LC: This place is beautiful with all the wood and glass. Do you record anyone else here... or just yourself?
I've been doing the Lilys here. I'll play you something. This song doesn't have vocals yet. It sounds kind of experimental, synth damage. [Jason rolls tape]
LC: The drums sound great. Is that all natural "room"?
Yeah. The drums were right here. Just this room.
AH: How many mics did you use on the drums?
Five or six mics. I have kind of a weird drum mic vibe. I use the same two mics for toms and cymbals. I place the mics carefully so that I get a good mix of all the toms and cymbals just from the two mics. I also mic top and bottom snare, kick, and maybe one mono overhead.
LC: Do you always record in analog?
The Lilys I did to tape. My own stuff I'm doing in Pro Tools. I just bought it [Digi001]. I still haven't figured out how to come out of Pro Tools and go through one of these outboard boxes. I'm sure it's easy. But I haven't gotten that far yet. But I love it.
AH: Are you working on a new album, playing all the instruments yourself?
Yeah. I'll play you a rough mix. [Jason hits play in Pro Tools. We listen for a bit. We are all extremely impressed.]
AH: Having heard some of your previous pop productions, and listening carefully to what we're hearing now, as I look at your screen now, I'm surprised at the incredibly low edit- density and the low track-density. But everything sounds so big and full — especially the guitars. Any tricks you'd like to share on how you get that wide, open guitar sound?
I wouldn't know how to explain. I'm so instinctual. My main politic when it comes to recording is to try to get it to sound as good as possible just from the source, and not do much fucking with it once I've recorded the sound. There's a lot of subtle and not so subtle compression going on before it goes into Pro Tools, mainly through all this gnarly '70s gear.
AH: What's a typical chain that you use?
For guitar amps, I start with an SM57 typically, but sometimes a RØDE, usually into this UREI 1178 compressor though an API 312 mic preamp. I usually go into this API 550A EQ; or if something really needs to be carved out, I'll go into this UREI 546, an old film mastering EQ, with very specific control. Sometimes I'll send the guitar into this old RCA solid-state compressor. The RCA also sounds great on snare.
AH: Do you do additional processing within Pro Tools?
As little as possible. Usually a stereo compressor across the whole mix. And usually I'll compress the snare a little again, and I'll definitely compress the vocals. I use the plug-ins more for reverbs, delays, and automated effects.
AH: How do you envision the whole mix as you're recording the song? Obviously, you can't just look over at the band and say, "Let's do a take and go for this kind of vibe," if you're playing all the instruments yourself. In other words, how do you know how everything's going to sound together when you're laying down individual instruments, one at a time?
Again, it's just instinct. I've got a finished sonic picture in my head pretty much before I start. And obviously, that changes a bit with each instrument I put down. And it steers itself somewhat. It's totally a producer thing. I'll kind of make a conscious decision on the direction I want the song to go. My ability to envision a picture so easily comes from listening to a lot of music. My record collection is so vast — from Ravel to Sex Pistols — and I enjoy elements of everything between those two. I guess that's my style, incorporating aspects of all that stuff. But in terms of strategy, I decide first what the drums are going to be like, because the drums and bass for me decide where it's going to go.
AH: Do you think any of your self-producing sensibility came from your experiences with a 4-track?
My whole autonomous thing... it's from the bands I've been in... because they were just so unharmonious. [laughs.] And part of it I'm sure is because of my own personality, and because I can play all the instruments. It's very easy for me to piss off a drummer, for example. I'm not like some singer going like, "Do it more like John Bonham." I can sit down and play what I'm trying to describe, and that can be frustrating to my band members. Also, even though I know a lot of great musicians that I can call up to lay down tracks for me, it's very satisfying to build my own record from start to end. There's something really satisfying about it.
AH: I love how your 4-track record, Necessity, opens up with the 16-track song, and you think, "How did he do that on a 4-track? Is this a joke?" Then you read the liner notes, and when the next song comes in, you realize what's going on. The rest of the CD is all 4-track material. You hear dropouts, tape hiss, and that tape-suck you get from bouncing so many times on a 4-track...
Yeah, and my little Choker pedal too. Back then, basically everything was going though a little guitar stompbox called the Choker. The Loco Box Choker.
AH: Is it a compressor?
It's an incredible sounding foot compressor. Whomever I tell about this — an engineer or producer — they go on the hunt for it. I know three guys who've got it now. Everything on my 4-track recordings went into that Choker. The mic into my little XLR-to-1/4'' converter into the Choker. [Jason moves to the other side of the room excitedly.] And this is the shit too. Have you ever seen one of these? The Nu Fuzz. Torrance California. This is the craziest fuzz pedal I've ever heard. The fuzz you hear coming out of this is incredible, because unlike other fuzzboxes, the Nu Fuzz doesn't lose its low end.
AH: Has working with hi-zoot producers in the past, like Nigel Godrich and Albhy Galuten, affected your own producing style?
Working with Albhy was so long ago, in 1989 with Jellyfish. Our demos pretty much reflected that our albums were already done. Albhy just came in and tried to keep the peace within the band, and he did a good job with that. Working with Nigel on Can You Still Feel was fantastic. He was the first guy I worked with that was younger than I was. In the past, I was always the baby. He was 25 (and he looks like a little kid) and he'd already done OK Computer and made a mint off of Natalie Imbruglia. We went to New Orleans and made the record at Daniel Lanois' [Tape Op #37 & #127] Kingsway Studio. Nigel wanted to do it here in L.A., but I suggested we go someplace where no one has an advantage, because I live here and I know everyone here. Plus, living here, I've got all these distractions. So we were cooped up in this mansion that was Daniel's studio.
AH: With big, open rooms and fireplaces?
Yeah, it was literally an old-style mansion in the French Quarter, with candles everywhere. Daniel had an incredible API desk with graphic EQs on each fader. I think he's right around the corner now. He moved his whole setup right here to Silver Lake. Anyway, working with Nigel was really good. He's fast, like I am. He doesn't like to labor all day on the snare drum. There's no way I would do that - I'd be down at the pub! He kinda does things like I do. He's not really a perfectionist. People might think of him as a lab-coat- wearing scientist. But he's not. He's like, [Jason puts on his best accent here] "Put a mic on it, who cares, put a mic on it." He's got a really good ear. He uses the same equipment we're all using. It's not like he's hoarding one little piece of forgotten gear that no one else has access to. He's a very natural talent.
JB: Does he have a picture in his head when he starts, or does it evolve?
