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“WHEEL” ON THE ROAD
Wheel of Fortune, one of the most successful productions ever launched, went to Hawaii earlier in the year for a week's worth of shows...
Profiles
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KMFDM: THE TECHNO REMIX TITANS SAY “ADIOS”
Pioneers in the field of techno remixes and monsters of the industrial arena, KMFDM are specialists in the art of transforming sampled sounds from...
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SOCK PUPPETS RULE: MTV’S “SIFL ‘N’ OLLY” TAKES MINIMALSM INTO THE KITCHEN
Sifl 'n' Olly, a show peopled by ragamuffin sock puppets with a soundtrack that's literally recorded in a kitchen, fits in with MTV's minimalist...
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THE BOSTON POPS LIVE ON TOUR
For their 1998 Christmas tour, the Pops carried their own production for the first time in the group's touring history, squeezing sound and lights...
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XTC’S LONG ROAD TO “APPLE VENUS”
"Quirky." The word invariably pops up in every story written about the venerable British art-pop group XTC, so it's best to get it out...
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THE TRACTORS: A FRESH BREEZE FROM TULSA
In 1994, The Tractors seemed to defy the laws of Nashville. Bands were not traditionally big sellers, these guys weren't hunkish in the least,...
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Facility Spotlight: Lacquer Channel Mastering
Toronto's Lacquer Channel Mastering is among the longest-standing mastering studios in Canada. And over its 22-year history, there has been one real constant
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Davy Spillane: HIGH ABOVE THE “SEA OF DREAMS”
The west coast of Ireland: It's the stuff of poetry. Many people would trade most of what they have to live out there on...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Blondie’s “The Tide Is High”
In 1984, in the liner notes on the band's first album, the members of Camper Van Beethoven wrote about their small-town roots, complaining about...
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Dolby DP569 and DP562: Multichannel Dolby Digital Encoder/Decoder
While an increasing number of studios are gearing up for surround production, listening to the six discrete 5.1 tracks is definitely not the same...
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Cedar X Series: DIGITAL AUDIO RESTORATION MODULES
CEDAR (Computer Enhanced Digital Audio Restoration) Audio Ltd. was founded over a decade ago to create and market PC-based systems for cleaning up sound
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Recalling a Legendary Playpen: A REVISIT WITH BELL LABS
Where does the spark of creativity come from when new tools and systems are designed? Is it from freedom, or from pressure? Can an...
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COMPOSER PROFILE: PAUL ROBB
Paul Robb, between laughs, explains why he's concerned about winning two Clio awards for his work on a BMW television campaign. "Again, here I...
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Riding the Multichannel Track
The familiar wooden roller coaster continues to have its enthusiasts, but for many of today's thrill junkies, wind on the face and the clatter...
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Surround Sound Monitoring: IMPACT ALONE ISNT’ ENOUGH
Riddled with anti-matter warheads, the alien spacecraft explodes with a blinding flash of energy. A room-shaking roar of sound accompanies the ship's
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WENDY CARLOS: A SYNTH MASTER RETURNS
In the ever-growing world of electronic music, veteran synthesist and composer Wendy Carlos has achieved greater glory than most. Although newer techno-buffs
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Bob Belden: JAZZ MEETS POP
Saxophonist, arranger, producer-you'd have to look a while to find someone who brings as much to the table as Bob Belden (maybe back to...
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The Center Channel
Next to copy-protection threads, few subjects are more hotly debated in certain circles on the Internet than the proper way to use channels and...
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THE FIRST CHINESE NATIONAL AUDIO EXPO
Last summer, Jan Paul Moorhead, chair of the Music Synthesis department at Berklee College of Music (Boston) and Bill Scheniman, the chair of Berklee's
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Cakewalk Pro Audio 8: POSTING WITH EASE AND SPEED
This season, I've found myself on the post-production stage for television shows, much more than previous seasons. I have worked on Mad About You,...
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Special Event: One Night of Timeless Music
New York's gilded midtown entertainment palace, Radio City Music Hall, narrowly escaped the wrecker's ball in the late 1970s during the last days of...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing”
A stinging critique of the 1980s even as they happened, Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing" had a lengthy genesis, as related here by engineer...
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The Gentlemen’s club: DESMOND CHILD’S VIRTUAL AESTHETIC
Desmond Child certainly has to be considered one of the most influential pop music composers of recent years. He co-wrote much of Slippery When...
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AKG WMS 60: WIRELESS MICROPHONE SYSTEM
Mating great microphones with robust diversity transmission is the formula for wireless success. The first product in a new series of wireless systems
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IMAGINE THERE’S A BOX SET…
Released in November '98, The John Lennon Anthology is a magnificent piece of work-a four-disc set that captures the depth and breadth of Lennon's...
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WireWorld: MICHAEL WAGENER’S SOUTHERN RETREAT
Located on a farm about 25 miles from downtown Nash-ville, in full view of grazing horses and cows, is WireWorld, the studio base of...
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The Last Word on Upgrades: A PERSONAL JOURNEY INTO THE HEART OF DARKNESS
You might be relieved to know that this is going to be my last column about dealing with upgrades-at least for a while. It's...
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Kevin Davis: QUICK HITS AT AN EARLY AGE
Wunderkind is probably the most appropriate label for Kevin "KD" Davis. Still in his early 20s, Davis is a one-man mix factory. He works...
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The Delicacy of War
Something special occurred in Hollywood during the last half of 1998, something only a handful of people will truly appreciate because most of it...
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The Music Lab: MICHAEL TERRY’S SCORING EMPORIUIM
Although the benefits of spending one's days surrounded by simple beauty and the charms of our Colonial past can't be discounted, it's still not...
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FACILITY SPOTLIGHT: THE SOUND LOUNGE
A shift has slowly been taking place in the Manhattan advertising community over the past several years, and increasingly, it involves a trip down...
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RSI Awareness For Audio Professionals
For many in the audio industry, working with sound and music is a conscious alternative to working in more "main-stream" occupations. But while the...
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Beyond the Big Three: MASTERING OUTSIDE THE MAJOR MARKETS
For as long as most of us can remember, America's music business has been concentrated in just three cities: Los Angeles, New York and...
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…And Nothing But the Gain: THE NEWEST IN UNACCESSORIZED MIC PREAMPS
Nowadays, more and more microphone preamps are coming loaded to the gills with additional processing. You've got compression, EQ, enhancement, limiting,
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Glen Ballard: THE HEART OF THE SONG
Songwriter/producer Glen Ballard has had a fairy tale career: Over the course of more than two decades in the L.A. music industry, the Mississippi...
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Channel D Mac the Scope 2.1: SOFTWARE-BASED TEST INSTRUMENTS
Let's face it, anyone who owns a recording studio-big or small-will eventually need some test equipment. But quality audio test gear costs thousands of
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E-Mu Audio Production Studio: DESKTOP MUSIC PRODUCTION SYSTEM
E-mu has delivered a powerful new tool for desktop computer music production called the Audio Production Studio. This PCI-based audio card provides 64
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Emagic Logic Audio Platinum: INTEGRATED MIDI/DIGITAL AUDIO PRODUCTION SYSTEM
With the increasing power of personal computers and development of digital audio workstations, several feature-packed programs have been developed to
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Antares Auto-Tune ATR-1: HARDWARE-BASED PITCH CORRECTOR
Antares introduced the Auto-Tune pitch correcting plug-in for Pro Tools about two years ago, and the masses went mental. Because it (as well as...
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FIRESIGN THEATRE RETURNS: COMEDY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM
After a 17-year break, the four original members of the legendary Firesign Theatre comedy troupe returned to the recording studio last year. Their mission: