Terroir is a term often used in the worlds of food and wine to describe the geographical and environmental conditions of a region, and I would argue that it also applies to music. Not just the way a room sounds, but the geographical and social surroundings around an artist as they write and record a record. The places and things you see and the people you interact with every day can have a huge impact on the music you make; much more really than what...

I interviewed Shabazz Palaces' Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood over a decade ago for Tape Op#106. They were pushing the definitions of hip-hop then, and they have not taken their foot off the gas since. Their latest release, It's a Style Sport, is another sonic exploration that utilizes synths, drum machines, live band instrumentation, and reverbs and echoes to create an interstellar universe for Butler's introspective lyricism. The...

This new five-episode video series focuses on using affordable gear to record a full-band performance in the kitchen, living room, and bedrooms of a typical single-family house. The series is hosted by Tape Op’s Gear Geek, Andy Hong, and Nashville-based engineer, Shay Obray, and is produced in conjunction with the folks at Inside Blackbird and Universal Audio. Using only eight mics and affordable gear, the rock band Jeer turns Andy’s house into a...

We interviewed Sasami Ashworth back in Tape Op#157 and she’s also featured in our new book, Making Music: Conversations With Record Producers. Now, we’re excited to announce a new podcast series that Sasami, or SASAMI as she’s known professionally, has produced and brought to us, called Overdubbed with SASAMI. 

The first two episodes, with Jack Antonoff and hemlocke springs, are out now!

Sasami has been playing music for a long time and is a...

We have an interview with Sylvan Esso coming up in our November issue [Tape Op #176], but in the meantime check out this new live session, Live at Sid the Cat Auditorium, June 2026, exclusively on Qobuz, our favorite music streaming service. It’s a really fun, energetic five-song set. Besides the principals – Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn – the band is joined by Ben Lumsdaine on drums, Michael Libramento on bass, Dev Gupta on keyboards, and...

The "new" Car Seat Headrest album, Teen of Denial (Joe’s Story), has been out since May 20th, 2026, and (as usual) the web is filled with paranoia, misinformation, and assumptions. I get the idea many people don’t understand the difference between remixing, remastering, or re-recording, but for what it’s worth (aside from the lyrics and the new mix) this is almost exactly the same record as the original. Will rewrote  lyrics to a...

The Grateful Dead show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland on June 30th, 1985 has a star next to it on many Deadheads' lists. The 14,000 capacity venue, designed by Frank Gehry, was a favorite for both the band and the fans. 

This particular show has some real gems, and although it certainly has some loose groove and shaky vocal moments at times, it remains a classic. The 15 minute version of "Shakedown Street" that...

The sunshine memories of a long-lost Laurel Canyon have continued to seep into Beck Hansen's bones and reflect back through a reverb-soaked pool, morphing into the shape of song forms and sheets of orchestral tone poems.
There is a slow-motion quality to Ride Lonesome, that comes from its down tempos, and incredible restraint from Beck's longtime collaborators; Jason Falkner (guitar/keys)[Tape Op #35], Smokey Hormel (guitar), Justin...

This new release from Adrian Younge [Tape Op#119] is a modern day Afrobeat offering that has some modern sensibilities, but a foot firmly planted in the era of the genre's classics from Fela Kuti [#173] and Tony Allen. Afro-Disco Makossa was conceived by Younge from the question, "What would a Ghanaian producer in '76 have made if he set out to create an American disco record for his hometown?" The result is an up-tempo, trancey...

Our new book, Making Music: Conversations With Record Producers, is out now and you can find it at your favorite book store and online!

If you want to buy a copy online, we’d appreciate it if you buy it directly from our publisher, the fine folks at Akashic Books:
https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/making-music/

It’s also available at these online retailers:

Powell's Books
Bookshop.org
Barnes and Noble
Amazon

Here’s more info on the book from Larry’s...

We did an article on Daniele Luppi back in Tape Op#40, and since then he’s released quite a bit of music including the very cool 2011 Rome collaboration with Danger Mouse, Jack White [Tape Op#82], and Norah Jones. 

He has a new LP, Wilma, being released October 8th, and you can hear the first single, “To Some Degree,” a collaboration with Michael Kiwanuka [#140].  The tracks on Wilma are built on archived library...

With online shopping being the norm for most of us, it's easy to forget that knowledgeable salespeople exist in the pro audio industry. Meanwhile, our recording rigs are composed of computers, interfaces, and software that interoperate using a dizzying array of technologies and protocols with cryptic names and acronyms. I had several detailed discussions recently with engineer Phillip Smith (Historic RCA Studio A in Nashville) about the...