Interviews
S. Husky Höskulds: Dispatch from LA to Iceland...
by Mr. Bonzai
S. Husky Höskulds is a very gifted engineer, mixer and sound designer. Born in Iceland, he studied audio engineering at the University of California in Los Angeles, and worked as an assistant...
Interviews
Mauricio Romero: And finally, all the way from Easter Island!
by Jay Lifton
Discovered by the Dutch on Easter Sunday, 1722, the aptly named Easter Island (Isla De Pascua) is considered to be one of the most remote places on Earth. Approximately a six-hour flight from any...
Interviews
Chris Butler: Wire recording is back!
by Greg Di Gesu
Chris Butler, a Cleveland native living in Hoboken, New Jersey, is known as the pen and the guitar behind The Waitresses' eighties' classics, "I Know What Boys Like" and "Christmas Wrapping". He...
Interviews
Henry Hirsch: On Lenny Kravitz, Helios and Jay Z
by Dave Amels, Larry Crane
Henry Hirsch is best known as Lenny Kravitz's collaborator and engineer. The partnership has continued for twenty years and is as strong as ever. What started as a session booked with Lenny's band...
Interviews
Richard Lloyd: From Television to Matthew Sweet
by Larry Crane
Richard Lloyd is best known as one of the guitarists in Television, and along with Tom Verlaine, Fred Smith and Billy Ficca created NYC's favorite guitar art, punk, groundbreakers — whose...
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The Blow: On collaboration...
by Alex Kostelnik
The Blow is the power of cocaine, sex and fistfights delivered by the gentle exhale from a mouth onto your skin. A blow can be hard, as in a punch to the gut, or soft like the breath of your lover....
Luis Lahav: Dispatch from Israel...
by Eldad Guetta
The interview with Luis Lahav was scheduled for a Wednesday evening. I arrived at his home studio in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv and got my laptop ready to record. I was just about to ask some...
Aspen Pittman: Behind the Gear with Groove Tubes
by Garrett Haines
The name Aspen Pittman is synonymous with vacuum tubes. But it's one thing to hawk a product, and another to understand the physics behind its performance. While working as a salesman in the first...
Steve Evetts
by Jesse Cannon
Punk rock is often considered a genre of slackers pretending they are doing something exceptional, but actually doing something pretty insignificant. Producers often have to make excuses to justify...
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End Rant
Competition
by Larry Crane
I own Jackpot!, a recording studio in Portland, Oregon. There are many other recording studios in this town, including Kung Fu Bakery, Supernatural Sound, Smegma, Type Foundry, Dead Aunt Thelma's,...
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Gear Reviews See more →
Sonic Orbit stereo matrix
by Peter Engh | reviewed by Andy Hong
Elsewhere in this issue is my review of the Groove Tubes MS encoder, which was designed to be an M/S to L/R encoder for recording with Mid/Side microphones. The Sonic Orbit accomplishes the same task,...
H4 Handy Recorder
by Zoom | reviewed by Mark Weissburg
This latest entry into the portable recording market tries to be all things to all people. The H4 is first and foremost a lightweight, field stereo recorder. Its built-in electret condenser mics are...
Recording The Beatles
by Kevin Ryan & Brian Kehew | reviewed by Larry Crane
Subtitled The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums, this 540-page hardbound book arrives in a pseudo EMI tape box and is heavier than a 2" reel of tape. It has three...
R92 ribbon mic
by AEA | reviewed by Mike Caffrey
When I first pulled the R92 out of the box, I was shocked at how light it was. In fact, my first reaction was disappointment because I have such a strong association with heavy being better. Once I...
Reflexion Filter
by SE Electronics | reviewed by Andy Hong
Here's something that all of us could use-acoustic treatment that's portable, adjustable, affordable, and extremely easy to set up and use. The Reflexion is an arc-shaped acoustic filter that...
Signal Buffer2
by Red Iron Amps | reviewed by Adam Kagan
Love 'em or hate 'em, digital guitar amp simulators and modeler plug-ins have become a big part of our lives. While we all love the convenience and versatility of amp simulators, none of us feel...
Advanced Pro Tools DVD: Volume II
by Secrets of the Pros | reviewed by Andy Hong
This DVD pretty much saved my ass on a recent Pro Tools project that required way more editing than actual mixing. Let's start by saying that I'm not really a fan of PT, despite being an ex-employee...
Germanium Tone Control EQ
by Chandler Limited | reviewed by Mike Caffrey
If gear design were a sport, I'd be calling for steroid testing of Wade Goeke, as he seems to hit a home run every time he's at bat. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say his Germanium Tone...
TrackPlug 5 and MultiDynamics 5
by Wave Arts | reviewed by Andy Hong
In last issue's "Gear Geeking" column, I mentioned how producer and Tape Op contributor Thom Monahan (Devendra, Vetiver, The Pernice Brothers, The Capital Years, etc.) turned me on to the plug-ins...
PR30 & PR40 large-diaphragm dynamic mics
by Heil Sound | reviewed by Pete Weiss
Lately, legendary audio innovator Bob Heil has become more well-known for his institutional sound reinforcement and broadcast products than for creations such as the Heil Talk Box and Grateful...
PR40 large-diaphragm dynamic mic
by Heil Sound | reviewed by Inverse Room
While appearing on a couple of radio shows at two different studios, I found myself amazed by the sound of my voice through two well-known broadcast mics: the Shure SM7 and Sennheiser MD 421. I'm a...
RADAR 24 & RADAR V
by iZ Technology | reviewed by Tony SanFilippo
For my next project on the RADAR V, I recorded local artist Backseat Radio at 192 kHz. We multitracked "Throat", a guitar-driven pop tune with Wurlitzer, Syndrums, additional guitars, and vocals...
A27M stereo mic adapter
by Shure | reviewed by Garrett Haines
All I want is a stereo mic adapter that's solid, flexible, and reliable. There are some expensive ones out there, but I want one I can count on for live work or rowdy punk bands. I was going through...
MS Mid/Side encoder
by Groove Tubes | reviewed by Andy Hong
This past summer, I helped mix Nedelle's latest home-recorded album at JB's Hangar Studios through his Neve broadcast console onto tape. On the morning of the first day, John strapped a Thermionic...
R14 ribbon mic
by Peluso Microphones | reviewed by Henry Robinett
I've learned to really respect John Peluso-designed microphones. John Peluso too. He's taken the plunge into ribbons with his brand new R14. He's not new to ribbon technology however. He's been...
Modified Oktava MK-219
by OktavaMod | reviewed by Joel Hamilton
Let me start this rant of a review by saying that endeavors like this one warm my recording heart. I love it when I meet someone that loves recording as much as I do, and in this case, the expression...
SPOS G86-61410 QWERTY keyboard
by Cherry | reviewed by Andy Hong
I've been a computer geek for 27 years now! Yikes! And during that time, I've gone through many computer keyboards... from IBM mainframe terminals to fold-outs for Pocket PCs... and everything in...
SE-Pre1 mic preamp
by Sage Electronics | reviewed by Mark Rubel
Phillip Victor Bova, along with his wife Janet Kirby and their son, Philip Shaw Bova, have a recording studio called Bova Sound in Ottawa, Canada, and their company Sage Electronics makes wonderful...
BOB-32 breakout box
by RME | reviewed by Garrett Haines
This is one of those "why didn't they think of this sooner?" devices. If you use any type of DB25 connections-analog or digital-in your studio, you need to check out the BOB-32. Personally, I hate...