stereo recorder that I can use to record my band in a variety of situations,...

I'd like to use some Rockwool in my studio to improve the acoustics, but this is the first time I'll have used it, so I could...

I'm using a big desk with a shelf on the back as my studio workstation. Being partially sighted, I need my screen fairly close...

As the Prodigy's chief live sound engineer, Jon Burton gets to unleash untold kilowatts of bass power on an unsuspecting world. He has also made multitrack recordings of every show on their 26-month world tour.

Trousseaux * Dizraeli * marky:boyofdestiny * Eileen Daly & The Courtesans

Where does the time go? It seems like I just took down the Christmas cards, glanced out of the window five minutes later to see a few green buds on the trees, and now I'm already watching the summer fade away!

Silver Apples jammed with Jimi Hendrix, counted John Lennon as a fan, and produced extraordinary electronic music — with nothing but a drum kit and a pile of electrical junk.

'Education in music technology' is a well‑worn discussion topic in SOS, its forums and beyond. Is it worth having, or not?

You might think that being a TV composer is a life of parties, beautiful women, fame, glory and dongles, but the reality is rather different. This unique chronological study plots the lifespan of a typical project.