I've been in studios and rooms all over the world. I've seen where The Beatles spent hours creating masterpieces. I've been in the room where Buddy Holly's hits were made. I've stood at the mics...
Being that Spencer graciously helped Tape Op set up our interview with his dad, Jeff Tweedy, and that he sat patiently as I asked so many questions, we thought it'd be fun to talk to him about growing...
The National are a musical group who have been together for 20 years, have released multiple critically acclaimed albums, all while retaining the same lineup for the entire time. The band consists of...
In March of 2018 I met Holly Herndon at a hotel on the outskirts of Berlin, just two weeks before she was set to defend her Doctor of Musical Arts Music Composition dissertation from Stanford...
From humble beginnings in Hobbs, New Mexico, and a childhood spent moving from oilfield to oilfield for his father's jobs, Ryan Bingham rode bulls and eventually learned to play a guitar given to him...
Part of my job with Tape Op is talking with our advertisers, and I particularly enjoy talking with the smaller, boutique audio makers. Of that group, Avedis Kifedjian is one of my favorite people to...
I don't remember a time while growing up when there wasn't clay, glaze, and kilns in my house. My mother had studied art when I was a baby, and she began producing a series of decorative and useful...
After reading Tom Fine's informative review of the Mini Maglite Pro [Tape Op #130], I realized that it's been a while since I've talked about flashlights. My favorite task light is the Bosch FL12 Max...
"How do we stay interested in the art of recording?" It's a question I was considering recently, and I feel fortunate that I remain excited about mixing songs, producing records, running a studio,...
I've been in studios and rooms all over the world. I've seen where The Beatles spent hours creating masterpieces. I've been in the room where Buddy Holly's hits were made. I've stood at the mics...
Being that Spencer graciously helped Tape Op set up our interview with his dad, Jeff Tweedy, and that he sat patiently as I asked so many questions, we thought it'd be fun to talk to him about growing...
In 2012 Audio-Technica released the AT5040 [Tape Op #95] microphone, which was a special mic in several ways. The hand-built mic uses four 2-micron rectangular capsules, positioned next to each other...
Neumann made its bones on the microphone side of the audio business. From its 1928 founding by Georg Neumann, through its 1991 acquisition by the Sennheiser family-owned company, Neumann was...
I expect many readers are going to want to buy this plug-in within five minutes of trying it. In addition to being a nice limiter for general use, The Wall is superb for adding last minute level to...
In the recording industry, there is a long list of iconic microphones that every experienced recording engineer has at least heard of. The RCA 44-A, is one of these. Built in the 1930s, and known for...
Steinberg is on an impressive roll with sexy hardware interfaces, collaborating with Yamaha and Rupert Neve to deliver products that lean into the strengths of all three. The AXR4 is clearly meant to...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
