Tape Op Magazine - Issue #122 - issue-122

Nick Blagona

Interviews

Nick Blagona

By Roman Sokal

Residing in a small town just south of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is Nick Blagona. I met him over two decades ago at a recording studio in Toronto, and he always had valuable pointers for mic placements, as well as hearty, helping, hilarious comments to make about me and my friend's lack of...

Jonathan Schenke

Interviews

Jonathan Schenke

By Nivia Hernandez, John Rau

Jonathan Schenke has made a name and a sound for himself by recording and mixing some of the best independent and experimental rock that came out of New York in the last five years. You may have witnessed it with the likes of Parquet Courts, The Drums, Liturgy, PC Worship, or scores of other...

Mike Dean

Interviews

Mike Dean: Hip-Hop Producer/Mixer

By Jake Brown

If you're a hip-hop fan it's almost impossible not to know the name Mike Dean,...

Dave Cobb

Interviews

Dave Cobb

By Jake Giles Netter, Hayley Thompson-King, Mark Rubel, Andy Hong, Andy Netter

"If somebody's too neurotic, I'm out. I think music is supposed to be fun,...

Rick Miller

Interviews

Rick Miller

By Pete Weiss

As the guiding light of twang-raunch-rock stalwarts Southern Culture On The Skids, singer/...

MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

FEBRUARY 26, 2026 INTERVIEWS

Brad McGowan

Brad McGowan: This Issue’s Tweaker of Tones

BY LIAM NELSON

Louder Than Liftoff is a relatively young pro audio company. They caught my eye with a unique take on both the 500 series EQ and the two bus processor. A small, two-man operation, born of a passion for impeccable sound, the company takes founder Brad McGowan's DIY aesthetic and his NASA-level engineering chops, and combines them with extremely interesting and, in my experience, excellent results.

COLUMNS

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

1073LB EQ 500-Series Module

BY 1073LB EQ 500-Series Module | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

The Neve 1073 is arguably the most famous and cherished preamp/EQ channel strip of all time. It has been endlessly cloned, copied, updated, and tweaked by countless manufacturers trying to cash in on the mythological status of this piece of recording gear. There is good reason for all the hype, as...

Gear Reviews

ADC1 USB A/D Converter

BY ADC1 USB A/D Converter | reviewed by Garrett Haines

I recently purchased a used ADC1 (non-USB). I wrote Benchmark to say how much I liked it. I got a reply asking if I wanted to demo the new ADC1 USB to verify if my old model was still up to spec! Who does that? They had no idea I had written a review of their DAC2 [Tape Op #97], yet they offered a...

Gear Reviews

BAD8 Converter Card for B80 & B16

BY BAD8 Converter Card for B80 & B16 | reviewed by Jerry Harrison

We recently did a session here at Panoramic House with Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Live) producing a great band called Le Butcherettes. Jerry has a studio near us with a mix/edit room and a separate tracking room; and both rooms have Burl Mothership converters [Tape Op #84] tailored to each...

Gear Reviews

Clariphonic MS Parallel EQ

BY Clariphonic MS Parallel EQ | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield, Andy Hong

Seven years after the original Clariphonic Parallel Equalizer [Tape Op #88] was released, Gregory Scott, the owner and visionary behind the company Kush, has updated this unique analog EQ with new features that open the gates to a whole new realm of tonal-shaping territory. If you’re unfamiliar...

Gear Reviews

Curve Diffusor (Version 2)

BY Curve Diffusor (Version 2) | reviewed by Garrett Haines

Acoustic Geometry has completed some nice upgrades to the already outstanding, first-generation Curve Diffusor [Tape Op #88]. The Curve is a surface or stand–mountable acoustical treatment product that resembles a lengthwise slice of a giant pipe. Unlike single-function treatments, Curve is an...

Gear Reviews

DB25 MULT Patchbay Plug

BY DB25 MULT Patchbay Plug | reviewed by Scott Evans

My tech time is very limited, and I’d rather spend whatever time I do have working on music. So, when I wired my new studio space four years ago, I chose DB25 patchbays. I’ve never regretted this decision. DB25 bays cost more than traditional soldered or punchdown bays, but they’re flexible and...

Gear Reviews

EHR-M Cardioid Condenser Mic

BY EHR-M Cardioid Condenser Mic | reviewed by Brad Allen Williams

Nearly all of the condenser microphones we know and love employ round capsules. Notable exceptions include rectangular-capsule Pearl and Milab mics (which, like the Ehrlund, are Swedish in origin), Bock’s Elliptical 5ZERO7, and three Audio-Technica models (which utilize smaller rectangles). I’m...

Gear Reviews

Hapi Networked Audio Interface

BY Hapi Networked Audio Interface | reviewed by Garrett Haines

Switzerland's Merging Technologies is best known for their Pyramix, VCube, and Ovation workstations. But the company also makes world-class converters. Merging's flagship Horus is a network-enabled interface that offers AES/EBU and MADI digital I/O, as well as Audio over IP (AoIP) using the RAVENNA...

Gear Reviews

Model 852 Variable-Mu Compressor

BY Model 852 Variable-Mu Compressor | reviewed by F. Reid Shippen

Don’t tell my wife I just bought another compressor. She thinks I have “enough” or maybe even “too many,” and I have to admit, I’ve been pretty lucky on the compressor front. I’ve got a bunch of great stuff — old and new — but I don’t have anything that does what this one does. The AMTEC 852 is a...

Gear Reviews

MSA-9508 Side-Mount Mini-Boom

BY MSA-9508 Side-Mount Mini-Boom | reviewed by Scott Evans

Kurt Ballou [Tape Op #76] showed me these gadgets a few years ago. They’re simple, 7’’ boom arms with a clamp that securely holds the boom on the shaft of a mic stand (or pipe, railing, etc.). Next to the clamp is On-Stage’s trademark Posi-Lok knob, which allows the boom to be rotated 300°. I use...

Gear Reviews

S-25 Condenser Mic Kit

BY S-25 Condenser Mic Kit | reviewed by Ben Bernstein

The Micparts S-25 is a side-address condenser mic available as a kit. All that’s required is solder, a soldering iron, and some basic hand tools. The JFET in the kit is even manually biased by Micparts. If you don’t have two hours to spare for the build, you can also purchase the mic prebuilt, at...

Gear Reviews

SE425 Sound Isolating Earphones

BY SE425 Sound Isolating Earphones | reviewed by Andy Hong

By now, you’ve doubtless heard me complain countless times about the exceedingly hyped sound of “lifestyle” headphones, earbuds, and in-ears. It doesn’t matter how much you want to spend, or what features you desire — most headphones on the market these days are anything but accurate. So, I always...

Gear Reviews

SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor Collection

BY SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor Collection | reviewed by Dave Cerminara

The SSL 4000 G Series bus compressor has been copied, emulated, reworked, and rehashed by both hardware and software manufacturers for years now. It seems every plug-in developer has their own take on the stereo compressor, and I’d bet most readers have at least one in their library. So, to be...

Gear Reviews

TF1 Digital Mixer & USB Interface Tio1608-D Dante Stage-Box

BY TF1 Digital Mixer & USB Interface Tio1608-D Dante Stage-Box | reviewed by Andy Hong

The fact that you can buy the Yamaha TF1, a 32-channel digital mixer with 20 analog input channels, 16 analog outs, moving faders, touchscreen control, advanced networking, and an onboard 34-channel USB audio interface to boot — for a penny under $2000 — blows me away. Less than a decade ago, the...

Gear Reviews

V7 Supercardioid Vocal Mic

BY V7 Supercardioid Vocal Mic | reviewed by Andy Hong

In recent years, I’ve been tracking more bands “live” in the studio — sometimes with keeper vocals recorded at the same time as the instruments. And every now and then, vocalists ask to hold the mic in their hands, because that’s how they feel most comfortable performing. For moments like these, a...

Gear Reviews

VSS-C StroboStomp Classic Tuner Pedal

BY VSS-C StroboStomp Classic Tuner Pedal | reviewed by Pete Weiss

Earlier this year, I reviewed a combination digital tuner and DI in a floor pedal format — the Sonic Nuance TDI [Tape Op #118]. It’s a very nice device that solves some stage and studio problems quite well. But I mistakenly thought it was the only tuner pedal / DI combo pedal that existed. Well,...