Making Music: Our Tape Op Book Reviewed

Our book reviewed by James Barber on his Substack (subscribe!)

Making Music: Conversations With Record Producers

Larry Crane established his underground bona fides in ’80s Chico, CA band Vomit Launch before moving to Portland, where he opened Jackpot! Recording in 1997. His resumé is impressive, including sessions with Elliott Smith, Cat Power, Stephen Malkmus, Quasi, and the Go-Betweens.

He’s also the genius who merged the underground music fanzine sensibility with the professional recording magazine in 1996 to create Tape Op, one of the universe’s greatest gifts to aspiring musicians, producers and engineers. Tape Op is just as concerned with musical and psychological decisions as it is with microphone placement and signal path. When I taught history of recording technology classes, I insisted that my students all subscribe.

Now Larry and publisher John Baccigaluppi have revisited some of the best interviews from the magazine’s history, edited them, and written new introductory material to create Making Music: Conversations With Record Producers, due out September 1 from Akashic Books.

It’s an impressive lineup that bridges decades and genres: Tommy “Snuff” Garrett, Jim Dickinson, Joe Boyd, Glyn Johns, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Tony Visconti, Brian Eno, T Bone Burnett, Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois, Susan Rogers, Mitch Easter, Tony Berg, Hank Shocklee, Jon Brion, RZA, Linda Perry, Mark Ronson, BJ Burton, Jack Antonoff, Jennifer Decilveo, SASAMI, Turbo 341, and Finneas O’Connell.

I especially enjoyed the interview with my Geffen Records colleague conducted at the very beginning of his current successful run as he describes working with a talented new singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridges.

Former Black Lab bass player Geoff Stanfield is an editor at Tape Op, and Girls Against Boys bass player Johnny Temple founded Akashic around the time it was apparent that big labels were getting out of the business of marketing credible rock bands until the world caught up with their talents. These are all good people, and the evidence is right there in the way these interviews were conducted. This is great.

This review first appeared on James Barber's Substack
https://substack.com/@starsafterstarsafterstars

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