The three producers and singer that make up Garbage are relying heavily on a cutting-edge digital audio software package to record the long-awaited follow-up to their '95 eponymous debut album. Garbage is one of a growing number of established and emerging acts using digital technology to record and edit audio tracks on a Macintosh or PC.

Garbage is using software called Pro Tools (by Digidesign, a music software maker based in Palo Alto) which turns a computer into a multi-track digital recorder. It allows the music to be mixed down on a computer and stored on a hard disk, as opposed to traditional recording to tape.

Major recording artists such as Garbage face steep costs -- high-end studios can cost $1,000 a day and more...way more. Using computers helps them lay down some of the music before they start the most expensive work that can only be done using a full studio.

Shirley Manson, the group's lead singer, acknowledged that the group prefers to use high-tech equipment, but said they went to great lengths in the engineering process to preserve the natural, analog sound. "Even though we used very up-to-date sort of digital equipment...we were very careful to then mix down onto analog tapes," she said. "You've still got that warm sound. And we used a lot of very high tech recording equipment and very low, low-fi guitars and pedals. We kept a lot of the flaws in this time as I think we sort of erased them on the first record."

Concern about digital audio's shortcomings have also been expressed by acts such as Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, and Lenny Kravitz, who prefer the sound of analog (though many still take advantage of digital for production purposes).

Still, the ability to strike a balance between analog and digital sounds has helped digital audio software develop into an industry standard.

"Almost every major artist in the recording industry is using it right now," said Chris Gill, a spokesman for Digidesign. Garbage apparently isn't the only act using Pro Tools. According to Gill, Other acts include Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Green Day, David Bowie and Peter Gabriel.

Wu-Tang Clan made reference to the Pro Tools software in the lyrics from "Severe Punishment" on Wu-Tang Forever. In the song, they said: "This Wu sh** be hard to kill and full blown/Rhymes filtered through the net before words hit the chrome/Pro Tools editing tracks that's rough/Cause a jam without a live MC isn't enough."

Titled "Version 2.0, " Garbage's pending release is described as a 12 track "noisy pop album" and will be released in May.