Interviews | No. 172
By Sam Retzer and John Baccigaluppi
It’s Sunday night in Manhattan at Irving Plaza, and Dan “The Automator” Nakamura takes the stage behind a mouthwatering wall of synths, across from Kid Koala [Tape Op#159] and his three turntables. Deltron 3030 is back to rock the same stage where they made their New York debut 25 years...
James Krivchenia is best known as the drummer for the band Big Thief. But prior to sitting on the drum stool with that band, he put in quite a bit of time as an engineer and producer in a variety of recording situations, from studios with SSL consoles to makeshift home setups. He...
In my hometown of Portland, Oregon, there are a number of talented engineers, producers, mixers, mastering engineers, gear builders, studios, and more. It's a thriving community of creative people, if you hadn't noticed, and one of the folks I'd been curious about for...
Making Singin’ to an Empty Chair
I first heard the Chicago-based band Ratboys via their track “Black Earth, WI,” and if you haven't heard them that’s a great place to start. The eight and half minute song takes its time, but it never feels like you need to get anywhere in particular...
The engineer/producer behind the sound of the '80s Metallica albums is Flemming Rasmussen and his Sweet Silence Studios, located in Copenhagen, Denmark. These early Metallica records, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice for All, brought a whole new light to the...
As a studio owner in Austin, I used to cash in on the SXSW (South By Southwest) music festival and conferences. Creative-use spaces in close proximity to the festival were at a serious premium, and for a few years in the 2010s I could make six months' rent in two weeks. It meant...
It’s Sunday night in Manhattan at Irving Plaza, and Dan “The Automator” Nakamura takes the stage behind a mouthwatering wall of synths, across from Kid Koala [Tape Op#159] and his three turntables. Deltron 3030 is back to rock the same stage where they made their New York debut 25 years...
On the suggestion of Tape Op's Sales & Operations Director, Corey Reidy, I decided to check out the career of Jeff Rosenstock. His early bands, The Arrogant Sons of Bitches and Bomb the Music Industry!, built up grassroots followings via a DIY ethic, and, as Corey told me, “He...
The story of Regina Spektor is one of a truly self-made artist. In 1989, at nine years old, Spektor and her family emigrated from Moscow to the Bronx in New York. Her love and affinity for playing the piano found her studying in high school at the Manhattan School of Music, and as she...
Tom Hull, better known as Kid Harpoon, has produced, co-produced, and co-written with an impressive list of high-profile artists over the last 15 years or so, including Harry Styles, David Byrne, Kings of Leon, Miley Cyrus, Inhaler, Florence + the Machine, Shawn Mendes, and Maggie...
"They said that the little man couldn't do it. 'Oh, you can't dig 35 feet below your home.' But I did it, one step at a time, man." Thus began our conversation with Robert Lang. Outside of Seattle – in Shoreline, Washington – there's an iconic...
Clarissa Connelly, the Scotland-born, Copenhagen-based composer, first captured audiences’ attention with her 2018 release, Tech Duinn, and has been creating medieval-tinged multidimensional soundscapes ever since. Informed by her masters' level composition studies at the Rhythmic...
In 2025, Jim-E Stack (born James Harmon Stack) had three big releases out – Bon Iver's SABLE, fABLE, Lorde's Virgin, and Aminé's 13 Months of Sunshine – that he'd worked on as a producer and co-writer. Living in L.A., he's also worked with Charli XCX, Empress...