John Cuniberti grew up in the sixties in East Bay, that oft-forgotten "other half" of the San Francisco Bay Area. An audio autodidact, he followed his muse from the archetypical teenage...
"This is a good story to start a Tape Op interview," Chris Cohen of Deerhoof tells us as we press record on the tape recorder. "I just learned yesterday that you can use inserts in Pro Tools...
1 Be humble. It's a great job if you can get it. You'll never know everything. 2 Attention to detail. It's the little things that make or break you. 3 Always admit a mistake and be...
From Digital Underground and Tupac to George Clinton and Jello Biafra, Matt Kelley has engineered some fantastic sessions at San Francisco's famed Hyde Street studios. He's a total pro who knows...
A long time member of the roots rock band Los Lobos, Steve Berlin has amassed a considerable amount of credits to his ever-changing resume. Certainly diverse, his work as a producer is difficult if...
Juliana Hatfield is an independent songwriter, musician, writer and artist who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has recorded well over a dozen albums, first with the Blake Babies and later as a...
Sometimes we interview people who have had extensive careers in recording, yet my record collection only contains a few things they have worked on. With Hugh Padgham the case is different. He's...
Ted Fletcher can't get away from music. Originally trained as a civil engineer, he started taking gigs as a session singer at local studios. Before long, the gigs became full-time and he was...
Admittedly, this is a hypocritical topic for me to write about — I'm the first to tell you that I don't like limits, especially the speed type. But, as I sit here listening to a record (yes, an...
My studio is at a point where the majority of the work being done there is by freelance engineers. This is great, as I spent many years as the main engineer and built the studio's reputation by...
The fledgling No Toasters company, headed by Boston-based tech-whiz Bo Dixon (who says he's willing to repair anything except toasters), has combined clever Class A, J-FET circuitry with a quirky...
I've been searching for the perfect headphone amplification system for tracking live bands in the studio for years. Realizing that sending a single mix out to more than one musician would not do, I...
I've had a lot of fun with this bundle! I think this may be the first time that I found a plug-in bundle to beat out the physical processor that it models, not only in versatility, but also in sound...
To be honest, I never really thought I'd be in the market for a summing mixer. When Dangerous Music pretty much invented the category with their 2-BUS a few years back, I thought about it but decided...
While designing The Lodge's music production facility in NYC, I originally spec'ed a Furman HDS/HRM-6 system (Tape Op #38). I showed the studio design to producer Jason Carmer, and he insisted that...
First off, let me state that I am a huge fan of using the original Auratone 5C Sound Cubes for mixing. My usual methodology when mixing is to get tones on my ADAMs while switching my Event subwoofer...
This book is sadly hilarious. Jen Trynin was a rock singer/songwriter from Boston whose 1994 self-released debut CD set off a huge bidding war between all the major labels. She ultimately signed with...
PSP recently released a truly mastering-grade linear-phase EQ plug-in called Neon. Two versions are on the market, Neon and Neon HR (high resolution). The HR version offers the following enhancements...
The Atlas LO-2B is a quick-release mic clip adapter that basically eliminates forever the need to thread another mic clip onto a stand. One piece threads into the mic clip and stays there. The other...
I've run out of room in my 11-space 500-series chassis to hold all the mic preamps I'd like to put into it. And my rack isn't big enough for a second chassis, so I end up powering down my chassis and...
The vintage craze is far from over. The more we try to make audio perfect, the more we realize that imperfection makes more interesting recordings. In many ways, tubes are far less superior to...
Geoff Emerick is a legend among engineers and producers. He was the young "balance engineer" for The Beatles on Revolver through Abbey Road, with a spell off for later White Album and Let It Be...
I love attending sessions at Peerless Mastering with Jeff Lipton (Tape Op #34). His "A Room" is the most accurate listening environment I've ever experienced. The room is so well designed and treated...
Before we move my studio to its new location this winter, I've been scouring the control room looking for gear that doesn't get much use and making plans to sell or put the units aside for rental use....
Wow, am I in preamp heaven or what? For the past few months, I've had a bunch of awesome mic preamps in my studio from Seventh Circle Audio (Tape Op #54), Purple Audio (see review in this issue), and...
David Royer and his company Royer Labs have a great reputation for their fine line of ribbon mics. When the time came to manufacture David's designs for non-ribbon mics, Mojave Audio was formed to...
Here's a funny story. Some years ago, the only outboard mic preamps I owned were Brent Averill-refurbished Neves and APIs. I recorded direct to a TASCAM MS-16 1'' 16-track and mixed on a Panasonic DA7...
Like many readers, when I receive Tape Op, I thoroughly take in every page. One item I came across recently was a very small ad for Cascade Microphones. For a while now, I've wanted a ribbon mic to...
I saw this sucker for the first time over a year ago at one of the annual gear conventions. I was immediately impressed with its utilitarian but attractive design. It seemed to have all the right...
Playing the much-appreciated role of "poor man's plate reverb", spring reverb units have been enjoying a renaissance as of late. Thankfully, they've taken their place among a growing set of tools that...
I use all outboard preamps in my studio, and none of them has an EQ section. I really didn't know what I was missing until I borrowed a friend's 1073 module and discovered what a difference a little...
Karma is a new microphone brand based out of Cupertino, CA. The units are produced in China according to Karma's specifications. But let's make something clear right away: this is not another line of...
PreMaster CD is Sonic Studio's entry-level, host-based software for creating DDP masters and standard Red Book Audio CDs. I was anxious to try PreMaster CD for a number of reasons. I've owned a...
The Equinox represents all that is right about Peter Reardon and his Shadow Hills Industries products. It's beautiful, it's functional, it's innovative, it's a throwback to another time that...
This is one of those fairly affordable, simple products that falls under the "how did I get by without this" category. Elegantly simple, the Airfoil is an anodized aluminum tray that holds your laptop...
Home recording can be a lonely endeavor. There are great websites, books, and of course magazines to give you ideas and encouragement, but there will always be times when you end up staring at the...
