The original release of the Grateful Dead's Steal Your Face album in 1976 was largely panned by fans. The mix was muddy, there were weird phase anomalies, and hardcore Deadheads were perplexed by the lack of extended jams. It was recorded at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco October 16 to 20th during the band's "Wall of Sound" era. It was ironic that this legendary live sound setup brought new levels of defined clarity to...

Uh-oh Shaggy, hide the checkbook. I was largely unaware of WaxPoetics until I saw they were hosting an auction of some of Jimmy "The Senator" Douglass' [Tape Op#130] items. What caught my eye out of the gate was a Telefunken U 47 that was used on the sessions for Aretha Franklin's “I Say a Little Prayer” and "Young, Gifted and Black". Additionally there are listings for Jimmy's vintage UREI 1176LN, Focusrite ISA 430...

We’re proud to announce the upcoming publication of a new Tape Op book, coming in September of this year! Titled, Making Music: Conversations With Record Producers, it will be published by our pals at Akashic Books in New York. We’re hoping to host a series of books under the Making Music title, covering engineers and artists as well. Interviews will include content from our print edition and podcast, plus new thoughts, intros, and extensive editing...

What begins as a simple acoustic guitar track reminiscent of Nick Drake quickly morphs (unavoidable pun) into a world that let's the listener know that Ed O'Brien has spent time in a band with some of the best songwriters and instrumentalists on the planet, and that he has been paying attention the whole time. It also makes clear that his contributions to Radiohead are significant.

I really enjoyed Ed's 2020 release, Earth, so I hit...

My vinyl copy of the Grateful Dead's classic Workingman's Dead is a little hammered. I think I bought it at a garage sale about 30 years ago. It has someone else's name written on it. I have played it a thousand times, and I can say the same for my CD copy. I mostly prefer to listen to live Dead shows, but for my money, Workingman's Dead and American Beauty are two of their finest releases, studio or live. Workingman's Dead...

1956 was a pivotal year in the music of Miles Davis. It consolidated his "First Great Quintet" which included Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, and John Coltrane. To make good on his contract with Prestige Records, Davis took his group into Rudy Van Gelder's [Tape Op#43] studio in Hackensack, New Jersey, for marathon sessions that resulted in four influential records (Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and...

Moses Sumney, interviewed in Tape Op#125, has new music out in the form of a collaboration with composer Joseph Shirley (The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Creed III) for the soundtrack to director Aleshea Harris’ film Is God Is. I should back up and say that discovering Moses' music on his 2017 release, Aromanticism, and subsequently diving into his previous releases, had a profound effect on the way I listen to his music. Aromanticism...

Wait, what??? The Ramones first album just turned 50! A record made by four young men from the Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens, NY, has gone on to be one of the greatest punk rock records of all-time. Ramones was produced by Craig Leon [Tape Op#151], engineered by Rob Freeman, and recorded at Plaza Sound Studios in New York City over the course of a week for about $6400. It is a top to bottom barn-burner with short, catchy songs that are raucous...

Linda Perry’s last solo album came out in 1999. In the 27 years since then she has become one of the most successful producers for other artists, writing and recording hits for P!NK, Christina Aguilera, and more [Tape Op #143]. This album marks a return to the mic for Perry and a coming home to herself. The 17 songs on Let it Die Here are a cathartic reckoning with mortality, grief, and identity. In the 2024 documentary feature film (also...

We interviewed engineer/producer/artist Maryam Qudus about her Spacemoth project back in Tape Op#148. Spacemoth has a new LP that is releasing on June 26, but in the meantime you can check out these two new tracks, “Internet Fantasy” and “Do We Exist,” and the fun videos accompanying them. 

We reached out to Maryam to find out more about upcoming album, and this is what she had to say:

“My new album Inward Eye started at Best House – the...

On the suggestion of Tape Op's Sales & Operations Director, Corey Reidy, I decided to check out the career of Jeff Rosenstock. His early bands, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry!, built up grassroots followings via a DIY ethic, and, as Corey told me, “He then started up a ‘solo’ project which grew into a band with a loyal following.” Jeff did his album, Worry, with Jack Shirley [Tape Op#115] at John Baccigaluppi's...

In my hometown of Portland, Oregon, there are a number of talented engineers, producers, mixers, mastering engineers, gear builders, studios, and more. It's a thriving community of creative people, if you hadn't noticed, and one of the folks I'd been curious about for years has been Cameron Spies. He first caught my ear in the cool-sounding Radiation City from 2010 to 2016. From there, he began recording and producing some interesting...