Mixing / Production

Since Lamb first came to prominence at the height of the mid-'90s trip-hop movement, Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes' distinctive blend of electronica and organic songwriting has gone from strength to strength.

It's often necessary to work on headphones in the home studio, even when mixing. So what headphones should you choose, and how do you go about getting the best results?

With their number one album Absolution, British three-piece Muse have established themselves as one of the most ambitious and innovative rock bands in the world — and in Rich Costey, they've found an engineer and producer who understands their aims and encourages them to experiment.

I want to remix some old mono tracks in stereo. Can you offer any advice or suggest any tricks to achieve this?

How do you get that double-tracked vocal sound you hear on rap records? Are there any plug-ins I could use?

If you play live regularly, sooner or later someone will suggest that you use a backing track on stage to enhance your performance. So here's how to go about creating them, based on experience learned the hard way!

Over the last decade, Mouse On Mars have become one of the leading names in European electronic music. Their experimental approach brings together analogue and digital, lo-fi and hi-fi, real instruments and samples to create an organic-sounding whole.

What's the best way to turn a dull thud into a tight, clicky thrash/black metal kick sound?

I heard of how you can increase perceived stereo width by using extra mixer channels out of phase. Can you explain how it's done?

I'm currently mixing a full funk band recording and have borrowed a pair of Behringer Truth B2031 monitors to do it. Everything sounds great to me, until I switch over to my Technics hi-fi to check it and it loses all bass definition and sounds muddy...

Thinking of taking your carefully-crafted studio creations to the masses? Here are some pointers to make sure your sound survives the transition to the live arena.

For the 2002 album Heathen, David Bowie and Tony Visconti revived one of the greatest artist/producer partnerships in pop history. Following the success of that project, the duo have again worked closely together on Bowie's new album, Reality.

With the death of producer Sam Phillips, the music industry has lost one of its greatest pioneers. In an interview given towards the end of his life, he looked back on his work with greats like Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash, most of whom were unknowns before they signed to his Sun Records label.

A new generation of vocal processors, and a new generation of engineers, confront the possibilities and ethics of digital vocal manipulation.

Liam Watson went against the grain to build a studio with the retro sound he loved. And now that sound is back in fashion, he's had a number one album with the White Stripes.

There's a drum & bass revival going on, and London Elektricity are taking the genre in new directions — including live stages across Europe.

Depending on your point of view, prog-rock survivors Marillion are the least cool band in the world — or the best-kept secret in the music industry. They've certainly found a different way of doing music for a living...

Norbert Putnam was part of the original Muscle Shoals rhythm section, and as a million-selling producer, helped to bring pop music to the country capital of the world.

SOS reviewers often mention their test or reference CDs — compilations of what they feel to be well-mixed, well-recorded audio, which they use to evaluate converters, monitors, and so on. But how do you go about making one yourself? We reveal all...

I regularly make stereo location recordings of orchestras, using Cool Edit Pro for editing and mastering. If I simply...

What's the difference between optical compressors and other types of compressor, such as VCA, FET and valve compressors?