Woodland is the name of Gillian Welch and David Rawling’s studio in Nashville, and it’s also the name of their new album. On Woodland, the duo continue to show their deep connection as collaborators. The album has a wide open sound that features their seemlessly blended and intimately recorded vocals, and the light touch of a backing band that includes drums, bass, pedal steel, banjo, and airy strings on tunes like "What We Had" and "Hashtag". "Lawman" and "The Bells and the Birds" have a lovely somberness, and the album as a whole has a "live off the floor" feeling to it that we hear less and less of these days. Woodland will stay in our "recently played" column for the forseeable future.
We interviewed Gillian and Dave back in 2001 for Tape Op #85.
Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.
April 15th marks the 25th anniversary of Tape Op Magazine! To mark the occasion, Tape Op founder and editor Larry Crane is making a series of short videos talking about the journey of the mag and some of the memories had along the...
I recently found myself diving back into the Little Feat catalog, and came across a documentary on the band's founder, guitarist, and frontman Lowell George, called Feats First - The Life & Music of Lowell George. Music docs, especially on the...
June 21st marked the release of a new Menahan Street Band EP, Tropical Man. We interviewed band member Tommy Brenneck for Tape Op issue #147. Tropical Man is a six song EP that has just two songs, but multiple versions/mixes of each. Both...
It was at a recent trade show, after a major DAW manufacturer cancelled our meeting, that I realized I was relieved to be off the hook. I always enjoy meeting with this person, and I use and like their products. But I was relieved to not hear...
Here's a tip that costs nothing for materials, might be good for the environment, and can save some headaches down the road. I don't know about you, but our Postal Delivery Person insists on bundling our mail in rubber bands (gum bands for our...
When we ran a page featuring senior contributor Garrett Haines' "Building Troubleshooting Skills" in Tape Op #84 I never expected to get the kind of replies we did below. The Letters section for upcoming issues was too full, so I'm posting these...
Creating Community - A Regional Audio Industry Gathering
On Saturday March 5, Recording Arts & Technology (RAT) @ Cuyahoga Community College will host a Regional Audio Recording Industry Gathering and Open House from 4-10pm at the...
I finally figured out what makes for a successful tracking session: simply eliminate the variables. On one level this could be seen as pre-production combined with concise decision making. Certainly those can help - but what I'm talking about is...
I couldn't have said it better myself. In fact, I say this all the time. Drop by Jim Powers' Music Shrink website and read his articulate post on the subject.