Why did you move to Seattle?
I moved here because it was really far away from Michigan. That was the first reason. What else did I come for? I came out here for school.
To the Art Institute.
I had two really important interactions at that school, none of which were with the faculty. One was Skerik, who is a Seattle jazz and rock musician. He has been really important in my development as a musician, as producer, and as a respectful person in the music community.
He's a guru.
Yes, he taught me how to interact with musicians, how to treat musicians, how to learn from musicians, and how to be respectful of elder musicians, even financial and recording stuff in the industry. I was like, "That guy's really cool." Then I found out about his band. Then I met drummer Matt Chamberlain from working with his and Skerik's band, Critters Buggin.' I have learned so much from Matt as well. I got free studio time at The Art Institute and I tried to get Wayne Horowitz (of Naked City) to come in. In the end, he couldn't, but he said his friend could. This young cat named Eyvind. That ended up being Eyvind Kang, who also has been a really important mentor in learning to be sacred with sound and music. He's more of a deep philosopher that happens to be a complete shredder and amazing composer. I've learned a lot from him as far as approaches — ways to foil your habits. He's really good at playing devil's advocate. Those guys are all such incredible musicians. I'm definitely not on that level of musicianship, but I choose to focus my time on producing. I'm at a level where I can actually do some of the things they need me to, and in return involve them in things that are good for them. Seattle has an impeccable, vibrant music community that has no boundaries of genres.
It comes from being a backwater town! Did you come here pre or post grunge?
It was definitely post. It was '93 or '94.
What was your first studio, how did you build it, and what did you learn?
I co-owned one with a really talented engineer that was my partner at the time, Mell Dettmer. I learned a lot from her. We bought a Trident 65 Series board, a 3M 16-track, 2- inch and then we built it up from there. The construction of the actual studio was pretty bad. It was mostly drywall and it had a lot of squares, but I made a lot of great records there.
What was it called?
Aleph.
The name came from a book?
It is a story by Jorge Luis Borges. In the book, the character finds a place. He's blind. He stands on these steps that enables him to see the whole entire universe, but if he moves a little to the right or to the left, he can't see it anymore. It's also the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It's one. It means a lot of things.
What was your budget?
The construction was like 500 bucks or something. It was built by Guy Davis, of the band Sage, who's a really great friend.
What was the first recording you did in there where you felt like things were really happening?
Probably Hex [Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method] by Earth. That was the first one where I was like, "Oh, this is going to get out to the world and this is an actual record."
Did you know Dylan [Carlson] very well at that time?
No, I met him though a friend named John Schuler that looked him up at a frame shop he was working at across the street from Starbucks headquarters. We kind of just dug him up. We've gotten to be really close friends since then. It's been amazing collaborating and growing with him!
What did you take away from that studio, now that it's behind you?
I don't want to have a studio connected to my home. I've realized that I work the same hours now but the disengagement from when I'm done is different — before I would literally sit upstairs thinking, "I could just go down there right now and add 2 kHz to the snare drum."
How did you approach the Rose Windows [Rose Windows] record and also the Daughn Gibson record [Carnation]?
Both of these were very different. With the Rose Windows record we retreated into Bogalusa, Louisiana, to Studio in the Country. We wanted it to feel humid and Southern. It was recorded and mixed like a proper '70s rock record — [Ampex] 456 [tape] hit hard on a great tape machine. On Daughn's record we were trying to make something elegant and futuristic; like you couldn't identify the time it was made from the production. That record is sung from so many different characters that I wanted the production to reflect that. I recorded the drums with Matt Chamberlain at his studio in L.A. and finished it in Seattle at Avast! Recording. I'm really excited about them both, and they couldn't be more different.
Elaborate on you being a sort of a mentor to Rose Windows. Let's hear more of that story.
Chris from Rose Windows had been a fan of my work with Earth. He asked if I would be interested in working with them. I heard something special in the demos they did and also when I saw them live. I dove right in and had an amazing time recording both of their records for Sub Pop. They have become great friends, and I have been just advising them the best I can since. It's been fun and "real" watching them grow. They are all such singular creative types. Rabia [Shaheen Qazi]'s voice is one of my favorites around.
Analog tape has an infinite sample rate. Do you favor it?
No. I'm up for a hybrid. Opinions about gear are really beautiful superstitions. They're helpful in my job, but I'm wide open. I will use digital in a way that's subversive, and I will use analog in a way that's subversive. I watch people struggle trying to milk something out of a Pro Tools rig. People who have a bit of cursory knowledge but they're trying to turn it into this larger thing. You see them fighting against this wall, and they're not even aware that the wall is there.
Henry Miller said, "I found a window in the wall. There was no wall at all."
Yes, these are the quotes I love. I have a copy of Sol LeWitt's quotes on conceptual art. I look at it often when I'm in the studio. Those are great and helpful.
Is there hardware that you favor?
A good board or a particular reverb that's electromechanical. It's magical. It's alchemical. You can't really mess with that. I like those Royer [R-]121 mics. They can take a lot of SPL, more than people think. Usually people are like, "They're ribbon mics. They're very delicate." I think you can put those pretty damn close to a loud cabinet and it gives you a lot of lows of but it also shaves off all the annoying highs. I think I've only ever blown one. I put the studio up for sale. I put my Studer A80 at Avast! and I use that. I got 16-track heads and it sounds amazing. I used that all week, actually, with Black Mountain, and I didn't have a computer on. I only went to tape through the Trident A range. It was insane. Then when we got the take, I would put it in Pro Tools and then disconnect the computer and move on to the next song. Now I'm trying to keep gear that is extreme in coloration. I kept keyboards, like the Korg MS20 — that's a good one. It does things that you wouldn't think a synth would. It can be used in music that you wouldn't expect. I got really into my Shure Level-Loc. That makes some noise. I have some instruments that are special, like a really beautiful old Gretsch drum kit that has a particular sound. There are always snares that I find. I just try to get things that are unusual that other people aren't going to have. I have an Indian PA system, with a horn and a delay built in that's pretty cool.
