Matt Fink knows a thing or two about funk. As keyboardist for Prince and the Revolution, "The Doctor" presided over a long program of intensive funk therapy during his decade-long residency with Prince. The new Dr. Fink's Funk Factory™ Premium Collection loop library neatly sums up the Prince years, with monumental chordal themes, blazing synth solos, clavinet riffs, propulsive beats and basslines, and more. Used in conjunction with other Sony Sound Series Loops & Samples libraries, the creative possibilities are infinite.

"The premise for Dr. Fink's Funk Factory was to match old school sounds and beat loops with contemporary techno beats and synthesizer sounds so that they could be mixed and matched within this collection," Fink explains. "I really enjoyed creating this library, and I hope that you'll have a fun and creative experience as well." More

I was around when Sony introduced the original cassette-based Walkman®, and it was quite a phenomenon. For several years, that little silver box was all the rage; you'd see it in subways, on airline flights, among joggers, and a whole lot of other places.

Today, the world of the Portable Music Player (PMP) has accelerated thanks to the digital revolution—we now have devices based on solid state memory, hard drives, and MiniDiscs (cassettes are still with us, too). But an essential accessory for any digital PMP is software to rip music from CDs you own, create playlists, delete tracks, and otherwise manage your music. While useful, these programs are limited—so let's look at how to use Sound Forge® 8 software to take your PMP to the next level.

Create continuous mixes (DJ sets, classical music, live performances, etc.). With every PMP I've used (except MiniDisc), any track marker between cuts creates a very short, silent gap—talk about annoying. With Sound Forge 8 software, you can rip each track as its own file, paste these individual files together into one continuous file, then save the collection as one long file. Transfer this to any PMP, and presto—no more interruptions between tracks.

Reduce noise. We all have some old tapes or vinyl sitting around we'd like to add to a playlist. With the Sound Forge 8 ExpressFX Audio Restoration plug-in, you can restore those older recordings so that they sound better. Continued

Craig Anderton has given seminars on technology and the arts in 37 states and 10 countries. Check out his "Sound, Studio, and Stage" forum at www.harmony-central.com.

Create your podcast with ACID software, as well as your royalty-free jingles, bumpers and intros. ACID Pro and ACID Music Studio™ software include over 1,000 music loops for easy creation of original music. They are also perfect for laying out the audio segments for a podcast that includes a number of audio sources. You can add a separate track for each item, such as intro music, voice 1, voice 2, phone comment line, sound effects, and outro music. Then simply drag them into the order you want. Delete unwanted sections or insert space with nothing more than your mouse. Then, save your podcast as a multitrack project file so that you can come back and easily change it at any time. When you're finished, export your podcast as an MP3 and you're ready to post it for the world to hear.

With Sound Forge software you can easily record and edit your podcast and export it to MP3 format. Cut out the "ums," "ahs," "errs," and any other unwanted sounds with simple select, delete, and drag-and-drop operations. If there is more than one person speaking in your podcast and they speak at different volumes, you can even out the volumes with the equalization and dynamics features found in the software. You can also remove background sounds with the Noise Reduction tools. For that extra touch of realism, enhance your podcast with sound effects from the Sony Sound Series.

The next step is to place your podcast on a Web site where the public can reach it. And if you want your listeners to be able to subscribe to your podcast, you need to also provide the RSS feed. ACIDplanet.com takes care of all this for you by providing podcast hosting for ProZone™ members. While all ACIDplanet citizens have their own free site for uploading their music and videos, ProZone members get premium features including unlimited storage, larger file uploads, a photo gallery, customizable colors for their pages, and now podcast hosting. All for just $49.95 a year.

Create a truly unique podcast and share it with the world. Sony Creative Software makes it possible! More

Unlike the last NIN remix, which was exclusive to one music-mixing application, the loops for this event are available at ACIDplanet.com in WAV format with accompanying ACID® project files. "As a key partner in this event, we wanted to make the loops more accessible so anyone with a computer—PC or Mac—can have the chance to create their own "Only" remix," said Dave Chaimson, Vice President of Marketing for Sony Creative Software.

PC users can also visit ACIDplanet.com to download ACID Xpress software, our free 10-track version of ACID, or a demo of ACID Music Studio software. Both downloads include a starter mix of "Only."

Post your "Only" remix at www.myspace.com/ninremixes. You'll need to register and create an artist profile page first. Myspace has created a special chart for NIN remixes, so the entire NIN community can rate your work.

For more information on the Nine Inch Nails "Only" remix, go to www.nin.com.