Interviews
Phil Taylor
by Jeff Touzeau
For nearly a century, The Astoria has woven its own distinct musical heritage along the banks of the river Thames, just southwest of London. With its lush and leafy surroundings, highly reminiscent...
Interviews
Tommy Ramone: Producing the Ramones & the Replacements
by Roman Sokal
The New York city-based Ramones arguably began and boosted the punk rock movement back in the mid-1970s. They took the world by storm and inspired a multitude of musicians to form bands with a...
Interviews
Gordon Raphael: From Sky Cries Mary to The Strokes
by Hillary Johnson
For the past couple of years, Gordon and his partner, Anna Mercedes (whose family owns Bear Creek Studios in Seattle), have been settling into their studio, The Silver TransporterRaum. The studio,...
Interviews
Sonic Boom: Spacemen 3 and EAR
by William Bernhard
Spacemen 3 were always a band hovering around the perimeters of my musical awareness. I routinely read about them in articles and as an influence on music that I liked. I even played a few tracks...
Behind the Gear
Wade Goeke: Behind the Gear with Chandler Limited
by Walt Szalva
Wade Goeke is the man behind Chandler Limited, a boutique gear firm intent on taking the legendary designs of Rupert Neve and Abbey Road and updating them for present day studio use and abuse. Wade...
Interviews
Microphones: Understanding Classic Condenser Microphone Capsules
by David Bock
A microphone is a very unique audio tool in that it is a mix of mechanical and electrical components. No other audio product, save loudspeakers, has such a critical combination of different scientific...
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Mouse On Mars: German Electronic Lab Rats
by Steven Nereo
Mouse on Mars have been electronic pioneers since the early '90s, being one of the first bands to successfully create electronic music for the non-raving crowd — one of the more important...
Viet Nam Studios: Gold Records in Viet Nam
by Jon Cohrs
Microphones: The Decca Tree Technique
by Garrett Haines
In the last issue, Bruce Bartlett examined many of the ways to position two mics for great stereo recordings. Although it might seem strange, there is also a cool way to get great stereo tracks...
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Columns See more →
End Rant
It’s the End of the World as We Know it (and I Feel Fine)
by Larry Crane
At the beginning of this year the only professional audiotape manufacturer left in the world closed its doors. Quantegy had outlasted all of its competitors — there was no more EMTEC/BASF,...
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Gear Reviews See more →
UE-10 PRO Ear Monitors
by Ultimate Ears | reviewed by Jeff Elbel
Ultimate Ears competes with companies like Sensaphonics for sales of in-ear monitors to professional users. After his introduction to the iPod, Ultimate Ears founder Jerry Harvey recognized an...
B-CONTROL BCF2000 USB/MIDI controller, B-CONTROL BCR2000 USB/MIDI controller
by Behringer | reviewed by Jason Wolford
Behringer gets bashed a lot because they've managed to drive down the price of project studio gear significantly without raising (or in some cases maintaining) the level of quality set by...
BravoPro Disc Publisher
by Primera Technology | reviewed by Andy Hong
In Tape Op #44, I wrote a review of the Bravo II Disc Publisher and called it "awesome." The BravoPro is the new big-brother to the Bravo II. Using either, you can "publish" your own CD's or DVD's...
Carmen Ghia tube guitar head
by Dr. Z Amplification | reviewed by Geoff Farina
A few recent experiences with a stripped-down 60's Fender Deluxe have finally convinced me to pack up my trusty Twin Reverbs for good. There's just something magical about the combination of the...
MDR-NC11 Noise Canceling Ear-Buds, E3c Sound Isolating Earphones
by Sony | reviewed by Andy Hong
In Tape Op #26, I compared the Sony MDR-NC10 earbuds to Bose QuietComfort headphones, both of which employ active noise-canceling technology. Although the Bose phones sounded better, I preferred the...
DrumCore
by Submersible Music | reviewed by Jeff Robbins
First off, I should mention my hesitation about drum loops. Over the years, I've developed quite a library of drum loops, and although they're fun to play with, they rarely make it into my finished...
Swivel Mic Cable
by Planet Waves | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
Pete Weiss touched on these cables in his review of the Planet Waves line in Tape Op # 39, but I recently picked up a few of the cables after seeing them at the recent NAMM show, and thought they were...
PS-04 Palmtop Studio
by Zoom | reviewed by Andy Hong
Attendees of the first Tape Op Conference in 2002 may remember a photo of the yet-to-be-released Zoom Palmtop Studio in my presentation of music technology history. I had read enough prerelease info...
Live 4
by Ableton | reviewed by Chachi Jones
When the first version of Ableton Live hit the shelves in 2001, it instantly found a hardcore audience of music makers desperate for a flexible arranging tool with an emphasis on playful...
?Alice? small-diaphragm condenser mic
by Scott Helmke | reviewed by Inverse Room
While trolling the ancient "DIY Mics" thread on the Tape Op forum, I came across a post from Scott Helmke (AKA Scodiddly) about a microphone he was working on based on the Transound TSB-165A cardioid...
Phoenix TDM plug-in
by Crane Song | reviewed by Matt Boudreau
In the last several weeks while I was writing this review, Quantegy closed its doors for financial restructuring, Studer 24-tracks were listed on eBay for $7000 with Dolby SR, and the tape-using...
MasterQ parametric EQ plug-in
by PSP | reviewed by Garrett Haines
In general, I'm not impressed by most of the "mastering- grade" EQ plug-ins on the market. I mean, I put reindeer antlers on my dog for Christmas card pictures, but it doesn't mean my dog can fly....
FW-1082 FireWire Audio/MIDI interface and controller
by TASCAM | reviewed by Scott Colburn
While reviewing the TASCAM FW-1082, I found myself reminiscing back to the days of the cassette four-track, with which an entire underground network of rebel musicians recorded their own music and...
Picturebox, Inc.
by The Wilco Book | reviewed by John Baccigaluppi
This book is a very cool intersection of music, writing, photography and design. What it's not is a straightforward documentation of the band's music that holds the reader's hand and discusses the...
Quartet II Recording Channel
by Pendulum Audio | reviewed by Mike Caffrey
The Pendulum Audio Quartet II (Mercenary Audio Edition) sounds outrageously beautiful. The Quartet II is four independent analog processing elements: a tube mic preamp, a tube EQ, a tube compressor,...