April 15th marks the 25th anniversary of Tape Op Magazine! To mark the occasion, Tape Op founder and editor Larry Crane is making a series of short videos talking about the journey of the mag and some of the memories had along the...
I thought I'd seen it all until I heard about collectors that pass around bootlegged copies of the test tones and bias pads from all genres of artists and albums. From an article in MOJO this month:
"Sorting their collections by "tones at head" or...
We interviewed Jim Keller of Sondhus in issue #142. Sondhus (SAHN - duss) is an architectural acoustics design and build firm specializing in recording studios. They have designed and built studios for the likes of Depeche Mode, Apple, Heba Kadry,...
A couple of years ago I purchased a download package that a friend's band, Blue Skies for Black Hearts, was offering up. It was a generous offer, proceeds went towards a good cause, and the band is really fun (not to mention that the bandleader,...
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...
In editor Larry Crane's recent End Rant [Tape Op #127], he talked about how people are currently learning recording techniques, all of the misinformation on the internet, and how this leads to the homogenization of music making in general. All of the...
Fire Extinguishers in the Studio - [Note to our EU readers. I don't know if the U.S. letter conventions apply in your locale, but the fundamental suggestions in this post are universal.]
It’s a really smart idea to have a couple of fire...
My pal David Lowery (Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven) has been doing a cool blog called 300 Songs, telling stories of how songs came about and other crazy stories. The most recent one is about the late Don Smith, who produced and engineered a bunch of...