Easley McCain Recording in Memphis has been a fixture in the recording scene since the early '90s, initially with local records with bands like the Grifters, and later nationally with bands like Sonic Youth, Pavement, The White Stripes, Guided By Voices, Wilco and the Spinanes coming from out of town to record there. Partners Doug Easley and Davis McCain have been at the recording game a lot longer than this, though, with Doug growing up watching his friend's older brothers playing in the Box Tops and building a studio out back of his house in the early '80s. Easley McCain stays busy these days, even if Doug and Davis aren't as active behind the console as they used to be. Younger engineers and producers like Stuart Sikes [Tape Op #65] and Jeff Powell [#95] have kept the place busy; especially noteworthy is the mixing job Stuart recently did for Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose. Despite Doug's protests, we got him to hang out with us for an interview upstairs at the studio one afternoon as Jeff Powell and Kevin Cubbins worked on Cory Branan's second album downstairs.
You had a studio in the back of your house before this?
I've had it in my house, I've had it behind my house. I had one in about 1978 — we had one up North Memphis, sort of way out in this house. We bought a Scully 4-track from Stax and we just recorded some blues and some bands from around there.
How much was that an hour?
Oh shit... I don't even remember money! All I remember is spending money! For a 4-track — like $2750 for it. I went to the bank and I was probably 19. Got my Mom, and they were going like, "Y'all need money on... what?" At that time in Memphis that was the anti- Christ. Music at that point in Memphis had just [downward whoosh]. All the bankers had pulled all the money from Stax and all the people and they crumbled.
Big-time financial nightmare there.
Yeah! So I'm goin' down there, "Loan me some money, I'll pay ya' back!" [laughs] You know, four full tracks and a little room. It was fun. Then I made it into my house. And then I built another place behind my house, which a tree just fell on the other day. Mick Davis sorta got involved with me. Davis McCain, my partner, he got involved with me. We kept looking for a place. Actually, this place sorta walked into our studio one day. We had a 24 sitting there and some guy came in and said, "Damn, I got a building."
You lease it?
Yeah.
So this used to be a studio before?
Yeah. It's got a really bitchin' ad. This is the first studio Chips Moman built in Memphis [American East]. From the ground up. Everything else — they've just converted a building.
What year?
Sixty-eight. You know, Memphis had such promise in the music world. Billboard had its own little...
...a section for Memphis?
Oh yeah, 'cuz they were kickin' ass.
What year did you move into this space?
We got here in '90. So we've been here 14 years, Davis and I.
I first heard about you guys through The Grifters.
Right. I've always felt that Memphis is great at exporting local products and everything. Especially music. To sort of support things you always had to get it out of here. I always wanted to get into that exporting away from here 'cuz I realized the local scene is not enough to support bands and music. And it sort of worked that way but it actually sort of flip-flopped on us and people came here. And it was freaky, just odd. I guess I expected more like every Memphis band is gonna make a record and go out and do it.
It seemed like in the mid-'90s there was just this huge rush to come record here.
It was unbelievable.
Sonic Youth, Pavement...
Yeah, it was very unusual. Really, you go to the dressing rooms you can sort of tie it all together. You see them all on the same circuit, you know?
Do you think The Grifters were the first band to get around?
I think they were. They did a lot. It could have been Elvis! I really think the mystique of Memphis goes way deeper than anything that somebody can put a finger on. And I do believe [that] not only Elvis but everyone that came after him that really kicked ass.
Sonic Youth came here...
Sonic Youth. They had like 30 racks of guitars, you know? I wanted to go in there one morning before anyone came in and just [makes strumming sound] each one of 'em in their chord. Cuz every headstock, you know, had tape on it.
And it had the notes...
It had the tuning. Had the gauges. It was always strange on their recordings — the VUs do the weirdest shit.
'Cuz of the beats and things of the tunings?
It was just unbelievable to watch.
I never thought about that.
They just freaked out! They would get into these frenzies, you know. It was great.
Was it in some ways eye opening for you to deal with different kinds of music than you'd...
Oh yeah, sure. To me it all is sort of the same language, you know? You try to inflict taste in art and good decision in it, you know? If you're open enough you can hopefully absorb that and appreciate, help and assist, you know? But ultimately it's the band making the music, I think. [We get] a lot of self-produced bands here. Very few producers here. These bands are just poppin' up and we weren't gonna stop 'em, you know, "You can't do that!" Jim Dickinson said, "Memphis is the sort of town where if you start doin' something totally crazy nobody's gonna stop you." But a lot of places will! I sort of take pride in that, that I'm just tryin' to have fun. I was really convinced by the local scene. I grew up around a lot of the Box Tops and that. A lot of big brothers were in bands like that. Lotta gold records like on the wall down the street. I'm not quite that old, I'm 46. I mean my brother got me doin' this stuff. He used to do a lot of studio stuff so I would go with him to some of his studio gigs and watch it. And actually most of the equipment I bought came from that studio that he worked at a lot.
What studio was that?
It was actually that TMI [Trans-Maximus Studio] that [Steve] Cropper had. They did a lot of jingle stuff later. You know it was full-on union. It was a cool gig, you know — union paid jingle mill. No synthesizers. Voices out the wazoo, full orchestration.
Your brother was playing bass on those kind of sessions?
Yeah, yeah. He was a hippie and making lots of money on this union stuff. And that was really sort of the last of the music union they all had here. It's pretty sad.
One of the things that impressed me here is the amount of musical instruments at this studio.
I just thought all studios had these — don't they?
I wish!
Oh man, it seems like all these guys I see, you know these pictures in y'alls' magazine...
They got tons of stuff?
It seems like it. I go, who is their DADDY?! You know? [laughs] All the keyboards and stuff down here, they have attitudes as much as the feistiest guitar you've ever touched. They're not the pristine specimen, but then I consider that part of the paintbrush. People come down with an attitude, "I can't play this instrument!" If you can pick something up, if you're really musical, you can make something musical out of it. They're all sort of crazy. The Mellotron — that's a freaky device. I more or less compare that to a lawnmower for some reason. You sorta have to get it running and it might spit. But you'll get the weirdest, haunting kinda sound outta that damn thing.
Yeah.
You know, I like mechanical shit. That's probably why I'm not a huge fan of computers. I just don't have the patience for it. I like things to be off the cuff and unrehearsed as much as possible. Spontaneous. I don't like meticulous. I just don't have the patience to go in and clean stuff up in Pro Tools or something.
Do you have Pro Tools here?
Actually there is some down there. Last year Modest Mouse was in here and they wanted to have some Pro Tools and I said, "Maybe this is the time to buy. We got a session that will pay for it." It took six months to determine that the computer had to be returned. So that was a strike one against the old wonderful Macintosh. And then strike two was they didn't use it anyway! [laughs] So, I don't know. We have it, I've used it. I also use a thing I dig a lot, uh...what is that thing? It's a Mackie MD 24. Because all it does is replace that tape machine. It's fast... you can rehearse stuff, and loop, just practice. Cheaper media.
Is that good to use when people are balking at tape costs?
Oh yeah. People just don't even know what tape costs are anymore!
Well one question to throw in here somewhere...
Don't you have to do a question like, "How do you mic a kick drum?"
Any monkey can mic a kick drum. There's an old echo chamber in here, right?
Yes sir.
Where's that at?
It's right behind that wall.
Right in there? That's above the control room.
We can go in there in a minute.
So that was all set up when you guys moved in, did you have to put mics and speakers in there?
I have a speaker and a mic in there.
How do those sound? Do you like them?
Yeah! They're totally old, you know. I tend to like using them when that's the only reverb because these digital reverbs and things are so strong. These don't really turn it into hi-fi at all. If you dial in some other reverbs, they'll sort of eat it. So it's sort of best when you use it on its own. Yeah. I got a plate here and those chambers. They're pretty unique. I think when Sonic Youth was here they brought an 8-track in and we spent all day 'til like the next morning running everything through and printing it to the 8-track with a synchronizer. So they could go back and choose whatever they wanted...
Oh, the reverb?
...individually in the chamber. That's pretty extensive.
I think Rebecca [Gates, Spinanes] said they were banging on them with a mallet or something...
Banging on the...?
On the reverb plate?
I don't know ...
I think maybe you weren't in there when they did that. "Shhhh! Don't tell him! Bonk Bonk!"
No, but ah... Yeah they're pretty cool. Strange room. It's the exact same size of the control room but it's kinda a long. And one of them is way longer than the other one. But physically it doesn't look so... but it really amazing. It's like a great study in absorption coefficients. 'Cuz when you walk in the room, I don't know all the figures for absorption coefficients to figure out reverb time. You'll hear an amazing difference when you just walk into that room. It's freaky and just sit and play guitar in there — it's pretty amazing. It's very much a sensory situation in that place. I mean you don't really sense that so much... you sort of just get a sense of old reverb when you're downstairs, but when you're in it, man, it's freaky. In the total darkness... and smoking pot! [laughs]
It seems like you've been engineering a lot less these days.
Yes.
What's brought that on?
I'm just taking a break. Stuart [Sikes] was here a lot and he was anxious to do stuff. You think you're gonna do something like that and you're gonna come out of it with a paycheck or something? If you were working at McDonald's that long you'd have at least some decent money, somewhere, you know? Any typical job an adult might have. I mean I was an adult and I'm sitting there putting in 15-hour days one after another and basically pumped it back into it. Just barely a salary. That'll wear on you. I think I did it out of love. It's one of those things, you do it out of love, right?
You don't do it to make a million dollars.
Yeah. Is anybody making any money? I think I love it too much to ever stop. You know, basically, lately I felt more public servant-minded, you know?
LC: You're providing something...
Like Kevin [Cubbins]. I grew up with his father. I went to school with his mother. His Dad grew up five houses up from me. So I'm... and Stu was yet in the middle of that, so generational-wise, it keeps you sort of, you know, shall we say younger? I don't know.
LC: Yeah. You get turned on to the music they're listening to and making... Yeah, and just being a musician is fucking goofy anyway.
[laughs]
Is Davis doing much engineering?
He hasn't been doing much in the last couple years, he's got a three-year-old daughter. He's sort of a house mom.
And you guys are partners in the studio.
Yeah.
Sometimes I think about closing up or, "I could sell the gear and I'd have some money."
Yeah.
You hope you're gonna pick up anything, then, "Oh, you wanna mix Loretta Lynn?"
You know, I didn't do it. Stuart did that one. I used to listen to Loretta Lynn with my dad when I was this big, you know? I said to my dad, "Guess who's comin' to the studio tomorrow?" I was like, "Loretta Lynn," and it's like I'm validated. Couldn't say Sonic Youth, couldn't say Wilco, couldn't say Iggy Pop. I like providing the vibe. I'm as happy providing the vibe, I think, as engineering. It's all sort of a big social event... Our people have fun.
Well, today you've got a guy bringing in his Mom's home- cooked meal down here and a policeman dropping by to say, "Hi."
[Laughs] It's just the community I'm in. A lot of the warped shit around here. You know, I got friends who just dig for just crazy old songs. I always want to record some but I don't really ever do it. Some of this stuff came from another studio, I think before we got here. There are these file cabinets for these songs. And it was one of these song deals where they would take $49.95...
And then cut your song?
Yeah. I have file cabinets. I pulled out some choice ones. One of em's called, "What Turns You On UFO?" It's about this woman that wants to know what's turning on this alien.
Oh my God!
I think this whole thing got busted and the guy went to jail. But they had the stationery. It was called AMCOPRO Writers or something like that. As you go through this thing, you come up on some District Attorney letters. Eventually I think he went down. And I thought, "Well, that's maybe the record I need to make."
To take the worst of the best of everyone's songs?
Yeah! And just write music to it. If you ever had to pay them I might have their name. One day, that ideal session is gonna happen. It hasn't happened yet, I don't think. But then, I don't know why. Maybe because they set the tone. I don't know! I'd love to be able to get up and go, "Let's go over there and make a record at this point in time because we're damn ready to do it." Instead of, "You're here at 1:00 on the 27th." You know?
LC: True.
Especially when you're doing the kind of records we did. You couldn't just take off. People are from out of town, it costs them money to live, you just had to like plow. I guess, ultimately, all this is supposed to be a stepping-stone for getting to that perfect recording experience. I think, just like with most any career, hopefully you're going toward some ultimate destination. I think that's sort of the carrot that I've been chasing, you know?
