Interviews | No. 173
By Meredith Hobbs Coons and Samuel Ramirez
Kito, whose given name is Maaike Kito Lebbing, has a music production career spanning three continents, from Australia, to Europe (London), and to the United States by way of Los Angeles. In that time, she has produced music for many iconic artists, such as Mabel, Jorja Smith, and...
Brittany "Chi" Coney and Denisia "Blu June" Andrews have been working together as the songwriting and producing duo NOVA WAV for over a decade. Based in Los Angeles, the Grammy-winning pair has collaborated on hits for Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, H.E.R....
When I first sat down with Jerry Kee of Duck-Kee Studios in Mebane, North Carolina, I didn't even realize we were coming up on the 30th anniversary of the recording of Superchunk's self-titled debut album, helmed by Kee. Many would point to that album as the one that led the...
Not too many recording engineers get asked to record a bridge, but that's what artist Nate Mercereau asked engineer Zach Parkes to do; record the "humming" of San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge, along with Nate playing guitar, on his recently released EP, Duets |...
I listened to a lot of music during the pandemic. One of my favorite things was to search out new music as I really enjoy the discovery process. As winter turned to spring in 2021, one of the albums that caught my ear and got a lot of digital rotation was Late Aster's True and...
Years ago, I started seeing an engineer's name associated with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers on a number of releases. Working on Tom's Runnin' Down a Dream documentary, The Live Anthology box set, the Mudcrutch side project, as well as The Heartbreakers' fantastic...
From session bassist, to songwriter, to producer, Mike Elizondo has had an interesting musical path. For 11 years he co-wrote with Dr. Dre, making hits for 50 Cent, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige. His production career has encompassed Fiona Apple, Avenged Sevenfold, Switchfoot, Twenty One...
If you've listened to metal records produced in the last two decades, you've surely heard the work of Andy Sneap. Killswitch Engage, Megadeth, Carcass, and Judas Priest are only a few of the artists whose works have been given his treatment: tight, snarling mixes where the...
My introduction to Mad Professor was via an album called No Protection, his dub remix of Massive Attack's Protection. It was a journey to a musical universe that I was aware of, but had never fully immersed myself in. It opened doors to King Tubby, Lee "Scratch" Perry...
John Leventhal's record production skills first caught my ear when I was a young kid obsessed with Shawn Colvin records. Since then, his playing and production has influenced me more than any other musician. As a producer and engineer, John has made records for Shawn Colvin...
In Northern Ireland, in a certain region of the countryside, you can find Analogue Catalogue Recording Studios. This residential studio is run by Julie McLarnon, an engineer/producer with a fascinating history and a passion for analog(ue) recording. Her records for The Vaselines...
In Tacoma, Washington, a town full of rich musical history – including The Sonics, The Ventures, and The Wailers – exists a museum-like recording studio you've probably never heard of. However, unlike a museum, the artifacts of Uptone Recorders are preserved, maintained, and...
Not that long ago, the opportunities for making professional recordings were only made possible by around a dozen studio owners in each major city and far less in secondary markets, and if you were in a small town, generally you could forget about it. Record labels and a few...