Alfio Annibalini

Interviews

Alfio Annibalini

By Roman Sokal and Jaden D

With roots in Toronto, the most populated and diverse city in Canada, Alfio Annibalini has been working steadily in recording, mixing, teaching audio, producing albums, and playing as a musician – currently with Rush's Alex Lifeson in Envy of None. He has an amazingly wide range of credits...

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David Baron

Interviews

David Baron: Folk Rock’s Producing Powerhouse

By Jon Regen, Juan Patino

With a diverse discography that includes everyone from The Lumineers to Lenny Kravitz, David Baron has carved out a career as a keyboardist, producer, and arranger who can do it all. While he originally held court in his acclaimed Edison Studios in midtown Manhattan, the New Jersey native now lives...

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Jordan Brooke Hamlin

Interviews

Jordan Brooke Hamlin: Recording Anthropologically

By Ginger Beignets, Lisa Machac

Jordan Brooke Hamlin is multi-instrumentalist, engineer, producer, and owner of MOXE Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. Jordan's portfolio boasts collaborations with Grammy-winning legends such as the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile. In this conversation with Lisa Machac (of Omni Sound Project)...

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Johnny Sangster

Interviews

Johnny Sangster: Producing Studio Magic

By Larry Crane
Nestled in a commercial building in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, you...
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Ivan Julian

Interviews

Ivan Julian: Let’s Try It

By Larry Crane
I've long been a fan of the seminal punk records that Richard Hell & The Voidoids...
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The Making of Blood Incantation’s <i>Absolute Elsewhere</i>

Interviews

The Making of Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere

By Sam Retzer
The inscrutably monikered Blood Incantation burst out of Denver in 2015 with their...
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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

MARCH 20, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Clay Blair

Clay Blair: Boulevard Recording Survives

BY LARRY CRANE

I first met engineer/producer/studio owner Clay Blair some ten years ago, and we did a short interview that ended up running later as a bonus feature with Tape Op #111. His Hollywood-based studio, Boulevard Recording, is in a building with a long history, starting as Continental Recorders in 1966, then most famously as Producers Workshop (Pink Floyd, Steely Dan), and later as Westbeach Recorders (owned by Brett Gurewitz of Epitaph Records/Bad Religion). Clay found it via a Craigslist ad that simply said, "Recording Studio." He got the studio up and running, then worked on a ton of projects, but a devastating November 2021 fire stopped everything in its tracks. I dropped by to see where Clay was at and commiserate, but to also look towards the future. Plus, he let me mess around with a mix on his new Sound Techniques ZR36 console, which is a thing of beauty!

MARCH 20, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Alvvays

Alvvays: Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley, with Shawn Everett

BY GEOFF STANFIELD

We interviewed Molly Rankin and Alec O'Hanley from the Toronto-based Alvvays, and producer/mixer Shawn Everett [Tape Op #115] for the Tape Op Podcast in May of 2023 to chat about crafting their release, Blue Rev, a project that spanned months of home recordings in Canada, sessions with Shawn in Los Angeles, file sharing snafus, and more!

MARCH 20, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Alan Parsons

Alan Parsons

BY ROBERTO JOHNSON, LARRY CRANE

I first met Alan Parsons in 2004, when I interviewed him for Tape Op issue #42. We've been lucky enough to work together on Recording Academy presentations and meet up socially a few times after that. I always thought we'd have fun doing a podcast, and as it was now 20 years later it felt like a good time. Alan had also built his ParSonics Studio on his ranch in California, and a deluxe box set reissue of the Alan Parsons Project's Pyramid album was coming out soon, so we had quite a lot to talk about. Enjoy!

MARCH 20, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Amen Dunes

Amen Dunes

BY RYAN SOMMER, MICHAEL SCHMELLING

In an industry where evolution is key to an artist's longevity, Damon McMahon, known as Amen Dunes, is redefining his musical journey by coming home. The self-described "luddite" – who cemented his place in the underground music scene through a series of releases on Locust Music and Sacred Bones Records, 2009 through 2018 – was actually weaned on raves and hip-hop in the suburbs of NYC. We spoke about the writing and recording process for his recent album, Death Jokes, which involved the courage to see a vision past some embedded legacy views and, surprisingly, a personal connection and comfort found working with the software Ableton Live at home.

COLUMNS

END RANT by Larry Crane
Do Recording Studios Make Money?
END RANT

Do Recording Studios Make Money?

by Larry Crane

I've come to the conclusion that recording studios don't really make money. I'm not about to discuss the actual numbers of what my place, Jackpot! Recording Studio, brings in and spends, but after almost three decades the truth is that owning a studio can feel a bit like performing a public service...

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

Gear Geeking w/ Andy...

by Andy Hong

The buildout of my commercial studio building is still in progress (ugh), but over the next couple months I'm looking forward to completing my Nashville home studio (also ugh). Long story short, it took the general contractor and his subs several times longer to finish their work, and now I'm in...

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

80B-EQ 500 Series EQ

BY 80B-EQ 500 Series EQ  |  reviewed by Brian Tarquin

I’m a faithful Trident user and have had several Trident recording consoles over the years. Trident Studios was formed by two brothers, Norman and Barry Sheffield, in 1968, with artists such as Manfred Mann, The Beatles, David Bowie, and Elton John recording there. When the studio upgraded from 16...

Gear Reviews

ABCs of Audio Recording (book)

BY ABCs of Audio Recording (book)  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

A 9-inch square, 32-page hardcover book, ABCs of Audio Recording is a delightful children’s read featuring a page-by-page alphabet of audio terms, with short descriptions and simple illustrations or photos. “A is for Amplifier” or “T is for Tape” will give you an idea of the content, and topics...

Gear Reviews

Beer & Soda Can Microphones

BY Beer & Soda Can Microphones  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

Kendra Lynn, our former long-term studio manager and now staff engineer at Jackpot! Recording Studio, recently gifted me with a very unique-looking (and sounding) microphone. Housed in a vintage steel can that used to contain Pittsburgh Brewing’s Olde Frothingslosh’s Pale Stale Ale (circa 1969),...

Gear Reviews

Cakewalk Sonar DAW

BY Cakewalk Sonar DAW  |  reviewed by Alan Tubbs

The latest release of Cakewalk’s PC-only DAW is out, and what a long, strange road it’s been. Is it called Cakewalk now? Or SONAR? Before the 20th century ended, Cakewalk began the new millennium by designing a new audio engine for their DAW and calling it SONAR [Tape Op #116]. SONAR added...

Gear Reviews

Historic Recording Studios (book)

BY Historic Recording Studios (book)  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

This 399-page, large format book, Historic Recording Studios: America’s Sound Factories and the People Who Made Them, is actually Volume One (A to M) of “A Scrapbook and Encyclopedia” by producer, musician, journalist, and music fan Randy McNutt. It’s an updated and reformatted continuation of his...

Gear Reviews

JC37 Tube Microphone

BY JC37 Tube Microphone  |  reviewed by Dan Knobler

The Sony C37A may be the last classic tube mic without ubiquitous modern clones. There are a million variations of the Neumann and AKG classics at all sorts of price points, which is wonderful considering the continuously skyrocketing vintage market. However, until recently, there were few modern...

Gear Reviews

Lakeside Mic Preamp

BY Lakeside Mic Preamp  |  reviewed by Chris Koltay, Larry Crane

In a climate where it sometimes seems like a race to the bottom, with companies trying to build the cheapest audio outboard equipment they can, it’s refreshing to come across gear like Soyuz’s new Lakeside. A single channel preamp in one rack space, with an internal power supply, XLR I/O, and a...

Gear Reviews

Lensys Professional Headphones

BY Lensys Professional Headphones  |  reviewed by Gear Reviews Editor

Just as one must “settle in” to a new set of monitors, getting accustomed to new headphones can also be challenging. However, if you’ve ever sat down in an unfamiliar control room, in front of monitors you’ve never mixed/tracked with, and were able to say to yourself, “Everything sounds perfect....

Gear Reviews

Lumina Delay Plug-In

BY Lumina Delay Plug-In  |  reviewed by Adam Kagan

A new delay plug-in, you say? I already have dozens of delays and have been pretty happy with my options – but sure, I’ll check it out. Mountainroad DSP may not be a familiar name, but it’s bound to be soon. Over the past few weeks, their Lumina Delay has become a staple in my mix template,...

Gear Reviews

Move

BY Move  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

Like a lot of Tape Op-ers, I started my recording expedition with a cassette 4-track. For a young songwriter, the 4-track was nothing less than a joy engine – a new way to capture ideas and shape song demos, wrapped into a studio that I could take with me that unlocked a whole new creative...

Gear Reviews

ProChannel III

BY ProChannel III  |  reviewed by Rich Hardesty

I’m a songwriter and musician who composes and records at home. Once in a while, I may bring in another musician buddy with a special skill on a particular instrument, but when it comes to recording I work solo 90% of the time. I also tend to use the least amount of gear possible; mainly due to the...

Gear Reviews

PSP Datamix A567 EQ Plug-In

BY PSP Datamix A567 EQ Plug-In  |  reviewed by Stefan Konstantopoulos

In over 20 years of talking shop with notable engineers and producers, I’d never heard one mention of Datamix consoles. But then I had a very informative conversation with a good friend who is a casual historian of vintage studio tools and brilliant designer of modern studio innovations, and I...

Gear Reviews

Quantum HD8 Interface

BY Quantum HD8 Interface  |  reviewed by Liam Nelson

I was mixing the record that would never die – or at least would never go to mastering. You may have been there yourself; you start mixing, and then the artist goes to another studio and adds a bunch of tracks, and now you’re dangerously close to having to start over. Except, the client definitely...

Gear Reviews

Rim Mount Mic Clip

BY Rim Mount Mic Clip  |  reviewed by Mike Kosacek

I had ruled out mic mounts that attach to a drum’s rim after trying some in my studio years ago, only to find that they transmitted way too many bad sounds directly through the mount. I’ve been happily using mic stands since. However, I also play drums in several bands, and sometimes I notice the...

Gear Reviews

RX 11 Advanced App & Plug-In

BY RX 11 Advanced App & Plug-In  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

I’ve been using iZotope RX [Tape Op #123] for over a decade, starting with RX 3 [#100], and this "audio repair toolkit" has become an integrated part of my workflow on every music project I do. Most RX users are in post-production, and I can imagine why. Dealing with location sound, sound effects,...

Gear Reviews

UAD Lion ‘68, Ruby ‘63, & Dream ‘65 Guitar Amp Plug-Ins

BY UAD Lion ‘68, Ruby ‘63, & Dream ‘65 Guitar Amp Plug-Ins  |  reviewed by Corey Reidy

In an effort to cover all of the bases, Universal Audio has taken some of their ever growing and uber useful line of UAFX pedals [Tape Op #159] and turned them into plug-ins. When I heard that they were virtualizing these pedals, I expected the plug-ins to appear as visual facsimiles of the UAFX...

Gear Reviews

UA LA-6176 Plug-In

BY UA LA-6176 Plug-In  |  reviewed by Cochrane McMillan

If you asked me whether you should try this UA LA-6176 Signature Channel Strip plug-in – or any of the company's plug-ins, Apollo hardware units, or their near zero latency console-like digital workflow – I'd say, “Yes!” The UA LA-6176 is one of the newest offerings, capturing the essence of the...

Gear Reviews

XL-305R Spring Reverb

BY XL-305R Spring Reverb  |  reviewed by Brian Tarquin

I have always loved a good sounding reverb unit, one that is authentic and usable in real life mixes. I used to own the magnificent AKG BX20E spring reverb, housed in a beautiful 3.5 foot tall wooden tower made in Austria. It sounded even better than it looked, utilizing helix springs with long...

Gear Reviews

X-Raying Sound with iZotope RX (book)

BY X-Raying Sound with iZotope RX (book)  |  reviewed by Larry Crane

In this large format, 90-page full-color book, Simone Corelli takes on a tutorial ride through iZotope’s RX audio restoration app and plug-in suite, and is updated for the current RX 11 [see review this issue]. With Avid recently offering up the simplified iZotope RX Spectral Editor with all Pro...