Interviews
By Roman Sokal
Having recently released his twenty-second studio album, Savage (Songs from a Broken World), Gary Numan is no stranger to the recording process. Produced by Ade Fenton (see his interview this issue), it is a soaring, epic, electronic dark groove record, with the unique lyrics and vocals that Numan...
Interviews
Julien Baker is more visible than ever. After her low-budget debut, Sprained Ankle, made nearly every best-of 2015 list, the 21-year-old Baker signed with Matador Records a...
Interviews
Ade Fenton is a creative, masterful cutting-edge engineer, producer, DJ, and composer based in the UK. He has worked with Read More →
Interviews
F. Reid Shippen is a successful music producer, engineer, and businessperson. He has also...
Interviews
If music lives in the spaces between the notes, consider Moses Sumney your guide through...
Interviews
Over the last 20 years Matt Chamberlain has contributed to a staggering variety of...
The least surprising thing about the 2017 release of the Giles Martin remixed version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is that its sonics – indeed, its very existence – was heavily and passionately debated. Audio engineers who work on historic recordings know they have to be tuned into that sweet spot, where presumed aesthetics need to shine through and residual noise is tempered enough to slip into the background, or slide away entirely. Even then, there are always fans who will prefer the original, fans who will clamor for the new release, and fans who won't hear the difference. The reissue market is massive, and so is the number of recordings in need of preservation, restoration, and remastering. Aging rock stars are repackaging their catalogs. Labels like Numero Group, Light In the Attic Records, Anthology Recordings, Captured Tracks, Awesome Tapes From Africa, Omnivore Recordings, and many more are digging up lost or forgotten recordings, demos, B-sides, and long neglected catalogs. Mastering reissues is a specialty with its own set of considerations, technological tools, and audience expectations. In the broader world of record making, we all have the same goal: to make it sound great. But how do we do that when our sources are damaged tapes, well-worn LPs, or even cassettes that have been buried underground for years? I asked three other mastering engineers who have restored and remastered many reissues, in addition to mastering plenty of new recordings:
True to their rather clever names, these two plug-in bundles feature easy-to-use and accurate emulations of 3 sought-after preamps and 3 classic synth filter sections, each with some creative modulation and modern signal processing options that not only are dead simple to apply, but sound stellar –...
Set up as a straight DAC/headphone amp, RME's ADI-2 DAC sounds fantastic and is very much on the neutral and clear, perhaps "clinical" side of things. This tonality is exactly what a professional audio engineer needs in order to make educated sound-shaping decisions. Its built-in headphone amp...
Revive Audio is a small company based in Boise, Idaho, that makes boutique audio gear under the Vintage Audio name [MSL VCA Bus Compressor, Tape Op #102] and also modifies a wide range of moderately priced gear. I first learned about the Revive mods when I was looking at some high-end, and rather...
Subtitled, "Beginner's Archiving for Musicians", this wonderful little ‘zine-like pamphlet presents some easy to understand concepts to help musicians (as well as engineers and producers) "organize, describe, and back up" their music. Author Jessica Thompson (see her re-mastering article this...
France-based Focal is best known for pro and consumer audio speakers, but the company has, in recent years, moved into all aspects of the headphone market. Up for discussion here are the new Clear Professional open-back, full-sized headphones aimed at mastering and recording engineers. Focal's...
The Advanced Audio CM251 and CM67se are both large diaphragm tube condenser mics. They come with nine polar pattern power supplies, shock mounts, multi-pin XLR cables, foam windscreens, and a nice case to hold each mic system. On the case handle hardware there is a small label letting you know...
The CornerSorber is a membrane-based low-frequency (LF) absorber from Acoustic Geometry. Designed to work in conjunction with preexisting treatments, such as the LF membrane Curve Diffusors [Tape Op #88 and #122], each unit is comprised of two panel-wedges that resemble giant chocolate bars. The...
This January I was wandering around the NAMM Show, looking at all the fancy new recording gear on display in the new Anaheim Convention Center North Hall, when I ran into producer/engineer Darrell Thorp. Being the enthusiastic guy that he is, he dragged me along to the IsoAcoustics booth where we...
From the moment I started using Mojave's large diaphragm condenser MA-50 mic, it sounded great on everything. There are many budget mics in the $200 to $300 price range, but the MA-50 is certainly worth spending a little extra on. It's a great starter mic, or a smart upgrade, and will add that...
I'll begin this review with a confession; in over two decades of mixing albums I've rarely mixed through a bus compressor. Why? The more I kept hearing that I "had to" in order to get good results, the more I balked at using one. I'd tried out the stereo compressors that I owned and was never quite...
An optical compressor that has four knobs, one meter, one switch, and a single button shouldn't take too many words to review... TG Opto is the latest offering from Chandler Limited in the 500-series format. It's a mono unit, takes up two spaces in the rack, and has a fully discrete transistor...
My colleague, Kevin Becka, is one of the founding studio recording teachers at The Blackbird Academy in Nashville, along with Tape Op contributor Mark Rubel. Kevin, being a teacher, saw a need for a concise book that provides an introduction to audio recording for his students. I wish this 77-page...
Oh, my. Boutique pro audio builders/mad scientists at UnderTone Audio sent us their recreation of the revered, classic variable mu compressor/limiter, the Fairchild 670, and it does not disappoint. The UnFairchild 670MII recreates the dual-channel 670, which was originally developed in the 1950s....
Unless you're recording a singer on par with Michael Jackson in his prime, competently capturing doubled lead vocals will require acute attention to detail, an enormous amount of patience, and a lot of work. The act itself is boring, it's tough on the performer, and often equally grating for...
In my 15 years as a studio owner (Sharkbite Studios, Oakland, CA), there is nothing I've dreaded more than operating system and Pro Tools software upgrades. This has become even truer over time, as both macOS and Pro Tools have become mature platforms with newer software versions that aren't...