Woodland is the name of Gillian Welch and David Rawling’s studio in Nashville, and it’s also the name of their new album. On Woodland, the duo continue to show their deep connection as collaborators. The album has a wide open sound that features their seemlessly blended and intimately recorded vocals, and the light touch of a backing band that includes drums, bass, pedal steel, banjo, and airy strings on tunes like "What We Had" and "Hashtag". "Lawman" and "The Bells and the Birds" have a lovely somberness, and the album as a whole has a "live off the floor" feeling to it that we hear less and less of these days. Woodland will stay in our "recently played" column for the forseeable future.
We interviewed Gillian and Dave back in 2001 for Tape Op #85.
Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.
Guitarist Michael Belfer passed away March 20, 2022 from a series of compounding health issues. He was a friend and my bandmate in Black Lab back in the late ’90s. His unique playing and sound was an influence on players such as Sonic...
Bassist, singer, and songwriter, esperanza spalding, (Tape Op #147) has just released new music, a collaboration with Brazilian legend Milton Nascimento.
Milton + esperanza is a delightful listen that has foundational roots in Brazilian...
Remember Henry Hirsch from issue ? He's moved locations yet again, and his new studio (in Hudson, NY) looks fabulous. Check it out here.
An unreal space and an amazing engineer/producer.
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...
Going through some archives I came across this priceless piece of history: its the rate card from the studio my friends and I used to go to. You can see it here:. After years of nagging, we did get him to discount our rate to $50 an hour,...
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Alan Parsons is one of the most talented engineer/producers out there and a hell of a nice guy. His Art and Science of Sound Recording DVD set is a great learning tool that we reviewed a while back. Now...
Legendary British sound engineer and producer Andy Johns has died at the age of 61.
During his more-than-thirty-year career, Johns worked with some of rock music's biggest names, engineering records for Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Eric...
Well friends, there were just too many great albums this year, and so here is the "Rest of the Best".
Andy and John both had super extensive year end favorites lists and make up the bulk of this list. I will need a good chunk of 2023 to dig in to...
June 21st marked the release of a new Menahan Street Band EP, Tropical Man. We interviewed band member Tommy Brenneck for Tape Op issue #147. Tropical Man is a six song EP that has just two songs, but multiple versions/mixes of each. Both...