Gear Reviews

Wolfgang Palm invented wavetable synthesis in the late '70's which he used in the PPG Wave synthesizer that was hugely popular in the '80's with artists like Thomas Dolby and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He later went to work at Waldorf who ended up continuing to develop wavetable...

Coil Audio is a company in Lawrence, Kansas, that manufacturers retro, vintage-styled, industrial-looking mic preamps, audio transformers, and accompanying power supplies and chassis. Coil’s visual aesthetics and circuit topologies are firmly rooted in vintage 1930s and 1940s American tube...

I’m a reverb geek, and I’m always on the lookout for cool reverbs, both older hardware units and new plug-ins. I was poking around the web trying to find a plug-in version of the classic Quantec Room Simulator when I stumbled across the free u-he Protoverb plug-in, which works similarly to the QRS...

God, this is gonna read like another episode of “Grandpa Reviews the Latest Gizmo.” When I was really getting my act together as an engineer (recording bands through a dilapidated Trident console to tape), I often struggled with phase issues, specifically when multi-mic’ng drums. The bands I worked...

Every studio needs an easy way to patch audio originating from a stereo 1/8’’ jack. Phones, iPads, laptops, and instruments like the awesome mini synths in Roland’s Boutique series have 1/8’’ outputs. (I love my Roland JU-06, a faithful JUNO-106 emulation that weighs 3 lb and runs on four AA...

The 2264A diode bridge compressor/limiter has been the stuff of audio drool forever. The original model was released in 1974, and aside from some faster attack times and the smaller form factor, it was very similar in sound to its predecessor, the 2254. The 2264A is easy to get a great sound out...

I have been a Mojave mic owner since the company released the MA-200 back in 2005. It was David Bianco [Tape Op #104 bonus] who turned me onto Mojave’s offerings, saying, “You really should check these mics out.” They are solid workhorse mics that are rich in character and useful in a ton of...

Ah, monitors... I’ve gone through more than my fair share of them over the years in my pursuit to find ones that I feel comfortable working on for long days, and that also translate well so I don’t feel like I’m being lied to or fooled into a sense that I’m hearing something other than what is...

The ATM350a is a phantom-powered, small-diaphragm, electret condenser mic with a 12 mm × 38 mm cardioid capsule voiced for close-mic’ing instruments. In many recording situations, it’s an ideal mic for a few key reasons: it sounds neutral, even at close proximities; it can handle high SPLs without...

For reasons that aren’t entirely logical, I find it easier to spend money on hardware than on software. Likewise, sexy products that excel at enhancement and color can often seem more exciting than workmanlike ones excelling at rescue and remediation. It’s no mean feat, then, that Paul Frindle’s...

When I bought my API 1608 console [Tape Op #81] almost ten years ago, one of the reasons I was attracted to it was the option to put different EQ modules in it. I had two vintage API 550A EQ modules, and I could only afford to buy six new 550A and two new 560 modules at the time. Over the years, as...

If I had to choose a single channel-insert plug-in for mixing, iZotope Neutron would be at the top of my list. Neutron, at its heart, is a multi-module channel strip. It includes four modules — Equalizer, Compressor, Transient Shaper, and Exciter — that can be enabled, disabled, and reordered in...

Sometimes the simplest of tools can have a significant impact on one’s creative output. One such tool for me has been a guitar amp attenuator — a.k.a. a “hotplate” — which I’ve used in a variety of recording and live music scenarios. So, when my trusty but well-used attenuator bit the dust, I knew...

It seems like the market has never been more saturated with various types of new recording equipment attempting to emulate vintage gear. Vintage microphone recreations are hot right now — especially modern takes on the Neumann U 47. Not true clones, but adaptations. Really, adaptations are the only...

Granular synthesis has been around for a while, but it feels like its moment in the sun is upon us. In short, it is described as a method by which sounds are broken into tiny grains, which are then redistributed and reorganized to form other sounds. Greek composer Iannis Xenakis first worked with...

There are certain criteria I look for in gear that I choose to use and write about. It has to have excellent value and be useful in a wide variety of situations. Let’s face it. Money is tight for most of us in the business of music-making these days, and we need to invest smartly. I prefer to buy...

This book certainly screams, “Place me on the studio coffee table,” with its luxurious hardbound cover featuring photos of rare and/or fascinating looking mics from the author’s personal collection of hundreds (thousands?) of mics manufactured in the previous century. Detailed photographs of his...

So I was at the studio holiday party a while back. All the kids were looking at the vinyl releases on display. Out of curiosity, I surveyed, "What turntable do you use?" To my surprise, only one person of the two dozen I asked actually owned a record player. The rest purchased vinyl to...

This is a very cool, free piece of software that implements a modular software synthesizer. If that’s all there was to it, I doubt I’d bother writing this review, as there are tons of modular synth emulations. What makes this so cool is that it’s written in a musical programming environment called...

Plate reverb is undoubtedly my favorite choice for ambience. It’s the agent of antiquity and the steward of soul. Sound is driven into a metal plate, then recaptured as rich clangs and resonances that transport us to and from the past. It can be haunting and dark; yet at the same time, it can...

If you are looking for a handheld audio/video recorder, and audio performance is a priority, the Zoom Q8 may be your best bet. This little unit, with its seemingly endless options for making high-quality audio recordings, is unmatched by its competition. Simple to set up and operate, it's...

Universal Audio has been refreshing its line-up of Apollo interfaces over the past few years, and now the Apollo Twin compact desktop interface [Tape Op #101] gets what UA is calling a “ground-up redesign” with the Apollo Twin MkII. The new Twin MkII is a 2×6 Thunderbolt interface (for both macOS...

Ever since I reviewed the Valhalla reverbs [Tape Op #111], I’ve continued to use these plug-ins on every session, especially Shimmer and VintageVerb. I was recently poking around on the Valhalla website and found SpaceModulator, which is free to download if you’ve purchased at least one plug-in...