Producer, engineer and artist Sarah Tudzin is busy. In addition to her own band, Illuminati Hotties, she has worked on pivotal records from Weyes Blood, Amen Dunes, Slowdive, Logic, and Boygenius. In 2021, she launched her imprint label for Hopeless Records, and has continued to release her own albums while maintaining a full schedule of production, engineering, and mixing for other artists. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Sarah from her home in Los Angeles to discuss her formative years in Southern California, her time at Berklee in Boston, maintaining perspective on her own music, and working with Chris Coady, John Congleton , and Boygenius. Enjoy!

Drawing from a wide-ranging pool of influences—from punk and hardcore to authors like evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and ethicist Peter Singer – José González has forged a unique place for himself in the music scene. He has released records by his band Junip, but his multiple solo albums feature a stripped down "mid-fi" sound consisting mostly of a nylon string guitar, his voice, and the occasional tapping of his foot. His 2003 album, Veneer, gained significant popularity in Sweden, the UK, and the United States. His songs have been featured in films and television shows such as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, One Tree Hill, The Blacklist, Friday Night Lights, and many others. His new release, Against the Dying of the Light, is in González's own words, "a collection of songs I hope will age badly, in the sense that humanity finds a way to unite and steer clear of its most self-destructive tendencies."

Geoff Stanfield caught up with José from his home in Gothenburg, Sweden, to discuss this new album, his approach to recording, and more. Enjoy.

Texas native and Los Angeles-based producer/engineer, Phillip Broussard, has had a long and storied career. He has worked on pivotal records from a wide-ranging list of artists like Adele, Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down, Jay-Z, Linkin Park, The Chicks, Neil Young, and more. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Phillip from his studio in Southern California to discuss his early years in Austin, engineering at Daniel Lanois’ Kingsway studio in New Orleans, his eventual move to Los Angeles, and his longtime working relationship with Rick Rubin. Enjoy!

North Carolina native, Stuart White, has had a steady and event-filled career path, one that has led him to engineering for some of today’s biggest artists. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Stuart from his mix room in southern California to discuss his formative years, studying at Full Sail University, getting hired by New York City’s Quad Studios, and working alongside and being mentored by Russell Elevado and Ann Mincieli, getting hired as Alicia Keys’ personal engineer, main house engineer at Mincieli’s Jungle City Studios, and becoming Beyoncé’s primary and full-time engineer. He has won six Grammy awards to date, and he has worked with FKA Twigs, Jay-Z, Childish Gambino, Sia, Megan Thee Stallion, and more. Enjoy!

Episode made possible with support from AMS-Neve

Happy New Year and welcome to season nine of the Tape Op Podcast!

For this episode, we welcome Yves Jarvis, the moniker of Canadian musician Jean-Sébastien Yves Jarvis. His latest release, All Cylinders, won Canada’s Polaris Music Prize for best album of 2025, a record on which Jarvis wrote and performed all of the 16 tracks. Made entirely using Audacity and a half-broken laptop, the collection showcases his love of ‘60s and ‘70s classic rock, soul, and folk music, but it also shines a light on his post-modern approach to music making. Geoff Stanfield caught up with Yves from his home studio in Montreal for this engaging, and often philosophical, conversation. Enjoy!

Since 2006, the Portland, Oregon-based Portugal.The Man have released ten full length studio albums and various EPs. Their 2017 song, “Feel it Still,” garnered them a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, but that might put them into a musical category in your mind that would be way off base. The band’s singer, frontman, and principal songwriter, John Gourley, is on what seems a mission to never rest on what he’s done before, continuing to push his music into new realms. Portugal.The Man’s latest album, Shish, is a wild-ride tapestry of pop music infused with metal, noise, punk, and electronica. His co-producer, engineer, and drummer on the project, Kane Richotte, holed-up with Gourley at the band’s studio outside of Portland, and made one of the most interesting records we have heard this year. Geoff Stanfield caught up with John and Kane while they were out on tour, to discuss the making of Shish, the band’s previous work with producers Jeff Bhasker, Danger Mouse, Mike D, and John Hill, and letting mixers like John Congleton and Andy Wallace do their thing. Enjoy!

Eric Sarafin, first interviewed in Tape Op #34 in 2003, is a producer, engineer, and mixer, known for his work with artists such as Ben Harper, The Pharcyde, Jeff Lorber, Tone Loc, Barenaked Ladies, Amy Grant, and even Foreigner. Eric is also known as Mixerman, the name he used as he chronicled the events of a somewhat fictional album session in Los Angeles as The Daily Adventures of Mixerman, now available in book and podcast form. His following books, like Zen and the Art of MIXING, were very helpful, and his recent tome, Mixerman’s Ultimate Guide to PRODUCING Records, Music & Songs, is a nearly 600 page bundle of advice anyone making music should read. We had a nice chat, so enjoy!

With their latest album, *is*, My Morning Jacket handed over the production reins to storied producer Brendan O'Brien, who has worked with artists ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Pearl Jam. The result of this collaboration is a focused collection of songs that showcases the band's development and musical diversity. Geoff Stanfield caught up with My Morning Jacket’s frontman and principal songwriter, Jim James, and Brendan to discuss the making of this stellar release.

Enjoy!

Lord Huron first caught our ear with their 2012 release, Lonesome Dreams. The album's lush presentation, harmonies, and tinges of surfy guitars made it both decidedly West Coast-sounding and, at the same time, otherworldly. Over a decade on, the band has released its fifth album, The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1, another fully-formed concept album of sorts that, like all of Lord Huron's releases, tells a story, is beautifully produced, recorded and mixed, and is another step forward in the band's development. Geoff Stanfield caught up with founder, songwriter, guitarist, and frontman Ben Schneider to discuss the new album, their Whispering Pines recording studio, and more. Enjoy!

Larry Crane interviews Authors Eliot Bates & Samantha Bennett on their book, Gear: Cultures of Audio and Music Technologies