Audio engineers are translators. We translate ideas into sounds. Creative descriptions into technical decisions. Drunken late-night texts into mix revisions. That’s the secret to this job: we...
"Rudy Van Gelder has sadly passed away at 91 years of age. He was one of the first 'home recordists' and made some of the most iconic jazz recordings of all time in his parent's living room. He was...
Michael Lerner of Merge Records' Telekinesis has released three critically acclaimed records via the old get-a-producer-and-book-a-recording-studio process. For his fourth, he decided to plunge...
What's the attraction of vintage consoles? There's no denying that a classic console will look incredible in your studio and make a great investment, too. But the real draw will always be the...
Vintage King co-founder Michael Nehra shares some of his love, knowledge, and practical advice for diving into the world of vintage audio gear, and then takes us behind the scenes for a walk through...
How does a newbie learn the secret handshake of the recording community and master the tricks that make the pros sound so professional? Larry Crane's new video courses on lynda.com can...
This article ran a few years ago when Beauty Pill was in the throes of their public recording project called Immersive Ideal. After band leader Chad Clark [Tape Op #36] won...
THE "DRUG STORE TRUCK-DRIVING MAN" From Tape Op issue #2! Here's a true story from an engineer that was there: On the condition of anonymity, here's what happened, as best as I remember it... keep...
I recently had the chance to interview one of my favorite musician/studio owners, Peter Gabriel. The situation involved me and three other writers sitting in a wooden shed with an SSL at one end, in...
Sometimes recordists (and musicians, more broadly) have to ship a piece of gear — either to the manufacturer for repairs, or to the retailer as a return or exchange. Just as recording is more...
Soon after finishing a technical engineering degree, Tom Bugs completed and sold his first batch of Weevils. While working out how to give life to what would become BugBrand, Tom helped out at the...
Talk a little about your Lucas equipment. I started about '89 or '90. Really what inspired it was two things: It was always difficult recording guitars, because a lot of what I did experimenting on...
