Tape Op Magazine - Issue #102 - issue-102

The War on Drugs

Interviews

The War on Drugs

By Dave Hidek and Jacob Biba

With 2014's Lost in the Dream, The War on Drugs have made it onto most people's playlists. Frontman and producer extraordinaire Adam Granduciel was kind enough to take a break from touring to discuss the unique making of the record, as well as some of his production philosophies.

Catherine J. Marks

Interviews

Catherine J. Marks: Foals, Flood, The Howling Bells

By Larry Crane

An Australian architecture student bumps into famous producer/engineer Flood while studying in Ireland, returns home to start playing in bands, and eventually moves to London and becomes an in-demand engineer and producer? Sometimes the truth is rather fantastic. I had to figure out Catherine...

Bill Cheney

Interviews

Bill Cheney: Behind The Gear with Spectra Sonics

By John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane

Bill Cheney and Jim Romney are the men responsible for keeping the amazing legacy of Spectra Sonics, a legendary, if criminally unheralded, pro-audio company alive.

Brad Blackwood

Interviews

Brad Blackwood: Mastering in Memphis

By Brandon Herrington, Hans Dietrich Faulhaber

Brad Blackwood mastered the recording of my friend Brandon Herrington's band's...

Seth Kauffman

Interviews

Seth Kauffman: of Floating Action

By Ryan Barrington Cox

Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Seth Kauffman has been crafting exotic music for over...

Al Schnier

Interviews

Al Schnier: moe. & more

By Jay Blakesberg, Larry Crane

The band moe. has been going strong since forming in Buffalo, NY, over 20 years ago....

MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

FEBRUARY 22, 2026 INTERVIEWS

Bill Cheney (bonus)

Bill Cheney (bonus): Behind the Gear with Spectra Sonics

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI, LARRY CRANE

Bill Cheney and his partner Jim Romney are the men responsible for keeping the amazing legacy of Spectra Sonics, a legendary, if criminally unheralded, pro-audio company alive.

COLUMNS

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

B26 Orca monitor controller

BY B26 Orca monitor controller | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

Let's start this conversation off by stating the obvious. You cannot properly record or mix music if you cannot accurately hear what you are recording or mixing. If music is more than a hobby, and you are working with low to mid-level monitoring with your computer and DAW, your next purchases...

Gear Reviews

bx_refinement harshness control plug-in

BY bx_refinement harshness control plug-in | reviewed by Garrett Haines, Larry Crane

Larry Crane: Sometimes a plug-in comes out that I totally adore, but I get worried that its subtlety and usefulness will get lost in the shuffle of "whiz bang" over-the-top effects and emulations of vintage gear. The new bx_refinement, developed by Gebre Waddell of Stonebridge Mastering, is one...

Gear Reviews

Chop Shop 500-series EQ

BY Chop Shop 500-series EQ | reviewed by Dave Hidek

I couldn't possibly count the number of times I've used an outboard preamp and thought, "I wish this had a two-band EQ." Perhaps the floor tom or the bass is a tad too muddy, or the bottom of the snare is a bit too crispy, or some boominess in the electric guitar is making its compressor behave...

Gear Reviews

DA-3000 Master Recorder

BY DA-3000 Master Recorder | reviewed by Allen Farmelo

The DA-3000 is a high-quality, stereo, digital master recorder capable of both PCM (up to 24-bit, 192 kHz) and DSD (2.8 and 5.6 MHz) operation, and it can also function as a standalone A/D and D/A converter. It is an elegant 1RU-height unit with an intuitive, even enjoyable, interface that makes it...

Gear Reviews

M82

BY M82 | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

We all know that the Shure SM57 and AKG D 112 are pretty ubiquitous on snare and kick on countless recordings, right? Why? Because they are affordable and sound pretty damn good! Many an engineer, myself included, have tried other mics, but come back to the 57/112 combo because it works. But we...

Gear Reviews

MixingLink preamp w/ effects loop

BY MixingLink preamp w/ effects loop | reviewed by Joseph Lemmer

Eventide bills its MixingLink as a "Mic Pre with FX Loop." It is so much more than that! I tried to sum it up technically: It's a mic/line preamp. It's an instrument preamp/DI. It's a headphone amp. It has a balanced effects loop. It has a smartphone/tablet loop via 1/8'' TRRS (4-conductor). It has...

Gear Reviews

MSL stereo VCA bus compressor

BY MSL stereo VCA bus compressor | reviewed by Garrett Haines

Located in Caldwell, Idaho, Revive Audio offers hardware, custom builds, modifications, and repairs. I first encountered Revive Audio a few years ago. They were selling rackmount gear reclaimed from decommissioned consoles. From the workmanship, it was obvious to me that this group was capable of...

Gear Reviews

N22 ribbon mic

BY N22 ribbon mic | reviewed by Adam Kagan

When I think of AEA, I think of vintage-styled, classic ribbon mics. The AEA R-series harks back to RCA ribbon mics in both looks and tonal qualities, while AEA's modern manufacturing approach includes innovations in internal shockmounting and adding active electronics for higher output levels and...

Gear Reviews

PM40 PianoMic System

BY PM40 PianoMic System | reviewed by Kirt Shearer

I like gear that makes a statement. The long, narrow aluminum briefcase of the PM40 PianoMic System certainly makes one. That of, "I've got an upscale rifle here" — an impression that can come in handy at times. But back to recording... People have been mic'ing acoustic grand pianos in much the...

Gear Reviews

PWM-501 compressor (500-series)

BY PWM-501 compressor (500-series) | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

Writing about audio gear is an interesting exercise in trying to capture the emotional impact of an inanimate object. I think that it is less important how something works than how something makes you feel. When a piece of gear allows you to transfer a performance to a fixed format with emotion...

Gear Reviews

Red12

BY Red12 | reviewed by Joel Hamilton

A shotgun shell — an actual shotgun shell, from a 12 gauge shotgun — turned into a microphone. I liked the idea immediately. "Let's use these shells for creating, rather than destroying, something." I ordered a pair of the original, red-colored Red12 omnidirectional mics very early on in the...

Gear Reviews

Sigma 500 summing box & 500-series frame

BY Sigma 500 summing box & 500-series frame | reviewed by Garrett Haines

The Sigma 500 provides a unique twist on the implementation of an analog summing mixer. The unit contains two 500-series slots to insert preamps of your choice to serve as the final gain stage for the stereo mix. Moreover, when not being used to sum, the Sigma 500 has an Alt mode that transforms...

Gear Reviews

Two-V dual mic preamp (500-series)

BY Two-V dual mic preamp (500-series) | reviewed by Chris Koltay

The Two-V is a double-wide, two-channel preamp module for the 500-series format. It comes painted battleship grey with minimal markings denoting the usual features: polarity, high-pass filter, phantom power, and input impedance. The front panel seems a bit austere at first — deceptively so! The...

Gear Reviews

VOG Analog Bass Resonance Tool

BY VOG Analog Bass Resonance Tool | reviewed by Steve Silverstein

No matter how many amazing equalizers that I buy, I find that I never have enough great outboard EQs for everything I need. In my opinion, the biggest advantage of expensive EQs is their ability to boost and manage treble, but I have often found myself using one (or even two) on kick drum to shape...

Gear Reviews

X1R ribbon mic

BY X1R ribbon mic | reviewed by Scott Evans

The X1R is a ribbon mic with a few design twists. It's housed in the same body as sE's X1 large-diaphragm condenser and is designed to produce more high end, and more output level, than the average ribbon. sE sent me a pair of these mics to test. I was tracking an album at my studio with Doralice,...