Leff Lefferts has spent the his career working in audio for music and film. He graduated from Berklee college and music with a degree in Music Production & Engineering in 1997 and joined on at the famous Plant Studios in Sausalito, California that same year as an intern. He quickly moved up to assistant engineer and was able to work on records with Metallica, Dave Matthews Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Primus, Oysterhead and Joe Satriani. In 2003 after leaving the Plant (which later closed it’s doors) Leff signed started working at Cutting Edge Audio in San Francisco to handle Pro Tools System Design & support. It’s through Cutting Edge that Leff made contacts at Skywalker Sound where he would ultimately end up working next stating in 2006 as a Digital Audio Technician. In 2008 Leff made a lateral move to take on the role of Assistant Sound Designer, Sound Editor, Mixer working with the legendary Randy Thom. In the position Leff has gone on to work on films such as Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age 3-5, Coraline, Rio, Flight, How to Train Your Dragon 1&2, Crimson Peak, The Walk, The Revenant and Allied.
Leff and Matt (who have been friends since the early 2000’s meet at Matt’s house for a chat. They were accompanied by Matt’s Bulldog Moto who snored for 90% of the interview.
Well here it is, WCA #100! This was recorded at 25th Street Recording in Oakland, California on Friday, November 18th in front of a live audience. You can either watch it on Facebook or listen to the podcast. This episode features Stephen Hart and Cookie Marenco. Enjoy!
More On Stephen
Stephen is a former mixer in residence / chief engineer at the “The Site Recording” in Marin County, Director of Recording Services and owned “the mixroom” at Bay Area Sound Studios and chief engineer and lead mixer at Fantasy Studios. He holds multiple platinum and gold albums, “Blues Album of the Year 2000” for Stevie Ray Vaughn and Albert King, and has been on staff at The Plant Studios, EMI Italia, Forward Music Taipei and spent many years as an international freelance mixer. He has recorded and/or mixed many hundred’s of albums with total unit sales of 40 million. Artists include David Bowie, Santana, John Lee Hooker, En Vogue, MC Hammer, Tony Bennett, Isaac Hayes, Flora & Airto, White Stripes, Santana, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, Otis Redding, Booker T. and the MG’s, the Staples Singers, Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders, the Neville Brothers, the Hong Kong Philharmonic with Amei, Steve Cropper, and a host of European and Asian pop artists. Stephen has also recorded for legendary producers George Martin and Tom Dowd. Scoring Credits include – Be Kind Rewind w/Jack Black & Danny Glover and Encounters at the End of the World by Werner Herzog. Also, Titanic, Grizzly Man (Herzog), and Oil on Ice. Film Post credits (foley stage) include Amadeus, Boogie Nights, Airbud, Blue Velvet, Dead Poets Society
Committed to the Bay Area recording community, Stephen is currently a National Trustee, and past S.F. President of the Recording Academy SF Chapter, is an AES member, and a member of AIMP (Association of Independent Music Publishers) and on the Recording Academy’s National P&E Advisory Committee and the curriculum advisory board for Xpression College.
More on Cookie
Before digital audio, CDs, MP3’s, the internet and email, Cookie Marenco founded OTR Studios, with a dream to record acoustic musicians in their most natural settings. Now, OTR is the oldest owner founded studio still in operation in the Bay Area with a reputation for the highest quality work, incredible musical performances and professional style. With a span of more than 20 years in the industry, her experience with analog, vinyl, digital, live recording, and working with thousands of musicians on more than 400 recordings brings a rich history to every session or consultation.
As OTR’s main producer and chief engineer, Marenco oversees all recordings of her staff to ensure the same quality and professionalism throughout. Marenco is sought out by many manufacturers to beta test new products including Tascam, KRK, Millennia, NHT, Goddess Labs, Universal Audio, etc. Now a writer and video instructor for EQ magazine, Marenco tests and designs new products, creates educational videos using OTR as a base of operation. Interns come worldwide to study in OTR’s ongoing learning program for those serious about a career in the music industry.
OTR is also the home base of Blue Coast Records, the critically acclaimed audiophile label where Marenco developed Extended Sound Environment (E.S.E), the proprietary recording technique used by the label.
Marenco’s creative and technical skills have touched almost every aspect of the business. She is widely known for the quality of her audio engineering skills and for drawing out passionate performances from the artists she produces. She has engineered or produced 5 Grammy-nominated records, several Gold records and an Academy Award-winning documentary. Her artist credits include Max Roach, Brain, Kenny Aronoff, Steve Smith, Brady Blade, Tony Furtado, Tony Trischka, Dirk Powell, Rob Ickes, Charlie Haden, Tony Levin, Steve Rodby, Buckethead, Ralph Towner, Paul McCandless, Ernie Watts, Glen Moore, Mary Chapin Carpenter, John Jennings, Pat DiNizio, Kristin Hersch, Brad Mehldau, Matt Rollings, Kevin Kern, Art Lande, Clara Ponty, Chanticleer, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Mark Isham and Michael Tolcher. Her production and engineering skills can be found on projects for Monterey Jazz Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Marinfest, Midem, Hard Rock Cafe, Windham Hill Records, Verve, Rounder Records, Om Records, Sony, Warner Bros. and others.
Marenco was an early pioneer in internet audio being the part of the Liquid Audio team offering the first copy-protected music downloads in 1997. She was a producer and A&R representative at Windham Hill Records working on over 100 projects during her tenure, including producing Winter Solstice 2, the highest selling compilation in their catalogue. Marenco’s production company, Cojema Music, oversees her work as an independent producer, supports entrepreneurial pursuits and helps to launch new artists. Cojema Music also looks after the operations of OTR Studios (a professional recording facility in the San Francisco area), Blue Coast Records (a high quality acoustic music label) and Goddess Labs (silver cable company).
Combining traditional recording values with new technology and a unique vision for marketing strategies, Marenco continues to blaze ground. In 2005, Marenco launched a record label, Blue Coast Records, showcasing talented acoustic musicians and high fidelity recordings. The first offering, Blue Coast Collection, has achieved critical acclaim winning the Ultimate Sound Award at the 2005 CES Show for NHT Speakers. The July 2006 issue of La Nouvelle Revue de Son, a French audiophile magazine, lifted the recording to legendary status as a “must have” recording. It received 5 stars in every category and sparked Blue Coast Records in France. Blue Coast Collection was released in 2007 in the United States.
Blue Coast Records’ unique sound can be attributed to a new recording technique for surround called ESE (Extended Sound Environment). Marenco teamed with French engineer, Jean Claude Reynaud, to develop this patent pending process. ESE is a trademarked recording process with a “no compromise of quality” attitude that combines the best of tried and true recording techniques with the latest developments in technology. Sony America aided Marenco in her efforts with their Direct Stream Digital (DSD) recording devices and a new disc format called Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD). The ESE technique is featured in the MAY 2004 issue of MIX magazine.
Home based in the Silicon Valley, Marenco has consulted with many companies seeking to further audio and musical interests. Her conception of Liquid Live continues to be used by Liquid.com, the download division of Walmart.com. Recently, she has consulted with Unbound Technology, a cutting-edge enterprise combining affinity networking, cell phone technology and internet audio. In 2005, she coordinated efforts of Abeo Corporation with the Telluride Bluegrass Festival to provide the entire festival grounds with free wireless internet access.
Many of Marenco’s innovations take place at OTR Studios, long a staple in the Bay Area community known for high quality acoustic recordings as well as unusual electronic music. She was a pioneer of digital recording in the mid 80’s and continues to experiment with new technologies such as Direct Stream Digital, SACD and DTS while supporting classic methods of recording. OTR has recorded over 400 artist album projects during the last 15 years. Marenco continues to beta-test audio products as she had done for Liquid Audio, Mackie, Tascam, Millennia, Studer and NHT. Young bands, engineers and technicians of various disciplines hone their skills at OTR. Marenco spreads her industry knowledge as a regular writer for EQ magazine. She provides interviews for radio and print, sits on industry panels and teaches college workshops. She has served on the NARAS Board of Governors and the Board of Directors of George Coates Performance Arts, represented various organizations on industry panels (AES, NARM, AFIM, Folk Alliance) and created fund raising events for Art into Action (an environmentally pro active non-profit organization).
The Early Years
In earlier years, Marenco composed music for film and television including commercial spots for Nissan and AT&T. Prior to her work in engineering, she performed and toured with many jazz legends, orchestras and her own electronic ensemble. She has a multi-instrumental musical background studying and teaching piano, oboe and sitar as well as being educated in classical, jazz, ethnomusicology, acoustics and composition.
Rob Schnapf has been making critically-acclaimed records for the past two decades. He first gained recognition by producing (with his then-partner Tom Rothrock) Beck’s debut album, “Mellow Gold,” including the breakthrough single, “Loser.” Rob and Tom produced three albums for Elliot Smith, including “XO” and “Figure 8.”
After Elliot’s death in 2003, Rob was asked by Smith’s family to help sort, compile and complete the tracks that Elliot had been recording. This was released as “From A Basement On The Hill,” and became Elliot’s highest charting album in the US.Rob went on to produce albums for Guided by Voices, Saves The Day, The Vines, Powderfinger, The Whigs and Tokyo Police Club. In 2009 he produced Booker T Jones’ “Potato Hole,” which won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album. In 2011 he produced “The Road From Memphis” with Booker, which again won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Album.
In addition to his work as a producer, Rob is an accomplished mixer. He mixed the debut album by the Foo Fighters (with Rothrock), and has mixed tracks for Fidlar, Moby, Rickie Lee Jones and a Grammy-nominated album for Mavis Staples. Rob produced and mixed tracks for Kurt Vile’s latest release, including the single, “Pretty Pimpin.” Rob is currently producing a new album for Cass McCombs.
Rob and Matt chat over Skype about business, artists, kids and the art of disguising your voice when using the talkback.
Stewart Cararas is a producer, engineer, writer and musician currently based out of Los Angeles who works on a wide variety of music projects. SOme of his clients include Nick Lachey, Billy Ray Cyrus, Joe Perry, George Lynch, Fear Factory, Glenn Hughes, Shelby Lynne, BoomKat, Kimberley Locke, Dreamers, Better Than Ezra, Juvenile, Dee Snider, Taryn Manning, Taylor Dayne, Leah Turner, Bone, Thugs and Harmony, E40, Ray J, Simple Plan, All Time Low, Holly Knight, Brooke White, September Mourning, Marla Sokoloff, Limp Biskit, Tiffany Thornton, Molly Sanden, Nickel Creek, Brian Wilson, Enrique Iglesias, Cowboy Mouth, Thick as Thieves, Jason Charles Miller, Katie Cole, and Mitch Allan.
After an attempt at rock stardom failed, Stewart setup shop in New Orleans to run a studio. Stewart left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, sold his house and moved to LA. Since then (2005) he’s been involved in many great projects including co-producing 7 songs on the new Billy Ray Cyrus album, ‘Thin Line’, producing a song for the film called “Dark Horse” written/directed by Todd Solondz starring Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow and producing a song with Nick Lachey.
Stewart joins Matt over Skype for a candid interview about his journey since leaving New Orleans.
“He’s a young man with an old soul. Matt’s got a lot of Sam Phillips in him” – Jerry Phillips
Matt Ross-Spang , born in Memphis, began working at the Legendary Sun Studio when he was just 16, working his way up from intern to the Chief Engineer. He championed to bring the recording studio back to its origin, working hard to find, install and use the same period equipment that Sam Phillips engineered with in the 1950s. His 11 years of dedication to Sun and its signature sound garnered national attention when he was featured by Lester Holt for NBC’s Nightly News and the Today Show. NPR also featured Matt and his work on All Things Considered.
“It’s fantastic that [Ross-Spang] has pursued this with such scholarly devotion,” says Peter Guralnick, author of the definitive, two-part Presley biography, Last Train to Memphis and the recently released biography, Sam Phillips The Man Who Invented Rock and Roll.. “Sam was systematic in thinking about sound and gave great thought to it — no square angles; the tiles. In addition, he felt there was something unique about the room at 706 Union. He didn’t know it when he rented it. To have reconstituted it is an exercise in creative archeology.”
In 2015 Matt left Sun to venture out on his own as an engineer and producer. His first project post Sun was to engineer and mix Jason Isbell’s “Something More Than Free” for acclaimed Producer Dave Cobb which would award him his first Grammy. The record broke several records debuting at #1 on the Country, Rock, Folk and Indie Charts. It also broke Americana Radio chart records , staying #1 for over 25 weeks. The record won Grammys for Best Americana Album and Best Americana Song for (24 Frames).
Since then Matt hasn’t slowed down …engineering recent releases by The Drive By Truckers, Elle King, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Chris Isaak, The Rival Sons, Corb Lund, Lori Mckenna, Brett Dennen, Brent Cobb, Amanda Shires, Anderson East, The Sheepdogs and the concept album “Southern Family”.
Matt also engineered, mixed and Co-Produced Margo Price’s debut album; entitled “Midwestern Farmer’s Daughter” the record was made in 3 days in 2014 at Sun Studio and released on Third Man Records. The record debuted in the top 10 Billboard country charts to critical acclaim and is already considered one of the best albums of 2016. Matt most recently was hired by Sony Records to mix 18 previously unreleased songs by Elvis Presley from historic 1976 sessions in the Jungle Room at Graceland which was released in August of 2016. Matt also recently produced albums on Sean Rowe, Patrick Sweany and UK artist Emily Barker.
The City of Memphis named him one of its “30 under 30” Memphians in 2015 as well as honoring him with a key to the city in 2016. The City of Germantown also named a day after Ross-Spang in 2016.
Matt and Matt join each other over Skype for a conversation about’s Matt’s journey.
J.J. Blair is a producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who hails from Chicago, and moved to Los Angeles in 1990 to get into the music business. He has worked on albums with some legendary artists. Of note, in 1999, he produced, engineered and mixed June Carter Cash’s Grammy winning album, Press On. He also engineered on Rod Stewart’s Great American Songbook albums, volumes 1 through 3; the latter of which won a Grammy, and hit #1 on the Billboard album charts. Other artists J.J. has worked with include Black Eyed Peas, Weezer, P. Diddy, Ryan Adams, Jason Falkner, David Cassidy, Stephen Bishop ,Vonda Sheppard, Johnny Cash, George Benson, Unwriten Law, Kelly Clarkson, Melissa Etheridge, Smokey Robinson, and many more.
J.J. was kind enough to host Matt at his house during AES. While staying there, Matt was able to convince J.J. to sit down for an interview in his living room.
Brad Wood grew up in Rockford, Illinois, the home of Cheap Trick- the greatest band alive. He played the saxophone well enough to go to college and study jazz performance.
When Brad moved to Chicago in 1987, it didn’t take long before he built Idful Music Corporation- a small but mighty recording studio in Wicker Park. That’s where he recorded albums by bands like Seam, Tar, Shrimp Boat and Eleventh Dream Day. It was Liz Phair’s Exile In Guyville in 1993 that did the trick for his career.
Soon he was recording all kinds of cool debut albums for artists like Sunny Day Real Estate, Veruca Salt, Placebo, Red Red Meat and Ben Lee. Work with Smashing Pumpkins, Far, that dog., Menthol and Pete Yorn wrapped up the 90’s.
In 2000, Brad relocated to Los Angeles, home of X- the greatest punk rock band alive. After a few years of bouncing around LA’s amazing studios, he built Seagrass Studio in 2004. At Seagrass Brad has tracked or mixed Say Anything, mewithoutYou, more Ben Lee, the Bangles, Sherwood & Touché Amoré plus many more.
Brad says “I like to help people make records that are inspiring, lyrically and musically. For me, rock music works best when there’s intensity- a burning desire to bash out a message. It doesn’t have to be loud (although that helps). Thank you, Joe Strummer.”
This podcast is comprised of Matt’s interview with Brad at the 141st AES show in Los Angeles on October 1st at The Focal Booth followed by an interview over Skype. Matt and Brad discuss Brad’s journey, his time in Chicago, His move to LA, his new studio and parenting.
Scott Wiley is a music producer, engineer, musician and owner of June Audio Recording Studios in Provo, Utah. Scott studied music recording at USC and got to learn from some of the best producers and engineers in the industry during his years working in great Los Angeles rooms like Sound Factory, Sunset Sound, Cello and Conway Recording Studios. As an engineer and/or producer for the last 25 years, Scott has worked with Neon Trees, Bonnie Raitt, Kaskade, David Archuleta, Tracy Chapman, The Moth & The Flame, and Stephanie Mabey among others. Scott has also taught recording and music business classes at UVU and BYU.
June Audio is currently expanding from a mid-sized one studio operation to a 5000 square foot Wes Lachot designed facility that will house 3 separate studios, 2 in a large new building and a third in an adjoining turn of the century home.
Scott talks with Matt about moving between California and Utah, assisting for Tchad Blake, and running a studio in a environment where the Mormon church plays a big role.
David Barbe has a two pronged career. He has been the Director of the University of Georgia Music Business Program since 2010. On the creative side, he has worked on hundreds of recording projects as engineer, producer, musician and writer. Over the past few years, projects have included Deerhunter’s “Halcyon Digest,” Drive-By Truckers “It’s Grerat to Be Alive” and “American Band,” New Madrid “magnetkingmagnetqueen,” and “Sunwimmer,” and Muuy Biien “Age of Uncertainty” to name a few.David moved to Athens in 1981 to study journalism at UGA. He got involved in the local music scene, playing in a variety of bands, most notably Mercyland and Buzz Hungry.He started recording local bands (Bar-B-Q Killers, Jack-O-Nuts, as well as a number of bands without dashes in their names) on a Fostex X15 cassette 4 track, also taking the opportunity to go into the studio any time any of the bands he worked with booked a proper recording session. That experience led to a job at John Keane’s studio. While working under Keane, David assisted John on a number of projects by artists including Billy Bragg, REM and Widespread Panic, then began engineering a steady stream of artists on his own (Jack Logan, Seersucker, Mt. Shasta, 5/8) at John’s studio and elsewhere.
In 1991 Bob Mould (Husker Du) invited David to join his new band, Sugar. From 1992 – 1995 they toured the world, and made 4 albums together, working at the Outpost in Stoughton, Mass.; Cedar Creek in Austin, Texas; Triclops in Atlanta; and several studios in Europe and Japan on performance for broadcast sessions.
After leaving the group in early 1995, David continued freelance engineering. During this time he made countless indie records in a variety of circumstances. The Rock*A*Teens first album was made in three different studios in 6 days. Harvey Milk’s “My Love is Higher Than Your Assessment of My Love Is” was primarily recorded in drummer Paul Trudeau’s house and mixed in the apartment of fellow engineer Brooks Carter, using the wooden frame stairwell for an echo chamber (the sound of crickets is audible during quiet sections of the album). SonVolt’s “Wide Swing Tremolo” was recorded over the course of 6 two week sessions in the band’s practice space housed in an old textile mill in Millstadt, Illinois, and mixed at Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium. David’s fascination with using unique spaces for recording crops up with instances such as recording Kelly Hogan’s vocals in the boys’ locker room of a closed down school, and recording various things in the Chase Park parking lot.
“Going from place to place to work was a great experience,” says David about his freelance days (primarily 1991-97). “For one thing, you really have to think on your feet when it’s a big city studio one day, and somebody’s bedroom the next. For another, I definitely started to develop a feel for what I would and wouldn’t want in a studio of my own.”
In early 1997 David teamed up with Andy LeMaster and Andy Baker in a search of what they thought would be “a temporary space” for recording. What they came up with was Chase Park Transduction. After working together in the studio for a few months, they realized that the studio was turning into more than a stopgap.
Since opening Chase Park, David has worked with a wide variety of artists including the Deerhunter, Bettye LaVette, The Glands, Drive By Truckers, Jerry Joseph, Amy Ray, Bob Mould, REM, New Madrid and hundreds of others.
David’s general approach to making records is, “In any creative endeavor, the answer should never be ‘No’.
David talks with Matt over Skype about how he runs his studio, the importance of family and his approach to money and gear.
Chuck Zwicky is a Manhattan based mixing engineer who has earned several gold and platinum records in his 30+ year career, working with artists as diverse as Prince, Jeff Beck, Soul Asylum, Reggie Watts, Rick Moranis, a-ha, NIN, and the Jonas Brothers. Chuck joins Matt over Skype from his Manhattan apartment and home to his mixing /mastering suite to discuss a wide range of topics including the impact Prince had on him.
Camden Stoddard got his start in sound shortly after moving to the Bay Area by interning with B. Z. Lewis at Studio 132 followed by studying at Pyramind in San Francisco. After graduating from Pyramind, Camden participated in some independent movies and commercials before joining Double Fine Productions in 2009. He has since worked on dozens of prototypes and shipped a multitude of games as sound designer and Studio Sound Supervisor including Brutal Legend (for which he won G.A.N.G.’s Rookie Of The Year), Iron Brigade, Stacking, Once Upon A Monster, The Cave, Broken Age and, most recently, the retro space adventure Headlander. Camden is very passionate about game audio and game sound design and can often be found mentoring students with enthusiasm.
Camden spoke with Matt from his office in San Francisco via Skype.
Lij Shaw is an award winning music and podcast producer who has made records for 25 years. His studio, The Toy Box Studio is located East Nashville, Tennessee.
Lij is my “Brother from Another Podcast” being the host of Recording Studio Rockstars. He’s a guy like myself who has been around the block, made some mistakes along the way and is here to share his experiences and wisdom. His other activities include the Hay Bale Studio, a studio built in a double wide trailer and surrounded by bales of hay, all while being located directly behind the main stage at the Bonnaroo music festival each year. He also runs a back to basics recording event called the Stereo Sessions where recording a band live to two track is the order of the day. Enjoy!
Ben Hirschfield and Scott Goodrich are studio partners at Nu-Tone Studios. If you have followed my conversations with Chris Dugan and/or Willie Samuels you’ll recognize their names. I thought stopping by Nu-Tone and chatting with these guys would be a great way to follow up on a story that started with Dugan and Samuels.
Ben Hirschfield began playing music at an early age and almost immediately became obsessed with the recording process. By high school, he was constantly making recordings for his own bands, as well as those of his peers. After touring nationally and internationally with his own music, Ben began focusing more intently on recording. While attending Ex’pression College for Digital Arts, he founded the now defunct Imperial Recording Studio with fellow engineer Scott Goodrich. Imperial quickly became a go to spot for local and national indie acts. While still running his own studio, Ben began an internship at Jingletown Recording, which led to a full time gig at the facility. Since 2012 he has been calling Nu-Tone Studios his home base, occasionally freelancing out of other Bay Area studios. He has produced, engineered, and/or mixed for artists including Against Me!, Green Day, Mobin’s Child, NOFX and The Story So Far.
Scott Goodrich is a Recording and Mixing Engineer from Oakland, California. He began as an intern at Jingletown Recording immediately out of school, and later established his profession in his parent’s garage with Ben Hirschfield at Imperial Recording Studios. Scott joined the Nu-Tone Studios family in 2012, and has since recorded bands such as The Story So Far, Culture Abuse, Worthwhile, and other notable groups. He’s worked alongside Hopeless Records, Pure Noise Records, Equal Vision, 6131 Records, and Adeline Records on a handful of successful projects. When outside the studio, Scott sings and plays guitar in his band, Daydream.
As I mentioned in the show monologue, here is the Go Fund Me page for the employees of Presonus who lost everything in the recent flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. https://www.gofundme.com/2tf4gxh8
Also below are various links for Ben Hirschfield and Scott Goodrich. Make sure and check out some the pictures of Nu-Tone .
Willie Samuels is Studio Trilogy’s senior engineer. A recording engineer, producer and musician with some serious studio chops, Willie began his career in his teens by operating a “guerilla style” mobile studio out of his parents old station wagon, traveling to record local bands in their rehearsal spaces, garages, or whatever space he could find that sounded good. By the time he was 18, he was an engineer and producer, working independently in many of the Bay Area’s historic studios. In 1996 he and partner Chris Dugan opened Nu-tone Studios in Pittsburg, California, which quickly became a mecca for local and national independent artists. In 2006 Willie began freelancing at the newly constructed studios of Talking House Productions in San Francisco. A few months later, he joined the production team at Talking House, serving as a staff engineer and continuing his quest to serve and develop local talent. In April 2010 Willie partnered with Justin Lieberman and Cindy McSherry to open Studio Trilogy. In addition to engineering and producing, Willie also works collaboratively with Justin and Cindy on sales and marketing for the studio.
Willie joins Matt for a discussion at WCA headquarters in Lafayette, CA for a discussion on personal sacrifice, doing what you love, working with CHris Dugan and potential changes coming in the future.
Lolly Lewis studied voice, composition, and electronic music at UC Santa Cruz. While still in college, she was recruited for the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival’s Audio/Recording Institute, and she was Director of Recordings at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music from 1981 – 1993.
In 1984 Lolly coordinated audio playback of her recording of John Adams‘ Light Over Water for its premiere performance in Los Angeles (Museum of Contemporary Art) and New York (Next Wave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music). In 1989 she toured with the Kronos Quartet providing live playback of the recorded portion of Steve Reich‘s Different Trains.
In 1998 she toured with Chanticleer as production and stage manager. Producing projects include the opera Tania (by composer Anthony Davis and based on the story of Patty Hearst), a premiere recording of orchestral music by Harlem Renaissance composer Florence Price, and a program of new chamber music works by composer Mario Davidovsky. She recently recorded all 68 of Haydn’s string quartets with San Francisco’s New Esterhazy Quartet in live performance.
As a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Lolly sang on numerous recordings including their 1995 Grammy-winning Brahms Requiem. She just completed a five year project for the San Francisco Symphony, running the COMMUNITY OF MUSIC MAKERS program.
Lolly sits down with Matt for a conversation that covers her recording rig, her thoughts on live music as well as many analogies of sports and movies and plays as they relate to recording.
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.
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.
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