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. 164 | Nov 2024
NO. 163 | Sep 2024
Jan/Feb 2025
I've been reading a few books about the human brain and music lately, and both are by people I've interviewed. One is Susan Rogers' [Tape Op #117] and Ogi Ogas' This is What it Sounds Like: A Legendary Producer Turned Neuroscientist on Finding Yourself Through Music. The other book, which I'm still digging into, is Daniel Levitin's [#74] I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine.
I love reading books that focus on how we assimilate and react to sound, and as the authors point out, recent neural mapping shows a wide range of activity across many parts of the brain when listening to or (especially) playing music. Looking into all this research led me to the concepts of fluid intelligence versus crystallized intelligence. Generally speaking, fluid intelligence can be defined as the ability to assess, learn, and act when confronted with a new problem or situation. Crystallized intelligence, however, applies to decision-making based on accumulated knowledge.
Years ago, when working with engineers that were older and/or more experienced than myself, I would wonder how they made the recording process look so effortless, and why their tracks always sounded way better than my own work, even when we used identical gear in the same room. While we, as humans, obviously gain crystallized intelligence as we age, we also gradually lose our ability to harness fluid intelligence. Some sources say fluid intelligence peaks at 40, with crystallized intelligence peaking at 60 or 70.
Are you acting fast and generating new solutions, or are you working with wisdom and using techniques you know will work? It's often a combination of the two, and, as John Baccigaluppi points out in his End Rant this issue, "The Joy of Discovery," we need to stay vigilant to be creative.
Larry Crane, Editor & Founder
PS: As we were preparing this issue, the wonderful Shel Talmy passed away. Brian Tarquin's interview with Shel was done earlier this year, and we were holding it specifically for this issue. We're sending our best to his family and friends. He was a true legend of the recording studio.
— LARRY CRANE,EDITOR & FOUNDER
When we interviewed him at 86 years old, Shel Talmy had no intention of retiring. He had continued to look to produce new artists that excited him. In December 2024, Shel passed away, leaving behind a...
Finneas O'Connell is the youngest person to ever win a Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Rising to fame as the producer for, and collaborator with, his sister, Billie Eilish, he ha...
Gloria Kaba is a Ghanaian-American sound engineer, producer, mixer, and writer whose impact spans over a decade. Renowned for her contributions to albums such as A Tribe Called Quest's We Got It from...
In a Pitchfork review of SML's Small Medium Large album, Matthew Blackwell wrote, "There were no rules at Enfield Tennis Academy (ETA). The tiny Los Angeles cocktail bar… became a destination for the...
I first met Joe Reineke in early 1989, when he caught our band, Vomit Launch, on a middle slot between Nirvana and Mudhoney in San Jose, California. He had a band called The Mice (soon renamed The Mei...
Fresh off releasing his first solo record, Zone Black, for Drag City Records, Emil Amos takes a break to talk about his production philosophies, home recording in the '90s, and what still keeps him cu...
Based in Tucson, Arizona, Michael Dixon runs what seems like a hundred businesses centered around lathe cut records, from cutting records for bands, to selling lathes and parts, to a training camp for...
In a nondescript office building out in Burbank, California, you'll find Audio Archiving Services, Inc. Run by Dan Johnson, these rooms are full of all types of audio playback devices, and Dan special...
We get a lot of email at Tape Op. It is typically from public relations firms, record labels, and gear manufacturers. I do my best to keep up with all of the interview pitches and requests for reviews...
I've been using Apogee converters in my studio since I bought my first AD 500 analog to digital converter in the early '90s. I've found all their gear to sound fantastic, work reliably, and inspire co...
Malcolm Toft [Tape Op #26] has a career spanning over 50 years in the professional audio industry. He started at CBS Studios in London and went on to work at the iconic Trident Studios. There he began...