Interviews
Looking Back at 50 years of Music and Family with John Golden: w/ April & JJ Golden
by Ian Brennan
Beginning his foray into music as an artist, John Golden has been mastering records for nearly 50 years, a time span very few share. I started making records back in the 1980s, and had the good...
Behind the Gear
Finders of Focus: Behind the Gear with Phil Dudderidge & Rob Jenkins
by John Baccigaluppi
Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd. has been around for so long, it’s easy to forget how many great products they’ve made over the years. We recently had a chance to sit down with the...
Interviews
Mikey Young (Bonus): Australia’s Finest
by Aaron Turney, Stephen Turney
If you’ve purchased an Australian rock record made in the past decade, there’s a good chance Mikey Young had his hand in the final product. He’s a member of Eddy Current Suppression...
Interviews
Steve Addabbo: Still Tracking in New York City
by Richard Barone
Until the “authenticity” plug-in hits the market, we will have to settle for the real thing. Steve Addabbo’s career spans close to six decades and as many genres; from a gigging...
Interviews
Tony Berg: Quest for the Zeitgeist
by John Baccigaluppi
Tony Berg has cast a long shadow over the pages of Tape Op , but in way that might not be immediately apparent. From managing producer Mitchell Froom (Tape Op #10), to producing Michael Penn’s...
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Monitor at a Consistent Volume When Mixing
by Aaron Mullan
There are two ways to start soundcheck for a band. To determine which to use, look at the theatre’s marquee. If it’s an individual’s name on the marquee, take the fader for that...
Bob Rock: Metallica, Mötley Crüe, & More
by Jake Brown
Bob Rock is a foundational pillar of modern day rock and metal production, the architect of a drum and guitar sound he pioneered on cornerstone releases, including Mötley Crüe’s Dr....
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End Rant
Social Isolation
by Paul Clark
I’ve spent most of my career in the technology industry, early on as the CEO of a rapidly growing electronics firm, and now as a partner in a company with one of the world’s most...
Gear Geeking
Gear Geeking w/ Andy
by Andy Hong
If you've been making music for as long as I have, I bet that some of the headphones relegated to your "box of broken cans" are in there not because they stopped working, but because their earpads are...
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Gear Reviews See more →
Q8 Video & 4-Track Audio Recorder
by Zoom | reviewed by Jonathan Saxon
If you are looking for a handheld audio/video recorder, and audio performance is a priority, the Zoom Q8 may be your best bet. This little unit, with its seemingly endless options for making...
Orbit Turntable
by U-Turn Audio | reviewed by Garrett Haines
So I was at the studio holiday party a while back. All the kids were looking at the vinyl releases on display. Out of curiosity, I surveyed, "What turntable do you use?" To my surprise, only one...
PS-2 Power Station Reactive Load + Tube Amp
by Fryette Amplification | reviewed by Walt Szalva
Sometimes the simplest of tools can have a significant impact on one’s creative output. One such tool for me has been a guitar amp attenuator — a.k.a. a...
SR-1A & SR-2N Ribbon Microphones
by Stager | reviewed by Adam Monk
There are certain criteria I look for in gear that I choose to use and write about. It has to have excellent value and be useful in a wide variety of situations. Let’s face it. Money is tight...
CM 48T Large-Diaphragm Tube Mic
by Advanced Audio | reviewed by Kirt Shearer
It seems like the market has never been more saturated with various types of new recording equipment attempting to emulate vintage gear. Vintage microphone recreations are hot right now —...
Neutron Intelligent Mixing Plug-In
by iZotope | reviewed by Andy Hong
If I had to choose a single channel-insert plug-in for mixing, iZotope Neutron would be at the top of my list. Neutron, at its heart, is a multi-module channel strip. It includes four...
Pure Plate Reverb Plug-In
by Universal Audio | reviewed by Scott McChane
Plate reverb is undoubtedly my favorite choice for ambience. It’s the agent of antiquity and the steward of soul. Sound is driven into a metal plate, then recaptured as rich clangs and...
Dynamic Spectrum Mapper V2
by ProAudioDSP | reviewed by Brad Allen Williams
For reasons that aren’t entirely logical, I find it easier to spend money on hardware than on software. Likewise, sexy products that excel at enhancement and color can often seem more exciting...
ATM350a Instrument Mic Systems
by Audio-Technica | reviewed by Andy Hong
The ATM350a is a phantom-powered, small-diaphragm, electret condenser mic with a 12 mm × 38 mm cardioid capsule voiced for close-mic’ing instruments. In many recording...
Protoverb Room Simulator Plug-In
by U-He | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
I’m a reverb geek, and I’m always on the lookout for cool reverbs, both older hardware units and new plug-ins. I was poking around the web trying to find a plug-in version of the classic...
Automatonism
by Johan Eriksson | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
This is a very cool, free piece of software that implements a modular software synthesizer. If that’s all there was to it, I doubt I’d bother writing this review, as there are tons of...
SpaceModulator Flanger Plug-In
by Valhalla DSP | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
Ever since I reviewed the Valhalla reverbs [Tape Op #111], I’ve continued to use these plug-ins on every session, especially Shimmer and VintageVerb. I was recently poking around on the Valhalla...
LYD 48 Active Monitors
by Dynaudio | reviewed by Don Gunn
Ah, monitors... I’ve gone through more than my fair share of them over the years in my pursuit to find ones that I feel comfortable working on for long days, and that also translate well so I...
CA-70 PS2 Mic/Line Preamp
by Coil Audio | reviewed by Adam Kagan
Coil Audio is a company in Lawrence, Kansas, that manufacturers retro, vintage-styled, industrial-looking mic preamps, audio transformers, and accompanying power supplies and chassis. Coil’s...
Borderlands Granular Synthesizer (iOS), GrainSpace Granular Reverb Plug-In
by Chris Carlson | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
Granular synthesis has been around for a while, but it feels like its moment in the sun is upon us. In short, it is described as a method by which sounds are broken into tiny grains, which are then...
Witnesses of Words: How 20th Century Microphones Made History
by Marco C. van der Hoeven | reviewed by Larry Crane
This book certainly screams, “Place me on the studio coffee table,” with its luxurious hardbound cover featuring photos of rare and/or fascinating looking mics from the author’s...
2264ALB Compressor/Limiter
by AMS Neve | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield
The 2264A diode bridge compressor/limiter has been the stuff of audio drool forever. The original model was released in 1974, and aside from some faster attack times and the smaller form factor, it...
TT to XLR Patch Cables, 1/8” TRS to Dual TTY Cable
by JDS Promotions | reviewed by Scott Evans
Every studio needs an easy way to patch audio originating from a stereo 1/8’’ jack. Phones, iPads, laptops, and instruments like the awesome mini synths in Roland’s Boutique series...
E27 500-Series EQ
by Avedis Audio | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
When I bought my API 1608 console [Tape Op #81] almost ten years ago, one of the reasons I was attracted to it was the option to put different EQ modules in it. I had two vintage API 550A EQ modules,...
Apollo Twin MkII Audio Interface
by Universal Audio | reviewed by Dana Gumbiner
Universal Audio has been refreshing its line-up of Apollo interfaces over the past few years, and now the Apollo Twin compact desktop interface [Tape Op #101] gets what UA is calling a...
Auto-Align Multi-Mic Phase-Alignment Plug-In
by Sound Radix | reviewed by Dana Gumbiner
God, this is gonna read like another episode of “Grandpa Reviews the Latest Gizmo.” When I was really getting my act together as an engineer (recording bands through a dilapidated Trident...
MA-1000 Large-diaphragm Tube Mic
by Mojave Audio | reviewed by Geoff Stanfield
I have been a Mojave mic owner since the company released the MA-200 back in 2005. It was David Bianco [Tape Op #104 bonus] who turned me onto Mojave’s offerings, saying, “You really...
Infinite iOS Synthesizer
by Wolfgang Palm/PPG | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
Wolfgang Palm invented wavetable synthesis in the late '70's which he used in the PPG Wave synthesizer that was hugely popular in the '80's with artists like Thomas Dolby and Frankie Goes to...
MatrixBrute Analog Synthesizer
by Arturia | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
Rather than do the usual review discussing the feature set and my qualitative judgments of how this synthesizer sounds, I'm going to list eight reasons why I think this instrument is one of the best...