Sonic Talk Podcasts

A new guest joins us from the rarified world of pop production, now working in commercial writing and founder of prog rockers Frost - top chap and good value! Jem tells us about his work with X-Factor artists and other high pop acts. We talk about Avid and the hypothetical DAW change, Waldorf Rocket, NI's new softy and Bowie's new album amongst other things. Finally Mark treats us to some Gerbil Rock

Andy Shillito is just back from the US touring with the Darkness, Failedmuso.com's Rob Puricelli steps in to complete the panel - we discuss Krafwerks sellout Tate Modern shows, then the Grammys production and what goes into a production of that scale with great input from Any Shillito, then we talk product demos - with Moog's recent posting of the superstar monosynth players from NAMM, we also see an awesome demo from DSI's team with the Tempest and Prophet 12 front and centre.

300 episodes - makes roughly 12 and a half days of listening should you choose to tackle it. First show in June 2006 and here we are. Joining me in the studio to mark this milestone are Dave and Chris plus a couple of bottles of bubbly - thanks guys! On the line are Rich and Mark. First talk about a few more NAMM items, the Raven MIT (10:34) then a the Tactus terraforming LCD screen blows our minds (24:04), the 30 years of MIDI panel sparks some reminiscing, we talk about the new release from Depeche Mode (Delta Machine) (58:20), and finally the excellent Cinco MIDI organizer (01:11:55).

Fresh back from rainy California - or perhaps not so fresh! We talk of the NAMM show releases - the Korg MS20 Mini, Moog Sub Phatty, Buchla Easel, iConnect MIDI+ and audio passthrough andmuch more.

Not much on the agenda this week apart from a bit of good old NAMM speculation and chit chat. We talk about the Moog Sub Phatty (07:57), Ableton Push will be on display for the time (18:00)Mark brings out his Yamaha EZ-EG MIDI guitar (27:59) and Gaz promises to eat his Monotron (maybe) when we talk of something new from Korg (32:03). Avid are also apparently cooking something up too (39:00),which leads to a discussion of working remotely and also off the grid - with a great working method from Gaz to jam freestyle using Cubase (49:47) . Dave has a hunch that Spectrasonics are up to something too

In our first episode of the New Year, we’re happy to welcome Noneric - host of Musotalk.de who’s not been with us for a while due to his massively successful Musotalk site, we talk of Mark Tinley’s Coles Ribbon sports commentator mic, then the new Waves Element software synth (09:38), Cakewalk Sonar X2 for Windows 8 touch (21:48) and other touch matters, Wampler Triple Wreck and distortion/drive for synthesizers (43:55) and finally some fun with a trombone (53:45)

Our first topic is the light and fluffy one of the Mayan impending end of the world 10:29, then Gaz gives us his impressions of Live 9 Beta 18:05, Cubasis for iPad and a bit of predicting for next year (53:19) followed by a bit of Zedd (59:59). Finally Gaz plays us out with his latest live recording of a track he wrote inspired by his disappointment with Apple Computer.

We kick off with a brief appearance from Darren Price from Underworld - as thats where Dave Spiers is today (thanks for the use of the bandwidth!). We then dive into the Leap Motion and the AirHarp experiment 7:00, Mark Tinley's Christmas Single as the Pink New Dolphins - Sometimes Suicide - a very catchy tune with a serious message 16:10. Then we talk about serious studio disasters - several of which appear to include people smashing up gear... 31:35 The Bass Bott TT Clone TB-303 copy -so similar - can it be legal? 45:00 Waves EMI Redd plugins - emulation of the classic REDD mixing desk from Abbey Road and thats it! 58:00

New guest in the form of Mike Grieg - music tech lecturer at Teeside University joins us to discuss MIDI Jitter, rumour s and Logic - what we'd like to see in the next big update, exhibition of giant synth photos and what is the most aesthetically pleasing synthesizer. Then Mark brings out his binaural dummy head and things get stupid. No cats were harmed during the making of this program.

The panel assembles to discuss - that golden Moog, the Korg Polysix iOS app, Imogen Heap and her gloves, the new Google Chromebooks and Donald Fagen new release Sunken Condos.

Line 6 M20D new concept in live mixing, the Elektron Analog Four synthesizer, Cubase 7 and Yamaha Nuage post production system and Tinitus.

We take a look at the original Sonification OF Everyday Things - instrument - from Dennis P Paul and ponder what would sound good. Then the possibilities of CV to MIDI with Moog Minitaur OS V2.0, Windows 8 launch and the surface - we offer the software giant some friendly advice and also the amazing Tim Exile and his custom Reaktor / controller setup

It's all about touch this week with Ableton Live 9 and the Akai built new Live controller Push, then the even more impressive Steven Slate Raven MTX 47 inch multi-touch screen production console. Finally we talk about a 1956 5mb storage unit the size of a small shed.

Of course we first look at the new Apple products, then a great fly on the wall video with Queen in the studio, Native Instruments Action Strings and a photo is worth a thousand words...

We are joined by Andy Shillito freah back from engineering The Darkness supporting Lady Gaga, we talk of his work then how do you add tracks to a live gig recording, Felix Baumgartner’s incredible leap and what are the musical equivalents, the Studio Electronics Boomstar synths. Gaz tells us about his 12hour long single.

This week we talk of fancy home studios, Ghetty Images teaming up with SoundCloud for some revenue for uploaders, Sound Forge for Mac is released and the power of the Pringles Drum Kit.

Neil Young’s new Pono player is our first subject, followed by the new Hollow Sun Kontakt instrument Altaerion - then we look at a couple of DIY style synth projects and finally on to the Popinator and your choice of studio snacks.

This week our special guest is Tom Blazukas - overall winner of the Find Music In Everything competition we ran with iZotope Iris recently - we talk to Tom about his work. Then we enjoy Moby’s drum machine collection, discover a few hidden treasures in the attic with Gary Numan, listen to three MacBeth Micromac synths with 9 Oscillators, Vince Clarke’s patch recreation thoughts and finally we discuss the fade and how to master it.