With a diverse discography that includes everyone from The Lumineers to Lenny Kravitz, David Baron has carved out a career as a keyboardist, producer, and arranger who can do it all. While he originally held court in his acclaimed Edison Studios in midtown Manhattan, the New Jersey native now lives and works in a sprawling upstate New York facility dubbed Sun Mountain Studios, replete with vintage synths and breathtaking reservoir views. I first met David when we attended the same high school growing up in suburban New Jersey. Even back then, it was evident he was destined for musical greatness. Decades later, when I became editor of Keyboard Magazine, I kept seeing his name so often that I rang him up and reconnected, writing countless features on him and his penchant for analog synths and temperamental tape machines. Of late, Baron has become the go-to producer for the burgeoning folk rock movement, scoring massive success with artists such as the aforementioned Lumineers, Jade Bird, Darren Kiely, and Michael Marcagi. On a break from his whirlwind production schedule, I caught up with David at his studio.
If there’s an analog synth that you don’t have here in your studio, I’d like to know what it is!
I sold a Yamaha CS-80 many years ago because it was huge, heavy, and out of tune most of the time. I liked using it as a performance instrument, but the troublesome tuning got to me. I like the sound of the Knif Audio Knifonium, an all tube synthesizer. It’s about $17,000 for a mono synth.
Do you remember the first synth you bought?
The first synthesizer was a Yamaha CS-15. I worked with my dad on his remote recording truck and saved up.
You’re the only person I’ve ever met that can say, “I had a Yamaha CS-80 and two [Roland] Jupiter-8s,” or “Coldplay bought my keyboard!”
I had a CS-80, and I did own two Jupiter 8s, and Coldplay did buy a Korg PS-3100 from me. I wonder if they will ever use it. [laughter]
Your dad, Aaron Baron, was an acclaimed recording engineer himself.
My dad was a pioneer of remote recording. He was trained as an electrical engineer, worked as a maintenance guy at Fine Recording [Tape Op #90], and later at A&R [Recording] for Phil Ramone [#50]. Larry Dahlstrom, a colleague at A&R, and my dad put together a remote recording truck called Location Recorders.
He engineered The Allman Brothers Band's At Fillmore East?
Yes, to 16 tracks. Two of the tracks were Neumann U 87s on each balcony pointing at the stage. The drums were submixed on two Shure [M67] mixers.
Growing up around music and gear, you must have gotten the bug at an early age.
My sister was born profoundly hard of hearing and my mom had her hands full. Starting around age three, my dad took me everywhere. I went to studios and gigs. I've wanted to have my own recording studio since I was a toddler!
Did you eventually start working for your dad?
I did work for my dad – although it was after the heyday of the cool records he did. We did the Bob Hope Specials, and I did get to record Joe Cocker, Journey, Ray Charles, and Leonard Bernstein with him.
What kind of gear was he using back then?
The original Location Recorders had a custom 16-bus console based on [Langevin] AM16s and two 3M M56 16-track tape machines. The gear shifted through the years. He eventually ended up with a Harrison Console – an MR3, I believe.
I imagine much of it was rudimentary compared to the technology we have today, but as Steve Lillywhite told me years ago in Tape Op [#93], those limitations forced people to make choices that made better records.
Limitations remove the idea that anything is possible at any time. Folks are much more productive and creative when the pathways are limited.
When did your fascination with electronic music begin?
I loved electronic music from a young age. My dad never liked it much. I went to Oberlin Conservatory [of Music] in Ohio as a piano performance major at first and then switched to TIMARA [Technology in Music and Related Arts] my junior year.
I remember hearing your name pop up when you wrote music for television.
My first career was writing and producing tons of music for television and broadcast. I did many identity packages for networks (ABC, Nickelodeon, TV Land, PBS Kids, Showtime, FX) and lots of advertisements. I wrote the JCPenney tag “It’s All Inside” and the theme song for The Anna Nicole Show. I wrote skit music for The Daily Show under Jon Stewart, as well as the theme to Fox Sports news.
You had Edison Studios, in which you partnered with Lenny Kravitz. It lived in the now sadly defunct Edison Hotel, in the theater district in Manhattan.
I met Lenny when I had a business with my dad called Baron and Baron. We were very successful in the broadcast world. Lenny came to see a piece of gear, wasn’t impressed, and one of the guys said, “You might like what the weird guy in the back is doing.” [laughter] Lenny came in, listened to something I was working on, and...
