I opened my commercial recording studio (Jackpot! Recording) in 1997, after years of simultaneously having a busy home studio while working day jobs to pay the rent. Making this leap to a full-time recording engineer/studio owner was terrifying. I...
This past September, I attended the inaugural A3Exchange in Boston and had one of the most enjoyable conference experiences in years. A small team of forward thinkers, under the leadership of Paul Sitar, is putting together an "exchange" for...
I've pulled together a collection of recent thoughts I've had about the recording process. You can agree or not agree. The important thing is to use your ears, mind, and creativity to make great recordings. Recording equipment...
Richard Kaplan, owner engineer of famed recording studio Indigo Ranch [Tape Op #103] is selling the remainder of his classic equipment collection. It includes vintage and rare pieces by API, Aengus, Fairchild, Teletronix, Neumann and...
I'm not actually going to review the music on this record; it's free, just go get it and listen to it yourself. Instead, I'm a bit fascinated by the mechanics of the release itself. As my wife said when I told her I had the record, "Does anybody...
Just a quick note about the upcoming Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in Los Angeles. We have arranged for all Tape Op readers to receive a free Exhibits Plus Badge to the convention. This badge is good for the Exhibition PLUS all...
It was at a recent trade show, after a major DAW manufacturer cancelled our meeting, that I realized I was relieved to be off the hook. I always enjoy meeting with this person, and I use and like their products. But I was relieved to not hear...
head-fi: n, audiophile-grade headphone systems.portable: adj, able to be easily carried. The record industry is about twenty-five years into a massive devaluation of its products. This devaluation is not due to some invisible calculus the way, say,...
As we exit the era of digital audio data compression and begin the ascent into higher sample rates for consumer consumption (via multiple platforms, though most popularly Neil Young's PONO system), we are finding ourselves as a community of...
Subconscious Auditory Effects (SAE) is a term I have cobbled together to encapsulate a broad range of phenomena in this barely-studied field of inquiry. An SAE is any measurable effect on a person caused by a sound, or change in sound, that is...
"...from what I have seen, the industry is fatally flawed. Everyone seems to want something for nothing and few are willing to pay for what something is actually worth. Plus, there are thousands of graduates flooding recording studios each year...
