Working Class Audio

Jeremy Goody is the owner/operator at Megasonic Sound in Oakland, California and a has been a Bay Area audio engineer/producer and performing musician since 1990. After recording school Jeremy worked his way up the engineer chain at various Bay Area studios including Skyline and Bay Records. Eventually he started  the first incarnation of Megasonic in a West Oakland warehouse across from a cement factory. Jeremy eventually moved out of the warehouse and into a family owned building to create version 2.0 of Megasonic. With a desire to build a studio of high quality, he hired famed studio designer Chris Pelonis to design the studio and Brian Hood ( Listen to Brian on WCA #084) to build. The results can be seen in our video tour below.Jeremy has worked with John Santos (2 grammy nominations), SFJAZZ, Anticon label, Lyrics Born. Jeremy is also a current member of Winfred E. Eye and played in: Dance Hall Crashers, Cat Five, Pitch Black, Damon and the Heathens, The Uptones. He’s recorded 3 Solo discs as Balanceman. Matt talks with Jeremy about the studio process of the studio build, his history and his financial approach to his studio business.Check out Disktracker which is mentioned in the show.

Brian Hood is a rare combination of recording engineer, musician, journeyman studio builder and master carpenter. Brian along with his amazing crew built the new Tiny Telephone Studio Oakland, California that opened in January of 2016, as well as Tiny Telephone Studio B in San Francisco and many other studios large and small in the Bay Area. Brian has a perspective that sees the studio from “all sides of the glass” which most do not have. When building the new Tiny Telephone, it was decided to run the studio for 6 months then close down for a month to see what changes needed to be made with regards to their Neve console, acoustics, and any other changes that needed attention. Matt catches up first with Tiny Telephone studio owner John Vandeslice for a catch up interview on what they have learned in the last 6 months since opening. Matt then follows up with Brian Hood to hear his perspective on the build as well as learn about Brian’s multi-faceted world of construction, music and recording.Check out Brian’s pictures taken during the Tiny Telephone studio build. https://www.workingclassaudio.com/wca-bonus-content/bonus-content-brian-hood-wca-084/

Pablo Munguia earned  a bachelor’s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. After trying his hand at making a records with a friend Pablo decided to  attended Berklee School of Music where he studied music production and engineering. He then graduated in 1997.Pablo moved to Los Angeles and joined Westlake Audio, where he assisted renowned producers and engineers including Quincy Jones, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, David Foster, Randy Jackson, Tommy Vicari, and Matt Forger, as well as recording artists such as Sting, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Carole King, Ricky Martin, Eros Ramazzotti, Michel Polnareff, Usher, L.L. Cool J., Mary J. Blige, and Alicia Keys. As a freelance engineer, Munguía worked with NSYNC and Britney Spears on two multi-platinum releases. He also engineered for the Who, Lionel Richie, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, and the Backstreet Boys, and for top Mexican artists like Thalia, Paulina Rubio, and Carlos Cuevas.Munguía has been nominated for 16 Primetime Emmy Awards and won five times in the category Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Variety Series or Special. He has also worked with the audio teams responsible for the Super Bowl halftime show, The American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards, The Billboard Awards, and the BET Awards. Additionally, Munguía has worked on American Idol, the X-Factor, and the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in China. In Mexico, he worked on the Pan American Games and was in charge of the audio for La Academia: Última Generación.On the academic side, from 2006 to 2009, Munguía worked in the Entertainment Studies Department at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension (UCLA Extension), where he was part of the committee that revamped the institution’s curriculum, and also taught Advanced Audio Engineering Techniques and Independent Music Production.Pablo talks with Matt over Skype from Valencia. Spain about his early days at MIT, making records in Mexico, immigration, unions and his transition from making to records to working on live television.

Justin Phelps is currently the Chief engineer and designer of the Hallowed Halls recording studios located in Portland, Oregon. Justin began his career in 1996 at San Fransisco’s famed Coast Recorders as the house engineer. At Coast Justin received considerable guidance from Chief engineer/producer John Cuniberti and studio owner/gear guru Dan Alexander. Four years later Justin switched to being a freelance engineer and spent the next few years working out of the Bay Areas finest studios including The Plant, Prairie Sun, Studio 880, Tiny Telephone and Studio D . In 2004 he acquired the lease to  Hyde Street Studio C which is considered one of the more historic recording spaces in San Francisco. After restoring Studio C to it’s former glory it became one of the busiest rooms in San Francisco for the next five years. Justin met his wife Deanna Phelps in San Francisco and shortly after the birth of their first daughter they began a new chapter by relocating to Portland, Oregon.In 2010 Justin founded Cloud City Sound with Super Digital owner and veteran engineer Rick McMillen. In the summer of 2014 Justin  recorded and album for Bike Thief . . Like most album productions it lead to a lasting relationship between he and Bike Thief members Febian Perez and Greg Allen. It also lead to the making of an incredible new studio. that ended up becoming The Hallowed Halls. Justin was hired to design and build the studio in a former library. The facility features one of the best sounding large tracking rooms in the Pacific Northwest and is home to Justin’s personal studio and mix room as well.Justin talks to Matt about his early days working at Coast Recorders, about his family’s new guitar business, and about leaving the Bay AreaMore on Justin at www.justinphelpsrecording.comPhoto by Ryne Freed

Drew Bollman moved to Nashville in 1998 and started interning and assisting at the Sound Kitchen. While Drew worked with many great engineers he happened to meet and work with  Justin Niebank (Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts,  Brad Paisley, and Kenny Chesney) and would end up working him for over 10 years. That experience and training allowed Drew to start first engineering for other projects and become an in demand freelance engineer working non-stop. Since then Drew has worked with artists such as Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts, Vince Gill, Hunter Hayes, Keith Urban, and Patty Loveless as well as many other great artists. IN 2010 Drew won a Grammy for best Bluegrass album of the year.Drew was on vacation at his parents house but graciously agreed to an interview. Matt and Drew discuss the ins and outs of freelance engineering in Nashville, work/life balance and his favorite producer/engineers in and outside of Nashville.Link to recording using Audio-Technica AT 2035 mentioned in sponsor break. https://soundcloud.com/josephinejohnsonsings/light-it-up

Jessica Thompson is our featured guest on WCA #080 . Jessica is a Grammy-nominated mastering and restoration engineer as well as an archiving specialist who has digitized, restored and revived historic recordings including The Bottom Line, Caffè Lena, Erroll Garner, the Woody Guthrie Archives and the Newport Jazz and Folk Festival, which included performances by Pete Seeger, Roger McGuinn, Dave Von Ronk, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Doc Watson, Miles Davis and Jean Ritchie.Jessica’s remaster of Erroll Garner’s iconic recording The Complete Concert By The Sea (Sony/Legacy) was nominated for the Best Historical Album Grammy in 2016. In addition Jessica  has also cleaned, digitized and restored rare vinyl and cassette recordings for Awesome Tapes From Africa and many Numero Group compilations. In her previous career as a radio producer, she interviewed drummer Max Roach and the organ player at Fenway Park for WGBH. Additionally she has spun records and CDs on the airwaves of WGBH, WFMU, WZBC and WESU. Jessica joins Matt for a discussion about restoration and mastering while really diving into the nitty gritty of the craft.Links mentioned in the show.DIskwarriorLife EditedGraham Hill Ted TalkCoast MasteringJessica’s WebsiteArnold Magnetic Technologies (the magnetic viewer Jessica mentioned)https://www.avpreserve.com/https://www.kabusa.com/

Dave Fridmann is a producer, engineer and musician who has made records with Mercury Rev , The Flaming Lips , Weezer, Sparklehorse, Mogwai, Gemma Hayes, Sleater-Kinney , Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, MGMT, Neil Finn, OK Go, and Spoon, to name a few! :-) He works out of Tarbox Road Studios which he built over 20 years ago.As a musician, Dave was the bassist and a founding member of Mercury Rev. He gave up his role as a touring member of the band in 1993 to concentrate on producing other artists. In 2007, he received a Grammy for The Flaming Lips' At War With The Mystics at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards (Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical). In 2010, three Fridmann-produced albums were listed on the Rolling Stone 100 Best Albums of The Decade: MGMT's Oracular Spectacular, The Flaming Lips' Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and Sleater-Kinney's The Woods.Fridmann is an occasional faculty member of SUNY Fredonia, teaching sound recording techniques in the Fredonia School of Music.Dave and Matt talk over Skype about family, being able to say yes to artists, his working style and the building of Tarbox Road Studios.Enjoy!More at http://www.davefridmann.com/dave/Main.html

Chris Dugan is an American engineer and producer. He is also a drummer, videographer, and photographer.Dugan began his musical pursuits as a drummer. Needing to be resourceful, he learned to do basic recordings for his high school bands. Engineering was an instinctual progression and it was the purist recording styles of the 60s and 70s that really inspired him. In 1996, he opened Nu-Tone Studios in Pittsburg, Ca with fellow engineer Willie Samuels. Nu-Tone quickly became an indie band favorite, drawing the local rock scene and labels like Lookout, Adeline, and Alternative Tentacles. In 2002, Dugan began engineering for Green Day out of JingleTown Recording in Oakland, Ca, at that time called Studio 880.Dugan has worked with bands such as U2, Iggy Pop, Green Day, and Smash Mouth. He has also worked with producers Rob Cavallo, Butch Vig, Bob Ezrin, and Jeff Saltzman. In 2010, he won the Grammy for Best Rock Album of the Year for engineering Green Day’s “21st Century Breakdown.” In 2011, he won the Grammy for Best Musical Show Album for engineering Green Day’s “American_Idiot: The Original Broadway Cast Recording.”Chris talks with Matt via Skype about working for Green Day, being a dad and his roots at Nu-Tone Studios.EnjoyPhoto Credit: Niall David Photography

A jack of all trades and master of some, his areas of expertise run the gamut of daily station operation; from the foundations of real-time networking for AoIP, to FOH and live sound recording, IP phones and SIP trunking, MPEG audio, and video standards and codecs, radio automation, HD radio transmission, to remote broadcast coordination, even security cameras, and keycards! Andrew stopped by Matt’s house to talk about his job duties, where the worlds of audio and IT collide while they consume loads of coffee!

Gary Hobish brings over 30 years of experience as a professional recording engineer/producer to A. Hammer Mastering which he runs out of Secret Studios in San Francisco. He started as an assistant engineer at legendary Bell Sound Studios in New York City but found his way to San Francisco in 1976. He has worked in many disciplines in recording and music, most notably as Mastering Engineer/ Tape Historian at Berkeley’s Fantasy Studios and Chief Engineer at San Francisco’s CD Studios.Gary began his specialization in the field of Mastering at Fantasy Studios in 1982, and has been credited on hundreds of albums covering all genres of recordings — from classic jazz to classic rock, alt-rock, rap and hard rock to folk, classical, spoken word and even sound effects. His projects include such names as NRBQ, Dream Syndicate, Flipper, The Feelies, Dr. John and Willie Nelson. An expanded list of Gary’s credits can be found at the All Music Guide or Artist Direct.Matt visits Gary at his mastering room located at Secret Studios in San Francisco, where they chat about the advantages of mastering in a rehearsal facility, working relationships with mix engineer’s and his adhoc survival strategy.More on Gary and A Hammer Mastering