I was told this interview would never happen. Apparently T Bone is a busy man, producing records, overseeing film soundtracks, recording solo albums and touring the world. Burnett has been involved...
Try to write about Scott Solter and you will struggle. You will have numerous conversations with the man. Those conversations will span a number of years. You will talk about tape machines. You...
Lewis Durham is the guitarist from sibling trio Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. Their songs and style are heavily influenced by a variety of genres, including: rhythm and blues, swing, jump blues,...
One of the biggest stumbling blocks for first-time recordists is capturing acoustic guitars. There are many ways to mic these instruments, and also many ways to go astray. Good mic preamps and good...
After we interviewed Eric "Roscoe" Ambel for Tape Op [issue 13, 1999, book Vol II], he'd kept in touch with us (plus I've gotten to see him play a few times!). Along the way he noted that he and a...
I've been all over the world, searching out unique recording spaces. However, none have been in as rural a location than the building in the woods where Nino Moschella recorded his fantastic...
When the name Heil started popping up around recording studios in conjunction with an interesting take on large diaphragm dynamic microphones a few years back, it was not a new name to those with a...
Here at Tape Op World Headquarters we get numerous emails from folks fighting the good fight against the threat to our world known as digital recording. All of the hideous doors that have opened since...
Around New Year 2007, I suped up a new Mac Pro and configured it for dual-boot. Although my primary DAW platform, Steinberg Nuendo with RME hardware (Tape Op #63), is both Windows and Mac OS...
At one time, I owned an Alan Smart C2 compressor, but these days, I mix in the box and rely on the Waves SSL compressor plug-in, so I was excited to try out the VCA-based 7720, which relies on THAT...
The emulation of analog gear in the digital realm is nothing new, but the emulation of analog gear in the analog realm is a new concept-analog modeling. AnaMod was founded in 2006 by two long-time...
In my personal studio, I've relied on ADAM S3-A's (Tape Op #33) as my main monitors for the past five years. But for many years before that, I counted on Mackie HR824's. I purchased the HR's after...
The first time I connected these tiny speakers to my console's outputs, I couldn't believe the size of the sound I was hearing. After playing through a few more songs, I had to walk out of the control...
When the ISA One first arrived, I was worried that its features seem to be targeted at the solo, at-home recordist and that I wasn't going to get the best out of it purely because that's not usually...
It used to be that using a soft synth really felt like a compromise. Even with the best emulations, it's always been hard not to think that if you could get your hands on the "real thing" it would...
Yet another timely upgrade to Ableton's unparalleled DAW sequencing software instrument, Live 7 offers up a great number of optimizations, enhancements, and new instruments. I can be a bit wary of...
There aren't a lot of de-essers out there, probably because they're not very sexy and not at the top of many people's wishlists. But a good de-esser is invaluable, especially now that so many people...
Schwa/Stillwell are a cool plug-in company. I'm going to start writing about one of their utilities to help our readers ease into this product line. Simply put, the titles you'll find at...
My first outboard preamp was the much-maligned Drawmer 1969. I wanted to keep the signal chain as simple as possible and use a preamp with a built-in compressor, so I chose two channels of Drawmer...
Although Thermionic Culture's Phoenix compressor (Tape Op #63) gets raves from everyone I know who has one, as does the Culture Vulture (Tape Op #45), The Earlybird 1.2 has yet to receive the...
The Legendary Audio Masterpiece 2 is a comprehensive 2-bus analog processing system conceived by Billy Stull and designed by Rupert Neve. Physically, the Masterpiece is a 6RU-height 19" rack unit that...
This is a great little app for the iPod Touch or iPhone available from the iTunes store. It outputs a sine, square, or sawtooth wave with variable pan and output gain. It also outputs white noise....
These days, my business partner Neil Mclellan spends just as much time working on the road with his laptop or on his home rig as he does in big SSL and Neve-equipped rooms-that's just the current...
A few years ago, we lucked upon an old Neumann U 87. Cosmetically, it was pretty beat up, so it was only $1200. After testing it, we were exceptionally pleased with its sound. I supplied Neumann with...
In my review of the Samson Audio G-Track USB mic (Tape Op #64), I praised it for its ease of use and affordability as well as its built-in zero-latency monitoring. Without the latter, a USB mic would...
Universal Audio more or less set the standard for hardware plug-in processors with their UAD-1 series. They were one of the first to release a product of this type and currently have one of the...
Universal Audio more or less set the standard for hardware plug-in processors with their UAD-1 series. They were one of the first to release a product of this type and currently have one of the...
Another iPhone app, this utility helps you determine tempo and delay times. Just tap the tap button in time to a track, and it outputs the tempo and delay times in milliseconds for whole, half,...
How does a band continue to grow, yet not change so much that their audience becomes disgruntled? Calexico's previous album, 2006's Garden Ruin, took a slightly different path from their...
Mr. Weaver is a solid songwriter who gives me a mental image of Leonard Cohen backed by Wilco. Cool stuff, produced and mixed by Brian Deck (Tape Op #36) at Engine in Chicago. Mastered by Alan...
I can't review this album objectively because I've been friends with Michael Jarmer and René Ormae-Jarmer - Here Comes Everybody - for about 10 years. I participate in the same songwriting...
Jennifer's fourth solo album was produced, recorded and mixed by John Agnello (Tape Op issue #14/book Vol. II) in 12 quick days at Headgear (issue #65) in Brooklyn, NY. Apparently all basic tracks and...
Why do you need this CD? Ardent Studios (issue #58) has been host to some of the best music in Memphis over the years, and this covers the mid-sixties backyard garage recordings up to the...
This is a post modern homage to the late, great artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat. Heavy on the electronics (but not laptop music), this was performed by a small ensemble with woodwinds, brass, percussion...
Jeff Scott Roberson Summer's Here These two albums carry the torch for traditional country music. Hawks land in the Gram Parsons camp, which is a pretty good place to be. This CD has some great tunes...
Jack Endino (Tape Op #13/book Vol. II). did an awesome job producing, recording and mixing this at Soundhouse in Seattle. His quote on the band's press release sums it up perfectly, "Upwell is one of...
I've really enjoyed Oberst's last few albums under his Bright Eyes moniker, and this CD is nothing new or unexpected (that's a good thing). Well crafted, literate songs that would loosely fall under...
A nice disc of jazz inflected pop. Well written with tasty covers of Bruce Springsteen and M. Ward songs. Recorded in Brooklyn, NY, by Bryce Goggin (Tape Op #40) and Adam Sachs at Trout Studios and by...
I know this isn't a CD, but it has the same shape as a CD. Seriously though, this DVD by one of my favorite directors, Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), has a theme that is very...
Jim Putnam Mt. Wilson Repeater I always like to get a new Radar Brothers album, they're comfort music to me, like mac and cheese on a cold winter evening. So when I finally got around to getting a...
