The "new" Car Seat Headrest album, Teen of Denial (Joe’s Story), has been out since May 20th, 2026, and (as usual) the web is filled with paranoia, misinformation, and assumptions. I get the idea many people don’t understand the difference between remixing, remastering, or re-recording, but for what it’s worth (aside from the lyrics and the new mix) this is almost exactly the same record as the original. Will rewrote lyrics to a greater or lesser degree on most songs. Teens 2016 was tracked mostly at real studios (Soundhouse and Avast!) with real mics, real outboard gear, and real Trident consoles. Vocal Chain: Trident 80B channel pre/[Teletronix] LA-2A/[Universal Audio]1176 Blue Stripe. It was buggy and produced artifacts which we all dug. Will sang through a [Neumann] U 87. In 2026, I was very nervous about matching the vocal tone, especially in my home studio. The new vocals were done in a pretty dead, small room. He sang through a Pacific Pro Audio U 87 knock off ($100 in 1996) through UAD plug-ins (LA-2A/1176 Blue Stripe). Instead of the Trident pre I put the mic through a Chameleon Labs 7602 Neve clone into a Joemeek C2 compressor. Will did a great job matching his delivery, and with some EQ'ing we got so close that we were both amazed. I kept saying, "We should do this for a living." This should not have worked. Also on Teens of Denial (Joe’s Story) new songs replaced two 2015 songs that had "legal baggage." They were tracked at Soundhouse in December 2025 . Some ARP noises were added. Otherwise it's the old record. Both versions were mixed in my home studios. My main EQ for 2015 was McDSP E606 and none of those EQ settings survived. The 2015 version was mastered by April Golden at her dad’s place, Golden Mastering. The 2026 version was mastered by Rachel Field at Resonant Mastering.
Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.
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