How did you end up in the old Producer's Workshop space?
I'm from North Carolina. I worked in studios there. There was a studio called Altamont Recording. I worked there with David McConnell. Sparklehorse [Mark Linkous] did his last record there. I worked there for a few years, and it shut down. I started making friends with people in Asheville and doing work at Echo Mountain. That's a gorgeous studio there.
I always hear that. Everyone says it's great to work out of.
I love it. While I was doing that, I met this guy named Gary Jules who did [Tears for Fears'] "Mad World" in Donnie Darko. He did pretty well in the '90s. I ended up working for him in his home studio. We worked on a film score and a record that's still not released, and that's been six years! He basically said, "Look, you need to go to L.A. You're young, and I've got great friends to introduce you to." He brought me out here, and I made friends quick. I was looking for a mix room; something small. I was just doing a lot of mix work, but I wasn't tracking a whole lot at the time. I came across this Craigslist ad. It said, "Recording Studio." There was only a picture of the building outside.
Not too appealing.
No, it wasn't. The rent was friendly, it was in Hollywood and had parking, and so I called the guy. He came down here and walked me through with the lights off. He didn't know what it was, and I didn't know really what it was, but I knew that it was a classic studio. It had the smell and the look. There was no doubt in my mind. I said that I wanted to sign a lease that day.
How many years ago was that?
That was in November of 2010. It turns out that the friendly rent was because this place was a dump. It was in really bad shape. We had to put a lot of money into it to make it functional. We re-did the control room. The place was never ever grounded. It was done with residential two-ended electronics. I had that fixed, and we treated this room again. It was so dead, and all the carpet was mildewed. They had commercial-grade carpet from floor to ceiling in here. It was nice for like '90s punk. If you're wondering why a lot of those Epitaph records sound a little harsh, it's probably because they were mixing in this room!
You're cranking up the 3 kHz.
That [frequency] was gone in here. I opened it officially about six months later. We're just trying to get the word out. I get a lot of calls from people who worked here when it was Westbeach. They have no idea that it's open again as a studio. I've gotten some work from some of those folks. The first thing that I did when I found out what this place actually was, was to call up Bill Schnee. I had lunch with him and Rick Ruggieri who was an engineer here, and RCA. Rick did a bunch of records here. They both worked on Aja with Steely Dan. They told me a ton of stories and gave me a wealth of knowledge. I feel like part of my job is recording and making records here, but the other part is that I'm really trying to preserve the history here. It's sort of fallen between the cracks. Lee Sklar was in here working on a record this summer. He hadn't been in here in 30 years. I asked him if he remembered the studio. He said, "I was in here a hundred times. I was in here when Elvis died, when we found out." He said that this studio is just as important as Capitol or Sunset Sound or any of the others.
The ones that have stayed open.
Exactly. I would keep the name, but if you try to Google Producers' Workshop, just think about it! You wouldn't be able to find this studio. I work with Steve Lillywhite when he's in town. We re-mixed [The Pogues'] Peace and Love. They never loved the mixes; it was a very high-endy sounding record, and the vocals were never that great. We re-mixed the record and Rhino released it. He and I mixed some 30 Seconds to Mars and a few different projects from the UK.
What's the console?
I bought a 1977 40 channel API. Actually it's a very early Datatronix-era [the company that bought API at that point] console, most has original cards. It was originally a split 24 and 24 console, with no monitor section. We are currently restoring the last 8 channels. I've been told this may have been one of two 48 channel API's made in that era. The other being at RAK in London.
What kind of work are you getting?
Yeah, there are a few bands in L.A. that I'm producing. The Diamond Light, with Trevor Menear from Chicago. He's a great blues guitar player. I did a Brian Wright record that came out on Sugar Hill. Joe Purdy's got a record that's unreleased which is coming out that I did. I worked with The Cult, with Bob Rock.
Wow, how was working with Bob Rock?
Bob is the coolest. The thing about him is that he just gets dirty. He gets in there with the band, plugs in, jams, gets the pedals going, tweaks the amps. He's a really motivational producer. It's really fun.
What were you guys working on?
They were just writing. The Romantics have been in three or four times.
How many people have come in who'd been here before at this point?
