By Clive Young. When we think of the recording industry, audiobooks aren't the first format that comes to mind. Nonetheless, plenty of audio pros make their living from them; the question now is, for how long? Audiobook sales are down 20 percent so far this year, and according to the Associated Press, their revenues have dropped 47 percent. Can audiobooks be saved?

By Clive Young. My brother celebrated his birthday the other night by dragging friends and family to Karaoke night at a local bar. One of his pals didn’t join us, however, giving the brilliant excuse that he didn’t want to risk catching Swine Flu from the microphone. We all found this pretty amusing--but when I picked up that grungy SM58 and found plenty of spit on it, I suddenly understood where he was coming from. Not to get too technical here, but one word came to mind: “Eww.”

by Christopher Walsh It’s always nice to come across a collective of like minded musicians and audio pros sometimes they are both and one such is the Harlem Parlour Music Club. A group of approximately 14 musicians, HPMC is recording

by Clive Young. These days, we all hear a lot about recycling and “being green.” At the same time, thanks to the economy, many of us are also focused making the most of what we have. For the pro audio world, that usually means retooling that aging computer in the studio to squeeze a little more useful life out of it, or jerry-rigging the mixer in a ratty club to keep it going for a few more months. There’s an art to eking more out of less, and of course, we do a lot of it in the name of presenting art, too.For some artists, however, recycling and revamping waning audio technologies is more than just about use---it’s the art itself.