How could Tape Op be better?
Moderators: TapeOpJohn, TapeOpLarry
I think that it would be cool if every issue would highlight a classic piece of gear. Maybe one issue would have the Neumann M49 (or perhaps an article including all the old classic Neumann's), and the next issue would have a Neve 8048, or a Studer A827.
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RedCrownStudios
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I definetly think doing a sampling of mp3 downloads from some of the indie bands with projects ongoing/interviewed would be cool, although possibly a pain legally speaking. But Paste magazine pulls it off.
And definetly have a quarterly gear giveaway. I mostly say that because I am broke/poor and would love to fantasize about winning something.
Other than that I just wish there were more magazines like yours.
Cheers!
And definetly have a quarterly gear giveaway. I mostly say that because I am broke/poor and would love to fantasize about winning something.
Other than that I just wish there were more magazines like yours.
Cheers!
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TapeOpLarry
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"But Paste magazine pulls it off." They probably charge to place songs on their CD, thus covering the costs. I really doubt many labels would see reaching a bunch of recording nerds as worth the marketing money!
Monthly? I can barely keep up. Do you people really want to see me never enter a studio again? I need more time. Help!
"Gear Giveaways?" Check the Tape Op E-zines. Some do have contests and such.
Please understand that our main energy focus is to deliver a quality magazine. That's really what I'd like to hear feedback on, not anything outside of that. If I had more time/energy/money it'd be a blast to go monthly, include a CD with music and free plug-ins and coordinate gear giveaways with manufacturers. But so far we don't have the resources to do all that extra stuff. Just getting the new book out is too much!
Monthly? I can barely keep up. Do you people really want to see me never enter a studio again? I need more time. Help!
"Gear Giveaways?" Check the Tape Op E-zines. Some do have contests and such.
Please understand that our main energy focus is to deliver a quality magazine. That's really what I'd like to hear feedback on, not anything outside of that. If I had more time/energy/money it'd be a blast to go monthly, include a CD with music and free plug-ins and coordinate gear giveaways with manufacturers. But so far we don't have the resources to do all that extra stuff. Just getting the new book out is too much!
Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com
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TapeOpLarry
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Well, we do usually sit in the lap of the person being interviewed. Is that considered odd in the UK? I have a bunch of UK interviews to do next month in London and Glasgow...
Larry Crane, Editor/Founder Tape Op Magazine
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com
please visit www.tapeop.com for contact information
(do not send private messages via this board!)
www.larry-crane.com
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RedCrownStudios
- pushin' record
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Hey Larry, I totally understand.
Those were my "in a perfect world" thoughts.
In all honesty, I am just happy I found you guys because for longest time all I had to read was Mix, Eq, etc.
And while those mags are great for what they are and I still read them, one thing where I feel they lack is that alot of it seems very "L.A.", in the sense that they usually are featuring some grandiose looking studio with a 128 input SSL and a gillion faders and outboard gear, etc.
While those studios are great for what they do, I am more interested in people like myself, who while I might like to own a bigger & prettier studio, realize that a great song, captured in the moment is worth alot more than a million flashy magazine covers.
I use Pro Tools now, but I will always be a tapeop at heart.
Marshall b.
Those were my "in a perfect world" thoughts.
In all honesty, I am just happy I found you guys because for longest time all I had to read was Mix, Eq, etc.
And while those mags are great for what they are and I still read them, one thing where I feel they lack is that alot of it seems very "L.A.", in the sense that they usually are featuring some grandiose looking studio with a 128 input SSL and a gillion faders and outboard gear, etc.
While those studios are great for what they do, I am more interested in people like myself, who while I might like to own a bigger & prettier studio, realize that a great song, captured in the moment is worth alot more than a million flashy magazine covers.
I use Pro Tools now, but I will always be a tapeop at heart.
Marshall b.
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RedCrownStudios
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Brian
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Larry, You must be doing a fantastic job because "I" the reader am happy to get it in the mail. This month the studio my friend, Matt Wells, techs in was featured, the Magik Shop. People who's names I haven't heard in a while were mentioned and it was comforting to see that, though I am no longer in NYC, the fight for authenticity in music is being carried on in the only front still existing, the studio, and that NYC die hards still rule! I'm not dead yet either and I hope to take an ad out in Tapeop one day and hopefully record another worthwhile and unexpected band or whatever they have.
In the meantime, since we're all engineers here, presumably, I think it's about time that someone pay homage to the people who do the thing we need most, maintanance on our gear and modding our stuff to sound fantastic. Particularly incrdeible at that job is Matt Wells and Nat Priest. Matt came in and handwired a second fullrange tube pre section on my Marshall JMP 50 watt, made it fully DC, and put in enough radiochokes to never pickup radio signal in front of CBS' sattellite dish across the street from Montana Studios, where I worked among other place back then, and I have had no problems since. He did this in 30 minutes and knew exactly what to do. People BEG me to sell it to them every time I turn it on. Once I was managing a studio and he tweaked our MCI 2 ttrack tape machine till it was the best sounding machine I've heard to date, I've heard plenty.
I've always appreciated him and now that I am in Memphis an there is NO ONE here to do that kind of modding, I've had to pick it up myself, and that's one heck of a steep learning curve to get it right.
In the meantime, since we're all engineers here, presumably, I think it's about time that someone pay homage to the people who do the thing we need most, maintanance on our gear and modding our stuff to sound fantastic. Particularly incrdeible at that job is Matt Wells and Nat Priest. Matt came in and handwired a second fullrange tube pre section on my Marshall JMP 50 watt, made it fully DC, and put in enough radiochokes to never pickup radio signal in front of CBS' sattellite dish across the street from Montana Studios, where I worked among other place back then, and I have had no problems since. He did this in 30 minutes and knew exactly what to do. People BEG me to sell it to them every time I turn it on. Once I was managing a studio and he tweaked our MCI 2 ttrack tape machine till it was the best sounding machine I've heard to date, I've heard plenty.
I've always appreciated him and now that I am in Memphis an there is NO ONE here to do that kind of modding, I've had to pick it up myself, and that's one heck of a steep learning curve to get it right.
Harumph!
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GooberNumber9
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Re: LC's request for feedback on TapeOp (opening letter to #66) and the existence of this thread, I'm here to give some feedback.
Like a certain author of a certain letter published in TO#66, I pretty much record for fun, mostly myself and my band, and some friends. I hardly ever get paid. I'm in the middle of my first paying recording gig and it's not serious, it's kids 7 - 15 attending a Rock band camp over the summer. Not serious, and doesn't pay well, but hugely fun and rewarding. My gear budget is around $1000 a year, and I just got engaged so that's about to shrink dramatically (at least until after the honeymoon).
So while I have some things in common with the aforementioned critical letter author's position in the business (or lack thereof), I totally disagree with his assessment of TapeOp. I love it, love it every day.
It's not all relevant to someone at my "level" (if such a word makes sense), in fact it's not even mostly relevant, but it's about a billion times more relevant than anything else out there. It's also a lot more fun than anything else out there, and in my humble opinion, it's a lot more honest than anything else out there.
The same goes for the TOMB, and really the whole Tape-Op experience. I've been through the SOS, PSW, GS, EQ, and Mix phases of my existence, and was getting pretty disillusioned and had pretty much given up on finding a recording community, and then I found TapeOp and I couldn't be happier. Good on all of you, keep up the good work. I could go on with praises, for a long time, I just hesistate to take up too much bandwidth.
Only one suggestion: a column on DIY stuff would be awesome if you could rustle up the right person to do it. As it is, the DIY forum is pretty amazing.
Like a certain author of a certain letter published in TO#66, I pretty much record for fun, mostly myself and my band, and some friends. I hardly ever get paid. I'm in the middle of my first paying recording gig and it's not serious, it's kids 7 - 15 attending a Rock band camp over the summer. Not serious, and doesn't pay well, but hugely fun and rewarding. My gear budget is around $1000 a year, and I just got engaged so that's about to shrink dramatically (at least until after the honeymoon).
So while I have some things in common with the aforementioned critical letter author's position in the business (or lack thereof), I totally disagree with his assessment of TapeOp. I love it, love it every day.
It's not all relevant to someone at my "level" (if such a word makes sense), in fact it's not even mostly relevant, but it's about a billion times more relevant than anything else out there. It's also a lot more fun than anything else out there, and in my humble opinion, it's a lot more honest than anything else out there.
The same goes for the TOMB, and really the whole Tape-Op experience. I've been through the SOS, PSW, GS, EQ, and Mix phases of my existence, and was getting pretty disillusioned and had pretty much given up on finding a recording community, and then I found TapeOp and I couldn't be happier. Good on all of you, keep up the good work. I could go on with praises, for a long time, I just hesistate to take up too much bandwidth.
Only one suggestion: a column on DIY stuff would be awesome if you could rustle up the right person to do it. As it is, the DIY forum is pretty amazing.
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rockstar_not
- audio school graduate
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Well,
Larry asked for stuff that could be changed for the better in the magazine - here's my suggestion - and it's the only thing I could think of:
Less foul language.
I think it's great that gear designers and engineers are interviewed in this magazine like they are the rock-stars because to the readership, they are!
I'd like to get my kids into reading it - but I don't want them using the f-bomb in casual conversation, nor do I want them punctuating phrases with the 4 letter word for excrement. I know that kids aren't the target audience for the magazine - but with Mix, EQ, Electronic Musician, etc. - I don't have to worry about leaving the magazine out on the coffee table like I do with TapeOp. But I'd love to have the kids study the cover art.
The printing of the foul words just seems unnecessary; taking the shine off of an otherwise enjoyable cover-to-cover read each issue - at least for me. Perhaps I'm an anomaly - it's been true in the past.
Besides that, the use of those words is so uncreative. Maybe it was cool to use those words in junior high. But find some new words or a creative way to eliminate them in conversation. How many interviews are run un-edited? My guess is the answer to that is next to none - so there is an editing process in place, most likely.
End of rant.
-Scott
Larry asked for stuff that could be changed for the better in the magazine - here's my suggestion - and it's the only thing I could think of:
Less foul language.
I think it's great that gear designers and engineers are interviewed in this magazine like they are the rock-stars because to the readership, they are!
I'd like to get my kids into reading it - but I don't want them using the f-bomb in casual conversation, nor do I want them punctuating phrases with the 4 letter word for excrement. I know that kids aren't the target audience for the magazine - but with Mix, EQ, Electronic Musician, etc. - I don't have to worry about leaving the magazine out on the coffee table like I do with TapeOp. But I'd love to have the kids study the cover art.
The printing of the foul words just seems unnecessary; taking the shine off of an otherwise enjoyable cover-to-cover read each issue - at least for me. Perhaps I'm an anomaly - it's been true in the past.
Besides that, the use of those words is so uncreative. Maybe it was cool to use those words in junior high. But find some new words or a creative way to eliminate them in conversation. How many interviews are run un-edited? My guess is the answer to that is next to none - so there is an editing process in place, most likely.
End of rant.
-Scott
Not to be contrary, but I have to say I really appreciate that the magazine is 'unedited' regarding foul language. I have never understood reading an adult magazine and seeing s**t or things like that.
I totally understand wanting your kids to get involved, but I still like the realistic aspect of the magazine. When I am in teh studio with bands etc., this is the kind of language I am hearing.
I totally understand wanting your kids to get involved, but I still like the realistic aspect of the magazine. When I am in teh studio with bands etc., this is the kind of language I am hearing.
[Asked whether his shades are prescription or just to look cool]
Guy: Well, I am the drummer.
Guy: Well, I am the drummer.
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GooberNumber9
- tinnitus
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+1rockstar_not wrote:Less foul language.
We're probably in the very small minority here, but I held back on this in my earlier post because I expected I would literally be the only one who thought this. I think the unedited language contributes to the honesty that I like so much. At the same time, it definitely interrupts my reading, makes me feel uncomfortable, has caused me to skip the rest of some articles in the past, and kinda seems unprofessional. I'm actually surprised at how many of these guys cuss as much as they do.
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