Jay Ruston: It’s All Subjective
by Avinash Mittur
Metal albums live in a perpetual battle between clarity and attitude, and Jay Ruston has become a go-to for heavy artists looking to toe that line. His productions harken back to an era of analog...
interviews
We talk at length with record-makers about how they make records.
Sami Perez: Breaking the Rules
by Avinash Mittur
Many folks who work in the studio straddle the line between musician and engineer on any given day. Sami Perez has kept her feet in both worlds since her teenage years. The result is a sparkling body...
Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard: A Lot More Considered
by Geoff Stanfield
I entered the world of Australia’s King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard a few years back, via their Turkish psych-rock record, Flying Microtonal Banana. It struck me as so fun and fresh,...
Groenalund: Keeping the ABBA Sound Alive
by Greg Charles
Throughout his eight-year adventure of recording and producing Groenalund, a project for capturing the sound of the group ABBA, Martin Gerke has overcome plenty of discouragement. However, over the...
The Mental Health of Making Records
by Kyle Michael Nicolaides
Making records has been both blissful and traumatic for me. I’ve made records with people (and in environments) so un-fun it could make a horrifying night on ayahuasca seem like a family trip to...
Danny Elfman: Just Enough to Fuck it Up
by Larry Crane
Many likely know Danny Elfman’s name from movie credits, as he’s scored well over 110 films at this point. But some of us remember his ‘80s and ‘90s group, Oingo Boingo, along...
Beau Sorenson & Maryam Qudus
by John Baccigaluppi
I’ve known Beau Sorenson for close to ten years now, and around two years ago I met his wife, Maryam Qudus. They are recording engineers and producers, and both create their own music. They work...
Blak Emoji’s Future R&B
by Larry Crane
Blak Emoji is the project/band of producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kelsey Warren. His recently released third album, Eclectro, is a fun and inventive listen, so I dropped him a line...
Shoes: Born in the Studio
by John Rau
Beginning in 1974, when bands needed label attention and access to a proper studio to get their music out and heard, visionary power-pop band Shoes created their own terms – building a home...
Suzanne Ciani: The Fourth Wave
by John Baccigaluppi, Beau Sorenson
Suzanne Ciani is one of my neighbors (who has become a good friend), so it's almost too easy for me to overlook how massive her contribution to music and record production is. That is also due in...
Loma: Generate Light, Generate Heat, Generate Feeling: Inside the Loma Process
by John Baccigaluppi
My good friend, engineer/producer and occasional Tape Op contributor Robert Cheek, turned me on to the group Loma. Their music didn't grab me initially, but a few months later I went back to their...
Shearwater and Recreating David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy Live
by
While talking with Jonathan Meiburg and Dan Duszynski for this issue's Loma interview, we also discussed Jonathan's other project Shearwater, and an ambitious recent project they took on. -JB