Interviews
By Alex Maiolo, Barbara Meyer, photos
In 1910, at 38 Köethner Straße, the Builder's Association of Berlin [Baugeschäfte] began construction on what would eventually become an architectural neoclassical masterpiece. Completed three years later, it housed many offices — including their own — and even the influential, and controversial,...
Interviews
Some audio equipment becomes more sought after once it goes out of production. A small company from Utah called NTI (later known as ...
Interviews
Australia's Tame Impala, led by Kevin Parker, have taken the classic psychedelic sounds of Cream and "White Album" er...
Interviews
Coming up through the ranks of Memphis' fabled Ardent Studios [Tape Op #58], Jeff...
Interviews
Australia's Tame Impala, led by Kevin Parker, have taken the classic psychedelic...
Interviews
Name an engineer/producer that has Diana Ross, Sisters of Mercy, Devo, Bruce Springsteen,...
Rock is dead. At least the big business of rock 'n' roll, that is. But big budgets, unlimited studio time and total indulgence still exist in the hip-hop and pop worlds. And where there's money, talent is sure to follow. Andrew Dawson, the 29-year-old producer/engineer/mixer, has made quite a name for himself in the past few years. With Grammy Awards and nominations, and credits on hit albums by Kanye West, John Legend, Ne-Yo, Beyoncé, Common, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, T.I., Michelle Branch, P.O.S., Fun, POP ETC, and the Pet Shop Boys' new album Elysium already under his belt, Dawson is now making the leap to full-time producer in perhaps the last area of the music industry where there's still big money to be made doing that work. But Dawson deserves it, too.
In 1910, at 38 Köethner Straße, the Builder's Association of Berlin [Baugeschäfte] began construction on what would eventually become an architectural neoclassical masterpiece. Completed three years later, it housed many offices — including their own — and even the influential, and controversial, Malik-Verlag publishing company and bookstore. But at the heart of the building was the exquisite Der Meistersaal, or "Master's Hall." Concerts and readings were regularly performed in what became an important hub of the Berlin arts scene. During the Second World War, the Nazi's Reichsmusikkammer used The Hall for propaganda concerts until 1943 when the rear wing of the building, along with the rest of the neighborhood, was destroyed by a bomb. Thankfully the Meistersaal was spared. It remained empty until a post-war attempt to revitalize the space started, and then halted, when Köethner Straße, once located in the center of a thriving, artistic city, found itself on the front line of the Cold War in 1961. Just 150 meters from the front door was the border of East Germany, and eventually Die Mauer — the Berlin Wall. The street, and the once glorious building, sat in disrepair overlooking the grim No Man's Land that was the gateway to East Germany. It occurred to the label Ariola Records that such a hall, which had unintentionally found itself in a rather quiet neighborhood owing to it's now undesirable location, would be the perfect place to record their growing roster of artists. "The Great Hall By The Wall" began it's new life as a factory for German pop music in 1964. It would eventually change ownership over to the music publishing power family, the Meisels, who would locate their now famous Hansa Tonstudio in the building. There's probably not enough room in this magazine to list the seminal releases that have been made in the legendary space, but U2's Achtung Baby, Iggy Pop's The Idiot and Lust For Life, REM's swansong Collapse Into Now, David Bowie's "Heroes," and other parts of his "Berlin Trilogy," are only a few. (The cover of David Bowie's recent record, The Next Day, is a Dadaist take on the album art of "Heroes," and its single "Where Are We Now?" is a love letter to the city where he did some of his best work.) Nina Simone, Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Supergrass, The Pixies, Tangerine Dream, Killing Joke, Nina Hagen, Marillion, Siouxsie and the Banshees, David Byrne, opera superstar Luciano Pavarotti, Herbert Grönemeyer, and even the much maligned Milli Vanilli, also worked at Hansa over the years. The studio is known for being an experimenter's paradise, but it's also a private space where artists can work in peace, which is why I felt honored to be invited into the studio by engineer/producer/studio director Alex Wende to learn more about its history and what makes it so special.
Name an engineer/producer that has Diana Ross, Sisters of Mercy, Devo, Bruce Springsteen, Janis Ian, David Bowie, Bon Jovi, and Steely Dan in their credits. Chances are you didn't think of Larry Alexander. A veteran of The Power Station studio's glory years in the '80s, Larry has seen it all when it comes to making records. Having met through our mutual friend, Steve Masucci, it was only after looking at Larry's credits online that I realized the extent of his studio work, so I had to sit down with him in NYC and learn more about his amazing career.
There is no catch. That was my original review. But my editors suggested I elaborate. Many people have contacted me to ask if the Apollo was a marketing gimmick or compromised in some way. I confess to find no "catch," limitation, or shortcoming of this product, particularly at this price. But I'm...
At face value, Audio-Technica's new AT5040 large-diaphragm condenser looks like a standard, cylindrical, side-address mic, although the grille-to-body ratio suggests it may be a ribbon mic, since the basket is taller than what you see on your standard LDC. If you look closely through the tight,...
I bought a dual-slot Echo Express Pro for my two Universal Audio UAD-2 Quad PCIe cards [Tape Op #67, #76] and hooked it up to my Mac Mini (Mid 2011) with a Thunderbolt cable. I installed the drivers on OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion), and the UAD plug-ins are working great in PreSonus Studio One Pro...
There's a really strange little song that's been stuck in my head for most of my life - "The Means Are The End" by Noel Paul Stookey (of Peter, Paul and Mary fame). It was released when I was about 5 years old. I assume my dad played it around the house. I have no idea why I remember the lyric, but...
These days, in nearly every working class studio worth a spit, you'll find a couple of Fat Heads in the mic closet. I'm not talking about the Grammy Award winning janitor or the drummer with the head injury; I'm talking about the wildly popular Cascade Fat Head ribbon mics [Tape Op #55]. The...
Focusrite named the Forte after the groundbreaking console Rupert Neve designed for Air Studios. No doubt this was in an effort to differentiate the unit from the company's popular Scarlet and Saffire lines. In person, the Forte is slightly larger than a paperback book, and it sports a solid...
Over the past few years, Slate Digital plug-ins have become de rigueur tools for music production and mixing in the digital environment. Steven Slate also produces a couple pieces of all- analog hardware, under the Slate Pro Audio moniker, that in my opinion, have not received the attention they...
Opening up the Eventide H3000 Factory plug-in for the first time will no doubt be daunting to many people, even those familiar with the studio staple H3000 Ultra-Harmonizer rackmount boxes, which were first introduced around 25 years ago. Fact is — there's a lot of stuff going on. The top third of...
The whip-smart team at Ableton have finally released the long-awaited update to their sequencing, composition, and performance DAW, Live 9. New feature-sets include 64-bit support, Session View automation (with curves), easy audio- to-MIDI conversion, enhanced effects, a slick new browser, and tons...
After cutting his teeth racking vintage channel modules, David Marquette has augmented his craft with meticulous re- creations of - and "tips of the hat" to - classic outboard gear. I've reviewed a few of his Mercury devices in the past, being particularly blown away by the Fairchild-esque Mercury...
These days, I work with more than a few artists who use MIDI-based electro-rigs as part of their sound, including synths, sequencers, samplers, and drum machines. These rigs are fast becoming the norm on stages and in studios. In particular, two acts I work with - Elska and Graph Rabbit - have...
I recently noticed that Amazon has a great deal on Velcro 8" x 1/2", reusable, self-gripping, cable ties. The ties are made of two-sided material - hook on one side, loop on the other - that is much thinner than the original Velcro variety, and not nearly as hooky or fuzzy in texture. I initially...
In Tape Op #63, I reviewed the plans for a DIY ribbon mic sold by Rickshaw Records, the parent company of Austin DIY Ribbon Microphones. Since then, Austin launched two ribbon mic kits based on those instructions: a standard single-ribbon mono unit; and a fixed-angle, dual-ribbon coincident stereo...
This is going to be a short review. Pretty much everyone on the planet knows about Jeff Steiger's Classic Audio Products of Illinois stuff by now; these are DIY kits that began with a renewed version of the vintage API 3232 recording console preamp and then expanded out to include some unique 500-...