I was already stoked with my Focal Alpha 65 powered monitors [Tape Op #104] before their updated replacement model, the Alpha 65 Evos arrived at my door. In my review of the original Alpha 65s (which...
Learning the ideal applications of your gear is an excellent ear training exercise, and frankly half the job – whether you’re a recording engineer or a musician. For me, simply remembering...
Once there was an audio software company – now also making studio furniture – that decided to develop a coaxial monitor with a Barefoot wizard named Thomas. If you’re going to make...
For mixing, arguably the most important consideration for your monitoring setup is translation. You can have the most mind-blowing speakers in the world, but if for whatever reason the work you do on...
I have a hard time trusting my ears. To be fair, my already limited mixing experience has been further restricted by a tight budget. But the thing I have the hardest time wrapping my head (or, ears)...
PSI Audio started making speakers before some of us were born. Alain Roux introduced his designs in 1975, while a student at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. His company eventually...
There is maybe no easier font for satire in audio criticism than the floral superlatives assigned to hi-fi speakers and playback equipment. Reviewers write haikus in brown pencil, dithering about the...
Occasionally, a piece of gear comes along that impresses me enough to reach out to Tape Op and make an effort to write a review. The Atomic SixTens have done just that. Founded in 2014 by Norman...
Every electrical device has a power consumption signature. If your service is a split-phase 120/240 V residential panel up to 200 A (and many studios are), a Sense is compatible. About the size of a...
I use in-ear monitors (IEMs) to really dig down deep into the details of mixes I’m tweaking – most especially vocals. You can clearly hear weird breaths, overly loud esses, plosives on...
If the COVID-19 pandemic has any silver lining, it’s the way it has invited the reimagining of entrenched habits. When we all mothballed our tracking rooms in March, we became pretty open-minded...
Let's use some simple steps for choosing monitors, based on how one might select a bottle of wine. Set your monitor price point (much like wine, with monitors you'll likely need to buy at least two),...
