Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
After completing multiple home, studio, and office moves in the past couple years, I’ve been frustrated by the challenge of finding tools and supplies after packing them away – not just...
Columns
Sporadic and regular articles from our contributors.
The DynoPopper X-10
by Larry Crane
Photo by Roman Sokal, courtesy of Audio Crowbar Dynamics. Having recently spent more time working on the Tape Op Gear Reviews section of this magazine, one thought keeps creeping into my mind and...
Not So Oblique Strategies
by Larry Crane, Garrett Haines
In 1975, Brian Eno [Tape Op #85] and multimedia artist Peter Schmidt published their first set of Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas. These cards work as creativity resets,...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
During my attendance of the NAMM Show in April 2023, I saw many new and unique products. Audiomovers showed me Inject, a plug-in for recording iPad virtual instruments directly into a DAW using only a...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
When we lust over aspirational recording gear, what often comes to mind are vintage hunks of steel and vacuum tubes from the likes of Fairchild, Telefunken, Neumann, RCA, Pultec, Collins, and Altec....
Open Minds, Open Ears
by Scott Anthony
"No drum machines were used on this album!" "No synthesizers!" These liner note proclamations were, for a time, a "cool" way to indicate a declaration of purity. But bands like Queen, who made these...
What the F#ck is “Industry Standard”?
by Larry Crane, Garrett Haines
After receiving negative feedback regarding her release, a talented artist I’d worked with dropped me a line. Apparently a random critic of her album had declared that “the song was...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
For quite a time surrounding the year 2000, I was known as “the guy who records Karate” — their de facto recording engineer. Following the completion of their third album, The Bed is...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
I’m writing this just a couple weeks after the AES Show in New York City. This was the first major Pro Audio convention that I’ve attended since the Pandemic, and I very much enjoyed...
Amazing Emotional Responses
by John Plymale
When producing a record one of the main tenets I follow relates to how I get others to use their ears, brains, and – most importantly – their emotions when they listen back to...
The End of the Unknown Craftsman?
by John Baccigaluppi, Larry Crane
The recent sale of Bob Dylan’s one-off recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind” for $1.7 million dollars has left me reflecting on a very different way of evaluating art and...
Gear Geeking w/ Andy...
by Andy Hong
In my previous Gear Geeking roundup of true wireless earbuds [Tape Op #150], I mentioned how I prefer Google Pixel Buds A-Series for making calls and listening to news, since they’re very...