With the recent release of the documentary Herb Alpert Is... the world got a glimpse into the life of a man with many accomplishments. Sure, most know him for Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass,...
Chris Hillman has spent the last 60 years making more music and conquering more sonic territory than most. Being a founding member of The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers would be enough for...
Jason Carmer's name kept coming up, so when our ad rep, Marsha Vdovin, told me he was sheltering in place in nearby Sonoma County, it seemed to be the right time to do a socially distanced interview...
As a seasoned professional producer, mixer, and engineer, Toronto-based Richard Chycki has worked with a vast array of musical artists, such as Rush, Dream Theater, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, and Jeff...
In May of 2008 I was sitting outside a London pub with Paul Butler [Tape Op #75], Phill Brown [#12, Are We Still Rolling?], and John Baccigaluppi talking shop. Paul had begun working on what would...
At 29, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sarah Jarosz has already had a lifetime's worth of musical accomplishments. Signing her first deal at 16 with Sugar Hill Records, she has since released...
Around five years ago I went to see Low [Tape Op #31] play in Portland, and their opening act was a guy with a guitar who had a unique singing style. At first, I sort of tuned him out, but within...
Anne Gauthier is a producer, engineer, and drummer who cut her teeth in the Montreal punk scene, touring with bands like TR/ST and The Frenetics. In 2015 she relocated to Louisville, Kentucky, and...
Chris Cohen may be as well-known at this point for his distinctively self-produced solo records as for playing in bands like Deerhoof [Tape Op #55], Cryptacize, and The Curtains, and for recent...
I first met Jacquire King in 1997 at Toast Studios in San Francisco when he was the second engineer on my band's record [Black Lab's Your Body Above Me], produced by David Bianco [Tape Op #104]. I...
Tom Waits released his legendary 13th studio album, Mule Variations in 1999. This was the same year that gave birth to Napster and saw Ricky Martin releasing his monster hit, "Livin' La Vida Loca,"...
I always thought ATC meant "always translates correctly," but it's really the Acoustic Transducer Company. I've known Brad Lunde of TransAudio Group for decades, and have used many of the products he...
Damon Moon has been producing and recording artists in Atlanta since 2011. He took a huge step in early 2017 with the opening of Standard Electric Recorders Co. and quickly built a faithful client...
One of the biggest weak spots in every recording chain is usually right in front of you, and it's a very obvious one – once you think about it. How are you monitoring the audio that you're...
During this pandemic, I've been listening to a lot more podcasts than in the past — whether I want to catch up on news, learn something new, or simply be entertained. As with anything online,...
In the world of both hardware and software synthesizers, there is a lot of focus on classic instruments like the Minimoog and their time-tested analog subtractive synthesis method. That's all fine and...
A few years ago I reviewed Arturia’s Beatstep Pro [Tape Op #111] and was really impressed by the functionality of that unit. Their new MIDI/CV sequencer/controller KeyStep Pro takes things...
Kush has been consistently developing plug-ins that have major vibe with analog character for years now. Even their partner company, California's Sly-Fi Digital, has made some of the go-to plug-ins...
This thing is beautifully bat-shit crazy. The 0-CTRL is a patchable step sequencer and touch-sensitive tabletop control surface designed tobe used primarily with Eurorack-standard modular gear (or...
Veteran engineers occasionally wax nostalgic about mixing as a "community" act. Until the DAW's rise to prominence, it wasn't unusual to have half a dozen people engaged in a game of Twister above a...
If you mix records for a living and are spending too much time digging through texts, Facebook Messenger posts, and bottomless email threads from various band members looking for mix notes, then...
First, some semantics. When we audio engineer types use language like warm, or full, or vintage, etc. – generally, we're referencing our penchant for distortion. Our ears have been...
Occasionally, a piece of gear comes along that impresses me enough to reach out to Tape Op and make an effort to write a review. The Atomic SixTens have done just that. Founded in 2014 by Norman...
Russian-made mics have been a healthy part of my recording life since the mid-'90s. Back in the days when the local six-string retail chain had an excess of Oktava mics and managers were armed with...
Radial Engineering, of Port Coquitlam, BC, Canada, has built its business by designing clever solutions for stage and studio, including an extensive line of direct boxes. The BT-Pro V2 is their...
Every electrical device has a power consumption signature. If your service is a split-phase 120/240 V residential panel up to 200 A (and many studios are), a Sense is compatible. About the size of a...
Steinberg revealed what they label as a drum re-synthesizer in Backbone. In a market saturated with sample packs, this plug-in can help tailor samples into unique drum sounds, create risers, impacts,...
I reviewed the original Symphony system previously [Tape Op #87], and we recently covered the new Symphony I/O Mk II [#118, #128] in different configurations, so I'm not going to dive deep into an...
Continuing with their excellent 3 FX You'll Actually Use series of plug-ins, Arturia has released the next installment, 3 Modulation FX You'll Actually Use, and it's a winner in my book. Let's face...
Manufacturers are still pumping out recording interfaces during this global pandemic, but self-imposed isolation has many of us contemplating and planning how we might best move forward with audio...
Maybe I've been hiding under a rock, but I recently found out there are replacement wheels for rolling studio (or office) chairs. No more "clack-clack-clack" across the floor, or the need to keep a...
In Tape Op #104 we chatted with the fabulous Oliver Ackermann from the band A Place to Bury Strangers and the head of Death By Audio. His Death By Audio still makes some of the best stompboxes out...
The Zen Tour Synergy Core system is an 18 x 24 (eight analog in and 14 analog out), quad DSP-enabled Thunderbolt 3/USB 2.0 recording interface with a wealth of I/O and a spec sheet that rivals or...
BABY Audio's new Parallel Aggressor combines elements of some of their other plug-ins to add punch or weight to a track or mix. But this isn't simply a straight rehash. According to the company, the...
Wavesfactory's Spectre is a unique take on a saturation plug-in, coupling powerful distortion profiles with the familiarity of a parametric EQ. The thought is that you can add distortion or saturation...
Universal Audio has a reasonably broad audio interface offering within the Apollo range, including the Apollo Twin X and Apollo x4 series [Tape Op #136], which have been marketed as the "desktop"...
This Mini FET condenser mic from MXL is the latest addition to their REVELATION line, as the more affordable, FET-based little brother to their REVELATION II [Tape Op #138]. In this case, more...
Through my (now Virtual) Recording Workshops, I've spent a lot of time advising home recordists on how to track and mix for better results. One of the equipment choices I urge is to have an actual,...
At the 2019 AES show, Solid State Logic introduced their super smart Origin, an all analog console for today’s (mostly) digital workflow. The Origin has a ton of features cleverly designed for...
