By Steve Oppenheimer

(March 2007)

I‘ve written a lot in the past few months about our wealth of new EM projects, including print publications, e-newsletters, and our Web redesign. I’m not sure how we manage to publish so many good products, given the size of our staff and budget, but somehow we keep creating projects, so I keep announcing them!

Among the latest EM products is a monthly Podcast, produced by Senior Editor Mike Levine. Called “EM Cast,” it includes product news by Associate Editor Geary Yelton and an introduction to the upcoming print issue by yours truly. But the truth is, if that’s all we were delivering, we wouldn’t bother. After all, we give you product news in our eMusician Xtra e-newsletter, as well as in EM‘s “What’s New” department. Nevertheless, it’s nice to hear a human voice delivering the news, and in some cases, “EM Cast” goes into a bit more depth than print can.

What makes “EM Cast” very cool are its feature and “Talking Tech” interviews, both conducted by Levine. The debut “EM Cast,” which came out this past December, focused on producer Ted Perlman, who has worked with the likes of Burt Bacharach, Bob Dylan, and Elton John. In the “Talking Tech” segment, studio tech-computer consultant Sergio Samayoa gives out some studio-setup tips. The January edition of “EM Cast” looks at New York-based producer-engineer Bob Power (whose credits include Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, and the Roots), while “Talking Tech” discusses how Zenph Studios digitally resurrects great piano recordings of the past. None of these interviews appears elsewhere; they are exclusive to “EM Cast.” To check it out, click on the EM Podcasts link on our Web site at www.emusician.com.

We have also released a new print product designed specifically for musicians who are interested in using Steinberg’s Cubase 4.0 digital audio sequencer. Personal Studio Series: Mastering Cubase 4 is the second volume in a series that began with last year’s popular volume about Digidesign Pro Tools LE 7. Like the Pro Tools volume, the new Cubase 4 edition includes sets of step-by-step instructions, drawn from Thomson Course Technology’s newest book about Cubase 4, which is on how to use key features of the program. The text has been tweaked by the EM staff, and the EM art department has added color graphics that surpass those found in the book.

As in the previous volume, we have included a slew of short interviews with noteworthy producers and engineers, as well as a wealth of supplementary EM stories (some new, some reprinted from past issues) that go well beyond Cubase coverage. Many of these features give tips on how to use virtual instruments that will work with any host program that supports VIs, not just Cubase. So even if you aren’t a Cubase user, you might want to check out Personal Studio Series: Mastering Cubase 4. It’s available at our online bookstore, Mixbooks (which you can access from our home page), and at bookstores and newsstands that carry EM.