Tape Op Magazine - Issue #78

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

Interviews

MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

AUGUST 4, 2025 INTERVIEWS

Polvo (bonus)

BY ALEX MAIOLO, DAVID MASON

After taking a break for more than a decade, Polvo released In Prism on Merge Records at the end of 2009. Working with Brain Paulson at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC, they recorded an album that sounds familiar to fans of the band, but also shows their deep love of classic rock. At times it even grooves. New drummer Brain Quast has added a new dynamic to the band. I sat down to talk with him, guitarist/vocalist Ash Bowie and bassist Steve Popson about how the past 20 years has led up to the new record.

COLUMNS

GEAR REVIEWS

Gear Reviews

AT4080 & AT4081 ribbon mics

by AT4080 & AT4081 ribbon mics | reviewed by Andy Hong

We’ve published many reviews of Audio-Technica microphones in Tape Op — for good reason. Audio-Technica manufacturers gear that’s consistently high in quality and relatively affordable in price. When the company offered to loan me the new AT4080 and AT4081 active ribbon mics, I jumped at the...

Gear Reviews

C715 condenser mic

by C715 condenser mic | reviewed by John Vanderslice

My recording studio in San Francisco, Tiny Telephone, sees a tremendous amount of foot traffic from freelance engineers, and plenty of records are tracked under intense time constraints and budgetary stress; most records are completed in under two weeks. The wear and tear can be brutal on old and...

Gear Reviews

DRS-Q4M preamp

by DRS-Q4M preamp | reviewed by Allen Farmelo

With the number of preamps available on the market today, it’s really easy to get confused, so let’s get some confusion out of the way. UK’s Phoenix Audio does three things that give the impression that they’re making Neve imitations: they note that they were initially a service company for...

Gear Reviews

Fat Bustard

by Fat Bustard | reviewed by Matt Foster

I am sure I’m not alone here in my curiosity of Thermionic Culture products. The literal meaning of the company name, the not-just-free-from-digital but “free from solid-state additives” maxim, and if I’m being candid, the damn fine appearance of their products are all attention magnets in my...

Gear Reviews

JRS-34 and JRS-34-P ribbon mics

by JRS-34 and JRS-34-P ribbon mics | reviewed by Craig Schumacher

One of the benefits of being a Tape Op subscriber is finding and meeting other readers in your home town. That in turn points you towards your resident gear geeks. The original rumor we heard here at WaveLab was that there was a new tech in town who was a ribbon mic repair specialist and had this...

Gear Reviews

K-Micro Silver Bullet mic

by K-Micro Silver Bullet mic | reviewed by Garrett Haines

The Karma K-Micro Silver Bullet is a small-diaphragm condenser mic designed to fit into tight spaces and tight budgets. At just under 2’’ long, the tapered body does resemble a bullet (like a .50 caliber, but this is Tape Op, not Soldier of Fortune). With no room for an internal battery, the...

Gear Reviews

Level-Or

by Level-Or | reviewed by Eli Crews

This 500-series device is a line-level JFET limiter, modeled after the Shure Level-Loc PA limiter, which I will tell you all up front that I have never used. I tried to borrow one to test against the Level-Or, but the couple of friends that used to own Level-Locs sold them because they were too...

Gear Reviews

m103 channel strip

by m103 channel strip | reviewed by Scott McChane

The new m103 is anchored by the m101’s (Tape Op #68) transformerless preamp design, which offers an honest and transparent, yet deep character — with loads of headroom and 75 dB of gain. I will describe it as clear and elegant, which is a great place to start the recording chain. Features include a...

Gear Reviews

MA-101fet condenser microphone

by MA-101fet condenser microphone | reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

Here’s a relatively new, pencil-style, solid-state condenser microphone with interchangeable cardioid and omnidirectional capsules from the folks at Mojave. Notably, the electronics were designed by David Royer and are the exact same as the guts in the Mojave MA-201fet (Tape Op #70). This means you...

Gear Reviews

Model One B equalizer

by Model One B equalizer | reviewed by Marc Alan Goodman

I first set eyes on the Model One B about three years ago. I was working at Studio G in Brooklyn and a mysterious package arrived. It turned out to be an equalizer designed and built by a member of the Tape Op Message Board named Byron Jacquot. We hung on to it for as long as he would let us, but...

Gear Reviews

ONE USB mic & audio interface

by ONE USB mic & audio interface | reviewed by Dave Middleton

The existence of the Apogee ONE is hardly surprising. Ever since the Duet interface (Tape Op #65) was released a while back - complete with a rounded-rectangle brushed-aluminum body and the ubiquitous, unadorned Myriad Pro font that feels like home to any avid Mac user - it became clear what Apogee...

Gear Reviews

P3S Stereo Compressor

by P3S Stereo Compressor | reviewed by Allen Farmelo

And I thought my API 2500 stereo compressor was complex and versatile! Welcome to the Foote Control Systems P3S Stereo Compressor, a self-proclaimed “Swiss Army Knife” that actually lives up to its name. If you’re familiar with the API 2500 (Tape Op #52) or the ubiquitous Empirical Labs Distressor...

Gear Reviews

Spark Mic & Fiddle Mic

by Spark Mic & Fiddle Mic | reviewed by Mike Jasper

Bruce Bartlett and Steve Mills, former mic designers for Crown and Shure, now create their own designs under the Bartlett Microphones banner. Recently, I got a chance to try out two of their miniature microphones, the Spark Mic and the Fiddle Mic. The latter is made for violins of course, but the...