FabFilter: Pro-MB plug-in
reviewed by Dave Hidek
It seems like every time that I use a new plug-in from FabFilter, I find myself ceasing to use another similar plug-in that'd I'd been religiously using for years. Such was the case again with...
Gear Reviews
The means contribute to the end. Usually.
Weiss Engineering: Saracon sample-rate conversion software
reviewed by Garrett Haines
Perhaps sample-rate conversion is something you do rarely. On the other hand, if you're like me, you have to juggle multiple projects that need preparation for different destinations and sample-rates....
SBS Designs: S2 stereo amplifier
reviewed by Brandon Miller
Getting prepped for this review was something of a unique experience. For the first time in five or six years of doing reviews for Tape Op, the founder of a company wanted to speak live over the phone...
JRiver: Media Center
reviewed by Garrett Haines
I often need to audition audio files or compare different sources. I used to have a generic session in my DAW for this, but that became unmanageable. There were simply too many sample-rates, formats,...
Wavesfactory: TrackSpacer plug-in
reviewed by Eli Crews
This is a simple little plug-in that does one thing extremely well - it gets other stuff out of the way. It does that by employing a unique and elegant method, creating a reverse EQ profile of...
Primacoustic: London 12 Room Kit
reviewed by Scott McChane
Many of us live in the "real world" - a place where we don't always have the resources to select, structurally modify, or build a "perfect" production room within the spaces we rent or own. Nine times...
ATC: SCM25A three-way active monitor
reviewed by Thom Monahan
At its core, recording, like any creative endeavor, is about us making decisions one-by-one, until they all pile up on each other to form something meaningful from the raw material - in our case, the...
Ashman Acoustics: SOM50 SuperOmni condenser mic
reviewed by Adam Kagan
In a world of modern mics which are all beginning to look and sound alike, the SOM50 mic stands out from the pack both visually and sonically. Ashman Acoustics, a Seattle based company, is headed by...
Serpent Audio: Chimera 500-series opto compressor, Send N? Blend 500-series wet/dry bus
reviewed by David Hidek
Serpent Audio's Chimera is the first LA-3A clone to fit in a 500-series module, complete with that opto-circuit compression that so famously soothes vocal dynamics or unruly bass lines, or... well,...
Toontrack: EZdrummer 2 drum production plug-in
reviewed by Larry Crane
Back in the '80s, when we needed a beat and didn't have a drummer present, we used to have analog and digital drum machines to keep time. They were rarely confused with real drums, but some had a...
Presonus: RC 500 channel strip
reviewed by Joseph Lemmer
The RC 500 is a 1RU-height, rackmount, solid-state channel strip, with a mic/line/instrument preamp that routes to a FET VCA-based compressor followed by a three-band semi-parametric EQ. The EQ and...
Daking: Comp 500 VCA compressor (500-series)
reviewed by Geoff Stanfield
I just got a new knife. It's Japanese, ceramic. I can use it for damn near everything I need to prep and cook a meal. I have other knives - boning, chef, serrated. So why do I use my new one for just...