Interviews

WE TALK AT LENGTH WITH RECORD-MAKERS ABOUT HOW THEY MAKE RECORDS.

Trina Shoemaker

Interviews | No. 173

Trina Shoemaker: How to Lean on a Console

By Larry Crane and Matthew Coughlin

There are a few engineer/producers I've met along the way where I've meant to get an interview with them for ages, but for some reason it takes so much longer for us to find the time to do it. Trina Shoemaker has been one of these elusive folks ever since we first met in New...

Ben Allen
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Ben Allen: Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Puff Daddy?

When I got the offer to interview Ben Allen I was a little confused at first. I had enjoyed his work with Gnarls Barkley and Animal Collective, but Puff Daddy and the Bad Boy empire? Christina Aguilera? I was an analog purist, and that pop stuff just screamed, "Pro Tools!" I...

Kurt Ballou
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Kurt Ballou: Godcity Recording and Converge

If you listen to modern hardcore or metal, you know Kurt Ballou's work. Kurt is a founding member of the band Converge and an accomplished, prolific recordist. "Extreme" music magazine, Decibel, placed five Ballou productions in their 2008 top 40 list, including...

DIY Reverb
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

DIY Reverb

In the disembodied world of today's computer-based multitrack mixing, one can spend a lot of time crafting a unifying sense of "space." Despite the dozens of reverb plug-ins and rack devices available, you might like to experiment with some physical signal processing that...

Mac McCaughan
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Mac McCaughan: Superchunk, Portastatic and Merge

Mac McCaughan is well known for his 20 years as the front man for the Chapel Hill, NC, band Superchunk, co-owner (with Laura Ballance) of the influential independent record label Merge Records and the leader of his side-project-turned-group, Portastatic. Mac has worked with a number of...

Alan Evans
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Alan Evans: Playonbrother Studios and Soulive

Drummer Alan Evans and his bandmates (Eric Krasno on guitar and Alan's brother Neal Evans on keyboards) have led the funk/jazz trio Soulive through over 10 years of tours, albums and studio sessions. Their latest release, Up Here, is the first on their own Royal Family Records, and...

Gurf Morlix
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Gurf Morlix: Rootball Recording in Austin, TX

Gurf Morlix likes to produce, engineer, perform, write and even just plain talk about music. It might sound hackneyed to say, but music is his life's blood, the passion that drives his spirit. Born in 1951 in Buffalo, NY, Morlix decided to become a musician exactly one day after...

Brad Avenson
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 76 Interview

Brad Avenson: Behind the Gear with Avenson Audio

For years now I've been bumping into Brad Avenson, a real down-to-earth guy who's been building his Avenson Audio company up with small, ingenious little tools to help us all make better records without busting our wallets. He began building mics with Erik Wofford under the...

Jonathan Little
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 75 Interview

Jonathan Little: Behind the Gear with Little Labs

From the first moment another engineer raved about a Little Labs DI to me, I knew that this company was onto something special. It turns out Little Labs is Jonathan Little, a man who lives and works out of a funky mansion in the Hollywood Hills where he designs and QCs his unique audio...

Oz Fritz
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 75 Interview

Oz Fritz: Tom Waits, Bill Laswell and magic

On a beautiful day in early March, Oz Fritz showed up at the door of New, Improved Recording — a studio I co-own in Oakland, California. He had been hired by multi- instrumentalist/singer Mark Growden to co- produce and engineer Mark's new record Saint Judas. I was pretty nervous....

Working With and Learning from Oz Fritz
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 75 Interview

Working With and Learning from Oz Fritz

On a beautiful day in early March, Oz Fritz showed up at the door of New, Improved Recording — a studio I co-own in Oakland, California. He had been hired by multi- instrumentalist/singer Mark Growden to co- produce and engineer Mark's new record Saint Judas. I was pretty nervous....

Sacred Travels
Apr 10, 2026 NO. 75 Interview

Sacred Travels

On a beautiful day in early March, Oz Fritz showed up at the door of New, Improved Recording — a studio I co-own in Oakland, California. He had been hired by multi- instrumentalist/singer Mark Growden to co- produce and engineer Mark's new record Saint Judas. I was pretty nervous....