Tucked away smack dab in the middle of two stadiums, the Fox and State theatre complexes, a police station and the rotting corpses of Detroit's once elegant apartment district, lies one of the city's least known gems. If you don't know where it is, you'll never find it, but once you're told and are inside, you won't forget it. Jim Diamond and Ghetto Recorders are names synonymous with the enormous popularity of the Detroit garage rock explosion. As a recording engineer/producer/studio owner, founding member of The Dirtbombs and member of The Witches and Bantam Rooster, Jim has worn many hats in the progression of Detroit's underground music. That said, there is a second party to this story — John Linardos, mastermind behind Motor City Brewing Works and world famous Ghetto Blaster beer. It was his personal rehearsal and demo studio that eventually became the Ghetto Recorders that we know and love today. Beer and rock 'n' roll — the perfect prescription, and the perfect segue into this interview. I got together with Jim and John at the Motor City taproom on a balmy night in October.
What was the thing that interested you in recording versus just playing music?
JD: I was always into recording. My dad knew a guy who sold CBs and got Shure mics at cost. I got two of them in seventh grade, plugged them into this old Zenith 8-track and would record myself playing the bass.
On an 8-track cartridge deck?
Yeah, the old-school ones, you know, as in, "It went the way of the 8-track tape."
Right on. How about you John?
JL: My parents lived in a quad level, and they had the NuTone. Remember those old intercom speaker systems? There was an RCA input on each panel that all lead back to a main box. We had a piano in the living room, so I'd put a microphone into the panel in that room and record myself playing. It sounded like shit, but I actually tried to start my first band around that deal. I recorded just about everything as a kid, and was really into Super 8 too.
So when was Ghetto recorders started?
JD: Well, John had Freaktone productions, ten dollars an hour, and...
JL: You have to recognize the fact that it was an evolution. I mean you have to think about how we even found that fucking space. How else would we even end up down there?
How did you find it?
JL: I was working for Detroit Mackinac, [the first brewery that was in the building] so I used to deliver to the Elwood [Bar & Grill], because we could self-distribute back then. The Elwood was owned by Mr. Forbes. We got to talking one day and I mentioned that I was looking for a living/studio/rehearsal space. That's how I got in there, then four years later Jim moved in and that's when it officially became Ghetto Recorders — in 1996.
I understand that some of the first records done there were via studio parties. Who were some of the bands and what was the modus operandi?
JL: The Detroit Cobras and The Dirties [Dirtbombs] were a couple I can think of. The Hentchmen are another. I'd get a keg of beer from work, the bands would play live, and we'd just record them. You'd get some drunken crowd noise, etc., but man was it fun.
JD: The first "studio" records involved Bantam Rooster, The Dirtbombs, and Outrageous Cherry. I was working at another studio in town, called Tempermill [Studios], and that's where I met Mick Collins [former front man of The Gories]. He said he had a new deal going on [with The Dirtbombs] and wanted to do some singles, etc., so we did about two or three here on the old gear. That stuff was all on 8-track 1/2". We had a [Tascam] 38 and a Tascam M-50 broadcast console then. That console and tape machine didn't last too much past those early records.
As you acquired better gear and word of mouth spread a bit more, who were some of the people you started to record?
JD: Things were starting to reach the national level for attention on Detroit, and this was around '97-'99.
JL: The renaissance, if you will. JD: The Dirtbombs, Volebeats, Immigrant Suns, Andre Williams, Kim Fowley, Outrageous Cherry, Witches, John Spencer, New Bomb Turks, The Go, The White Stripes, The Sights and you guys [PAIK] were early on. The Wildbunch, who changed their name to The Electric 6, were being recorded then.
JL: If I can interject as well, one of my favorite unknown bands to come out of the studio was Ko and The Knockouts. That CD was great, very commercially viable, but just didn't get the exposure.
JD: Definitely.
The Sights are an awesome group and good people. What's it been like working with them from such an early period?
JD: The Sights have been a lot of fun. I did their first record in '99 right after Eddie Baranek and the bass player, Mark [Leahey] had graduated high school. It's been fun 'cause we've gotten to grow together as their sound evolved, and I have played I would think a good part in that. I really love working with those guys because they have a lot of the elements I like in music — choruses, melodies, harmonies, and they're not afraid to experiment with sounds and have fun in the studio. I am really looking forward to the next record.
JL: The Dirties did a record there too that Mick produced, and I have to tell this story about that session. So they're recording/crashing at our space, and Tim from Crypt Records was gonna be in town and staying at our place. So the party goes all night, and he finally crashes out. The Dirties all sneak into his room and start whispering, "Tomorrow when you awake you will sign The Dirties" over and over again for like five minutes or so. He did!
That's hilarious!
JL: There's one more worth a spin too. We had The Red Aunts in from L.A. and had been recording all day. That night we're partying and one of the girls asks to hear the mixes back from earlier. No brainer right?
JD: Except that John didn't notice that I had spliced another partial reel on the supply side to fit a couple more songs onto the reel the following day. And I was asleep by then.
JL: So I hit rewind, start talking and whatnot. All of a sudden I look over, and the tape is way past the edge of the take up. Before I could hit stop the whole thing just explodes all over the place! It was the proverbial scratching of the record. The whole party just kind of stopped and Debbie is standing looking at me like, "Is that what we just spent all day doing?"
JD: Luckily I had backed up the mixes on a DAT, so we were able to totally splice it back together again, and it came out fine.
JL: Total panic!
What about the early White Stripes sessions? What was it like doing those records?
JD: We recorded the first record here in winter of '99. I had done a couple records with another Detroit drum and guitar duo called Bantam Rooster that had sounded pretty mean and tough that Jack liked. I had also done the first Dirtbombs full length there, and I know Jack was a big Mick Collins fan. I don't remember how much time we spent on the record — they were a new band and it was their first time in the studio. I remember doing a lot of takes of each song. We did guitar and drums live and I think a scratch vocal through these Traynor PA columns I have. You can probably hear some of it bleeding through on that first record. Most of the vocals were done through this 1953 Revere reel-to-reel with built in speaker and AM radio. I don't even want to talk about that thing. It sounds so good on guitar, vocals, or anything. No one else in the world should be allowed to own one except me!
So on to a bit about the studio itself, what was the location originally used for?
JD: It was a poultry processing plant, and the control room was the walk-in freezer. But man, you'd never freeze in there!
I remember working in the summer there, and it being like 98 degrees in the control room sometimes.
JD: Yeah and the tracking room would be like ice in the winter.
I remember that as well!
JD: It's like I'd tell the kids, "Hey, you gotta suffer for your art, 'cause I am!"
What type of attitude or outlook would you say that you bring into most every recording session?
JD: My main thing is to make people feel comfortable and feel like they are in a natural, organic situation — not like they're at the dentist's office about to get drilled and poked like so many studios feel. Music is about creating, and being creative should usually be fun, so I definitely like a relaxed atmosphere and generally get one. Rarely has their been any situation where people are uptight. If it gets tense, I'll call it and talk with the band about what they want to achieve. Sometimes it ends up that they should go back home and work on it more then come back. Things like that. I want people to relax and feel like we can try anything (that the budget allows!). I like to capture the basics all live, just playing in the room — like they're rehearsing. Fortunately I have a 40 by 30 foot room so I can spread things out and make sure everyone has eye contact. I think that is super important. My studio looks like a practice space, one that has a lot of junk in it and a tape machine.
So what are some of your "treasures" as far as mics, pres, compressors, etc. are concerned, and your current set-up signal-wise?
JD: I used to work at Interlochen, a music school in northern Michigan, so shortly after moving into the studio, I called up there and asked if they had any gear to sell. It was my lucky day, said the voice on the phone. He informed me they had an Ampex 1100 2" 16-track, and "some old mixing board" that I could have. So I rented a U-Haul and drove north. The board turned out to be an Electrodyne model 2000 from 1973, and the serial number is 2001. Apparently, some doctor had it in his house for his personal use at one time, and just wanted rid of it. I have all the paperwork that it came with too.
No way!
As far as other gear there's the old, all tube reel-to-reel that was my grandmother's. It's a Revere 1/4" studio model with a built in amp and AM radio. I run guitars and vocals through that sometimes, and it sounds amazing. Then there's the Ampex 600 tube pres, the Altec 1567 — I love those. An old Langevin mixer, and the pres in the Electrodyne sound so good — I use them a lot by themselves. As far as EQ, again, the board has a really nice semi-parametric, selectable two-band on half the channels, and the other pres have a crazy 9-band graphic in each one, so I don't use much outboard EQ. There's that old ADA digital delay I got for 50 bucks, the Aphex Compellors and Expressors. I really like to use the dbx 160s with VUs — they sound nice. A five foot Studio Technologies stereo plate, a couple of Electrodyne compressor/limiters, a Gates Sta-Level variable-MU tube compressor, and four CBS laboratories Volumax/Audiomax limiter/levelers. I guess whatever is working that day...
What about favorite mics?
JD: The Oktava 219! Also, the AKG D3400.
Really?
Yes! I use them on guitar all the time. It's garbage in, garbage out — I worked at a studio in Austin that had a 48 input Neve V3, Neumanns, Studer 24-track, the works. I made better sounding records on that old Tascam M-50. Some of those bands were just awful. You can't polish a turd.
Amen! The talent side does have an awful lot to do with what you end up with. You have an interesting monitor situation. What's going on there?
JD: I hated the NS-10s I had, so I got some Mackie powered jobs. Also, there are the UREI 813Cs with twin 18" subs custom-made by you, Ryan Pritts.
Those were a fun project.
JD: Yeah, and they definitely work!
That brings me nicely into what you've done recently at the studio as far as mods, upgrades, etc.
JD: Well, there was a time in the summer of 2002 that many people thought I was going to damage myself due to the fact that the control room was unventilated and routinely hovered around 95 degrees that year. So we now have air conditioning — and a window in the control room that lets fresh air in. Also, the control room has been completely redesigned and rearranged to optimize the space and the acoustics. Also, the tracking room has been extensively redone to provide better separation and space for the performers. I like to have people play with no phones, live, in a very comfortable manner, so this has given even more of that to the space. It also has A/C so that we don't have to open windows and let in all the crap from the city.
What would be the "ideal" session that you would really enjoy?
JD: Bands that are generally out of the mainstream. Bands that don't come in and tell me, "We want the bass drum to kick our asses." I enjoy an attitude where you let me do my job and make suggestions while you do your job, write good songs and play them well. I like bands that are real and sound like they're having fun. Somehow I got stuck with the "garage" label at one point because I love real electric guitars, real drums and a raw, exciting feeling to my recordings. Personally, I like old time country and honky-tonk stuff. Bluegrass and real blues as well as experimental psychedelic stuff. I like bands that have catchy choruses and harmonies! Bands that play their instruments using their talent and emotion. Sinatra or The Beatles didn't use Pro Tools and their records still sound pretty damn good today!
How has the recent boom in home recording affected you, and how do you see the digital end of things?
JD: People who will home record, will home record. There are still plenty of people who want to record in a studio, and know what I've done, and what I can do, so it really doesn't have an affect as I see it. As far as digital, I use it as a tool for mastering and editing, but do all other processes in the analog world.
So you're not really into the arena of cut and paste?
JD: No. I really am more interested in producing what I record a lot of the time, so I leave that to people more suited in that area of gear. I talk to a lot of other engineers who will have people bring in tracks from home, put them in Pro Tools, add drums, overdubs, etc. and send it back off for them to finish at home. They say it brings in more business, but I'm not really interested in that end of things.
You've actually gotten to travel as a producer, correct?
JD: I got to go to Australia to produce a group there, and I also did a one-man-band in Portugal along with Mick Collins. That was fun — we did it in this tiny little studio. I'll be going to New York to record/produce a band here in a few weeks too.
Speaking of new, what are some of your latest/greatest?
The latest thing I have done was a super organic recording, 90% live, vocals and all — this band from Lansing, Michigan, called Honest D and the Steel Reserve Band. They do this '50s, honky-tonk style country with some western swing thrown in. We recorded a 12 song record in ten hours. And that's with lots of dual guitar work like the Joe Maphis and the Collins Kids used to do, plus great vocals on top of that! I used my Ampex 351 for the delay, just like they had at Sun Studios, for that old, bold sound. That was a lot of fun. The last records I've done that should be out soon, are a band called Camera from Pittsburgh, The Little Killers from New York and I have another full length coming up I'm really excited about — a group from Boston called The Charms.
I recall that there was a movie soundtrack you were working on at one point. What was the scoop on that?
JD: I got to branch out from my normal production/engineering duties last year and compose and perform some songs for this movie called Santa's Slay. That was cool. The director just called me up and we had about three weeks to get six songs in, recorded and written. I got the Sights' old drummer, Dave Shettler, to lay down some beats one afternoon, then set off to writing songs about an evil Santa Claus. The Gore Gore Girls did the opening track, which was a cover of the Darlene Love song, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)", them singing, playing drums and the guitar solo, but I ended up playing everything else. It was quite a challenge, but I really want to get into more things along that road.
So now that Ghetto is primarily Jim's deal, John — you have recorded some projects at the Brewery. Talk a bit about that.
JL: Well, I have these CDs called the Ghettoblaster series that we release in conjunction with Ghettoblaster beer. It is a recording of bands chosen for the comp, done live here at the Tap Room. I've done two so far, with another here in the works.
And those are done with pretty much the original Ghetto set-up?
JL: Yes. It's right upstairs. I just drop a snake down and get sounds. The bands sometimes want to be in on mixing, not always.
Right on, so be on the lookout for a new Ghettoblaster comp in 2006?
JL: Yes!
Well I'd like to thank you guys for taking the time, and for the beer...
JD/JL: Thank you!
