Knitting Factory Studio

Interviews

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Royal Trux

Interviews

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Ray Carmen

Interviews

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DJ Shadow

Interviews

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Recording 1960's Avant-Garde Jazz in Chicago

Interviews

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Neutral Milk Hotel

Interviews

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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

JULY 30, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Abbey Road Pictorial

Abbey Road Pictorial: a week recording with Elliott Smith in London

BY JOANNA BOLME

This is a story about how I got to live my fantasy of walking through the door of the building at 3 Abbey Road and saying, "We're working in studio two." It's second only to the one where I walk through the door and the receptionist says "Good morning Mr. Martin." This was made possible by my generous friend Elliott Smith, whom I believe had a similar fantasy. We were joined by our buddies Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock, who took care of the recording duties, and Sam Coomes from Quasi, the best rock band in the world.

JULY 30, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Butch Vig

Butch Vig: Garbage and Smart Studios

BY JOSEPH CULTICE, JOHN VANDERSLICE, JOHN BACCIGALUPPI, TONY MICHELS, STEPHANE SEDNAOUI

Butch Vig has created a big name for himself in the recording world. In 1984 he and Steve Marker founded Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, and started working with tons of indie bands (like Killdozer, L7, Urge Overkill), including quite a few albums for records labels like Touch and Go, Slash and Sub Pop. As time went by his reputation got bigger, leading to work with Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana (Nevermind) and Sonic Youth (Dirty). Then, as if this wasn't enough, he and Steve put a band together with Shirley Manson and Duke Erickson and called it Garbage. When we got the opportunity to inter- view Butch, it was originally going to be in San Francisco. After some contemplation, John Vanderslice of Tiny Telephone studio and M K Ultra (himself a former Tape Op interview victim) came to mind. John runs a very analog orientated studio, so I figured with him chatting up Butch, who works extensively in Pro Tools, we'd get some sparks flying. And what happens? They got along like peas in a pod...

JULY 30, 2025 INTERVIEWS
Scott Colburn

Scott Colburn

BY CURTIS SETTINO

In just a few short years, Scott Colburn's Gravelvoice Productions has been involved with a wonderfully diverse collection of artists and recordings. His Seattle, Washington studio offers an analog 16-track, digital editing, and plenty of charm. Scott engineers, produces, and contributes musically when needed. He's also an avid record collector and for years was known as Shaggy (a la Scooby Doo) because he looked exactly like him. To start off the interview, Scott agreed to answer some silly profile questions.

COLUMNS

END RANT