Interviews
By Matt Ligotti, Geoff Stanfield
Producer and musician Tommy Brenneck got his start as a member of New York's Dap-Kings. He has since made an impression on the east coast music scene as a band member and producer on projects with The Budos Band, Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, The Menahan Street Band, and many others. We sat down...
Interviews
Bill Schnee has earned his place in the pantheon of recording engineers, with credits like Three Dog Night, Ringo Starr, Barbra Str...
Interviews
Ben Baptie is a London-based producer and mix engineer. After working with Tom Elmhirst at Electric Lady Studios in New York, Ben we...
Interviews
With her eighth album, Songwrights Apothecary Lab, vocalist, bassist, and fearless...
Interviews
I've been following the career of Portland, Oregon's Blitzen Trapper since their...
Interviews
A multi-instrumentalist, performance artist, educator, programmer, and author, Sandy...
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is one the most innovative composers working today. With his experience in punk and metal bands, and as a vocalist, his compositions are grounded in a way that is usually sorely lacking from conservatory fare. Startlingly prolific, he has released over 20 albums in 17 years since 2004 – often performing solo under the pseudonym Lichens – and also with the likes of the bands Om and Singer. He has collaborated with such heavyweights as Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo [Tape Op #17], Genesis P-Orridge, and the late Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson. Robert was also the lead singer and trumpet player on three albums and an EP for Chicago's 90 Day Men, and he provided vocals on albums for Drag City groups U.S. Maple and Town & Country. Using field recording in his work, he has now provided the score for director Nia DaCosta's remake of the cult film Candyman, the latest in Jordan Peele's (Get Out, Us) Monkeypaw Productions' run of smash-hit, socio-political, arthouse horror.
If you look at the history of Tears For Fears, the original duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith only made three albums – The Hurting, Songs from the Big Chair, and The Seeds Of Love – before splitting in 1991. But what albums they were! The Hurting proved that new technology could be harnessed in service of very emotional music. Songs from the Big Chair became a massive hit, with expanded production and goals. The Seeds Of Love was a studio tour de force and a massive production. After their breakup, Roland carried the band on without Curt, but a reunion in 2000 led to the album Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. Now, 17 years later, here's the follow-up, The Tipping Point, and some interesting stories to go with it.
If there is anyone out there who is meant to be working in music as a producer, engineer, and songwriter that would be Toronto's Gavin Brown. For years, he has been Canada's go-to producer. His list of credits is long; he's ultra-enthusiastic and spares no expense. He utilizes practically everything out there (plug-ins, gear, etc.) to make a song the best it can be. He's worked with Metric, Barenaked Ladies, The Tragically Hip, and Three Days Grace. He's an inspiration in the number of things he achieves in music. Recently he co-wrote and played guitar on Sting's song, "Rushing Water.
There is a portal inside of a garage in Van Nuys, California, that leads to another world. A world of crushing heaviness, monstrous sounds, and violently compelling breakdowns. Despite its modest size, The Pit Studio has drawn decibel disciples from across Southern California and beyond in search of the ultimate in slam-ready sonics. Inside the blood red live room, a dizzying selection of modded out Marshall amps and punishing Mesa Boogie heads stand at attention in custom wooden carpentry. In the corner sits a well-loved, carefully mic'd SJC drum kit, outfitted with sinister splash cymbals. Lording over The Pit from his control room throne, Taylor Young has spent over a decade creating a space where heavy hardcore, death metal, and '90s "hard alternative" melt into a mutant stew of impossibly hard music. Perhaps best known as the former drummer for grindcore darlings NAILS, Taylor and his brother, Colin, have also led their own band, Twitching Tongues, through four albums of aggressively melodic and romantic metalcore. In a sure sign of global moshification, the recent Pit-produced God's Hate album (self-titled) snuck up to #13 on the Billboard Hard Music chart, with steady airplay on SiriusXM Radio's Liquid Metal show. Plus, he's been producing records for iconic labels like Southern Lord, Metal Blade, and Revelation Records. Step now with me into The Pit, and if you see anyone going down… help them up! Feature Image: Taylor and Duke (818) Style Kyla Barsell
When a pair of Audix’s new high-end A127 omnidirectional small diaphragm metal film condensers arrived in the mail, it took me a minute to put them into rotation; I felt as if I was waiting for a special occasion. I generally gravitate towards audio equipment with its own distinct color, so I tend...
John McBride [Tape Op #97], owner of Blackbird Studio in Nashville, woke up from a nightmare one night thinking his studio had burned to the ground. Although his studio contains countless pieces of priceless gear, his first thought was, “is the Neve in Studio A, okay?” Fortunately, it was only a...
The Red Panda Bitmap 2 is a bit-crusher for people who love bit-crushing, made by people who are obsessed with bit-crushing. The instruction manual begins by describing designer Curt Malouin’s relationship with music in 5th grade (bit-crushing was formative), then goes on for 30 pages of technical...
Recording and DIY electronics have a long history together, as most early studios had custom-built consoles and in-house technical departments. Even though a near-comprehensive array of commercial audio gear emerged by the end of the millennium, vestiges of this tradition remain. With the rise of...
Earlier this year, I called Tape Op editor Larry Crane to ask if he could help me with a mixing dilemma. I wanted to recreate the vocal effect on Steely Dan’s “Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More” for a song I was mixing. There’s an exaggerated flanging/phasing occurring when Donald...
Cables are the brakes of our “studio bus” – necessary to get anywhere and ignored until they malfunction. There are numerous ways to troubleshoot: continuity meters, known good connections, signal generators, or all-in-one testing boxes are all ideal for short-run, easily accessible connections....
HEAR360 has modeled the Ecoplate I, a well-known analog plate reverb designed by Jim Cunningham in the ‘80s. At the time, it was not uncommon for producers and engineers familiar with the time-tested EMT 140 plate reverb from the ‘60s to prefer the original Ecoplate for its sweet high end and wide...
RME has raised the bar on value with the Fireface UCX II. This German-made ADC/DAC is an all-in-one recording tool of bits and bytes, with no compromises on hardware quality or software functionality. It is designed for either studio or on-location multi-channel recording and playback. It can also...
If you have a Leslie rotary speaker cabinet in your studio, then the BookerLAB Fusion preamp interface (FPI) is an absolute must. The FPI allows you to connect instruments, microphones, and studio equipment to your Leslie via a 1/4-inch connector. This, coupled with an effects send and return and...
The JZ Black Hole [Tape Op #71] and BB29 [#141] are mics that are often used in my studio. They have purpose across many applications, and my Black Hole mic has performed reliably, without issue, for over a decade. I loan them to friends who need an extra mic and recommend them to folks that need a...
Recently, I’ve been shopping around for an upgrade from my DigiLink-compatible interface. After mixed experiences with a few of the all-in-one (and by that, I mean non-modular) interfaces, I must admit I’m now more attracted to a modular design. Veterans in this field (like myself) have likely...
Subtitled “Recording the Stars in a Golden Era of Live Music,” this book follows the mobile recording career of the esteemed engineer David W. Hewitt. With early days at The Record Plant in New York and later his own company, Remote Recording Services, David helped modernize the remote recording...
The Power-1 is the first in a series of power distribution and conditioning/surge suppressor units from Radial Engineering. Why was I excited about swapping this one space “glorified power strip” into some of my studio racks? Mostly because there are three power outlets on the front for all those...
API consoles, 500 Series modules, and their underlying technologies have been a staple of professional recording studios for over five decades. In 2021, API unveiled a new sub-brand called API Select, introducing an extended product range, including tube-based gear and guitar pedals. Make no...
Eventide has released its new innovative EQ plug-in, SplitEQ. I use the word “innovative” because, after only a few minutes of messing around with it, I couldn’t help but wonder how it didn’t exist before now. SplitEQ uses a patented Structural Split™ technology to split audio signals into two...
When I have a new piece of gear in my hands for review I always ask myself some questions. Do I need it? How simply will it integrate into my workflow? Will it improve my process, mixes, or creativity? I am always looking to streamline and have tools in the studio that will get used every day. The...
I've been haunted by the EMS Synthi AKS3 since watching footage of Roxy Music on the Old Grey Whistle Test (British TV show) where Brian Eno [Tape Op #85] created a bubbling bed of exotic alien noise using this portable, modular synthesizer during their 1972 performance of "Ladytron" (look it up on...
Applied Research and Technology (ART) has set the “bang for the buck” bar with equitable pricing and affordable innovation in professional audio products for nearly 40 years. Whether you’re starting out as a self-recording artist or putting together your first studio on a budget, when cash is lean,...
In an incredibly saturated market, where there is a piece of equipment for every possible scenario – like a mic pre or EQ for hi-hat top and bottom on a full moon with 57% humidity – I am amazed to find a piece of gear that seems to have found a permanent parking space right in a gap we didn’t even...
LSR Audio has managed to emulate an authentic ‘70s American peak-detecting feed-back style console compressor circuit (the API 525) and bring it to the digital world with their VLB525 Classic FET compressor plug-in. At first glance, this plug-in may seem daunting due to all the switches and knobs,...
I believe we’ve all been overlooking Hazelrigg Industries for quite some time as a purveyor of excellent audio equipment. I recently had the opportunity to demo the Hazelrigg Industries VNE compressor, and having favorably reviewed the Hazelrigg VDI [Tape Op #138] in the past, I jumped at the...