Gear Reviews

REAL-WORLD ASSESSMENTS OF RECORDING EQUIPMENT BY WORKING PROFESSIONALS.

  • NO. 166

    RTM Industries: C60 & C90 Type One Cassette Tapes

    REVIEWED BY Kyle Field

    I reviewed the RTM (Recording The Masters) 1/4-inch SM900 tape back in Tape Op#161, was very pleased with it, and have since used it for a few more mixing sessions. Then, at the 2024 NYC AES show, I bumped into Matt and Tim from RTM, and they gave me a few of their C60 and C90 Type One cassette......

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  • NO. 166

    FabFilter: Pro-Q 4 Plug-In

    REVIEWED BY Dave Hidek

    Since its release in 2018, FabFilter’s Pro-Q 3 [Tape Op#132] has become one of the most used, if not the most used, EQ plug-ins for professionals and enthusiasts alike. Seven years later, Pro-Q 4 offers several new features and updates, giving FabFilter fans everywhere a reason to celebrate. From...

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  • NO. 166

    DigiTech: FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator Pedal

    REVIEWED BY Jonathan Saxon

    Fun trivia: The Audio Engineering Society’s (AES) Pro Audio Reference Guide provides three definitions of the word feedback, one being “the longest word in the English language that uses all the letters 'A' through 'F.'” On a more practical point, the AES Guide also defines...

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  • NO. 166

    BeesNeez Pro Audio: B67-269 (Version 2) Microphone

    REVIEWED BY Don Gunn

    Ben and Veronica Sneesby have been making mics in Australia for nearly 25 years (the name derives from Ben’s nickname in high school). Some of their mics have been designed as modernized clones of classic originals (e.g., Neumann U 47, Telefunken ELA M 251, etc.), while others are original designs...

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  • NO. 166

    Garbage Ideas: FK Comp 500 Series Limiter & Saturator

    REVIEWED BY Drew Vandenberg

    I’m a big fan of using audio equipment originally designed for radio and other broadcast purposes to work on recording music in the studio. This gear is typically of extremely high build quality and is easy to use since in a broadcast context any interruption can be a major problem that could cause...

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  • NO. 166

    PSP Audioware: PSP Wobbler Modulation Plug-In

    REVIEWED BY Larry Crane

    For decades, I've wondered how the effect on the female backing vocals of Pink Floyd's "Time" from The Dark Side of the Moon was created. I hear a Leslie speaker vibrato or Doppler effect, but it's more focused and clearer in the high frequencies than that kind of re-amping...

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  • NO. 166

    imersiv: D-1 Multi-Path DAC

    REVIEWED BY Larry Crane

    In April 2023, John La Grou, founder/owner of Millennia Media, dropped me a line about a new audio technology venture he was working on, with the caveat that I could not tell anyone what he was up to. Later that year, he asked if I was interested in becoming a beta tester for his new HDR-A...

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  • NO. 166

    Third Man Hardware & Eventide Audio: Knife Drop Fuzz/Synth Stompbox

    REVIEWED BY Larry Crane

    Jack White [Tape Op#82] likes a certain guitar tone, right? A fuzz with a low octave and maybe some high octave piercing tone. Union Tube & Transistor hooked me up with their collab Third Man Bumble Buzz guitar pedal years ago, and I love the fact that it has no knobs and a perfect Jack White...

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  • NO. 166

    Tom Maxwell, author: Needles and Plastic (book)

    REVIEWED BY Larry Crane

    Here are books I enjoyed reading that cover two important underground music scenes that may have escaped some folks’ notice. Needles and Plastic, subtitled Flying Nun Records, 1981-1988, is an exhaustive tome by Matthew Goody. It discusses every record released by the New Zealand label Flying Nun...

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  • NO. 166

    Make Believe Studios: MBSI Channel Strip Plug-In

    REVIEWED BY Kirt Shearer

    I’ve always been fascinated with the history of recording studios, the evolution of analog gear, and MCI equipment. There was one particular MCI console that almost seemed mythical: The so-called “Hotel California” console at Criteria Recording Studios in Florida. Criteria’s MCI really can’t be...

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  • NO. 166

    AudioTech: Probe Diagnostic Listening Tool

    REVIEWED BY Bruce Harvie

    A few years ago, I had a water leak somewhere on a 600-foot-long pipe. There was no wet ground to give the leak away, and I even tried water witching/dowsing to locate it! No dice. Enter the AudioTech Probe, whose motto is: "You can hear what you've been missing." Described as a...

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  • NO. 166

    AEA Ribbon Mics: Nuvo N28 Stereo Ribbon Mic

    REVIEWED BY Matt Anderson

    When AEA released their first stereo mic, the R88 [Tape Op#96], in the early 2000s it was quite a statement. Other companies, such as Royer Labs, were fairly new to the scene, and ribbon mics seemed to be making a comeback out of nowhere. I remember looking at the R88’s size and design and being...

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  • NO. 166

    IK Multimedia: iLoud Micro Monitor Pro

    REVIEWED BY Adam Kagan

    Good things come in small packages, and that’s especially true for the iLoud Micro Monitor Pro. IK Multimedia first made waves with their iLoud Micro Monitors, which combined a compact form factor with professional-grade sound. Building on that success, they introduced the iLoud MTM monitors [Tape......

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  • NO. 165

    H2 Audio: 0011 Mic pre/EQ

    REVIEWED BY Michael Urbano

    When H2 Audio reached out about getting their 0011 mic preamp/EQ reviewed, my good friend and session drummer Michael Urbano came to mind. Michael has worked on records with Todd Rundgren, Trina Shoemaker, Sheryl Crow, Eric Valentine [Tape Op#45, #133], Cracker, Matt Wallace [#128], Jack Joseph...

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  • NO. 165

    BURL Audio: BURL Black Audio Interface

    REVIEWED BY Adam Kagan

    I’m frequently asked by friends and clients which audio interface they should upgrade to for their studio. My usual advice is to focus on features, as most modern interfaces deliver similarly-excellent sound quality. However, after using the new BURL Black series interfaces, I must retract that...

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  • NO. 165

    Undertone Audio: UTA-D UnFairchild 670M MkII Plug-In

    REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner

    Whoa! A plug-in recreation of the Undertone Audio UnFairchild 670M II vari-mu compressor [Tape Op#125]? Sign me up. The hardware UnFairchild is a beast, ranking highly on my desert island gear list. Eric Valentine [#45, #133], the crew at Undertone, and Mixland <mixland.io> developed the...

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  • NO. 165

    Focusrite: Scarlett 16i16 Interface

    REVIEWED BY Larry Crane

    My home studio is very simple, and is mostly used for editing audio, prepping mixes before using my "real" studio, recording remote interviews, doing my voiceovers, and mixing in the box. An old pair of Dynaudio BM6A speakers [Tape Op#22] and a Dangerous Music D-Box [#61] monitor...

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  • NO. 165

    Electrical Audio: EApreq500

    REVIEWED BY Zach Bloomstein

    Let's talk about gear snobbery behavior. "Tubes are better than transistors." "Transformers are better than servo-balanced circuits." "Discrete op-amps are better than integrated circuit (IC) op-amps." Sure, sometimes these statements are correct, because there is......

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  • NO. 165

    Universal Audio: Apollo x8p Gen 2

    REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner

    Universal Audio recently released an update to all five of their flagship Apollo audio interfaces, so we got our hands on the new Apollo x8p Gen 2 for testing. The Apollo range has now been in the market for over a decade, with fully matured hardware/software integration and specs that rival the...

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