You’ve had two different studios: One in the Poconos and now one in upstate New York. What was the catalyst for having a recording setup at home?
I love the process of recording. I like to paint the picture, and having my own setup allows me to do that while inviting others to join in. I enjoy the connected effort of working with others. That's something you can have on stage within its chemistry, but certainly in the studio it's very collaborative.
You have your own songwriting, but what else fed the need for a home studio?
It was originally to make a friend’s album. I grew up having a 4-track in high school, and that's when I started to write a little bit of music and to record songs just for the sake of recording them, as well as to understand that process of getting sounds. Once I left my parents' house, that studio was done. Following this, I apprenticed at Secret Sound in New York City. That experience taught me how records were made! For a good 15 years, I was a recording and touring musician. Having that space in the Poconos came at the time when a friend was getting rid of his analog 8-track. I certainly wasn't opening a studio to make a living, since I was making my income from touring and as a session player. But once I got that setup, then things started happening. Build it and they will come! [laughter] Before I knew it, I was recording people in the days when stuff was going digital. Then, while working with Joan Osborne, I started to make demos for a record that was coming up and she just loved the sound. She was asking, “What are you making these demos on? They sound great.” It's funny, because to me they sounded like demos. At that time, people were just getting used to hearing music digitally, but the analog had something in its nature. I wasn't really punching in much; I was just playing. Joan loved it, so we made an album of hers, Love and Hate, on the 8-track. I hired Pete Keppler, who's an insanely good engineer. He worked with Bonnie Raitt, David Byrne, Sparklehorse, and a host of others. He brought in probably $15,000 to $20,000 in outboard gear and microphones. We set it up and recorded almost all the basics. The drums were in mono, going mic to mic pre, hitting my Altec compressor, and right into the 8-track. It sounded great! From there, I ended up getting Pro Tools and did a dozen records at that house in Pennsylvania.
There was something so unique and magical when I was working there. I was coming from a total analog world at Waterfront Studios in Hoboken, where I was a house engineer. But you captured something in that situation that was extremely special.
Once you make that crossover to the digital world, you sell the tape machine. I'm not selling the tape machine, but it's always in the back of my head! At some point I'll get back and just make a simple record on it.
When you're working with artists, is it usually from being involved with them live or that you’ve done studio work together?
As a producer, 90 percent of the time it's somebody I've worked with as a musician. All kinds of people will send me tracks and I can overdub at my place. But as a producer or co-writer, it's usually somebody I've been working with in a live situation. They've gotten to know me and then we start peeling away.
You offer musical collaboration in a comfortable recording situation. You're picking up different instruments and mentioning that maybe the bridge could be rewritten or the lyric may be a little stumbly.
I think I'm a good asset to a songwriter because I do play a few different instruments. Having worked with high profile artists – whether it's Rufus Wainwright, Patti Smith, Joan Osborne, or Ian Hunter – I've been around incredible talent and been listening to many musicians over the years. Producers are going to talk about The Beatles, and we're still talking about The Beatles, right? My connection with that music and The Fab Faux, playing it as much as we do, I never get tired of it. It's amazing because I learned so much of what comes out of that music, in terms of arrangements and melody. I have an online class about The Beatles called RPM [Rock Pop Music School] with Cameron Greider and Professor Walter T. Everett from the University of Michigan. Walter’s authored some great books on The Beatles, including, The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver through the Anthology. Part of that class is discussing the songwriting and the production. The other half is digging into the songs and showing musicians how to raise their skill level by understanding the ins and outs of the musicianship and the theory. I love to make this comparison to classical music. All music is relative, but when you talk about The Beatles you can really understand the workings of a great song and a great arrangement. It'll always be like that, in the same way as with Bach or Beethoven. My listening experience and studying of that just expands and brings it to whatever situation I'm working in.
Your current studio is Little Pond Recording in upstate New York. You’re producing a bunch of new releases.
Yeah! Pamela Laws, Ginger Winn, Seth Davis, and a few others. I don't do drums here. It's pre- and post-production. When we moved into the house, I ran cables into the annex room. I have a Hammond organ down there and could also record drums. I did a session here yesterday where the piano was up in the control room and the vocalist was downstairs. Things get started and finished here.
I see. Okay, but overall, just say no to drums.
Yeah, I don't want to deal with drums! [laughter] I go up to Milan Hill Studios with Justin Guip, a fantastic engineer who’s worked with Levon Helm and Larry Campbell, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I do drums there.
You'll bring it back down to your place and continue working?
Yep, and then I send Justin tracks for mixing.
You have a great musical community where you are.
I'm right outside of Woodstock. New York City, for me and you through the 1990s and early 2000s, was the place to be. I don't know if everybody would agree, but it kind of dried up to some extent. Many studios closed and the music industry changed. I was supplementing my income with TV commercials, studio recording, and live music. A lot of that disappeared. But up here it seems like a whole renaissance; so many great musicians with incredible studios and good places to play.
