WCA #025 with Tim Palmer

Tim Palmer has produced and mixed albums for a huge selection of classic and alternative artists, from Robert Plant, David Bowie, and Tears For Fears to Ozzy Osbourne, Goo Goo Dolls, and U2. In 1989 Tim mixed ‘TEN’ for Pearl Jam, which is now in the top 50 best album sellers in US history. In 2001 Palmer was nominated for a Grammy for his mixing work on U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Now living in Austin, Texas, he has built his own mix room and continued producing and mixing for Jason Mraz, Blue October, David Cook, and many others. Tim has been a moderator for 2 years at SXSW, and a guest speaker for the Recording Academy.

Tim Palmer started his career at Utopia Studios in London during the early ’80s where he mixed the number one single ‘Died in your arms tonight’ for Cutting Crew. In the latter half of the ’80s, Palmer became a producer, and his keen ears and technical knowledge contributed to groups such as the Mighty Lemon Drops, the Mission, Texas, and Tears for Fears. Tim produced ‘Now and Zen for rock icon Robert Plant, a US top10 album, and David Bowie’s debut LP with Tin Machine. To close the 80’s Palmer mixed ‘TEN’ for Pearl Jam which went on to sell over 14 million albums.

This show is a milestone being the 25th session. It’s an honor to have Tim on the show since I’m a fan of his work. We also talk with our good friend Craig Schumacher about his recent decision to pull the plug on the Pot Luck Audio Conference in Tucson, AZ.

Photo was taken at Arlyn Studios by Andrew Chan.

Tim’s Site

WCA #024 with Gary Philips

WCA #024 with Gary Philips

Gary Philips is a talented multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and mix engineer. During his college years at University of Pennsylvania, Gary realized his life would follow a musical path. This path soon led to a life as a touring musician. Touring led Gary to New York, where he quickly found himself in studios playing guitar and bass for artists both up-and-coming and legendary, including Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, and Arrested Development. Many of these tracks have found placements on albums such as the Orange County soundtrack, the Super Size Me soundtrack and the Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack and on national commercials for clients such as Verizon and Budweiser.

New York session work soon plunged Gary into production and writing. He co- produced, with the PopRox production team (Sam Hollander, Dave Schommer), Michael Tolcher’s debut album for Octone/J Records, which featured ?uestlove and Warren Haynes, cuts from which were heard on Scrubs (NBC), Life As We Know It (ABC) and the feature film Wedding Crashers.

Since then Gary’s produced more than 15 Billboard Top 10 albums including the Kidz Bop series (which has yielded just as many #1 albums on the Children’s chart) and a cut on the Now That’s What I Call Music series with indie-rockers Born Cages. His original songs and compositions have been featured on TV in diverse settings – from Late Night with David Letterman to Pretty Little Liars, from The Hills to So You Think You Can Dance?, from Pawn Stars to NFL Football and many more.

Gary talks with Matt about Kidz Bop, what it takes to keep clients coming back to you, his early days in New york and his recent studio setup at his new home in California after having moved from New York and working in studios. Enjoy!

Gary’s bio.

WCA #023 with Ryan Hewitt

Ryan Hewitt began his musical career by taking up drums and piano in the third grade and set up his first primitive bedroom recording studio at age 10. His interest in recording prompted his father, remote recording engineer David Hewitt, to take him on the road at age 12. Over the course of 15 years on the Remote Recording Services trucks, Ryan learned to get sessions going quickly, pay attention to details and capture the moment on tape at all costs.

After receiving a degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University, Ryan moved to New York City to take a job at Sony Music Studios. Once there, he quickly moved up the ranks to assist and learn from some of the best engineers and producers in the business such as Michael Brauer, Phil Ramone, Bob Power and Elliot Scheiner. Moving to Los Angeles in the autumn of 2000, Ryan landed at Cello Studios, again moving to the head of the class and working with top engineers such as Jim Scott, Richard Dodd, and Ed Thacker.

Today, Ryan is emulating his mentors, recording, mixing, and producing projects by diverse artists such as The Avett Brothers, The Band Perry, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Jamie Cullum, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, blink-182, Flogging Molly, The Alkaline Trio, Three Days Grace, We Are Scientists, Tom Petty, and John Frusciante. Producers such as Rick Rubin, Matt Serletic, Gregg Wells, Jeff Trott, and Max Martin have called on Ryan for his work ethic and sense of humor as much as for his recording and mixing skills.

Ryan sits down for a chat with Matt (Via SKype) and talks about growing up with a recording engineer dad, what he’s learned from the producers he’s worked with as well software piracy. By popular demand, Ryan also answers questions from the WCA Facebook page. Matt also has a special guest Michael Winger who is the Executive Director of the Recording Academy SF Chapter to talk about H.R. 1457: Allocation for Music Producers Act.

Ryan Hewitt’s site

More on H.R. 1457: Allocation for Music Producers Act

Letter of Direction

The Recording Academy

WCA #022 with Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen is a Grammy-winning producer/engineer who has worked with Santana, Rancid, Papa Roach, Tesla, AFI, The Donnas, Journey, Death Angel, Tony Macalpine, and Testament……..to name a few! In addition to recording and producing he also teaches at Chabot College and San Francisco State and is an alumnus of the famed Automatt studios where he got started on his professional recording journey. Michael sits down with Matt at is new personal studio East Bay Recorders to talk about the business, the journey, and the joy of recording.

Michael Rosen’s site.

WCA #021 with Doug Kallmeyer

Doug Kallmeyer is a 25 year plus veteran of live sound, a bass player and composer as well as a studio rat. Doug is a fan suggestion and carries with him a large amount of experience and miles travelled who is based in Virginia. Traveling the world mostly doing FOH (Front of House) sound, Doug has worked with Phantogram, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Sunny Day Real Estate, Rancid, Damnwells, School of Seven Bells, Ok Go, Deathfix, 302Acid, Flaming Lips, Beauty Pill and Ex Hex. His list of venues that he has worked at with those artist’s is also notable and includes Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Sasquatch, Outside Lands, Fuji rock, Summer Sonic, Bonnaroo, Pukkelpop, Route du Rock, All Tommorow’s Parties, Primavera Sound, Big Chill, Austin City Limits, and Iceland Airwaves. We talk life on the road, credit card debt, eating well, as well as having a stable home life.

Check out Doug here. http://www.dougkallmeyer.com/

WCA #020 with Don Gunn

Don Gunn is a Seattle-based recording/mixing engineer, producer, and musician who flies under the radar yet seems to work with cool people! Soundgarden, Death Cab for Cutie, Peter Frampton, Trey Gunn (No relation), and Matt Cameron! Don was a WCA fan suggestion from our Facebook page and joins Matt for a Skype chat from his home studio in Seattle called The Office. Don talks gear, money, business cards, his studio, the decision not to have kids and recording at Peter Frampton’s “home studio”. Great guy and great interview!

http://dongunn.com/

Link regarding helping out in Nepal. http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-25/how-help-nepal-7-vetted-charities-doing-relief-work-following-earthquake

WCA #019 with Matt Kelley

Matt Kelley has been at the recording game for just over 27 years. Based in the Bay Area in California Matt has worked with Tupac, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, DJ Qbert, Digital Underground, George Clinton, Hieroglyphics as well as Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine. Matt started off as an assistant at Hyde Street studios working with producers like Marc Needham and John Cuniberti. Matt leapfrogged straight to being a first engineer when a chance phone call came in from a then-unknown Hip Hop act known as Digital Underground. After that first Hip Hop session, Matt’s career changed forever. Matt talks with Matt about his past work in Hip Hop, shifting to mastering, recording schools, and his philosophy on business. Dig it!

http://mattkelleyaudio.com/

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 135^th 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

http://swineshead.com/

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

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

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

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 for WCA #014: http://www.sylviamassy.com/

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:

http://www.billyanderson.net/
http://www.typefoundrystudio.com/
http://www.cloudcitysound.com/
www.chuckjsmithcreative.com (The intro voice of WCA)
www.clifftruesdell.com (The music behind WCA)

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

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

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!

-Matt Boudreau 1/15/2015

Show notes and links:

McDonough Management http://www.mcdman.com/scheps.html
Tonequake Records http://tonequake.com/
Andrew’s Studio http://punkerpad.com/
Mix with the Masters http://mixwiththemasters.com/

WCA #008 with Steve Silverstein

Like so many professionals in music, Steve Silverstein got his start creating music — his electronic group Christmas Decorations has released an album on kranky and been played on the BBC. He’s written articles and reviews for Tape Op, and assistant edited a collection of Aaron Copland’s writings. He’s excited to have finally moved his studio from his apartment in 2013, into a shared commercial space. Steve shares his approach to his workflow and how he takes care of his clients. Additionally Jules Standen from Gearslutz.com calls in for a short chat and to share some wisdom from his recording past. Oh yea…..Happy New Year!

photo by John C. Morton

Links from the show. http://www.kranky.net/ https://www.gearslutz.com

WCA #007 with Vance Powell

Vance Powell, who has worked with Jack White, Red Fang, and Buddy Guy to name just a few is featured on Session #007. Vance is outspoken and takes a no-bullshit approach to not only his work but this interview. We talk technique including specifics of his analog workflow, business, including managers plus a bit of criticism of the old guard of the music industry. I love talking with Vance. I always learn something new from him and am proud to call him my friend. Enjoy!

Vance on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vancalot

Vance’s studio with engineer Mitch Dane: http://www.sputniksound.com/index.html

WCA #006 with Robert L. Smith

Robert L. Smith is an Oscar winning, Grammy and Emmy nominated Producer/Engineer/Mixer based in New York City. After 25+ years of working with the biggest names in music, his résumé reads like a who’s who of modern pop music. Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, David Byrne and U2 are just a tiny list of those on his discography. Robert is passionate and focused about what he does and opens up to us about his thoughts and practices on the business end of what we do. Check out Robert’s web site at www.defyrecordings.com