TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

goldstar · Post by **goldstar** » Tue Jun 03, 2003 10:24 pm

Thanks for a great, informative, exhausting time. I was so amped when I left I flew the first couple hundred miles home 500 yards in front of the plane.

Frank

wayne kerr · Post by **wayne kerr** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 8:18 am

goldstar wrote: I flew the first couple hundred miles home 500 yards in front of the plane.

YIKES! Watch out for that nose cone! LOL.

blakopter · Post by **blakopter** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 12:52 pm

The Tape op Con was really great. The panels were really informative. However I do have a small issue with the mixing panel. I think too many (all) of the panelists were speaking about a certain kind of mixing, i.e. pro-tools, and not enough about things that apply universally to mixing from four trackers all the way up to infinite tracks. The recording tips panel was probably closer to what I expected at least in terms of getting some practical knowledge. If the mixing panel had some people who weren't doing major label stuff it might have balanced out better. I guess it is a small quibble becasue everything else was so well done. It is pretty cool that a guys like me with a modest 16 track set up can talk to people who design mic pres, technicians who tech Studers for the big studios, producers and egineers who have worked on records I admire...etc. I'll definitely be attending next year.

supafuzz · Post by **supafuzz** » Wed Jun 04, 2003 2:44 pm

at least it's not a 12 hour flight to new orleans....
i'm booking my hotel room now!!

TapeOpHillary · Post by **TapeOpHillary** » Fri Jun 06, 2003 9:15 pm

i'm finally home...extra days spent in portland and a visit to san francisco was a delightful addition to the conference for me...

glad everyone had a good time...i sure did!
i wish i had had more time to spend wandering around but for some reason i think i was constantly trying to find one person or another for some reason or another...

i got one of fletcher's cds with the 'whole lotta love' drum tracks...yay!

my only suggestion for next year would be to have an "IMHO" panel where attendees (as opposed to panelists) can come up to the mic and spew their thoughts on a given topic for 3 minutes.
it seems like their are a lot of folks attending with a wealth of knowledge that weren't on panels...

hillary

Fletcher · Post by **Fletcher** » Sat Jun 07, 2003 7:37 am

TapeOpHillary wrote:it seems like their are a lot of folks attending with a wealth of knowledge that weren't on panels...

Last year I found that some of the absolute best panels were held outside in the smoking area... the year before I found that the best panels were held in front of the theater [in the smoking area]... hmmm, maybe I'm not gonna quit smoking afterall...

erroneous · Post by **erroneous** » Sat Jun 07, 2003 4:49 pm

this is my second year, and i loved it even more this time.

I was a little wierded out a little by the heavy emphasis on expensive gear and high-budget operations. there were a couple panels which i personally found a little alienating (I own 5 cheap mics and hardly any outboard gear, and record huddled in a tiny apartment saturated with traffic noise).

For me, the Home Recording panel was by far the best part of the event, if only because I could relate to the people on it. I mean, all the panels were informative & most were entertaining too, but it does seem that the Tape Op experience is tilting a bit toward the big-budget studios and away from the broke 4-trackers... I hope we keep in mind that the latter approach can make great music too. That's always what Tape Op has been about for me: making great sounds on a tiny budget.

Brian Kenney Fresno is my new hero. I'm still singing the Yngvie Malmsteen song. My girlfriend is a little worried about my sanity...

thanks to everyone involved, i will definitely be in New Orleans next year.

violet biggs · Post by **violet biggs** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:09 pm

Hey Y'all,

Thumbs up to the Tape Op team! What a fab time had for all!!

My only complaint was the freakin' Rose Festival traffic!! Yikes, thought I was condemed to die in downtown Portland!

If anyone is interested, I shot some great footage for my movie 'Engine Ears' at the TO conference. It should be done in time for next year's conference in Nawlin's.

thanks
VB

NewAndImprov · Post by **NewAndImprov** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 5:07 pm

violet biggs wrote:Hey Y'all,

Thumbs up to the Tape Op team! What a fab time had for all!!

My only complaint was the freakin' Rose Festival traffic!! Yikes, thought I was condemed to die in downtown Portland!

I seem to have this curse. I seem to randomly end up in Portland on Rose Festival weekend, 5 times out of the last 12 years, I've gone to Portland on a weekend for a gig, to see a concert, once for a recording session, and now TapeOpCon, only to find that Rose fest is happening, I had no clue, and I'm stuck in it! Sucks! It took me an hour to get from the Museum to SE Hawthorne after the conference on Sat. nite to see a friends band play, missed most of ther set.

Jason Molinari · Post by **Jason Molinari** » Sun Jun 08, 2003 8:26 pm

I first have to state that the conference as a whole was an 11 on the inspiration meter--from stapled kinkos copies to a 500 person conference is just amazing to see.

Friday night's remarks hit home...And Sam and Janet (quasi)at the Home Recording panal on sunday just made me feel like I was on muscle relaxers...perfect words from my favorite band. Could i ask for more?

In the end, i couldn't wait to get home and dig in.

With that, i have to say that i was a tad disappointed with the conference. Mostly it came down to me feeling pretty alienated by the amazing amounts of information given...very pro oriented information that went over this four tracker's head. Anyone with the numbers of how many in attendence make their living off recording or making gear? 7,8 out of 10?Secondly most of the panals that i went to just seemed to stray way off the mark; like an icecube melting--had a shape but soon was all over the place with nowhere to go.

I dunno...maybe i'm just too green for stuff like this...nobody's fault when you get down to it.

Shit, maybe it was that amazing city and bright sun that was on the other side of the door that had me distracted.

--Jason

wayne kerr · Post by **wayne kerr** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:49 am

Hey all,

Yesh, I almost got a jaywalking ticket from that damn parade! I was on the corner opposite the hotel and I asked a cop on my side of the street how I could get across - he told me to wait for a break and just go for it, which I did, and was promptly greeted by two younger cops with military haircuts. One of them actually grabbed my arm and was like incredulous: "what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm staying in this hotel, officer, I asked that other officer across the street..."

He cut me off. "Let me see some ID." I usually resist this kind of invasion of privacy, but many of Portland's fine brewpubs had weakened my resistance. I whipped out my license and handed to this kid - wondering if he even had pubes yet...

"California, eh? Well, I don't know what kind of laws you have down there, but here in Portland, we take jaywalking very seriously."

I finally got a word in - "officer, with all due respect, I asked your colleague across the street how to get to my hotel here and he told me to wait for a break and 'just go for it.'"

"He said that? I doubt it. We have very clear orders that there is to be no jaywalking duringthe rose parade." So much for Portland's 'laid back' attitude, eh? Anyway, I finally convinced him to radio the other cop, which he did, who indeed confirmed my story. I was let go on my own recognizance!

Anyway, TapeOpCon03 was a blast. A word to those of you who felt it was a little too pro, however - I read this a lot on the board here, that somehow TapeOp is a 'home recording' mag. It's not! It is the magazine of 'creative recording.' The focus of TapeOp has never been home recording per se, but recording in ways that are non-traditional in that we, the TapeOp community, probably listen to a whole lot of records that HAVEN'T been made on an 827! So, while TapeOp can certainly cover 4-tracking as part of that 'creative recording' process, it may also just as legitimately cover a studio like The Terrarium in Minneapolis - who just DOES happen to own a Neve and a Studer! I've always viewed TapeOp as 'mix for the rest of us' in that they are willing to bring to light tremendously talented and creative individuals who sit behind a recording console but don't necessarilly have a shelf full of those little gold phonograph statues! That is not to say that TapeOp is not valuable to the home recordist, but I don't think that has necessarilly been the focus. And to be quite honest, I hope it never is, because I think that cuts a lot of really cool people out of the loop. Plus there are plenty of 'home recording' forums out there and even a mag with the same title!

I think the focus of the panels was just perfect. They gave the attendee a fabulous insight into the world of experimentation that usually does not occur in the big rooms because the price is just too high! Yet, they were of a very high level of both artistic and technical sophistication.

My $.02

E

BTW: Nice meeting you Violet! Can't wait to see the movie.

wayne kerr · Post by **wayne kerr** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:50 am

And BTW: The TapeOpCon always has and always WILL beat the holy living crap out of AES and NAMM. Those of you who have been know EXACTLY what I'm talking about!

E

takeout · Post by **takeout** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 1:15 pm

erroneous wrote:I was a little wierded out a little by the heavy emphasis on expensive gear and high-budget operations.

Yeah, kinda... but almost all the compressors mentioned in the Compression Abuse forum were cheapo DBX's that can be had for $50 or less, or pedals. I thought there was a decent balance.

Mitch Easter is my God. I want to record at the Fidelitorium soooo bad...

mastermind · Post by **mastermind** » Mon Jun 09, 2003 9:23 pm

Yea.... that fuckin' rose parade was a pain in the ass....

TapeOpCon was ass-kickingly great... I had a lot of fun. Perhaps the only downpoint for me was my dinner sat night.... my girlfriend and I were nicely seated at the window in this pretty decent italian place when Fletcher and his crew had to come along and sit outside! Not only did it ruin my wonderful view of the street I had to spend dinner looking at Fletcher !!!!!

Oh well.... it could have been worse.....

trev

Fletcher · Post by **Fletcher** » Tue Jun 10, 2003 6:02 am

Jason Molinari wrote:With that, i have to say that i was a tad disappointed with the conference. Mostly it came down to me feeling pretty alienated by the amazing amounts of information given...very pro oriented information that went over this four tracker's head.

Interesting... I guess sometimes you have to 'raise the bar' for yourself to be challenged... though I can totally understand being overwhelmed by the quantity of information presented.

I would have to say that many of these panels need to be split up into "levels"... I found many of the panels way too basic [and was kinda bummed by it... however, having a chance to corner some of the panelist before and after their panels was a beautiful thing].

I heard it discussed that things like the 'mic pre' and 'microphone' panels might be distributed on DVD prior to next years... and may indeed pick up where they left off [which I think could be a most excellent thing... with the DVD sorta acting like a pre requisite for next years more advanced class.

I know I'm looking forward to Norlans in a big way.

Message Board

TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - next year

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Re: TapeOp Con - Thank you!!!!

Who is online