The least surprising thing about the 2017 release of the Giles Martin remixed version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is that its sonics – indeed, its very existence – was...
Julien Baker is more visible than ever. After her low-budget debut, Sprained Ankle, made nearly every best-of 2015 list, the 21-year-old Baker signed with Matador Records and went home to Memphis to...
Having recently released his twenty-second studio album, Savage (Songs from a Broken World), Gary Numan is no stranger to the recording process. Produced by Ade Fenton (see his interview this...
If music lives in the spaces between the notes, consider Moses Sumney your guide through the stillness. A relative newcomer to the scene, his live shows in Los Angeles attracted an impressive list of...
Over the last 20 years Matt Chamberlain has contributed to a staggering variety of recordings including David Bowie, Tori Amos, Frank Ocean, Miranda Lambert, Bill Frisell, Brad Mehldau, Fiona Apple,...
Ade Fenton is a creative, masterful cutting-edge engineer, producer, DJ, and composer based in the UK. He has worked with Gary Numan on his past four studio albums, Savage (Songs from a Broken World),...
F. Reid Shippen is a successful music producer, engineer, and businessperson. He has also helped out Tape Op over the years with his insightful reviews and great ideas, so we thought it was about time...
Photo from Calvin's Fall 2015 Sampler. You came up over and over again in the interview that we did with Julien. Julien and I grew up together playing music. I had done demos with her, prior to...
It was 1992. The band I'd been in, Vomit Launch, had called it quits less than six months prior. I'd decided to take a road trip to the Northwest, with the faint concept of finding a new place to live...
16 years after first taking on my role here at Tape Op, I'm stepping aside, and starting with this issue, Scott McChane is the new Gear Reviews Editor. Scott has penned close to 50 reviews for the...
True to their rather clever names, these two plug-in bundles feature easy-to-use and accurate emulations of 3 sought-after preamps and 3 classic synth filter sections, each with some creative...
Revive Audio is a small company based in Boise, Idaho, that makes boutique audio gear under the Vintage Audio name [MSL VCA Bus Compressor, Tape Op #102] and also modifies a wide range of moderately...
Oh, my. Boutique pro audio builders/mad scientists at UnderTone Audio sent us their recreation of the revered, classic variable mu compressor/limiter, the Fairchild 670, and it does not disappoint....
The Advanced Audio CM251 and CM67se are both large diaphragm tube condenser mics. They come with nine polar pattern power supplies, shock mounts, multi-pin XLR cables, foam windscreens, and a nice...
An optical compressor that has four knobs, one meter, one switch, and a single button shouldn't take too many words to review... TG Opto is the latest offering from Chandler Limited in the 500-series...
This January I was wandering around the NAMM Show, looking at all the fancy new recording gear on display in the new Anaheim Convention Center North Hall, when I ran into producer/engineer Darrell...
Set up as a straight DAC/headphone amp, RME's ADI-2 DAC sounds fantastic and is very much on the neutral and clear, perhaps "clinical" side of things. This tonality is exactly what a professional...
The CornerSorber is a membrane-based low-frequency (LF) absorber from Acoustic Geometry. Designed to work in conjunction with preexisting treatments, such as the LF membrane Curve Diffusors [Tape Op...
In my 15 years as a studio owner (Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA), there is nothing I've dreaded more than operating system and Pro Tools software upgrades. This has become even truer over time, as...
Unless you're recording a singer on par with Michael Jackson in his prime, competently capturing doubled lead vocals will require acute attention to detail, an enormous amount of patience, and a lot...
Subtitled, "Beginner's Archiving for Musicians", this wonderful little ‘zine-like pamphlet presents some easy to understand concepts to help musicians (as well as engineers and producers)...
I'll begin this review with a confession; in over two decades of mixing albums I've rarely mixed through a bus compressor. Why? The more I kept hearing that I "had to" in order to get good results,...
From the moment I started using Mojave's large diaphragm condenser MA-50 mic, it sounded great on everything. There are many budget mics in the $200 to $300 price range, but the MA-50 is certainly...
My colleague, Kevin Becka, is one of the founding studio recording teachers at The Blackbird Academy in Nashville, along with Tape Op contributor Mark Rubel. Kevin, being a teacher, saw a need for a...
France-based Focal is best known for pro and consumer audio speakers, but the company has, in recent years, moved into all aspects of the headphone market. Up for discussion here are the new Clear...
You are floating in space. In fact, you may already be dead. The view is incredible. Heavenly. You can see all the way back to the beginning of time. Beautiful light from distant galaxies and stars...
