So here we are with the new, bigger look for Tape Op. I hope people like it... This means there are more articles, more photos and pictures and such. That means there's more that has to be written, so if any readers have people they wish to interview or features (like a how-to on tape splicing?) they want to write please let me know. There's no way I could possibly fill a whole issue with my own writings any more.
Damn, anyway, it'd be hard to convey how much work goes into this mag without sounding like a whiner, so I'll shut up. I'd like to point out that there's a lot of people who really help out on it, and I hope they're all listed to your left.
One complaint that has come up a lot is lack of info for or on 4 track cassette recording. There's no conscious decision to ignore 4 track stuff, and I'm always looking for great records done on that format, but as far as full-length interviews, it seems there's only so much you can talk about when it comes to 4 tracks. I hope that our chats with people working in other studio settings can shed some light on tricks that can be used with 4 tracks too. Let's face it though, even with a 4 track, if you expand and get a separate mixer you can open up a lot of avenues that were closed before. Thus the perpetual search for more gear...
In my non-Tape Op life some fun things have happened. A song, "Miss Misery", that Elliott Smith recorded (and co-produced) with me last year was nominated for an Academy Award after it was included in the film Good Will Hunting. It must have been Rob and Tom's mix that saved it since we spent next to no time getting the drum sounds and such. He's also using basic tracks from a couple of our Jackpot! sessions on his next record. As you read this the third Quasi album, Featuring "Birds", should be out. That was one of the funnest recording sessions of my life and I think the record shows it. Buy it. Now! Shit, there's a lot of other great records coming out that I got my little fingers into but I'll let you figure that out. One of them was the Spinanes fabulous Arches and Aisles, but I can't even figure out what I did on that one! And Jr. High, Satan's Pilgrims, Bingo, Worthington, Cadallaca...Anyway.