Cat 5, aka Ethernet cable, has been a powerful way to pass digital audio around your studio or live venue for quite a while now. The various formats (Dante, AVB, and many other proprietary protocols) have changed the way we think about studio installs, stage box runs, etc. Personally, I've been...
At the last few pre-pandemic AES conferences I attended, my brief conversations with David Bock centered around his opinions about the classic microphones that were built incorrectly. Most of his comments went over my head, but what I took away was an impression of his passion, talent, and ambition...
I’m an EQ guy and always have been. When I began working in studios, the debate was whether or not to EQ to tape or wait to EQ when mixing. Fuck that; get the sound the way you want it when hitting the tape! Nowadays, the debate is about whether hardware EQs sound better than plug-in EQs. If you’ve...
I’m always reluctant to review speakers. It’s hard to do client work on unfamiliar monitors. My room was tuned for my current nearfields over ten years ago, and since then I haven’t moved them an inch – mixing is hard enough already. But when asked about reviewing Focal’s new flagship studio monitors,...
Folks, please label your patchbays: Not with a paper key that sits on top of the bays, not with a PDF on your computer, but with labels on the patchbays. For years, I made labels using a carefully crafted Excel spreadsheet. It worked okay, but when I found PatchCAD 3 I never looked back. PatchCAD 3...
I’ve loved listening to music in headphones since I was a child, but I’ve come a long way from those flimsy freebies that came with my yellow Sony Walkman. As an adult, I’ve spent weeks at a time earning a living in audio while primarily clocking my hours in cans, and I've learned the hard way...
When I was managing Jackpot! Recording Studio, I was fascinated by Tape Op editor and studio owner Larry Crane’s approach to gear-buying. The studio is mostly made up of new equipment with a few vintage items. This is savvy, as new gear doesn’t come with inflated price tags or unexpected (and even impossible)...
Pulsar Modular’s P455 MDN Sidecar plug-in was designed in conjunction with engineer Marc Daniel Nelson. Although there’s definitely some API style inspiration involved, they’ve taken a much broader and, in my opinion, much more useful approach to creating a tool that will probably replace entire mix...
The name of this magazine is Tape Op, and we know that lots of people still love working on analog tape machines. We also know that there are a lot of people who have never worked with tape machines yet love the idea of working with tape. However, I want to talk about the elephant in the room; the tape...
With the subtitle "A Practical Guide to Becoming and Succeeding as an Audio Engineer and Producer," the goal of this book should be obvious. But where many books of this ilk usually fail, this book excels. Why is that? Because Neil Kesterson (owner of Dynamix Productions, Inc. in Lexington,...
Pearl Microphone Laboratory is one of the longest-running and oldest microphone manufacturers in the world. Their former production manager, Bernt Malmqvist, has been building quality microphones since 1954. It goes without saying that his expertise and experience is unparalleled. Recently, Pearl released...
The need for flexibility is paramount in many recording situations, and affordably meeting that need is a challenge. Fortunately, Roswell Audio’s Mini K67x cardioid large diaphragm condenser mic nicely balances colorful harmonic saturation (from a transformer-coupled circuit) and sparkling clarity,...
Those of us who have tried mixing music in Dolby Atmos understand the challenges of learning a new skill. Some of those challenges lie in creative dilemmas, such as “What should go in the overhead speakers?” Yet, the most exasperating struggle lies in predicting the audience’s experience when listening...
It’s clear that TASCAM made no compromises when designing the Sonicview 24XP digital recording and mixing console. While its virtually endless features should make it attractive to seasoned engineers, the Sonicview is exceedingly simple to set up and use for those with less experience. Its unique balance...
The Soundcraft Notepad-8FX is an entry-level mixer that seamlessly connects as a USB 2.0 interface to your laptop, tablet or phone. It has two mic/line XLR combo input jacks (one of which has a selectable Hi-Z input option for DI sources like electric guitar or bass) with +48V phantom power, four additional...
We've all grown far too accustomed to the head puckering, bass muffled, ear-smushing, insulated fake spaciness of crappy small speakers strapped to our skulls masquerading as headphones. I've been escaping into under-engineered closed-back headphones since I bought my first copy of Pink Floyd's...