Photo by Roman Sokal, courtesy of Audio Crowbar Dynamics.
Having recently spent more time working on the Tape Op Gear Reviews section of this magazine, one thought keeps creeping into my mind and I need to get it out:
Forming real, useable opinions on audio gear takes a lot longer than people think. Or, maybe what I should really say is, it should take a lot longer than we usually allot time for.
You know the scenario: A new piece of recording hardware or software is out in the marketplace. Let's call it the "DynoPopper X-10" for the purpose of this article. Maybe it's a version of a hard-to-find microphone, a limiter based on the Pythagorean theorem, or a plug-in that does something that was impossible three years ago. Whatever it is, if one works in this field – or is even simply a home-recording musician – eventually somebody will ask, "What do you think of that new DynoPopper X-10?"