Interviews
By Curtis Settino
The garbage can do what?
All around your home are lots of great musical aids that you can't buy in a music store. The garbage can is one of my favorites, especially a large metal one. Be sure to clean it out well. The first time I used one for recording I ended up with glass all over my bedroom,...
Interviews
Looking at the world of professional producing, mixing and engineering, one could be excused in thinking that certain people only w...
Interviews
Contemplating the fullness of his schedule and the richness of his life in music, Richard Barone posits the notion that "a producer&ap...
Interviews
Classical recording engineers rarely get the same attention that their pop and rock...
When Frank Swart, bassist in The Billy Nayer Show (and who engineered The Pixies' first recording, is responsible for many of Morphine's fat tones, and continues to record his band Post Junk Trio), discovered that I had taken on the challenge of writing about his band he said, "I've been doing it for four years and I still have a hard time explaining it to people." I, in turn, have sympathy for the reviewer who elegantly gave up and wrote, "I don't know what the fuck to call it. Just go see them." Why all the sympathy? Read on. Billy Nayer is not a real person. However, like a strange cousin of Sgt. Pepper, he has his own band. Billy is an animated character in a short film called Billy Nayer with music by The Billy Nayer Show. Cory McAbee, lead singer and autoharpist in the band, told me that Billy Nayer "was just an off-the-cuff name that a friend of mine suggested." There are few boundaries around what they'll make, how they'll make it and the lengths they'll go to in order to finish it. To date they've released a critically acclaimed feature film titled The American Astronaut, three shorter films compiled in an unthinkably surreal DVD called The Early Years, seven records, numerous comic strips, postcards, a magazine, storyboards and soundtracks — and they currently have a new feature film, an album and an illustrated novel in the works. As Cory put it, "If you actually sit down and tell people, 'Well, we write and paint and draw and sing,' and you go through the list, you just sound like an idiot. Whereas if you say, 'I'm a painter,' or 'I'm a songwriter,' and you say that you're one of these things, they take you seriously." But those attitudes obviously don't hold them back. Drummer Bobby Lurie built a recording studio in Manhattan called Mavericks and formed BNS Productions, BGM Records and Fickey Publishing (just the necessary business entities). Somehow they also manage to aggressively tour the US and Europe — and they do all of it with adherence to an artistic vision that, initially, makes you scratch your head and say, 'Huh?' To maintain and realize this vision demands artistic and contractual independence, a ton of elbow grease and a healthy dose of loyal friendship. Cory and Bobby met back in the early '80s in San Francisco, where they'd sit up all night discussing their plans for films and music. Today, Bobby sees his role as Cory's "artistic bodyguard," making sure nothing disrupts Cory's creative flow. Frank joins Bobby in his faithful support of Cory's creativity: "Cory is a kid writing songs."
When you ask someone in the recording business who the top engineers and producer are, you won't have to wait long before hearing the name George Massenburg. His recording and producing credits are as impressive as anyone on the planet and they range from traditional and country music to hard rock, R&B and soul. A short list from his 400+ titles includes 10,000 Maniacs, Aaron Neville, Arthur Conley, Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Cher, David Lindley, David Sanborn, The Dixie Chicks, Dolly Parton, Earth, Wind & Fire, Emmylou Harris, Frank Sinatra, Gordon Lightfoot, The Grateful Dead, Herbie Hancock, James Taylor, Jennifer Warnes, Jimmy Webb, Journey, Kenny Loggins, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Lyle Lovett, Phil Collins, Philip Glass, Ramsey Lewis, Randy Newman and Ry Cooder. But wait... there's more! George is also a gifted electronics designer. He invented parametric EQ and his company, GML, makes some of the most highly respected recording equipment in the world. In fact, he is the only person that has won Grammies for both technical achievement and for his recordings. In addition to working in the studio and at GML, George is active as a teacher of recording arts at McGill University (Canada), UCLA, USC, MTSU, and The Berklee College of Music. He is a pioneer in 5.1 music mixes, and he is working within the industry to try to create viable standards for digital formats including delivery recommendations for master recordings. He has designed, built and managed several recording studios, and is currently working on an amazing state-of-the-art facility called Blackbird Studios, just outside of Nashville. George's motto is "Never give up" and he refuses to waste time, yet he retains the dignified and approachable manners of a true southern gentlemen. With all this to his credit, you might think that his early years were spent training at the feet of the masters, but that's not how it was. George had a DIY attitude from the beginning. He dropped out of an electrical engineering program when he realized that his professors wouldn't seriously consider innovative design ideas. At one point, a professor told him that the circuit he was working on (a gyrator) could not be realized. That circuit was already in his prototype of the first parametric equalizer — and it worked just fine. After that encounter, George could see the writing on the wall, so he put together a couple of prototype boxes and headed to France. By the time he returned, he was widely recognized as both a designer and recording engineer. The rest is audio history.
Once upon a time, there was a company called Stephens Electronics. They went head-to-head with Ampex, MCI, Studer and 3M, building tape decks that some folks still worship as the best sounding in the world. A conversation with John Stephens, the man behind these tape decks and their unique construction, is both fascinating and frustrating. His mind darts back and forth between different stories and ideas — one minute he's telling me Einstein was wrong — the next minute he's telling me about a speaker system in his home made up of multiple 6" x 9" speakers on a piece of plywood. There may be parts of this interview that don't even make technical sense — believe me, I tried to sort all this out — but I think what we're really left with is a glimpse into a mind that could create some of the best recording equipment ever made, and an understanding of how it was able to make intuitive (or guided, as we shall see) leaps with technology.
Introduction: From recording software to rack gear to large and small mixing consoles — audio meters are a part of everyday recording life. Unfortunately, the best way to read, interpret, and calibrate these meters is not always clear. The following is a very brief overview of some of the most common types of meters, how they work, and the benefits and shortcomings of each type.
Yes, I realize that cars are not recording gear. But since buying this 25-year-old car last spring, it's the piece of gear I'm most excited about lately. Give me a few paragraphs, and I'll do my best to tie it into audio and share my excitement. Without delving into politics, in November 2005, I...
A couple years ago, internet retailers were blowing out Alesis's ModFX effects boxes at absurdly low prices. The ModFX were flimsy DSP desktop units with goofy names and lousy switches, but a few of them turned out to be awesome. The Bitrman and Philtre, especially, have found a happy home with...
On the other side of the spectrum is this fancy hardcover ("coffee table") book. Mostly photos and little text, it depicts 27 current-day hip-hop creators in their personal studios. Shelves full of vinyl, turntables, old and new samplers, various instruments, and headphones dominate these classy...
I first heard about Class-T amplifiers not from recording engineers or audiophiles, but from friends seeking my vaguely "professional" wisdom. I could not offer any advice, as I hadn't even heard of this technology. Both friends gave a similar description which definitely left me curious: a tiny,...
The Gas Cooker is a dual-channel, all-valve mic preamp and DI from Ridge Farm Industries in England (formerly of Ridge Farm Studios, the rather famous and beautiful countryside residential studio, now closed). The Gas Cooker is bright blue, made of heavy-gauge steel, and is not a rackmount unit....
Since receiving these mics a few months ago, I've used them on every recording session to date. And I've got a large collection of mics, with some of them costing many times what the most expensive of these GT mics retail at. If there's a sonic trait that all these mics share, it's the smooth,...
Remember the first time you used an Eventide H3000? In 1988, that was the hottest effects processor out there! In 2006, the H3000 is considered "vintage" by my favorite repair shop in Los Angeles, but it still sounds great and contains many unique presets. Eventide has not sat on its laurels and...
I have a confession to make. David Royer got me started on something. After performing his tube upgrade to the MXL 2001 mic (Tape Op #25), I became thoroughly hooked on all things DIY. Later, I discovered Seventh Circle Audio's N72 mic preamp kit (Tape Op #35). I bought and made several of them....
Native Instruments, known for their unique, high-quality software instruments and virtual studio solutions, have just introduced a distinctive hardware controller/software host called KORE, which they claim will "revolutionize your production and live performance techniques". Well, OK, we'll see....
Schoeps is a family-owned German company that's been producing top-quality mics with a minimum of fuss for over 50 years. They make a huge variety of small- diaphragm capsules and transformerless amplifier bodies that can be easily mixed and matched, all machined and classified with Teutonic...
Earlier this year, we at WMBR Radio discussed replacing our trusty Soundcraft Spirit 328 digital mixing console. After many years of regular use, it was starting to show its age. Plus, we decided our extended experiment with digital patching and routing wasn't successful, and we wanted to go back...
When Lynn Fuston, publisher and coordinator of the 3D Audio comparison series, walked up to the Tape Op booth at the New York AES, I immediately started railing on him. "Oh, look, it's Lynn Fuston. Don't tell me you have a new comparison disc out." I was busted! Without blinking, he produced the...
In his review of the J99 and C84 preamps from Seventh Circle Audio, Chuck Hanning touches on the design and assembly of SCA's preamp kits. The first time I met SCA founder Tim Ryan at TapeOpCon a few years ago, I was impressed with how beautiful his modules looked. So when I had the opportunity to...
Subtitled Hip-Hop Wax Facts, Straight From the Original Artists-The '80s, this book spends its time examining 21 hip-hop albums from the mostly mid-to-late '80s-talking with the artists about how the albums came to be. There's some cool-as-shit info, like Schooly D putting too much reverb on "P. S....
In a world where 1073 is not only a model number, but also the number of clones said model has inspired, the Dangerous Music S&M is a standout for its originality. While Chris Muth (the S&M's designer) did not invent mid/side encoding and decoding, he did add some new ideas that make for a very...
Brad Avenson appears to like simplicity. His excellent reputation based on the success of his STO-2 microphones is well deserved, so I was excited about his new active, FET-based direct box. When I first saw it at TapeOpCon2005, I was surprised by its small size-much like a butane lighter-with a...
For all of you audiophiles out there, let me begin this brief review with a disclaimer: I am not, nor will I ever, be a recording engineer. But, as Tape Op's Copy Editor, John seemed to think I would be a good person to review this. My knowledge of recording terminology is scant at best. I began...
About six months ago, the fine folks at TAPCO (um... Mackie), sent me an awesome computer recording bundle that consisted of the Link.USB two-channel audio interface; Tracktion 2 software for multitrack audio and MIDI production; and a three-piece active monitoring system comprised of a pair of S•5...
The original TG Channel (Tape Op #43) was a TG2 preamp (Tape Op #39) combined with a 3-band EQ. The TG Channel MKII Abbey Road Special Edition incorporates a number of enhancements. In a way, cosmetic changes are responsible for functional improvements in the MKII. Now equipped with the miniature...
Tune is a pitch-correction plug-in that's so easy to use, even a non-musician can get "perfect" takes. Why the quotes around perfect? Because I find that most pitch correction schemes kill the life of the vocal and make it sound unnatural, like it's going through some kind of phaser. So when I...
For years now, I've been a huge fan of MXL microphones. I'm particularly fond of the MXL 2001 cardioid condenser for its smooth, warm and accurate tone. So when the opportunity came around for me to look at a few newcomers, of course, I jumped at the chance. The first new puppy on the block is the...
If I had to pick one desert island reverb, this would be it. Either as a plug-in if I had a DAW in my luggage, or as a standalone application running on a laptop if I somehow salvaged a great console and tape machine from the shipwreck. What's so special about WizooVerb? Well, on one hand, it's a...