Working Class Audio

Early on March 21st, a fire struck the warehouse that has been home to Jonah Strauss’ Shipwreck Studios since 2008. The fire began in the unit directly above the studio. In less than an hour, it claimed two lives and displaced dozens of people, as well as several independent printing presses and artists. Jonah’s recording studio and home suffered severe water damage, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars in losses. Much of it is rare and irreplaceable vintage equipment that he has collected and refurbished over the years. Even though I don’t normally talk with studio owners on the show I felt it was important to have Jonah on to share his experience so that others could hopefully learn from this. He needs our help to get back up and running. Working Class Audio is here to offer him our support.Fund Raising Site: https://www.gofundme.com/shipwreckoaklandShipwreck Studio Website:  http://shipwreckoakland.com/Fund Raising Site: https://www.gofundme.com/shipwreckoaklandShipwreck Studio Website:  http://shipwreckoakland.com/

Jeff Powell lives in Memphis, Tennessee, and has been making records since his first studio gig at Kiva Studios in 1987. He became an employee at Ardent Studios in 1989 and worked his way up from assistant to staff engineer, and eventually to staff producer. He went independent in 1997 and has worked in studios all over the US, The UK, and Canada, but still calls Ardent home. He still stays very busy engineering, mixing, and producing records and has worked with some of the best including Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Tonic, Big Star, The Bottle Rockets, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Primal Scream, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, and The Afghan Whigs. In 2008, he convinced Larry Nix to teach him to master and cut vinyl records on the original STAX lathe, which also resides at Ardent Studios. He started a vinyl cutting business called Take Out Vinyl and has gone on to cut hundreds of albums including projects for Gregg Allman, Everclear, The Black Keys, Al Green, The Afghan Whigs, Irma Thomas, Relient K, and Blitzentrapper to name a few. Jeff talks about recording schools, asshole engineers, and how to keep a session successful. Super nice and humble, I think you’ll enjoy this interview. – Matt 4/6/2015Photo by Pete Weiss Links http://jeffpowell.net/http://www.ardentstudios.com/

Sylvia Massy has been Producing, Engineering, and Mixing popular music for decades. She’s renowned for her work with Tool, System of a Down, Johnny Cash, and Prince. She’s received over 25 gold and platinum records including awards for her work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust, and Tom Petty. She’s also an accomplished fine artist, a published columnist, an in-demand educator, and a relentless entrepreneur. But to her many friends, she’s just Sylvia, the Radiant Being. Sylvia talks with Matt Boudreau about recording Tool, thriving in the LA recording scene in the ’90s, Radio Star Studios, divorce, embracing the hard times, and coming out stronger as a result.Links http://www.sylviamassy.com/

Billy Anderson is a record producer, engineer, and musician. He has worked with hundreds of bands over the past 20 years, including Cormorant, Eyehategod, Mr. Bungle, Red House Painters, Fantômas, and Sleep. He is also a member of the bands Blessing the Hogs, Porn (The Men Of), Solodolor, and Good God. Billy takes time to talk to Matt Boudreau about his progression from his days playing college baseball in Long Beach, California to becoming a workaholic producer/engineer and making records for some of musics’ heaviest sounding bands all over the world.Links from the show:http://www.billyanderson.net/http://www.typefoundrystudio.com/http://www.cloudcitysound.com/www.chuckjsmithcreative.com (The intro voice of WCA)www.clifftruesdell.com (The music behind WCA)

Michael Starita is a lifelong musician with over 17 years experience as an engineer, producer and remixer. His career started at the famous Hyde Street Studios in the late 90s learning from many of the Bay Area greats. Moving to EDNET, Starita had the pleasure of being the ISDN engineer for clients such as Rick Rubin, Sting, Warner Bros, Universal Motown and many others. This propelled his career to working for Dolby for 5 years until he decided to go back to doing what he really loved…making records and building community. He has performed, remixed and worked with some of the industry’s top artists from The Bay to abroad including Childish Gambino, Los Amigos Invisibles, Third Eye Blind, Michael Franti and Spearhead and more. His current work with Laura Sullivan won the Grammy® for Best New Age Album and his work with Los Amigos Invisibles was Latin Grammy® nominated for Song Of The Year and Grammy® nominated for Best Latin Alternative. Recently, Starita launched Bay Area Music Collective and ULUV Music, two efforts aimed at making The Bay Area a top music destination while building community to foster local music industry professionals. Starita also serves as President of The Recording Academy San Francisco Chapter and continues to crank out tunes with an eclectic blend of recording artists while consulting for music tech companies nationally and internationally.

For the past 20 years, Gabriel Shepard has been an engineer working at various Bay Area studios including the historic Hyde Street Studios where he earned a platinum and gold record with the band Cake. Other artists he’s worked with include Sun Kil Moon, Black Francis, Zigaboo Modeliste, and Joanna Newsome. Gabriel stops by my house for an in-person chat about car accidents, session vibe, and taking a year off.Plug-Ins mentionedSoundtoys Rob Papen Reverb Cytomic “The Glue”Soft Tube “FET Compressor”DMG “Equality”The Fab Filter DesserMassey DesserSlate TriggerStudios mentioned25th Street RecordingDecibelle RecordingSharkbitePono Player

Scott Evans is a member of Kowloon Walled City, a recording engineer (Puig Destroyer, The Loyalists, Neurosis), and a contributor to Tape Op magazine. Scott sits down to talk to me in his personal studio Antisleep Audio located in Oakland, CA. We talk family, summing, drool over his Neotek console, as well as the usual business of recording and doing our jobs as engineers. Enjoy!LinksKowloon Walled City https://www.facebook.com/kowloonwalledcityAntisleep Audio http://antisleep.com/Sharkbite Studios http://sharkbitestudios.com/Tape Op http://www.tapeop.com/

Andrew Scheps has worked with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Metallica, Grace Potter, Jay-Z, U2, Justin Timberlake, and Green Day…just to name a few. Just home from a European trip that included a week in France conducting a seminar at  Mix with the Masters, Andrew shares his views on recording studio etiquette, his in-the-box workflow when mixing, his adventures as a record label owner, and his career advice. Show notes and links:McDonough Management http://www.mcdman.com/scheps.htmlTonequake Records http://tonequake.com/Mix with the Masters http://mixwiththemasters.com/

Like so many professionals in music, Steve Silverstein got his start creating music — his electronic group Christmas Decorations has released an album on kranky and been played on the BBC. He’s written articles and reviews for Tape Op, and assistant edited a collection of Aaron Copland’s writings. He’s excited to have finally moved his studio from his apartment in 2013, into a shared commercial space. Steve shares his approach to his workflow and how he takes care of his clients. Additionally Jules Standen from Gearslutz.com calls in for a short chat and to share some wisdom from his recording past. Oh yea…..Happy New Year!photo by John C. MortonLinks from the show. http://www.kranky.net/  https://www.gearslutz.com

Vance Powell, who has worked with Jack White, Red Fang, and Buddy Guy to name just a few is featured on Session #007. Vance is outspoken and takes a no-bullshit approach to not only his work but this interview. We talk technique including specifics of his analog workflow, business, including managers plus a bit of criticism of the old guard of the music industry. I love talking with Vance. I always learn something new from him and am proud to call him my friend. Enjoy!Vance on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vancalotVance’s studio with engineer Mitch Dane: http://www.sputniksound.com/index.html