This article is based on a message written by Simon Williams
Usually I start by choosing a style and tempo which suits what I intend to play. I then decide whether to use transpose or not (its important when storing the registrations as each registration will recall the transpose value).

Next I rehearse on the keyboard (not using record mode) and choose 4 main voices or combinations of sounds which I intend to use initially.

After adjusting the levels by pressing the mixer button and balancing voices R1 and R2, also sometimes I may adjust reverb or chorus depth, I set these to each of the registration memories.

I always use freeze on the registrations as I dont like the registrations to change the style for me, preferring to do it separately. Next set tempo and accompaniment levels and finally press the record button.

I usually start by selecting "Quick Record" and then "Melody and accompaniment". Choose my first registration, press sync start and then attempt to not make any mistakes whilst recording my channel.

I'm sure many psr740 users will agree that whilst in record mode, the keyboard never quite feels as responsive as it does when playing live. Again I'm sure this is due to the overworked cpu! I always feel there is a slight lag in what I play, though usually more so at faster tempos.

What I really like about the 740 is that if you make a mistake, press stop and then "no", and you can immediately start again.

I rarely try and edit a channel if I make a mistake as it takes longer than to rerecord, unless of course its a very long channel and the mistake is either near the end or beginning.

  Once I'm happy with my quick recording, I often skip over to Multi channel record mode. Already the accompaniment and melody channels are in place, so I select say channel 3, set it to voice R1 and choose my next voice. During record I try not to worry too much about levels or effects.

Once the sequence is complete, I then move to the edit option and "setup data". Here I find the onscreen mixer panels wonderful, being able to balance each channel by pressing the appropriate channel button during playback and twiddling the data dial accordingly.

Pressing the next or back buttons move me to effect levels, panning and so on, often its necessary to repeat the song several times until I'm happy with the result.

Finally I'll add a name to the song and then save it before exiting.

The audio outputs I run into a studiomaster 16-2 and then to the minidisk recorder. I find minidisk invaluable for recording and highly recommend it to anyone who hasnt tried it!

I always like to achieve a clean, warm and quality sound where possible so I monitor everything on a pair of mission 751 high fidelity speakers. Sometimes the Senheiser HD414 headphones are plugged in, though I always prefer to mix on speakers than phones.

As for the vocal harmoniser and vocals, I dont generally do much singing. Most of the time I've used an old sony ecm909 electret microphone. Its a bit low in output and slightly noisy, but it works well and has a clean sound without being bassy..

As for styles, well much of the techniques I use for song recording go into style production. I miss not being able to record my sustain pedal in styles, but have found its possible to adapt playing techniques accordingly.