For most of 1997, it was nearly impossible to avoid hearing "Lovefool" by The Cardigans on a regular basis. As one of the rare hits heard on both popular and college radio at the time, its chorus...
Daniel Miller has been a figurehead of cutting edge music since he released his first single, "Warm Leatherette," as The Normal in 1978. The rise of his label, Mute Records, soon followed, with a...
Harmonia's five LP box set, Complete Works, contains all the released material of this fascinating German band from 1973 to 1976, including their 1976 collaboration with Brian Eno and four...
For most of 1997, it was nearly impossible to avoid hearing "Lovefool" by The Cardigans on a regular basis. As one of the rare hits heard on both popular and college radio at the time, its chorus...
The silver sedan parked outside has a license plate that read "Dr. Vibb," a nickname I was very familiar with. I knocked on the door and a man — who could've easily been my brother —...
A collector of guitars. Owner of Major Label and Ecco-Fonic Records. Record producer and engineer at his Ecco-Fonic Studios. Band leader. Guitarist. Author of two volumes of The Strat in the Attic....
Copenhagen may get all of the attention, but just three hours away lies the second largest city in Denmark: the port city of Aarhus. With it's huge university, and rich Nordic history, it's long...
A collector of guitars. Owner of Major Label and Ecco-Fonic Records. Record producer and engineer at his Ecco-Fonic Studios. Band leader. Guitarist. Author of two volumes of The Strat in the Attic....
I've seen Gareth Jones' name on records since the '80s and have always wanted to meet him. My imagination created a stuffy, meticulous character; an engineer/producer driven by a need for...
The silver sedan parked outside has a license plate that read "Dr. Vibb," a nickname I was very familiar with. I knocked on the door and a man — who could've easily been my brother —...
I'm in front of the console, about one hour into a mixing session with a new client in attendance. I've got too much on my mind, an issue of the magazine to write and edit, gear to upgrade...
I can remember back in 2002, when I first joined the Tape Op team as Reviews Editor, ribbon mics were relatively rare, and even new ones, like the now ubiquitous Royer Labs R-12, weren't too often...
I have had an ongoing relationship with computer music since I learned how to program PC speaker melodies in the scripting language in the old DOS shareware game ZZT, and while it waxes and wanes...
About the size of a large guitar pedal, the Decoder is an all-analog box that lets you convert mic or line-level Mid- Side signals to stereo Left/Right. It's relatively easy to set up a digital matrix...
Many of us love ribbon mics. Arguably, they can be the best option for some sources. But even fans know how low the output level of ribbons can be. Active ribbon mics have appeared in recent years,...
The first ribbon microphone was co-invented by Walter H. Schottky and Erwin Gerlach in the 1920s, but the first "broadcast quality" ribbon mics were designed by Dr. Harry F. Olson for RCA. Prototypes...
The venerable AKG D12 is one of those mics I hear about a lot but don't see in person very often. I've borrowed a few from friends, and each one sounded very different. Plus, hilariously, each time I...
Seattle's DIY Wizards are at it again — this time with more preamps taking advantage of the 500-series format. The Elements line-up of preamps includes four models: Gold, Copper, Bronze, and...
Here's another multi-opinion review from three of our contributing writers. Mastering and restoration engineer Jessica Thompson recently joined the staff of Coast Mastering in Berkeley, CA. Sarah...
When RØDE asked Tape Op if we wanted to review the new NTR active ribbon mic, I briefly thought of doing the review myself. But I quickly decided that with nine ribbons already in my mic...
