ISSUE ARCHIVE
NO. 171 | Nov 2025
NO. 170 | Sep 2025
NO. 169 | Sep 2025
NO. 168 | Jul 2025
NO. 167 | May 2025
NO. 166 | Mar 2025
NO. 165 | Jan 2025
NO. 164 | Nov 2024
May/Jun 2021
One conversation that comes up occasionally in my life is the dichotomy of the two paths I've taken in audio. As a producer/engineer/mixer, is my doling out recording knowledge via Tape Op, my LinkedIn video courses, and Virtual Recording Workshops at odds with maintaining my recording career? Am I losing studio work because I give away recording knowledge? Are there mixing tricks that should be kept secret? Is there recording equipment I shouldn't tell people about because then "everyone will have it"? I don't think so, and I don't think that's what matters.
Read producer and songwriter Linda Perry's candid thoughts in this issue, where she discusses some important mentoring she received early on when producer Bill Bottrell [Tape Op#59] told her, "You don't have my ears. You don't hear it like I do. And I'm never going to be able to copy what you do. That's what will make you a unique producer."
Every person creating and capturing music brings a different set of skills and taste to this process. Learning as much as we can is important, but developing our own sound and styles is the real end goal. Go ahead and be yourself.
PS: Thanks for dropping in for another issue of Tape Op and joining us in our 25th year! We couldn't do it without you, our wonderful readers, as well as the support of our advertisers. We're grateful for all of you.
Bill Bottrell from our 2007 interview. John Baccigaluppi
— LARRY CRANE,EDITOR & FOUNDER
Linda Perry had her first hit with "What's Up?" in 1993, as lead singer and songwriter for 4 Non Blondes. Since then, she's worked as a producer and songwriter for numerous artists, helping shape the...
Well-known as a pianist, vocalist, and songwriter, Harry Connick Jr. found himself with a cancelled tour, left at home seeking "comfort, peace, and truth throughout the process of making music." He pl...
When we first interviewed Steven Wilson in 2009 for issue #73, he had just released his first solo album, Insurgentes. Since then, his prog rock group Porcupine Tree has been on hold/hiatus, and his f...
Engineer and mixer Geoff Swan has gone from university student, to studio owner, to producer Mike "Spike" Stent's assistant, back to studio owner, and is now a go-to engineer and mixer for some of tod...
A drummer can make or break a session, and I have always loved getting their perspectives on the recording process as well as the variety of roles they play in the studio. After several solo records a...
One of electronic music's prevailing visionaries; Amon Tobin began producing in the south coastal town of Brighton, England, debuting with the album Bricolage in 1997 – a seamless union of downtempo j...
In 2010 on St. Patrick's day, my friend, Patrick Sansone (of Wilco), took me to watch Liam Hayes perform at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. We were introduced after the show. I had no idea at the time how ex...
It is remarkable how I discovered Marc Jonson. Quite randomly, on a Sunday afternoon a few years ago, I found a box of CDs on the sidewalk in my Brooklyn, NY, neighborhood. Being a music lover constan...
In the alternate reality where everyone still reads recording credits off of their album sleeves as the record spins, we would see the name Leon Michels on many of them. Having worked with household n...
Ah, vintage recording equipment. Where did this world come from? In the late-'60s and into the '70s, cheaper electronics and manufacturing filled the market of pro audio. As the '70s rolled along, peo...
