TAKING IT FURTHER THAN THE BACK ROOM...
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                  ||  Beyond The Bedroom. Part One.  ||
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        So, once you've created that masterpiece which you think 
	should not go unheard by the world, what do you do?

	Countless numbers of times I've tried to get friends and 
	family to sit in front of my Amiga and LISTEN to one of my 
	creations. Bad idea. A typical response would have to be 
	"well it's very good... considering it was just done on a 
        computer..." and for people to take your mods (songs?) 
        seriously, this is what you've got to get away from.

	The best way to do this is to record your mods onto tape and 
	hopefully, the first part in this series covers most aspects 
	of this.

	The first thing you really need to get a good quality 
	recording onto tape is an INPUT on a Hi-Fi. This may come in 
	the form of a CD phono input or a 5 pin DIN socket. Almost 
	ALL Hi-Fi's have some form of input socket.

	The easiest way to start recording is just to use a good 
	pair of Phono leads and connect your Amiga directly to your 
	Hi-Fi input (if the input's a 5 pin DIN, you'll need a 5 pin 
	DIN plug to stereo phono plugs). Just connect both ends, 
	switch your Hi-Fi to your input (mine is just where my CD 
	player should be) and every sound which your Amiga makes 
	should now come out of the speakers on your Hi-Fi. You can 
	now record anything you like (including music from Games and 
	Demos, bearing in mind copyrights please). 

	The major problem with this is the stereo imageing. Half the 
	sounds come out of the left speaker and the other half from 
	the right. This can prove very hard listening especially if 
	your sitting next to the speaker playing the drum track! The 
	best way round this is to convert the image to mono using 
	some connection leads. Although some of the sound quality is 
	lost in the conversion, the songs sound a lot better. If 
	your Hi-Fi has a mono option however, you're very lucky!.

	The best way to do this is to get a lead made especially for 
	the job. There a number of shops around the country that 
	will make leads up to order (there's even one in Swindon!). 
	Just ask for a lead to convert a stereo image into a mono 
	one, making sure you tell them that the stereo image has 
	stereo phono outputs and then tell them the input of your 
	Hi-Fi (probably stereo phono or 5 pin DIN) which wants a mono 
	input. (make sense?). This will cost you approx. £5-8 
	depending on the shop and means that little quality is lost 
	in the conversion. It also means you can specify the length 
	of your cable so even if your Hi-Fi's in another room, you 
	can still hook them together.

	If you can't find a shop that will make one up for you, you 
	can buy a number of "Y-Leads" from Tandys. There are over 
	5OO of these around the country, so there should be one near 
	you.

	Ask for:

	1. Two phono plugs to one phono jack Y-Adaptor  (Approx. £2)
	2. Two phono plugs to one phono plug Y-Adaptor  (Approx. £2)	

	and if that cable isn't long enough to reach to your Hi-Fi:

	3. Phono patch extension (optional at approx. £2)


	OR IF YOUR HI-FI HAS A 5 PIN DIN INPUT..

	1. Two phono plugs to one 5 pin MONO DIN adaptor.
        	                                (Approx. £2.5O)    


	As this means 2 (or even 3) leads to be connected before you 
	reach the Hi-Fi, some sound quality will be lost, but then 
	again you benefit from having the mono image. 

	Another alternative is to buy the parts and solder them 
	together, but if you want to do that you'll probably know 
	what you need to get. If you know what you're doing and 
	you've got a soldering iron etc. this could cost you less 
	than a quid!

	If that's left you abit confused check out the two pictures. 
	Hopefully, they'll might make things a little clearer.

	Other ways to record to tape include using a portastudio but 
	there you're getting expensive so we'll leave that alone... 
	for now.


	So, you've recorded your best mods onto tape. Now what do 
	you do?

	Firstly, play it back a number of times. Listen for mistakes 
	(yes, we all make them!) or things that just simply doesn't 
	work on tape. Change them accordingly, and re-record them if 
	you need to.

	Once you've done this, it's a good idea to listen to it 
	again whilst reading a book or magazine. As this distracts 
	the mind, anything which sounds odd will immediately become 
	apparent!

	It's then a good idea to make a copy of your tape for safety 
	reasons.

	If your skills in DPaint are alright, you could then design 
	a cover for your tape (more on this in a later part). 

	Finally GIVE AWAY copies of tape to friends or relatives.

		DON'T tell them you composed it.
		DON'T tell them it was done on Amiga.

	Leave it for a week or two and then casually ask them what 
	they thought of it. You'll then (hopefully!) get a 
	completely unbiased opinion on your mods. This can be 
	really useful in the creative process. If they like it you 
	can tell them it was composed by you on a computer, if not, 
	you can keep quiet!

	Alternatively, you can send your mods to TI for a review in 
	the PD section. Every mod will be reviewed and an unbiased 
	(well, almost unbiased eh, Chris!) opinion given! See the PD 
        submissions section for more details.

	We'd also love to hear any tapes you manage to come up with!

	Next Issue, we'll look at the DISK way of presenting your 
	mods. This will include Startup-Sequences and installing 
	disks etc. but also displaying pictures and text with your 
	mods.