Gear Reviews

REAL-WORLD ASSESSMENTS OF RECORDING EQUIPMENT BY WORKING PROFESSIONALS.

NO. 161 Gear Review

Issue #1, Autumn 2023: Head Voice (magazine)

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
May 15, 2024

With mottos like, "You're doing nothing wrong" and, "Nothing is wrong with your mix," Head Voice arrived last fall as a mission statement and an "audio recording zine focused on creativity." Founded by musicians Donovan Quinn, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance),...

NO. 161 Gear Review

Ultimate Ears: UE 150, 250, & 350 In-Ear Monitors

REVIEWED BY Geoff Stanfield
May 15, 2024

For most live performers, the days of wedge floor monitors are a thing of the past. IEMs (In-Ear Monitors) have become the new standard for stage monitoring, and for good reason. A monitor engineer can take preferred mixes from venue to venue and recall monitoring preferences with the push of a button...

NO. 161 Gear Review

Monheim Microphones: Royalty Tube Mic

REVIEWED BY Tony Vincent
May 15, 2024

I've had the opportunity not only to sing and play into many sought-after microphones, but I've also been able to use even more mics on artists and instrumentalists as a producer and engineer. I recall the first time I ever performed into a vintage Telefunken ELA M 251E. I was young and didn't...

NO. 161 Gear Review

Louder Than Liftoff: Silver Bullet MK2 Plug-In

REVIEWED BY Liam Nelson
May 15, 2024

The Louder Than Liftoff [Tape Op#122] Silver Bullet mk2 plug-in is my new favorite in the box processor by a wide margin – and that’s kind of hilarious, considering that my trusty hardware Silver Bullet mk1 is the analog centerpiece of my personal studio. The thing is, the mk2 plug-in has new features...

NO. 161 Gear Review

Audio-Technica: AT2040 Podcast Mic

REVIEWED BY Danielle Goldsmith
May 15, 2024

As an audio professional, I'm often asked by friends who record podcasts at home for microphone recommendations. So, I was excited when I got the opportunity to review Audio-Technica's new AT2040 hypercardioid dynamic podcast microphone, as it's designed to fit the needs of content creators...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Sony: MDR-MV1 Headphones

REVIEWED BY Scott McDowell
March 16, 2024

A few months ago, I was hired to work on the audio engineering team at a production camp put on by Sony. One of the events at this camp was a demo of Sony’s immersive audio tools, and this was my first experience with their MDR-MV1 headphones. Sony’s immersive audio team has been pushing hard to develop...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Heritage Audio: Grandchild 670-500 Compressor

REVIEWED BY Matt Anderson
March 16, 2024

There’s an age-old philosophical question in the audio community: “If a Fairchild compressor/limiter falls in the woods and loses over two dozen tubes and transformers, is it still a Fairchild?” Where does innovation end and compromise begin, and is it even worth attempting to pull off something this...

NO. 160 Gear Review

IsoAcoustics: V120 Monitor Ceiling/Wall Mounts

REVIEWED BY Don Gunn
March 16, 2024

In what might possibly be the sexiest review ever published in Tape Op, let’s talk about monitor mounts! I was recently in need of upgrading my Atmos monitoring, and I required a better solution for the four height speakers mounted on the ceiling of my studio (I mix Atmos in a 7.1.4 configuration)....

NO. 160 Gear Review

Vance Dickason, author: Loudspeaker Design Cookbook

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
March 16, 2024

For those that don't know, Vance Dickason has been the editor of Voice Coil Magazine ("the monthly periodical for the loudspeaker industry") since 1987, and the author of the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook (LDC) volumes since 1978. LDC is "the world's most popular book on loudspeaker...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Royer Labs: Sling-Shock RSM-Series Shock Mounts

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
March 15, 2024

Anyone who owns a few large diaphragm microphones has likely seen the common trouble with many shock mounts – failing elastic or rubber bands that cause the mic to droop, clamps that don't securely hold mic bodies, bulky sizes that get in the way of placement, pivoting joints that slip or are hard...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Newfangled Audio: Recirculate Echo Plug-In

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
March 15, 2024

Former Eventide coder/engineer Dan Gillespie, who runs Newfangled Audio (distributed by Eventide), has developed some pretty wild plug-ins. We've reviewed the fantastic virtual synth, Generate [Tape Op#140], and the Elevate mastering suite [#133] before, and now he takes on a tour of what he thinks...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Ableton: Live 12 Suite

REVIEWED BY Dana Gumbiner
March 15, 2024

The importance of organization, functionality, and preparedness is central to the work we do when making music with/for others. From my perspective, DAWs are getting more comprehensive and less specialized. Most modern DAWs (digital audio workstations) can help with every stage of music creation, from...

NO. 160 Gear Review

McDSP: BOB Bass Optimized Bias Plug-In

REVIEWED BY Larry Crane
March 15, 2024

As part of the McDSP Analog Processing Box universe (APB-8, APB-16) [Tape Op#134], the BOB Bass Optimized Bias is a plug-in based on the original BOB module from McDSP's 6060 Ultimate Module Collection. The BOB APB plug-in can provide a massive amount of low end around a selected frequency, and...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Harrison: MR3eq 500 Series EQ

REVIEWED BY Dan Knobler
March 15, 2024

As noted in my review of their new 32Classic console [Tape Op#159], in the of classic records, Harrison Audio had just as formidable a studio presence as console standard-bearers like Neve, MCI, API, and SSL. By the mid-‘80s, Harrison Audio had pivoted almost entirely to film and live sound, but before...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Barefoot Sound: Footprint03 Powered Monitor Pair

REVIEWED BY Gus Berry
March 15, 2024

Many studio monitors are based on what we call "2-way" configurations, featuring a woofer/driver (usually a cone speaker) and a tweeter handling the low and high frequencies, but a growing number of nearfield monitors use "3-way" setups, with a midrange driver handling frequencies...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Focusrite: Scarlett 4i4 Interface

REVIEWED BY John Baccigaluppi
March 15, 2024

We live in a time where ADC conversion is quite good. I remember when our studio was first getting into digital recording, the sonic differences between analog to digital/digital to analog converters were extremely noticeable. We did listening tests on various units and found huge differences – even...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Auto-Tune: Vocal Reverb Plug-In

REVIEWED BY Scott McDowell
March 15, 2024

Call me an AI pessimist, but my initial reaction was lukewarm when I considered trying out the Vocal Reverb plug-in from Antares Audio Technologies. Haven’t I already got enough reverbs? How is this new one going to win me over? Once I dove into it, I realized it was challenging me unexpectedly, and...

NO. 160 Gear Review

Bopworks Drumsticks: Stick Station

REVIEWED BY Mike Kosacek
March 15, 2024

For drummers, while playing it’s sometimes a challenge to change between brushes, sticks, and mallets. Of course, studio magic allows us to do that with punch ins, but if you are tracking live with a band that’s usually not an option. Fortunately, now we have the Stick Station from Bopworks Drumsticks....