Interviews
By Pam Nicholas
I was driving along a sunny strip of highway in the middle of nowhere, fighting off road trip hypnosis and the potential disaster that goes with it, when the mix tape supplied by a friend suddenly became interesting. Groovy beats, off-kilter rhythms and slightly skewed lyrics drifted out of the...
Interviews
Phil Elvrum is the man behind The Microphones, one of the coolest- sounding bands/recording projects out there. He records at Dub Narcotic all the time.
Interviews
Phil Elvrum is the man behind The Microphones, one of the coolest- sounding bands/recording projects out there. He records at Dub Narcotic all the time.
Interviews
In 1981 Calvin Johnson began putting out cassettes on his label K and started a revolution and an empire... Shawn Parke gets the story while John Baccigaluppi shoots the film... ...Since that time, he has produced and released records for a huge list of folks, including Beck, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Modest Mouse. I recently sat down with him in his Dub Narcotic studio located in a large building in Olympia, Washington, where the K offices and warehouse are also housed. In 1988, he moved into the building after years of recording in the basement of his home. We talked about recording, music and he told some great stories.
Most Tape Op articles feature the people behind the making of a record. But what about the people who make the gear that we make records on? "Behind the Gear" is a new column featuring interviews with engineers, businesspeople and innovators who are the faces "behind" the recording products that we know and love. This issue Ian Mills Swanke interviews John La Grou of Millennia Media, a company famous for their pristine mic preamps and "twin-topology" equipment. Next issue: Walt Szalva interviews Dave Derr [Tape Op #33] of Empirical Labs who makes the Distressor. -LC John LaGrou's company, Millennia Media, manufactures some of the most highly-praised outboard gear in use today. His preamps are used by NASA, the White House, and an enormous amount of classical engineers and film scoring studios. Millennia's compressors and equalizers are in constant use in mastering houses across the globe. I visited John recently at Millennia's headquarters in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Northern California, where his was kind enough to share his knowledge, gregarious enthusiasm and insight.
Ray Benson is a big guy. He's tall, which he augments with cowboy hat and boots, his voice is resonates in the sub- octaves, and when we shook hands mine was engulfed and nearly disappeared. His office can overwhelm the unprepared. Pictures and memorabilia of all kinds compete for wall space and your attention. There is a shelf of Grammies and guitars are everywhere. More guitars than I could count — some resting in cases, others hanging in rows at ceiling height, more on stands, laying on the floor and propped in corners. His band is big, too. Asleep at the Wheel has sung the gospel of swing for nearly 30 years, garnered all kinds of critical and popular success, and, always, played great music. Note that I didn't qualify it as 'country swing' or 'western swing' — these categorizations are much too small for this band. Thankfully his generosity is equally large. Not only did he answer every question I threw at him he also gave us a Bismeaux Studios. detailed tour of his
