For mixing and critical listening, my favorite headphones in the studio are Shure SRH1840 (Tape Op #89), Shure SRH940 (#85), and Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (#63). As I've stated in my previous reviews,...
After years of reviewing gear, I have come to the conclusion that A/B comparisons are not able to tell me what I want to know about a piece of equipment. While I understand the value of A/B...
The Federal AM-864/U was made for the US Army in the '40s and '50s for use in AM radio broadcasting. Like most obscure, vibey pieces of vintage gear, these have recently become prohibitively...
Introduced in 1976, the Ampex ATR-102 2-track tape recorder is often cited as the finest tape handler invented. Not limited to one width, users can swap head-stacks and guides, permitting a single...
Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours sold over 40 million copies, topped charts around the world, and won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Ken Caillat, along with Richard Dashut and the band, produced...
This book presents a large body of knowledge and countless insider-tips from an award-winning commercial audio designer. Before this book, complete information about original audio circuit design was...
First looks can be deceiving, and the Radial Q3 is anything but what I initially imagined it to be. My first impression upon seeing the 500-series module was of an Auditronics-style 3- band inductive...
I have not been excited about a new mic preamp in a long time, especially a solid-state one. You know what I mean? Doesn't it feel like in the last 10 years or so, we witnessed an explosion in the mic...
I've been using analog synthesizer filters to process audio ever since I bought a PAiA modular synth in the mid '80s, and you'll get no argument from me if you were to say the venerable Moog filter is...
This venerable DAW, which was introduced originally for the Atari ST in 1989, was last covered in Tape Op in 2010 (Tape Op #75); Garrett Haines and I cowrote the Cubase 5 review. For this latest...
Monofilter is a useful tool for managing bass frequencies and correcting phase-coherence issues. Monofilter re-aligns and balances low frequencies, resulting in a louder, more focused, and better...
Rupert Neve is a name that's been around in the recording world for quite a while now, and it holds a lot of weight. Few names are as synonymous with audio design, but when it came time to release a...
Last year, I upgraded the pair of Ultimate Support MS-45B2 monitor stands (Tape Op #49) in my personal studio to the current, second-generation model in Ultimate Support's studio lineup, the...
