Mark Rubel

Interviews

Mark Rubel

By Rob Gorham, Jeff Elbel, and John Dixon

Twelve years later, I recall Mark Rubel's directions to Pogo Studio from our very first conversation. Passing through that red door at 35 East Taylor was more magical than walking into Disneyland back then, and remains so today. If ever a store was an expression of the shopkeeper's...

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hotel2tango

Interviews

hotel2tango: The Arcade Fire, Molasses, The Dears, more.!

By Howard Bilerman, Gary Jansz, Bruce Cawdron

For several years now, the notion of Montreal as a hub of avant- experimental music has grown judiciously in the mindset and record collections of its followers. If you break this down further in the context of a medium to large North American city, it's apparent that most of these sounds...

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Mark Linett

Interviews

Mark Linett

By John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane

Grammy award winner Mark Linett is the veteran of many years in the studio, starting in Hollywood at Artist Recording, Paramount and Mystic Studios in the early seventies after running his own PA company. Later he was hired by George Massenburg [Tape Op #54] to assist at Sunset Sound for several...

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Brian Virtue a.k.a. Gummo

Interviews

Brian Virtue a.k.a. Gummo

By John Baccigaluppi, Roman Sokal
Back in the summer of 2002, when I was visiting Los Angeles and visited Henson Recording...
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American Music Club

Interviews

American Music Club: Take up the recording reins

By J.J. Wiesler, Jude Mooney
From 1983 to 1995 one of the brightest musical legacies, critically if not commercially,...
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Menomena

Interviews

Menomena: Band meets DIY Software

By Todd Bayles
I met Menomena (rhymes with 'phenomena') at their rehearsal and recording space...
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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

MARCH 7, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Bob Irwin

Bob Irwin: Sundazed Records and Remastering

BY LARRY DEVIVO, ERICA DEVIVO

If there's a classic tune running around in your head, more than likely you can find the reissue of it on the Sundazed Label. Owner Bob Irwin founded the company on a love and passion for great music that continues to this day. In an industry that churns out corporate music swill ad nauseum, Bob is a music archeologist aspiring to find the treasures of the past and bring them to the light of day. Carefully preserving the original elements, he presents these finds to a new audience that might never experience them otherwise. When I arrived at Sundazed we listened to the Chesterfield Kings on Bob's Dunluvy SC IVA monitors and immediately our conversation turned to gear.

MARCH 7, 2026 INTERVIEWS
Jim Odom

Jim Odom: Behind the Gear with PreSonus Audio Electronics

BY LARRY CRANE

PreSonus Audio Electronics is celebrating its ten-year anniversary of delivering high quality recording and live audio gear at great prices. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based company features over 20 products, and is soon launching a high-end yet reasonably priced tube preamp in collaboration with Anthony DeMaria Labs. PreSonus owner/founder Jim Odom is an interesting find: a man with gold and platinum engineering credits, a stint as a major label artist, a former studio owner and past work with high tech sonar DSP for the Navy.

COLUMNS

END RANT by Larry Crane
And Then Reality Hits You in the Head...
END RANT

And Then Reality Hits You in the Head...

by Larry Crane

Anyone that's worked at a studio, been in a band that records or even just sat down and thought about it for a minute knows this question: "How long will it take to record our album?" I hear this at least once a week, over the phone or via email. I'm about to pop a blood vessel from trying to...

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

635A dynamic mic

BY 635A dynamic mic  |  reviewed by Pete Weiss

Where have I been all these years that I've never tried out an EV 635A? These things have been seen everywhere in the broadcast world for the past, like, forty years. You'd know the mic if you saw it; looks almost like a cartoon of a hand-held mic, sort of flashlight-like with a thinner-than usual...

Gear Reviews

EQ III plug-in

BY EQ III plug-in  |  reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

Finally! An EQ plug-in from Digi that rivals most third- party EQ plug-ins-and even better, it's free!! Prior to the release of EQ III, if you didn't own a good third-party EQ plug-in, mixing in Pro Tools was a bit crippling if you were submixing in Pro Tools and bussing through a console; and...

Gear Reviews

HealthPro Plus air purifier

BY HealthPro Plus air purifier  |  reviewed by Andy Hong

I was prompted to write this review for two reasons: allergy season has kicked into full swing as I type this; and Consumer Reports magazine's May issue states that a previous air cleaner I reviewed can be harmful to your health. In Tape Op #25, I wrote about the Sharper Image Ionic Breeze air...

Gear Reviews

LA-610 Classic Tube Channel

BY LA-610 Classic Tube Channel  |  reviewed by Craig Schumacher

Universal Audio is well known for recreating the classic studio preamps and compressors that were built by the company's original founder, Bill Putnam Sr. The reissues of the 1176 and the LA-2A from the re-launched Universal Audio sound every bit as good as the originals designed by Bill Putnam Sr....

Gear Reviews

microKORG Synth/Vocoder

BY microKORG Synth/Vocoder  |  reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

I know that this little synthesizer is already very popular and quite a few units have sold, but just in case you somehow haven't heard or seen one, let me clue you in. This is one bestseller that lives up to the hype! I kept seeing these around and then heard Jon Brion use one live, while Larry...

Gear Reviews

Operator

BY Operator  |  reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

I've been using Ableton Live since version 1, and it has become the primary workspace for my bedroom, IDM- ish electronic music. So I was excited to test drive Operator, which is the first new software from Ableton since Live's inception. Operator is a polyphonic synth instrument plug-in that works...

Gear Reviews

PA28 console

BY PA28 console  |  reviewed by Scott Craggs

So I get home one day to find both an Allen & Heath MixWizard3 16:2 DX and a PA28 waiting for me. Combined with my Mackie 24•8 and the other mixers around the house, this gave me about 90-something channels to work with. Unfortunately, I didn't have a blockbuster pop hit to mix, so I didn't get to...

Gear Reviews

Plate 140 Reverb plug-in

BY Plate 140 Reverb plug-in  |  reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

As a long time Altiverb fan (largely because of the excellent EMT plate impulse response), I have to admit I was just a bit skeptical about whether the UAD-1's modeling-or algorithmic-reverb would stack up against a convolution reverb from a real EMT plate. Well, consider me won over. While I still...

Gear Reviews

PRO 37 small-diaphragm condenser mic

BY PRO 37 small-diaphragm condenser mic  |  reviewed by Pete Weiss

At last year's TapeOpCon, I found myself loitering at the Audio-Technica table, chewing the fat with affable A-T Marketing Director Gary Boss. I was completely bewildered by the huge number of different microphones the company makes, and Gary was doing a fine job guiding me patiently through the...

Gear Reviews

RSM-2 Ribbon Studio Microphone

BY RSM-2 Ribbon Studio Microphone  |  reviewed by Craig Schumacher

The Nady RSM-2 is the latest entry into the field of inexpensive Chinese mics. Asian-made condensers have been on the market now for several years, so it was inevitable, given the retro craze in today's recording studios, that we would see Chinese ribbon mics hit our shores. At a street price below...

Gear Reviews

SA538 tube condenser mic

BY SA538 tube condenser mic  |  reviewed by Garrett Haines

CharterOak have been quietly making quality tube mics for the past three years. Their first model is the SA538, a squat-looking condenser reminiscent of a short- bodied U 47. The outer shell is finished in a satin black and appointed with a silver silhouette of an oak tree. The mic is striking in...

Gear Reviews

Speaker Building 201

BY Speaker Building 201  |  reviewed by Joseph Lemmer

This new book cleared up many mysteries for me. It's a great resource even if you don't intend to build speakers. It's very detailed and goes into deep math for building enclosures and designing crossovers-and even covers popular CAD programs-while still being an easy read. The author makes you...

Gear Reviews

ULTRA-DI PRO DI4000 4-Ch Active DI

BY ULTRA-DI PRO DI4000 4-Ch Active DI  |  reviewed by Joseph Lemmer

This unit is comprised of four identical direct boxes in a 1RU enclosure. On the front, each DI channel has buttons for +20 dB boost, phase (polarity) reverse, 8 kHz high-cut, and ground lift. The buttons are LED-backlit when engaged. Phase reverse is always dimly lit to give you frame of reference...

Gear Reviews

V-Room sound isolation rooms

BY V-Room sound isolation rooms  |  reviewed by Andy Hong

A few years ago, I visited the Wenger booth at an AES show and was impressed when I walked into the sound isolation room the company had temporarily installed on the show floor. It was a relief to be insulated from the fatiguing noise of the conference hall. But the room sounded strangely bigger...

Gear Reviews

X73i Mic Preamp Equalizer

BY X73i Mic Preamp Equalizer  |  reviewed by Allen Farmelo

The Vintech Audio X73i is a single-channel, 1RU preamp and equalizer, designed to emulate the Neve 1073 at an affordable price ($1350 street). The X73i uses Class A, all discrete, transformer-balanced circuitry throughout, and it requires an external power supply ($225 street, powers four units)....

Gear Reviews

XLogic G Series Stereo Compressor

BY XLogic G Series Stereo Compressor  |  reviewed by Craig Schumacher

The XLogic G Series Compressor is another addition to the Solid State Logic family and is part of their SuperAnalogue series. This 1RU stereo compressor is modeled after its patriarch, the compressor in the SL4000 G Series console. There are three switchable ratios (2:1, 4:1, and 10:1), six...