Interviews
By John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane
In issue #15 we ran a rather brief interview with Liam Watson about his London-based Toe Rag Studios. In the following 12 years I always remarked that Tape Op needed to revisit Toe Rag and chat with Liam again, as his profile has only grown larger with well-received albums by The White Stripes and James...
Interviews
Merrill Garbus is the founder and central figure of tUnE-yArDs, an extraordinary band that I have had the honor of traveling with ov...
Interviews
I found hip-hop/dance music pioneer Jon Baker residing in Port Antonio, Jamaica — a town he decided to settle in after experiencing a...
Interviews
We talked to Jacquire King briefly in Tape Op #45 when he was working with producer Eric...
Interviews
"I'm fundamentally a musician, although I've fallen into being sort of... I...
Interviews
I became acquainted with Glenn Coleman when we shared a week together at the Audio...
When I was in high school my friend picked up a copy of Wire's 1979 album 154 based on a review in Rolling Stone. Little did I ever imagine how the sonics of that album, and so many other records by Wire (and solo work by singer/guitarist Colin Newman), would influence my own taste and record making over the following years. Texture, darkness, tension, odd precision and oblique lyrics have always filled Colin's work, much to my delight. Noticing that he also became more studio savvy as the years passed, producing, tracking and mixing many of his projects, I realized it was time to pay a visit to his home-based Swim Studio in London. Wire keeps making records and their last studio album, Red Barked Tree, is seriously among their best work. Along with other projects, Colin also has the enjoyable Githead — a band with his wife Malka Spigel, her former Minimal Compact band member Max Franken, and Robin Rimbaud of Scanner.
A longtime San Francisco Bay Area engineer and producer, Eli Crews has been quietly churning out utterly unique albums for the past decade. He is probably best known for his work with Deerhoof, Erase Errata and Why? He recently gained exposure with tUnE-yArDs as the shepherd of sound on their critically-acclaimed second record w h o k i l l (4AD), and with them has become one of the rare studio engineers to move on to touring front of house mix duties. As father, husband, and bassist for a number of studio and live projects, Eli is doubtlessly one of the busiest guys I've met. His working methods demonstrate how he can juggle these responsibilities, inspiring me as a developing engineer. In session, he is brutally efficient. Unique, powerful sounds appear on track seconds after a microphone is plugged in, and his intricately layered mixes come together almost as instantaneously. My association with Eli has been both enlightening and humbling. In 2009, I heard that he'd been tracking and mixing my friends Man/Miracle for their debut LP The Shape of Things. When the sessions were finished, the band had one last song they wanted to include, as well as an instrumental interlude. We tracked and mixed both of these at my warehouse project studio, Shipwreck, in Oakland. The difference was clear: given the exact same taut songwriting and crack players, Eli's mixes achieved a visceral impact and depth in each frequency range that would take me another two years to begin to approach. I was floored at the difference, and grateful for the attentive mastering work of Myles Boisen. After that experience, I immediately began interning with Eli at his studio, New, Improved Recording in North Oakland, to see what I could learn.
We talked to Jacquire King briefly in Tape Op #45 when he was working with producer Eric Valentine, but in the seven years since that time Jacquire has been involved with an impressive roster of albums as a producer, engineer and mixer. With a discography including Tom Waits, Modest Mouse, Kings of Leon, Mutemath, Josh Ritter, Mike Doughty, Norah Jones, The Features, Cold War Kids, Tim Finn and the Punch Brothers, he's pulling the truth out of some of the best music happening today. I interviewed Jacquire in Nashville in front of a room of like-minded recording folks at the third annual Recording Summit at Welcome to 1979 Studio.
Genelec has long been a name associated with "industry standard" for active studio monitors, and the 8040A model has been around since 2004, so I won't focus on the sound of the 8240A as much as I will the Genelec Loudspeaker Manager (GLM) DSP auto-calibration system. According to Genelec, the...
The reason most mixers use speakers like the Yamaha NS-10M and Auratone — or small radios, cheap computer speakers, and other assorted “crappy sounding” things — is that these speakers highlight the midrange content of our mixes where the most essential sonic content exists. This focus helps in...
Gregory Scott of KUSH Audio is one of those guys that seem to really think about the process of making music. In talking with him at trade shows or seeing his posts in recording forums, he communicates his ideas in a way that is informed, intelligent, and artistic. His company has in recent years...
Inspired by the straightforward approach Equator Audio takes in selling the D5 direct to consumers — without middleman margins and BS sales tactics — I’m going to just cut to the chase here. The D5 studio monitor is high in quality, low in cost, sounds fantastic, offers amazing detail and imaging,...
I jumped at the chance to audition the DocDerr EQ/compressor, a new 500-series module designed by ELI’s founder/designer Dave Derr. I, along with almost everyone else in the audio world, am a huge fan of his Distressor compressor, so my interest is always piqued when a new product of his is...
These are fun days for adventurous electric guitarists. All sorts of permutations of the quintessential rock instrument have reared their headstocks in the past decade. We’ve got easy access to modeling guitars that mimic classics pretty convincingly. Also, there are baritone guitars, axes with...
When we think of boutique effects, what comes to mind are hand-built units, based on classic designs, created in a garage, one box at a time. Strymon, while certainly being boutique, have unabashedly embraced the digital age - using modern technology to fix age-old problems and eliminate...
The Maag EQ4, from the designer of the venerable NTI EQs with their legendary Air Band, isn't really an equalizer at all. So if you're looking for a new parametric EQ, stop reading, because the EQ4... isn't. You don't need a new EQ anyway, do you? Of course not. There's a ton of them out there,...
Recording equipment manufacturers, as in any other product segment, fall into trends. When something sells, everyone wants to jump on the boat, and it's easy to write off late-comers in the competition. This applies to Neve clones and 500-series modules, but even while falling into both categories,...
This compact audio interface allows you to record up to 8 channels simultaneously on an iPad; delivers 18 input and 18 output channels on Windows and Mac OS X (8 analog, 10 digital); supports USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 connectivity; provides onboard routing and mixing as well as DSP effects; supports...
I've been using the same brand of head cleaner for a decade. Nice alcohol-based stuff. But I ran low and found that MDI PrecisionMotorWorks was able to reintroduce their "right stuff" cleaner. (The previous formula contained ozone-depleting substances, and it took years to come up with a version...
The Retrospec Juice Box is an all tube, Class A direct- injection box for recording musical instruments. It is fairly simple in layout and unique in looks. It has the usual 1/4'' I/O and an XLR output to feed a mic preamp, console or converter. The unbalanced 1/4'' Amp Out is buffered by the...
Most of you are probably familiar with Chandler Limited and Wade Goeke from previous reviews and experiences with Chandler gear — the cool-looking, vintage-styled processors with innovative, modern twists. This newest 500-series module in the Little Devil lineup follows the EQ and Compressor and is...
Like many Tape Op readers (especially guitarists), I've amassed a somewhat embarrassing collection of effects pedals over the decades. For me, it started in 1982, too young to drive, when I pedaled my bike three towns away to buy a used Univox Micro Fazer for $15. I still have it, and yes, it is...
The OWC Mercury Rack Pro is a hard-drive enclosure designed for the high-performance demands of audio and video production. Whether you want it for production, backup, or a combination, the unit is mission-ready out of the box. Working with Mac or PC, it's configurable as a desktop or rackmount...
While continuing to update SONAR X1 (Tape Op #82) for free, Cakewalk is adding functionality to their top-shelf version of SONAR X1 Producer with a paid upgrade - SONAR X1 Producer Expanded. Most of the improvements are to Producer's ProChannel console strip, so Expanded isn't available for other...
Acoustic Geometry is a new line of professional sound products from Acoustical Surfaces, Inc. (www.acousticalsurfaces.com). Their debut product group, called the Curve System, is a family of diffusors, absorbers, and corner traps. As the name implies, the units are rounded, with a constant-radius...
Softube is a Swedish company that develops pro audio hardware and software, with plug-in titles that include official emulations of gear from Abbey Road Studios, Tube-Tech, Trident, and more. Interestingly, Tonelux Tilt was originally created in collaboration with Tonelux's designer Paul Wolff as a...
Inward Connections and its Vac Rac series of tube audio processors may be some of Pro Audio’s best kept secrets. The TSL-4 represents the latest incarnation of Vac Rac tube limiters that graced premier equipment racks since the early 1990s. This newest 3RU-height behemoth sports the same vintage,...