Louder Than Liftoff is a relatively young pro audio company. They caught my eye with a unique take on both the 500 series EQ and the two bus processor. A small, two-man operation, born of a passion...
Residing in a small town just south of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, is Nick Blagona. I met him over two decades ago at a recording studio in Toronto, and he always had valuable pointers for mic...
Jonathan Schenke has made a name and a sound for himself by recording and mixing some of the best independent and experimental rock that came out of New York in the last five years. You may have...
“If somebody’s too neurotic, I’m out. I think music is supposed to be fun, reactionary, and impulsive.” Dave Cobb’s great record production for Chris Stapleton, Jason...
The art of recording music obviously involves the intersection of technical skills and creativity. It's certainly this juncture that fascinates many of us, and has lured us into a life of placing...
It's timely that you'll find a review of the Yamaha TF1 digital mixer in this issue. The TF1 is a 32-channel console featuring 16+1 motorized faders, with 16 fader and “OMNI Out” channels...
Switzerland's Merging Technologies is best known for their Pyramix, VCube, and Ovation workstations. But the company also makes world-class converters. Merging's flagship Horus is a network-enabled...
Earlier this year, I reviewed a combination digital tuner and DI in a floor pedal format — the Sonic Nuance TDI [Tape Op #118]. It’s a very nice device that solves some stage and...
In recent years, I’ve been tracking more bands “live” in the studio — sometimes with keeper vocals recorded at the same time as the instruments. And every now and then,...
Seven years after the original Clariphonic Parallel Equalizer [Tape Op #88] was released, Gregory Scott, the owner and visionary behind the company Kush, has updated this unique analog EQ with new...
Nearly all of the condenser microphones we know and love employ round capsules. Notable exceptions include rectangular-capsule Pearl and Milab mics (which, like the Ehrlund, are Swedish in origin),...
By now, you’ve doubtless heard me complain countless times about the exceedingly hyped sound of “lifestyle” headphones, earbuds, and in-ears. It doesn’t matter how much you...
The Micparts S-25 is a side-address condenser mic available as a kit. All that’s required is solder, a soldering iron, and some basic hand tools. The JFET in the kit is even manually biased by...
Don’t tell my wife I just bought another compressor. She thinks I have “enough” or maybe even “too many,” and I have to admit, I’ve been pretty lucky on the...
Acoustic Geometry has completed some nice upgrades to the already outstanding, first-generation Curve Diffusor [Tape Op #88]. The Curve is a surface or stand–mountable acoustical treatment...
I recently purchased a used ADC1 (non-USB). I wrote Benchmark to say how much I liked it. I got a reply asking if I wanted to demo the new ADC1 USB to verify if my old model was still up to spec!...
My tech time is very limited, and I’d rather spend whatever time I do have working on music. So, when I wired my new studio space four years ago, I chose DB25 patchbays. I’ve never...
Kurt Ballou [Tape Op #76] showed me these gadgets a few years ago. They’re simple, 7’’ boom arms with a clamp that securely holds the boom on the shaft of a mic stand (or pipe,...
The fact that you can buy the Yamaha TF1, a 32-channel digital mixer with 20 analog input channels, 16 analog outs, moving faders, touchscreen control, advanced networking, and an onboard 34-channel...
We recently did a session here at Panoramic House with Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Live) producing a great band called Le Butcherettes. Jerry has a studio near us with a mix/edit room and a...
The Neve 1073 is arguably the most famous and cherished preamp/EQ channel strip of all time. It has been endlessly cloned, copied, updated, and tweaked by countless manufacturers trying to cash in on...
The SSL 4000 G Series bus compressor has been copied, emulated, reworked, and rehashed by both hardware and software manufacturers for years now. It seems every plug-in developer has their own...
