Mar/Apr 1999

Welcome to issue #12 of Tape Op.

 

Many people seem to wonder what the TAPE OP agenda is all about. I get letters asking why there's not more articles on 4 track recording. Others want to know why it seems all the articles are on "studio guys." Well, the secret is that there is no planned agenda in what we cover. It's determined by what our many writers are interested in, what cool sounding CDs arrive in the mail, recording people who contact us, and many other factors. It's also important to note that many more interviews are discussed, executed and even finished than what you see in a current issue... we try to pick the cream of the crop and present a well-balanced magazine.

It's also important to remember that no matter what you are doing, it still ends up as a couple of tracks of audio in a playback system. We can spend all day talking about which mic will make a kick drum sound better, but in the end what really matters is if there's something fun to listen to. There is no right, there is no wrong, but there are lots of great albums out there to make.

— Larry Crane, editor

In This Issue See more →

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End Rant

GEAR

by Larry Crane

For the last three years TAPE OP was created on a Packard Bell PC computer, a 486 with a small hard drive. It's rather slow with a small memory. With the switch to having Substance Media Works...

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Music Reviews See more →

Music Reviews

In My Living Room CD

by VARIOUS ARTISTS | reviewed by Adam Selzer

If your record collection is anything like mine, you don't own many compilations, and the few that you have don't get much listening time. In My Living Room has become the exception. It actually has a...

Music Reviews

Drinking From Puddles CD

by VARIOUS ARTISTS | reviewed by Larry Crane

This is an interesting compilation, featuring live radio broadcasts from a local Portland show (on KBOO) from 1991 to 1998. Eternally grumpy Jay Bozich engineered most, affable host Brandon Lieberman...

Music Reviews

Dose

by LATIN PLAYBOYS | reviewed by Adam Selzer

A couple of guys from Los Lobos, Tchad Blake, and Mitchell Froom using all the knobs and toys at Sunset Sound Factory. It's the second record from this collaboration and like the first, all the sounds...

Music Reviews

Bathysphere

by BRIAN CROOK | reviewed by Steve Silverstein

Some people try to use bouncing to squeeze a lot of tracks onto a 4-track recording, to simulate a live band using overdubs. There's even an album called Made on a Teac that explains how to bounce 12...

Music Reviews

On the One CD

by SICK BEES | reviewed by Dewey Mahood

The Sick Bees are a guitar/vocal and drums duo (with a dash of clarinet and keyboards to keep it spicy) that sounds like the polar opposite of the Spinanes. In fact, their approach is more in tune...

Music Reviews

Indyglow CD

by POOLSIDE | reviewed by Larry Crane

Some of you might remember a band called Sidecar and their frightening studio horror stories in issue #3 of Tape Op. Sidecar, due to someone else using the name, has now become Poolside, and they have...

Music Reviews

a-OK CD

by FLIN FLON | reviewed by Larry Crane

As you may have read about in the J. Christian Quick interview elsewhere in this issue, this album was recorded at Stillness Sound Facility on a 16 track 1" recorder in the old house that is...

Music Reviews

Never Say Goodbye CD

by ROKY ERICKSON | reviewed by Steve Silverstein

In the liner notes of this CD reissue, John Darnielle from the Mountain Goats argues against calling these old recordings "demos", because they're wonderful and fit for release. Of course, he's right,...

Music Reviews

The Hot Rock

by SLEATER-KINNEY | reviewed by Dewey Mahood

Their musicianship and songwriting continue to grow, and although the music has moved further into the pop realm, they haven't forgot- ten their punk roots. Roger Mountenot [known for his work with Yo...

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