Tape Op: The Book About Creative Music Recording

Rating:
Summary: Alt Recording at its Finest
Review: A most interesting collection of articles and interviews from Tape Op (the magazine) early issues. The angle taken in this material is decidedly different from what a reader usually encounters in the world of recording technique literature (particularly the glossy monthly magazines), where the virtues of the latest, greatest, and most expensive piece of magical digital gear are extolled.
Instead, Tape Op focuses on making do with what you've got, and where you've got it plunked down. Stories of really engaging music and CD's made with simple, inexpensive, "obsolete" 4-track gear (cassette even!). Engineers freely admitting that some "mistake" or chance event provided just the element that a particular tune needed. In short, a really refreshing perspective in comparison with much of the literature available discussing the mega-buck, high tech studios in the major recording centers cranking out hits from the latest boy band.

There were times when I grew a little tired of the "digital sucks" rants. But just when I started to feel that fatigue set in, an article would come along which more clearly represented the overall message of this book: what works (and matters) is taking a creative approach to using whatever gear you have available to capture music--be that an inexpensive all-in-one digital workstation, or a vintage Neve board feeding a big old 2-inch format Ampex analog recorder running at 30 ips.

So, that's the word from Tape Op: just get out there and do it. Learn the recording craft. And use and train your ears to understand what sounds good musically and what doesn't. By the way, Tape Op the magazine is free--that's right, really and totally free. (These guys are definitely marching to a different drummer, folks). Subscribe at tapeop.com . It's a special day for me every time a new issue shows up in my mailbox.

Rating:
Summary: This Book Is Amazingly Awesome
Review: I cannot say enough good things about this book. I am fairly new to recording, and I just happened to find this at a large, chain bookstore. It is so good! These are not interviews where someone talks about how great it is to be using digital machines. These are creative people talking about what they love: making and recording music. For me, as a beginner, this book has served as a gateway to many other fine sources and as extra fuel to my own enthusiasm for the subject. Not only was this book great for me, as a beginner (in fact, some times i was a little confused), but my friends who have been writing/recording for over ten years loved it too - maybe even more. Some things I found particularly interesting: Quasi on the advantages of recording drums in a kitchen and "f-ed up" drum effects, The Apples In Stereo on running their studio, Brian McTear on recording independent bands in Athens, GA, Guided By Voices on why they were "lo-fi," Steve Albini on the nature of recording, Man or Astroman? on how they got started recording, Steve Fisk, Hillary Johnson, Don Dixon, Pavement, Elliot Smith, tips on basic recording, building your own pre-amp, a microphone guide, ideas like using a pair of headphones as a microphone, how to overproduce a rock record, and that's not even half of it. THIS BOOK IS CHOCK FULL OF GOOD STUFF FOR EVERYBODY WHO LOVES MUSIC. Please buy this book so that they can put out more good stuff like it. Please email me if you are into this kind of stuff, curious about the book, etc. (one other thing, my copy has an introduction by Tony Visconti, not Elliot Smith, FYI)