Kyle & Jason Lehning

Interviews

Kyle & Jason Lehning

By Larry Crane

Kyle Lehning's recording and production career is one to be reckoned with, featuring artists like Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Kenny Rogers, and George Jones, plus a stint running Asylum Records in Nashville. His son, Jason Lehning, caught the bug early on...

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Gary Paczosa

Interviews

Gary Paczosa: Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Dolly Parton

By Miri Stebvika, Larry Crane

Establishing himself as one of Nashville's top engineers and producers, Gary has worked with Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Sarah Jarosz, Harry Connick Jr., John Prine, and even Dolly Parton. He is also VP of A&R at Sugar Hill/Rounder Music Records. I visited Gary at his private studio and...

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Tom Mark

Interviews

Tom Mark: A Career Recording NRBQ

By Lincoln Barr

For over 40 years, NRBQ has been a codeword among fans of American music in all its forms. The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (or Quintet, if you're referring to the band's original lineup with vocalist Frankie Gadler) doesn't have lukewarm fans — they're record store diggers and...

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More Dialogue with Kim Rosen

Interviews

More Dialogue with Kim Rosen: of Knack Mastering

By Larry Crane, Craig Alvin
Kim Rosen built up her mastering skills and reputation at West West Side Music, before...
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Mew

Interviews

Mew: Copenhagen's Finest

By Alex Maiolo
Formed 20 years ago in a suburb of Copenhagen, Mew was first in a wave of indie bands to...
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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

MARCH 14, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Kim Rosen

Kim Rosen: of Knack Mastering

BY LARRY CRANE, CRAIG ALVIN

Kim Rosen built up her mastering skills and reputation at West West Side Music, before branching off in 2009 to set up her own Knack Mastering in Ringwood, NJ. Since going out on her own, she' s worked with Title Fight, Sarah Jaffe, Jeff Bridges, Braid, The Barr Brothers, Bettye LaVette, Basko Believes, a vinyl remaster for Superdrag's Headtrip in Every Key and even a Johnny Cash remake of " Bitter Tears".

MARCH 14, 2026 INTERVIEWS
More Dialogue with Gary Paczosa

More Dialogue with Gary Paczosa: Alison Krauss, Nickel Creek, Dolly Parton

BY MIRI STEBVIKA, LARRY CRANE

Establishing himself as one of Nashville's top engineers and producers, Gary has worked with Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, Sarah Jarosz, Harry Connick Jr., John Prine, and even Dolly Parton. He is also VP of A&R at Sugar Hill/Rounder Music Records. I visited Gary at his private studio and home that previously belonged to Alison Krauss. In fact, Gary even helped design the studio for her.

MARCH 14, 2026 INTERVIEWS
More Dialogue with Kyle & Jason Lehning

More Dialogue with Kyle & Jason Lehning: Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, Kenny Rogers, George Jones

BY LARRY CRANE

Kyle Lehning's recording and production career is one to be reckoned with, featuring artists like Waylon Jennings, Randy Travis, England Dan & John Ford Coley, Kenny Rogers, and George Jones, plus a stint running Asylum Records in Nashville. His son, Jason Lehning, caught the bug early on and has worked steadily as an engineer, producer, musician, and songwriter. I caught up with the two of them at Kyle's studio, The Compound, located behind his home in Nashville. You couldn't ask to hang out with nicer folks, and the amount of experience they bring to the table is staggering.

COLUMNS

GEAR GEEKING by Andy Hong
Gear Geeking #108
GEAR GEEKING

Gear Geeking #108

by Andy Hong

I've mentioned before that one of the goals of Tape Op Gear Reviews is to educate our readers. In other words, we strive to publish reviews that are just as informative about recording techniques as they are about the specific products being reviewed. Therefore, even if you're not considering a...

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

+10db Compressor & EQ plug-in bundle

BY +10db Compressor & EQ plug-in bundle  |  reviewed by Dave Hidek

I'm a fan of compressors that bring something to the table other than transparency, so I've had an eye on the legendary ADR F769X-R Vocal Stressor, an early outboard "channel strip" incorporating the Compex compressor alongside an EQ, for quite some time. When Boz Digital Labs announced that they...

Gear Reviews

ADR Compex F760X-RS dynamics processor

BY ADR Compex F760X-RS dynamics processor  |  reviewed by Chris Koltay

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we evolve as engineers, and in a way, it's my favorite part of the job. You wake up one day and realize you are doing something totally differently, like the day I realized I'd stopped obsessively fighting phase issues between bass DI and mic signal. In...

Gear Reviews

AN-16/i v.2 Input Module

BY AN-16/i v.2 Input Module  |  reviewed by Eli Crews

It has always been a priority for me to provide the ability for each member of a band to dial in her or his own headphone mix during a tracking or overdub session. It was essential to me when building my first studio nearly 15 years ago, and the long-discontinued Oz Audio Q-Mix HM-6 boxes [Tape Op...

Gear Reviews

ASP880 8-channel mic preamp & ADC

BY ASP880 8-channel mic preamp & ADC  |  reviewed by Will Severin

I first came across the ASP880 when I was looking to expand my mic preamp inputs for an upcoming recording project. I was looking for a multichannel preamp unit to augment my collection without breaking the bank. I found many of the usual suspects (e.g., API, Daking, TRUE Systems, etc.) too...

Gear Reviews

ATH-R70x open-back reference headphone

BY ATH-R70x open-back reference headphone  |  reviewed by Andy Hong

I love this new model from Audio-Technica's growing line of professional studio headphones. It features open-back earcups housing proprietary 45 mm drivers, and a unique headband with spring-loaded "wings" that self-adjust the fit. It's by far the lightest and most comfortable circumaural headphone...

Gear Reviews

AudioBox Stereo bundles

BY AudioBox Stereo bundles  |  reviewed by Andy Hong

I'm always impressed with the sheer value that PreSonus is able to offer across its product lines. For decades, the company has been selling affordable audio gear and software, while still managing to include features and deliver sound quality beyond what you'd expect for the price. Take for...

Gear Reviews

Cassette tape splicing block

BY Cassette tape splicing block  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

Many of us remember the days of cassette-based 4-track machines. Likewise, we can recall the days of receiving mixtapes on actual cassette tapes, not over email. I have found that the problem with playing old cassettes is usually mechanical in nature - crinkled tape, broken tape, or the worst-case...

Gear Reviews

d:dicate ST2011A stereo cardioid mic kit

BY d:dicate ST2011A stereo cardioid mic kit  |  reviewed by Joseph Lemmer

When I was in school at the University of Michigan, I did a lot of recital recording of ensembles and piano. Through this, I learned that all the orchestra recording was done with DPA mics (marketed under the Brüel & Kjær brand), which were apparently the best of the best. So I was excited to test...

Gear Reviews

Komplete Kontrol S49 keyboard

BY Komplete Kontrol S49 keyboard  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

You guys, my home studio now sounds like the Blade Runner soundtrack, and looks like the set of TRON. And, what? There are Ks where all the Cs should be! Wait — lemme explain. Native Instruments sent us their latest MIDI controller keyboard to test, the Kontrol S-series, along with the latest...

Gear Reviews

Lineage 8-channel mic preamp

BY Lineage 8-channel mic preamp  |  reviewed by Andy Hong

I haven't spent any time on a Harrison console, but I do know that many important albums and films were recorded or mixed on Harrison consoles over the decades, and company founder Dave Harrison kickstarted his console-designing career with the MCI JH-400 series, the first production desks with an...

Gear Reviews

Reference 3 speaker & headphone calibration software

BY Reference 3 speaker & headphone calibration software  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

It goes without saying that our studio monitors, be they speakers or headphones, influence the sound of our productions more than any other processor, instrument, or device. Recently, the technologies of speaker system design and advanced materials have allowed manufacturers to produce accurate...

Gear Reviews

SM9 active studio monitor

BY SM9 active studio monitor  |  reviewed by Eli Crews

The quest for the right studio monitor can be long and frustrating. Or, the first pair you audition can instantly become the pair you know and trust, allowing you to do your best work right from the get-go. Focal Professional's flagship French-made SM9 monitor was the latter for me — and for...

Gear Reviews

StereoMonoizer software

BY StereoMonoizer software  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

One of my biggest frustrations as a mixer is importing audio files from a client and finding 160 stereo audio tracks have been created in my DAW. Most of the time, I'll figure out that the bulk of the stereo tracks delivered to me do not actually contain any stereo information but are, in fact,...

Gear Reviews

Two18 studio monitors

BY Two18 studio monitors  |  reviewed by Tom Fine

A few months ago, I took on a project that pushed me into the dreaded realm of needing new studio monitors. After about ten years of using a pair of Behringer Truth B2031A passive monitors (don't turn up your nose or ears until you try them; they blew away all similarly-sized speakers I tried until...

Gear Reviews

U 47 fet condenser mic (reissue)

BY U 47 fet condenser mic (reissue)  |  reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

The U 47 fet reissue from Neumann is a faithful recreation of the solid-state version of the U 47 manufactured from 1972 to 1986. It has a fixed cardioid polar pattern and employs a K 47 capsule and the same head grill and nickel finish as the original U 47 fet, as well as the classic Neumann badge...