What stuff are you excited about that you've recorded recently?
I've been doing some stuff with Dub Narcotic [Sound System], sort of an ongoing drama. We have a single that's coming out in September. It's the first thing we've put out in four years, which I didn't even realize 'til we finished it. It was like, "Wait, we haven't done anything for a long time."
Did you engineer the new single?
Adam [Forkner, of Yumu Bitsu] worked on it. Around Dub Narcotic, there's pretty much me, Phil [Elvrum, of The Microphones], Adam, Mirah [Yom Tov Zeitlyn], Khaela [Maricich, of The Blow], and Diana Arens has done some stuff with people. Those are, pretty much, the engineers that work here. I used to engineer all the Dub Narcotic stuff, but it just seemed like maybe it would be good to have another perspective. Adam actually is the person who helped me build a lot of the stuff. When we put the studio together, originally in this room, I just kind of threw it all in here, and we did the Halo Benders record. After that, I thought, "Maybe I should try to organize this thing." So he built the snake that goes to the other end of the room, he built the patchbay, he wired everything up and he had a lot to do with getting the 16-track set up. Even before Yumu Bitsu recorded, he had done a lot of work here. It's interesting because there's all this crap here, but everybody has there own feeling about what they like to use. I like to use the RCA stuff, and Phil pretty much only uses the Altec, and everyone has their own thing.
What are the dimensions of the room?
I think it's like 110 ft by 45, [the ceilings are] 11 1/2 feet. The thing about this room that's really cool, is that there're no columns or beams or anything at all. It's a completely open space, and there're windows on three sides, so the light's really amazing. All of us, every day, are just like, "Thank god we get to work here." I really like the idea that people are using it. It has multiple uses. There have seriously been times when people have been recording, mixing, silk-screening, painting. It's all happening at the same time, and that's just part of it. My idea for a studio is just getting an atmosphere where people will feel like they are going to be able to be creative. I think that the way I did that before, in the basement when we first started, and here, also, is to try to create a situation that is really different from what people may have experienced in a studio. But, also, make them feel like — maybe not consciously — "Hey I'm gonna do some really good work here." I think part of [where that feeling comes from] is that we don't have a clock anywhere in the studio, and part of [it] is that no one's paying anything for it [the studio]. Everyone who records here, pretty much it's for K. I think when you go into a real studio, it's so enclosed and encased, and there's this feeling like, "Okay, we got to get in here, and we gotta do it!" I think there's a little bit of an adrenaline rush that might be helpful, but I think, a lot of times, there's a stress level that gets people off edge. Some people can work really well in that air. Other people walk in and go [shifting head around quickly and nervously], "Oh wow this is the real thing!" You get somebody's cassette release and it's really cool, "Wow, I can't wait for the record to come out." Then, the record comes out, and it's all really flat and weird sounding. When they made the cassette, they just did it, and it's great. When they made the real record, it's all uptight and it just didn't have any...
They are out of their element, and it just doesn't come across.
Yeah, totally. So, if we get a place that's going to be outside of where you normally are, but you're going to feel like it's really special, then what you do here is going to be special. So that's always been my idea. I think that we do that here. You gotta walk in right away and know this is not a normal studio because, first of all, we got rid of concepts like isolation. There's not going to be many recordings that come out of here that don't have seagulls on them, trucks backing up, the guy sawing downstairs or someone making copies. That just happens [and] that's cool. Mark Greer, who does a lot of the mastering of our stuff, has commented on that. We were doing Khaela's The Blow record and there's this really quiet part, and he's like, "Wow, a truck didn't back up right when you started doing this quiet part!" and Khaela's like, "I know, it's amazing how often those things happen at the right moment." And it's like, "Huh... okay, that's one way to look at it." You're not going to get that controlled environment here, but you have an environment. I mean, you've got this big giant room, and you can do lots of neat stuff with it. I think that's the basic concept. I don't think it really matters what you record on, I really don't. You can record on a cassette deck. You can record on a computer. This is my preferred format: 2" 16-track. But, I don't think that you have to record on that to sound good. I mean, look at the Halo Benders' first album. We did that with two [SM]58s. I don't think we had any of the preamps we have now. We were doing everything through a Dallas board, and it just turned out great. I always try and keep that in mind. I've gotten more reaction from that record than probably any other record I've ever made. And, the Beck record I did around the same time, same thing. That's, probably, the best selling record I've ever had anything to do with. So, it doesn't really matter what you have, it's the feeling that's going on, and that's all that matters. But, at the same time, I like to experiment with equipment. I like to get it, and work with it. When Dub Narcotic Sound System was in L.A., about five years ago, we did a session at the Dust Brothers' studio and they were like, "Why are we even recording this? You already recorded this song. It's great. Let's just use that." And, we were like, "We want to record with you guys." But, they hardly ever had actually done a live band. Mostly, they just worked with people on their vocals and things that were already recorded, and then they mixed it. So, they were kind of at a loss. We were setting up the band, and they were like, "So... How would you mic this?" [Calvin], "Well, I'd put this here, and..." [Dust Brothers] "Really... Okay." And then we'd go into the studio, and they had some of those Altecs, and I was like, "Wow! I've got some of those. Those are really fun.." And he was like, "Yeah... we never actually use those. How would you use those?" And I was like, "I'd put them like this." [Dust Brothers], "Oh yeah. Let's try that." I ended up sitting there, engineering the whole live part of it. Then once we got it going, they did it all on the computer. It really reminded me a lot of the first time we worked with Steve [Fisk] at the Music Source because, before we'd done that, we'd done everything on 4-track or 8-track. All the sudden, we were on a 24-track. The thing that was most remarkable about doing it on a 24-track, after doing it on an 8-track, was that there was nothing to talk about. Before it was always like, "Well, we only have 8 tracks, so..." And there, we just recorded. We never thought, "Well, we have to leave tracks for that..." We just recorded, and then we were done, and it was like, "Well, that was easy." That's what it was like working with them [The Dust Brothers]. And, at that point, we were still working with an 8- track here, too. So, we were used to thinking that way for Dub Narcotic, and we didn't have to because they just had unlimited tracks. They just did take after take, and they kept everything. I'd sing, and they'd keep all the little stuff. It was just easy. They were really fun to work with. That was my first real experience with digital recording, and that was like, "Hey, this is great. It sounds awesome." We never actually finished the song, but recording with them was awesome. So, I don't really give a fuck about digital or whatever. I just like to record this way. I'm set in my ways. It just seems like there's a lot for me to explore still in this format, and I'm enjoying it. Getting into a whole new level of technology, to me, just seems like a pain in the ass. That's why I don't do it. That's really the only reason.
What do you think of the CD-R, as a format?
It's awesome. I think it's incredible that people can just make a CD-R now, and it's real. Where as, in [the '80s], what was real was a record. Even when cassette became the dominant format, cassette-only releases were weird. They weren't real because it wasn't out on record. So now, there's nothing unreal about it when you're making a CD-R. It's completely compatible with everybody's machines, and it's done. I'm not against technology. In fact, the whole K concept started with the concept of using the new technology of cassettes, and getting the word out to people. I think the internet is an incredible tool for getting the word out, getting music around, and people sharing music. I think it's fantastic. I don't personally do it just because I'm old and set in my ways, but I think it's great that people do.
I wanted to ask you about when you worked with Greg Sage [of the Wipers], and how that influenced you as far as your recording techniques and your ideas.
