Gear Reviews

 Rockruepel

With so much amazing boutique gear available these days, I have to confess that I don’t get all that excited when I hear about yet another expensive tube compressor being made in small numbers by experienced designers to quality standards that surpass every military spec known to

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This hefty, 350-page hardbound book is based on the studio design firm Recording Architecture Limited’s 23 years of experience in recording studio design — from small, private project studios (Kravitz, Bernard Sumner, Sade) to large, commercial studios (Lansdowne, Konk). Inside are over 140 project...

Former Trillium Labs software engineer Steven Massey (Tape Op #68) - who worked on both TL Aggro and TL Space - now makes Pro Tools plug-ins for the rest of us. No dongles, affordably priced, no time-limit on the demos, and each plug-in is always of the highest quality, Massey has given us...

When I initially donned these headphones, I was reminded of when I heard ADAM Audio S3-A active monitors (Tape Op #33) for the first time at the now defunct Bomb Factory Studios in Burbank. I was blown away by the immediate sense of space and detail that I was hearing. I've purchased several...

I’ve been using that same crap splicing tape that most everyone uses. You know, that thin white stuff that holds better to skin than tape. I found a much better solution sold by Splicit. It’s made of strong acrylic polyester. The pressure-sensitive coating grabs just enough when you’re getting set...

Cloud Microphones has intrigued me since I first heard about its JRS-34 and JRS-34-P ribbon mics (Tape Op #78), which utilize the same ribbons as those in the classic RCA 44-series mics. When asked about reviewing the Cloudlifter CL-1 Mic Activator, I was unaware of what it was but became very...

I had seen the ads for a while in Tape Op. There were these preamps I had never heard of by a company I had never heard of — Ingram Engineering. They looked cool and somewhat retro. I had always thought that I’d like to try these out, so I jumped at the chance when offered the Ingram...

Back when I reviewed the Eisen Audio DIY500 mic preamp kit (Tape Op #80), I bragged about the beefy monsters we brewed. But shortly after publication, the manufacturer discontinued the kits, leaving some readers without a way to obtain similar preamps. To be fair, the input transformer and op-amp...

Sound Skulptor is a division of the Synchronia Company, which also runs a studio in southwest France. They offer a line of DIY audio kits. We jumped at the chance to review the Stereo Tape Simulator (STS). Encased in a desktop box, the STS includes the electronics of a classical tape recorder along...

The Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder plug-in from Universal Audio is one of the latest in a series of classic hardware emulations made for the UAD-2 series DSP Accelerators (Tape Op #57, #73, #76, #83). Having long been a convert to the UAD DSP platform, I had to check this out but had only...

DI boxes are just not that sexy.

However, the more sessions I record, the more I grow to really appreciate the simple pieces of gear that I can consistently rely upon. After repeated use, the Avenson IsoDI boxes now hit the tracking room floor at the same time the mic stands and cables come out. Too...

I first became acquainted with the Lexicon 224X digital reverb in Studio One at the Strongroom around about 1989. It was the first time we had made that level of investment, and back then, Strongroom was a small, independent company, which meant that such a purchase was a big decision; I remember...

We had two writers test-drive the new plug-in from Sonnox that allows you to encode, decode — and audition in real-time — data-compressed audio using Fraunhofer codecs. Let’s start with multi–Grammy winner Joe Chiccarelli (Tape Op #14), whose first Tape Op review appeared in 2003 (#35). Following...

Radial Engineering sent both LC and AH a Workhorse and a selection of 500-series modules. Neither of them has had the time to try out all of the modules, but they both got in some quality time with the Workhorse, and Larry also had a chance to try out the Shuttle module.

LC: Radial Engineering

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SE Electronics has been busy building a loyal fan-base for their wide range of microphones, and they recently teamed up with Rupert Neve to design some new microphones for SE's lineup. The SE RNR1 active ribbon mic emerged as the first effort, where Mr. Neve brought his knowledge of...

These days, fans of the much-loved (and much-misunderstood) Spectra Sonics 610 compressor/limiter (dubbed “Complimiter” by the company) have much to be happy about. In addition to the original model being readily available again (it was introduced in 1969, eventually becoming somewhat obscure, and...

Assuming that one of the goals in treating a mix room is to achieve flat frequency response at the mix position, one must simultaneously grapple with room dimensions; resonant and reflective surfaces; speaker placement and stands; subwoofer placement and settings; crossover frequencies; active and...

My relationship to pitch-correction software is complicated, as it probably is for many of our readers. On one hand, it’s just a tool, like any of the other behind-the-curtain, smoke-and-mirror tools we employ on a daily basis. On the other hand, pitch correction is the Devil’s work, since it...

WaveMachine Labs

Drum replacement software can seem like so much digital voodoo, adding to the “Photoshop-ification” of music production, but really it’s just an extension of drum enhancement techniques that stretch back to the introduction of multitrack. Drum re-amping and overdubbing have been

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