SOS Past Issues on WebArchive.org

[Forum Admin]

On 15 June 2016 we launched our new website and at the point of launch it has around 7,000 articles on it — from the latest issue back to August 2005.

We are working hard to get the remaining issues brought over as soon as possible but this will take time, due to commitments to producing the new issue each month.

They will be added one past issue at a time, moving backwards from August 2005.

Sorry to make you wait!

Web Archive

However, there is a partial solution: thanks to a wonderful non-profit organisation called Web Archive who run a Wayback Machine service. This shows snapshots of the full SOS site as it was going back in time and past/missing SOS articles can be found in its extensive web archives.

Go to: Show All Issues of SOS on WebArchive.org

Once there, clicking the old site's menus and links to articles will open most of them. Beware: lots of the features and login on the web archive do NOT work.

And please note: the archive only goes back to January 1994 (just like the old site) and the earlier issue links are there for convenience when researching what print mag an old article was in.

Check out Desmond's www.muzines.co.uk

Thanks for your understanding.

[Martin Walker]

https://web.archive.org/web/20150629000 ... Issues.php is indeed a most excellent archive resource to keep us all going for the time being

Martin

[eamyers1976]

Great resource. Thank you!!

[mmathieu]

Hello, Is there any source for the articles and reviews listed in table of contents for the 1990 to 1993 issues? For Example, Dec. 1993 has:

"PRACTICAL STUDIO DESIGN: Part 5
Practical Studio Design: Part 5: Room Within A Room Construction
Paul White presents a practical overview of the 'room within a room' principle which is used in the construction of virtually all major studios."

It would be great to be able to read this article and the reviews from that issue. Any ideas or link for me? MM in LA

[muzines]

SOS issues up to the end of 1993 will appear on mu:zines (link in my sig) in due course, but it won't be for some time as I'm one person working through 1000 magazine issues across 9 different publications as a labour of love.

With SOS I'm up to June 1989 so far, but we move forward slowly, step by step...

[mmathieu]

Well, I thank you for your quick reply and your hard work. I've purchased all the back issues I could find and I have the CDs but that gets me back to 1998 (and the Pics on the old CDs are VERY lo-res).
I'd offer to help, but I'm located on the wrong side of the wrong continent.
I'd buy some of these issues if they were for sale, but apparently not; at least not at this time.
Thanks again. I'll have to do without, unless SOS staff work backwards from 1994-5.
Good luck with your project. MM in LA

[muzines]

I'd buy some of these issues if they were for sale, but apparently not; at least not at this time.

These issues do turn up on ebay from time to time (I've bought more than a few for mu:zines.) and that's your best bet if you want full issues.

If you really need a specific article or two, PM me and I can help (within reason!)

I'll have to do without, unless SOS staff work backwards from 1994-5.

That won't happen, I'm afraid.

[Forum Admin]

Hello, Is there any source for the articles and reviews listed in table of contents for the 1990 to 1993 issues? For Example, Dec. 1993 has:

"PRACTICAL STUDIO DESIGN: Part 5
Practical Studio Design: Part 5: Room Within A Room Construction
Paul White presents a practical overview of the 'room within a room' principle which is used in the construction of virtually all major studios."

I've located the larger diagrams and have managed to rebuild Paul White's 5-part series on Practical Studio Design (SOS August to December 1993). They can now be found on the site here:
https://www.soundonsound.com/search/all/practical%2Bstudio%2Bdesign?solrsort=ds_created%20asc&f%5B0%5D=im_field_subject%3A8107

Just click on the diagrams and it will open the larger versions. Enjoy!

[muzines]

Good of you to do this!

[Forum Admin]

Good of you to do this!

Whilst we're still working backwards to republish old issues in full, it is taking an awful lot of time. This is still ongoing, in-between other work, but I've elected to rebuild useful reviews and multi-part series of note (like the 9-part Surround Sound Explained and, of course, all 63 parts of Synth Secrets, etc).

The plan then is to go back for a second pass and convert all remaining missing articles -- which is still a mammoth task, but early '90s Demo Doctor articles and Pro Tools Notes based on v3 are less useful today. They still have value within the context of a complete historical archive, naturally.

[muzines]

The plan then is to go back for a second pass and convert all remaining missing articles -- which is still a mammoth task, but early '90s Demo Doctor articles and Pro Tools Notes based on v3 are less useful today. They still have value within the context of a complete historical archive, naturally.

Yes - there is something nice about ticking complete issues - once you know it's done, it's done, and you get a nice measure of progress. But for sure there are differing levels of archive content in terms of value, and there is a lot to be said for focusing on the higher value things first, as long as your workflow let you keep track in a way that's not too overwhelming!

This is where I am, so I've also got quite some way to go..!



So I feel your pain!

[Forum Admin]

So I feel your pain!

And I yours...

Your PDF scanning is also covering the 'full magazine' back issue, including adverts, plus you are doing all those other music mag titles, not simply early SOS mags.

It's very much appreciated by all.

[Drew Stephenson]

It's very much appreciated by all.

Quoted for truth!

(as the young people say)

[mmathieu]

My thanks to Ian Gilby and others who have been so kind as to assist me and to contribute to making this 1990--1993 info available. The technical articles from these years are relevant in 2018 for background, for reviewing technical theory and best practices, for introductory purposes, and -- not least of all -- for RE-learning these topics some of us were once familiar with and practiced.

Now, if I could just get at Paul White's review of the Mackie 8-bus console from Dec. 1993, I'd be better able to evaluate the pristine 16.8 unit I've acquired. MM

[mmathieu]

Hello and help !!!

I'm still resolutely trying to find (that is, PURCHASE) old SOS mags previous to 1998.

For example, I am searching for Paul White's December 1993 review of the Mackie 8 bus mixing console.

As of this date, I have not seen this or other mags in this time frame on the archive site or at other links.

Any help would be appreciated and I'd be pleased to donate $$$ or scannable old mags because I would be pleased to aid anyone who is maintaining archives of old (including ANCIENT) recording and pro audio magazines -- (e.g. Studio Sound, anyone?).

Marc Mathieu
("retired" Pres. of Advanced Audio Engineering, Inc.)
Los Angeles

[muzines]

I'm still resolutely trying to find (that is, PURCHASE) old SOS mags previous to 1998.

For example, I am searching for Paul White's December 1993 review of the Mackie 8 bus mixing console.
As of this date, I have not seen this or other mags in this time frame on the archive site or at other links.

They come up on ebay from time to time...

Here's one available now:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sound-On-Sound-Magazine-December-1993-Volume-9-issue-2-Yamaha-VL1-Emu-Morpheus/223479869322?hash=item3408702f8a:g:-jwAAOSwo~dcXzRq

If SOS can't provide a copy of that article for you (please ask them first), then PM me and I can help you out.

Any help would be appreciated and I'd be pleased to donate $$$ or scannable old mags because I would be plesed to aid anyone who is maintaining archives of old (including ANCIENT) recording and pro audio magazines -- (e.g., Studio Sound, anyone?).

Well, I'm not sure about *ancient* (I go back to 1975 at this point) but there is already an (almost) complete archive of Studio Sound here:
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Studio-Sound.htm

[mmathieu]

Thanks, Desmond. I'll check out that link.

I should know how to request a copy of an article because I did so in the past. I'll have to research that option because an electronic copy would, of course, do quite niceley.

Thanks again for your post, D.

Marc.

[BillB]

Hi Folks

We have discussed this before, but I can't find the exact post.

Full SOS web back issues currently go as far back as January 2002
(https://www.soundonsound.com/magazine/2002-01), with some individual articles (e.g. Synth Secrets) being listed earlier than that date.

Muzines SOS issueshttp://www.muzines.co.uk/mags/sos currently go from Nov 85 to Dec 91 (an incredible achievement, Desmond) - and I think it is your intention to run up to the end of 1993?

Both of the above resources are searchable.

Then there is the Web Archive
https://web.archive.org/web/20150629000 ... Issues.php
which carries articles as far back as Dec 2004
http://www.soundonsound.com/Contents.ph ... &Year=1994

Earlier than that, it lists issues/articles all the way back to 1985, but does not have any content. Perhaps that is the reason for Muzines ambition to run up to the end of 1993?

So, Web Archive. The search function does not work (it does not have the SOS back-end code to make this happen). If anyone wants to find an SOS article on a particular piece of gear or subject from 1994~2001 inclusive, it is essentially a lucky-dip. There is also a topic-based search option (e.g. ' workstations') but I can't find the link at present.

I have wondered for a long time whether there is some way to 'scrape' the data from the webarchive index pages to create a searchable index of the entire 1994-2001 SOS web archive articles. Short of sophisticated data scraping, which I am not capable of, only two options come to mind:

1) Save each issue index hmtl page locally, then use a file-based search to dive into each HTML page and find the ones that link to the search topic, e.g. 'JV-1080'. This has the advantage that the saved pages retain the hyperlinks to the web archive pages. So when you find the search item, you find the link right to the article. But as 96 separate files, a little more fiddly to search than:

2) Print each issue index page to PDF. This has the advantage that the pages could be tidied up and combined into a single PDF of 96 pages. Very easy to search in any PDF viewer, but no hyperlinks. A hyperlink to each web archive issue page could be added manually (x96!). When 'JV-1080' turns up in a search, you know what month/year it is and can hyperlink to the index page for that issue on web.archive.

I mention all of this in case: a) somebody has already done something similar, or b) somebody can see a more technically elegant and achievable solution. Any thoughts welcome.

If I were to go ahead with either 1) or 2) above, I would be happy to share the results via either SOS forum or Muzines , as appropriate.

[muzines]

and I think it is your intention to run up to the end of 1993?

Yes - and when I get to the next batch of SOS in a few publications' time, I'm continuing the processing run until SOS to Dec 1993 is complete. So there'll be a lot more SOS coming up over the coming year...

Earlier than that, it lists issues/articles all the way back to 1985, but does not have any content. Perhaps that is the reason for Muzines ambition to run up to the end of 1993?

Yes, I asked SOS for the permission to process the issues that were pre-digital (SOS's own digital archives start at 1994). I was only ever intending, and allowed, to go up to Dec 1993.

When I've completed the SOS run, we'll sort out a handover process so that SOS will also have that 1985-1993 content in their own archive - that was always in the initial proposal because it's SOS's content and it's right that it should come home where it belongs.

It's just easier for the work involved to do it in one go, rather than bit by bit - I know Ian has enough on his plate, the last thing he wants I'm sure is me popping up with another 6 issues' worth of data every few months!

I have wondered for a long time whether there is some way to 'scrape' the data from the webarchive index pages to create a searchable index of the entire 1994-2001 SOS web archive articles. Short of sophisticated data scraping, which I am not capable of, only two options come to mind:

Heh. Yes, and no.

The bottom line is that as far as I understand, it's not quite that simple on SOS's end, as they are rebuilding the articles back from the initial image assets and so on, which is why it's been a slowish and ongoing process for them (bearing in mind they also have a ton of other priorities).

I mention all of this in case: a) somebody has already done something similar, or b) somebody can see a more technically elegant and achievable solution. Any thoughts welcome.

If I were to go ahead with either 1) or 2) above, I would be happy to share the results via either SOS forum or Muzines , as appropriate.

Bill - you still have access to the mu:zines Slack - can you drop in there quickly?

[muzines]

Basically, I'm happy to knock up some kind of forum post with indexes of the 94-2002/whatever content, with links to those articles on the wayback machine, as a temporary measure, if the PTB think such a thing would be OK and useful.

(Or you can do it manually of course, but personally I'd scrape it into a DB then export it into forum posts)

I think it's a good idea and worth considering, for sure...

[Forum Admin]

Hi Bill and desmond,

Converting back issues has been a task I took on but my workload has prevented me from having time to create any new "old" issues, but it is still our intention to get back to January 1994. I ceased creating and publishing old archives on a monthly issue basis as it became easier to respond to requests for special reviews or features, eg. I did all 63 parts of Synth Secrets.

I am happy for desmond to create an Index of those 1994-2002 articles and link to their version on Wayback.

And once desmond has got mu:zines up to date for SOS November 1985 through to December 1993, as he states, we'll put that content in some form on our own site.

[muzines]

Thanks Ian.

I'll liaise with Bill (as it was his idea/suggestion) and we'll see what we can come up with.

[BillB]

Desmond has come forward with a far more technically elegant solution than I had in mind, so I'll step back
...cheer from the sidelines
...and let the man get on with what he excels at

Very much looking forward to a reasonably continuous searchable SOS archive.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Desmond has come forward with a far more technically elegant solution...

He's astonishingly good at doing that...