Where are you at right now?
I'm in Spain. I'm up at Michael League's studio [Estudi Vint]. We're working on a record together, mixing.
Michael seems like he's always got a project going.
For as long as I've known him, it's been constant.
How did you two first start working together?
We were introduced by a mutual friend, Henry Hey, a keyboardist [of Forq]. I started mixing other records that Michael was producing before the Snarky Puppy work.
I can't believe the number of live Snarky Puppy concerts that have been released!
That's where I started with Snarky. They were recording the shows and sending it to me for one tour, and it wasn't a fast enough turnaround. Hard drives were getting stuck in customs. We did a European tour where I went with them, recorded a live show, and then mixed at night on the bus and released it within 24 hours. I've probably mixed 200 or 300 live shows for them.
What were you using for monitoring? Headphones?
It was largely headphones. I might have taken a little pair of KRKs, but maybe that was for something different. Mixing on the bus is less than perfect, as the lounge is above the engine compartment. One of the most challenging aspects was using a mouse while the bus is rocking!
Get a trackball? I would think even the rumble of the vehicle would be hard to deal with.
Yeah. I would have to revise it in the morning when the bus had stopped moving. After the first week there was more of a template and I was getting used to the environment.
Did you get any sleep?
No, almost not at all for the first two weeks. Toward the end of the tour I figured out this sleep schedule, between 7 and 10 in the morning, and then between 3 and 6 in the evening. It was pretty insane.
How did you get your start in this?
In the '90s, in high school, I got into DJing and making electronic music; all techno. I haven't done that in 20 years! That led me into manipulating sounds and twiddling knobs, so it let me learn engineering. I went to IAR [Institute of Audio Research] in New York for a six-month program. I did an internship at the same time, and was also an assistant engineer at Unique [Recording Studios] before even graduating that program. After that, I got a job as an assistant at RPM [Studios]. I became the house engineer there, and then I went freelance in 2002. There was a steep learning curve. I remember being an intern and assistant and not having a musical background. I had to learn the terminology of what everybody was talking about, even super basic things like, "What is a chorus?" The technical part was easy compared to learning the basics of music!
All the different skills we have to know to get the job done is extensive.
Yeah. We need to follow the conversations and know what somebody's talking about when they say they want to punch in. Once I was working in studios, I was working 12 or 14 hours a day. I don't think there was any time that wasn't in the studio. No vacations. At RPM I was on almost every session.
And a pretty wide variety of music?
Yeah. It was great. There was loads of people to learn from, and different producers and engineers that would come in. Not too much hip-hop, but I got a lot of that before at Unique.
What was some of the first work that you took on as a producer/engineer?
One of the first records that I produced was the Boston band Aberdeen City. I had mixed an EP for them, and then I produced a record [The Freezing Atlantic] with them a year later. It was a rock band in the early 2000s. They ended up signing to Sony, and I got to work with Steve Lillywhite [Tape Op #93] who was their A&R. He would come into the studio and give feedback on a couple of parts that we'd re-cut, which was cool. Usually I would mix something for somebody and then they would come back and ask me to produce. When I'm mixing, I will often change some parts, with the preface that I'm not offended if they don't like it. It does get a bit into production.
The Bravery debut album [The Bravery] you worked on sounded great.
Yeah. The drums were done at a studio, but a lot of it was done in my apartment studio in 2002 or 2003.
A lot of your productions and mixes I assume have a real nice sense of width, and the vocals are always centered and clear.
Well that's good. Obviously, I always want to make sure that I'm getting that part correct! When I started, I definitely was thinking, "Bury the vocal," and I was more about the music, but slowly I've come around. It's constant learning.
The Church album you co-produced, Forget Yourself, sounded great as well.
Yeah, that was super, super early on. That is one that I didn't mix. That was co-produced, but I was hired as an engineer. That was the record that made me go freelance. I was working at RPM, and The Church had come through one year and I got along well with the producer [Tim Powles] who is also the drummer. They came through town a year later, played a show, and he was like, "Yo, we're going to make another record. Do you want to come to Australia and do this?" It was supposed to be for two months, and it ended up being four. It was an amazing session, and the closest thing to Spinal Tap that I've experienced. Tim was the lead producer on that and mixed it. That was the record that got me out of RPM and enticed me away from a steady job.
How did work go after that? Did you have management?
No management. It's up and down. It was difficult to get established. Later on, I ended up getting management with Joe D'Ambrosio for eight years. Now, most of my work comes through word-of-mouth. A lot of what I do is direct with the artist or a small label. I haven't had much interaction with majors in the last bunch of years.
It's different now, isn't it?
It's weird, but I have to say it's also good. Creatively, loads more is happening. People are free to do more, because the costs are now less. Obviously, we don't make as much money. I was never one of those guys who was making hundreds of thousands of dollars and lost it all. There's a lot more freedom now for people to make music, do some at home, and then work with somebody like me to bring it together. That's cool.
Where are you living now?
I live four hours south of here.
