We interviewed Mike Campbell for issue #150, right around the time he and his band, The Dirty Knobs released their second LP, External Combustion. A year on, the band has released a new collection of music, Vagabonds, Virgins and Misfits. The Dirty Knobs consists of Campbell, guitarist Chris Holt, bassist Lance Morrison, and drummer Matt Laug. Much of the album was co-produced by longtime Tom Petty studio collaborator, George Drakoulias.
Check out the video for "Dare to Dream" (feat. Graham Nash)
Speaking of the art world, reader Halsey Burgund sent a link to his installation that “involves some unconventional recording techniques, mainly doing it wirelessly and using lots of open-source and customized software.” Looks like fun...
I interviewed David J in 2015, as I had long been a fan of his bands Bauhaus and Love & Rockets, and had been buying his solo albums since his first works in the '80s. We ended up working on some music with Barton Carroll at my studio a year or...
Years ago John Fischbach, a well-established and respected producer/engineer, came to my studio to record an album that our mutual friend, Luther Russell, was producing. [See Tape Op #21.] In those days my studio, Jackpot! Recording, was a diamond...
The 129th AES Convention takes place Nov 4-7, and the Exhibitor's Hall is open Nov 5-7, where we'll be sitting patiently at a table giving away Tape Op magazines to passers by and answering questions about where the bathrooms are located and...
Artist/writer Keri Smith came up with this list some time back and it took on a life of its own. During a chat a client showed this to me as we were discussing being a musician and people that were "unhappy" with their lack of success. This sure...
Tape Op contributor, Chris Mara, has organized an amazing studio event coming up. I wanted to go but sessions have stopped me. If you can make it, this sounds like a lot of fun.
Tape Op Messageboard Thread and instructions Welcome to 1979 Studio
Hard to believe that 2022 is already coming to a close. As was true in 2021, it was obvious that as the world was on lock down, artists were busy using their time to be creative and the result was an incredible amount of fantastic releases across...
Bay Area native Scott Hansen, a.k.a. Tycho (Tape Op #123), has just released his sixth album, Infinite Health on Mom+Pop Records/Ninja Tune.
Fans familiar with Tycho will hear Infinite Health as a logical progression in a sequence of...
This issue’s cover is an homage to the Pink Floyd song “Echoes,” from the album Meddle. The idea came to me after I saw Brian T. Silak’s photo of Jack Antonoff’s vintage tape delays, as the Binson Echorec...