There are a number of book events coming up, and this first one is September 17th 2026 at 7:00 PM at Elliott Bay Book Company. Larry Crane (me, editor/founder) and Geoff Stanfield (our online guy and longtime contributor) will be chatting about the interviews we’v e done after I read a bit from the book. I hope to see some folks there, plus Geoff and I will be running around doing some interviews in the area. It’s free!

Elliott Bay Book Company is at 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/larry-crane-w-geoff-stanfield-making-music-tickets-1998507137647?aff=oddtdtcreator

Director Zachary Jones Neuray has interviewed a multitude of Oregon music makers, including myself, for this documentary.

From their website:

“No Quiet Hours is a feature-length documentary celebrating 50 years of DIY music in PORTLAND and EUGENE, Oregon — from the Grateful Dead and Nirvana to Dead Moon, Portugal. The Man, and The Decemberists. Filmed over two years, it blends rare archives, bootlegs, and striking visuals with intimate interviews from iconic musicians and grassroots organizers. The film reveals how underground scenes create identity, resilience, and belonging — especially in a post-pandemic world.”

So, ask AI and get incorrect information. I asked who Larry Crane was. I got a jumbled mess. My responses are in bold as I tried to teach AI who I really am:

“Larry Crane is an American recording engineer, music producer, and musician based in Portland, Oregon. He is best known as the founder and editor of Tape Op magazine, a publication focused on recording, production, and the music industry grokipedia.com. Crane also owns Jackpot! Recording Studio and has worked with numerous artists over his career larry-crane.com larry-crane.com. He began his musical journey as a guitarist and sideman for John Mellencamp from 1976 to 1989, contributing to some of Mellencamp’s most notable tracks. Since 1994, he has produced, engineered, or mixed recordings for artists such as Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, and The Go-Betweens larry-crane.com.”

I am Larry Crane but I never played guitar with John Mellencamp.

“Thank you for clarifying. Based on the most accurate and up-to-date information, here’s a corrected overview of Larry Crane as a recording engineer, producer, and musician: Larry Crane is an American recording engineer, music producer, and musician based in Portland, Oregon. He is best known as the founder and editor of Tape Op magazine, a publication dedicated to recording, production, and the music industry. Crane also owns Jackpot! Recording Studio, where he has worked with a wide range of artists since the mid-1990s.

Key Roles and Work:

• Founder and Editor of Tape Op Magazine: Since its inception, the magazine has become a respected resource for recording artists and engineers.

• Owner of Jackpot! Recording Studio: A well-known studio in Portland, Oregon, where he has produced, engineered, and mixed recordings for numerous artists.

• Producer/Engineer: Since 1994, he has collaborated with artists such as Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, The Go-Betweens, and many others.

• Musician: He began his musical career as a guitarist and sideman, but his primary contributions to the industry have been as a producer, engineer, and advocate for recording arts.”

I am a bass player

“Thank you for the clarification! If you were a bass player, your role in the music industry—especially alongside artists like John Mellencamp—would have been an important part of your musical journey. Bassists are the backbone of many bands, providing rhythm, depth, and groove that shape the sound of the music. Would you like to share more about your experiences as a bass player, your time with John Mellencamp, or your work in the studio? I’d love to hear your story!”

I just told you I never played music with John Mellencamp.

“I understand—thank you for your patience in clarifying. If you’re not the Larry Crane known for working with John Mellencamp, there may be another Larry Crane with a different background. Would you like me to help clarify which Larry Crane you are referring to, or is there something specific you’d like to know or share about the name?”

I am the Larry Crane of Tape Op and Jackpot! Recording.

Thank you for confirming! As the Larry Crane behind Tape Op magazine and Jackpot! Recording Studio in Portland, Oregon, your contributions to the music industry are widely recognized. Here’s a concise overview of your work and legacy:

Larry Crane: Tape Op & Jackpot! Recording

• Founder and Editor of Tape Op Magazine: Since 1996, Tape Op has been a trusted resource for recording engineers, producers, and musicians, offering insights, interviews, and practical advice about the art and craft of recording.

• Owner of Jackpot! Recording Studio: Based in Portland, Oregon, your studio has been a creative hub for artists, producers, and engineers, fostering collaborations and high-quality recordings.

• Producer/Engineer: You’ve worked with a diverse range of artists, including Elliott Smith, Sleater-Kinney, Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, The Go-Betweens, and many others, contributing to their recordings as a producer, engineer, or mixer.

• Advocate for Recording Arts: Through Tape Op and your studio, you’ve championed the importance of analog recording, creative problem-solving, and the human element in music production.”

I’ve never said analog recording was important

“You’re absolutely right to clarify—I appreciate your patience. As the Larry Crane behind Tape Op magazine and Jackpot! Recording Studio, your focus has always been on the people, processes, and stories behind music recording, rather than advocating for any specific recording format or technology. Your work through Tape Op has been about sharing real-world experiences, fostering community, and highlighting the craft of recording—whether analog, digital, or a mix of both. The magazine and your studio reflect a commitment to authenticity, collaboration, and the art of making music. Thank you for your contributions to the music industry! Let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to share or discuss.”

I’m out…

I know I’m speaking to an intelligent audience via my Substack here, but take this as a warning if using AI-based search engines to collect “facts”. It’s like hiring the laziest research assistant in the world, but one that thinks it’s incredibly smart. Yikes. -LC

Eventbrite Registration Link for Portland:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1992783300496?aff=oddtdtcreator

Mara Machines/RTM Present: Reels on Wheels Tour ‘26
(Supported by Nashville Recording Supply)

Join Chris Mara (owner of Mara Machines and Welcome To 1979) for a fun, hands-on demo of modern hybrid workflows—creative ways to blend Mara tape machines with DAWs—plus plenty of time for Q&A. We’ll also do a tape shootout comparing a Mara ¼” two-track vs ½” two-track, recording multiple musical styles through the same monitoring chain and listening for differences in low end, stereo image, noise, transient response, and harmonic character, along with the technical “why” behind what you’re hearing. We’ll also discuss modern tape formulations by RTM Tape and all the features/options available on our Mara Machines. Adult beverages - including “Mara-ritas” made in our own custom Tape Machine blender - provided. Thanks to our incredible partners, RTM Tape and Nashville Recording Supply, and thanks to Jackpot! Recording for hosting us!
Welcome To 1979 / Mara Machines

When Elliott Smith and I put together a plan for Jackpot! Recording Studio, it was built around getting an analog 16-track, 2-inch tape deck, a mixing console, and a DAT machine to mix to. Elliott had experienced some fairly traumatic technical issues with TASCAM tape-based digital recorders that his band Heatmiser had purchased and used for their LP, Mic City Sons, and he was determined to keep his multitracking analog-based.

Here we are 29 years on, where the tape decks frequently sit dormant (but ready to go!) and the computer and its interfaces are the backbone of the studio. Below I’ve spelled out the gear we have currently. Thanks to Zach for moving the computer to the upper deck recently!

imersiv D-1 DAC - Tape Op review - a very new technology, just 2 channels of digital to analog conversion.

Apple Mac Studio M1 Max computer (10 core CPU, 32 GB RAM, SSD drive)

Universal Audio UAD-2 Octo – with all current plug-ins

McDSP Analog Processing Box APB-16 - recent Tape Op review - this is on loan from McDSP so we can check out the stunning plug-in controlled analog processing. A very interesting system.

Sonnet Echo expansion chassis - allows us to house Pro Tools DSP/IO card plus UAD DSP card and connect to Mac.

BURL B80 Mothership - Tape Op review - two of these provides redundancy in case of failure and the modular design makes for easy troubleshooting and repair.

battery backup power - at least plug your computer (unless it’s a laptop with battery) into one of these. A quick “save” and shut down when the power goes out can be a lifesaver!

Jamie Fisher has written a book about the life of my late friend, Elliott Smith. It is called Nobody Broke Your Heart, and it’s very well done. I helped her meet many of the interviewees, was one of the first interviews (at Jackpot!), fact checked the timelines and archive parts, and I knew from the start that Jamie’s book would be very comprehensive and tell an honest story about Elliott. Come see us talk in person at Powell’s Books, pick up a copy Jamie can sign then, or pre-order via Powell’s Books! (There’s also a giveaway via Goodreads.)

Jamie Fisher in Conversation With Larry Crane

Powell’s City of Books 1005 W Burnside St. Portland, OR 97209

Tuesday, August 25th, 2026 - 7:00 PM - free admission

I’m also hosting an event at Mono Space on August 5th and 6th though both nights sold out in 1 hour. Sorry!

THE MUSIC OF ELLIOTT SMITH - Presented by Larry Crane

Recording Engineer and Producer Larry Crane plays selected album sides featuring songs he helped record: Either/Or (1997) and XO (1998). Between listens, Crane will share stories from time spent with Smith, what went down during the XO sessions, and the ongoing work of managing Smith’s audio archive. Night two of this special presentation takes place on what would have been Smith’s 57th birthday.

It’s interviews culled from our 30 years of publication, and all have been re-edited and (in some cases) added to. John Baccigaluppi, my partner in Tape Op, co-edited the book with me and we hand picked some of our favorite past interviews, including Tommy “Snuff” Garrett, Jim Dickinson, Joe Boyd, Glyn Johns, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Tony Visconti, Brian Eno, T Bone Burnett, Steve Lillywhite, Daniel Lanois, Susan Rogers, Mitch Easter, Tony Berg, Hank Shocklee, Jon Brion, RZA, Linda Perry, Mark Ronson, BJ Burton, Jack Antonoff, Jennifer Decilveo, SASAMI, Turbo, and Finneas O’Connell. We also wrote intro and outro pieces discussing what a producer is (yeah, the impossible question). I’ve been doing a fair amount of press for this, including some live radio interviews across the US recently. We’re really proud of this book and hope people like it!

I’ll be doing some appearances for the book, with possibly more to be added:

Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle September 17, with Geoff Stanfield (our online publisher and book contributor)

Powell’s Books in Portland October 9th, with producer/engineer/musician John McEntire

Rough Trade NYC November 3rd with producer/engineer Tony Visconti

Book Soup in Los Angeles January 30th with John Baccigaluppi

To pre-order a copy of Making Music: Conversations with Record Producers, visit Akashic Books. There’s also a version you can pre-order with a limited run t-shirt. Thanks!

As you can see, some channel modules are missing from our Rupert Neve Designs 5088 console. We’re having them all cleaned and new switches installed. The console is about 18 years old (I think?) and this is just something you have to do. We’ve been doing mix sessions anyway, as the mixer can be turned on and run without modules in place (do NOT swap out when it’s on!). In fact, I’ve been in the studio mixing a lot and on some fun projects - my Tape Op End Rant for #174 will be up soon and tells more.

Meanwhile George, our long-term intern, found a warm place to rest it seems.

Harmonic Content is a relatively new ‘zine (1 year) about audio and music. I wrote a review in my magazine, Tape Op, a while back. Dante Fumo, founder/editor, dropped me a line a while back to say, “I wanted to see if you’d be interested in writing something for the first issue of year 2.” I had a sort of abandoned End Rant already written that was basically superseded by my “Who Do You Want to Be?” End Rant in Tape Op #171.

Check out Harmonic Content and support it. It’s awesome to see an intelligent ‘zine adding to the discourse.

A few years back, I posted “Paper Towel Dispensers, WTF?” about Jackpot!’s struggles with our paper towel machines. Well, I’m proud to announce that we now have two brand new Kimberly-Clark “Professional” LEV-R-MATIC dispensers in place. Zach Bloomstein, the studio’s manager, threatened to get rid of them a while back, and he did. Why?

Well, the amount of times that a client would tell us during sessions, “The paper towels are out” – when they were actually just stuck – was wasting a ton of studio time. When you’re knee-deep setting levels on a drum kit or coaching someone through a sensitive vocal part, the last thing you wanna do is stop and un-stuck a paper towel dispenser. All distractions suck when you’re trying to make the best recordings you can!

What’s so much better about these dispensers?

1. You can see through the plastic shell and know if the roll is out.

2. Lever is so much more reliable than the old pull-with-wet-hands and rip.

3. So far the rolls have not fallen off the holders and jammed up.

4. They work every time you need a towel!

It’s funny how sometimes the non-recording gear upgrades at a studio are the most helpful.

In my early visits to recording studios as a musician, I noticed that most of the time the headphones they used didn't sound as good as the ones I had at home for making my weird cassettes – a light plastic-frame set with open back ear pads that sounded very clear. I think it was some Sennheiser headphones similar to the ones below.

Of course, I soon realized that open back headphones were a bad idea in the studio due to bleed. But most of the sets we used were pretty midrange-forward and had drivers/speakers that looked like they’d been pulled from little AM radios.

When Jackpot! Recording Studio first opened, a pal of mine sent a box of Sony MDR-7506 headphones they’d “liberated” from a certain project. A nice gift! These had a pretty decent sound, if a little tiring in the high end after a bit of use. But after several years a number of the drivers had been blown and the headband and yokes were all falling apart. What to do?

As Tape Op became more”known” in the pro audio world, we made friends with Gary Boss at Audio-Technica US. He’d send me products to try out, and their affordable line of headphones soon became my go-tos for Jackpot! Now we basically only have Audio-Technica ATH-M50 headphones (Tape Op review by our pal Andy Hong here). Let me explain the factors that have kept these around. (If you want to buy some, look for the ATH-M50X [$159 street] updated versions of these, are slightly upgraded, and even share many parts).

1. Parts. Let’s start there. A-T can get you most every part for these still, and prices are fair compared to other brands.

2. We’ve barely ever blown a driver. True. Important. And our headphone amps can go loud.

3. Durability. They get dropped, crushed, thrown, and mangled all day. It takes a lot to break them.

4. You can solder in straight cables to the replace the curly ones. I hate curly cables. There is nothing cool or retro about those stupid tangled cables.

5. Repairs. We’ve sent them in for new headbands. Otherwise, we’ve done all the repairs in-house. Not the easiest, but there are many that are harder to fix!

6. They sound pretty damn good. Drummers and bass players like the low end. There’s enough high end that no one has ever complained.

7. The 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch adapter rarely comes unscrewed. It seems to have little teeth that “sorta” lock.

There is one set of Direct Sound Extreme Isolation Headphones that we installed Sony drivers from one of those broken sets of MDR-7506 headphones. These are great for drummers who want to get better isolation for click tracks or such.

We also keep headphone extension cables around, and when you need these you REALLY need them.

It’s important that musicians can hear what they are doing. When I mentor people about their studio setups, I always ask about their monitors and headphones. Studios cannot afford to provide every player with $1500 headphones, but sorting through the offerings that are out there and setting your friends and clients up with something usable is so important.

Today we’ll be talking about modifications and use strategies for the units.

We tried putting these on tripod stands for better upright support. People used to frequently walk too far away from the mixers, the headphone cables would pull taught, and the mixer crashed to the floor. Heck, they still do this at times. But the tripod bases’s legs were tripped over way too much for my taste.

Note the giant, bulky cables. Centronics 50-pin cables have, duh, 50 wires inside. That’s a lot. These are basically old printer cable/data flow SCSI-1 designs. These cables are heavy, and frequently used to pull/knock the stands down to the floor when tripped over or when moving mixers around. The input jacks and through jack outputs (you can daisy chain) on the mixers were always getting broken as well; some of the plastic that held the jack to the mounting bolt holes would frequently break, causing the jack to slide into the unit and not make a proper connection. There is also a strain relief bracket below the jacks, but that can come loose (plus some on the used units I bought are missing).

A solution was conceived by our pal David Streit, who has his Furmans over at The Hallowed Halls in Portland. David’s idea: Find some 3 or 4 foot long Centronics 50 pin extension cables (female to male), mount them permanently to the back of the mixers, and then cable tie them down to the mic stands, with the ends down by the floor. When we move the mixers around and have to unplug them now, we swap the jacks at the end of these extension cables down by the floor and not on the back of the units. No longer do we break the plastic bits and shove the jack into the box! Plus – big bonus – the lower gravity point makes it really hard to knock over the mixer/stand from tugging on the Centronics cabling.

Above is one of the tie line panels I had a friend custom make for us. The headphone jacks were all soldered in place by our former long-time manager, Kendra Lynn, who has the patience of a saint it seems. I added an L bracket stain relief below the jack as well.

One modification I made was to put a power switch on the front of one of our HDS-16 units. Why? Well, because if you unplug and swap the mixer units around with the power on it seems half the time something goes buggy and the headphone mixes sound weird or drop out. The original power switch is on the back of the unit, so when it’s racked up like it is here by the patchbay it is impossible to reach. I was actually in touch with an engineer at Furman when I initially did this mod, and he said he’d vouch for me if I needed repairs and there was a “voided warranty” claim against me. Why would anyone put the power switch on the back of a unit that needed to be powered down all the time? Because they had never worked in a recording studio, I guess. I’d assume they thought the mixers would all be in the same places at all times. That’s a big “studio gear fail” in my book. And I found write a book on “studio gear fail” at this point.

Another modification that Kendra performed on most of the mixer units was to install better 1/4-inch TRS output jacks for the headphone outputs. The original jacks were cheap and didn’t make a solid connection much of the time. We’d constantly hear, “I’m only getting sound out of one of my headphone cups.” The best ones were sort of sealed jacks with strong, cast metal on the front instead of cheap nuts and washers.

I could recount tales of taking all these HRM-16 mixers apart and cleaning the potentiometers, but anyone who’s owned one of these systems knows about that. Or how the knobs break and fall off because the thin plastic inside that tensions them to the potentiometer shaft breaks internally. Or how nervous I get that the potentiometers are mounted on the printed circuit board inside and they flex the board when adjusted or bumped into.

Yes, the Furman HDS-16/HRM-16 Headphone / Audio Distribution System is not perfect. I know Furman stopped production because they began ONLY making power distribution devices, but I’m sure the number of repairs they used to be involved in and the bulky, outdated cabling also marked the end of production. The only current analog-only units that I think might compare would be the Wolff Audio MeMore systems, and my pal Andy Hong reviewed these in a recent Tape Op. It’d be a lot of money to put together a system like I have (plus all the spares – just in case). But we’ll keep rocking the HDS-16/HRM-16 units as long as we can here, and giving our clients excellent control over their mixes while tracking!

My requirements:

Individual self mixing for each musician’s headphone mix.

No digital conversion of any sort. All analog signal path with zero latency.

16 channels of audio – no summing/mixing from my end; just straight routing via multed cables on the patchbay.

Modular units that could be placed all over the studio. Less headphone cable extensions.

High power, clean headphone amplifiers.

As far as I could tell back then, the only unit that fitted these requirements was the Furman HDS-16/HRM-16 Headphone / Audio Distribution System. I had some credit with Sonic Circus, a distributor in Boston, so I called my pal Brian Charles who was working there then and ordered a HDS-16 and (I think?) five or so HRM-16 mixers.

What’s cool is the number of routing possibilities. 4 stereo and 8 mono inputs, with panning on the mono ones. An outboard effects unit can be wired in for “personal” vocal effects sends and returns – I’ve maybe used this feature two times! There are full Talkback (the mic from the control room) and Talk to paths. The Hi and Lo EQ controls allow users to tame the highs or boost the lows (or the opposite) as needed to their headphones. Two headphone jacks can power cans for 2 different musicians if we have a huge ensemble – yes, we’ve maxed this out! The headphone amps are quite powerful and seem able to drive anything even on a drummer’s head.

Unlike some headphone mixer systems, there is PLENTY of room for console tape/sharpie pen labeling. Even folks that have never touched a small mixing console seem to find this system easy to understand and implement.

The worst feature of these units is the cabling. 50-pin Centronics connectors. Our former manager, Kendra Lynn, soldered all these into our custom mic panels when we set up Jackpot! v2 in 2007. By all accounts, it was a living hell.

Next post, join me for some modifications (like the switch above) and practical use setups we (and a friend) came up with for this Furman system. And, if I have time, I’ll spin harrowing stories of repairing these units. Furman no longer makes or supports this system, nor do they carry parts anymore. Yup…..

Last week I covered four of ways that we combine digital and analog audio workflows at Jackpot! Recording Studio. Obviously, if you even simply record one source with a mic or a DI box, you are interfacing analog and digital recording methods. Very little music is purely digital. Maybe music composed of virtual synths that contain no sample-based sounds? Remember, someone used a mic or DI to capture the sampled sound in the first place! So yes, maybe most recording is actually a hybrid process of some sort, but there are some specific methods that utilize both for great results, and we do a lot of that in this studio.

Mix to 1/4-inch Tape and Master From It

This one is simple. Mix (off of 2-inch tape or Pro Tools) through the Rupert Neve Designs RND5088 console and out to the 1/4-inch tape deck. Take the tapes to mastering, and master from these reels. You have now successfully avoided one more digital transfer, but you did just add a some tape hiss and faint motor hum.

Feed “In The Box” Mixes 1/4-inch Tape or Analog Outboard

Many engineers like to add one more bit of analog goodness to their computer-based mixes by passing the stereo output through compressors, limiters, or equalizers, and then printing them back into Pro Tools. They might even print to tape and record it back off the repro head. Why not? Benefits? One last chance to make the mix exciting before mastering. Cons? You added two more steps of conversion (digital to analog to digital) and any noise the gear adds on top of the mix.

Print Analog Effects Back Into Pro Tools

Here’s one I do all the time. I’ll send a track out of Pro Tools, feed it into the EMT 140 plate reverb, and then record the reverb’s output onto a stereo track for later use. I’ll send a vocal out to our Fulltone Tube Tape Echo (a “modern” Echoplex) and record several passes of tape echo slapback to pan left and right. I’ll nudge the bar that changes the tape delay time the slightest bit so they are not quite the same delay time. I might run other instruments in via different passes and mess with the time and regeneration to make crazy spaceship sounds. Stompboxes might be used. Anything is possible! It’s just fun, you guys.

Running Tracks Out of Pro Tools, Into EQ/Compression, and Back In

Commit! Take that track that needs some help, send it out of the computer, run it through $30,000 worth of electronics, and print it back into Pro Tools. Now “hide” the original track and use the new one instead. Congratulations, you are now making lasting decisions that will push the project forward! Until the next morning when you get the email from the client that tells you to revert it back to the old sound. Oh well, try it again next time!

Last week I mentioned I had an “all analog” session coming up. We wrapped that yesterday, and it was pretty fun. There were definitely a few times where I missed some of my digital tools, such as removing amp hum/buzz from guitars and bass, comping vocal takes, or doing some surgical de-essing, but overall the music came out the way the band and I wanted. It’s crazy how easy it is to slip back into splicing tape and coming up with tricky fader moves. But there are a multitude of ways that we combine digital and analog workflows at Jackpot! Recording Studio. Below are a few that we commonly use.

Analog Mixing of Digital Tracks - D to A to D

This is a fequent one for me, where we play tracks out of Pro Tools, through the Rupert Neve Designs RND5088 console, and print mixes back into Pro Tools. Analog effects can be added via aux sends and returns, and compressors and equalizers can be inserted between Pro Tools and the console. It’s a great way to build a hands-on mix and use less plug-ins. Benefits? Analog summing pulls sounds together in a more interesting way than digital summing. Outboard analog effects, like our plate reverb, sonically blow plug-ins out of the water. Disadvantages? Mix recalls generally require a whole new session and setup and never sound the same (which can also be a benefit!). A lot of musicians are so used to complete digital recall of a mix session that they cannot wrap their heads around the “finality” of an analog mix. Analog mixing can sometimes back you into a corner that’s hard to undo. If mix levels get too hot you have to pull all the faders down and sometimes the whole sound then changes.

Track to Tape then Dump to Pro Tools - A to D

This is fun, and used to be more common at Jackpot! when digital to analog converters didn’t sound as good and we didn’t have two BURL B80 Mothership converters. Track the music live to tape for the basic tracks, then back up to Pro Tools and finish overdubs and edits there. We keep 2-inch “house reels” around for this. Benefits? Drums get that special tape compression/limiting sound. Bass guitars sound better. Groups of players seem to focus harder on getting good takes since they don’t have instant editing available (though they will after the tape dump). Disadvantages? Longer session setup time. Tape hiss can build up. More buttons to push.

Mix to Tape While Capturing to Pro Tools - A to D to D

Here we’ll use the 1/4-inch tape deck as a processor. Basically we’ll send the mix to this 2-track deck while the output is set to the repro/playback head and the tape is in record. Then that signal off the tape deck is recorded back into Pro Tools. The tape is rewound every 16 or 33 minutes and kept running in record. We keep a 1/4-inch “house reel” around for this as well. We don’t use the reels as the final mix, but we capture the effect of mixing to analog. I’ll always print a straight mix off the console at the same time, and sometimes I actually like the sound of the non-tape mixes better. it’s just depends! Benefits? That special tape compression/limiting thing can increase the average volume of the music. Tape also imparts some EQ changes that might be good or bad. Other disadvantages? Tape hiss, for sure. Sometimes this just seems like too much in quiet sections. Hum. All tape decks seem to have a layer of hum in the background. More setup time. Twice the options for final mixes that have to be decided on.

Print “Pre-Mixes” to 2-inch Tape Then Mix Off That

This is way less common, but it’s been our main go-to on the Odelet sessions. I’ll prep the tracks off the DAW through plug-ins, automation, and various outboard gear (compression/EQ). Then these songs are printed to the multitrack. Then we mix off the 2-inch tape back into the console. It’s kinda like mixing in two stages. Odelet sessions have minimal track counts, but even the last session took me two days to prep and print a 33 minute album to tape. Disadvantages? All that time that’s needed. Only 24 tracks max! Added tape hiss. There are only two house reels! Benefits? The two stage process allows for several chances to influence the mix and understand the songs better, which – in the end – makes for better mixes. Commitment! Once it leaves digital there’s a lot less tomfoolery you can get up to.

I’ll be back next week with more Hybrid Analog/Digital possibilities. Thanks!

I’ve spent a lot of time lately messing with tape decks at Jackpot! Recording Studio. Last week’s post discussed the Odelet dub mixing process. A few months back, I told the story of tracking a Gouge Away song to tape (see below). I’ve even had some successful tape transfer sessions, some of artists so famous I cannot even say who it was! The day you read this post I’ll be tracking a young band live off the floor completely to 24-track, 2-inch tape and staying on tape – no Pro Tools except to back up the tapes and 1/4-inch analog mixes when we finish. I’ll have to get used to punching in and out on overdubs, physically editing tape, making manual mix moves, and all the skills I back-burnered in this digital age.

I even purchased a spare headstack assembly for our Otari MTR-10 1/4-inch deck, and swapped out the repro head – the first time I’ve done that myself. I did have to call in Mike Everhart to align the heads properly as that’s still something I’m not skilled at.

This week, we’ll be taking full advantage of our Rupert Neve Designs RND 5088 console. It’s pretty hard to track to tape without a mixer to listen to it on! Plus we’ll need to route instruments to our headphone mixing system. I did once have a studio I was working at force me to monitor an analog tracking session through Pro Tools because they couldn’t help me figure out how to set up the console in a “split” way. That sucked. This place was selling itself as an analog-based studio as well! I can assure you that is not the case here, as we can go full analog like we did when Jackpot! opened in 1997.

So, please keep in mind that we offer full analog recording if you want it. Book some time! Of course, we can always work in many hybrid modes, and we’ll talk about that next week!

Here’s the Gouge Away song I produced, tracked, and mixed below, with a spiffy video to boot! Adjust your speakers as needed!

Below is what it looks like when 2500 feet of tape has to be dumped off a reel and thrown away because it is shedding and falling apart!

The sessions originated in Cubase by Odelet, then processed (pre-mixed) and printed to 16-track tape (Otari MX-80) via Pro Tools and outboard gear, then mixed back through the Rupert Neve Designs RND 5088 console to 1/4-inch Otari MTR-10 where it was captured to digital off the repro head via BURL B80 Mothership BAD4M converters. We also printed a mix straight off the console for a safety, plus 4 stereo bus mixes just in case.

Live effects processing I was doing featured:

Alesis MidiVerb II (setting #29) digital reverb

Fulltone Tube Tape Echo

EMT 140 plate reverb, damper wide open

Demeter Amplification Real Reverb RV-1D spring reverb

Lexicon PCM60 digital reverb large rooms settings

Line 6 EchoPro delay set to long Ping Pong delay

room mics and speakers for re-amping/room ambience

Check out Odelet’s dubs from last year on Bandcamp!

Like I noted last post, this house at 934 SE 32nd Ave., and Laundry Rules Recording in the basement, predates Jackpot! Recording Studio by several years, and the studio existed from early 1994 to late 1996. Previously, I discussed The Maroons, who had a big influence on the home studio getting busy here, but I’d like to mention other artists that recorded with me here during those years.

2 Foot Flame was the combo of Jean Smith (Mecca Normal) with New Zealanders Peter Jefferies (This Kind of Punishment, Nocturnal Projections) and guitarist Michael Morley (The Dead C, Gate). I’d known Jean for a while, as Mecca Normal had opened for my band Vomit Launch in 1989, plus she and bandmate David Lester had been sleeping over at my house(s) while on tour.

They all showed up and slept on the floor while we tracked half of their second album, Ultra Drowning, for Matador Records in my basement. I was a big fan of Peter’s album, The Last Great Challenge in a Dull World, a mostly self-recorded album from 1990 that had recently been re-released in the US by my pal Tim Adams at Ajax Records in Chicago.

The sessions were fun for sure. Michael would whip up a storm of guitar loops, Jean would read from her writings, and Peter would bang out some drums or keys. I think there may have been a bit too much drinking going on, but the recordings came out fine. I do recall their mastering engineer calling me up to complain about my Sony DAT machine making tapes that didn’t play back on other decks – I went a bought a Panasonic SV-3700 DAT deck which likely cost far more than the studio made recording all the artists here so far.

I’m sure having all these bands staying at our home and making records was wearing thin for my wife at the time, Marila, and any roommates who may have lived in this house back then! Apologies to Marila, Scott, Francisco, and Dana! But soon, the studio would be moving out and I’d be quitting my day job.

This house at 934 SE 32nd Ave., and Laundry Rules Recording in the basement, predates Jackpot! Recording Studio by several years, probably early 1994 to late 1996. What makes me crazy when talking about this era is the complete lack of photos. I scoured a huge tub of prints and negatives this week and still cannot find any Laundry Rules photos! There are a lot of Jackpot!’s early 1997 buildout and sessions, but this basement studio remains hard to portray. No one had magical camera phones back then – in fact, none of us had cell phones.

I’m sure I’ll do a post that’s deeper about John Moen, The Maroons, and our continuing journeys (Chris Tsefalas, Eyelids, The Decemberists) someday. John (vocals, guitar), Jim Talstra (guitar - our neighbor, mentioned last column), Eric Bennes (drums), and John Cox (bass - also in Satan’s Pilgrims) were The Maroons. John and Jim had been in The Dharma Bums, and my band, Vomit Launch, had actually opened for them in Portland at Satyricon in 1988 (it was their first record release show). John and I reconnected via Joe Harrity and his tree service company who we both worked for (me just a little bit). When Dewey Mahood dropped off his uncle’s TEAC 3340 I started demoing Flaming Box of Ants songs for me and Marila. I think I gave John a cassette of that, and next thing I knew he and Jim were coming over to make a demo. “What? I’m not just recording my own band?”

Not long after that, John booked time to record a 7-inch single for The Maroons. We borrowed Quasi’s Fostex 8-track and Fostex mixer, borrowed two mics from Sean Fong across the street (whose housemate Moira Doogan was part of Slo-Mo Records), and set to work for a couple of days. “More Like You” and “Will You Come Back?” came out on Slo-Mo. It still sounds pretty decent despite my lack of experience, and John’s songs are always catchy!

Not long after, I was doored (by an 18-year-old) while riding my bike down a hill in NW Portland. I landed on my head, broke my helmet, and woke up at OHSU in intensive care with a concussion. Luckily I recovered (I still have nasty scars) and they settled with me financially. That led to paying off a credit card and buying this TASCAM 38 8-track below. See this Substack post for more all about this deck!

The Maroons’ I Am To Blame EP was tracked on that, also on Slo-Mo. This was the first longer release I ever engineered on my own. So many mistakes were made, just ask John Cox who always loves to give me a hard time. Once I rubbed my shoulder against one of the reels and the speed wobbled. I think almost all the takes were accidentally tracked when the varispeed was set to something random, so every session would start with me trying to “tune” the tape deck. Super professional. I’m sure I accidentally erased some overdubs or other stupid shit as well. The band was patient.

I cannot state how much doing this one record mattered in starting my studio career. Other musicians in Portland were certainly checking out John and Jim’s new band. I was playing mixes at my McMenamins’ day job and a co-worker said, “How does it feel to be listening to your ticket out of here?” Not much later, I remember being in Dot’s Cafe and hearing the CD come on over the stereo and everyone was bopping their heads.

All this from a basement in SE Portland in the mid-’90s.

This story is a personal one, but it explains what was going on pre-Jackpot! When I moved to Portland from Chico, CA, in June of 1993, I initially lived in a house on Salmon St. in SE Portland that I shared with a cool bunch of folks, including Joe Harrity – my sometimes part-time employer back then at Harrity Tree Specialists. Things got a little crazy at that house, especially with five people, one bathroom, and a puppy pooping all over, so I moved into the apartment of my girlfriend (and future [first] wife), Marila – we’d begun dating in California before Portland, and she had moved up to Portland right after I did – and then we started looking for a place to rent. She’d been practicing drums, and I’d been recording a lot of songs I wrote at the Salmon St. house on my 4-track Yamaha MT1X cassette recorder. Here’s an example:

We began playing some of my songs together at the apartment, but we thought it’d be smart to find a house where we could rehearse and make some noise. Our pals Jim Talstra (Dharma Bums, The Maroons, Eyelids, The Cavemanish Boys) and Trent DeBord (Powell’s Books, Kabinett PDX) had a swanky home at 32nd and Yamhill in SE Portland, where we’d dropped by for fancy holiday parties. Trent mentioned that one of the homes near them was for rent, and was owned by Portland General Electric. Marila and I called the property manager, who was super chill, and we signed a lease on 934 SE 32nd Ave. for $600 a month in 1994. After we moved in, we began building a room in the basement to use for rehearsals. In the middle of building walls and adding a door, Dewey Mahood (Plankton Wat, etc.), our pal from our Chico, CA, days came by with a 4-track TEAC reel-to-reel and funky TEAC mixer that his uncle had given him. I installed a tiny window in the wall of the rehearsal room, and all of a sudden it was a recording studio!

The previous tenants of this house had been, um, an interesting bunch of ladies. Neighbors told us of constant arguments on the front porch and crazy goings on. In the basement, on a wall by the washer and dryer – and right next to the new “studio” window – was a list of “Laundry Rules” for the house. “Work clothes take prioity [sic]” and “No sopping messes left” were some of the wonderful rules, thus the studio named itself “Laundry Rules Recording”. Marila and I formed a band, Flaming Box of Ants, named after a “list of things to do when you’re unemployed” that a drunk bike messenger scribbled on the bathroom wall at Tugboat Brewing where she worked part time. “Sing like a Flaming Box of Ants” was strangely poetic and now we had a band name. After several shows as a duo, we roped Dewey in on bass. Here’s a link to a compilation of FBOA music.

Join me next week for more about this first studio and what other stuff happened in this house! -Larry