Interviews
Steve Malkmus: of Pavement
by Larry Crane
Pavement. The band that sets many an indie rock heart aflutter. Well, they no longer exist now, having performed their last show in London last fall. We chatted extensively with Pavement's "leader"...
Interviews
The Terrarium, Minneapolis, MN: Technicians, Old Gear, and Tracking Studios
by Chris Simons
Hey, we've never covered any studios in the Minneapolis area, so here we go. Plus, usual interviews seem to take the format of history and projects done; this one covers some lively and useful...
The Drummer's Perspective
Gary Young: Pavement's Drummer & Engineer
by Larry Crane
Gary Young was the flamboyant original drummer for Pavement. He was also the engineer for all their recordings up through the Watery, Domestic CD. He still resides in Stockton, California, and runs...
Interviews
John Hardy: Builder of mic preamps
by Steve Silverstein
John Hardy runs The John Hardy Company out of the basement of an old and pretty house in Evanston, a few blocks north of the Chicago limits. His M-1 preamp uses a transformer-based, discrete...
Interviews
Macha: Ethno-indie rock & field recordings
by Larry Crane
Macha are a different band. Their use of Indonesian and other "ethnic" instrumentation within the format of what you would call a "rock" band is rather unique. The instruments add a texture not...
Interviews
Ken Nordine, Master of Word Jazz
by Curtis Settino
Somehow, somewhere, somewhen, someone shared with me the sonic sensibilities of Ken Nordine. I was delighted with his word play (or were the words playing with him?), his deep, clear voice (an...
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DJ Spooky: Defying Expectations
by Donald Bell
Listening to DJ Spooky's 1996 debut Songs Of A Dead Dreamer it's clear why his nickname is "That Subliminal Kid" — it's because his music plays like the soundtrack to your inner mind. The...
Toe Rag Music: London's Swinging Studio
by Phil Clark
Let's get one thing out of the way first: I love old technology. If I had the space, I'd have a workshop full of old radios, open reel tape and wire recorders, valve amps, old keyboards and vintage...
Steve Reich: Less is more
by John Baccigaluppi
Steve Reich is a composer of music that gets loosely lumped into the classical genre. But make no mistake-his music will never be mistaken for Mozart, Beethoven or Bach. At age 62, Steve Reich's...
Trusty Tune Shop: A Grandma run studio!
by Larry Crane
We hear about a lot of great studios here at Tape Op but not very many are run by 75 year old grandmothers. Elsie Childers runs her Trusty Tuneshop studio on her farm in Nebo, Kentucky. The big...
Recording Recipes #7: Sing, Surprise and Share.
by Curtis Settino
Notes from Under the Ground: Basement Recording, Part 1: Man vs. Nature
by Eric Morrison
I am standing on the precipice of realizing a magical dream that I have carried with me since my youth. You see, I have recently purchased a basement. There is, of course, a house attached to the...
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End Rant
What is a Producer?
by Larry Crane
What is a producer? This is opening up a potential can of worms/Pandora's box, but what I will give is an example, only one, of what a producer can be. I often wonder what the word "producer"...