Interviews
Matmos
by Donald Bell
If I told you Matmos made audio cut-up, experimental, electronic music that closely parallels conceptual art, you'd probably write them off as some snobby, avant garde, artsy-fartsy, black...
Interviews
Octant: On Hotrodding Playskool toys
by Leigh Marble
Last summer, a friend was all excited about an upcoming show by a "keyboard duo" from Seattle. They played some kind of experimental electronic pop. Octant? Never heard of them, I shrugged. How...
Interviews
John McEntire
by Jesse Cannon
John McEntire is known for many personas. Some see him as a musician, having played drums and other instruments in bands like Bastro, My Dad is Dead, Red Krayola, The Sea and Cake, Seam and, of...
Interviews
Joe Barresi: Recording The Melvins, Fu Manchu and the Jesus Lizard
by Roman Sokal
Beware stereo salesmen everywhere. Be on the lookout for customers appearing with a reference album bearing the audio trademark of one 'Joe Barresi', for then your knowledge of signal-to-noise...
Interviews
Pete Weiss: Zippah Studios and their autographed Neve Console.
by Robert Fisher
On a blustery Boston day, Robert Fisher and Pete Weiss sat down in Robert's living room for this conversation. Pete Weiss is one of the principle owners of Zippah Studios, a music-only studio in...
Interviews
Dave McNair: The art-form of Rock and Roll
by Steve McAllister
Dave McNair has done a lot. He's played guitar in garage bands, toured with The Silos as a drummer, lived in Los Angeles, Austin (twice), and New York — where he's about to move for the third...
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Jupiter Studios: Velvet, velour, and attention to sound
by Wes Fishburne
Martin Feveyear and Christian Fulgham opened Jupiter Studios in 1994 but are running their first local print ad this year. Word of mouth, artistic focus, great sounds, and plenty of vibe have...
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End Rant
Consider the Source
by Larry Crane
Just the other day a band came in for a quick tracking session. As they were setting up their gear I heard one of the guitar players comment that he wanted to buy a guitar preamp for $250 so he...
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Gear Reviews See more →
B4 Virtual Instrument
by Native Instruments | reviewed by Rich Hardesty
(VST 2.0, MOTU MAS and Digidesign DirectConnect) I recently had the pleasure of using Native Instrument's Hammond B3 plug-in appropriately dubbed the B4. For those of you like me, who have lusted...
3D Mic CD Microphone Evaluation CD
by 3D Audio | reviewed by Eddie Ciletti
Do you ever wonder if some people truly have a vision or whether they just get lucky? I still haven't figured out what attribute to apply to Lynn Fuston, perhaps a little of both. Last year, just...
Triple C Multi-Band and Envelope Compressor
by T.C. Electronic | reviewed by Hilary Johnson
I recently had to mix a record at a studio with literally NO outboard gear. What's a girl to do? So I went to the local music store and bought one device: the D2 Digital Delay by T.C. Electronic. I...
DCX Declicker, CRX Decrackler, DHX Dehisser
by Cedar | reviewed by Eddie Ciletti
My dad raised me on swing-era big bands and crooners. In the heat of the summer, we'd be down in the cool basement with a stack of 78 RPM records. Many years later, he showed up at my New York...
NF-1A monitor speaker
by FOSTEX | reviewed by Eddie Ciletti
On first listen the Fostex NF-1A sounds different from most monitors. Many have a smiley-faced EQ curve, with lots of boom and sizzle to make things sound good. If your critical listening needs have...
DS201 Dual Gate
by Drawmer | reviewed by Larry Crane
I used to think that gates were all the same. I bought an inexpensive quad gate years ago and have used it quite a bit for cleaning up a bit of tape hiss or amp noise during mixing. When I tried to...
L2M Mastering Limiter/Expander
by Requisite Audio | reviewed by Larry DeVivo
You know how there are certain things that come in to your life and once they do you realize that you just can't live without them? That was the experience I had when I first heard the L2M Mastering...
RW 100 Rhythm Watch metronome
by Tama | reviewed by Larry Crane
Playing to a click track is a blessing or a curse, but I'm sure every musician or engineer has had to deal with it more than once. For a while I was burdened with one that would only give me 2 bpm...
online recording courses
by ArtistPRO | reviewed by Steve McAllister
Before I jump into a review of these courses, allow me to tell you little bit about myself. I've been home recording for about 13 years or so, first with a 4-track and an Shure 57, now with an...
Portastudio 788 digital 8-track
by TASCAM | reviewed by Colin Frangos
The right-honorable Portastudio line has now entered the digital realm, and once again they've produced a well- engineered, affordable product. At the risk of sounding like I'm on the payroll, the 788...
JM 47 “Meekrophone”Condenser Mic
by Joemeek | reviewed by Roger Lavallee
Being familiar with Ted Fletcher's colorful (literally and sonically) line of preamps, compressors and EQs, I was very intrigued by this new microphone. It is a large diaphragm true capacitor...
IM27 dynamic mic
by Byetone | reviewed by Scott Craggs
This Russian beauty will amaze you. It sounds really, really good. Its frequency response is 60 - 17 k and is nearly flat from 170 - 17 k (there are some slight 2 dB...
Proscreen 101 pop filter
by Stedman | reviewed by Larry Crane
One relatively inexpensive piece of gear that can have a lot of impact on your recordings is the good old pop filter. For most, this is a fabric mesh screen to place in front of a vocal mic in order...
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Music Reviews
Thousand Yard Stare CD
by Kitchens & Bathrooms | reviewed by Roman Sokal
What is peculiar about the avant rock music machine that Kitchens And Bathrooms create is that has a 3rd person narrative quality to it. That is, their approach is so set back (but not necessarily...
Music Reviews
I-VII CD
by Vitriol | reviewed by Roman Sokal
For twelve months, Ben Christian Green (of Godflesh) deposited himself within the Cambrian mountains to escape modern civilization and search within the imposed silence of his surroundings - to hear...
Music Reviews
Vibrations EP CD
by Experimental Audio Research | reviewed by William Bernhard
Sonic Boom seems to have disappeared from the general public eye since the demise of his seminal band Spacemen 3 over a decade ago. His musical excursions have become increasingly more withdrawn into...
Music Reviews
At Rush Hour The Cars CD
by Royal City | reviewed by Roman Sokal
For those who are into absorbing sparse modern folk with a cerebral poetic twist a la Wilco or Sparklehorse, then the sparse and etched sounds of Royal City will carry you through another joyfully...
Music Reviews
Tender Machines CD
by Concentrick | reviewed by Dewey Mahood
A few years back a lot of people were talking about electronic music. It was being hyped as though rock would disappear and only digital bleeps would be left. Fortunately, what actually happened...
Music Reviews
Unsung Heroine CD
by Midnight Choir | reviewed by Steve Silverstein
Norway's Midnight Choir create dramatic - sometimes melodramatic - tension through simplicity and subtlety. To capture their pretty and often quiet songs, they turned to engineer Phill Brown and...
Music Reviews
Ink CD, Psychogeography CD
by Ink, Poem Rocket | reviewed by Steve Silverstein
These two records capture the raw and trashy sound of two powerful rock bands playing. They resemble the sound of Spot's Husker Du recordings or Chris Burgess's work with My Dad is Dead more than...