Interviews
Roger Bechirian: Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Undertones
by Pete Weiss
When I was in my early teens and started to get the listening bug, I went on a huge British pop/rock spree. Records by Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Lene Lovich, The Undertones and the Nick Lowe/Dave...
Behind the Gear
Jim Williams: Behind the Gear with Audio Upgrades
by Mike Jasper
Jim Williams has spent much of his 56 years working with some of the biggest names in the music business, including Frank Zappa, John McLaughlin and Stevie Wonder. He's the owner of Audio Upgrades,...
Heavy Music
Garris Shipon: Corrosion of Conformity, Brutal Truth
by Scott Evans
Everyone needs an audio guru. Magazines and the Internet are great, but nothing compares to a veteran who knows you and your work. My guru is Greg Thompson. Greg is an accomplished pro engineer in New...
Interviews
Tim Wheeler: The Power of a Pop Song
by Rocky O'Reilly
The group Ash started in Tim Wheeler's parents' garage, in Northern Ireland’s Downpatrick in 1992. The scratchy 4-track recordings made by three 15-year-olds were sketching out a future that...
More From This Issue See more →
Jack Douglas and Jay Messina: John Lennon, Aerosmith, Lou Reed
by Corey Folta
As I sat and listened to Jack Douglas and Jay Messina in Jay's living room, one of the first things I noticed was their friendship. I felt like I was sitting with two brothers — the respect and...
Jon Altschiller: Phish, Decemberists, Bonnaroo
by Jesse Lauter
Jon Altschiller owns and operates Chiller Sound in New York City. He's worked with artists like Rachael Yamagata and mixed projects for Joss Stone, Ben Folds, Mandy Moore and Joseph Arthur. He also...
Wilma Cozart Fine & C. Robert Fine: Mercury Living Presence Recordings
by Thomas Fine
Thomas Fine is the son of Mercury Living Presence producer Wilma Cozart Fine and engineer C. Robert Fine. His description of the Mercury technique is based on firsthand accounts by his...
Dale Morningstar: Toronto's Gas Station Recording
by Dave Feschuk
When a notice of eviction arrived at Toronto's Gas Station Recording Studio in 2000, it could have easily spelled the end of a local indie-rock institution. Studio partners Dale Morningstar and Don...
Jack Douglas and Jay Messina (bonus): John Lennon, Aerosmith, Lou Reed
by Corey Folta
As I sat and listened to Jack Douglas and Jay Messina in Jay's living room, one of the first things I noticed was their friendship. I felt like I was sitting with two brothers — the respect and...
Sponsored
Columns See more →
End Rant
You Have a Credit Problem
by Anu Kirk
Your magazine was not the first place I'd seen Count's "I Have a Credit Problem" essay [Tape Op #89], but I feel compelled to respond. I agree with his general ideas — credits should be shown,...
Gear Geeking
Gear Geeking #90
by Andy Hong
Why is it that pretty much every studio I've visited that doesn't employ a full-time receptionist also lacks a working doorbell? Without a doorbell to ring, I usually have to call the mobile phone of...
Sponsored
Gear Reviews See more →
SRH1440 headphones
by Shure | reviewed by Andy Hong
For mixing and critical listening, my favorite headphones in the studio are Shure SRH1840 (Tape Op #89), Shure SRH940 (#85), and Audio-Technica ATH-M50 (#63). As I've stated in my previous reviews,...
Hilo A/D D/A converter
by Lynx | reviewed by Allen Farmelo
After years of reviewing gear, I have come to the conclusion that A/B comparisons are not able to tell me what I want to know about a piece of equipment. While I understand the value of A/B...
Fed+ Tube Compressor
by The Schmidlin | reviewed by Chris Koltay
The Federal AM-864/U was made for the US Army in the '40s and '50s for use in AM radio broadcasting. Like most obscure, vibey pieces of vintage gear, these have recently become prohibitively...
Ampex ATR-102 tape recorder plug-in
by Universal Audio | reviewed by Garrett Haines
Introduced in 1976, the Ampex ATR-102 2-track tape recorder is often cited as the finest tape handler invented. Not limited to one width, users can swap head-stacks and guides, permitting a single...
Making Rumours book
by Ken Caillat | reviewed by Larry Crane
Fleetwood Mac's 1977 album Rumours sold over 40 million copies, topped charts around the world, and won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Ken Caillat, along with Richard Dashut and the band, produced...
Small Signal Audio Design
by Douglas Self | reviewed by Joseph Lemmer
This book presents a large body of knowledge and countless insider-tips from an award-winning commercial audio designer. Before this book, complete information about original audio circuit design was...
Q3 500-series induction coil EQ
by Radial Engineering | reviewed by Marc Alan Goodman
First looks can be deceiving, and the Radial Q3 is anything but what I initially imagined it to be. My first impression upon seeing the 500-series module was of an Auditronics-style 3- band inductive...
M-502 PRO preamp & EQ
by Spectra Sonics | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
I have not been excited about a new mic preamp in a long time, especially a solid-state one. You know what I mean? Doesn't it feel like in the last 10 years or so, we witnessed an explosion in the mic...
The Ladder 500-series filter
by Moog Music | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
I've been using analog synthesizer filters to process audio ever since I bought a PAiA modular synth in the mid '80s, and you'll get no argument from me if you were to say the venerable Moog filter is...
Cubase 6.5
by Steinberg | reviewed by Scott Evans, Andy Hong
This venerable DAW, which was introduced originally for the Atari ST in 1989, was last covered in Tape Op in 2010 (Tape Op #75); Garrett Haines and I cowrote the Cubase 5 review. For this latest...
Monofilter plug-in
by NuGen Audio | reviewed by Garrett Haines
Monofilter is a useful tool for managing bass frequencies and correcting phase-coherence issues. Monofilter re-aligns and balances low frequencies, resulting in a louder, more focused, and better...
Portico 517 500-series preamp/DI/compressor, Portico 543 500-series compressor
by Rupert Neve Designs | reviewed by Marc Alan Goodman, Daniel Sclett
Rupert Neve is a name that's been around in the recording world for quite a while now, and it holds a lot of weight. Few names are as synonymous with audio design, but when it came time to release a...
MS series monitor stands
by Ultimate Support | reviewed by Andy Hong
Last year, I upgraded the pair of Ultimate Support MS-45B2 monitor stands (Tape Op #49) in my personal studio to the current, second-generation model in Ultimate Support's studio lineup, the...
SoloPRO disaster-proof hard drive
by ioSafe | reviewed by Andy Hong
Past reviews in Tape Op have covered external hard drive storage systems with RAID capability for redundancy in case of drive failure. Even if you're doing daily backups, the loss of one day's worth...
Hotkey Matrix 144-key controller for Pro Tools
by DNA Music Labs | reviewed by Andy Hong
The QWERTY keyboard that I use with my DAW is a fully-programmable Cherry SPOS G86-61410 (Tape Op #56) designed for use with Point of Sale register stations. Any keycode, key combination, or sequence...
Sponsored
Music Reviews See more →
Music Reviews
Small Faces (Decca), From the Beginning, Small Faces (Immediate), Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
by Small Faces | reviewed by Larry Crane
The Small Faces are criminally overlooked here in the United States. "To most people over here we had just one song, 'Itchycoo Park,'" keyboardist Ian McLagan told me recently. In fact, the band had a...