Interviews
Joe & Mike Tarsia : Sigma and The Sound of Philadelphia
by Jerry Jensen
Interviews
Eric Welsh : Recording Live Concerts on the Road
by Larry Crane
Eric Welsh has some crazy road stories to tell. He was initially in on the ground floor of DiscLive, a service that provided live concert CDs at the venue — immediately post gig, no less. He...
Interviews
Elbow: Band Member and Producer Craig Potter
by Jason Reed
Elbow is one of those rare bands that seems able to do everything well. If I didn't love their work so much, I might even despise them for it. The perfect blend of abstract textural elements and...
Interviews
Paul Orofino : and Millbrook Sound Studios
by Larry DeVivo
I've known Paul Orofino for over a dozen years now. I first met him when I moved back to New York State and a friend of mine was doing a project at his Millbrook Sound Studio. At the time I didn't...
Interviews
Tommy Wiggins : Teaching, Tracking and Tunes
by Chris Mara
Tommy Wiggins is one of the most versatile and infinitely cool people I've come to know. He started the recording school that I attended; and taught many of the classes I took while I was there....
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Mastering Focus : With Arnie Acosta, Jeff Carroll and Chris Stamey
by Arnie Acosta, Jeff Carroll, Chris Stamey
So, you've finished mixing the last track for an upcoming CD, vinyl and/or Internet release. What's the next step? Some sort of mastering process will need to take place (though in the case of CDs,...
Steve Massey : Behind The Gear with Massey Plugins
by Thaddeus Moore
How many hours have we all sat staring at the GUI [graphical user interface] of our plug-ins and rarely, if never, thought about the people behind the math, form and function of these amazing...
Arnie Acosta
by Sasha Zand
Arnie Acosta is a man who always plays an integral part when and where his efforts are put to use. He was established as a part of the hit factory that was A&M Records in the label's heyday,...
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End Rant
Crushing the Death Magnetic
by Paul Abbott
The outcry over the un-listenably loud level of Metallica's Death Magnetic CD has become one of the more visible occurrences of the "loudness wars" in the mainstream media. This has been a problem...
Gear Geeking
Gear Geeking #68
by Andy Hong
Here's a roundup of some of the products I saw at the annual AES show that piqued my interest. Digidesign unveiled the Beta version of Pro Tools 8. Earlier this year, I sent my contacts at the company...
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AE6100 & ATM650 mics
by Audio Technica | reviewed by Bryan Cord
As a radio station primarily interested in close-mic'ed, live-in-the-studio recording (and also a radio station on a budget), WMBR relies heavily on inexpensive, durable dynamic microphones. While the...
m101 single-channel mic preamp
by Grace Design | reviewed by
Prepare to be impressed with a single word-transimpedance. What the hell does that mean? I think it's best explained by Michael Grace; refer to "Behind the Gear" in Tape Op #61 (also available on...
Juggernaut 500-series mic preamp
by Atlas Pro Audio | reviewed by Andy Hong
In my personal studio, I rely heavily on outboard preamps: Brent Averill-racked vintage Neve 1272; BA-racked vintage API 312 (in 500-series form), two with original AP2622 input transformers and six...
Quantum Leap Goliath
by EastWest Sounds | reviewed by Brandon Miller
EastWest has really made a name for itself in producing great sounds. Its Symphonic Orchestra libraries have set a high standard and are considered a must-have by an enormous number of composers...
m902 Headphone Amplifier
by Grace Design | reviewed by Scott McChane
Before considering any gear, I like to poke around the web for reviews, articles, and forum activity. I found very little talk of the m902's performance for pro audio applications. Most of the...
Oxford Limiter plug-in
by Sonnox | reviewed by Garrett Haines
When Sony Oxford released the OXF-R3 in the 1990s, it was one of the most ambitious digital consoles ever. It featured programs so advanced that the company had to fabricate custom DSP chips to run...
Mini Massive equalizer
by Langevin | reviewed by Garrett Haines
I had a Manley Massive Passive. But the tracking guys "borrowed it" for a session. That was over a year ago. I don't think I am getting it back. So, I was excited when I heard Manley released the Mini...
HM-2d large-diaphragm condenser mic
by KEL Audio | reviewed by Steve Silverstein
If a microphone helps me learn about how other mics in my collection sound, then it is worth spending time with it for this reasons alone. The KEL Audio HM-2d not only accomplishes this feat, but does...
SE4 small-diaphragm condenser mic
by SE Electronics | reviewed by Andy Hong
The SE2200A large-diaphragm condenser (Tape Op #48) is one of my favorite mics. At $300 street, it's easily one of the best deals in pro audio. Up until recently, I also had in my cabinet a matched...
Chromium Series K-Stereo plug-in
by Algorithmix | reviewed by Garrett Haines
Algorithmix, in conjunction with Bob Katz, has released a software incarnation of Digital Domain K-Stereo, a patented process that can extract ambience and depth from existing recordings, allowing for...
U.420 & U.420d 4-channel mixers
by Mackie | reviewed by Brandon Miller
When I first heard about the U.420 compact mixers from Mackie, I immediately realized where they would be effective. I asked Mackie to send the U.420d version to my colleague Brandon Miller, who is a...
Komit "Treehouse" Compressor/Limiter
by Burgin McDaniel | reviewed by Alan Tubbs
This could be the shortest review I've ever done. The Komit Treehouse is simple to use, sounds great, and is sensibly priced. If you must have the gory details, read on. The Komit stirred up a local...
V14 EQ
by Arsenal Audio | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
The Arsenal line is the new range of gear from API that is more affordably-priced than the legacy API gear. I am always interested in new EQs, so I asked the folks at API to send me a pair of the V14s...
Isochrone OCX & 10M clock generators
by Antelope Audio | reviewed by Jessica Thompson
In a digital system, the word-clock signal is used to generate a common time reference amongst all system components. It not only regulates data flow so that everything works together synchronously,...
Isochrone OCX & 10M clock generators
by Antelope Audio | reviewed by Allen Farmelo
In a digital system, the word-clock signal is used to generate a common time reference amongst all system components. It not only regulates data flow so that everything works together synchronously,...
Nuendo 4.2 & Cubase 4.5
by Steinberg | reviewed by Andy Hong
I'm afraid that this is an unwieldily long review, and even at its length, I'm only touching on a few of the countless points worth discussing if you are considering Nuendo or its near-identical...
Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer
by Trevor Pinch & Frank Trocco | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
This book is as much of a page-turner as you're likely to find in the field of books about audio. It's very well written and the writers are very passionate about their subject matter. While technical...
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Music Reviews
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
by David Byrne and Brian Eno | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane
During the course of the late '70s and early '80s, Eno and Byrne worked together on some groundbreaking Talking Heads albums. Under their own names the two also created one of my favorite records...
Music Reviews
Object 47
by Wire | reviewed by Larry Crane
At under 35 minutes, Wire's usual economy shines as they deliver tight little packages of streamlined post punk on what appears to be their 11th album (depends how you count them). Now stripped down...
Music Reviews
Shotgun Singer
by Kris Delmhorst | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
I meant to review this CD last issue along with some of the other reader submitted CDs I reviewed. It's probably a good thing that I missed it however as Shotgun Singer is in a class of it's own....
Music Reviews
Oh, The Places We’ll Go
by LAKE | reviewed by Alex Kostelnik
LAKE is the grand doorway to a whole kaleidoscope of minimalist downtempo music. Start with Oh, The Places We'll Go and fan outwards for more member-related projects than you can shake a mossy stick...
Music Reviews
Elephants... Teeth Sinking into Heart
by Rachael Yamagata | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
My friend Marsha Vdovin from Universal Audio turned me on to this album and I really liked it on first listen. Then I read the credits and learned that most of it was produced by Mike Mogis [Tape Op #...
Music Reviews
Cold Fact
by Rodriguez | reviewed by Larry Crane
Released in 1970, this is one of those "lost classics" type albums that vinyl collectors freak over and I wait for reissues of. Rodriguez was/is a tough-ass, who comes off like an angry,...
Music Reviews
Patriarch’s Blues
by Victor Krummenacher | reviewed by Larry Crane
Recorded live off the floor in two days (with minimal overdubs) at Fantasy Studios [Berkeley], this is Victor's "musical wake" for the passing of his father and stepfather. Imagine gathering your...