Hit songs? Top of the charts? These days most of us involved in recording music rarely get our hopes up for having hits or seeing our work place high on the Billboard charts. But imagine working in...
Moby's apartment in Little Italy is simple, clean and economical. Framed gold records adorn one large wall, with the only other décor of mention being a well-organized, sizeable collection...
Brothers Jim and Rob Homes have more than a smattering of DNA in common. First up, there's their band Jackson Analogue, the grunge, garage rock five-piece they've been cutting loose with since...
You may have seen Doug Williams' name on recording forums, listing frequency response curves and specs on obscure preamps, limiters and transformers. Maybe you have used one of his posted...
Andrew Marcinkowski has been working as an engineer in some of NYC's best known studios for ten years. In house stints at Chung King Recording Studios and Mission Sound have gotten him a great...
Al Kooper's musical resume reads like a rock and roll version of Where's Waldo. Sometimes he's right there staring at you, other times you have to sleuth around to find him lurking in the shadows. But...
Ableton Live is a program that has long been hard to define — is it a DAW, is it a DJ-centric program, is it a tweaker's toolbox or is it all (or none) of the above? A recent major update,...
So Matt Frost turns in his fine article here on Jackson Analogue and then Jim Homes emails me to say, "We are doing a lot of remixing these days, but they are all recorded entirely again (keeping only...
Over the course of making a recording we enter into a lot of agreements, often quite informally, and many without even a clear oral agreement. Examples from my own career include things like, "If...
We always come back to discussing all these human factors when talking about recording music. "Keep the vibe positive." "Make the client comfortable." "Discuss goals and money before a project...
Every now and then, I have to merge a stereo recording that's split into separate L and R files (like a Pro Tools stereo track) into a single, interleaved stereo file. There are plenty of ways to do...
The UAD systems by Universal Audio have been host to some of the best plug-ins available (in VST, AU, RTAS) for a number of years now, via their "Powered Plug-In" cards. Usually these are PCI-based...
To begin this review, I first must admit that this is the most expensive piece of recording equipment we have yet reviewed in Tape Op. It is also, outside of my home, the most expensive purchase I...
Using a ribbon microphone can be a tricky bit of business. Unlike dynamics that can take anything thrown at them or condensers that can provide whisper quiet operation, ribbons take a bit more care...
I've owned enough Pro Tools non-HD rigs (002, Mbox, Mbox 2 Pro, Micro, Transit) to know that one of my biggest complaints about the LE line is the lack of automatic delay compensation when using...
I've got problems. Since building my project studio last fall, I haven't been able to nail down a monitoring setup that "feels" right, and my mixes are not referencing as well as I'd like. I was sure...
This is a great, handy device that tames the resonant peak of your guitar pickup. Electronically and ergonomically designed specifically for pedal steel players -there's a handy clip for attaching it...
A few months ago, Blue Rock studios in Wimberley, Texas hosted a shootout of several microphones geared toward lead vocals. The high-dollar microphones were judged by such local luminaries as David...
The Little Devils are designer Wade Chandler's new modules for the 500-series rack system. The Compressor has all the controls to which you've become accustomed in a Chandler compressor, and the...
Over the years, I've bought and sold (after upgrading) a fair amount of audio gear, but I've kept every piece of gear I have from Summit -an MPC-100A mic preamp/compressor (Tape Op #21), an EQP-200B...
Brent Averill Enterprises, simply known as BAE these days, is perhaps the best-known builder of Neve-style preamps, and for good reason as their designs indeed capture the behavior, tone, and...
At $9.99, this is the most expensive app on my iPhone, but it's worth every penny. In fact, having now used it for a few months, I'd pay twice this and still feel like it's a great value. I've been...
Although I am a huge fan of Audio Ease's Altiverb convolution reverb plug-in, I have to confess that I initially dismissed this plug-in as something a bit gimmicky and easily replicated with a good...
Lynx has added variable trim to their acclaimed Aurora 16 converter. Now with the help of a pot tweaker tool (or appropriately-small screwdriver), users can manually adjust the analog input...
I'd heard good things about this album and when I finally got the chance to hear it, I was a convert too. Sometimes it's folky and sometimes noisy, but it's always interesting and a beautiful listen...
Okay, so maybe a group of three cute, young ladies fronting a band of dudes in sharp suits and playing music inspired by Motown and Stax with a tinge of sixties ska might not be what you'd expect...
Jazz trumpet player, well-known film composer and electronic music artist Mark met Australian vocalist Kate Ceberano and they created this jazz album, Bittersweet, covers of jazz standards about...
New Zealand's The Clean have been a casually wonderful band since the late '70s, with their wonderful pop songs, ragged approach and a minimal number of tracks needed or used in the studio. Guitarist...
