Forest for the Trees
by Larry Crane
What would be the most important concept I would explain to someone just starting out recording music? There’re a lot of things I’d like to say, but one of the most salient is,...
End Rants
Sporadic and regular articles from our contributors.
Equalizers and Equality
by Larry Crane
One of the cities in the United States that changed the face of popular music more than anywhere else has to be Memphis, Tennessee. It’s also a very important story of racial integration; of...
Future Collaboration
by Larry Crane
The history of humankind shows that only in recent centuries have we have become less social creatures. I've long advocated in the pages of Tape Op that we all need to find time to get together...
Journey Into Dub
by Geoff Stanfield
Lee "Scratch" Perry The Crocodile, Seattle, WA, 2019. by GS. Our heroes are flawed. Our gods will let us down. But there is no substitute for music that resonates with the soul when the listener...
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...
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...