Ben Fowler
by Larry Crane
I first met Ben Fowler in 2011 while working on a record for a new up-and-coming country artist, Charlie Worsham. I was the assistant engineer during tracking and overdubs, and Ben was going to be...
articles
Interviews, tutorials, etc. All about the art of music recording.
Tony Bongiovi: Back to Power Station
by Larry Crane
The legendary Tony Bongiovi was the engineer, owner, producer, and studio designer behind New York City's Power Station studio. Power Station opened in 1977 at 441 West 53rd Street, helmed by Tony and...
Neko Case on Songwriting, Production, and Being Real: So Much Possibility
by Bren Davies
We got to sit down with Neko Case at Brooklyn, NY's The Honey Jar recording studio to discuss her career so far, as well as her production experiences while tracking and mixing her most recent...
Daniel Lanois: The Sound Takes Over
by Geoff Stanfield
Daniel Lanois' career reads like an enviable work of fantasy. From his early projects with Brian Eno and Harold Budd on their genre defining "ambient" recordings, to a pivotal role on U2 classics like...
Dan Auerbach: "This is what I like to do"
by Larry Crane
Dan Auerbach, along with drummer Patrick Carney, started The Black Keys in 2001 as a writing and recording project, releasing their first album in 2002. Dan also began recording and producing other...
Sphere Electronics: A Brief History of this Console Company
by Wally Wilson
Lead photo text: Author Wally Wilson behind the first Sphere multitrack console at Creative Workshop, Nashville, TN, 1976. Recently there's been renewed interest in Sphere consoles, and the history...
The Mammals: Recording Around Their Home, Literally
by Larry Crane
Way back in [Tape Op #39], we received a wonderful report on how The Mammals utilized a bunch of borrowed gear and gathered talented friends to track their Evolver album at home, in upstate New York....
Yo La Tengo: Finding Analog in the Digital
by Bren Davies
Photographer Brian T. Silak and I met up with indie rock legends Yo La Tengo at the SOHO Manhattan offices of Matador Records. We discussed the evolution of the band's songwriting and recording...
Nils Frahm: Technology & Melody
by John Baccigaluppi, Jeremy Black
Although I’d heard of Berlin-based musician Nils Frahm, I actually first heard his music on his beautiful and recently released LP, All Melody, which I reviewed online for Tape Op #123. Nils was...
Taylor Deupree: Art of the Ephemeral
by Joseph Branciforte
I still remember my first experience hearing Taylor Deupree's Northern on a winter night back in 2007. Reaching into a stack of borrowed CDs in my apartment, I randomly selected a disc for some...
Andrew Savage: Parquet Courts and More
by Ben Berke, Jay Mamana
Andrew Savage, one of the co-songwriters of Parquet Courts, is decidedly "not an engineer," yet he owns tape machines and once built a studio with his friends in Denton, Texas. Savage's top priority...
The Many Faces of Luke Temple
by John Baccigaluppi, Geoff Stanfield
Here Photo: At The Old Western waiting for the rest of the musicians... Luke Temple wears several masks and many hats. Since 2005 he has released five solo records under his own name, four as Here...