What Makes a Great Recording?
by Larry Crane
I've listened to music critically for most of my life. First, as a teenage music fan, I would sit with headphones on poring over masterpieces by Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Yes, the Beach Boys, King...
End Rants
Sporadic and regular articles from our contributors.
The Guessing Game
by Larry Crane
In issue #133 of Tape Op, I interviewed Andrew Scheps. "I take everything personally. I curl up in a ball," Andrew told me when we discussed dealing with mix revisions from clients. I've been...
Zip it Up
by John Baccigaluppi
It was a simple thing, really. Just a short one-page lease agreement I'd helped broker between a beekeeper and my adjacent neighbors, whose property I help manage. I had sent two copies of the...
Letting the Process Happen
by Larry Crane
I don't remember a time while growing up when there wasn't clay, glaze, and kilns in my house. My mother had studied art when I was a baby, and she began producing a series of decorative and useful...
Think Like Tape
by Tony SanFilippo
A while back, Larry Crane – Tape Op's editor – tweeted an observation implying that many producers, engineers, and artists fill up their productions with tons of tracks simply because the...
At the Feet of the Masters
by Larry Crane
Last year I bought The Beatles’ super deluxe 50th anniversary box set edition of The BEATLES (commonly known as “The White Album”). The new mixes that Giles Martin [Tape Op #103]...
What’s Your Time Worth?
by Larry Crane
Not long after I first opened my recording studio, (some 20 years ago, when people actually booked time via a landline), I got a call one day about a booking request. Client: "Hi, we'd like to book...
Tough Love
by Larry Crane
Is there a fine line between naive encouragement and pessimistic, dour warnings of possible failure? (i.e. "Just do it! DIY!" vs. "Give up. It's impossible.") Over twenty years ago I was making plans...
Set Yourself Apart
by Larry Crane
I'm worried about the current state of how people are learning recording. When I first started tracking myself (and others) out of my home studio, learning how to record on a budget was a difficult...
An Endangered Species?
by John Baccigaluppi
If you're one of the folks doing all your music making in-the-box, with your DAW and plug-ins, then you can skip the rest of this rant. Consider yourself lucky, as this older analog gear is getting...
Mistakes
by Larry Crane
It was 1992. The band I'd been in, Vomit Launch, had called it quits less than six months prior. I'd decided to take a road trip to the Northwest, with the faint concept of finding a new place to live...
Who’s Dropping By?
by Larry Crane
After 32 years of attending, visiting, and helming many studio recordings, I've come to recognize the impact that guests dropping by can have on a session. In Tape Op #73 I described my take on...