Working Class Audio

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 nam

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 B

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

Robert L. Smith is an Oscar winning,  Grammy and Emmy nominated Producer/Engineer/Mixer based in New York City. After 25+ years of working with the biggest names in music, his résumé reads like a who’s who of modern pop music. Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, David Byrne and U2 are just a tiny list of those on his discography. Robert is passionate and focused about what he does and opens up to us about his thoughts and practices on the business end of what we do. Check out Robert’s web site at www.defyrecordings.com

My guest is producer/ engineer /mastering engineer John Cuniberti, based in the Bay Area. John has worked with Joe Satriani, Sammy Hagar, The Dead Kennedys, and Chicken Foot. John is known for bringing the concept and name ReAmping into the mainstream of recording with his ReAmp box, which he created and sold on his own for many years, but eventually sold the name and circuit patent to Radial Engineering. John added mastering to his list of skills many years ago while working at The Plant in Sausalito, California, and currently mixes and masters from his home for artists worldwide.   In this episode, we discussCoast RecordersStruggling to Sell Studio TimeHome Studio EmergenceSF Bay Area Studio StruggleBand ManagersHustling WorkBuilding a CareerArt ProjectsFollowing the MoneyMaking MistakesSaying YesStudio ManagementRecording EconomicsThe New ThingRaising the RoofTiny TelephoneLinks and Show NotesJohn's SiteCreditsGuest: John CunibertiHost: Matt BoudreauEngineer: Matt BoudreauProducer: Matt Boud

David Wheeler is a recording engineer based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Las Cruces is located north of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. David talks about the pros and cons of being one of very few recording people in Las Cruces who do it on a pro level and also talks about how the changes to the environment and business world affect the world of recording in the southern part of New Mexico. On a personal note, David and I  went to High School together as did our moms! Before David got into recording he used to play in a band called Obsidian with our High School friend and pro audio superstar Colin McDowell of McDSP plug ins. Our discussion delves into location sound towards the end. I have included an Amazon link to the book on the topic by Ric Viers called the “Location Sound Bible”. We mentioned it in the conversation but for timing reasons I edited that part of the conversation out. The link is below. Enjoy!Links mentioned in the

Happy to  present WCA session #003 with New York recording engineer Hillary Johnson. Check Hillary's site out at www.hillaryjohnson.comHillary has worked with The Prids, Bell Hollow, Michael Gira (Swans, Angels Of Light), The Secret History, Jeff Buckley, The Misfits, Jennifer Kimball, Rufus Wainwright, The Ramones, Bishop Allen, Project Jenny, Project Jan, Nile Rodgers, Vernon Reid, Stereojax, D Generation/Jesse Malin and Umbrella Brigade. She has also worked with producers such as Lenny Kaye, Henry Rollins, Genya Ravan, and Daniel Rey.I met Hillary through the original Tape Op conference which of course is now the amazing Pot Luck Audio conference. of which we both have been panelists and as a result, friends and peers to one another.

Laura Dean works in San Francisco at various studios including Tiny Telephone and Women’s Audio Mission. Laura talks recording schools, internships, knowing your role, tech work, music for dance, audio books, voice overs etc….

I am very happy to announce the Working Class Audio Podcast Session #001.WCA #001 is an introduction to Working Class Audio with host Matt Boudreau. Get the low down on what to expect in upcoming sessions. Includes intro/outro music by our friend Cliff Truesdell and voice intro by our friend Chuck J Smith. I have started to schedule interviews with engineers working in the freelance trenches including Laura Dean and Hillary Johnson (http://www.hillaryjohnson.com/2014/home/). Be sure to subscribe to stay informed about upcoming sessions. Enjoy!