Joe Hadlock

Interviews

Joe Hadlock

By Larry Crane

Not far outside of Seattle, Washington, there's a converted old barn out in the woods named Bear Creek Studio. It's been there for well over 40 years, making it one of the oldest continuously running residential studios in the world. Joe and Manny Hadlock, with help from their friends...

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Donn Landee

Interviews

Donn Landee: Keeping an Open Mind

By Greg Renoff

Donn Landee's lengthy discography is a testament to his versatility and skill as an engineer. Landee worked for T.T.G. Studios and Sunwest Recording Studios in Hollywood before he became a staff engineer for Warner Bros. Records in 1971. Best known for his collaborations with Van Halen and The...

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Sparklehorse's Bird Machine

Interviews

Sparklehorse's Bird Machine: The Legacy of Mark Linkous

By Larry Crane

It's been a sad 13 years since the passing of Mark Linkous, the visionary behind the group Sparklehorse. In issue #12 of Tape Op, way back in 1999, writer Adam Selzer caught up with Mark after a move, and found him wiring up his personal studio, Static King. As Mark interestingly told Adam of...

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Mikko Gordon

Interviews

Mikko Gordon: Defining Sonic Identity

By Christian Cargill, Roman Sokal
Mikko Gordon, operating out of London, England, is a vanguard engineer. He has an...
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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Ryan Hadlock

Ryan Hadlock: Bear Creek and Beyond

BY LARRY CRANE

Not far outside of Seattle, Washington, there's a converted old barn out in the woods named Bear Creek Studio. It's been there for well over 40 years, making it one of the oldest continuously running residential studios in the world. Joe and Manny Hadlock, with help from their friends, built this studio in 1978. Their son, Ryan Hadlock, has been engineering and producing from Bear Creek and all over the world for decades, with artists like Zach Bryan (including "Something Orange," a Grammy-nominated single in 2023 for Best Country Solo Performance), The Lumineers, Brandi Carlile, Vance Joy, The Black Heart Procession, Blonde Redhead, The Afghan Whigs, Stephen Malkmus [Tape Op #15], Gossip, and Ra Ra Riot. Ryan's story is a unique one, and, though I've known him for many years, I learned a lot more about him in this discussion.

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
SASAMI

SASAMI: Conjuring the Space

BY MEREDITH HOBBS COONS, KYLE THOMAS

SASAMI, born Sasami Ashworth, has been a sought-after "jack of all trades" in the indie music world since returning to her hometown of Los Angeles following graduation from classical conservatory at Eastman School of Music. From playing in Cherry Glazerr, to touring with Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, and HAIM, to producing records by King Tuff (Smalltown Stardust) and Hand Habits (Fun House), not to mention producing, writing, arranging, and engineering her own genre-bending work, her skills and sensibilities have enlivened an industry that can often feel uninspiring. With her 2022 second solo album, Squeeze, and tours to support it, SASAMI confronted the mostly male landscape of metal and has brought theatrics, haunted house lighting, and playful aggression to both dive bars and arena stages alike. Now based in West Marin, California, she's exploring the poetic language of naturalists as well as Britney Spears's early aughts "guilty pleasure" (minus the guilt) aesthetics as she weaves together new material.

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Arooj Aftab

Arooj Aftab: Making Music for Everybody

BY LISA MACHAC, BLYTHE THOMAS

A compelling Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer, vocalist, and producer, Arooj Aftab's 2021 album, Vulture Prince, brought her voice and music a lot of attention, as well as a Grammy for Best Global Music Performance. Her recent collaboration, Love in Exile, with Shahzad Ismaily [Tape Op #151] and Vijay Iyer, was tracked and improvised live in the studio and is a beautiful work of art that deserves focused listening. She recently chatted with Lisa Machac, of Omni Sound Project, about her path in music and sound.

FEBRUARY 19, 2026 INTERVIEWS
David Brown of Soyuz Microphones

David Brown of Soyuz Microphones: Behind the Gear

BY JOHN BACCIGALUPPI

David Brown, along with his business partner Pavel Bazdyrev (aka Pasha), is the co-founder of Soyuz Microphones. In the past ten years, Soyuz has established themselves as one of the best condenser microphone brands in a crowded field. Uniquely, the microphones are manufactured in Russia. I had a chance to sit down and chat with David at the recent 2023 NAMM show in the quietest place at the show; a three story cement parking garage. In between Harley-Davidson motorcycles passing by, I got the story of how David went from being a touring musician to a mic maker.

COLUMNS

END RANT by Larry Crane
Are You Being Lazy?
END RANT

Are You Being Lazy?

by Larry Crane

Somewhere along the line, when working on any recording project, there are points where the "real work" needs to be done. Real work, to me, is the time where intense listening skills are brought into play – bolstered by all of your knowledge and taste. This is when you embark on an untold amount of...

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

Gear Geeking w/ Andy...

by Andy Hong

In 2022, I shared my opinions on several models of Bluetooth earbuds that I own [Tape Op #150, #151], with the conclusion that Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) were my favorite for media consumption. I've since replaced them with the new WF-1000XM5 model, and I also...

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

4DI Quad Vacuum Tube DI

BY 4DI Quad Vacuum Tube DI  |  reviewed by Jeremy Wurst

In 2020, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Hazelrigg Industries VDI [Tape Op #48]; Earlier this year, Hazelrigg Industries released their latest creation; the 4DI. In the three years since I demoed the single channel VDI, I’m now working out of a very different studio in a much more dialed-in...

Gear Reviews

BA-1 Analog Modeled Synth Plug-In

BY BA-1 Analog Modeled Synth Plug-In  |  reviewed by Ben Bernstein

Baby Audio’s BA-1 is a reimagining of the cultish ‘80s analog synth, the Yamaha CS01, bringing with it some pure and authentic textures that are easy and intuitive to program. The CS01 was routinely used by some of Sweden’s most successful pop producers, and was also a staple of 1990s digital...

Gear Reviews

Benson Studio Tall Bird Plug-In

BY Benson Studio Tall Bird Plug-In  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

In issue #126 I reviewed Benson Amps' stereo Studio Tall Bird Spring Reverb, a wonderful piece of hardware that gets used a lot at Jackpot! Recording. The original Tall Bird has been discontinued, but a new iteration is arriving soon. It "sprang" from the Tall Bird All Tube Reverb, an amp...

Gear Reviews

C-80 Condenser Microphone

BY C-80 Condenser Microphone  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

Who doesn’t love Sony microphones? Their reputation is built on the C-37A, C-800G, and the C-38B; all of which deliver. I'd previously reviewed the C-100 series of mics [Tape Op #132] and was impressed by their quality, so I was curious to try out Sony's newest offering: the C-80 cardioid condenser...

Gear Reviews

Carnaby 500 Harmonic EQ

BY Carnaby 500 Harmonic EQ  |  reviewed by Scott McDowell

The Carnaby 500 is a groundbreaking audio processor. Hands down, this device is stunning. At first glance, it looks like a three-band EQ – which it kind of is – but it's not like any equalizer I've touched before. When you boost a band, you're only boosting saturation. When you attenuate a band,...

Gear Reviews

Copperphone AV20 Microphone

BY Copperphone AV20 Microphone  |  reviewed by Joel Hamilton

It has been more than 20 years since I got my first original Copperphone microphone and wrote a review for Tape Op about it [Tape Op #42]. I fell in love with that microphone the moment I heard it, and I have used it on hundreds and hundreds of recordings since. Not to mention, I have put that...

Gear Reviews

FLEA ELA M 251 Tube Microphone

BY FLEA ELA M 251 Tube Microphone  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

The original Telefunken ELA M 251 tube-powered condenser mics were made for Telefunken by AKG in the early '60s – when Neumann had pulled their U 47 distribution from Telefunken – and were somewhat similar (circuit and component-wise) to AKG's popular C12 mics of the time. The 251 has long been...

Gear Reviews

Herchild 670

BY Herchild 670  |  reviewed by Dan Knobler

It’s a good time to be an enthusiast of the classic Fairchild limiters of the past. Not all that long ago, there were no mass-market reproductions of the Fairchild 660 or 670, and only a smattering of less-than-convincing plug-ins. Nowadays, we have an abundance of hardware and software options to...

Gear Reviews

Hiding in Plain Sight (book)

BY Hiding in Plain Sight (book)  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

This fun little book is an 8-inch square, 16-page, hand-illustrated history of – as the subtitle says – "Studios of Seattle & Tacoma" in Washington State. Of the nine, I've worked out of three of these spaces and personally have a great affection for the SeaTac recording scene. Author Jackson Long...

Gear Reviews

Imperium NG Monitor Controller

BY Imperium NG Monitor Controller  |  reviewed by Tony Vincent

As a writer, I try to be as transparent as I can when reviewing a piece of gear. I also feel compelled to include a bit of a backstory that shares what initially lead me to doing the review. Many know that I moved my studio, SoundShop370, from Manhattan to South Nashville a couple of years ago....

Gear Reviews

KD1 Kinetic Drive APB Plug-In

BY KD1 Kinetic Drive APB Plug-In  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

Built to work only with the McDSP APB ("analog processing box") units (APB-8, APB-16) [Tape Op #134], the KD1 Kinetic Drive is a plug-in that uses this interesting system. The APB essentially is a one space rackmount box that attaches to your computer's Thunderbolt and audio interface's clocking in...

Gear Reviews

Newton Channel Preamp/EQ/Compressor

BY Newton Channel Preamp/EQ/Compressor  |  reviewed by Alan Tubbs

A new, affordable, single rack unit channel strip, Rupert Neve Designs' Newton Channel isn’t a stripped-down version of their Shelford Channel [Tape Op #118] or a direct replacement for the more complex and discontinued Portico II Channel (which I own and reviewed in issue #82). The preamp in the...

Gear Reviews

PSP auralComp Multichannel Compressor

BY PSP auralComp Multichannel Compressor  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

For those of us who have dived headfirst into immersive mixing (Atmos or Sony 360RA), there comes a vexing moment where we realize that there is no simple way to apply bus compression for the mix glue we’ve become dependent upon in stereo. In an Atmos mix, our groove elements may be assigned to a...

Gear Reviews

PSP stereoController2

BY PSP stereoController2  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

There are many stereo field processors out there, but they are usually simply fixer tools or effects processors. Among the effect types, most of them do only one thing – meaning if you don't need that approach the plug-in is not applicable. Purchasing too many plug-ins to cover my main production...

Gear Reviews

Push 3

BY Push 3  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

The new Push 3 is finally here! I've been an Ableton Live DAW [Tape Op #143] user since version 1, and was an early adopter of both of the first two generations of Push hardware, so I was eager to test the surprising spec and feature bumps of the 3rd-gen Push 3, Ableton's grid-based...

Gear Reviews

ROXi & REX High Fidelity Mic Preamp Pedals

BY ROXi & REX High Fidelity Mic Preamp Pedals  |  reviewed by Geoffrey Knecht

During most of my adult life, the use of stompbox effects with my trumpet or my voice was frustrating, inconvenient, and unreliable, or some combination of these issues. I've wasted hours, days, and weeks playing around with various setups; Lo-Z to Hi-Z adapters, loop pedals with XLR inputs, vocal...

Gear Reviews

Syntrx II Analog Synthesizer

BY Syntrx II Analog Synthesizer  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

The first-generation Syntrx from Latvian synthesis maestros Erica Synths was a fantastic "reimagining" of the 1972 EMS Synthi AKS. The original Syntrx was a highly desirable analog synth with a limited production run of 1056 units (and a premium price tag of $3029 USD). Erica is back with the...

Gear Reviews

UF1 Advanced DAW Controller

BY UF1 Advanced DAW Controller

At some point, we all have heard enough of the never-ending “analog vs. digital” debate. It’s getting harder to argue when the digital side of recording continues to get better sonically. Even guys like me that started in the early 2000s have seen a massive evolution, as of late. Let’s face it,...

Gear Reviews

VSX Headphone Mixing System

BY VSX Headphone Mixing System  |  reviewed by Mike Kosacek

I watched and waited for over a year before I finally purchased the Steven Slate Audio VSX headphone mixing system. VSX is a set of over the ear, closed-back headphones and accompanying software (to use via your DAW) to “listen” in various virtual rooms and spaces. Some of the virtual rooms are...