Emmit Brooks has run Gold Dust Studios in the same location since 1975 in the Southwest city of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Gold Dust started as a home based studio at a time when very few people had home studios and it even included an echo chamber buried in the backyard! Emmit was a member of the famed Aggie Ramblers Western Swing band that formed in 1957, playing guitar. After a recording session with Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, Emmit was bit by the recording “bug” and stayed in touch with Petty over the years. Petty was known for his work with Buddy Holly and the Crickets and he not only advised but also a major influence. Emmit was a from Melrose, New Mexico and moved to Las Cruces to attend New Mexico Sate University.
Matt joins Emmit at his studio in Las Cruces for a discussion about the history of Emmit’s studio and his career.
Jeremy Goody is the owner/operator at Megasonic Sound in Oakland, California and a has been a Bay Area audio engineer/producer and performing musician since 1990. After recording school Jeremy worked his way up the engineer chain at various Bay Area studios including Skyline and Bay Records. Eventually he started the first incarnation of Megasonic in a West Oakland warehouse across from a cement factory. Jeremy eventually moved out of the warehouse and into a family owned building to create version 2.0 of Megasonic. With a desire to build a studio of high quality, he hired famed studio designer Chris Pelonis to design the studio and Brian Hood ( Listen to Brian on WCA #084) to build. The results can be seen in our video tour below.
Jeremy has worked with John Santos (2 grammy nominations), SFJAZZ, Anticon label, Lyrics Born. Jeremy is also a current member of Winfred E. Eye and played in: Dance Hall Crashers, Cat Five, Pitch Black, Damon and the Heathens, The Uptones. He’s recorded 3 Solo discs as Balanceman. Matt talks with Jeremy about the studio process of the studio build, his history and his financial approach to his studio business.
Check out Disktracker which is mentioned in the show.
Brian Hood is a rare combination of recording engineer, musician, journeyman studio builder and master carpenter. Brian along with his amazing crew built the new Tiny Telephone Studio Oakland, California that opened in January of 2016, as well as Tiny Telephone Studio B in San Francisco and many other studios large and small in the Bay Area. Brian has a perspective that sees the studio from “all sides of the glass” which most do not have. When building the new Tiny Telephone, it was decided to run the studio for 6 months then close down for a month to see what changes needed to be made with regards to their Neve console, acoustics, and any other changes that needed attention. Matt catches up first with Tiny Telephone studio owner John Vandeslice for a catch up interview on what they have learned in the last 6 months since opening. Matt then follows up with Brian Hood to hear his perspective on the build as well as learn about Brian’s multi-faceted world of construction, music and recording.
Pablo Munguia earned a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. After trying his hand at making a records with a friend Pablo decided to attended Berklee School of Music where he studied music production and engineering. He then graduated in 1997.
Pablo moved to Los Angeles and joined Westlake Audio, where he assisted renowned producers and engineers including Quincy Jones, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, David Foster, Randy Jackson, Tommy Vicari, and Matt Forger, as well as recording artists such as Sting, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Carole King, Ricky Martin, Eros Ramazzotti, Michel Polnareff, Usher, L.L. Cool J., Mary J. Blige, and Alicia Keys. As a freelance engineer, Munguía worked with NSYNC and Britney Spears on two multi-platinum releases. He also engineered for the Who, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, and the Backstreet Boys, and for top Mexican artists like Thalia, Paulina Rubio, and Carlos Cuevas.
Munguía has been nominated for 16 Primetime Emmy Awards and won five times in the category Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special. He has also worked with the audio teams responsible for the Super Bowl halftime show, The American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, The Billboard Awards, and the BET Awards. Additionally, Munguía has worked on American Idol, the X-Factor, and the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in China. In Mexico, he worked on the Pan American Games and was in charge of the audio for La Academia: Última Generación.
On the academic side, from 2006 to 2009, Munguía worked in the Entertainment Studies Department at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension (UCLA Extension), where he was part of the committee that revamped the institution’s curriculum, and also taught Advanced Audio Engineering Techniques and Independent Music Production.
Pablo talks with Matt over Skype from Valencia. Spain about his early days at MIT, making records in Mexico, immigration, unions and his transition from making to records to working on live television.
Justin Phelps is currently the Chief engineer and designer of the Hallowed Halls recording studios located in Portland, Oregon. Justin began his career in 1996 at San Fransisco’s famed Coast Recorders as the house engineer. At Coast Justin received considerable guidance from Chief engineer/producer John Cuniberti and studio owner/gear guru Dan Alexander. Four years later Justin switched to being a freelance engineer and spent the next few years working out of the Bay Areas finest studios including The Plant, Prairie Sun, Studio 880, Tiny Telephone and Studio D . In 2004 he acquired the lease to Hyde Street Studio C which is considered one of the more historic recording spaces in San Francisco. After restoring Studio C to it’s former glory it became one of the busiest rooms in San Francisco for the next five years. Justin met his wife Deanna Phelps in San Francisco and shortly after the birth of their first daughter they began a new chapter by relocating to Portland, Oregon.
In 2010 Justin founded Cloud City Sound with Super Digital owner and veteran engineer Rick McMillen. In the summer of 2014 Justin recorded and album for Bike Thief . . Like most album productions it lead to a lasting relationship between he and Bike Thief members Febian Perez and Greg Allen. It also lead to the making of an incredible new studio. that ended up becoming The Hallowed Halls. Justin was hired to design and build the studio in a former library. The facility features one of the best sounding large tracking rooms in the Pacific Northwest and is home to Justin’s personal studio and mix room as well.
Justin talks to Matt about his early days working at Coast Recorders, about his family’s new guitar business, and about leaving the Bay Area
Drew Bollman moved to Nashville in 1998 and started interning and assisting at the Sound Kitchen. While Drew worked with many great engineers he happened to meet and work with Justin Niebank (Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, and Kenny Chesney) and would end up working him for over 10 years. That experience and training allowed Drew to start first engineering for other projects and become an in demand freelance engineer working non-stop. Since then Drew has worked with artists such as Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Vince Gill, Hunter Hayes, Keith Urban, and Patty Loveless as well as many other great artists. IN 2010 Drew won a Grammy for best Bluegrass album of the year.
Drew was on vacation at his parents house but graciously agreed to an interview. Matt and Drew discuss the ins and outs of freelance engineering in Nashville, work/life balance and his favorite producer/engineers in and outside of Nashville.
Jessica Thompson is our featured guest on WCA #080 . Jessica is a Grammy-nominated mastering and restoration engineer as well as an archiving specialist who has digitized, restored and revived historic recordings including The Bottom Line, Caffè Lena, Erroll Garner, the Woody Guthrie Archives and the Newport Jazz and Folk Festival, which included performances by Pete Seeger, Roger McGuinn, Dave Von Ronk, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Doc Watson, Miles Davis and Jean Ritchie.
Jessica’s remaster of Erroll Garner’s iconic recording The Complete Concert By The Sea (Sony/Legacy) was nominated for the Best Historical Album Grammy in 2016.
In addition Jessica has also cleaned, digitized and restored rare vinyl and cassette recordings for Awesome Tapes From Africa and many Numero Group compilations.
In her previous career as a radio producer, she interviewed drummer Max Roach and the organ player at Fenway Park for WGBH. Additionally she has spun records and CDs on the airwaves of WGBH, WFMU, WZBC and WESU.
Jessica joins Matt for a discussion about restoration and mastering while really diving into the nitty gritty of the craft.
As a musician, Dave was the bassist and a founding member of Mercury Rev. He gave up his role as a touring member of the band in 1993 to concentrate on producing other artists.In 2007, he received a Grammy for The Flaming Lips’ At War With The Mystics at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical). In 2010, three Fridmann-produced albums were listed on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of The Decade: MGMT’s Oracular Spectacular, The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and Sleater-Kinney’s The Woods.
Fridmann is an occasional faculty member of SUNY Fredonia, teaching sound recording techniques in the Fredonia School of Music.
Dave and Matt talk over Skype about family, being able to say yes to artists, his working style and the building of Tarbox Road Studios.
Chris Dugan is an American engineer and producer. He is also a drummer, videographer, and photographer.
Dugan began his musical pursuits as a drummer. Needing to be resourceful, he learned to do basic recordings for his high school bands. Engineering was an instinctual progression and it was the purist recording styles of the 60s and 70s that really inspired him. In 1996, he opened Nu-Tone Studios in Pittsburg, Ca with fellow engineer Willie Samuels. Nu-Tone quickly became an indie band favorite, drawing the local rock scene and labels like Lookout, Adeline, and Alternative Tentacles. In 2002, Dugan began engineering for Green Day out of JingleTown Recording in Oakland, Ca, at that time called Studio 880.
Dugan has worked with bands such as U2, Iggy Pop, Green Day, and Smash Mouth. He has also worked with producers Rob Cavallo, Butch Vig, Bob Ezrin, and Jeff Saltzman. In 2010, he won the Grammy for Best Rock Album of the Year for engineering Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown.” In 2011, he won the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album for engineering Green Day’s “American_Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording.”
Chris talks with Matt via Skype about working for Green Day, being a dad and his roots at Nu-Tone Studios.
A jack of all trades and master of some, his areas of expertise run the gamut of daily station operation; from the foundations of real-time networking for AoIP, to FOH and live sound recording, IP phones and SIP trunking, MPEG audio, and video standards and codecs, radio automation, HD radio transmission, to remote broadcast coordination, even security cameras, and keycards! Andrew stopped by Matt’s house to talk about his job duties, where the worlds of audio and IT collide while they consume loads of coffee!
Gary Hobish brings over 30 years of experience as a professional recording engineer/producer to A. Hammer Mastering which he runs out of Secret Studios in San Francisco. He started as an assistant engineer at legendary Bell Sound Studios in New York City but found his way to San Francisco in 1976. He has worked in many disciplines in recording and music, most notably as Mastering Engineer/ Tape Historian at Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios and Chief Engineer at San Francisco’s CD Studios.
Gary began his specialization in the field of Mastering at Fantasy Studios in 1982, and has been credited on hundreds of albums covering all genres of recordings — from classic jazz to classic rock, alt-rock, rap and hard rock to folk, classical, spoken word and even sound effects. His projects include such names as NRBQ, Dream Syndicate, Flipper, The Feelies, Dr. John and Willie Nelson. An expanded list of Gary’s credits can be found at the All Music Guide or Artist Direct.
Matt visits Gary at his mastering room located at Secret Studios in San Francisco, where they chat about the advantages of mastering in a rehearsal facility, working relationships with mix engineer’s and his adhoc survival strategy.
Nashville producer MitchDane has managed to cross the lines into almost every genre In his 20+ years of production/engineering experience. Though most of his work can be heard on Rock, Roots/Rock and Singer/Songwriter records, Mitch continues to work fearlessly in other styles like Bluegrass/Americana. In his own words: “I like to collect the best aspects of every genre of music and bring them together in hybrid productions.” His desire to grow and to learn is constant, making every project he touches relevant and refreshing. This personal philosophy has worked well, considering Mitch’s fingerprints mark over 200 records, four of which are Grammy nominees.
• Grammy award for his engineering.
• ASCAP award for his songwriting.
• Over 25 years of production/engineering experience.
• Owns a full production/recording studio in Berry Hill called Sputnik Sound with his partner, Vance Powell.
Matt and Mitch talk about how an early childhood accident would set the tone and approach for his future career , raw natural tracks vs overly manicured ones and Mitch’s advice on studio ownership. Enjoy.
Tremaine Williams (AKA: “Six7”) was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He began his musical journey by taking piano & drum lessons while in elementary school, as well as becoming a classically trained singer in the Raleigh Boychoir. He grew up playing in church but was also heavily influenced by R&B. He began to dabble in music production in high school as a hobby. After lending his production works to emerging singers in North Carolina, Tremaine enrolled at Full Sail University in 2003.
Upon graduating in October 2004 with his Associate of Science degree in Recording Arts, Tremaine achieved one of his many career goals, as he received an internship at Hidden Beach Recordings. His career catapulted when he moved to Los Angeles, California and became a standout intern at the label from November 2004 to June 2005. Tremaine achieved another benchmark in his career when he joined the Recording Academy as a voting member at age 21 in December 2005. After a short stint with producer JR Hutson, Tremaine left to start his own music production company by the name of Six7 Music, rightfully named by the fact that he is 6 feet 7 inches tall, in July 2006.
In 2008, Tremaine engineered a performance for The Time featuring Rihanna at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, which led him to his position as engineer/programmer with the legendary Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis at FlyteTyme Productions for 3 and a half years. He has engineered one GRAMMY award winning album and 6 GRAMMY Nominated albums. Tremaine is credited on songs by powerhouse artists such as Chaka Khan, El Debarge, Usher, Janet Jackson, 50 Cent, Jill Scott, Ledisi, Keyshia Cole and Ruben Studdard which is nothing short of amazing for his 11 years in the music industry.
In 2012 Tremaine was elected to the Recording Academy’s Los Angeles Chapter Board of Governors and as of 2015 now serves as Chair of the Membership Committee. As one of the youngest members ever elected, he hopes to make a difference and proudly represent the next generation of music makers.
Aside from albums, he has moved into the TV/Film world. His work can be seen and heard on the hit showEmpire, BET Sunday Best, Apollo Live, ComicView, Keeping up With The Kardashians, Real World and Bad Girls Club. He also scored his first feature film, “The Last Fall” which airs regularly on BET.
Most recently Tremaine has been on the road with Mariah Carey for “The Elusive Chanteuse Show” Tour, “All I Want For Christmas is You” Special in New York at the legendary Beacon Theater and “#1 to Infinity” at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
With the talent and desire to achieve that Tremaine ultimately possesses, there is no doubt that he will be a major force in the music industry for many years to come…
Matt and Tremaine discuss his journey from North Carolina to California as well hustling, staying focused and being present.
John Schimpf got his start in the music industry working in clubs and theatres as a production manager and sound engineer, and working as a recording engineer for the University he was attending while pursuing a classical music degree. As a student he built what became the technological backbone for a music industry program developed at that University. In 2001, he went on to become an engineer and crew chief with one of the largest live sound companies in California where he began working with and learning about large scale music productions in detail. In 2002 he took a job as a studio manager in Stockton, CA where he began recording and producing projects in many genres while learning the critical balance between technician and artist. Through that business John was asked to begin managing several high-profile artists while on tour. That experience opened the door to continue touring for the next 10 years, working with management groups from New York and LA. His lean and pragmatic style allowed him to become a valuable member of many touring groups, saving artists money while providing unprecedented consistency within the organizations he served. John has toured in over 20 countries with a diverse set of artists within many major performance venues around the world. Throughout his years of touring he has continued to actively work in the studio, recording and producing many different projects. In 2012 John took a position as the general manager of the newly built 25th Street Recording, a world-class recording facility in the heart of Oakland, CA. He oversees all aspects of the business including its staff, client acquisition, planning and technical direction, where his regular client base includes Grammy winning and multi-platinum selling artists, producers and engineers, as well as new talent from the greater Bay Area and Los Angeles. John continues to immerse himself in a wide range of media and production projects around the globe continually acting as a media producer and artist manager.
John joins Matt at WCA headquarters to discuss John’s thought process when it comes to running a studio. Studio managers should pay attention.
Mike Kalajian is the son of an audio technician/audiophile who was exposed to music and recording equipment at a very early age through family including his Uncle’s home recording setup which fascinated Mike and started to draw him in to the audio experience. Mike’s parents say his first word was actually “speaker” and at 9 years old was given his first guitar along with a 1/4 inch reel to reel . Mike wasted no time and immediately started writing and recording his own music. All of this took him to the next step in audio indoctrination, the building of his first basement “studio” in junior high where he and a friend started recording fellow student musicians for $20/song on a cassette 4-track. After high school, attendance at Full Sail followed. 20+ years later, Mike has recorded over a hundred albums and Ep’s for other artists, toured with his own band, and mastered countless recordings. Of all the facets of engineering he found mastering to be the most rewarding. I talk with Mike Kalajian (pronounced Kalasion) about his background, his thriving mastering business Rogue Planet Mastering as well as his workflow. Mike is a really nice guy who is passionate about what he does and I found it a pleasure speaking with him. Enjoy. -Matt
Finding detailed information on Producer/Engineer/Mixer Niko Bolas is a challenge. Niko is not a publicity hound and generally avoids big star-studded events. He’s a man that stays focused on the work in front of him and he puts his all into it. Looking at his discography you’ll notice a couple of things, repeat clients such as Neil Young, Melissa Etheridge, Robert Cray, and the late Warren Zevon for example. The other thing you’ll notice is the large number of records he has worked on coupled with the fact that he’s not a household name except to those in the know. He’s passionate about what he does and takes it seriously. We discuss that passion as well as Niko’s work style. Richard Dodd makes an appearance during the interview which adds a bit of laughter to the situation. You’ll dig it. Enjoy -Matt
What can you say about Al Schmitt that has not been said? The man truly is a legend and a complete professional. He has scored a pile of Grammy wins and nominations over the years, recorded and mixed more than 150 gold and platinum albums plus his credit list includes Henry Mancini, Sam Cooke, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis, Jr., Natalie Cole, Thelonious Monk, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, to name just a few.
Steve Genewick has been Al Schmitt’s assistant for the last 15 years working with artists such as Diana Krall, Chris Botti, Gladys Knight, Neil Young, George Benson, Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach, and Paul McCartney. Steve is a three-time GRAMMY® nominated recording engineer with over twenty-five years of experience, both as a studio and live recording engineer. Steve has worked primarily out of Capitol Studios as a staff engineer since 1994. When not at Capitol, Steve can be found working at any number of major recording studios in Los Angeles or mixing at his home studio.
My conversation with Al and Steve revolves mainly around their new video coming out called ” The Art of Recording a Big Band“. The seminar-turned film follows Al and Steve as they teach a group of people their methods for recording a big band out of Capital Studios.
Magnus Lindberg is a freelance engineer based in Stockholm, Sweden. Despite his young age of 35 he has already been an audio professional for 14 years, working with a wide range of independent bands and artists from all over the world.
Starting out at a young age with various intern ships, most noticeable the one at Sound City Studios, LA he then found himself a part of the production team at Tonteknik Recording, under which roof he stayed for about 8 years until moving to Stockholm and becoming completely solo. Although he has been doing many projects in studios in London, Paris etc he is now a co-owner of a brand new facility in central Stockholm in which he conducts his mixing and mastering work which nowadays takes up most of his time. While not doing engineering he also play live drums (and does studio engineering) in Cult of Luna, a well established band in the alternative rock/metal scene.
Matt talks with Magnus about Stockholm, his business practice, building a new studio from the ground up and the gear he uses to do his job.
John Paterno is an LA-based audio pro. He has worked with a wide range of artists, including Robbie Williams, Soraya, Badly Drawn Boy, Lustra, The Thrills, Tim McGraw, Robben Ford, Eros Ramazzotti, and The Steve Gadd Band in his 25+ years in the music business.
John moved to Los Angeles two weeks after graduating from the University of Miami’s Music Engineering program, and quickly gained footing as a ‘freelance assistant’ until he was offered a position at Sunset Sound/Sound Factory as a staff engineer/assistant. It was at Sound Factory where he ended up on a session with Tchad Blake and Mitchell Froom, and was for the next several years involved in many of their seminal records — projects by Los Lobos, Suzanne Vega, American Music Club, and the Latin Playboys, among many others.
John’s first projects as an engineer include Ted Hawkins’ ‘The Next Hundred Years’, that dog’s ‘Retreat From the Sun’, and co-producing the Los Lobos score for the film ‘Feeling Minnesota’. From there he worked with a range of producers including Mitchell Froom, Joe Chiccarelli, Byron Gallimore, and Stephen Duffy.
In 2004 he won a Latin Grammy for his work on the ‘Soraya’ record.
John has also produced or co-produced projects for Mitchell Froom, Lustra, Robbie Williams, The Lilac Time, The Black Molly’s, and many other artists.
In addition to producing and mixing projects, John has also: written songs with new artists; composed for TV and film; written articles for Tape Op magazine and the Universal Audio site; and has done instructional videos on mixing with PureMix.
Matt Wright grew up in an extended musical family, of both musicians and aficionados. Every family gets together involved extended periods of both playing music and arguing about pop records, which strongly influenced his relationship with music: a) He’s a lifelong musician because of it, b) He was raised listening to the canon of great pop records, and c) He was surrounded by people who thought that pop music and record albums were important. They were more than just a consumer product for teenagers to buy and eventually throw away. A great pop record was a work of art that was worth arguing about and that you could have an ongoing relationship with.
Matt toyed around with cassette recorders when he was young (My First Sony, anyone?), but Matt was never one to get too excited by the technology itself (aside from a new Walkman or CD player being a cool toy). Matt had no interest in the Sound Crew when I was in high school – mixers, speakers, amplifiers (other than the guitar kind) all seemed rather dull to him. It was only after Matt had his first multitrack experience, watching a couple of friends use Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 to build a complete arrangement of a song from just a couple of guitar riffs that he got excited about recording technology. Something clicked for him when he realized that not only could he learn to make music recordings that sounded more like real records and less like My First Sony, but that he could also use the technology of recording to expand what he could do creatively with music.
Today, Matt’s interest in and philosophy for record production and engineering are still driven by the principles discovered in these early moments. Matt believes in striving for exceptional quality at all times – in arrangement, in performance, and in sound. He believes the technology should serve the record-making process in the most transparent way possible, never dictate it. And he believes that a record album is an art form in its own right, not just a translation of live musical performance and that making a great record is something worth pursuing for its own artistic merits.
Matt and Matt talk about his transition from intern to chief engineer at Prairie Sun Recording, being a new dad, and his absence of gear lust.
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