Organized Chaos
by Larry Crane
My client Ken is a treat to work with. He brings in sessions off his standalone digital multitrack with each song on a CD-R, clearly labeled, a binder with track notes including how everything was...
End Rants
Sporadic and regular articles from our contributors.
Customer Service
by Larry Crane
I recently installed a Pro Tools HD system and Pro Tools 7 in my studio to replace the Digi002 we've been using for a few years. I'd be lying if I said this was an easy task, but I'd also be lying...
No Glam Gear
by Larry Crane
I just hit the ninth anniversary of signing the lease on my studio space today, and I'm in the planning stages for moving into a new building (courtesy of my landlord-to-be, Hamptone). Reflecting...
Mix and Match!
by Steve Silverstein
While thinking about Trout Mask Replica today, I had this realization — so many people don't know who engineered timeless classics. No respect for fabulous labor, eh? To prove it...
Fifty Issues, Fifty Quotes
by Larry Crane
One quote from each issue of Tape Op — numbered by issue. 1. "Keep that spontaneity there at all costs." -Fred Cornog (East River Pipe) 2. "If I notice it then I gotta work on it." -Janet...
Things to Do in the Studio
by Larry Crane
"I read Tape Op because it talks about music and recording from what, in my mind, is the 'correct' angle — the artistic one. A common theme in this magazine is paying clients doing or saying...
Words I do not Understand
by Larry Crane
On a daily basis I come across many words used in the recording world that have no meaning to me or have lost any meaning they might have once had. These words come out of clients' mouths, from...
And Then Reality Hits You in the Head...
by Steve Albini, Larry Crane, Chris Garges
Anyone that's worked at a studio, been in a band that records or even just sat down and thought about it for a minute knows this question: "How long will it take to record our album?" I hear this...
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,...
Anatomy of an Issue
by John Baccigaluppi
Larry gets a break this month, as this issue's 'End Rant' is a behind the scenes peek at how this magazine gets put together every two months. In a nutshell, it's organized chaos and this issue...
Depth of Field
by Larry Crane
In recording albums, editing Tape Op, being a fan of music and teaching recording information and techniques to groups of home recordists one thing has become clear to me. The biggest problem that...
Why Should You Vote?
by Larry Crane
Think your one vote doesn't count for much? Around 500 votes in Florida swayed the 2000 presidential election — a margin of .03% of the state population — 1 in 3000! The American people...