Hi Roman; In regards to your question about Bob, I once worked in a situation with him at Real World. The session was filled with great musicians from around the world, but there was a lack of...
Perhaps one of the world's current greatest bands is Low, who hail from Duluth, Minnesota. The trio, consisting of the married team of Alan Sparhawk (guitar, vocals) and Mimi Parker (percussion,...
Shelly Yakus is one of the true legends of the engineering trade, and his storied career demonstrates the value of an early start. You might even say he was born to record. His father and uncle...
Located just five minutes west of New York City, in suburban Tenafly, New Jersey, Alan Douches' West West Side Music Studios offers a quality alternative to the big name mastering facilities in New...
Like many other Tape Op readers, I have a home studio. Although I've had numerous opportunities to record in "real" recording studios, I often prefer the laid-back comfort of my own living room. My...
As a studio owner, I get several calls and emails per week from people looking to break into the "glamorous" world of recording through interning. These people wish to gain experience in the studio,...
People often write Tape Op asking how recording engineers start working in the field, and how they develop their own studios. With his obsessive, old-fashioned work ethic, Peter Katis almost makes the...
Tuning Nightmares, Part II Intonation, applied fretboard math, and other unspeakable studio terrors.
DISCLAIMER #1: DO NOT TRY ANYTHING BELOW UNLESS YOU HAVE READ MY PREVIOUS COLUMNS, HAVE A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF ANALOG ELECTRONICS, USING MULTIMETERS, DISCHARGING FILTER CAPACITORS, AND GUITAR...
I am a visual artist. I was trained as a printmaker and worked with etching, screenprinting and lithography. My introduction to sound came during the early 1980s at my college radio station, when I...
In the last six months I've been forced to learn my way around Pro Tools a bit while mixing some budget projects. Sonically, I'd rather mix through a console although I really enjoy the process of...
The other night I finished a session which got me thinking. The project I was working on wasn't all that interesting to me, in fact I doubt anyone besides the artist involved will ever find much...
My three fave plug-ins + an interview with Dave Amels of The Bomb Factory In the last six months I've been forced to learn my way around Pro Tools a bit while mixing some budget projects. Sonically,...
Four Freeware/ Shareware Software Synthesizers: Recently, for better or worse, my guitar has been gathering dust. I've been neglecting the faithful Fender for instruments which gather no dust:...
MBHO is a well established German company specializing in high-quality condenser mics. Unfortunately, MBHO is not very well known in the U.S. Originally part of the hi-fi company MB Quart in the early...
SE. Electronics is one of many companies these days who are marketing Chinese-made condenser microphones for prices which border on the absurd. The company offered my studio a discount rate (on top of...
On the back of the Fugs' second album on ESP, they're pictured holding EV 664s in their hands. Hopefully the mics rested on stands, because their large bodies make them awkward to carry. The 664...
Certainly one of the coolest and most inexpensive devices I've stumbled upon over the last couple of years! Pick-up the World pickups are technically contact microphones. (Contact mics were originally...
You know, mastering engineers can dream too. I know what it is like for Tape Op readers to dream about getting that one special Neumann U 47 microphone or that vintage API console, but I am here to...
What do you do when the guitar player you're recording wants reverb on their guitar but doesn't have any on their amp? Do you "add it in the mix"? Screw that, add it to the amp. The Holy Grail is a...
What do you do when the guitar player you're recording wants reverb on their guitar but doesn't have any on their amp? Do you "add it in the mix"? Screw that, add it to the amp. The Holy Grail is a...
Like it's bigger brother, the Summit TLA-100 and the venerable LA-2A, the TLA-50 has a less-is-more approach, with only two knobs, gain and gain reduction, on its half-rack space panel. There are...
I don't know why the world works this way, but it seems that everyone jumps on the bandwagon like sheeple. What I'm getting at is that most people will choose one item over another based on popularity...
What impresses me most about Eventide is the company's ability to reinvent itself more than Madonna. This company's been making audio gear since the dawn of time (or thirty years, whichever comes...
While trends in monitoring come and go, these speakers probably fall second to NS-10Ms as dinosaurs of the nearfield world. Any similarities between the two speakers ends there. The Matrix 805 reaches...
When I was contacted about reviewing the LD-2ube and was told that it was a tube mic for $300, I said, "Huh? yeah! I'll check that out." I've used it on every vocal session since then. This mic is...
The Wiggler is a tube-driven vibrato and tremolo stompbox unit for use with guitars, keyboards and more. There are controls for volume (make-up gain after tremolo is something many boxes lack);...
I record a lot of drums, and I'm rarely happy with the sound of my snare drums. I mean, they work, and no one else complains, but I imagine how they could sound better. When I first ran kick and snare...
This band is fronted by Shaun Lopez who used to play guitar in Far. I never would have guessed he could sing and write as well as he does on this CD, which has become one of my hard rock faves of...
Bügsküll has mutated over time from a group into the home- recorded experimental-pop wanderings of Sean Byrne. It's cool stuff, recorded on an 8-track deck I believe, and never getting so...
I know this came out last year and this band is unhip and supposedly long past its prime, but I beg to differ. I enjoy the hell out of this disc. Sure, the lyrics are embarrassing at times, but...
This record was produced and engineered by John Dragonetti (the man behind Jack Drag, remember his interview a while back?) at his Space 67 in Boston. Jack Drag touches abound, of course, but that's a...
Sue is one of the nicest people in music, has a really cool voice, writes amazing, intimate songs, and used to be in Run On. This record was produced by the unstoppable JD Foster (along with Sue), a...
If you remember our article on Dälek a few issues back, you'll know that this is a hip-hop ensemble worth checking out. The drum loops are gritty and sound more like rock than most hip-hop and...
John Parish is known as a producer and collaborator, having worked with P. J. Harvey, Eels, Howe Gelb and many more. Here he collects odds and ends from many different studios and sessions over the...
A pal of mine slipped me a copy of this bootleg as a present and it blew my mind. As many readers know, I'm a big fan of the Floyd, but I'd never heard this. It claims to be 29 tracks of home...
Karate have released a number of records, evolving into this jazzy, wordy rock band led by our pal and "no expert" Geoff Farina. This record was recorded by our new reviews editor, Andy Hong, and damn...
Some people must be born with voices like this. Neko's voice arrests one and makes them listen to her tales and believe her. Maybe you could call this country music if you need a label, but that...
Johnny Sangster has become a fixture of Northwest music production, working on many records at Egg Studio and other venues. Robb Benson was the singer/songwriter behind the Nevada Bachelors. They...
John Andrew Frederick and J'Anna Jacoby have been making some of the best pop records to come out of the L.A. area over the last ten years, but nobody seems to notice. Musically they exist in a world...
