Interviews
Kid Koala: Board Games & Scratching
by Joel Hamilton
Known as Kid Koala, Eric Yick Keung San is recognized as an innovative scratch DJ and turntablist, but he's also accomplished a much deeper range of amazing work beyond the DJ moniker than one might...
Interviews
John Dyer Baizley of Baroness: Let Those Moments Happen
by Sam Retzer
Arising from the artistic sludge metal scene of Savannah, Georgia, Baroness skyrocketed into the hard music consciousness with their first full length Red Album in 2007. Tapping John Congleton [Tape...
Interviews
Brigitte Angerhausen: Creating a Magic Moment
by Lisa Machac
Mixing Máša i Medvéd' (Masha and the Bear) at Petroshop Studio Brigitte Angerhausen is a classically trained pianist, composer, producer, and award-winning audio engineer...
Interviews
Donn Landee: Keeping an Open Mind, Part Two
by Greg Renoff
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 staff...
Interviews
Marc Pevar & Susan Pevar: Recording Kora with Alhaji Bai Konte in 1973
by Ian Brennan
L-R Alhaji Bai Konte, Susan Pevar, Jali Ngal Mbai In 1973, Alhaji Bai Konte's record, Kora Melodies From The Republic Of The Gambia, West Africa, was the first album of kora music to be released...
Interviews
Philip Graham: Behind The Gear with Ear Trumpet Labs
by Larry Crane
Nestled in a multi-use warehouse in NE Portland, Oregon, near a brewery and a distillery/vegan restaurant, you'll find Philip Graham's Ear Trumpet Labs. In this shop, Philip and a small staff...
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Kim Deal: Communication as a Technical Skill
by Meredith Hobbs Coons
Kim Deal is the founder and frontwoman of The Breeders, whose landmark album Last Splash turned 30 in 2023. She also spent quite some time playing bass and lending vocals to The Pixies, but she's a...
Joseph Lorge: Open to Experimentation
by Gus Berry
Joseph Lorge has been quietly working away on an impressive discography over the last few years. Many know him as the engineer who works closely with Blake Mills [Tape Op #115], as they have made...
Lynne Earls: Immersed in the Practice
by Lisa Machac
Lynne Earls is an Irish music producer, songwriter, and sound engineer based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to owning her own label, custom music production shop, and residential recording...
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End Rant
Do You Really Need to be "Doing It Like a Pro"?
by Larry Crane
My recording career did not begin in a professional studio. It began in high school, with a pile of cassette decks, cables, homemade oscillators, Casio keyboards, and cheap microphones strewn...
Gear Geeking
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
I've written here before that I own dozens of cordless power tools from Bosch, Milwaukee, and Ryobi for the never-ending list of projects around the house, inside the garage, out on the dock, and of...
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Gear Reviews See more →
Pro-R 2 Reverb Plug-In
by FabFilter | reviewed by Larry Crane
It wasn't that many years ago that my staff at Jackpot! Recording Studio kept mentioning FabFilter's Pro-Q 3 [Tape Op #132] so much that I began using it on everything; they were correct –...
FT-1 Freqtube
by Freqport | reviewed by Scott McDowell
In what seems to be a growing trend, Freqtube FT-1 is a saturation plug-in for DAWs that uses an outboard analog processor in conjunction with software. This is my first experience with anything from...
SA-3 Spectral Processor Plug-In
by McDSP | reviewed by Scott McDowell
The SA-3 is a massive evolution of McDSP’s SA-2 Dialogue Processor. Like its predecessor, it’s still a killer dialogue and vocal tamer, but it’s so much more than simply that. This...
SM7dB Microphone
by Shure | reviewed by Danielle Goldsmith
The Shure SM7 microphone [Tape Op #36] is an all-around workhorse mic that has been ubiquitous in the recording industry since its introduction in 1973. Subsequently, many engineers have recognized...
The Immediate Family (film)
by Denny Tedesco, director | reviewed by Larry Crane
In Tape Op #107 I interviewed Denny Tedesco about The Wrecking Crew, the documentary film he had recently directed. I'd always wonder how Denny would follow up that fantastic doc, and now we have The...
Blackhole & MicroPitch Immersive Plug-Ins
by Eventide Audio | reviewed by Adam Kagan
Remember when hardware reverbs were the sole effects available? I certainly do. In the mid-‘90s, when I began making records in Los Angeles, I would scan any unfamiliar studio for the presence...
509 500 Series Rotating Limiter
by Kludge Audio | reviewed by Scott McChane
“What is this crazy thing?” is the heading of the second paragraph in Kludge Audio’s instruction manual for the one knob / two toggle switch 509 Rotating Limiter. Before slotting...
UAD Sound City Studios Plug-In
by Universal Audio | reviewed by Scott McChane
To list all the classic, quintessential rock 'n' roll recordings that have been tracked at Sound City Studios is beyond the scope of this review – but trust me, you’ve heard them:...
Omnipressor 2830 Au Dynamics Processor
by Eventide Audio | reviewed by Steve Silverstein
I’ve had an original one channel hardware Eventide Omnipressor for years, so it’s been exciting to try the new 50th Anniversary Reissue Omnipressor 2830 Au, which keeps the functionality...
Transit Transition Plug-In
by Baby Audio | reviewed by Adam Kagan
Baby Audio collaborated with producer Andrew Huang [Tape Op #85] to create the Transit transition designer plug-in. Like most Baby Audio plug-ins, Transit aims to simplify a complex task, offering an...
MT 48 USB-C Interface
by Neumann | reviewed by Alan Tubbs
The MT 48 isn’t just another desktop interface; it is Neumann’s redevelopment of Merging Technologies’ high end Anubis interface as Neumann and Merging Technologies both now operate...
Brass Mic Clip & Copper Shock Mount
by Ear Trumpet Labs | reviewed by Larry Crane
Sure, there are a few elegantly functional mic mounts out there (Royer, Audio-Technica, Rycote), but are there any aesthetically beautiful and functional mic mounts available? Manufactured in...
Snare Mic
by Lauten Audio | reviewed by Mike Kosacek
I have quite a few snare mics, but none that are actually named “Snare Mic.” That's about to change. I'm a drummer, and I've mic’d a lot of snare drums. I usually rely on dynamic...
The Creative Act: A Way of Being (book), On Recording: A Manifesto (book)
by Rick Rubin, author | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
These two books are both highly disparate but also very similar. More than anything else, I found them fun to read and also inspiring, although in different ways. But in the end, inspiration is...
MG20 Small Diaphragm Condenser Mic
by SAMAR Audio Design | reviewed by Liam Nelson
SAMAR Audio is a refreshing voice of innovation. Dr. Mark Fouxman founded the company on his passion for electronics engineering, classical piano virtuosity, and pro audio expertise, and has...
A27M Stereo Mic Adapter
by Shure | reviewed by Larry Crane
While scouring Sweetwater's website for a stereo bar worth purchasing to try out, I recently stumbled across the Shure A27M stereo microphone adapter. Note that it's not referred to as a "stereo bar"...
FlexBar Stereo Mic Mount
by Royer Labs | reviewed by Larry Crane
I'm a stickler for using stereo mounts for setting up pairs of microphones or grouping two mics on an amp when recording, and I am usually completely unhappy with how all these stereo bars and mounts...
Stereophonic (play)
by David Adjmi, writer | reviewed by Sam Retzer
Recently, I was lucky to catch Stereophonic, David Adjmi’s off-Broadway (Playwrights Horizons in New York City) hit, featuring songs by ex-Arcade Fire member Will Butler and directed by Daniel...
32Classic Console
by Harrison Audio | reviewed by Dan Knobler
If you took at face value the mythologizing of recording consoles as it stands today, you could be forgiven for thinking that Neve, API, and SSL made all the classic desks used for record production...
UAFX Guitar Pedals
by Universal Audio | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane, Dana Gumbiner, Scott McChane, Corey Reidy
UPDATE: ANTI & Enigmatic Amp Pedals Review Universal Audio introduced their first three UAFX Pedals in 2021, and with the release of 12 new pedals in 2023, the line now has 18 different pedal...