Tape Op Magazine - Issue #164

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

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JULY 16, 2025 INTERVIEWS

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!

JULY 16, 2025 INTERVIEWS

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!

JULY 16, 2025 INTERVIEWS

Alfio Annibalini: On & In Demand

BY ROMAN SOKAL, 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; from Danko Jones, to Big Wreck, to Voivod, to Philip Sayce, to the Arkells. He's a solid character and a survivor of an ever-changing music business for 25 plus years, with his skills always in demand. I first met him in 1995, during the production of the cult underground stoner/doom album SpaceJumboFudge by Sons Of OTIS. He has always long been on my "to interview" list, so I dropped him a line. Turns out he's lived in the same city I do, since 2018; the working class, musically rich-meets-gentrified city of Hamilton, Ontario, an hour west from Toronto and an hour northwest of Buffalo, NY.

JULY 16, 2025 INTERVIEWS

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.

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