A compelling Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer, vocalist, and producer, Arooj Aftab's 2021 album, Vulture Prince, brought her voice and music a lot of attention, as well as a Grammy for Best Global...
Donn Landee’s lengthy discography is a testament to his versatility and skill as an engineer. Landee worked for T.T.G. Studios and Sunwest Recording Studios in Hollywood before he became a...
Photo by Danny Clinch It's been a sad 13 years since the passing of Mark Linkous, the visionary behind the group Sparklehorse. In issue #12 of Tape Op, way back in 1999, writer Adam Selzer caught...
Not far outside of Seattle, Washington, there's a converted old barn out in the woods named Bear Creek Studio. It's been there for well over 40 years, making it one of the oldest continuously running...
SASAMI, born Sasami Ashworth, has been a sought-after “jack of all trades” in the indie music world since returning to her hometown of Los Angeles following graduation from classical...
Mikko Gordon, operating out of London, England, is a vanguard engineer. He has an interesting list of credits, including ISLAND, Colouring, Pete Townshend, and Arcade Fire (WE). His work engineering...
Not far outside of Seattle, Washington, there's a converted old barn out in the woods named Bear Creek Studio. It's been there for well over 40 years, making it one of the oldest continuously running...
Charlie Parker performs at the Three Deuces jazz club in New York City, 1947. In the mid-'40s, a new generation of musicians heralded the arrival of bebop. Here’s why some of the most...
David Brown, along with his business partner Pavel Bazdyrev (aka Pasha), is the co-founder of Soyuz Microphones. In the past ten years, Soyuz has established themselves as one of the best condenser...
Somewhere along the line, when working on any recording project, there are points where the "real work" needs to be done. Real work, to me, is the time where intense listening skills are brought...
In 2022, I shared my opinions on several models of Bluetooth earbuds that I own [Tape Op #150, #151], with the conclusion that Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) were my...
I've been a fan of Kim Bjørn and co.'s "Bjooks" series of hardcover synth nerd bibles since the initial release of Push Turn Move in 2017. For those unfamiliar with the series, Bjooks publishes...
The first-generation Syntrx from Latvian synthesis maestros Erica Synths was a fantastic "reimagining" of the 1972 EMS Synthi AKS. The original Syntrx was a highly desirable analog synth with a...
I watched and waited for over a year before I finally purchased the Steven Slate Audio VSX headphone mixing system. VSX is a set of over the ear, closed-back headphones and accompanying software (to...
As a writer, I try to be as transparent as I can when reviewing a piece of gear. I also feel compelled to include a bit of a backstory that shares what initially lead me to doing the review. Many...
In issue #126 I reviewed Benson Amps' stereo Studio Tall Bird Spring Reverb, a wonderful piece of hardware that gets used a lot at Jackpot! Recording. The original Tall Bird has been discontinued, but...
There are many stereo field processors out there, but they are usually simply fixer tools or effects processors. Among the effect types, most of them do only one thing – meaning if you don't...
It’s a good time to be an enthusiast of the classic Fairchild limiters of the past. Not all that long ago, there were no mass-market reproductions of the Fairchild 660 or 670, and only a...
Baby Audio’s BA-1 is a reimagining of the cultish ‘80s analog synth, the Yamaha CS01, bringing with it some pure and authentic textures that are easy and intuitive to program. The CS01 was...
Who doesn’t love Sony microphones? Their reputation is built on the C-37A, C-800G, and the C-38B; all of which deliver. I'd previously reviewed the C-100 series of mics [Tape Op #132] and was...
For those of us who have dived headfirst into immersive mixing (Atmos or Sony 360RA), there comes a vexing moment where we realize that there is no simple way to apply bus compression for the mix glue...
In 2020, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Hazelrigg Industries VDI [Tape Op #48]; Earlier this year, Hazelrigg Industries released their latest creation; the 4DI. In the three years since I demoed...
The new Push 3 is finally here! I've been an Ableton Live DAW [Tape Op #143] user since version 1, and was an early adopter of both of the first two generations of Push hardware, so I was eager to...
A new, affordable, single rack unit channel strip, Rupert Neve Designs' Newton Channel isn’t a stripped-down version of their Shelford Channel [Tape Op #118] or a direct replacement for the more...
At some point, we all have heard enough of the never-ending “analog vs. digital” debate. It’s getting harder to argue when the digital side of recording continues to get better...
It has been more than 20 years since I got my first original Copperphone microphone and wrote a review for Tape Op about it [Tape Op #42]. I fell in love with that microphone the moment I heard it,...
During most of my adult life, the use of stompbox effects with my trumpet or my voice was frustrating, inconvenient, and unreliable, or some combination of these issues. I've wasted hours, days, and...
The Carnaby 500 is a groundbreaking audio processor. Hands down, this device is stunning. At first glance, it looks like a three-band EQ – which it kind of is – but it's not like any...
This fun little book is an 8-inch square, 16-page, hand-illustrated history of – as the subtitle says – "Studios of Seattle & Tacoma" in Washington State. Of the nine, I've worked out...
Built to work only with the McDSP APB ("analog processing box") units (APB-8, APB-16) [Tape Op #134], the KD1 Kinetic Drive is a plug-in that uses this interesting system. The APB essentially is a one...
The original Telefunken ELA M 251 tube-powered condenser mics were made for Telefunken by AKG in the early '60s – when Neumann had pulled their U 47 distribution from Telefunken – and were...
