Why I won't be subscribing to Tape Op

auan · Post by **auan** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:16 am

Tape Op, for those who don't know, is a bi-monthly subscription only magazine for professional, serious sound engineers, as opposed to, say, Sound on Sound which is for any kind of sound engineer. Tape Op includes interviews with people you have never heard of, and never will again, but who are apparently "the King of Compression" or God's gift to preamps. It is very, very far up its own arse.

Anyway, you can get a free trial 6-issue (so one year) subscription from the site. So I gave it a try. The first issue flopped through the door and I decided to have a flick through it while sipping some tea after the nightshift. Here is an actual quote from an article titled "High Velocity Sound Engineering."

Oz Fritz who writes for Tape Op wrote:The method of High Velocity Sound Engineering is the exacting analysis and synergistic comprehension of all the physical and metaphysical factors that determine the architechture [sic] of the sound field. The sound field is postulated as an informational cyberspace matrix existing in various forms as an electrical/acoustic pattern.

It sounds like a pisstake, but the article is given front cover real-estate. Oz Fritz sounds like a made-up name, but a quick google shows he exists and engineers. It's also sandwiched between two legit 'mixing tips' articles. And if it's a pisstake, there is no punchline.

Other articles include a two-page interview with a guy who runs a microphone museum in Milwaukee, an in-depth feature on the recording scene in Slovenia, and a short editorial on how cleaning your studio (as in dusting and polishing) will keep your clients coming back.

The useful articles, by the way, are a page each on reducing low-end mud in the mix (180-350Hz, not low end like we're interested in) and Two-stage compression (just like parallel compression, but with an extra compressor at the end of the signal chain).

All this for only US$80 a year!!

Edit: Post #420 btw

whineo · Post by **whineo** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:39 am

Sounds like you could get more production advice from a subscription to 'Bunty'

chunkie · Post by **chunkie** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 11:21 am

balls to em!

Purportedly 'serious' engineers attempting to exclude the rest of the production world (and probably especially the 'home/bedroom' producer) by explaining matters in an incomprehensible drawl of long words and Start Trek talk

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 12:50 pm

might not be that applicable to writing the latest banger, or how to do 5 new types of wobble, but that sounds interesting to me - psychoacoustics & cymatics, both subjects that interest me a great deal even though I don't have much of an in-depth knowledge of them.

btw Oz Fritz is quite a famous engineer, has made some pretty awesome recordings.

Sharmaji · Post by **Sharmaji** » Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:46 pm

besdide being free in the states-- tape op is a great, and i mean GREAT recording/engineering magazine. But that's what it's about-- mic's, processes, ideas, gear, and records. And overall, since it's run by a guy who does mainly rock recordings-- it's about the rock and indie world. W/ that said they had a great article on shocklee last year, done stuff on autechre and sigur ros.

They had an amazing interview a few years back w/ Michael Brauer, who did most of Luther Vandross' records. He mixes in a totally bizarre fashion--feeding 4 compressors and summing those, and his mixes sound amazing and full. Yes, he speaks in technical details because that's how engineers work-- balancing his input at +4dbu w/ a 0dbFS tone at 1khz and stuff like that. That's the language of engineering-- not songwriting, not arranging, etc.

If i recall, that issue had an amazing interview w/ John Frusciante and a side article w/ his engineer who spoke at great length about balancing a career and a relationship.

oh, and the gear reviews are crazy informative.

It may not be targeted towards you, but there's tons of info in every tape op. Saying it's "very, very far up it's own arse" isn't just complete bullshit-- you're also throwing away TONS of info that will make your mixes better, given in a pretty informal setting by the best in the biz.

sherbert mastodon · Post by **sherbert mastodon** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:05 pm

Sounds like college to me. I'm doing a degree in MusicMedia&Performance in Ireland (home) and we do all the crazy academic shit that sounds like that.
The language is like that for two reasons: to avoid ambiguity, and keep normals out! The thing is, this is the cutting edge: it has to be translated to english so's the regular folks can understand it. You do get to fuck with some craaazy shit though, so it's worth the shite talk.

auan · Post by **auan** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 12:23 pm

When I was at college it was all "you plug this in here, this goes up and down, and you get the levels with this..." and so on. I don't think any of my audio tech lecturers could even spell "synergistic".

thesynthesist · Post by **thesynthesist** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 5:31 pm

Oz Fritz who writes for Tape Op wrote:The method of High Velocity Sound Engineering is the exacting analysis and synergistic comprehension of all the physical and metaphysical factors that determine the architechture [sic] of the sound field. The sound field is postulated as an informational cyberspace matrix existing in various forms as an electrical/acoustic pattern.

What a bunch of Horse Shit.

People love to string together a lot of words that have no business in the same sentence, just to sound like hot shit.

"High Velocity Sound Engineering" what a presumptious name. Nerds will put anything on thier pocketprotectors to try and look cool, wont they?

Too bad this kind of sound could never be reasonably called music, its more like electro-acoustic concept art.

Yawn.

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:51 pm

sounds like a first year art student armed with a thesarus

.

I have no time for such wankers.

jim · Post by **jim** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:57 pm

You won't be subscribing because you don't like big words?

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:00 pm

and fair enough about technical talk.... but there is technical jargon, and then there is psuedo-intelectual and deliberatley alienating wankery. One is about getting the mesage across effectivly, the other is about tricking people into thinking you are amazing. I think we know what angle this guy is writing from.

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Tue Oct 30, 2007 11:17 pm

I have read much worse from art students though. Also higher managment types write some pretty hilarious and unesacary shit too.

once had a centre manager send around an email that said something like

"it has been brought to my attention that certain offensive odoriferous consumable goods have biologically deteriated well beyond any edible state. Hereby be notified that any amenable food-stuffs remaining within staff refreigeration at 1600 hours today will be deemed expired at the desgression of managment and consigned to landfill"

non-wanker translation: "we're throwing out the rotten food in the fridge at 4 o'clock"

thesynthesist · Post by **thesynthesist** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:24 am

Man, you think thats bad...

What about this Peurto Rican scumfuck, that had street kids capture and starve a dog from teh street, then chained it to a wall in a museum to die, the sign for the "exhibit" made of dogfood.

And people actually attended this shit, and didnt free it.

http://www.itchmo.com/costa-rican-artis ... hibit-3485

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 12:30 am

thats so fucked up and off topic

thesynthesist · Post by **thesynthesist** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:06 am

what did you expect?!

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:13 am

I dunno, its sad tho... sif someone wouldn't just go and give the dog a fucking bowl of water

thesynthesist · Post by **thesynthesist** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:17 am

Dude, I would have let that shit go. And gotten violent with anyone who tried to stop me.

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 1:35 am

Yep...

and fuck tape op

dougd · Post by **dougd** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:40 am

Are you really comparing torturing and killing an animal to writing an essay in a magazine?

WTF

This thread is made of fail.

tempest · Post by **tempest** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 2:47 am

No comparison was made.... though i accept failure

Why I won't be subscribing to Tape Op

Why I won't be subscribing to Tape Op

Jargon

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