Gear Reviews

Sometimes a simple piece of gear can make your life so much easier. Think about a TT to TRS adapter-handy for patching in something that you will use once on a project or maybe once this whole year. Sometimes the piece of gear makes your life easier by combining simplicity with quality and ease of...

Nevaton is a Russian microphone manufacturer that formed in 1947 when an acoustic laboratory established itself at the Leningrad Optical and Mechanical Association (LOMO). In 1954, the laboratory joined the newly formed scientific and industrial association named EKRAN. Until 1987, this laboratory...

Sterling Modular founder Jim Maher believes that acoustics matter when choosing furniture for an audio working environment. Having used products from his competitors as well as from general office and furniture stores, I can testify that the choice of desk has a massive impact on the acoustic...

If you take away one engineering concept from this issue, I hope it's the following: serious recording engineers calibrate their monitor paths. Readers with tape machines paired with analog boards know what I mean. Matching the levels on those guys is the first order of business. But with the...

From an equipment point of view, we live in a wonderful time to make music. Although there is an ongoing "vintage gear" craze, we now also have an amazing array of choices in new equipment-really remarkable and great sounding equipment. We almost have too many choices due to the growing...

For the past two years, I've been looking for the perfect home-studio mixer. I've been through three or four of them, each inadequate for various reasons, and sold them all. The mixer of my dreams has between 8 and 16 channels, and an interface featuring between 8 and 16 FireWire inputs...

Over the past several months, I've been using a pair of Peluso P12 microphones. I can't say enough good things about them. They sound great no matter what the instrument. I love them as drum overheads. I love them on guitars. I love them as a vocal mic for males and females. I absolutely...

Less than twelve months from the last major upgrade to their sequencing, composition, and performance DAW (Tape Op #67), the folks at Ableton are at it again with Live 8. This latest version has a number of new features, including a revamped approach to warping, enhanced warp algorithms, five new...

V-Studio 700 is a complete and integrated digital recording system-just add computer-that's designed around SONAR 8 (Tape Op #69), Cakewalk's flagship DAW, which is included with the complete V-Studio package. Also in the bundle is a full version of Rapture softsynth and Dimension Pro...

FiveFish Studios is a Tennessee-based company that offers pre-packaged DIY audio kits. For this review, I'm covering the SC-1 mk500, a preamp designed to fit in 500-series racks and lunchboxes. The SC-1 comes in two configurations, transformerless or with a Cinemag input transformer. We tested...

Shure's new SM27 replaces the KSM27 (the "Dixie Chicks mic"), but it isn't just a clone with a new color and new name. Nope, this charcoal grey microphone has a much better self-noise figure than the Champagne version, rated at a very low 9.5 dBA (anything below 15 dBA is good)...

Here's a simple yet brilliant product-a Shure SM57 that's been modified with a right-angle bend between its head and body. The bend allows for far easier positioning, especially on drums. When you consider the length of a stock SM57 plus the XLR connector and cable, you're gaining a...

Mic'ing a snare drum is always a challenge, because it's hard to avoid bleed from the hi-hat. I've developed a preference for not very sensitive, super or hypercardioid dynamics, because they seem to pick up the least hi-hat. Nonetheless, I was a bit surprised when my friends at...

The number of applications for the iPhone that could be useful for people doing recording is growing faster than any one of us can keep up with, but a recent find for me is the 99-cent SPL Meter from Studio Six Digital. It's a simple SPL meter with A and C-weighting, slow and fast response...

I trusted Tekserve in New York when they recommended the Glyph GT 050Q. It definitely ranks among the best recommendations I've ever received (not just because I like the convenience of it taking an IEC cable and not needing an outboard power supply). A few weeks ago, my hard drive died during...