Daniel Lanois' career reads like an enviable work of fantasy. From his early projects with Brian Eno and Harold Budd on their genre defining "ambient" recordings, to a pivotal role on U2 classics...
We got to sit down with Neko Case at Brooklyn, NY's The Honey Jar recording studio to discuss her career so far, as well as her production experiences while tracking and mixing her most recent...
Dan Auerbach, along with drummer Patrick Carney, started The Black Keys in 2001 as a writing and recording project, releasing their first album in 2002. Dan also began recording and producing other...
Musician and entrepreneur Jack White [Tape Op #82] has opened a brand-new storefront and vinyl record pressing plant in the historic Cass Corridor section of Detroit, a place that's been home to...
I first met Ben Fowler in 2011 while working on a record for a new up-and-coming country artist, Charlie Worsham. I was the assistant engineer during tracking and overdubs, and Ben was going to be...
The legendary Tony Bongiovi was the engineer, owner, producer, and studio designer behind New York City's Power Station studio. Power Station opened in 1977 at 441 West 53rd Street, helmed by Tony and...
Interviews, Stories, and the Truth by Larry Crane In Tape Op issue #53 I interviewed Brian Kehew and Kevin Ryan, authors of the then-recently released book, Recording The Beatles. One of the topics we discussed was interviewing...
I'd like to suggest that this review be considered chapter five in a series of reviews I've written called Digital Synthesis: A Collection of Software Synthesizer Reviews [Tape Op #118]. In those...
In issue #121 of Tape Op, I wrote a review of Borderlands and GrainSpace, both pieces of software that use granular synthesis. I would suggest you read that review if you're not familiar with granular...
I am very picky about piano sounds, and, in general, my rule is that only real pianos sound like a piano should – so I don't like to use sampled or modeled pianos if at all possible. I've gone...
For a long time, I’ve been a fan of the iPad and iOS for electronic music performance. I love the 2D interface of the iPad touch screen, and I like that the iPad is a separate instrument (as...
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...
I recently received a product for review that included a USB cable in the box. The cable worked for charging, but it would not pass data. That got me thinking. Before there were standards for...
"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...
Dan Auerbach, along with drummer Patrick Carney, started The Black Keys in 2001 as a writing and recording project, releasing their first album in 2002. Dan also began recording and producing other...
While hardly a glamorous concept, room acoustics represent a critical link in the recording or playback chain. While comprehensive room design is a complex cocktail of science, math and chance...
In the disembodied world of today's computer-based multitrack mixing, one can spend a lot of time crafting a unifying sense of "space." Despite the dozens of reverb plug-ins and rack devices...
I have been a big fan of spring and plate reverbs for decades, and over the past three years I have spent a significant amount of time diving into the wormhole of designing and building them,...
Here's a ridiculously cheap and simple way to make a pretty nice microphone shock mount. Cost is under 10 bucks (way under if you build more than one) and it shouldn't take too much more than a half...
With news of Neil Young pushing to get studio quality audio out to the consumer, it occurred to me that it would be good to get some perspective on how we go about comparing audio quality. One of the most problematic issues surrounding audio...
Expect to see more changes in the music purchasing/acquiring habits of teenagers as time goes by. Courtesy of the NPD Group's press release: "teens (age 13 to 17) acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007. CD purchasing declined 26...
Everyone has been talking about Dave Grohl's new documentary Sound City a lot lately. That's cool; it's a fun romp of a movie, even if Dave can't decide whether he's making a film about a Neve console, a dying studio, a rock star jam session or an...
I'm about to write something that at first will seem like another gray-beard waxing nostalgic for a by-gone analog era. But, stick with me, because I think the tables are turning to where going analog might be as forward-thinking as it gets. Let's...
In a fascinating and really open Facebook debate initiated by fellow producer, cycling enthuiasist, and coffee-drinking pal, Eric Ambel (www.ericambel.com), I was alerted to what was finally a clear insight into how and why Spotify could possibly...
Over the last few years we've seen an explosion of online music services. Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, Soundcloud and dozens of other platforms are touted as groundbreaking ways to deliver music to listeners. But this success is on the...
Richard Kaplan, owner engineer of famed recording studio Indigo Ranch [Tape Op #103] is selling the remainder of his classic equipment collection. It includes vintage and rare pieces by API, Aengus, Fairchild, Teletronix, Neumann and...
Wall Street PR reports on the woes of Avid, the company behind Pro Tools. What does the future hold? I'm just terrified of having to learn a new platform, buying more gear and software, and there not being a de facto DAW standard for professional...
A reader just informed me that APPLE's recent Logic Pro X includes "Drummer", a virtual drummer plug-in. One of the virtual drummers is named "aidan", who apparently cannot find the CAPS key on his virtual MacBook. In Aidan's "Portland Kit" we...
Carol Kaye is one of the most recorded bass players of all time, with 10,000 sessions and 40,000 songs under her belt, including a staggering list of hits for Ray Charles, The Righteous Brothers,...
