So my phone rings, and Tape Op contributor Jesse Lauter tells me he needs some help putting together a multitrack recording rig for a documentary film he is co-producing on the 50th Anniversary...
Battle Tapes Recording has been at the epicenter of left-of-Nashville rock and indie music since 2003. Tristen, PUJOL, Forget Cassettes, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, HeCTA, Turbo Fruits, and...
I've been a fan of Audiotree's video webcast for a couple of years now. It's by far my favorite live-music program available online and, in my opinion, it's the best sounding and best looking one too....
Mac DeMarco's persona precedes him. He's a bedroom auteur in the great tradition of R. Stevie Moore and Ariel Pink, and he's managed to cut some of the most fan-beloved records of the 2010s. Budgets?...
"What you can control are knobs, faders, and being a nice person." For ten years Richard Swift’s been luring the hippest of indie rock bands to Cottage Grove, in the middle of Oregon, to work...
Famed producer, musician, and arranger Willie Mitchell became involved with Royal Studios (and the associated Hi Records) in Memphis, Tennessee, in the early ‘60s. He took more control of the...
Years ago, while talking to the late Cosimo Matassa [Tape Op #40], I remember marveling at the sounds he had achieved while recording early hits for Little Richard, Fats Domino, Roy Brown, and many...
Years ago, I reviewed the Eclipse Tools 900-005 Cable Tie Gun [Tape Op #29]. If you’ve ever used a tool like this to tension and cut cable ties, you’ll never go back to using your fingers...
When the music-recording market made a shift towards project studios and converted spaces, many of us had to suffer through years of crappy sounding rooms. I have countless memories of working in...
The landlord of our new studio location really likes organized racks and cables. His control room looks like a server farm installed by IBM. Cables are loomed, labeled, and cut to length. No excess...
In my opinion, macOS 10.8.5 running Pro Tools 10.x is stable and “rock solid.” Some of us put off inevitability to maintain productivity, but eventually “progress” (be it for...
While organizing my mic cabinets recently, I decided to replace some of the crappy plastic mic clips that I’ve collected over the years. Some of the cheap clips I bought separately, some came...
When SE Electronics invented the trademarked Reflexion Filter [Tape Op #56] in 2006, I recall many engineers in our industry thinking it was a groundbreaking product, while others were skeptical....
Opolar sells a variety of fans. The F511 is a 9’’ diameter, three-blade desktop model with two speeds and a built-in stand. It can be useful in remote-recording situations or anywhere you...
Four knobs, a three-position switch, and no bull! bx_subfilter is touted as a simple but effective tool for tightening up bass frequencies, and it is 100% free for all Plugin Alliance members....
The AT8459 is a product that encourages you to say, “How did I ever live without it?” It’s a compact, double-socket arm with mic threads on the ball ends. After you screw on a mic...
USB products are everywhere. macOS-based mastering engineers have been dealing with external disc burners for many years, ever since Apple decided internal units were passé. And it seems...
Elevation Lab is an industrial design firm based in Portland, OR, that can’t decide whether its name includes a space or not. It makes the kinds of products that we wish were included with the...
In my recent review of the Audeze Deckard headphone amp/DAC [Tape Op #119], I emphasized the value of high-quality monitoring systems for laptops, iPhones, and other portable devices. An enhanced...
Having worked (and played) in various recording studios since the mid-’80s, I’ve seen (and worn) my share of Fostex headphones. Along with AKG K240 and Sony MDR series models, Fostex cans...
This powered monitor incorporates the most impressive speaker technology I have ever experienced. It’s a real game changer. The Kii THREE’s dispersion pattern is cardioid, even at the...
The Red Range is Focusrite’s latest series of audio interfaces, currently comprised of the Red 4Pre and Red 8Pre. The former has four built-in Red Evolution preamps, and a total I/O...
