I still use the generic wire stripper that came in a $10 Radio Shack soldering kit that I purchased while in grade school. It consists of two rectangles of stamped steel, hinged together, with a...
With the recent releases of M1 MacBook laptops and the M1 Mac mini desktop, Apple has finally begun an all-encompassing transition to its own ARM64 CPUs. In response, I’ve had a number of...
During this pandemic, I've been listening to a lot more podcasts than in the past — whether I want to catch up on news, learn something new, or simply be entertained. As with anything online,...
Last month, I purchased my own HEDDphone Air Motion Transformer headphone hedd.audio after I received a tmesis-laden email from Heba Kadry [see this issue]. “Absolutely ---king amazing”...
I imagine many of you have utilized extra shelter-in-place hours to work on DIY projects in the studio or home. I certainly have, and despite all the hours I've dedicated to these tasks, my fixit list...
A few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, JB sent an email to the Tape Op staff: "As studios are hopefully able to re-open in a few months, what will the cleaning protocols be? The SARS-CoV-2 virus...
In 2014, I wrote about Li-ion batteries and brushless motors revolutionizing the cordless power tool industry, and I mentioned a few of my favorite tools from Bosch, Ryobi, and Milwaukee [Tape Op...
In 2014, I attended the inaugural Advanced Audio + Application Exchange (A3E) conference and wrote about it in the TapeOp.com blog. A3E has continued to grow, and A3E events now run tangentially with...
Ever since I reviewed a silent, ionizing air purifier almost 20years ago [Tape Op #25], I've received countless requests to recommend an air cleaner for studio use. Just last month, I was asked this...
A few nights before sitting down to write this column, I had a fascinating discussion about speaker design and acoustics with Eric Blackmer, son of the late David Blackmer (whose initials are in dbx)....
After reading Tom Fine's informative review of the Mini Maglite Pro [Tape Op #130], I realized that it's been a while since I've talked about flashlights. My favorite task light is the Bosch FL12 Max...
Recently, a reader asked me to recommend a cable tester, and that got me thinking about what would be appropriate for today’s needs — with networked audio being as ubiquitous as...
Recently, I was recommending a soldering iron to a Tape Op contributor who was excited to start fixing cables on his own. I suggested the Weller WLC100 40Watt Soldering Station weller-tools.com....
