If you’re serious about audio then AudioTechnology is your magazine: whether it be the inside story behind the world’s great albums or the best-sounding concert productions, videogame sound, software tips, reviews of the latest gear, opinion and news – AudioTechnology has you covered.
For a track to sound at its best on a club sound system, it needs to sound tight at certain key frequencies. You need powerful bass that avoids being muddy and overblown, you need highs that will cut through without sounding tinny. In this issue’s Mixing For The Club cover feature, we’ll help you get your tracks club-ready. We’ll look at how to make sure they’ll sound great on any system, and how to prepare your creations to slot perfectly into a DJ set.
The year’s must-have free music software | FREE Thorn CM synth | Youngr in-studio video | Klingande interview | VCV Rack, Audacity and GarageBand guides | 3 sample packs | and more!
This month’s cover feature offers a unique insight into the world of Underworld, as we spend the day with Karl Hyde and Rick Smith at their remote HQ in the rural wilds of East Anglia. From 1994’s epic ‘Dubnobasswithmyheadman’, with its mysterious black and white sleeve art, to 2016’s much acclaimed ‘Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future’, there’s long been something special about Underworld, something about their life-affirming melodies, beats and poetry that connects them to people all over the world. By the way, if you look closely at our magazine cover, you might find that there’s a little bit more to it than first meets the eye. Almost 1,000 words more, in fact.
The new issue of Electronic Sound finds us in a celebratory mood as we mark the 40th anniversary of Kraftwerk’s masterpiece, ‘The Man-Machine’. Released in May 1978, ‘The Man-Machine’ sounded the starting pistol for electronic music revolution in pop and in this month’s cover feature we look at how Kraftwerk taught their machines to sing. Over 14 pages we offer a glimpse into the making of a record that tackles how humans and technology co-exist, examine the predictions contained on ‘The Man-Machine’ to see how prescient Ralf and co were with their ideas of the future four decades ago and reveal the inspiration behind that iconic cover image… Elsewhere, we find the excellent Chris Carter in fine fettle as we discuss his new album, ‘Chris Carter’s Chemistry Lessons Volume One’, which is, incredibly, his first solo long-playing in 17 years. Worth the wait? You bet it is.
The new issue of Electronic Sound finds us in Berlin, yet again. This time round we’re taking a look at the past, present and future of a total Berlin institution – Tangerine Dream. Of Germany’s two schools of electronic music (the other being in Düsseldorf/Cologne of course), the music coming out of Berlin was all about texture and mood, it was spacey, drifting and ambient, which was no surprise when you consider at the time West Berlin was a city where young men were exempt from national service. Coupled with cheap rent, the place quickly filled with those whose idea of fun didn’t include serving in the army, but did rather involve creating the nation’s counterculture. And in Tangerine Dream’s case, they did that with synthesisers.
Traditionally, January always brings a flood of new music technology gear, as companies break out their latest releases for the NAMM trade show in California, and this year is no different. Being just a few weeks in, it might be a little too early to call it, but here at FM we’re starting to feel like 2018 could be an especially good year for electronic music makers. Case in point, the two new hardware synths on this issue’s cover. First we have the Prologue, the grown-up sibling of one of our favourite synths in recent years, Korg’s Minilogue, which blends some genuinely impressive digital tricks with its classic analogue innards. Plus, we’re going in deep with Arturia’s MiniBrute 2 the beefed-up, semimodular reimagining of their popular analogue monosynth.
