Working Class Audio

Warren Huart is an English music producer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He has played a fundamental part in the creation of many platinum-selling and billboard soaring albums, as well as the development of many of today’s most successful artists’ careers. He also has the Produce Like A Pro video series, which offers recording tutorials to beginners as well as Spitfire Music, a one-stop music house focusing on licensing music for film and tv.Warren is known for his hard work ethic, positive attitude and respect for the artist’s vision. Many of his long term relationships have turned into close friendships. With over 20 years of experience in the ever-expanding music industry (record production, engineering, mixing, and songwriting), as well his extensive knowledge of both modern and vintage musical equipment and instruments, Warren manages to create the most diverse sound around.Warren and Matt talk about vintage gear, work-life balance, commutes, kids and populous politics in the music industry.www.warrenhuart.com

Catherine Vericolli lives in a recording studio, or rather her studio has taken over most of her residence since its beginnings in 2005. As an owner, engineer, and occasional tech at Fivethirteen Recording in Phoenix, AZ, she is dedicated to keeping the traditional analog recording process alive in the desert. Going on a decade of being in business, Fivethirteen has grown out of its local musician homestead roots into a stop-off for touring nationals and international bands, guest engineers, and home for the occasional film score. Added on in 2010, Fivethirteen’s mixing suite has become one of Arizona’s premier mixing destinations, and with the installation of an RND 5088 in it’s tracking control room during the summer of 2013, Catherine has since taken on the studio’s management position full time. She also coedits and writes for Pink Noise Mag (pinknoisemag.com), an online pro audio publication dedicated to increasing the diversity and intellectual tradition of the practice of record making.Catherine joins Matt for a chat about the challenges in building and running a residential studio in a market not known for its music scene, her role in Pinknoise (pinknoisemag.com) with Allen Farmello (WCA # 031) as well her love for analog recording.513recording.com

Mark Rubel is Co-Director of Education and Instructor at The Blackbird Academy, an intensive recording school at famed Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN. Since 1980, Mark has made about a zillion recordings at his Pogo Studio in Champaign, IL (currently reopening in Nashville), including such artists as Allison Krauss, Jay Bennett, Ludacris, Hum, Adrian Belew, Melanie, Fall Out Boy, Duke Special, and many others.! !Mark has taught audio, music business and other subjects at the college level since 1985, and presents audio panels and workshops for various schools and professional organizations around North America. He writes occasionally for recording magazines, including his Tape Op interviews with Les Paul and Terry Manning, with more coming soon. Mark also works as an audio consultant and legal expert witness. His band Captain Rat and the Blind Rivets has been rocking East Central Illinois and beyond for 35 years and counting. Mark continues to cultivate students, cats, songs and friendships in The New Center of the Universe (Nashville), along with his saintly wife Nancy and their intrepid guinea pig, Huckleberry. Mark talks with Matt about his role at The Blackbird Academy, (career planning, money management, mentoring), what he learned in 34 years of studio ownership, what makes Champaign, Illinois special and why Nashville, Tennessee is great place to call home.https://theblackbirdacademy.com/http://ci.champaign.il.us/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champaign,_Illinoishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbana,_Illinois

Joe Barresi has produced, engineered, and mixed some of the most important hard rock, metal, and punk bands of the last 15 years including Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bad Religion, The Melvins, Skunk Anansie, Turbonegro, and Clutch.Although widely respected for his abilities as an engineer (one writer wrote “If you don’t generally think of sound production as an art form, you don’t know Joe Barresi”), Joe is first and foremost a musician. He started playing guitar when he was 7 and played in local bands in New York and in Florida. He studied classical guitar, piano, and music theory at the University of South Florida and the University of Miami. Joe also studied engineering and spent hundreds of hours recording local bands, developing patience and understanding for what goes on in the studio.A trip to the West Coast inspired Joe to move to Los Angeles where he began working his way up the ladder by assisting at numerous local studios. In time, he engineered for many well-respected producers including David Kahne, Michael Beinhorn, and GGGarth Richardson, and gained a reputation for getting great sounds, particularly with guitars and drums.Soon Joe was producing and mixing records on his own. He produced, recorded, and mixed the debut album for the newly formed Queens Of The Stone Age, which was unsigned at the time. The self-titled album was eventually released by indie label Loose Groove and garnered lots of attention from the press (Rolling Stone named Queens Of The Stone Age one of the ten most important hard & heavy bands of the year) and alternative radio (including KROQ) — all of which landed the band a deal with Interscope Records.Over the years, Joe has consistently worked with quality artists and made some of their more seminal records — Weezer “Pinkerton,” Melvins “Stoner Witch” and the Queens Of The Stone Age debut, to name a few. His discography reflects his impeccable ear for great rock music.Joe chats with Matt about his start, studio ownership, how an SSL impacts the electric bill, insurance, covering your ass, and a few thoughts on phase. Enjoy!http://www.joebarresi.com/http://www.mcdman.com/barresihttp://futureofmusic.org/

Myles Boisen has enjoyed a 35-year career in recording, beginning as the head instructor at one of the country’s first accredited university-level recording studio programs. With his roots in the punk rock/ D.I.Y. recording scene of the late 1970’s, Myles has avoided the world of major labels and top-dollar studios, choosing instead to pursue affordable and top-quality recording from his Oakland CA. Guerrilla Recording/ Headless Buddha mastering complex for the past 20 years.Boisen’s articles and reviews over a ten-year span at Electronic Musician magazine were known for fiercely high standards, and a no-nonsense attitude that made him many friends among recordists and readers, as well as a few enemies in the corporate pro audio world! Along the way there have been Grammy nominations, film soundtracks with David Lynch and composer Fred Frith, and sessions and gigs with a who’s who of the avant-garde, jazz, out-rock and blues worlds (Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, Nina Hagen, Fred Frith, John Zorn, Kronos String Quartet, The Tigerlillies, Klaus Flouride (Dead Kennedys) Kim Wilson, Camper Van Beethoven, Malcolm Mooney (Can), Seth Ford-Young (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros), Johnny Dyer, Rick Estrin, Francis Clay (Muddy Waters). Myles joins Matt for an in depth discussion on studio ownership, retirement, gear lust on Working Class Audio session #032. Listen for a code to get a discount on Sonarworks speaker calibration software. www.mylesboisen.com

Allen Farmelo has begun to call himself a “recordmaker”.”We all do everything these days,” he says, “and the old terms like producer, engineer, mixer, carry so many assumptions that aren’t really accurate these days. They have their roots in a much more ordered hierarchy that’s rarely true today.” As a record maker, Allen has worked intimately with everyone from Ian Gillan of Deep Purple to The Cinematic Orchestra. Allen has also worked with a slew of rather huge pop artists that he doesn’t put on his discography because, as he puts it, “Fattening up one’s discography with incidental big-name sessions doesn’t tell the real story. I just put the stuff on there that’s really got my fingerprints all over it. That way people know what I’m truly inclined make.” Restlessly pushing for the return of high fidelity as a popular interest, fighting to raise the female participation in our field beyond 5% with his publication Pink Noise (co-edited with Catherine Vericolli), writing classic essays about recording like his “Sonic Varnish” piece (he coined the term), building one of the most beautiful recording consoles ever with François Chambard of UM Project, launching Elska, which is known as Bjork for Children, with his life-partner, and now running the decidedly artsy record label Butterscotch Records, Allen has eschewed the temptations of mainstream success (including a nicely salaried position at one of the Big Three) to pursue endeavors on the fringes where he seems to thrive. He recently bought a one room schoolhouse built-in 1873. About an hour from New York City, and has relocated home and studio to the schoolhouse where he’s become obsessed with gardening.Photo by Evelin Cheugn (taken at The Bunker Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn NYC)http://www.farmelorecording.com/http://pinknoisemag.com/http://www.butterscotchrecords.net/

Bruce Kaphan is a producer/engineer/mixer and one hell of pedal steel player! Bruce has worked with so many names in the music world on both sides of the glass including John Lee Hooker, Sheryl Crowe, Jellyfish as well as American Music Club of which he is a former member of. Bruce sits down with Matt at his home studio in Fresno (Niles), California to discuss all aspects of the recording world including health, life, gear, retirement and even brain functionality! We go deep on this one. We also announce a change to the show!www.brucekaphan.com

Michael Beinhorn is a producer and engineer who got a major jump-start in the early ’80s by working with his bandmate Bill Laswell on Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock record which contained the hit single “Rockit“. What followed was a career of work with a list of household names in music including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Violent Femmes, Soul Asylum, Soundgarden, Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Social Distortion, Hole, Marilyn Manson, The Verve Pipe, Korn, and Black Label Society. After over 30 years of work Michael has written a fantastic new book called “Unlocking Creativity: A Producers Guide to Making Music and Art.” Michael discusses his new book, the new Apple Music service as well as meditation and taking care of yourself in a call with Matt.http://michaelbeinhorn.com/

John Congleton is Grammy Winning American producer/engineer/mixer/writer who joins Matt for session #028 of Working Class Audio. John works out of his his studio (Elmwood Studios) in Dallas, Texas. In addition to his production work Congleton fronted the indie rock band, The Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project entitledThe Nighty Nite and music for various projects, including MTV’sJackass, the Discovery Channel, and several Halloween sound effects/music CDs. John has worked with St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Angel Olsen, Swans, The Thermals, Sigur Rós, Franz Ferdinand, Sparks, Chelsea Wolfe, Nelly Furtado, Cloud Nothings, Earl Sweatshirt, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Something for Kate, Okkervil River, Sarah Jaffe, David Byrne,Brian Wilson, Astronautalis, Bill Callahan, Smog, Xiu Xiu, Lower Dens, The Polyphonic Spree,Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Kirk Franklin, Explosions in the Sky, The Black Angels, Blood Red Shoes,Clinic, R. Kelly, The Mountain Goats, Swan Lake, The Octopus Project, Wye Oak, Rogue Wave,Erykah Badu, The Roots, Trash Talk,Amanda Palmer, Heartless Bastards, Sleater Kinney, Minus Story, Chairlift, Bitch Magnet, Maserati, 90 Day Men, Rubblebucket, Autopilot Off, Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s, Marilyn Manson, John Grant, SUUNS, Elvis Perkins, Jens Lekman, Bono, Two Ton Boa, Pink Mountaintops, Hitch, Logh, Chin Up Chin Up, Sybris, Black Mountain, Baroness, Ximena Sarinana, Lightning Dust, Zzzz, John Vanderslice, Hagfish, Big Harp, Antony and the Johnsons,Mozella, The Toadies, Buddy Miles, MC Breed, William Elliott Whitmore, This Will Destroy You,Lymbyc Systym, Anna Calvi, Micah P. Hinson, Keren Ann, The Appleseed Cast, Port O’Brien, Land of Talk, Brutal Juice, Shearwater, The New Pornographers, The Good Life, Pattern is Movement,Treefight For Sunlight, Bleeding Heart Pigeons, Black Joe Lewis, Pompeii, Waters, Knesset, Budos Band, Murder By Death, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, Disappears, Two Gallants, We Ragazzi,Dismemberment Plan, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Monika, Mini Mansions, Strand Of Oaks, The Districts, and Civil Twilight. Did we miss anybody? It’s an understatement to say John is busy these days! Enjoy..

Dan Jaspar is a sound mixer, boom operator, and sound designer from the Bay Area. As a Graduate of San Francisco State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cinema production and Sound Design he continues to work in the field of production audio for the film and video Industry. Dan and Matt have worked together in the past when Dan was fronting the Bay Area band Yellow 5 and not yet standing out on a film set with a boom pole recording. Dan sits down with Matt for a detailed discussion on the nuts and bolts of location sound recording.Photo by Larry Wong