JB's End Rant and RADAR studio review in this issue inspired me to share with you a few of the software utilities I install whenever I set up a new Windows computer. If you're a DAW user moving...
I remember a session, 17 years ago, with the band Quasi, for the album Field Studies. We'd tracked a song, "Birds." I thought the initial take was fine, and I believe we'd started overdubbing on it....
The nascence of my music-technology career goes back to high school, when I wrote a 1-bit sampling drum-machine program for my Apple ][+, utilizing the computer's cassette-tape storage port as the A/D...
In the previous issue, I discussed how I had successfully employed a $25 car-audio EQ as a sidechain EQ for stereo bus compression. It was a cheap and highly effective solution, but it had its...
When I began Tape Op it was a reaction, in part, to the prevalence of high-end studios in other recording magazines. I'd see a photo of a giant console in a fancy room and think, "I've never made a...
The band E was in my studio recently. Thalia Zedek (Come), Jason Sanford (Neptune), and Gavin McCarthy (Karate) are all extremely dynamic performers, but even during quiet moments, their instruments...
Looking back, it seems like I've always been recording something. When I was very young there were a pair of small Sony reel-to-reel recorders floating around our house — previously used by...
When I'm reviewing gear, audio analysis software like FuzzMeasure [this issue] gives me the ability to resolve differences in sound quality and consequently use objective language when conveying those...
While interviewing Andrija Tokic for this issue of Tape Op he told me, "Mics are nothing like ears. It's about learning how to get what you like out of a sound." I couldn't agree more. I'm...
I can remember back in 2002, when I first joined the Tape Op team as Reviews Editor, ribbon mics were relatively rare, and even new ones, like the now ubiquitous Royer Labs R-12, weren't too often...
I'm in front of the console, about one hour into a mixing session with a new client in attendance. I've got too much on my mind, an issue of the magazine to write and edit, gear to upgrade...
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Last year I met up for beers with an audio engineer who was passing through town while doing front of house for a well-known artist on a sold out tour. While we were chatting about life and audio, he...
