Tape Op Magazine - Issue #173

Interviews

Kito

By Meredith Hobbs Coons

Kito, whose given name is Maaike Kito Lebbing, has a music production career spanning three continents, from Australia, to Europe (London), and to the United States by way of Los Angeles. In that time, she has produced music for many iconic artists, such as Mabel, Jorja Smith, and Empress Of, but...

Interviews

Marc Daniel Nelson: Keeping it Fresh

By Jonathan Morrison

For over two and a half decades, Marc Daniel Nelson has built a career rooted in musicality, technical rigor, and a deep respect for the lineage of recorded sound. A Grammy-winning producer, mix engineer, and creative director, Marc’s work spans an unusually wide spectrum – moving fluidly between...

Interviews

Fela Kuti in the Studio: An Oral History

By Ian Brennan

In 2026, Fela Kuti became the first African artist ever awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys, something that I formally proposed in 2020 but took over five years to be realized. Fela took his rightful place alongside such giants as Frank Sinatra, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Beatles...

Interviews

Adam Goldberg: This Autodidactic Journey

By Larry Crane

Many might know actor/producer/writer/director Adam Goldberg from having been in films...

Interviews

Rachel White: Creating the Coolest Thing

By Meredith Hobbs Coons

Rachel White is an engineer, guitarist, and producer who has lent her talents in the...

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Scott Burns: The Definition of Death Metal

BY SAM RETZER

For a certain breed of bored and angry teenagers at the dawn of the ‘90s, nothing made us feel more alive than Florida death metal. Pumped out of Morrisound Recording in Tampa at an alarming rate, albums by Obituary, Death, and Cannibal Corpse raised the bar on sonic extremity, opening up a brutal new world of neck-snapping riffs and inhumanly fast drumming. At the center of the whirlwind sat producer Scott Burns, bringing a new level of definition and impact through drum triggering and tight, close mic’d guitars. Hard-working, meticulous, and just plain cool, Scott developed a tight rapport with bands and created a standard for extreme metal production that still resonates today, as chronicled in the book, The Scott Burns Sessions: A Life in Death Metal 1987-1997 by David E. Gehlke. Having witnessed the explosion of the genre as one of the aforementioned teens, I was eager to hear more about the recording tech of Morrisound, as well as Scott’s decision to retire from recording after his historic run there.

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Behind The Gear with Roland's Paul McCabe

BY ALEX RUGER

I recently had a chance to chat with Paul McCabe, Senior Vice President of Research and Innovation at Roland Future Design Lab, to talk about their new moonshot, Project LYDIA, as well as his views on AI in music that underpins its development. We first met at the 2026 NAMM Show where I got a chance to demo the product and later caught up over the phone so I could learn more. Paul is a bit of a Renaissance man, with interests ranging from music tech to science fiction to philosophy, thoughtfully combining them into the products produced by the Roland Future Design Lab team. This was a fascinating conversation that could have continued on for another few hours.

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Ben Schneider of Lord Huron : Mystery and Beauty

BY GEOFF STANFIELD

Lord Huron first caught our ear with their 2012 release, Lonesome Dreams. The album's lush presentation, harmonies, and tinges of surfy guitars made it both decidedly West Coast-sounding and, at the same time, otherworldly. In 2025, the band released its fifth album, The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1, another fully-formed concept album of sorts that, like all of Lord Huron's releases, tells a story, is beautifully produced, recorded, and mixed, and is another step forward in the band's development. Geoff Stanfield caught up with founder, songwriter, guitarist, and frontman, Ben Schneider, to discuss the new album, their Whispering Pines recording studio, and more. This interview is transcribed and edited from Tape Op Podcast, episode #110.

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Stu Epps: Golden Ears

BY BRIAN TARQUIN

Stu Epps is a British gem with an illustrious musical career as a recording engineer, producer, and manager. He has worked with some of our favorite British artists, like Led Zeppelin, Elton John, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, and The Firm. He began his career at 15 years old in London in 1967 at Dick James Music (The Beatles' first publisher). He moved on to work in the demo studio there, and he was lucky enough to be able to produce his first record for a duo named Birds of a Feather. He recorded it at Trident Studios with Elton John as the session pianist and Rick Wakeman on the keyboards. Stu went on to take a management role, working closely with legendary producer Gus Dudgeon at Trident Studios. At 20 years old, Stu was part of the "Rocket" team, serving as an A&R manager and co-manager for Kiki Dee, but also as Elton John’s personal assistant. This culminated in 1974 with John Lennon’s legendary appearance onstage with Elton at Madison Square Garden, which sadly marked Lennon’s final appearance live.

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Trina Shoemaker: How to Lean on a Console

BY LARRY CRANE

There are a few engineer/producers I've met along the way where I've meant to get an interview with them for ages, but for some reason it takes so much longer for us to find the time to do it. Trina Shoemaker has been one of these elusive folks ever since we first met in New Orleans. In that city, she'd worked her way up to chief engineer at Daniel Lanois' [Tape Op #127, #37] fabled Kingsway studio, recording Emmylou Harris, Iggy Pop, Throwing Muses, Giant Sand, and many others. She also tracked and mixed much of Queens of the Stone Age's Rated R and additionally has produced/engineered records for The Mountain Goats, Blue Rodeo, Victoria Williams, Brandi Carlile, and Josh Ritter. Lately, she helms an extensive amount of mixing work for folks such as Tanya Tucker, Turnpike Troubadours, Shooter Jennings [#139], The Wood Brothers, American Aquarium, Charley Crockett, and many others. On top of all that, she was the first woman to win a Grammy for Best Engineered Album Non-Classical with her work on Sheryl Crow's The Globe Sessions in 1998, and she received an Americana Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. It was such a treat to talk with Trina after so many years, and to learn about her novel writing as well!

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