Working Class Audio

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, 

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

John Siket is a producer, engineer, and mixer and is best known for his work with Sonic Youth, Phish, Yo La Tengo, Dave Matthews Band, Blonde Redhead, Fountains of Wayne, Moe, Peter Murphy, Freedy Johnston, and Ex Cops. Having spent 30 years in the recording world, John has amassed a world of experience. John has also has been fortunate to work alongside producer/engineers Steve Lily White and Butch Vig. John takes the time to talk with Matt about these experiences as well as his love for recording, starting out as the low man on the totem pole and his decision to take on a teaching position at SAE in New York.

Tim Palmer has produced and mixed albums for a huge selection of classic and alternative artists, from Robert Plant, David Bowie, and Tears For Fears to Ozzy Osbourne, Goo Goo Dolls, and U2. In 1989 Tim mixed ‘TEN’ for Pearl Jam, which is now in the top 50 best album sellers in US history. In 2001 Palmer was nominated for a Grammy for his mixing work on U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Now living in Austin, Texas, he has built his own mix room and continued producing and mixing for Jason Mraz, Blue October, David Cook, and many others. Tim has been a moderator for 2 years at SXSW, and a guest speaker for the Recording Academy.Tim Palmer started his career at Utopia Studios in London during the early ’80s where he mixed the number one single ‘Died in your arms tonight’ for Cutting Crew. In the latter half of the ’80s, Palmer became a producer, and his keen ears and technical knowledge contributed to groups such as the Mighty Lemon Drops

Gary Philips is a talented multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and mix engineer. During his college years at University of Pennsylvania, Gary realized his life would follow a musical path. This path soon led to a life as a touring musician. Touring led Gary to New York, where he quickly found himself in studios playing guitar and bass for artists both up-and-coming and legendary, including Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, and Arrested Development. Many of these tracks have found placements on albums such as the Orange County soundtrack, the Super Size Me soundtrack and the Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack and on national commercials for clients such as Verizon and Budweiser.New York session work soon plunged Gary into production and writing. He co- produced, with the PopRox production team (Sam Hollander, Dave Schommer), Michael Tolcher’s debut album for Octone/J Records, which featured ?uestlove and Warren Haynes, cuts from which were heard on Scrubs (NBC), Life As We Know It (ABC) and the feature film

Ryan Hewitt began his musical career by taking up drums and piano in the third grade and set up his first primitive bedroom recording studio at age 10. His interest in recording prompted his father, remote recording engineer David Hewitt, to take him on the road at age 12. Over the course of 15 years on the Remote Recording Services trucks, Ryan learned to get sessions going quickly, pay attention to details and capture the moment on tape at all costs.After receiving a degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University, Ryan moved to New York City to take a job at Sony Music Studios. Once there, he quickly moved up the ranks to assist and learn from some of the best engineers and producers in the business such as Michael Brauer, Phil Ramone, Bob Power and Elliot Scheiner. Moving to Los Angeles in the autumn of 2000, Ryan landed at Cello Studios, again moving to the head of the class and working with top engineers such as Jim Scott, Richard Dodd, and Ed Thacker.Today, Ryan is emulating

Michael Rosen is a Grammy-winning producer/engineer who has worked with Santana, Rancid, Papa Roach, Tesla, AFI, The Donnas, Journey, Death Angel, Tony Macalpine, and Testament……..to name a few! In addition to recording and producing he also teaches at Chabot College and San Francisco State and is an alumnus of the famed Automatt studios where he got started on his professional recording journey. Michael sits down with Matt at is new personal studio East Bay Recorders to talk about the business, the journey, and the joy of recording.Michael Rosen’s site.

Doug Kallmeyer is a 25 year plus veteran of live sound, a bass player and composer as well as a studio rat. Doug is a fan suggestion and carries with him a large amount of experience and miles travelled who is based in Virginia. Traveling the world mostly doing FOH (Front of House) sound, Doug has worked with Phantogram, Blonde Redhead, Shellac, Sunny Day Real Estate, Rancid, Damnwells, School of Seven Bells, Ok Go, Deathfix, 302Acid, Flaming Lips, Beauty Pill and Ex Hex. His list of venues that he has worked at with those artist’s is also notable and  includes Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Sasquatch, Outside Lands, Fuji rock, Summer Sonic, Bonnaroo, Pukkelpop, Route du Rock, All Tommorow’s Parties, Primavera Sound, Big Chill, Austin City Limits, and Iceland Airwaves. We talk life on the road, credit card debt, eating well, as well as having a stable home life.Check out Doug here. http://www.dougkallmeyer.com/

Don Gunn is a Seattle-based recording/mixing engineer, producer, and musician who flies under the radar yet seems to work with cool people! Soundgarden, Death Cab for Cutie, Peter Frampton, Trey Gunn (No relation), and Matt Cameron! Don was a WCA fan suggestion from our Facebook page and joins Matt for a Skype chat from his home studio in Seattle called The Office. Don talks gear, money, business cards, his studio, the decision not to have kids and recording at Peter Frampton’s “home studio”. Great guy and great interview!http://dongunn.com/Link regarding helping out in Nepal. http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-25/how-help-nepal-7-vetted-charities-doing-relief-work-following-earthquake

Working Class Audio Session #019 with Matt Kelley!!! Matt Kelley has been at the recording game for just over 27 years. Based in the  Bay Area in California Matt has worked with Tupac, Del tha Funkee Homosapien, DJ Qbert, Digital Underground, George Clinton,  Hieroglyphics as well as Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine.  Matt started […]The post WCA #019 with Matt Kelley appeared first on Working Class Audio.

David v.R. Bowles formed Swineshead Productions, LLC as a classical recording production company in 1995. His recordings have been GRAMMY-nominated (Classical – Best Orchestral Performance) and won the “Classical Orchestral Album” prize from Just Plain Folks Awards. Other Bowles-produced and engineered releases have been named “Record of the Month – Editor’s Choice” from Gramophone Magazine, MusicWeb International, and Opera News; “Record of the Year” from the New York Times (three times), the New Yorker, American Record Guide, Miami Clásica and Classical Candour. Several of these releases are available as high-resolution paid downloads from HDTracks.In collaboration with New York University’s Music Technology program at Steinhardt School of Music, Mr. Bowles is pursuing research in height channel recording and reproduction. At the 135th AES convention, he chaired a panel on Height Channel recording, encoding, and distribution (followed by a 9.1 channel playback offsite).As an educator, Mr. Bowles is a g

Ross Hogarth is a multiple Grammy-nominated and Grammy-winning producer/engineer/mixer who has worked with artists such as Keb’ Mo’, Motley Crue, Van Halen, Gov’t Mule, Roger Waters, The Black Crowes, Shawn Colvin, John Mellencamp, and R.E.M. His studio work runs the gamut from the heavy metal insanity of Motley Crue and Coal Chamber to the Grammy-winning Keb’ Mo’ released Slow Down to recent releases by Van Halen, Grammy-winning Ziggy Marley, and the Sick Puppies.Growing up in NY during the influential punk scene of the 70′s, Ross began as a guitarist/singer/ songwriter, playing in the wild downtown New York clubs. With good fortune paving his way to California, he had the rare opportunity to hook up with both the San Francisco Bay area’s exploding New Wave music scene and Southern Cal’s seminal rock scene. Natural evolution took him from doing live production and sound on the road with Jackson Browne, David Lindley, Fleetwood Mac, and Little Feat into a world-class producer, mixer,

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 Web

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