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Interviews, tutorials, etc. All about the art of music recording.
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What happens when a band, Washington, D.C.'s eclectic post-rock Beauty Pill, is commissioned to record their latest album over two weeks in a public arts center and become a live exhibit for patrons?...
THE "DRUG STORE TRUCK-DRIVING MAN"
From Tape Op issue #2! Here's a true story from an engineer that was there:
On the condition of anonymity, here's what happened, as best as I remember it... keep...
I recently had the chance to interview one of my favorite musician/studio owners, Peter Gabriel. The situation involved me and three other writers sitting in a wooden shed with an SSL at one end, in...
Sometimes recordists (and musicians, more broadly) have to ship a piece of gear - either to the manufacturer for repairs, or to the retailer as a return or exchange. Just as recording is more than...
Soon after finishing a technical engineering degree, Tom Bugs completed and sold his first batch of Weevils. While working out how to give life to what would become BugBrand, Tom helped out at the...
Talk a little about your Lucas equipment.
I started about '89 or '90. Really what inspired it was two things: It was always difficult recording guitars, because a lot of what I did experimenting on...
What exactly is/are "trombone-propelled electronics?"
The backwards guitar pieces were fun to watch because of all those "horny guitars" (as my wife dubbed the highly pronged pawnshop specials that...
Hey, wait a minute - weren't all the great records supposed to be recorded in somebody's bedroom by now? By people in their twenties, on cheap software, with consumer-level gear? Wasn't there supposed...
What would be a typical framework for how you go about producing, from having met the artist to a finished record?
Normally, when I first meet the artist we spend some time together, and then if it...
When I found out that I would be moving to Minneapolis, my friend Peter Holmstrom gave me Ed Ackerson's number. He told me Ed was a guy that I would have a lot in common with. In Portland, I had...
The recording of my interview with Scott Hirsch begins with a swelling synth note that slowly decays into a repeating delay that gradually fades out. This abstract beginning flows well into our...
For the last 20 years Seattle's Green Pajamas have been cranking out great records. Since their debut album, Summer of Lust, in 1984, to their latest releases of Northern Gothic and Through Glass...
About one hour from Christchurch, New Zealand, the small village of Mount Somers is located just before the steep and pristine beginnings of the beautiful Southern Alps. A green, mostly...
People never stop surprising me. A couple of years ago, a neighbor of mine came over to my house and handed me a record he'd been working on. I hardly knew he played music. He never talked about it. I...
Camper Van Beethoven was one of the first 'indie' bands as we know the term to imply. They were releasing their own records in the mid 1980s, a very unusual thing at the time. The band incorporated...
Punk rock is often considered a genre of slackers pretending they are doing something exceptional, but actually doing something pretty insignificant. Producers often have to make excuses to justify...
Whenever a rave flyer adorned with hentai-anime lasses, regurgitated-Lifesaver colors and fudged-up vector shapes blows onto my leg, I think of The Books and exhale. The NYC/Massachusetts duo make...
I first met Dave Amels of Bomb Factory and Vocé in Nashville at the NAMM show last year. People kept telling me "You need to meet Dave and interview him for Tape Op." We ended up chatting for a...
Would you first give your definition of mastering and why it matters?
Mastering is the last creative process in the chain and the final technical check before duplication. Creatively, an artist can...
The lead vocal is one of the most important elements in many recordings. Fortunately, good engineering practices can go a long way towards capturing the best performance. The following are some tips...
Between 1979 and 1998 Bob Mould put out 14 records with his two amazing bands, Hüsker Dü and Sugar, and five solo records, influencing the course of music with his enraged, swirling guitars...
I've been sitting on this interview so long that a new CD, attagirl, has already been released. Check out any of their albums to hear the best band in The Netherlands!Is Log 22 the first record you...
Back in the golden days of Sun Studios and Gold Star, when recording was still a new enterprise, in order to be a recording engineer you had to actually be an engineer. Before you...
I contacted Russell Frehling for a sidebar to my interview with composer Pauline Oliveros. To accompany the Oliveros article, I wanted to include a profile of Deep Listening Space's...
Harvey Gerst has been a major-label musician (the Villagers, Sweetwater), hit songwriter (the Byrds), product designer (Acoustic, JBL), engineer, and producer. I his 60's, he...
Oranger may be the best self produced, home recorded band you've never heard of. When they aren't on tour with Elliott Smith, Wilco, The Apples In Stereo or R.E.M, they're tucked away in a foggy...
I've been listening to Bonny 'Prince' Billy's "Master and Everyone" a little obsessively lately, so it seemed auspicious when the chance to interview him came up. His avoidance...
This summer I was part of a press junket to Crystalphonic Sound Studios in Charlottesville, Virginia. A press junket is a trip where they fly writers from various magazines to a...
1-3-03Damn! Why did I book a 6:30am flight? Oh yeah - it's half the price of a sane-hour flight. So, it's up at 4am, down some cheerios, and head to the airport. My wife, Jaye,...
We didn't announce it, but that is why they call it a pop quiz! This month we are going to test your knowledge on several aspects of the home recording studio. Below are ten...
You just can't beat a Mellotron or Chamberlin for adding texture and interest to any track. This precursor of the modern digital sampler utilized pre-recorded tapes that played as the keys were held...
You are known for doing tons of really complicated rock records like the King Crimson double trio or that Bozzio/Levin/Stevens record you just did.I do seem to attract some of the crazier projects....
Housed in a former bakery in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood is the Experimental Sound Studio. ESS has been a staple of Chicago's art and music scene for nearly 16 years with a unique purpose. It...
I'm a Fizzer. I'm one of the lucky folks who own, play and love a "loveable loser" of a digital synthesizer with the funny name of Fizmo. It was available from synth and music company Ensoniq a couple...
There was a very innocent time, before I could drive, but I'd already discovered the odd record store, the odd 'zine and most importantly the left-of-field band. My mom would run an errand with me in...
At first glance Columbus, Ohio's Moviola seems like the perfectly conventional band you'd expect from the heart of the Midwest - a couple guitars, a bass, a drum. But as anyone who has heard the...
It's common knowledge that a beautiful, well-designed and well-crafted tube mic preamp is going to cost as much as a budget used car. There is a low-cost alternative, nonetheless. Given the right...
In 1957, Polish immigrant brothers Leonard and Phil Chess converted a former automobile parts factory into the Chess Records Studio and Office at 2120 South Michigan Ave. in Chicago. After years at a...
Here are some helpful hints on how to reduce the prospect of your gear getting stolen. In the event it is stolen, here are a couple of ideas on how to affect a swifter recovery.Stencil Everything! The...
About six years ago I introduced my friend Rob Leickner to my friend Colin Stewart. I had no idea at the time, but that introduction would lead to the creation of Vancouver, BC's fastest growing...
