Rock and Roll Fun: the Recordist and his Rag

Larry Crane is a recording engineer working out of the Portland, OR area and points Northwest. He has worked with Sleater Kinney, Eliot Smith, Nels Cline, M. Ward, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, and The Decemberists. If that catches your attention and you are a musician or engineer you may be interested that Larry also publishes a very cool recording mag called Tape Op.

The magazine finds a great balance between indie/DIY productions techniques and the world of more tech savvy (and higher budget) recordists. I for one always had a hard time reading the (substantially) theoretical/incoherent talk of high budget studio engineers. So this mag suited me perfectly when I was seriously pursuing an engineering gig. In fact Larry is such a good dude, I emailed him out of the blue several years ago when I almost moved up Oregon way to see how business was going for his and local studios. He wrote right back and offered to meet. I did not move, but I think that story indicates the type of magazine he runs, it is accessible and you will learn something.

The emphasis is on creativity in getting cool sounds that suit your song. Features cover unique styles of production (think The Books, Matthew Herbert, or Hank Shocklee), enigmatic rock figures (Frusciante, Mike Patton, E of The Eels), and mystical prophets of SPL's (think T Bone, Lanois and Rick Rubin), and everyone in between. If you don't believe me look at the back issues. The rag also does gear and CD reviews.

The best part is that it is free (in the US - sorry). All you gotta do is have an email, and give him a little marketable demographic info that he uses strictly for the purposes of soliciting print advertising. The ads cover all costs.

Check it out, especially if you record ANYTHING. This stuff is applicable to you artists!

(I was in no way paid to write this post.)

PS the vid features Elliot Smith, who recorded most of XO, a fave of mine, with Crane working the board. Notice that the drummer at this live performance is Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney. This was live in 1998 in Reading, England.