Nic Hard: Just Keep Cooking...
by Larry Crane
Working with Michael League of Snarky Puppy, Nic Hard has engineered much of the band’s catalog. After starting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as a DJ, he soon found himself studying...
interviews
by Larry Crane
Michael League: Just Keep Cooking...
by Larry Crane
As the leading force behind the popular instrumental group Snarky Puppy, bassist/producer/composer Michael League has plenty on his plate simply by keeping up with the band’s prolific output....
Gina Birch: She Plays Her Bass Loud
by Larry Crane
Along with Ana da Silva, Gina Birch led The Raincoats from 1977 to 1984 in England, reforming in 1993, and still collaborating to this day. Their unique approach to music inspired many, including...
Jerry Harrison: A Life In Music
by John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane
As a member of the Talking Heads and forming The Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman, Jerry Harrison would have a career of note if this was all he’d done. But as a successful producer over the...
Eric “ET” Thorngren: Throwing Out Reality
by Larry Crane
Recording and mixing much of the Talking Heads catalog would be one achievement, but then throw in tracking some of the earliest hip-hop at Sugar Hill Records, mixing Robert Palmer’s...
Marta Salogni: Having that Knowledge
by Larry Crane
A pure obsession with sound drove a young woman from her rural Italian home to the UK and into London’s recording studios. A relentless drive to learn how everything in audio works then set her...
Is That a Track or a Stem?: Sorting Out Audio Terms
by Larry Crane, Garrett Haines
When people hire me to mix their songs, I frequently come across situations where we are not using the same terminology for the sources clients are giving me to work from. Yes, sometimes one word can...
Making the Box Set Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982: with Steve Rosenthal & Michael Graves
by Larry Crane
When I heard my colleagues Steve Rosenthal [Tape Op #66] and Michael Graves [#125] had produced, repaired, and mastered Blondie’s new box set, Blondie: Against The Odds 1974-1982, I had to drop...
John Plymale: No Right or Wrong Way
by Larry Crane
Years ago, I met John Plymale at one of our TapeOpCon events. He currently lives in Norfolk, Virginia, and has helmed amazing projects including the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Superchunk, and the Meat...
Clarke Rigsby: A Varied Career
by Larry Crane
A longtime staple of the Phoenix recording scene, Clarke Rigsby runs Tempest Recording out of a modest-looking but impressively outfitted space behind his home in Tempe, Arizona. He’s worked...
The Boxmasters are…: Billy Bob Thornton & J.D. Andrew
by Larry Crane
You might be most familiar with him as an actor, but Billy Bob Thornton has been playing drums, singing, and writing songs since he was a teen, long before he stepped in front of a camera. His early...
Lyle Lovett
by Larry Crane
During the early pandemic lockdowns my wife, Jenna Zine, and I searched out interesting online streaming performances as a way to keep connected to the experience of going out to see live...