How does a Memphis-born teen become an intern, and eventually chief engineer, at Sun Studio? How does the same guy go on to record Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Chris Isaak, Drive By Truckers, the Rival...
I've been a devoted studio rat for years, but I've also toured doing live sound and, increasingly, I've found myself working in postproduction audio. For me, all of those experiences inform the other....
While motorcycling through the Appalachian Mountains, on my way to the 2015 Summer NAMM show in Nashville, I made an overnight stop in Jim Thorpe, PA, one of the most beautiful towns in the U.S.,...
Tindersticks' recording journey began over two decades ago, in a kitchen in Kilburn, London, where the band made demo recordings for their debut album (by the same name). These days the band's...
John Dwyer is certainly prolific. His main band, Thee Oh Sees, have released 18 studio albums since 1997. His side project, Damaged Bug, has two albums out. He co-owns Castle Face Records, where most...
Not only is Susan Rogers a record producer, engineer, mixer, and audio electronics technician, she has a doctorate in psychology (having studied music cognition and psychoacoustics) from McGill...
Flood (aka Mark Ellis) could be called one of the most mysterious record producers working in the business by name alone, not to mention that most special way his ears hear music, and the...
The art of recording music is one that seems to fascinate everyone. For folks that never have set foot into a recording studio, the concept of being there at the moment of inspiration, as well as...
Over the years, I've replaced most of the incandescent bulbs in my home and in my studio with LEDs. The incandescents ranged from 35 W low-voltage halogens, to 60 W standard "Edisons", to 75 W...
Los Angeles–based producer and technophile Scott Eric Olivier recently debuted a new product called the PEDALpUNK! This guitar pedal–sized device works principally as an all-analog...
At the 2016 AES Show in Los Angeles, I was shown a slew of great new gear. For me, the products I saw typically fell into a few different categories: (1) Cool product, but doesn't make sense for me;...
Hazelrigg Industries might be a new name, but founders George and Geoff Hazelrigg are no strangers to professional recording equipment. For years, they built and repaired gear for their own...
The Dynaudio LYD 7 is a new, bi-amplified, 2-way nearfield monitor aimed at the mid-market project and personal studio. It offers a great value by including cool features and solid performance at...
The buzz on this box was unlike any I have encountered, and it was a challenge to get a review unit from Chandler due to demand. But it was well worth the wait. Chandler and its main man Wade Goeke...
Here's the very short version: Drum Leveler is a brilliant plug-in. If the name "Drum Leveler" sounds useful to you, you can stop reading and go download the trial. By definition, I suppose Drum...
Boutique equipment maker and former studio technician Jonathan Little has built a business around making useful (and small) boxes that solve specific problems in the recording world. Each of his...
For many years, Bill Bradley (Tape Op #42) has built a reputation for expertly repairing microphones in the Nashville area. Over ten years ago, Bill branched into building his own mics, and the MS47...
Mix With The Masters is doing an excellent job of getting some of the music industry's most renowned producers and mixers to share their creative processes with the rest of us. MWTM has been offering...
Last year, while Scott McChane was evaluating a number of affordable nearfield monitors for his home studio, we had a conversation about subwoofers. I'm a big proponent of using subwoofers with...
Version 2 of the renowned Sonnox Oxford Limiter [Tape Op #68] introduces the plug-in to the UAD-2 platform and brings with it a few under-the-hood updates. For those already familiar with Oxford...
The venerable dbx 160A is a compressor you see frequently in studios — home and pro alike. It's super easy to use, and it's flexible enough to perform relatively unnoticed gain-reduction,...
The same day that Empirical Labs, Inc. (ELI) announced the availability of Arouser, a dynamics processor plug-in that looks like a suped-up, virtual version of the hardware EL-8X Distressor [Tape Op...
A while back, Tape Op contacted me to review Roswell's follow-up to their Mini K47, the Delphos. I had heard good things about the Mini K47 [Tape Op #109], and knew Matt McGlynn to be the mind behind...
If you haven't already heard of the King Bee and Worker Bee mics from Neat Microphones, do me a favor, and watch one of the numerous "unboxing" videos uploaded to YouTube by customers of these mics....
I recently borrowed a demo set of the Lauten Audio Black Series microphones. I have been a big fan of the company's Signature Series mics and was excited to try the new Black Series LA320 tube mic. At...
The first time I heard the Soyuz SU-017, it was facing backwards. A singer was wailing away into the wrong side of its cardioid-only pattern, and it wasn't half bad. It actually sounded pretty focused...
