Billy Bush has made his love of music and technological curiosity into an already storied career. He has been a record thief, guitar tech, Butch Vig [Tape Op #11] and Garbage's utility wizard,...
Annette Cisneros is a highly experienced engineer and studio manager. Her credits are long and her knowledge is deep. For several years she was Dave Jerden's [Tape Op #86] assistant engineer. When...
Winning a Grammy for his engineering on Alabama Shakes' Sound & Color album might be a recent highlight of Shawn Everett's career, but he's had a hand in many albums over the years, working with...
Over the past decade, Jack Shirley has recorded what seems like every hardcore band in the Bay Area. I've wanted to interview Jack for years, so when he walked by me at Timeless Coffee in Oakland a...
It's hard to imagine that anyone under 30, who helmed a Grammy winning (four awards!) record, might not let it go to their head. But Blake Mills, who produced the Alabama Shakes' Sound & Color...
In a walk through Smashing Pumpkins' history, we examine the stories and situations that created the studio albums from 1991's Gish to 2014's Monuments to an Elegy. We'll hear from singer,...
Denver, Colorado, is a better place for the tireless audio work of Bob Ferbrache. I tracked him down in 2012 at his home/studio to learn more about his history. Bob worked on records by Blood Axis,...
Nashville has long been considered the capital of country music. Owen and Harold Bradley helped make that possible when they opened the Bradley Studios in the '50s, in the heart of Music Row. After...
Several years ago, I wrote an End Rant [Tape Op #102] about my frustration with software upgrades, and how I wanted a stable recording platform. I received a surprising amount of positive emails...
JB's End Rant and RADAR studio review in this issue inspired me to share with you a few of the software utilities I install whenever I set up a new Windows computer. If you're a DAW user moving...
I'm a big fan of the iPad for virtual instruments, especially soft-synths, and I use my iPad in the studio much more than instrument plug-ins within my DAW. I like the at-your-fingertips interface of...
Whoa. Ableton has delivered a major upgrade/revision to their innovative Push controller [Tape Op #97]. This new version sports a ton of new features, including a vastly improved display with enhanced...
Five years ago, I reviewed the original UE Pro Reference Monitors [Tape Op #83], in-ear monitors (IEM) that were co- developed with Capitol Studios. I liked these a lot and continued to use them for...
Paul Edwards of Edwards Audio Research came to be a manufacturer the honest way. That is, he needed a good mic preamp for his vintage Altec 639A dynamic/ribbon mic, so he set about to build one with...
According to Sam Phillips, if you weren't doing something different, you weren't doing anything at all. When he opened his Memphis Recording Service in 1950, Phillips was "looking for a higher ground,...
Meris may not yet be a household name in pro audio, but its team of three have put in plenty of time developing products and designs for companies like Strymon and Line 6, and working creatively for...
The multichannel Radial Engineering Space Heater rackmount mixer and single-channel Space Heater 500 module (for 500-series frames) are analog distortion units that offer tube distortion and...
When I plug in a piece of gear (or use a plug-in) I want to be inspired. Sometimes all I need is a little mojo to pull me out of a stall or tailspin. Phase-linear EQ and transparent gain are just fine...
While there are more new microphone models being manufactured now than ever before, most of them will never attain the classic status (nor hold the resale value) of an older Neumann U 47, AKG C 12,...
The RADAR hard-disk recording system has been around for longer than any other turnkey digital multitrack currently in production, giving it the stability and pedigree that no other HDR has. iZ...
These days, pro audio's end products often live in the "Headphones World." The home stereos of the past have been supplanted by the mobile devices of today. Fewer listeners have full-size speaker...
Don't you just love things that are simple? Aston Microphones believes that reflection filters should be simple — easy to use, lightweight... and purple. Since the introduction of the SE...
How about some sexy Italian desktop stands for your sassy French monitors? Oui — I mean sì. In a previous issue, I reported on Italian studio furniture manufacturer ZAOR and its fabulous...
The hardware Curve Bender from Chandler Limited is a $5,590 two-channel EQ based on the circuitry of the historic EMI TG12345 consoles. I had one and loved its sound quality. Opening its chassis...
Over the years, PreSonus has impressed many of us with its consistency in offering a wide range of essential products for the price-conscious, and the Eris MTM Studio Monitor series certainly follows...
When Crane Song told me it had a new converter that was a step up from the one that I raved about in my review of the Crane Song Avocet II monitor controller [Tape Op #103], I was excited and...
The AMS Neve 1073 DPX is a dual-channel preamp/equalizer in a 2RU-height rackmount chassis. With vintage Neve 1073 strips fetching more and more coin, and dependable techs becoming harder to find, I...
Back in the day, when I was running a commercial recording studio, my best front-end setup was a two-channel Gordon Instruments preamp [Tape Op #67] to Lavry Engineering LavryBlue A/D converters, and...
The original Cloud Microphones CL-1 Mic Activator [Tape Op #85] has been an indispensable tool for me ever since I first discovered it (ironically enough, through a Tape Op review). The Cloudlifter...
