Technical snags and troubleshooting nightmares? We believe there is a better way to solve them.

We are trying a big experiment. One that - with a little luck - can eventually benefit all us audio engineers the world over. Here is the idea.

The Problem: As music recordists, being technical is built into the DNA of our craft. Yet, at the end of the day we all know the technical stuff is only there to facilitate and support what our job is actually about: being creative and making/capturing art. And, we also all know first-hand that nothing blows apart the creative experience of record-making quite like hitting a technical snag.

So what do we do? Well, the time-tested art of troubleshooting notwithstanding, we generally end up on the internet. On a google search. On an audio forum. Scrolling downward, through opinions and blather and straight out flame wars to find that ONE. TECHNICAL. ANSWER. (somewhere on this forum page is DAE Error-#### right??) that allows us to solve the problem and move forward.

Why is there not a place on the internet with only those answers? Because it's impossible right? Because human nature dictates that you simply cannot have such consistent civility and focus of topic, right? Well, we'd agree with you, except...

The Solution: It turns out that in the world of computer programming, they have solved this problem. These utopian places exist, and they are called Q & A sites. They work by actively controlling free discussion and laser focusing on specific technical questions and their answers. Essentially, they have separated out the technical components of traditional messageboards.

We feel that the audio community needs this, and so we've built one, and we're calling it Tape Op Questions. Our hope is that our venerable Tape Op Messageboard remains vibrant as a place for free and open discourse, while Tape Op Questions becomes a more specialized and effective place for dealing with the technical side of audio. In other words: forum utopia. Or at least...more utopian than the current state.

Caveat: It doesn't work without you.

The Tape Op readership makes up one of the most creative, curious, and knowledgeable communities out there, and we want your questions and answers to be the foundation of this new resource. When a question arises for you, ask it. When you come across a question you know, answer it. Yes, it will take time, and that is okay by us. But ultimately we hope to provide audio recordists with a comprehensive library of direct, well-thought-out, and to-the-point questions and answers in their craft. Something that helps solve the problem faster for all of us, and gets us back to being creative.

Check out Tape Op Questions HERE.

Tape Op's July 2013 Studio Pet of the Month!

IMMORTALIZE YOUR STUDIO PET! Send an appropriately adorable/awesome pic to studiopets@tapeop.com. (so we can give you proper credit, please include: your pet's name, your studio's name, location, and URL!)

p.s. we received so many top-shelf studio pet pics lately that it is becoming clear that only showing one per month in the newsletter isn't going to cut it. Expect some sort of dedicated gallery on tapeop.com very soon!

Thanks as always for reading our humble mag!

-Larry, John and the Tape Op staff