Butch Walker

Interviews

King Britt

Interviews

Ian MacKaye

Interviews

Regan Sommer McCoy

Interviews

David Gilmour

Interviews

Randy Kohrs

Interviews

MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

JULY 6, 2025 INTERVIEWS
D. James Goodwin

D. James Goodwin: Into the Hardship

Upstate New York is an odd place, with its mix of old Dutch Farmers, economically depressed towns, and a slew of aging hippies. This is especially true in the town of Woodstock, nestled in the Catskill Mountains; a quaint country town two hours north of New York City, with under six thousand residents and no traffic lights. I spent my pivotal years in Woodstock, and I've always had a love/hate relationship with the struggle and balance between the touristy rural Americana and '60s nostalgia. The multidimensional blend of creativity and salt of the earth people has always been in flux since the town's early history. A ton of musicians and studios have tucked themselves away as a refuge from the overcrowded rat race of New York City. It's also where Daniel James Goodwin decided to create his own music-making retreat. I sat down with Daniel in his studio, The Isokon, to talk about the environmental impact of working to tape, working with artists such as Bob Weir, Kaki King, Heather Woods Broderick, and working with ECM Records, as well as his life and what he says, "F*ck you" to.

JULY 6, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Jeff Larson

Jeff Larson: America: Archiving the Group

Founding members of the band America, Dewey Bunnell and Gerry Beckley, have kept the group America going 50 years, and this year sees the release of Half Century, a seven CD/one DVD box set of rare archival studio recordings of alternate mixes, demos and rehearsals. I dropped a line to Jeff Larson, a musician and America archivist, to talk about the projects he's been involved in for America Archives/America Records, including Half Century on Gonzo Multimedia, the Heritage series on Omnivore Recordings, Rhino's recent collections, and more.Feature photo: Dewey & Jeff

COLUMNS

Equalizers and Equality
END RANT
Gear Geeking w/ Andy
GEAR GEEKING

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

9V Effects Pedal Power Adaptors

by 9V Effects Pedal Power Adaptors  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

Decades ago I grabbed my soldering iron and whipped up this exact device – an adaptor to allow one to externally plug a 9-volt battery into a stompbox's power jack. Given that many pedals no longer feature a battery compartment, this type of adaptor can be a lifesaver. In the studio, I will...

Gear Reviews

Bitwig Studio

by Bitwig Studio  |  reviewed by Kevin Friedrichsen

Is it a modular sound design tool masquerading as a DAW, or is it a DAW acting as a modular instrument? Bitwig Studio blurs these boundaries, creating an environment where traditional linear time and clip-based arrangements coexist. Modularity weaves through all facets of this application, and full...

Gear Reviews

EC6 Tube Preamp

by EC6 Tube Preamp  |  reviewed by Justin Mantooth

Based in Austin Texas, Electric & Company builds and restores boutique preamplifiers. The EC6 is a mono tube preamp based on the preamps from the Ampex 600 series reel-to-reel tape machines. The EC6 boasts +60 dB of gain, with Cinemag input and output transformers, pushing three stages with an EF86...

Gear Reviews

I Heart NY Plug-In

by I Heart NY Plug-In  |  reviewed by Ben Bernstein

I admit it, I don't always feel like creating a separate aux channel to add parallel compression on my drum tracks. Enter BABY Audio's I Heart NY parallel compressor plug-in, a bus compressor that allows you to mix a dry source signal with the compressed signal. Simply defined, parallel compression...

Gear Reviews

KickBlock Drum Anchor System

by KickBlock Drum Anchor System  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

If your studio is anything like mine, you see a variety of drums come through and sometimes the kick drum will not stay in place. Developed by drummer Will Butera with his dad Jay, KickBlock is a must have for every studio and gigging drummer. A simple, super lightweight foam (or natural cork)...

Gear Reviews

LUNA Recording System

by LUNA Recording System  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner, John Radin

Senior Writer Dana Gumbiner covers the bulk of this major new software release from Universal Audio, but we've also asked our newest reviewer, John Radin, to comment from a guitarist's point of view. -SM Please don't call it a DAW! Universal Audio's new recording system LUNA is here, fresh out of...

Gear Reviews

Mercury Mastering DA Converter

by Mercury Mastering DA Converter  |  reviewed by Tom Fine

SPL electronics is a 35-year-old German company that makes everything from the Vitalizer sweetener/equalizer to a well-regarded de-esser and desktop digital interfaces to mastering consoles and signal path controllers. Their model 1734 Mercury Mastering DAC is a red-faced, single space rack unit...

Gear Reviews

Moo X Mixer APB-16 Plug-In

by Moo X Mixer APB-16 Plug-In  |  reviewed by Don Gunn

Colin McDowell of McDSP, and his gang of wickedly smart development minions, haven't been sitting back and complacently idling away since releasing the plug-in controlled, all analog APB-16 [Tape Op #134]. The company has recently announced their all-new APB-8 (half the analog processing of the...

Gear Reviews

Multifunctional Headwear

by Multifunctional Headwear  |  reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

At the time I am writing this, despite vastly different and confusing advice and regulations from governments around the world, almost all doctors and scientists agree that if you care about the people around you, you should wear a face covering to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. As we emerge...

Gear Reviews

Plugindoctor Plug-In Analyzer

by Plugindoctor Plug-In Analyzer  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

DDMF is a German company that publishes two kinds of audio software: Outstanding signal processors and innovative utilities that no one else makes but should. Plugindoctor is one example of an invaluable tool. I purchased version 1.0 shortly after it was released, and have come to use it...

Gear Reviews

Revelation II Tube Mic

by Revelation II Tube Mic  |  reviewed by Dylan Ray

The Revelation II is MXL's newest offering from their Premium Studio microphone line. This large-diaphragm, continuously variable pattern tube mic features top-shelf components: Internal Mogami cabling, a hand-selected EF86 Pentode tube, and a dual gold-sputtered 6-micron diaphragm. The power...

Gear Reviews

SFP-60 2-Channel Mic Pre

by SFP-60 2-Channel Mic Pre  |  reviewed by Tony SanFilippo

I make purchases based on several factors, but often when I'm buying something for the studio it's primarily to fill a hole. I look for pieces that do something different than the gear I already have. In the past, I've had (and used) several inexpensive tube mic preamps and owned one very...

Gear Reviews

Soothe2 Plug-In

by Soothe2 Plug-In  |  reviewed by Gus Berry

I love low end and I try to mix with a lot of power coming from that range. This is tough when your monitors and room start to lose clarity and tightness below 100 Hz. I have to consciously spend a little extra time working on my kick and bass tracks to hit the way I’d like because of the...

Gear Reviews

SSL 2 USB Audio Interface

by SSL 2 USB Audio Interface  |  reviewed by Scott McChane

SSL has officially dived into the crowded sea of interface making with the intent of bringing a professional level of sound quality to music makers of all levels. The SSL 2 is a simple two input USB-C affair with facilities for playback via its rear-facing single headphone and stereo TRS monitoring...

Gear Reviews

The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Book)

by The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Book)  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

The late Tommy LiPuma's career covered seven hit-making decades of music, and musician/writer/etc. Ben Sidran [father of Leo Sidran, Tape Op #135], who worked with Tommy extensively in the studio, does justice in telling the story of Tommy's life in this engrossing biography. From his upbringing in...

Gear Reviews

THE BOX 2 Console

by THE BOX 2 Console  |  reviewed by Ed Hickey

With the shift to digital recording and razor-thin budgets in recent decades, recording consoles have disappeared from many modern recording studios. In place of a 96-channel behemoth, a new studio may have a simple desk topped with a sleek DAW controller, or even just a mouse and keyboard. While...

Gear Reviews

Vacbax 500 Series Tube EQ

by Vacbax 500 Series Tube EQ  |  reviewed by Eamonn Aiken

There's something appealing about a two-band EQ. It implies a broad stroke – "just a bit of this and a pinch of that" – in a way that is optimistic, confident, and unfussy. Simple tools work particularly well in hybrid situations, like feeding Pro Tools sessions out to a console using hardware EQs...

Gear Reviews

VDI Tube Direct Box

by VDI Tube Direct Box  |  reviewed by Jeremy Wurst

The Hazelrigg Industries VDI is a single channel, all-triode, vacuum tube-based DI featuring the same circuit from the D.W. Fearn VT-I/F and VT-3. The VDI offers an uncomplicated design: Instrument Input, instrument Thru to amp, ground lift, an XLR output that runs at mic level, and an IEC...