Blak Emoji’s Future R&B

Interviews

Blak Emoji’s Future R&B

By Jeremiah Cumberbatch and Larry Crane

Blak Emoji is the project/band of producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Kelsey Warren. His recently released third album, Eclectro, is a fun and inventive listen, so I dropped him a line and we got down to chatting about how it was made.

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Danny Elfman

Interviews

Danny Elfman: Just Enough to Fuck it Up

By Jacob Boll, Larry Crane

Many likely know Danny Elfman's name from movie credits, as he's scored well over 110 films at this point. But some of us remember his '80s and '90s group, Oingo Boingo, along with their frenetic energy and twisted songs. Danny and I have an oddly intertwined history involving...

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Suzanne Ciani

Interviews

Suzanne Ciani: The Fourth Wave

By John Baccigaluppi, Beau Sorenson, Marsha Savino

Suzanne Ciani is one of my neighbors (who has become a good friend), so it's almost too easy for me to overlook how massive her contribution to music and record production is. That is also due in part to the fact that she is a very warm and open person, and is offhandedly modest about her...

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Shoes

Interviews

Shoes: Born in the Studio

By John Rau
Beginning in 1974, when bands needed label attention and access to a proper studio to get...
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Loma

Interviews

Loma

By John Baccigaluppi, photo Cross
My good friend, engineer/producer and occasional Tape Op contributor Robert Cheek, turned...
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Shearwater and Recreating David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy Live

Interviews

Shearwater and Recreating David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy Live

By Christopher Sikich
While talking with Jonathan Meiburg and Dan Duszynski for this issue's Loma...
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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Beau Sorenson & Maryam Qudus

Beau Sorenson & Maryam Qudus

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI, DANIEL VILLARREAL

I've known Beau Sorenson for close to ten years now, and around two years ago I met his wife, Maryam Qudus. They are recording engineers and producers, and both create their own music. They work out of Tiny Telephone Recording (often referred to as Tiny), and Tiny's owner, John Vanderslice (often referred to as JV) [Tape Op #10], and Chris Walla (formerly of Death Cab for Cutie) [#19, #111] figure prominently in their careers. I've gotten to know each of them better in the past two years, as they've been doing occasional sessions out of my Panoramic House Studio. I always enjoy seeing them, as they each exude a very positive and friendly vibe. Even though the pandemic has limited in-person interactions, we recently had a chance to share a dinner at Panoramic with artist Leah Dunn, her cousin Juno Hassid, and my friend Suzanne Ciani, who I had long wanted Beau and Maryam to meet as they're all Buchla synthesizer users. After getting to know everyone better over dinner, we spent the next few days chatting for Tape Op. -JB

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Finding Their Way

Finding Their Way: Making Kowloon Walled City’s Piecework

BY SCOTT EVANS, JACK SHIRLEY

Longtime Tape Op contributor Scott Evans has played in a band called Kowloon Walled City for many years. In October of 2021, KWC released their fourth LP, Piecework. Recorded by Scott at Oakland's Sharkbite Studios, and mixed at his own Antisleep Audio, Piecework has been described as, "Intricate, room-mic'd, and mean," by the Chicago Reader. We asked Jack Shirley [Tape Op #115] and Scott to sit down to discuss the making of this record.

COLUMNS

END RANT by Larry Crane
Rob Christensen, a Big Star to Me
END RANT

Rob Christensen, a Big Star to Me

by Larry Crane

When I founded Tape Op twenty-six years ago, I had no concept of the ways in which this magazine would change my life. Professionally, it's been amazing to visit studios and recordists all over the world, as well as to have meaningful conversations that I get to share with our readers. It's also...

GEAR GEEKING by Andy Hong
Gear Geeking w/ Andy…
GEAR GEEKING

Gear Geeking w/ Andy…

by Andy Hong

The YouTube collaboration between Acoustics Insider and HEDD Audio has me sincerely excited. I've been a subscriber to Jesco Lohan's YouTube channel for several years, and during that time, Jesco has published several dozen videos explaining acoustic principles that actually matter when it comes to...

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

Clarett+ 8Pre Interface

BY Clarett+ 8Pre Interface  |  reviewed by Daniel Ryan Morse

I’ve been fiercely loyal to my older computer audio interfaces, ignoring the glut of new options over the years. Yes, I’ve had to buy a host of over-priced Apple connectors to keep my legacy devices hooked up, but that seemed a small price to pay to defy the culture of planned obsolescence! As...

Gear Reviews

EQ52 500 Series EQ

BY EQ52 500 Series EQ  |  reviewed by Scott McChane

Calling the EQ52 from Ingram Engineering a plain old “EQ” is like calling a rocketship a paper airplane – not correct. You can’t just insert this module into your 500 Series rack, twiddle a few knobs, call yourself a genius, and go home early on your first try. This EQ is one of those pieces of...

Gear Reviews

Galaxy 32 Synergy Core Interface

BY Galaxy 32 Synergy Core Interface  |  reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

The new Galaxy 32 Synergy Core 32-channel interface from Antelope Audio is something special. Advances in technology have made almost every converter on the market a viable option for professional studios. Of course, they all have a thing or two that makes them a little unique, but overall,...

Gear Reviews

HD 400 PRO Headphones

BY HD 400 PRO Headphones  |  reviewed by Tom Fine

Sennheiser, a German business run today by the founder’s grandsons, took a new direction last year. A longtime player in consumer and professional headphones, microphones, and other technologies (in addition to owning Neumann since 1991), Sennheiser spun off its consumer electronics division to...

Gear Reviews

Lever Nuts 221 Series Splicing Connectors

BY Lever Nuts 221 Series Splicing Connectors  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

Most studio owners have to do some electrical wiring. Always check local codes to make sure you’re follow safety and legal guidelines. Traditionally, spliced wires are twirled together and bound by wire twist nuts. The twist types are problematic because a good bond requires the correct sized cap....

Gear Reviews

P-414 Microphone

BY P-414 Microphone  |  reviewed by Slater Swan

Modeled after the sought-after AKG C 414 EB from 1976, the Peluso Microphone Lab P-414 is reviving a cult classic with a few upgrades to help it thrive in the modern world of recording. Just as original C 414 EBs are becoming increasingly hard to find and used prices are skyrocketing, the team at...

Gear Reviews

PSP InfiniStrip WIND Plug-In

BY PSP InfiniStrip WIND Plug-In  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

When digital audio workstations were in their infancy, third-party plug-ins were scarce. Even more rare were ones that sounded good. But in those early years, Poland’s PSPaudioware released a masterpiece: The PSP VintageWarmer [Tape Op #29] combined compression and analog emulation to make computer...

Gear Reviews

Rum Room Simulator Plug-in

BY Rum Room Simulator Plug-in  |  reviewed by Dave Hidek

Rum (pronounced “room”) is an interesting effect from Klevgrand, a Swedish developer that’s been cranking out innovative plug-ins for the last handful of years. Rum provides room simulation for recorded audio or software instruments. As stated on Klevgrand’s website, Rum is intended to provide...

Gear Reviews

Sub One Active Subwoofer

BY Sub One Active Subwoofer  |  reviewed by Scott McChane

It may be a rhetorical question, but when did it become necessary to integrate a subwoofer into our monitoring setups? I can remember a time in the early 2000s when subs seemed more of an inconvenient “option,” one that seemingly interfered with session efficiency instead of offering a helpful look...

Gear Reviews

TAIP Tape Emulation Plug-In

BY TAIP Tape Emulation Plug-In  |  reviewed by Dave Hidek

BABY Audio’s TAIP is a unique plug-in. Lately, we’ve been exposed to some fantastic tape machine plug-in emulations, but TAIP takes it one step further by offering an AI-powered emulation that is incredibly intuitive, musical, and inspiring – perfect for sound designers, mixers, producers, and...

Gear Reviews

Volt 276 USB-C Interface

BY Volt 276 USB-C Interface  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

This handsome little wood-sided box houses what is effectively Universal Audio’s first entry into the low-cost USB audio interface market, representing a bit of a paradigm shift for the company’s approach. Unlike UA’s audio interfaces in the past, the new Volt range has no onboard DSP to run their...