Working Class Audio

Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and has been producing professionally since the early 1980s. He is best known for his work with Faith No More, Maroon 5, O.A.R., The Replacements, and Train.Wallace has produced some of Faith No More’s most iconic recordings, including We Care a Lot, their debut album on Mordam Records. He produced and mixed their breakthrough album, The Real Thing, which featured the hit song, “Epic.” He produced Angel Dust, named the #1 most influential album of all time by Kerrang!. In 2015, he joined the band again to co-mix their album, Sol Invictus. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Album chart.He produced albums for The Replacements (Don’t Tell A Soul), Paul Westerberg (14 Songs) and John Hiatt (Perfectly Good Guitar). He co-produced the debut Juno-nominated album for Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. The album was certified double platinum in Canada.Wallace produced and mixed Songs About Jane, the debut album for Maroon 5, including the Top 40 hit singles “Harder To Breathe,” “This Love,” “Sunday Morning,” and “She Will Be Loved.” The album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and won a Grammy Award for “Best New Artist” in 2005.Since then, Wallace has co-written songs and produced two albums for O.A.R. He has also co-written and produced several songs for Andy Grammer, an album for Pepper, and mixed Blackberry Smoke’s album The Whippoorwill.In 2013, Wallace started a live music project with Will Kennedy (whose credits include Michael Franti, Thirsty Merc, Andy Grammer, and Pepper) called ‘Live at Studio Delux’. The goal is to help music fans discover the joy of authentic live performances. With over 30 years of combined experience professionally recording and producing music, Wallace and Kennedy capture the artist at their best in a live studio environment. Each artist session is recorded in one day at Wallace’s own studio, Studio Delux. The mastered recordings are made available on iTunes while video content can be watched on the project’s Youtube channel.Matt talks with Matt about almost giving up, the reality of vintage instruments, as well as getting back into having his own studio and being a one man production house.

Piper Payne is a Mastering Engineer at Coast Mastering (formerly Michael Romanowski Mastering) in San Francisco. Piper is the Vice President of the SF Chapter of the Recording Academy and she Co-Chairs the SF Producers and Engineers Wing. She also serves on the Education Committee. In addition she is an active member of the AES and the Women's Audio Mission, as well as being the CEO of Giving Stage. Piper is an audio educator and lectures often about mastering and recording. She is also a first-call for large venue concert and classical recordings.Piper began her career with a BFA in Audio from the University of Michigan, continuing her Graduate education in Audio at the University of Stavanger in Norway. Piper has apprenticed under some of the best Mastering and audio mentors in the world, including Bob Katz in Orlando and Michael Romanowski in San Francisco. Piper moved to San Francisco after working at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada as the Senior Audio Associate in a work-study program that had her climbing glaciers for film sound design and recording jazz orchestras in the same day! Piper's focus is Mastering and she lives for quality and equality in audio.Piper and Matt talk with each other at her new location at Coast Mastering in Berkeley, CA. They two chat about moving to a new facility, room tuning, parking, coffee and audiophiles.Coast Mastering on Facebook

Eli Crews has been recording since the early-'90s, when he started making weirdo fractured music on 4-track machines, hugely inspired by The Residents and early Devo. At the time he was also a very active musician, playing guitar and bass in a zillion and a half San Francisco bands. Over the course of making a few albums at small studios owned by Myles Boisen and Kyle Statham, he became inspired to pursue recording himself. Already being part of a vibrant music community, it was easy to find musicians and bands to practice his skills on. Things have luckily come a long way since then. Artists Eli has had the enormous fortune to work with, either in the studio or onstage, include tUnE-yArDs, ?uestlove, Yoko Ono, Kathleen Hanna/The Julie Ruin, Yuka Honda/Cibo Matto, Sean Ono Lennon/The GOASTT, Yo La Tengo, Laurie Anderson, Marc Ribot, Deerhoof, WHY?, Son Lux, Colin Stetson, Mike Watt, Erase Errata, Scott Amendola, Jeff Parker (Tortoise), Fred Frith, Ben Goldberg, Nels Cline (Wilco), Greg Cohen (Masada/Tom Waits), and Maria Muldaur. He has also assisted legendary engineers Roger Moutenout, Oz Fritz, and Ron St. Germain. Eli spends most of his days working at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, NY, although he still co-owns New, Improved Recording in Oakland, CA, which he co-founded in 2003. He has also made albums at Tiny Telephone (SF), Fantasy Studios (Berkeley), Electric Lady Studios (NYC), Oscilloscope (NYC), the Bunker (Brooklyn), High Bias Recording (Detroit) and Broken Radio Studios (RIP!). Eli and Matt talk about moving out of the Bay Area to New York, Family, interns and much more. You can find more information at www.elicrews.com.

Eric Valentine, is a record producer, who began his career as drummer and producer in the heavy metal band T-Ride. He subsequently produced albums for artists such as Good Charlotte, Taking Back Sunday, Nickel Creek, Queens of the Stone Age, Third Eye Blind, Smash Mouth, The All-American Rejects, Persephone’s Bees, and Slash, among others.Eric chats with Matt about Undertone Audio, DIY acoustics, recording Dave Grohl & Dennis Chambers plus working his ass off and the importance of bringing your A-game. Moto the Bulldog makes an appearance by snoring during the interview.Barefoot Recording (Eric's Studio)Undertone Audio 

Greg Wurth is a Grammy Nominated, Gold & Platinum award-winning producer, working as Manager and Chief Engineer at L.A.’s Mothership Studio and Patagonia Studio. His credits range from Steve Vai and Tony MacAlpine to Tracii Guns to Jim Florentine & Don Jamieson, 2Cellos and Mary J Blige. Greg has been Steve Vai’s Engineer for 10 years and spends much his time  in the “Harmony Hut” studio in Encino, CA where Greg and Steve currently do all of Vai’s projects.“I grew up in southern San Diego. My parents were big fans of music and introduced me to The Beatles and Led Zeppelin early on. I used to collect cassettes & CD’s in the early ’90s and eventually I became interested enough to play an instrument, so I bought a guitar. I took lessons for a few years and had some bands but I realized that it wasn’t a natural thing for me. I eventually figured out that I was meant to produce and engineer music.”Matt and Greg chat about working for Steve Vai and what he's learned from working with Vai over the years, work/life balance, buying gear, and what Greg finds important in purchasing decisions.Greg's website. 

Kim Rosen grew up in the western Massachusetts town of Northampton. Known for its amazing college music scene, the town and surrounding area is infamous for spawning such ground-breaking acts as Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr. and Buffalo Tom…just to name a few.Kim realized early-on that music was a driving force in her life. She poured herself into the local music scene while searching out a way to carve a path for herself. It was in the summer of 2001 that a friend turned her on to a mastering studio in NJ that was looking for an intern. Kim jumped at the opportunity, moved to NJ and began her journey with West West Side Music.After a couple of years in production, training and assisting in sessions, Kim was given the opportunity to take on her own mastering projects. While engineering at West West Side Kim racked up a few hundred mastering credits including notable projects from Jeremy Enigk, Franz Ferdinand, Dashboard Confessional and La Dispute.In 2009 Kim dove in head-first and made the decision to go out on her own. She started Knack Mastering out of her home in Ringwood, NJ; building a proper room with the help of world-renowned acoustician Chris Pelonis, choosing the gear that would live in her racks, and growing a client list from around the world that now includes producers and engineers such as Joe Henry, Paul Bryan, Ryan Freeland and Will Yip. Over the last five years, Kim’s mastered albums from Bettye Lavette, Wynonna Judd, Jeff Bridges and the Abiders, The Barr Brothers, Sarah Jaffe, Title Fight and Anthony Green. She was fortunate enough to master the remake of the Johnny Cash album “Bitter Tears” for Sony Masterworks which featured artists such as Emmylou Harris, Steve Earl, Kris Kristofferson, Gillian Welch and the Milk Carton Kids. Another recent project was the beautiful Rhiannon Giddens and Iron & Wine rendition of “Forever Young” for the Series Finale of NBC’s blockbuster television series “Parenthood”.Kim continues to build a client base of artists, producers, labels and engineers who trust her ears, her experience and, above all, her respect for their mixes.Matt and Kim discuss parenting, clients, retirement and partnering up with Nashville based studio Welcome to 1979.

Bird and Egg studio owner Nino Moschella is a multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer, and producer, who has been professionally engineering and producing for 15 years (though his interest in record-making started nearly 25 years ago). Born into a musical family, Nino began playing drums at the age of 6 when his father asked him to keep time on the snare drum at a band rehearsal after the band’s drummer failed to show. At that point, Nino was hooked and in time added vocals, guitar, bass, and keyboard to his repertoire.Moschella opened Bird and Egg in 2009. The studio has thrived and become a favorite of many of the Bay Area’s top musicians and singers. Moschella has had the opportunity to have supported the creation of a vastly diverse range of music for artists including, The late Skip Pitts (Issac Hayes Guitar player), Dennis Coffey, Chief Xcel of Blackalicious, Ledisi, Bernard Purdie, Laurie Lewis, Galactic, Ladybug Mecca (Digable Planets), Ashling Cole (of Larry Graham and Graham central station), Bilal, Maria Muldaur, Tiffany Austin, Strange Vine, !!!, and Shawn Lee among many others. Nino has released 5 records of his own, all of which he recorded/produced and played most of the instruments, including three solo records out on the Ubiquity record label. His music has been featured on television and film including The Monuments men, Damages, Facing Ali, Eastbound and Down, Lincoln Heights among others. He lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and kids and loves to fish. Matt turned a coffee meeting and gear sale into an interview with Nino. Matt and Nino discuss kids, studio ownership, mixing with clients or without as well as open communication with those you work with.

John Greenham has had a love affair with mastering for over 20 years, starting in San Francisco at Rocket Lab in the mid-90s, and currently in Los Angeles where he re-located to in 2012 to work at Infrasonic Sound in Echo Park alongside Pete Lyman and Jeffrey Ehrenberg. John has earned several awards over the course of his career including Los Tigres Del Norte: Historias Que Contar – Grammy Winner 2006 (Mastering), Detalles Y Emociones – Grammy Winner 2007 (Mastering), Tu Noche Con…Los Tigres Del Norte – Grammy Winner 2009 (Mastering) Omar Sosa: Ceremony – Echo Jazz Award Big Band Album of the Year 2011 (Mixing, Mastering)John’s nominations include Sistema Bomb – Electro-Jarocho – Nominated for a Latin Grammy 2013 (Mastering), Los Cojolites – Sembrando Flores – Nominated for a Latin Grammy 2013 (Mixing, Mastering), Omar Sosa – Calma – Nominated for a Latin Grammy 2011 (Mixing, Mastering), Pamela Rodriguez – Peru Blue – Nominated for Best New Artist, Latin Grammys 2006 (Mixing, Mastering)John and Matt have been friends for several years and turn one of their recent calls into an interview to discuss mastering, mixing, working in a facility vs. being a freelancer as well as the anticipation of waiting for a client’s approval of a master or mix. Enjoy.Photo by Kyle DavisJohn on Twitter John on LinkedinJohn on Facebook JOHNGREENHAM@GMAIL.COM

Daniel Cantor is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of music and Teaches music production in the Songwriting Department and Music Productions and Engineering Department. Dan in 2015 received Berklee’s prestigious Fly Grant for teaching innovation and with that grant brought 2 male and 2 female outspoken Muslim Hip-Hop artists from Iraq, Syria, Jamaica and London to the Berklee campus. The artists came to teach, collaborate and perform with students and do work shops in over 25 classes discussing gender and religion in Hip-Hop, protest music, the nuances of teaching hip-hop at a music school, navigating Artist identity, Hip-hop production, humor, protest and the complex roles and choices facing of Arab and Arab Americans performers.Originally Dan was a self producing artist in his own right w the band Hummer(on Accurate records) Dan became seduced by the role of the producer. Dan and his Studio Notable Productions have now produced many 100’s of albums for Global and American artists with various productions jobs for as diverse a crown as Aerosmith, Peggy Seager, Mr. Lif and Thomas Mapfumo in a wide range of genres and and recently won the Domincan version of a Grammy in 2014 for best album of the year and was nominated yet again in 2015. He is internationally known for his Global Hip-hop work with the Label he helped launch with his cousin Ben Herson…. Nomadic Wax records, which began with the Senegalese compilations “African underground Volumes 1 and 2” that topped the charts in Africa and Europe.He scored , mixed and helped produce the Documentary “Democracy In Dakar” that followed a Senegalese election through the eyes of its ever vigil and informed Hip-Hop stars, who ultimately played a crucial role in the election itself.With Nomadic Wax Dan has produced and recorded the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival for 10 years running and through that has recorded and worked with Talib Kweli, Jean Grae , Poetic Pilgrimage, Brother Ali, Krs -One, Dead Prez to name a few out of over 100’s of both global and American hip-hop artists. He is proud to have helped produce and master the “World Hip Hip Women” compilations volume one and two. Much of the music he loves working on is political in nature. “The story behind a piece of music is its life force” . The anti bush song “ Asshole” he co-wrote and produced with the boston band Jim’s Big Ego got 4 millions downloads in 6 months way before YouTube was even around.  Even before teaching at Berklee he donated his studio and talents to student winners of Berklee’s “Music for Social Change Competition” and was music and financial executive producer for albums by artists from Mali, Zimbabwe, Cape Verde, Jamaica, India, Senegal, Italy, and Iraq. Dan helped US Peace keepers create recordings to teach indigenous language to border conflict deployed troops. Dan produced tracks with and for popular Congolese artists working with USAID to bring unity back to a community ravaged by violence against families but especially women. Dan recently recorded the Sierra Leone Refugee all-stars at his home to spread positive radio messages about Ebola prevention through out Africa.Dan links his heartfelt feminist leanings to his grandmother Lucille, who taught him to be vocal and stand against injustice. She was an early president of the League of Woman voters and was arm and arm with her friend Carrie Chapman Catt.You can see Dan in the 2015 Aljazeera documentary about the brilliant female Muslim duo Poetic Pilgrimage called  “Hip-hop Hijabs”. He is beardless but none the less vigilant.Busy guy! Dan talks with Matt about selling gear, global Hip Hop, running a commercial studio in his house where his family lives as well as speaker placement.Dan’s bio from Notable.comNotable.comNomadicWax.comBigego.com

Sean McLaughlin loves a lot of things, but his two favorite things are his wife and recording/mixing songs. After working in Los Angeles for the early part of the 2000s with some notable producers (Andy Johns, Jimbo Barton, Carmen Rizzo) and artists (Rush, Elliott Smith, Marilyn Manson, Death Row Records) Sean returned to Boston in 2004 to open his own studio, 37’ Productions. Since opening his studio Sean has been working on projects and with artists both regionally and nationally. Some of the artists with whom he has plied his trade are Matchbox Twenty, Queensryche, Dirty Vegas, Sarah Blacker, Kristen Merlin, Rafael Moreira, and Dark New Day, as well as ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, MTV, and ESPN. In 2013, Sean had the honor of being named Producer of the Year by the New England Music Awards. Since the beginning of 2013, he has mixed over 500 songs. In 2014 he authored Mixing with iZotope, a comprehensive mixing guide for beginner to intermediate mixers. Sean also teaches Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music and Audio & Media Technology at the New England Institute of Art.  Sean and Matt discuss studio ownership, insurance, retirement, alternative jobs for recording engineers as well as numerous other career-related topics.