Feature Image: Taylor and Duke (818) Style Kyla Barsell
There is a portal inside of a garage in Van Nuys, California, that leads to another world. A world of crushing heaviness, monstrous sounds, and violently compelling breakdowns. Despite its modest size, The Pit Studio has drawn decibel disciples from across Southern California and beyond in search of the ultimate in slam-ready sonics. Inside the blood red live room, a dizzying selection of modded out Marshall amps and punishing Mesa Boogie heads stand at attention in custom wooden carpentry. In the corner sits a well-loved, carefully mic'd SJC drum kit, outfitted with sinister splash cymbals. Lording over The Pit from his control room throne, Taylor Young has spent over a decade creating a space where heavy hardcore, death metal, and '90s "hard alternative" melt into a mutant stew of impossibly hard music. Perhaps best known as the former drummer for grindcore darlings NAILS, Taylor and his brother, Colin, have also led their own band, Twitching Tongues, through four albums of aggressively melodic and romantic metalcore. In a sure sign of global moshification, the recent Pit-produced God's Hate album (self-titled) snuck up to #13 on the Billboard Hard Music chart, with steady airplay on SiriusXM Radio's Liquid Metal show. Plus, he's been producing records for iconic labels like Southern Lord, Metal Blade, and Revelation Records. Step now with me into The Pit, and if you see anyone going down… help them up!
Feature Image: Taylor and Duke (818) Style Kyla Barsell
What sparked your interest in recording when you were growing up?
My dad, Dan Young, is a tech manager for television here in L.A. He gets hired by live events, like the Academy Awards, and has a bunch of Emmys for his tech work. He shows up at the live event and makes sure everything is working properly, from an audio standpoint. When I first started it was because of his gear laying around. He didn't use it to make much music, but he liked being surrounded by it and making doodles here and there. He later built out Tower Station Studio in Lexington, Kentucky, with his best friend, Jeff Myers, who's worked with Melissa Etheridge. When our family moved to California we first stayed at Jeff's house and dad built a studio there, and then we built this studio here. Wherever he goes, tech and studios follow. It was bound to happen.
Your early recordings were done on what I've heard you describe as a "shitty 8-track."
Yes, it was a Roland digital 8-track, but it did the job. When I moved here from Connecticut, I didn't have friends, so I was making music alone and getting into that. I would mix down on a little Mackie board and then submix as I was tracking. Learning by doing everything wrong first. This was around 2004.
No computer or [Digidesign] Mbox?
I didn't even have that. My first interface was a MOTU 828 that I got around 2006. I used that for a few years at people's practice spaces and ended up getting an RME Fireface around 2009.
That was also the year you recorded with Kurt Ballou [Tape Op #76] at God City when you were drumming for NAILS. Did that make an impact on you as a budding heavy music producer?
Before going to God City, I had already been recording a bunch. I wasn't particularly great at it, but I was cheap or free. God City was definitely where I learned to do a lot of things correctly. Kurt would probably be upset if I said this, but he's my unintentional mentor. I was standing over his shoulder looking at exactly what he was doing and probably annoying the hell out of him! [laughter]
But don't we need Kurt Ballou proteges?
Well, he has a real one; Zach Weeks, who is awesome. Very, very talented dude, and also basically a mini-Kurt 'cause he builds pedals as well [Electronic Audio Experiments].
You've also mentioned Steve Evetts [Tape Op #56] as an inspiration. Have you worked together?
Definitely a sonic inspiration. I've talked his ear off a few times and learned a couple of tips and tricks from him. I actually had him mix the first Eyes of the Lord EP [Call it War] that I played on. He's the man, and I definitely liked his work before Kurt's, because that's what I grew up on. Some of his earliest productions are the first Incantation record [Onward to Golgotha] and the third Demolition Hammer [Time Bomb].
Soon after came the debut album for your band, Twitching Tongues [Sleep Therapy] and you hit your stride asa producer with The Pit, your own studio.
We put out the first Twitching Tongues album right after Rotting Out's Street Prowl, which was my first full-length producer credit. I wasn't credited properly until maybe the third pressing. I recorded and mixed the record, and credit was given to someone who wasn't in the studio for one day.
Welcome to the music business! What setup were you using at this point?
I had probably 16 inputs. I was doing four inputs on the Fireface and then I was running another eight with the True Systems Precision 8 channel, but I had decent microphones.
"World War V" from the following album [In Love There is No Law] captured the Andy Wallace-era [Tape Op #25] Sepultura to a tee.
I had a new goal. For Sleep Therapy, the studio wasn't even done. We did the drums in my living room. Then for In Love There Is No Law I was trying to do a Scott Burns thing. [See Morrisound Recording: the birthplace of Florida death metal.] I don't think I nailed it, but we made a unique-sounding record. I love the guitar tone which is a pushed Marshall JMP [amp] sound.
Do you feel that there's a community of engineers in L.A. connected to the heavy hardcore/metal scene that you operate in?
There aren't a ton of local heavy music engineers, but I would say that Kyle Black is someone I have good mojo with. His style is more ultra-polished pop punk and I'm the opposite. I'm trying to make it as gnarly and dirty as possible while still being audible. Kyle has a studio down the street called West Alley Recordings with a larger drum room that I use all the time. Next week I'll be tracking drums for a new Drain song there.
When the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, you were one of the first people I saw putting out new music, releasing the Pandemicon EP with your death metal project ZOUS.
There was a solid three months where absolutely nothing was going on. So, I said, "Hey, I'm going to do an experiment. I'm going to write and record something in one shot, get some other quarantined producer friends involved remotely, and put out a Finnish-style death metal demo." Arthur Rizk [producer for Code Orange and Power Trip] did the solo on the Autopsy cover ["Torn From the Womb"], because I don't have the ability to learn that solo. Then I had my friend Cody Davidson rip a solo; he plays drums in Sanguisugabogg, and also records bands in his studio. Kyle Rasmussen, from the band Vitriol ?– that I also work with, ripped another one. It worked out really fast. I had a two-week turnaround mixing, mastering, and recording everything.
