Tape Log

Blog posts about recording from our senior staff.

April 17, 2017

Gear Update: Crane Song Avocet II Monitor Controller

by Geoff Stanfield

This may be the most indispensable tool in my studio. I hear people say that converters don't matter and that most cannot hear the difference. Bullsh*t! If you cannot accurately hear what you are doing you are making uninformed choices. They call...

April 5, 2017

Gear Update: Burl B80 Mothership

by Geoff Stanfield

Larry Crane adds an update to Marc Alan Goodman's orginal review of the Burl B80 Mothership.  Marc Alan Goodman says in his original review, “It's rare to find a single piece of gear that elevates not only my entire...

March 22, 2017

Gear Update: Meris Mercury7 500-Series Reverb

by Geoff Stanfield

Geoff Stanfield and Andy Hong add an update to the original Meris Mercury7 Reverb review by Adam Kagan. GS: I am a fan of the Meris line of gear. They are a small shop who builds their high-quality modules in Los Angeles. I have reviewed the Meris...

March 20, 2017

Gear Update: Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Analogue Mixer

by Geoff Stanfield

It is often challenging within a review period to fully explore a piece of gear and integrate it into the daily workflow. It's not that reviewers won't use the feature set and put it to task in at least a few applications, but to truly get to know...

March 14, 2017

The Smart Studios Story: Documentary

by Geoff Stanfield

The Smart Studios Story Wendy Schneider, director At this point, Butch Vig [Tape Op #11] and Smart Studios are the stuff of legend. From the album that destroyed music’s status quo (Nirvana’s Nevermind), to Smashing Pumpkin's Gish...

March 7, 2017

Integrating Stompboxes into the Mix

Special Release

There has been a heightened interest lately in using stompboxes and pedals as part of the mixing process. There are a few ways to interface your pedals with your system, but here is a quick video on how I do it using the Meris 440 500 series mic-pre....

Sept. 5, 2016

AES Conventions - Looking Back/Looking Forward

by John Baccigaluppi

Convention Report. Man, that old Disneyland hotel was awesome! I'm in the process of moving and was cleaning my office earlier today. I have a large collection of vintage audio magazines and books that I use for clip art when working on Tape...

July 20, 2016

James Supercave "Burn" - Live from Gus Seyffert's Sargent Recorders

Special Release

Video Release: James Supercave "Burn" What follows may be one of the best answers to the "So, how'd you guys meet?" question we have ever heard. Producer, engineer, and oft-recorded bassist (Black Keys, Ryan Adams, Norah Jones) Gus Seyffert was...

May 19, 2015

Learn Recording, the Hard (and Rewarding) Way

by Dave Simonett

When I was younger and flat broke, I was offered a place to stay in my friends' house. It was a room in an old, unfinished basement, and I thought it'd be nice to have some walls. Being without funds to hire anyone, I decided I could probably...

March 22, 2015

End Rant #106: Making Records in the Age of PONO

by Allen Farmelo

We are witnessing the dawn of dramatic format changes for audio delivery. On the one hand, we now have streaming audio and, on the other hand, we have the movement away from compressed digital formats toward higher-resolution digital files. The CD...

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