Recording

Epic in every sense of the word — unning to 21 songs, involving more than 120 musicians and taking almost two years to complete — Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life was in many ways the high-point of an already illustrious career. This is the story of how it was created.

In 1974 Billy Swan walked into Chip Young's Young'un Sound studio and, in two takes, recorded a million-selling single that had taken him 20 minutes to write. This is how it was done...

The story of how a characteristically chaotic and unorthodox 1978 recording session took Ian Dury & The Blockheads to the top of the UK charts.

In mid-1984 Madonna arrived at New York City's Power Station studios with Nile Rodgers to record the album that would make her an international superstar - using cutting-edge 12-bit technology.

In 1976, in the face of deteriorating personal relationships and massive record company pressure, Fleetwood Mac managed to create a record that would go on to sell 30 million copies.

In our quest for the ultimate electric guitar sound, SOS tested favourite recording techniques from over 40 top-flight producers and engineers. Hear for yourself the results that amazed us.

Recording a live gig in a real venue will always entail compromises, but surprisingly good results can be obtained with a little care.

In our quest for the ultimate electric guitar sound, SOS tested favourite recording techniques from over 40 top-flight producers and engineers. Hear for yourself the results that amazed us.

Although never a commercial success, the Only One's 'Another Girl, Another Planet' has proved to be massively influential; and nearly 30 years after its original release, it's finally getting the recognition it deserves.

There are lots of reasons to teach yourself the art of dub mixing. It's fun, it's creative, it puts your engineering skills centre stage — and it might even make you some money!

Recording a rock band playing 'live' in the studio presents a unique set of challenges, but it is still possible to achieve a good result.

To avoid newsstand buyers of the magazine from having to key in long URLs by hand, here are the links to the various MP3 files that accompany the JULY 2007 instalment of Mix Rescue.

If you'd like to breathe some life into your acoustic drum recordings, here's what you need to know.

Tricky's highly unorthodox approach to recording and making music led to the creation of one of the most unique and critically lauded records of the '90s.

This month, we invited guest mix-rescuer Luke Fletcher to create an authentic '60s feel.

To avoid newsstand buyers of the magazine from having to key in long URLs by hand, here are the links to the various MP3 files that accompany the JUNE 2007 instalment of Mix Rescue.

1973's 'The Most Beautiful Girl In The World' was one of the defining moments of the Nashville sound, and was the product of a finely-honed studio recording process.

How much treble is too much? As this month's Mix Rescue discovers, it's easy to overdo things at the recording stage, but not quite so easy to correct them at the mix.

These audio files demonstrate some of the mix processing used to create the Wild Hope remix.

Bass is the linchpin for so much of today's music, anchoring the other sounds and providing a foundation for the mix as a whole. But at the same time, it can seem maddeningly difficult to pin down and control. Help is at hand...

Phil Spector was one of the first producers to realise that a recording studio could be an instrument in itself - and the sound he created over 40 years ago has influenced popular music ever since.