Recording

Engineer and producer Bruce Botnick recorded some of the greatest artifacts of West Coast psychedelia, among them the first five albums by The Doors. Here he describes the making of their influential second album and its title track, which saw them develop their live sound through radical experimentation in the studio.

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

This month, Sound On Sound begins a major new series, looking back in detail at the engineering and production behind some of the most historically significant recordings ever made, with the story of the first and greatest British rock & roll record.

The Doc proffers diagnosis and suitable cures for another batch of reader-submitted meisterwerks.

Musicality isn't everything when you're trying to make a decent-sounding recording at home, even if you're as talented as the multi-instrumentalist Harding family. So the SOS team travelled north to help them get their engineering techniques up to scratch.

What is the difference between audio and data CD-Rs? Surely digital audio is just data?

I'm going to be adding some woodwind parts to a track, recording flute, clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones one at a time. Can you offer any advice on how to mike them up?

I have recorded an acoustic guitar into Cubase SX, both with a mic and DI'd. As I had expected, there are some phase issues...

I read that the level meters in most DAWs don't give a true indication of when audio is peaking, and that audio which looks like it's below 0dBFS may actually be peaking above it, causing distortion when played back. Is this true?

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.

Equipment specifications often give input and output levels with units like dBu, dBV and dBFS. What's the difference?

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

I've been recording vocals using a Neumann TLM103 mic going through a Dbx 386 tube preamp, and using the Dbx's converters to send a digital signal into a Roland VS1680 multitracker. I understood the Dbx was virtually impossible to clip, but experience proves otherwise! What am I doing wrong?

Q How can I use VST instruments live?

I'm interested in using my VST instruments when...

If you want to incorporate live drumming into your sequencer-based productions, your drummer will almost certainly have to play along to some sort of click track. However, if you're not careful, it could easily end up being more a hindrance than a help.

We answer one of the most common queries from those just starting out with home recording.

It seems that almost everyone who's heard Goldfrapp's debut album Felt Mountain has fallen under their spell. Now the duo have returned with a second, Black Cherry, and a harder, synth-based sound.

Dozens of your recording questions receive poignant answers from SOS's editorial experts.

We follow a location recording project from start to finish, showing you how to plan for and conduct the session, as well as how to avoid common pitfalls.

What advantages are there to variable input impedance? • How can I extract loops from audio sample CDs? • Can I use the True Tape option in Cubase to prevent clipping? • Should I use S/PDIF or AES for long cable runs? • Can you have too much low-frequency absorption? • What's the best way to use the multiple filters on my soft synth?

Most home studio owners now rely heavily on digital audio recording and processing, but you could be sacrificing the quality of your recordings if your system isn't clocked correctly.