This issue might be about two sides of rock and roll. At one end we have Pink Floyd and David Gilmour's floating state of the art studio, Astoria — an overachievement of creating the best recordings possible. On the other side we have Tommy Ramone, the original brains behind the Ramones and drummer/producer basically by default. He ran with a band that sought to strip rock and roll down to its simplest core and made history. But it's all about music, isn't it? Both of these bands/artists/producers take up a fair share of my record collection, along with many other bands, genres and ideas. There's room for a lot of music out there...

On the other hand the climate of music and technology is changing rapidly. Look to the "End Rant" this issue for some of my thoughts on this matter, and to some of our other features for varying ways of making recordings. The world is changing and we are part of it — not just bystanders.

And once again, if all these topics interest you I expect to see you at TapeOpCon 2005 in New Orleans. There's a lot to discuss this year and we will be doing that. www.tapeopcon.com

Tape Op is a bi-monthly magazine devoted to the art of record making.

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