Welcome to Tape Op's DISCussion, where we call our friends and music community notables to talk about their favorite records. For this episode, Geoff Stanfield chats with producer/engineer Mario J. McNulty about Massive Attack’s 1998 release, Mezzanine. Enjoy! Sponsered by AKG-JBL www.akg.co

My friend Jolie Holland and I first met when I edited, overdubbed, and mixed her album Wine Dark Sea in 2014, ten years ago. Around then we even played a short 2 song set live at an Elliott Smith tribute show. A few years after that we worked again on Wildflower Blues, an album she did with Samantha Parton, her former bandmate from The Be Good Tanyas, and recently I prepped a re-master of her debut album, Catalpa. We thought it’d be fun to talk about her recent album, Haunted Mountain, and how the record came to be, and working on it with Justin Veloso and Adam Brisbin. Obviously, I was curious, as here was a great album of her’s that I DIDN’T work on. So, while in LA I dropped by Jolie’s apartment, she cooked us a great dinner, and then we sat down with a bottle of wine on some creaky chairs and started talking. So here, drop in on our conversation as we are discussing Willie Nelson. Enjoy!

Welcome to Tape Op's DISCussion, where we call our friends and music community notables to talk about their favorite records. For this episode, Geoff Stanfiled chats with producer/engineer Mikey Coltun about Toumani Diabeté's Symmetric Orchestra's 2006 release, Boulevard De I'Independance. Enjoy! Sponsered by AKG-JBL https://www.akg.co

Indiana may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of a blossoming psych-rock scene, but you'd be mistaken. Formed in Bloomington and now based in Los Angeles, Frankie and the Witch Fingers have been cranking out an interesting sounding and diversely-influenced series of albums that document their growth as songwriters and a band as well as their development as recordists. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Josh Menashe, the band's guitarist and primary engineer to discuss their process and new album Data Doom. Sponsored by: Retro Instruments https://www.retroinstruments.com

Welcome to Tape Op's DISCussion, where we call our friends and music community notables to talk about their favorite records. For this episode Larry Crane chats with Steve Von Till from Neurosis about Brian Eno’s album Ambient 4: On Land. Enjoy! Sponsered by AKG-JBL https://www.akg.co

February 2024 will see the release of MGMT's fifth album, Loss of Life. Tape Op's online publisher Geoff Stanfield sat down for a chat with the band's founding members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser to discuss the recording of the album, their long time working relationship with producer/mixer Dave Fridmann, and finding their new favorite microphone! Enjoy! Sponsored by: Earthworks Audio https://earthworksaudio.com

Welcome to Tape Op's DISCussion, where we call our friends and music community notables to talk about their favorite records. For this episode we chat with Producer/Engineer Thom Monahan about the 1993 Polyphemus album, Scrapbook of Madness. Enjoy! Sponsered by AKG-JBL https://www.akg.co

If there is an authority on the production, editing, mixing, and mastering of film scores, it is Mike Matessino. He has had a hand in hundreds of films including classics such as the Star Wars Trilogy, Poltergeist, The Goonies, Superman, Back to the Future, Home Alone, the Star Trek films and Empire of the Sun.  For his latest project, he meticulously remixed and remastered the Super Deluxe version of The Sound of Music from the original multi-track tapes and also wrote the in-depth liner notes. It is a definitive collection that includes every musical element from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s timeless masterpiece for the very first time, along with 11 never-before-heard alternate takes, including rare performances from the cast. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Mike from his home in Los Angeles to discuss. Enjoy. Sponsored by: Distrokid https://distrokid.com

"In the early days of 2020, following a cancelled tour and a near total mental collapse, Beirut's Zach Condon arrived on Hadsel, an island in the far northwest reaches of Norway. Armed with several suitcases stuffed with recording equipment, a modular synth rig, an Austrian tape machine, his trumpet, and some winter clothes, he embarked on the creation of what would become his latest release, Hadsel. (pronounced hahdsul).  He also had ongoing access to a 19th century church pump organ, a centerpiece of the album's sound and spirit. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Zach from his home in Berlin to discuss the making of Hadsel and the journey that led there. Enjoy!" Sponsored by: Adam Audio https://www.adam-audio.com

September 2023 marked the 30th anniversary of the now classic Morphine album Cure for Pain. It was the band's sophomore release and recorded during the transition from original drummer Jerome Deupree to Billy Conway, with Jerome playing on the bulk of the album's songs and Billy playing on the title track, "Cure for Pain" and "Let's Take a Trip Together". To mark the occasion of the album's anniversary, Geoff Stanfield caught up with the band's surviving members; saxophonist Dana Colley and Jerome Deupree along with mastering engineer and archivist Pete Weiss. Enjoy! Sponsored by: Radial Engineering https://www.radialeng.com

Over the years it has been suggested that we do a segment on haunted studios. Our friend Heba Kadry got her first job in the U.S. as an intern at the famed Sugar Hill Studios in Houston, Texas. Legend has it that the place is haunted, and Heba told me that she was freaked out to be there alone at night and would blast loud music to keep the spirits at bay. Apparently that worked and she never encountered anything out of the ordinary. Former Sugar Hill owner Dan Workman did however have an out of this world experience there, so we chatted with him to get the scoop!