Gear Reviews

The four-channel, Class-A, solid-state 4110 is Universal Audio's first mic preamp that is not derived from earlier classic designs. The 3RU-height device is simple to use and smart looking. It is solidly built and is easy to get around due to its basic simplicity. The individual preamp...

Sound the trumpets; Universal Audio has done it again! With the reissue of the LA-3A, UA has brought back one of the best, solid-state, optical compressors ever built. Originally designed as a broadcast unit, the LA-3A quickly found its home in recording studios, and with a bit of modification to...

When I was close to finishing this review, I began to realize that it's not only just scraping the tip of an iceberg, but it's bound to open a can of worms, and many people will disagree with at least some of the conclusions I've drawn. So, take this for what it is: my experiences...

Free VST plug-ins for Windows

Like a lot of people who read this magazine, I'm a hardware guy, and I've resisted using computers to make my music for a long time. But I recently realized that you could get a pretty good synth and effects rig going for free as long as you have a Windows PC...

Here's another "double" review of a monitoring system-this one orchestrated by F. Reid Shippen. The first viewpoint is from Reid, who many of you have met at the last three TapeOpCons. He was a mixer in 2005's Pot Luck Studio Project, he moderated the Mixing Panel in 2004, and...

Empirical Labs is a company that seems content to offer a few outstanding pieces of gear rather than a wide array of average products. You won't see them rushing to push out new devices every six months-or every year, for that matter. So, expectations were high when photos of the Lil FrEQ...

I'll start this review by reading your mind. I can tell you're thinking two questions. The answers are: the 5012 sounds great; and yes, you should buy one. If it's still at the introductory price of $1440 when this goes to press, you'd be crazy not to take advantage of the...

The discontinued AT4031 was an early microphone in Audio-Technica's extremely popular 40 Series. It is a small- diaphragm, end-firing microphone that was eventually replaced by the AT4041. It is cardioid-only (unlike its more expensive sibling, the AT4051, which has switchable capsules), and...

A rack mixer wasn't initially on the Chandler design agenda, but designer Wade Goecke ("Behind the Gear," Tape Op # 46) got so many calls saying, "There are a lot of summing boxes out there, but I don't like how they sound. I really like the way your gear sounds. Are you...

$25 bucks to a better snare sound right this way... A couple of months ago, I produced an album with Omar Hakim on drums, and he turned me on to the Remo Active Snare Dampening System. In most cases, I don't like ringy snare sounds. The problem is, I don't like to put any form of muffling...

For years, David Marquette cultivated a reputation for elegantly racking and powering Neve, Telefunken, and other desirable vintage modules. He eventually decided to branch out and produce his own versions of some classic vintage pieces under the Mercury name. I recently had a chance to try the...

Long held as an irreplaceable tool for electronic musicians to compose and perform their music, Ableton Live is increasingly gaining favor with the rest of the music world. As one of many professional audio/MIDI recording and sequencing applications, Live has many distinguishing features which set...

I haven't had this much fun with audio software in a long time. Imagine an application window that displays a graphic representation of a computer keyboard. Onto each key you can drag-and-drop any soundfile no matter what format the file. Once a soundfile is dropped onto a key, you can play...

I've owned an Ultimate Support bicycle repair stand for a dozen years now. It's awesome, and it kicks ass over the big "blue" manufacturer's repair stands. I'd also used Ultimate Support PA monitor stands (back when I used to do live sound) and thought they were...

I wrote a pretty positive review of the Wunder Audio PEQ1 preamp/EQ in Tape Op #41. At that time, the unit was available as either a replacement module for some vintage consoles or in a custom rack unit. But console modules are designed to be operated in a vertical position; you end up getting a...

We live in a DAW world, and that world provides us with ultimate recall and almost-infinite processing choices via hundreds of plug-ins. But we still want more! Now we crave the artifacts, coloration, and familiarity of analog processing. We miss the pleasant saturation of real tubes and the...

I'm a big fan of Radial Engineering's products, and Tape Op has published reviews of a number of Radial's products: JDV Mk3 Class-A DI in Tape Op #36; JD7 Injector multi-output guitar re-amping and distribution system in #38; X-Amp active re-amping device in #45; and JPC stereo PC/AV...

I've been a believer in Earthworks microphones ever since I got my first pair of TC30K omni condensers. Since then, I've added a bunch of Earthworks SR69 and SR68 cardioid condensers to my cabinet. I've used Earthworks mics on all the drum recordings I've made in the past five...

I hate how the Mac G5 is too big to mount in a 19'' rack sideways unless you cut off its handles. And no one seems to make a rackmount case that you can fill with the parts of a gutted G5 like you can with a G4. Sure, there are a number of solutions available to rack a G5 vertically, but...

With inexpensive mics seemingly as common as guitar picks, one must ask, "Does the world need another cheap mic?" But after testing the AT2020, my answer is a resounding, "Yes!" Because the AT2020 is anything but "another cheap mic."

The AT2020 provides pleasant...

The Pacifica by A-Designs is a two-channel, solid-state, transformer-balanced mic preamp. Its front panel is simple-each channel has a DI input, phantom-power switch, 20 dB pad, polarity switch, and a single gain knob. The rear has XLR ins and outs. The unit looks clean and simple and slightly...

Drum machines get a bad rap. And why not? Much of what comes out of them is sterile, repetitive, and mechanistic. In some cases, it's the machine's fault. Most of them aren't very versatile, pumping out predictable sounds in predictable patterns. But usually, a lousy drum machine...

As the Gear Reviews Editor, one of my responsibilities is matching up recording equipment with reviewers. In other words, if there's a piece of gear that the editors of Tape Op or the readers of the magazine want to see reviewed, I try to find a reviewer who I think will give the equipment a...