Sometimes you get to meet people who were your heroes back when you were a teen. The first time a 16-year-old me heard Gang of Four, a "post punk" band from Leeds, England, the directness of the...
Years ago I met Pall and his band Black Heart Procession and ended up recording a few single and compilation tracks for them as they came through Portland on tour. I really enjoyed their music and...
Tony Dekker is the man behind the Toronto-based folk/ambient/atmospheric rock of Great Lake Swimmers, which Mojo Magazine has aptly dubbed "ambient zen Americana." His 2003 debut album, Great Lake...
You've seen the spikes and corpse paint, Satanic or ancient themes, or maybe even the blood and guts album covers. Maybe you assumed death and black metal was something not to be taken seriously, but...
Vic Keary and Nick Terry, along with partner Jon Bailes, are the people behind the UK gear company Thermionic Culture. Larry and I both have several pieces of their gear that we really like, so...
If you look back over the history of recording studios, you soon realize that in the '40s and '50s engineers used to have to custom build their own mixing consoles. Nobody was selling "ready-to-go"...
I recently worked with a client who referenced a popular band as their sonic target for mastering. Although I was already aware of the band, I went on iTunes to really listen to a few tracks. After...
While doing research and editing for Tape Op articles, I spend a lot of time on the Internet looking for equipment model numbers, studio names and such. Many times I stumble across online advertising...
How many of you know that Larry has an active blog at www.tapeop.com/tapelog with plenty of interesting news and opinion? Me being the Gear Geek, one of my favorite entries is Larry's list of gear...
It used to be that you couldn't get a large-diaphragm condenser mic for under two grand, and there weren't that many choices anyway. Then some less expensive mics started appearing, and it seemed like...
We have a Daking console here at The Hangar and a pair of his FET compressors that see near constant use, so when Geoff Daking and Brad Lunde at TransAudio Group offered to send us a pair of Mic Pre...
I recently sold my beloved solid-state Pultec EQP-1A3 equalizers, so I was in the market for a new unit to fill the empty void left in my mastering rig. Unlike my old Pultec program equalizers, this...
If you work in a purpose-built, acoustically-treated studio in which room anomalies are at a minimum, then the acclaimed Focal SM6 series of monitors (Tape Op #60, #61) is a first-class choice....
Recently, I have come across many references to the balance of art and science in the creation and production of music. The most inspiring and insightful Tape Op interviews in the last few issues have...
The C720 Anniversary Special commemorates Josephson's twenty years in business. Like many other large-diaphragm condenser mics employing a two-sided capsule, the C720 has multiple, user-selectable...
Switching between in-the-box mixing, external summing, and console mixing has been a project-by-project reality in my personal world for a long time now. There are merits to all of these different...
JZ Microphones is a new Latvian company started by mic designer Juris Zarins, who at one time worked closely with the company BLUE. JZ's promotional literature touts its old world, no-compromise...
FutzBox is a brand-new distortion and noise generator plug-in for mashing, destroying, and making low-fidelity versions of your tracks. The main interface offers configurable "futz" effects, including...
Since November, I've been working on a huge shootout of small-diaphragm condenser mics; I might have mentioned this in my last review. Frankly, I might mention this in every review forever, since it...
Since November, I've been working on a huge shootout of small-diaphragm condenser mics; I might have mentioned this in my last review. Frankly, I might mention this in every review forever, since it...
Most of us at one time or another have owned or thought about buying an ART product. In my opinion, they offer one of the best price-versus-performance product lines on the market. At the January NAMM...
What do you do after being a band for 30 years? How does anyone even survive being in a band for that long? U2's studio workflow has evolved into a slow process of addition and subtraction over the...
I had the pleasure of meeting Ian McLagan in Austin, Texas recently, and I will tell you this man is a treat to hang with. Ian's a soulful keyboardist and a music veteran of The Small Faces/Faces and...
With a title like Fretworx you might assume this CD is all about guitar playing - and you'd be right. Brian is one of those "guitar technique" guys, and while he can play with speed like Steve Vai...
Chris Deaner (+/- {plus/minus}) and Karl Lundin (Mandible) create pop songs with just drums, percussion, a bit of chanting and some processing and editing. Instead of some crazy drum jam, these are...
