LaChapell's boutique tube preamps have earned a reputation for being some of the best around, so when they announced their ultra-affordable 500DT preamp earlier this year, my interest was piqued. The...
Andy reviewed the Ultimate MC-125, a tall boom stand, in Tape Op #91. He was right - they're great stands. Sharkbite Studios in Oakland has six or eight different big mic stands, and the only one...
What!? Another Universal Audio 1176 clone? Well, not exactly. Black Lion Audio has been modifying entry-level gear [Tape Op #48], into top-notch studio grade equipment, while building outboard gear -...
After two grueling months of learning how to pour concrete, run electrical wire, frame walls, and hang sheetrock, I have just finished transforming my detached garage into a mixing suite. The end...
I still give most mixes and masters a test listen in my car. Three hundred years ago I did this by burning CDs, but now I use my iPhone. Over time this has become much more of a pain in the ass. I...
Some of the best money spent on your studio is in your playback. Invest some of your hard-earned cash on a good monitoring setup, and your mixes and production choices will improve dramatically. ADAM...
Years ago I was wandering around London with several recording engineer/journalist types, when I made an offhand complaint about the interminable wait I was going through during hard drive backups at...
My experience with Universal Audio's Ox Amp Top Box definitely cleared up any misconceptions or doubts I'd had about this device. More than just a reactive load box, power attenuator, and guitar...
Universal Audio's Ocean Way Studios for their UAD platform is a room emulation; this is the most basic fact when trying to describe the plug-in. But this simple description does a huge disservice to...
I'd like to suggest that this review be considered chapter five in a series of reviews I've written called Digital Synthesis: A Collection of Software Synthesizer Reviews [Tape Op #118]. In those...
In issue #121 of Tape Op, I wrote a review of Borderlands and GrainSpace, both pieces of software that use granular synthesis. I would suggest you read that review if you're not familiar with granular...
I am very picky about piano sounds, and, in general, my rule is that only real pianos sound like a piano should – so I don't like to use sampled or modeled pianos if at all possible. I've gone...
