As a member of the Talking Heads and forming The Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman, Jerry Harrison would have a career of note if this was all he’d done. But as a successful producer over the...
Recording and mixing much of the Talking Heads catalog would be one achievement, but then throw in tracking some of the earliest hip-hop at Sugar Hill Records, mixing Robert Palmer’s...
A pure obsession with sound drove a young woman from her rural Italian home to the UK and into London’s recording studios. A relentless drive to learn how everything in audio works then set her...
When people hire me to mix their songs, I frequently come across situations where we are not using the same terminology for the sources clients are giving me to work from. Yes, sometimes one word can...
When I heard my colleagues Steve Rosenthal [Tape Op #66] and Michael Graves [#125] had produced, repaired, and mastered Blondie’s new box set, Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, I had to drop...
Years ago, I met John Plymale at one of our TapeOpCon events. He currently lives in Norfolk, Virginia, and has helmed amazing projects including the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Superchunk, and the Meat...
A longtime staple of the Phoenix recording scene, Clarke Rigsby runs Tempest Recording out of a modest-looking but impressively outfitted space behind his home in Tempe, Arizona. He’s worked...
You might be most familiar with him as an actor, but Billy Bob Thornton has been playing drums, singing, and writing songs since he was a teen, long before he stepped in front of a camera. His early...
During the early pandemic lockdowns my wife, Jenna Zine, and I searched out interesting online streaming performances as a way to keep connected to the experience of going out to see live...
I first heard about Shahzad Ismaily when our pal and Tape Op contributor, Eli Crews [Tape Op #88] told me he was moving to New York to help his friend Shahzad open a studio. Soon, I realized...
Record producer, songwriter, musician, and singer, Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart is a man of many talents and skills. Beyond co-producing all of the Eurythmics’ catalog with Annie Lennox,...
As a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, guitarist Mike Campbell found himself co-writing some of their biggest hits, plus songs for many others like Don Henley and Stevie Nicks. He...
