Interviews
Malay: Cooking Up Tracks
by Geoff Stanfield
If record credits were easier to find these days, you’d see the name Malay on the back of many a record sleeve or CD booklet. Born James Ryan Ho, Malay’s song-focused and sonically-rich...
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Interviews
Steve Perry: His Own Personal Soundtrack
by Larry Crane
As the former lead singer for Journey, Steve Perry should probably require no introduction, as his vocals have graced some of the biggest FM radio staples of the late ‘70s and ‘80s. His...
Interviews
Qmillion: Experiment & Listen
by Larry Crane
Keith Lewis is Qmillion, a musician, engineer, producer, composer, and mixer based in L.A. He’s been busier than ever during the last decade with Robert Glasper (and his Experiment and Trio...
Interviews
Thom Flowers
by Larry Crane
Based out of Santa Barbara, Thom Flowers worked as a producer and engineer at Orange Whip Recording in the mid-‘90s and early ‘00s, with bands such as Lagwagon, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nerf...
Interviews
Mario J. McNulty: Past, Present, Future
by Larry Crane
Working out of New York City, Mario J. McNulty is a talented producer, mixer, and engineer with an enviable list of credits. He’s been in the studio with David Bowie, Laurie Anderson,...
Interviews
Sadie Dupuis: In the Details
by Larry Crane
Who is Sadie Dupuis? A writer, singer, and guitar player in the band Speedy Ortiz. Producer, writer, and collaborator behind Sad13. Label owner of Wax Nine Records. A writer, with a book of poetry...
Most Recent
Keep Growing, Keep Learning
by Larry Crane
This last year, because of the pandemic, has been one of the most important times for learning how to pivot our skills, and to say yes to jobs that might have previously seemed outside our...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
I still use the generic wire stripper that came in a $10 Radio Shack soldering kit that I purchased while in grade school. It consists of two rectangles of stamped steel, hinged together, with a...
Intro / TOC #142
by Larry Crane
This April marks 25 years of Tape Op Magazine. I cannot believe the little photocopied ‘zine-like-thing that I began in 1996 is still around, let alone now reaching so many people. Our focus has...
Malay: Cooking Up Tracks
by Geoff Stanfield
If record credits were easier to find these days, you’d see the name Malay on the back of many a record sleeve or CD booklet. Born James Ryan Ho, Malay’s song-focused and sonically-rich...
Steve Perry: His Own Personal Soundtrack
by Larry Crane
As the former lead singer for Journey, Steve Perry should probably require no introduction, as his vocals have graced some of the biggest FM radio staples of the late ‘70s and ‘80s. His...
Thom Flowers
by Larry Crane
Based out of Santa Barbara, Thom Flowers worked as a producer and engineer at Orange Whip Recording in the mid-‘90s and early ‘00s, with bands such as Lagwagon, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nerf...
Mario J. McNulty: Past, Present, Future
by Larry Crane
Working out of New York City, Mario J. McNulty is a talented producer, mixer, and engineer with an enviable list of credits. He’s been in the studio with David Bowie, Laurie Anderson,...
Qmillion: Experiment & Listen
by Larry Crane
Keith Lewis is Qmillion, a musician, engineer, producer, composer, and mixer based in L.A. He’s been busier than ever during the last decade with Robert Glasper (and his Experiment and Trio...
Sadie Dupuis: In the Details
by Larry Crane
Who is Sadie Dupuis? A writer, singer, and guitar player in the band Speedy Ortiz. Producer, writer, and collaborator behind Sad13. Label owner of Wax Nine Records. A writer, with a book of poetry...
Melvins: “We don’t fix it. We redo it!”
by Conan Neutron, Jon Spencer
At this point, Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover are the Melvins. They’ve recorded over 29 studio albums in all types of spaces and show no signs of slowing down. I caught up with Buzz and Dale for a...
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Let's DIY
Let's DIY
DIY Diffusors
by Brad Williams
While hardly a glamorous concept, room acoustics represent a critical link in the recording or playback chain. While comprehensive room design is a complex cocktail of science, math and chance...
Let's DIY
Build Your Own Spring Reverb
by Scott Hampton
I have been a big fan of spring and plate reverbs for decades, and over the past three years I have spent a significant amount of time diving into the wormhole of designing and building them,...
Let's DIY
DIY Reverb
by Nicolas Collins
In the disembodied world of today's computer-based multitrack mixing, one can spend a lot of time crafting a unifying sense of "space." Despite the dozens of reverb plug-ins and rack devices...
Let's DIY
DIY Shockmount: Build Your Own Microphone Shock Mount
by Tom Rogers
Here's a ridiculously cheap and simple way to make a pretty nice microphone shock mount. Cost is under 10 bucks (way under if you build more than one) and it shouldn't take too much more than a half...
Most Read
The Problem with A-B'ing and Why Neil Young is Right about Sound Quality.
by Allen Farmelo
With news of Neil Young pushing to get studio quality audio out to the consumer, it occurred to me that it would be good to get some perspective on how we go about comparing audio quality. One of the most problematic issues surrounding audio...
Sound City, Dave Grohl, and the Changing Business of Recording Music
by Larry Crane
Everyone has been talking about Dave Grohl's new documentary Sound City a lot lately. That's cool; it's a fun romp of a movie, even if Dave can't decide whether he's making a film about a Neve console, a dying studio, a rock star jam session or an...
Music Buying Habits of Teens Changes...
by Larry Crane
Expect to see more changes in the music purchasing/acquiring habits of teenagers as time goes by. Courtesy of the NPD Group's press release: "teens (age 13 to 17) acquired 19 percent less music in 2008 than they did in 2007. CD purchasing declined 26...
Analog Investment in the Age of Pono
by Allen Farmelo
I'm about to write something that at first will seem like another gray-beard waxing nostalgic for a by-gone analog era. But, stick with me, because I think the tables are turning to where going analog might be as forward-thinking as it gets. Let's...
On Spotify (and Why I'm not a Conspiracy Theorist After All)
by Allen Farmelo
In a fascinating and really open Facebook debate initiated by fellow producer, cycling enthuiasist, and coffee-drinking pal, Eric Ambel (www.ericambel.com), I was alerted to what was finally a clear insight into how and why Spotify could possibly...
I Have A Credit Problem
by Count
Over the last few years we've seen an explosion of online music services. Pandora, iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, Soundcloud and dozens of other platforms are touted as groundbreaking ways to deliver music to listeners. But this success is on the...
Legendary Malibu Studio Indigo Ranch Is Auctioning Off Its Remaining Collection of Gear
by Dave Middleton
Richard Kaplan, owner engineer of famed recording studio Indigo Ranch [Tape Op #103] is selling the remainder of his classic equipment collection. It includes vintage and rare pieces by API, Aengus, Fairchild, Teletronix, Neumann and...
Avid and Pro Tools
by Larry Crane
Wall Street PR reports on the woes of Avid, the company behind Pro Tools. What does the future hold? I'm just terrified of having to learn a new platform, buying more gear and software, and there not being a de facto DAW standard for professional...
Why do the Folks at APPLE Inc. think they can use my Business Name?
by Larry Crane
A reader just informed me that APPLE's recent Logic Pro X includes "Drummer", a virtual drummer plug-in. One of the virtual drummers is named "aidan", who apparently cannot find the CAPS key on his virtual MacBook. In Aidan's "Portland Kit" we...
The Possibility of Subconscious Auditory Effects in Audioworkers - A Case for Renewing Humility and Wonder in the Field of Professional Audio
by Allen Farmelo
Subconscious Auditory Effects (SAE) is a term I have cobbled together to encapsulate a broad range of phenomena in this barely-studied field of inquiry. An SAE is any measurable effect on a person caused by a sound, or change in sound, that is...