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Sam Cooke is such a fascinating artist. Although he's vocally astounding on everything ever releases, most of his key material is very pop- very good pop, but it's not gritty down home soul music, so it would be easy for people to miss his greatness. One could see someone hearing him as just a great...

I never thought of it before, but almost all of Marvin Gaye's early hits utilize his high, clear tenor and as soon as he started producing himself, the range dropped to his baritone register. I had to play "If I could Build My whole World Around You" last night at a wedidng and i was glad I didn't h...

The magic ingredient is called ........................TAPE. Sorry, the magic ingredient is called...............................TIME. With the cost of living as low as it was compared to today, and the lack of distractions and choices forcing everybody to focus more deeply on fewer things, people ...

Love most Eels music, but E's voice is rapidly going to shit. it's 90% rasp and overtones these days- which would be OK if he didn't write such great melodies.

Aside form this scinitillating and vital debate (Hammer's taste vs. the rest of Western Civilization who reckons the Beatles were pretty alright), can I ask if any of you could identify some of the gear in the making of DVD for this album? I've actually long been a little confused about some of the ...

Wow- that went better than i would have ever expected. That's it, I'm keeping a string section hostage at my house feom now on! That was too much fun. Now, i'm not saying I'm Van Dyke Parks or anything- they were very simple string parts, but it was still quite a buzz to hear them played. I took all...

Seeing as how your recording in a basement, I would be very weary of uing a stereo pair or any microphone pulled back from the instruments. Certainly try them but have a backup plan. I would recommend micing the cello a foot and half to two feet away with a cardiod mic placed at bridge level, but 1...

Has Tape Op ever done anything on this album or this producer? It seems so right up our collective alley that I almost recall reading it, but i may just be making it up. SUCH an amazing homegrown album. Plus, Brad's name is on the back of any good guitar album made below the Mason Dixon line in the ...

Thanks for the offer, but i'm in Boston (my heart is in Urbana, though, or wherever the guys from Velvet Crush, The Shoes and Material Issue are from- what's up with all the great Illinois pop bands?). I think I'll have to use the mics i have- they have served me well with other acoustic instruments.

It's acoustic oriented Beatley pop with light drums that i've done on my 1/2" 8 track and now I'm in pro tools for overdubs and mixing. That's an intersting perspective; I had assumed that the thing to do was stereo mic, but I can see how it might be smarter to try to get a balance on the violin and...

No, I never record with a P Bass, I use a Hofner or a Guild Starfire- but beyond taste, i wonder if the short scale nature of that bass is making it hard to get perfectly in tune. I could be wrong, but that's my guess.

well, i've really done it now. i have a celiist, viola player and violinist coming to my home studio for a couple hours on Sunday. I'm not aiming for perfect, gorgeous strings, but i'd like to do a decent job of micing them. i've only got an M Box at home, so two inputs- a stereo setup. here are my ...

Not to be a gear snob, but that's a pretty cheap- ass bass. Short scale if I remember correctly and definitely meant for beginners. See if you can borrow a Fender from someone and I bet your problems will at least partially dissapear.

Excellent rant! That's exactly what I keep thinking about (but without all those bothersome facts and actual products to confuse matters. I just feel a general sense of caveman unrest with not much to back it up.)

I love that sound to death- although it's like garlic. it's hard to use just a little bit and it can overwhelm the whole thing because you keep adding it. For what it's worth, i'm not really a fan, but I saw Sheryl Crow on TV and her guitarist was doing the most amazing pedal steel licks on an SG wi...