We talked to Jacquire King briefly in Tape Op #45 when he was working with producer Eric Valentine, but in the seven years since that time Jacquire has been involved with an impressive roster of...
In issue #15 we ran a rather brief interview with Liam Watson about his London-based Toe Rag Studios. In the following 12 years I always remarked that Tape Op needed to revisit Toe Rag and chat with...
Merrill Garbus is the founder and central figure of tUnE-yArDs, an extraordinary band that I have had the honor of traveling with over the past year in support of their fantastic album w h o k i l...
I became acquainted with Glenn Coleman when we shared a week together at the Audio Engineering Society Convention (AES) in New York. Glenn's early employer, MCI, was a leading manufacturer of pro...
I found hip-hop/dance music pioneer Jon Baker residing in Port Antonio, Jamaica — a town he decided to settle in after experiencing a blazing a career in New York and London. With a past that...
"I'm fundamentally a musician, although I've fallen into being sort of... I hate to refer to myself as a producer because I think there's a lot of pretension around that name. But I've learned how...
With a career spanning over 20 years of recording some of the loudest rock in Japan, Soichiro Nakamura is a warm, sincere and very humble jack-of all-trades. From the compact space of his Peace...
Here's more dialogue from our interview with Merrill in the print edition of Tape Op #88. Merrill Garbus is the founder and central figure of tUnE-yArDs, an extraordinary band that I have had the...
I found hip-hop/dance music pioneer Jon Baker at his GeeJam Studios, an exclusive residential recording studio and hotel in Port Antonio. Jon has recently been working with the legendary Jamaican...
We talked to Jacquire King briefly in Tape Op #45 when he was working with producer Eric Valentine, but in the seven years since that time Jacquire has been involved with an impressive roster of...
Your career of playing music is kind of more recent to the public eye. Well, yeah, I was described as going through the looking glass, 'cause for many years, even though I did music as a hobby...
A longtime San Francisco Bay Area engineer and producer, Eli Crews has been quietly churning out utterly unique albums for the past decade. He is probably best known for his work with Deerhoof,...
While outsider music isn't for everyone, the genuine article speaks to the outsider in all of us. By its very definition, the genre is strange and impenetrable and yet inviting the same way we...
When I was in high school my friend picked up a copy of Wire's 1979 album 154 based on a review in Rolling Stone. Little did I ever imagine how the sonics of that album, and so many other records by...
In Tape Op #86, Greg Calbi related his early experiences as a mastering engineer. I was struck by his comment that professional mix engineers would ask him if a bass or vocal was too loud or too soft....
In the previous installment of this column, I discussed my current favorite computer mouse, the Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX ($50 street; www.logitech.com), which I use both at my desk and while I'm...
I jumped at the chance to audition the DocDerr EQ/compressor, a new 500-series module designed by ELI’s founder/designer Dave Derr. I, along with almost everyone else in the audio world, am...
The Maag EQ4, from the designer of the venerable NTI EQs with their legendary Air Band, isn't really an equalizer at all. So if you're looking for a new parametric EQ, stop reading, because the...
Most of you are probably familiar with Chandler Limited and Wade Goeke from previous reviews and experiences with Chandler gear — the cool-looking, vintage-styled processors with innovative,...
Inward Connections and its Vac Rac series of tube audio processors may be some of Pro Audio’s best kept secrets. The TSL-4 represents the latest incarnation of Vac Rac tube limiters that graced...
Acoustic Geometry is a new line of professional sound products from Acoustical Surfaces, Inc. (www.acousticalsurfaces.com). Their debut product group, called the Curve System, is a family of...
The reason most mixers use speakers like the Yamaha NS-10M and Auratone — or small radios, cheap computer speakers, and other assorted “crappy sounding” things — is that these...
Inspired by the straightforward approach Equator Audio takes in selling the D5 direct to consumers — without middleman margins and BS sales tactics — I’m going to just cut to the...
These are fun days for adventurous electric guitarists. All sorts of permutations of the quintessential rock instrument have reared their headstocks in the past decade. We’ve got easy access to...
Gregory Scott of KUSH Audio is one of those guys that seem to really think about the process of making music. In talking with him at trade shows or seeing his posts in recording forums, he...
The OWC Mercury Rack Pro is a hard-drive enclosure designed for the high-performance demands of audio and video production. Whether you want it for production, backup, or a combination, the unit is...
Recording equipment manufacturers, as in any other product segment, fall into trends. When something sells, everyone wants to jump on the boat, and it's easy to write off late-comers in the...
Like many Tape Op readers (especially guitarists), I've amassed a somewhat embarrassing collection of effects pedals over the decades. For me, it started in 1982, too young to drive, when I...
Softube is a Swedish company that develops pro audio hardware and software, with plug-in titles that include official emulations of gear from Abbey Road Studios, Tube-Tech, Trident, and more....
While continuing to update SONAR X1 (Tape Op #82) for free, Cakewalk is adding functionality to their top-shelf version of SONAR X1 Producer with a paid upgrade - SONAR X1 Producer Expanded. Most of...
The Retrospec Juice Box is an all tube, Class A direct- injection box for recording musical instruments. It is fairly simple in layout and unique in looks. It has the usual 1/4'' I/O and an XLR...
Genelec has long been a name associated with "industry standard" for active studio monitors, and the 8040A model has been around since 2004, so I won't focus on the sound of the 8240A as much as I...
I've been using the same brand of head cleaner for a decade. Nice alcohol-based stuff. But I ran low and found that MDI PrecisionMotorWorks was able to reintroduce their "right stuff" cleaner. (The...
This compact audio interface allows you to record up to 8 channels simultaneously on an iPad; delivers 18 input and 18 output channels on Windows and Mac OS X (8 analog, 10 digital); supports USB 2.0...
When we think of boutique effects, what comes to mind are hand-built units, based on classic designs, created in a garage, one box at a time. Strymon, while certainly being boutique, have unabashedly...
Noel Gallagher's post- Oasis debut is nothing short of outstanding, and Gallagher sounds confident. It doesn't hurt that the songwriting on Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds is his strongest since...
