winner takes all (almost)

PHAZE 1 IS PLEASED to announce its entry for the Guinness Book of Records, for the longest inexcusable silence. Although our studio competition closed in January, we have managed to delay in announcing the winner until now — avoiding tactics worthy of any Government minister for sure. But finally — it's happened, and the lucky reader who walks away with the booty is Simon Cooper of Wolverhampton. Being a smart lad, he sent in the correct answers of 'Philips', 'Portastudio', 'Eight', 'Valves', 'Woofer', 'Koss', 'Magnet', 'Frequency' and 'Cartridges'. Simple, eh? In reward for his efforts, Simon becomes the happy recipient of a Tascam Porta 05 multitrack recorder, a stereo Harman Kardon amplifier and JBL Control 1 monitor speakers, and a set of three Prologue series microphone boxes. Simon's joy was complete when he heard the missing microphones would soon be winging their way to him. Such was the occasion that 16 year old Simon, who's learning to play the guitar, was even given the day off school to visit the PHAZE 1 offices. Well, no wonder he's smiling! Left to right, the happy throng are: Dan Goldstein (PHAZE 1 out-going Editor), Andy Wood (HW International — distributors of Shure microphones), competition winner Simon Cooper (lucky man), David Bradwell (PHAZE 1 chief-to-be, not looking too glamorous) and Bob Thomas (the man from Tascam).

summer snub for bbc

WHEN 'SNUB' DISAPPEARED from our TV screens a few weeks ago a chapter in television history was closed. Almost. For now it's on it's way back in the form of a summer series of highlights and a special edition on Swiss electronic superstars Yello. On top of that there will be a whole new series of 'Snub' starting on BBC2 in the Autumn. I bet you can't wait...

sounds like a bargain

DO YOU OWN a Roland D110 synthesizer? Do you know anybody who does? Do you (or they) want 100 new, fresh and exciting sounds? If so, you may be interested in a company called Sorcerer Sound Productions. They have a D110 library which they guarantee will prevent you sounding like Brother Beyond and give your synth guts.

The sounds come on an Atari ST formatted disk to be transmitted over MIDI, and cost a mere £7.50 plus 50p postage and packaging. INFO: Sorcerer Sound Productions, (Contact Details).

taken for a ride

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a dodgy "pop" combo by the name of The Beatles. By strange coincidence, the World famous narrator of 'Thomas the Tank Engine', Ringo Starr, played drums for them in his spare time, and Zildjian have recently reintroduced the 'Ringo Ride' cymbal, just like the one Starr used on the classic Beatle tracks of the late '60s and early '70s. By even stranger coincidence, the drummer who requested the Ringo Ride was one Chris Whitten, currently recording with Ringo's erstwhile colleague, Paul "Macca" McCartney. The Zildjian Sound-Lab people in Boston USA specially manufactured the 18" 'K' Heavy Ride cymbal (with rivets) and flew it over the pond to Chris, who apparently is chuffed to bits.

INFO: FCN Music, (Contact Details).

the ultimate music course?

AND NOW, we announce, another very expensive course designed to take music into the 90s... For a mere £100 per day, per person, the Music Of The Spheres Centre (wow!) in Willesden Green, London, is running a series of sound technology and performance seminars. The aim of these is to teach people how to integrate all aspects of the latest music technology in a way which enhances performance.

The course organiser is the mysterious Mizarolli, one of this country's leading guitarists. When quizzed about the idea behind it he said:

"What we're trying to do with the course is fire people into the 90s, showing them the potential of all the technology that's available now, yet helping them to use it in a human and performance orientated way. What's happening these days is that people aren't learning their instruments properly any more, they're going straight for computers, and that shows in a lot of mechanical sounding music. We want to contribute to a positive direction in music where the computer is used as a service, actually increasing one's musicianship."

Anybody enrolling onto the course can hope to come away with a full understanding of MIDI and how to use it in improvisation. There will also be teaching on more general principles to do with sound perception and a mind, body and spirit approach to playing which will enhance people's musical and improvisational abilities.

INFO: Music Of The Spheres, (Contact Details)

bass clinic begins

DOUG WIMBISH, bass man extraordinaire for the likes of Mick Jagger and Jeff Beck recently dropped in at the Trace Elliot factory in Witham, Essex. Doug will be performing a series of Trace Elliot clinics in Britain later in the year, so the British bass amp manufacturers were eager to photograph him for a promotional poster. The photo shoot really livened up when the acrobatic bass player insisted on plugging in his bass and unleashing the full power of his two AH300 stacks. Sounds like a rock'n'roll animal.

INFO: Trace Elliot Ltd., (Contact Details).

whistles top

AS YOU KNOW, PHAZE 1 has it's ear on the pulse and its finger in the ground! And we can exclusively reveal the big little thing for 1989 — the Tin Whistle. Yes, with a diddle-um-dum and a roving we will go, the Clarke Tin Whistle has been relaunched by FCN Ltd in a three part gift set, comprising a whistle a handbook and a teaching cassette. And all for just £11.50, so cheapskate Pogues imitators take note! Given the recent resurgence of folk music, this could well prove a popular little product. Perhaps these Folkies aren't whistling in the dark after all.

INFO: FCN Music, (Contact Details)

video active

MAKING LEARNING INTERESTING is one of the hardest things for a teacher to achieve (after ensuring World War III doesn't break out in the chemistry lab). Just to help things along there are some new educational videos from Pergamon specially designed for the music curriculum. 'Composing with Computers' concentrates on music-related software compatible with the BBC and Apple II micros. 'The Sound of Steel' shows you how to set up a steel band, and 'Electronic Keyboards' looks at er... electronic keyboards. All the videos clock in at about £25, so while they're not necessarily a cheap way of keeping the kids quiet, they're certainly a cheap way of keeping them occupied.

INFO: Alison Ryde, (Contact Details)

take the tube

THE FIRST PIECE of equipment you buy is always the easiest to accommodate. On its own it won't take up much space, and if you're lucky you'll get away with only a couple of wires. The next time you have a big spend you start getting leads tangled up, and by the third or fourth time you will have a floor covered in spaghetti. There has to be an answer, and indeed there now is, in the shape of the Get Organised 'Cord Control Kit'.

What you get for your £19.95 is a 10 foot length of flexibile plastic tubing, 16 self laminating labels, eight beaded ties, two 'Go' ties, and a selection of tie wraps with adhesive mounts. The plastic tube, affectionately known as a 'Snake It', is split from end to end and can accomodate up to ten wires. These can easily be inserted and removed, and even given a name with one of the self-laminating labels. The ties and clips allow you to fasten the Snake It to anything that even remotely resembles a keyboard stand.

INFO: MCMXCIX, (Contact Details).

tape measure

YOU'VE SPENT WEEKS polishing your performance, days of hard graft at the mixing desk, serious moolah on precious studio time, and finally you're ready to send your demo off to record companies. Well, you have a number of options. If you're smart you could send it in to PHAZE 1's 'Demolition' feature and get a hearing with some industry bigwig (and get your name in print to boot!). Or you could get together your publicity package and send the tape straight to the record companies.

But there is another alternative. If you've absolutely mountains of cash and just don't know what to spend it on, then you could send your humble offerings to Solent Records on the Isle of Wight. For just a tenner (plus VAT!) they offer a "professional, objective, personal appraisal service" that'll advise you on how to submit demos to record companies (perhaps they mean real record companies?), and how your package could be improved. As part of this wonderful service they'll even return the tape and send you an address list of record companies. Is this money well spent? Hmmm... Other really useful ways of spending £10 (plus VAT!) are: (a) buying a ticket to see Des O'Connor, (b) a six month subscription to 'Stationery Trade News', (c) a season ticket to see Newport County.

Anyway, we didn't think you found sharks in the English Channel...

INFO: Solent Records, (Contact Details).