Recording
L.A.’s Unsung Studio Heroes
Remember when engineers weren’t even credited on albums? Labels haven’t always acknowledged the essential role players on both sides of the glass. But at...
By Barbara Schultz
Recording
Double-Dose of Lucinda Williams: ‘Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone’
Lucinda Williams first visited David Bianco’s North Hollywood Studio, Dave’s Room, in December 2012. Bianco had agreed to donate studio time for a benefit...
Recording
Dom Flemons, After the Chocolate Drops
A founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Dom Flemons plays guitar, banjo, jug, and an assortment of reed and percussion instruments, in old-time...
Recording
Benjamin Booker: Explosive Debut for a Newcomer With an Old Soul
Blues rocker Benjamin Booker is on the road spreading the word about his eponymous debut—sometimes playing his own club dates, other times serving as...
Recording
Heaven’s Jail’s ‘Ace Called Zero’
Engineer/producer Ben Greenberg says he enjoys working in “proper studios,” but he’s equally fond of the way he recorded alt-rock band Heaven’s Jail earlier...
Live Sound
Imelda May’s North American Tour
Irish rockabilly artist Imelda May’s new album, Tribal (Verve Records), won’t be released in the U.S. until the fall, but it’s already reached into...
Recording
Morrissey’s Flair for the Dramatic: ‘World Peace Is None of Your Business’
When producer Joe Chiccarelli describes the Morrissey album he produced last winter as “musical theater,” he doesn’t mean it in the Showboat way. It’s...
Recording
Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas at Sonic Ranch
Producer Milo Froideval spent a month in Detroit, working on pre-production with Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas before bringing the band to residential Sonic...
Recording
The Muffs: ‘Whoop Dee Doo’
L.A. punk outfit The Muffs haven’t released a full-length in a decade, but Whoop Dee Doo is worth the wait.
Recording
OK Go’s Electronic Art: EP Previews the Elegant Pop Noise of ‘Hungry Ghosts’
Out this month is Upside Out, a four-song OK Go EP that coincides with the use of one song, “The Writing’s on the Wall,”...
Recording
Classic Tracks: ‘So Into You,’ Atlanta Rhythm Section
Success is measured in all kinds of ways, but it’s probably fair to say that when “sidemen” take the spotlight, the results are mixed;...
Recording
Rebirth Brass Band, ‘Move Your Body’
“The process was basically, ‘Just play,’” says Tracey Freeman, who produced and mixed the Rebirth Brass Band’s latest release, Move Your Body. Freeman and...
Recording
Matisyahu’s ‘Akeda’
“When a performer forgets where they are and really puts it down the wires—that’s what we try to preserve at all costs,” says Joel...
Recording
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, ‘Goin’ Home’
Guitar master Kenny Wayne Shepherd made his aptly named new release in his hometown of Shreveport, La., bringing his band—singer Noah Hunt, drummer Chris...
Recording
Ben and Ellen Harper’s ‘Childhood Home’
“They’re both excellent wordsmiths, and when they harmonize, you can definitely tell there’s that genetic vibration that happens only when people who are related...
Recording
Joseph Arthur’s ‘Lou’: Artist’s Tribute to Unforgettable Songs
A couple of months after Lou Reed passed away, A&R rep/music producer Bill Bentley suggested that Joseph Arthur record a tribute to their mutual...
Recording
Class of 2014: A Collection of This Year’s Hottest New Studios
“As a lifelong musician, producer and engineer, I have to say, Think Loud Studios is the ultimate reward for all those years of hard...
Recording
The Old 97’s ‘Most Messed Up’
The Old 97’s new album, Most Messed Up, is a raucous, debauched rock-on-the-road concept album. Yet, the band recorded in a private, light-filled villa...
Recording
Rodney Crowell: ‘Tarpaper Sky’ Follows Grammy-Winning Duets
I felt like we were making a record that lived someplace between Memphis and New Orleans,” says engineer Justin Niebank about Rodney Crowell’s new...
Recording
Southern Ground Studios: Zac Brown’s Production Home on Music Row
When Zac Brown and producer/engineer/musician Matt Mangano began searching for a studio base for Brown’s Southern Ground Artists label, they envisioned purchasing and converting...
Recording
Katie Herzig and Cason Cooley ‘Walk Through Walls’
Katie Herzig’s Walk Through Walls—her third project with producer/engineer Cason Cooley—blends acoustic and electronic sounds that grew from a process the pair have developed...
Recording
Classic Tracks: “Beds Are Burning,” Midnight Oil
Australian rock ’n’ roll band Midnight Oil broke into the U.S. charts with an explosive single from their album Diesel and Dust. “Beds Are...
Recording
Eric Hutchinson’s ‘Pure Fiction’
Nick Radovanovic mixed Eric Hutchinson’s infectious new pop album in Skies Fall Studios
Live Sound
On the Road with Neko Case
Singer/songwriter Neko Case has added another leg to her tour, promoting her Grammy-nominated album The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder...
Recording
Lost in the Trees: Everything Changes in ‘Past Life’
Lost in the Trees leader Ari Picker thought he had a well-thought-out map for his band’s latest ethereal prog-folk album, Past Life (Anti). For...
Recording
The Continental Club: Austin’s Home Base for Performing Musicians
Jamie Wellwarth, production manager at Austin’s Continental Club, has been mixing shows, advancing dates and maintaining gear at the venerable roots-music house for more...
Live Sound
Dwight Yoakam on Tour
Dwight Yoakam and band—guitarist Eugene Edwards, bassist J.J. Clark, drummer Mitch Marine and multi-instrumentalist Brian Whelan—have been hitting the road hard since he released...
Recording
Linnea Olssen, ‘Ah!’
Linnea Olssen’s beautiful cello-and-voice album was recorded and mixed in Studio Gix (Halmstad, Sweden). The artist did all of her own recording in Logic,...
Recording
Eternal Summers, ‘The Drop Beneath’
Distorted guitars and punchy drums create an almost harsh sonic environment for Nicole Yun’s ethereal voice, making Eternal Summers’ new release, The Drop Beneath,...
Recording
A.J. Croce Tells ‘Twelve Tales’
Artist/songwriter A.J. Croce’s latest comprises a dozen songs, made in pairs with six different producers: Allen Toussaint, Mitchell Froom, Kevin Killen, Tony Berg, Greg...
Recording
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: Rhythm & Soul Greats ‘Give the People What They Want’
In an interview for Electronic Musician magazine last summer, Questlove of The Roots mentioned that he’d learned some eye-opening drum-miking techniques from Gabe Roth,...
Recording
Springsteen’s ‘High Hopes’
The powerful title track from Bruce Springsteen’s new album was recorded with engineer Nick DiDia, mainly at Studios 301 in Sydney, Australia. Producer Ron...
Recording
Mikael Jorgensen & Greg O’Keeffe: Album Emerges from Long Friendship and Inventive Process
The latest from Wilco keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen is a collaborative record that took years, and a couple of different forms, to arrive. Jorgensen and...
Recording
Peggy Sue, ‘Choir of Echoes’
British alt-rock group Peggy Sue wrote and demoed the songs for their latest album, Choir of Echoes, in their North London practice space before...
Recording
Nir Felder’s ‘Golden Age’
Jazz guitarist Nir Felder touches on different “ages” on this solo release. The former sideman for contemporary artists Esperanza Spalding, Jack DeJohnette, Meshell Ndegeocello...
Recording
The Reverend Horton Heat: ‘Rev’
Jim Heath’s longtime psychobilly outfit releases its debut for Victory Records this month, and Rev does not disappoint. There’s plenty of freaky tongue-in-cheek thrash...
Recording
Rosanne Cash: ‘The River and the Thread’ Weaves Southern Influences
In 2009, Rosanne Cash and her husband, producer/musician/recordist John Leventhal, made The List, a selection of covers from a longer list of essentials that...
Recording
Sam Roberts Band’s ‘Lo-Fantasy’
Engineer Michael Rendall uses the word “ecstatic” to describe the playing on Lo-Fantasy, the latest rock-via-’70s-funk-and-punk album from the Sam Roberts Band. The dynamic...
Recording
‘The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records’: Remastering American Voices, in Mass Quantities
Paramount Records, above and beyond any label from the time period, had the very worst sound quality and the very worst pressing technology available,”...
Recording
Lewis Watson Records ‘Some Songs With Some Friends’
This four-song EP from singer Lewis Watson features the guitar-and-vocals-focused opening track “Even If,” which was engineered by Jonathan Gilmore, and produced and mixed...
Recording
Billie Joe and Norah’s Harmonious ‘Foreverly’
“Billie had been listening to this record and had grown attached to it,” explains Chris Dugan, the go-to engineer/mixer for Billie Joe Armstrong’s projects,...
Recording
Mastering on the Cutting Edge: Quality in the Age of Low-Res, Low Budgets and Multiple Formats
We should all give thanks for mastering engineers. Despite small budgets, low-resolution distribution, level wars and the DIY democratization of the recording business, the...
Recording
Sarah Jarosz ‘Build Me Up From Bones’
For their third album together, roots artist/songwriter Sarah Jarosz and engineer/producer/label exec Gary Paczosa cut all of the tracks in Paczosa’s personal studio in...
Recording
Wild Child with Ben Kweller
Musician and producer Ben Kweller says one of the big draws to working with Austin-based indie-folk band Wild Child is their unique instrumentation. “I’ve...
Live Sound
Around the World with Black Sabbath
Metal legend Black Sabbath has been on the road since April, playing arenas and amphitheaters. Veteran engineer Greg Price (pictured) and monitor engineer Myles...
Recording
Classic Track: “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied),” Aretha Franklin
“It was all because of fishing,” says engineer/producer Howard Albert about the genesis of the legendary alliance between Atlantic Records and Criteria Studios. It...
Live Sound
The Rubens’ U.S. Tour
Australian rock band The Rubens (Sam, Elliott, and Zaac Margin, and Scott Baldwin) have been in the U.S. this fall, touring in support of...