Gear Reviews

Wiring  |  No. 159

Shure: A27M Stereo Mic Adapter

reviewed by Larry Crane

While scouring Sweetwater's website for a stereo bar worth purchasing to try out, I recently stumbled across the Shure A27M stereo microphone adapter. Note that it's not referred to as a "stereo bar"...

Wiring  |  No. 156

Drawmer: 1976 Stereo 3 Band Saturation & Width Processor

reviewed by Andrew Jones

Drawmer isn’t the only audio company that offers a saturation processor, but they are the only brand I’ve encountered that offers one with this much functionality, a great price point, and...

Tools, Wiring  |  No. 156

Peluso Microphone Labs: Various Shock Mounts

reviewed by John Baccigaluppi

When I saw the Peluso ad for their shock mounts in the last issue of Tape Op, it immediately piqued my interest. I have several vintage microphones that do not have good shock mounts that Peluso makes...

Amplifiers, Wiring  |  No. 156

Useful Arts: Hornet Mic/Instrument Preamp

reviewed by Corey Reidy

With the Hornet, Useful Arts had a mission: In 2018, the company's founder, Peter Swann, teased that a yet-to-be-named solid-state mic pre/DI “small enough to throw in a backpack” would...

Microphones, Wiring  |  No. 156

LEWITT: PURE TUBE Condenser Microphone

reviewed by Daniel Ryan Morse

I try a different vocal microphone on just about every record I make. Some are technically great, but too sterile for my taste. Others – particularly tube large diaphragm condenser (LDC) mics...

Microphones, Wiring  |  No. 156

Cloud Microphones: Cloudlifter CL-X

reviewed by Scott McDowell

If you’re reading Tape Op reviews and love recording with ribbon and dynamic mics as much as I do, then you’re probably already familiar with Cloudlifters. Also known as “mic...

Microphones, Wiring  |  No. 155

Umbrella Company: Active Mic Cable

reviewed by Larry Crane

Late last year, I received an awesome email from Takeo Yamamoto, who had stumbled across Tape Op #4 when he was living in NYC ages ago. He now owns the pro audio sales/distributor and development...

Rackmount, Wiring  |  No. 154

ADJ Products: PC-100A Rack Mount Power Strip

reviewed by Mike Kosacek

I like to think of my mixing desk as the control center. I hate running around the studio, behind racks, or bending down to search for a power switch, which is why I have several power strips in racks...

Tools, Wiring  |  No. 154

Unitek: SmartLink Trinity USB 3.0 to SATA II & IDE HDD & SDD Adapter

reviewed by Larry Crane

Many of us might be familiar with this scenario: A client brings in a hard drive of old DAW sessions to remix. You plug the hard drive in (likely needing some weird cable and adapter), and nothing...

Accessories, Wiring  |  No. 153

Love My Switches: Control Knobs, Switches, & Parts

reviewed by Dana Gumbiner

I found this Love My Switches’ web store while searching for aluminum replacements for the sticky, degraded soft-touch rubber vulcanized knobs on my Arturia MicroBrute [Tape Op #106] synth. Many...

Wiring  |  No. 153

Radial Engineering: Power-2 Power Conditioner

reviewed by Geoff Stanfield

There are not a ton of superlatives to use when reviewing a power conditioner – it’s well built and effective, or it is not. The Radial Power-2 surge suppressor / power conditioner is both...

Monitoring, Wiring  |  No. 152

Focal: Solo6 ST6 Active Monitors

reviewed by Dan Knobler

Reviewing speakers is a funny game. As engineers, perhaps we pick up on how to evaluate monitors in a new listening environment and how to work within the limitations of those conditions – but...