How many of you know that Larry has an active blog at www.tapeop.com/tapelog with plenty of interesting news and opinion? Me being the Gear Geek, one of my favorite entries is Larry's list of gear that "deserves special credit", posted in August 2008, which I am reprinting here. -AH MCI 1/4'' 2 track mixdown deck — More than ever this glues these Pro Tools mixes together. IZotope RX (#65) — I find a new way to use this audio restoration software every session. I clean up ribbon mic tracks full of hiss, room mics with background noise, piano squeaks, buzzing bass, electric guitar tracks. Chandler TG1 stereo compressor (#37) — The most distinctive compressor I've heard. Unreal distortion when driven hard. Drawmer 1969 stereo compressor/preamp/DI (#25) — Underrated. Preamp sucks but compressor is clean and works SO GOOD! Studio Electronics C2s stereo compressor (#36) — No one knows about this one. Like a faster 1176 and cleaner. Unreal on percussion, xylophone hits, or such. EMT 140 Plate Reverb — We had Hamptone build new electronics for the driver and pickups on this. Amazing! Demeter Real Reverb spring reverb (#21) — I still like this for some things even though I have a plate reverb. Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (#51) — No mix is done without this. Great River EQ-2NV equalizer (#45) — This can fix anything. And in a nice way! Drawmer DS201 dual gate (#23) — Always the best way to clean up an analog mix. So tunable. Korg DTR-2000 rackmount digital tuner — More than ever I appreciate a good tuner. Brauner Valvet Voice mic (#30) — How do you record vox? Put this up and 90% of the time yer done. BLUE Dragonfly condenser (#22) — Secret weapon on toms. Try it. Now. Earthworks TC30K omni condenser — The best room mics. Royer R-121 ribbon mic (#19) — It's rare I record an electric guitar without one of these up. AEA R84 ribbon mic (#38) — Trumpet, percussion, acoustic guitar, bass amps, upright bass. AEA R92 (#56) — On electric guitar? Amazing! Heil Sound PR30 (#56) — Guitar cab, snare. Unique sound. Audix D6 (#32) — Kick, with a crazy scooped-out low mid. Audix SCX25 (#26) — Acoustic guitar's best friend. Awesome as a stereo pair for that. Shure KSM32 (#16) — A better mic than it gets credit for. Great on guitar cabs. Oktava MK-012 Joly-mod matched pair — Sound so much better than stock ones. Piano! Dangerous Music Monitor ST (#60) — The more I use this, the more I'm impressed. It's unreal how much better it sounded than the monitor section of our old console. ADAM S3-A active ribbon monitors (#33) — I get a lot of help out of these no matter what John Fischbach says. Avantone Mixcubes (#55) — Like a bad car stereo. Always helps your mixes. Tech 21 Comptortion - Makes DI bass work. Chandler Limited Germanium Preamp/DI (#51) — A preamp you can tailor for each sound. Pendulum Audio Quartet channel strip (#32) — My vocal chain. 'Nuff said. RTZ Audio 9762 Dual-Combo preamp (#41) — Why aren't people buying this? Oh, no marketing? Hamptone Silverbox 4 tube preamp (#55) — I appreciate this more every time I use it. Subtle qualities come out on this fucker. A-Designs Audio Pacifica preamp (#49) — Drum overheads, piano-brings a sort of life to the high end that other preamps sometimes lack. Valvotronics tube DI box (#35) — Great bass DI. Little Labs IBP phase alignment box (#33) — Live acoustic guitar and vox helper! Furman HDS-16 & HRM-16 headphone distribution system (#55) — I'm so happy with this setup. Make your own headphone mixes, please. -LC