At the Feet of the Masters
by Larry Crane
Last year I bought The Beatles’ super deluxe 50th anniversary box set edition of The BEATLES (commonly known as “The White Album”). The new mixes that Giles Martin [Tape Op #103]...
Columns
by Larry Crane
What’s Your Time Worth?
by Larry Crane
Not long after I first opened my recording studio, (some 20 years ago, when people actually booked time via a landline), I got a call one day about a booking request. Client: "Hi, we'd like to book...
Intro / TOC #129
by Larry Crane
When I first started getting obsessed with recorded music as a teenager, I saw the recorded music I enjoyed in a magical light. A tune on the radio was a beacon from beyond, like some special jewel...
Tough Love
by Larry Crane
Is there a fine line between naive encouragement and pessimistic, dour warnings of possible failure? (i.e. "Just do it! DIY!" vs. "Give up. It's impossible.") Over twenty years ago I was making plans...
Intro / TOC #128
by Larry Crane
A songwriter recently asked me to advise him on what type of recording equipment he should buy. He was looking for "a decent interface and a program… that won't make my demos sound like shit,...
Set Yourself Apart
by Larry Crane
I'm worried about the current state of how people are learning recording. When I first started tracking myself (and others) out of my home studio, learning how to record on a budget was a difficult...
Intro / TOC #127
by Larry Crane
"Organising is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." - A. A. Milne Very organized writing utensil space at Power Station. See interview...
Intro / TOC #126
by Larry Crane
As people intimately involved with the recording and producing of music, we are always told to follow the mantra of "the song comes first." Many will often re-iterate, "A great song makes a great...
Mistakes
by Larry Crane
It was 1992. The band I'd been in, Vomit Launch, had called it quits less than six months prior. I'd decided to take a road trip to the Northwest, with the faint concept of finding a new place to live...
Intro / TOC #125
by Larry Crane
This pic is me in 1983, just before I went to CCRMA, in the Buchla Modular studio at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA, which was another amazing situation to throw myself into. The small...
Who’s Dropping By?
by Larry Crane
After 32 years of attending, visiting, and helming many studio recordings, I've come to recognize the impact that guests dropping by can have on a session. In Tape Op #73 I described my take on...
Intro / TOC #124
by Larry Crane
Sometimes I feel like maybe I've faked my way into the world of audio recording. I'll be talking to a group of engineers, usually peers around my age or younger, and they'll be rattling off classic,...