Interpol: Attic recording
by Hillary Johnson
The debut album from New York's Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights, was one of the most successful independent rock albums in recent years. The band's brooding, atmospheric guitar rock has invited...
interviews
We talk at length with record-makers about how they make records.
Drum Tuning: Drum Tuning: The Studio Perspective
by Garrett Haines
The adage "garbage in garbage out" takes on added meaning when it comes to recording drums. An out of tune drum can ruin any recording session. Unfortunately, very few people know the basics of...
Anticon: Cutting Edge Hip-Hop Collective
by Bill Moriarty, John Pettit
Anticon is a collectively owned record label based in Oakland, California. It produces well- known avant hip-hop records, financially supports its divergent artists and is
Colleen: A PC and Library Card in Paris...
by Chachi Jones
Cecile Schott grew up like most of us, in a sleepy suburb where teenage doldrums are fended off in garage bands and carefully arranged mix tapes populated by the Pixies, Sonic Youth and My Bloody...
Aaron Espinoza: Earlimart, Elliott Smith, The Breeders and more
by Adam Selzer
: Analog + Digital in Iceland
by Éanna Cunnane
The Icelandic group Múm started off as a four piece mixing inventive but orthodox electronica with acoustic instruments. Now they're a three-piece, and their music — neither wholly...
Bill Laswell (bonus): PiL, Material, Herbie Hancock
by Peter Wetherbee
Whether printing complex mixes, section-by-section, through old Neve consoles without automation to 1/2-inch tape, or hauling recording rigs and generators into the mountains of Morocco, Bill...
John Schumann: Behind the Gear with Schumann Electronics
by Dawn Landes
John Schumann makes crazy pedals. He makes them 10 to 12 hours a day, every day, in a shop at the back of Main Drag Music, a great independent store near Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn....
John Leckie: Life after Abbey Road and Radiohead
by Jeff Touzeau
John Leckie's handiwork has been on many ground- breaking recordings in the U.K. He has worked tirelessly for over thirty years on seminal projects like George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, Pink...
Danielson Famile: Family life
by Marc Gartman, Ian Stynes
The Danielson Famile and its visionary leader, Daniel Smith, have been creating some of the most unique music to come out of New Jersey in the past ten years. Their songs are a veritable melting...
Bill Bradley: Behind the Gear with The Mic Shop
by Bob Marshall, Walt Szalva
Bill Bradley has been collecting, modifying and selling vintage microphones for years. He started as an engineer in Chicago and now lives outside of Nashville where his workbench at The Mic Shop...
Russell Frehling: Deep Listening Engineer
by Steve Silverstein
While Tape Op has covered countless recordists with low-budget, grass-roots backgrounds in rock recording, we've talked to very few grass-roots engineers in the avant-garde music world. Russell...