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Category: WCA Podcast

WCA #018 with David v.R. Bowles

Working Class Audio with David v.R. Bowles

WCA #018 with David v.R. Bowles

David v.R. Bowles formed Swineshead Productions, LLC as a classical recording production company in 1995. His recordings have been GRAMMY-nominated (Classical – Best Orchestral Performance) and won the “Classical Orchestral Album” prize from Just Plain Folks Awards. Other Bowles-produced and engineered releases have been named “Record of the Month – Editor’s Choice” from Gramophone Magazine, MusicWeb International, and Opera News; “Record of the Year” from the New York Times (three times), the New Yorker, American Record Guide, Miami Clásica and Classical Candour. Several of these releases are available as high-resolution paid downloads from HDTracks.

In collaboration with New York University’s Music Technology program at Steinhardt School of Music, Mr. Bowles is pursuing research in height channel recording and reproduction. At the 135th AES convention, he chaired a panel on Height Channel recording, encoding, and distribution (followed by a 9.1 channel playback offsite).

As an educator, Mr. Bowles is a guest lecturer at New York University’s Stephen F. Temmer Tonmeister Seminar (Steinhardt School of Music) and at Peabody Recording Arts and Sciences (John Hopkins University). He was a Visiting Professor of Recording Arts at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

Mr. Bowles is a member of the AES (Audio Engineering Society): he was on the Board of Governors, served on three convention committees, and is co-chair of the San Francisco section of the AES as well. He is a member of NARAS (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences) Producers & Engineers Wing and SPARS (Society of Professional Audio Recording Services).

David takes Matt through the complexities of recording and producing in the world of classical music.

Links for WCA #018

WCA #017 with Ross Hogarth

Working Class Audio with Ross Hogarth

WCA #017 with Ross Hogarth

Ross Hogarth is a multiple Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer who has worked with artists such as Keb’ Mo’, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Gov’t Mule, Roger Waters, The Black Crowes, Shawn Colvin, John Mellencamp, and R.E.M. 

His studio work runs the gamut from the heavy metal insanity of Motley Crue and Coal Chamber to the Grammy-winning Keb’ Mo’ released Slow Down to recent releases by Van Halen, Grammy-winning Ziggy Marley, and the Sick Puppies.

Growing up in NY during the influential punk scene of the 70′s, Ross began as a guitarist/singer/ songwriter,  playing in the wild downtown New York clubs. With good fortune paving his way to California, he had the rare opportunity to hook up with both the San Francisco Bay area’s exploding New Wave music scene and Southern Cal’s seminal rock scene. Natural evolution took him from doing live production and sound on the road with Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Fleetwood Mac, and Little Feat into a world-class producer, mixer, and recording engineer.

In his Skype conversation with Matt, Ross talks about family life, working with Van Halen, the importance of communication, and adapting to the ever-changing world of the music business. Enjoy!

-Matt

Photo by Marian Matthis for The Blackbird Academy 

Links for WCA #017

WCA #016 with Jonah Strauss

Working Class Audio with Jonah Strauss

WCA #016 with Jonah Strauss

This is a WCA Special Report. I know this is mid-week and we will still have our Monday scheduled podcast. I thought this story needed some attention. Early on March 21st, a fire struck the warehouse that has been home to Jonah Strauss’ Shipwreck Studios since 2008. The fire began in the unit directly above the studio. In less than an hour, it claimed two lives and displaced dozens of people, as well as several independent printing presses and artists. Jonah’s recording studio and home suffered severe water damage, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in losses. Much of it is rare and irreplaceable vintage equipment that he has collected and refurbished over the years. Even though I don’t normally talk with studio owners on the show I felt it was important to have Jonah on to share his experience so that others could hopefully learn from this.  He needs our help to get back up and running. Working Class Audio is here to offer him our support.

Fund Raising Site: https://www.gofundme.com/shipwreckoakland

Shipwreck Studio Website:  http://shipwreckoakland.com/

WCA #015 with Jeff Powell

Working Class Audio with Jeff Powell

WCA #015 with Jeff Powell

Jeff Powell lives in Memphis, Tennessee, and has been making records since his first studio gig at Kiva Studios in 1987. He became an employee at Ardent Studios in 1989 and worked his way up from assistant to staff engineer, and eventually to staff producer. He went independent in 1997 and has worked in studios all over the US, The UK, and Canada, but still calls Ardent home. He still stays very busy engineering, mixing, and producing records and has worked with some of the best including Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Tonic, Big Star, The Bottle Rockets, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Primal Scream, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, and The Afghan Whigs. In 2008, he convinced Larry Nix to teach him to master and cut vinyl records on the original STAX lathe, which also resides at Ardent Studios. He started a vinyl cutting business called Take Out Vinyl and has gone on to cut hundreds of albums including projects for Gregg Allman, Everclear, The Black Keys, Al Green, The Afghan Whigs, Irma Thomas, Relient K, and Blitzentrapper to name a few. Jeff talks about recording schools, asshole engineers, and how to keep a session successful.  Super nice and humble, I think you’ll enjoy this interview. – Matt 4/6/2015

Photo by Pete Weiss  

Links for WCA #015

WCA #014 with Sylvia Massy

Working Class Audio with Sylvia Massy

WCA #014 with Sylvia Massey

Sylvia Massy has been Producing, Engineering, and Mixing popular music for decades. She’s renowned for her work with Tool, System of a Down, Johnny Cash, and Prince. She’s received over 25 gold and platinum records including awards for her work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust, and Tom Petty. She’s also an accomplished fine artist, a published columnist, an in-demand educator, and a relentless entrepreneur. But to her many friends, she’s just Sylvia, the Radiant Being. Sylvia talks with Matt Boudreau about recording Tool, thriving in the LA recording scene in the ’90s, Radio Star Studios, divorce, embracing the hard times, and coming out stronger as a result.

Links

WCA #013 with Billy Anderson

Working Class Audio with Billy Anderson

WCA #013 with Billy Anderson

Billy Anderson is a record producer, engineer, and musician. He has worked with hundreds of bands over the past 20 years, including Cormorant, Eyehategod, Mr. Bungle, Red House Painters, Fantômas, and Sleep. He is also a member of the bands Blessing the Hogs, Porn (The Men Of), Solodolor, and Good God. Billy takes time to talk to Matt Boudreau about his progression from his days playing college baseball in Long Beach, California to becoming a workaholic producer/engineer and making records for some of musics’ heaviest sounding bands all over the world.

Links from the show:

WCA #012 with Michael Starita

Working Class Audio with Michael Starita

WCA #012 with Michael Starita

Michael Starita is a lifelong musician with over 17 years experience as an engineer, producer and remixer. His career started at the famous Hyde Street Studios in the late 90s learning from many of the  Bay Area greats. Moving to EDNET, Starita had the pleasure of being the ISDN engineer for clients such as Rick Rubin, Sting, Warner Bros, Universal Motown and many others. This propelled his career to working for Dolby for 5 years until he decided to go back to doing what he really loved…making records and building community. He has performed, remixed and worked with some of the industry’s top artists from The Bay to abroad including Childish Gambino, Los Amigos Invisibles,  Third Eye Blind, Michael Franti and Spearhead and more. His current work with Laura Sullivan won the Grammy®  for Best New Age Album and his work with Los Amigos Invisibles was Latin Grammy® nominated for Song Of The Year and Grammy® nominated for Best Latin Alternative. Recently, Starita launched Bay Area Music Collective and ULUV Music, two efforts aimed at making The Bay Area a top music destination while building community to foster local music industry professionals. Starita also serves as President of The Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter and continues to crank out tunes with an eclectic blend of recording artists while consulting for music tech companies nationally and internationally.

www.staritasf.com

-Matt Boudreau  3/1/2015

WCA #011 with Gabriel Shepard

Working Class Audio with Gabriel Shepard

WCA #011 with Gabriel Shepard

For the past 20 years, Gabriel Shepard has been an engineer working at various Bay Area studios including the historic Hyde Street Studios where he earned a platinum and gold record with the band Cake. Other artists he’s worked with include Sun Kil Moon, Black Francis,  Zigaboo Modeliste, and Joanna Newsome. Gabriel stops by my house for an in-person chat about car accidents, session vibe, and taking a year off.

-Matt Boudreau  2/15/2015

Plug-Ins mentioned

Studios mentioned

WCA #010 with Scott Evans

Working Class Audio with Scott Evans

WCA #010 with Scott Evans

Scott Evans is a member of Kowloon Walled City, a recording engineer (Puig Destroyer, The Loyalists, Neurosis), and a contributor to Tape Op magazine. Scott sits down to talk to me in his personal studio Antisleep Audio located in Oakland, CA. We talk family, summing, drool over his Neotek console, as well as the usual business of recording and doing our jobs as engineers. Enjoy!

-Matt Boudreau  2/1/2015

Links from the show:

Kowloon Walled City https://www.facebook.com/kowloonwalledcity

Antisleep Audio http://antisleep.com/

Sharkbite Studios http://sharkbitestudios.com/

Tape Op http://www.tapeop.com/

WCA #009 with Andrew Scheps

Working Class Audio with Andrew Scheps

WCA #009 with Andrew Scheps

Andrew Scheps has worked with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Metallica, Grace Potter, Jay-Z, U2, Justin Timberlake, and Green Day…just to name a few.  Just home from a European trip that included a week in France conducting a seminar at  Mix with the Masters, Andrew shares his views on recording studio etiquette, his in-the-box workflow when mixing, his adventures as a record label owner, and his career advice. Enjoy!