Was being in control of the recording process something that you always wanted to achieve?
Jeff: Even on our early records, like Born Innocent, we had guidance; but we were actually producing them ourselves. We had all the arrangements; everything. But we didn't know the technical aspects, like what a compressor did, so it took a while.
Steven: I think that, from the very beginning, the goal was to be able to be totally self-sufficient. But before computers, the studio was so intimidating; it was a mad scientist lab that we knew nothing about. I paid for our first recordings when I was 11 with my paper route. We went to a place called Media Art [Recording Studio] in Hermosa Beach, and it was 2-inch, 16-track. We would do the graveyard shift and get it for half price. We'd start at midnight and record till 9 a.m. I was 12 years old. It was very psychedelic, because we did not live a graveyard shift life.
J: It was sort of scary and horrifying, but also very cool.
When did you get your own recording gear?
S: We had done some tracks for compilations and B-sides on ADATS, and on a Tascam 38 1/2-inch, 8-track that we borrowed from Jeff's wife, Charlotte [Caffey]. She was in the Go-Go's and had built a home studio at the height of the band in 1981, when that was the pinnacle of home-recording gear. There's a dbx noise reduction box that a lot of people swear by that you can run everything through, but I don't use that. I'll still use that machine sometimes now, because the kids want to use tape since they were robbed of that era. But I'll always say to them, "Look kid, I've made as many shitty-sounding recordings on tape as I have on digital!"
J: It's an awesome sounding machine.
S: When Redd Kross was on hiatus from 1997 to 2006, I got into trying to learn how to do this myself. Finally, I got my first Mac and a [Digidesign] Digi 001 in 2000, and Jeff got one around the same time. It wasn't until we had Pro Tools that we seriously thought about doing this ourselves.
J: I produced a record on Sympathy for the Record Industry by a band called The Beards, which was Kim Shattuck from The Muffs and Lisa Marr from Cub. It took me almost a year because I didn't know how to use Pro Tools.
S: In my studio I'm still using the Digi 002 I got about 15 years ago. That has eight inputs, and then I use a 20-bit ADAT to Lightpipe in another eight inputs. Theoretically the recordings are all 24-bit because they're on Pro Tools, but eight of my channels are digitized, via 20-bit.
J: It's vintage digital retro!
When did you start recording and mixing all of the Redd Kross music yourself?
S: For our last record, Researching the Blues, we did the basic tracks at a nice studio in Eagle Rock [Los Angeles] called Kingsize Soundlabs, because I didn't know how to get a good drum sound yet. Then we did overdubs and some vocals at our own space. I spent a bunch of money on a mixer because I love their records. I obviously didn't have the goods to get the sound that they get on their own records, and I realized that I had to figure out how to mix it myself. That record started in around 2008 and we didn't finish it until about 2011 because I was also playing in other bands – OFF! and the Melvins – and getting up the nerve to finish the record.
J: I started working on some vocals at home that I hadn't done yet, and then sending Steven rough mixes.
S: I was in Australia on tour and feeling far away from home when Jeff sent me those. I was on the city tram in Perth when I listened to them, and it was the first time I'd heard the songs in a year or so. I was going crazy because I was so excited about how good it was. That was a real shot in the arm. Then Jeff started cheerleading me through the process of finishing the record. It's still not a pristine record, but I think that it has an energy that is appropriate for the performances in the songs.
The drums on your recent record, Beyond the Door, also sound like they were recorded in a nice, big room.
S: Are fucking with me?
I'm totally not fucking with you! They sound great!
S: You're going to make me cry. My studio, The Whiskey Kitchen, is a rehearsal room in Glassell Park [Los Angeles] with just the shitty foam that comes with the room on the walls. I've done nothing to it. The ceiling is high, but I don't think that I'm utilizing any of that. It's not a reflective, lively room at all. It's carpeted floor.
Well, then you've figured out how to make some smooth moves in post!
S: I've taught myself how to use reverbs. Basically, everything I do is back end. All my front end is 500 Series preamps that I built from kits, like Hairball Audio. There are a couple of songs where I was still using this '70s Yamaha PM-1000 mixer. I found a place online where people were taking them and putting direct outs and new capacitors in them. I thought, "Okay, I'll try that." But those slowly started to die, and it wasn't until I went to mix the album and I heard the song "When Do I Get to Sing 'My Way'" [a Sparks cover] that was recorded two years earlier on some of that Japanese [gear] that I realized, "Oh, now I can hear what I'm missing." What's not working, come mix time.
That's the worst feeling.
S: I'm not coming from a studio background, so it's only been through strict woodshedding in my little space and figuring it out myself. I can't go make coffee for someone now! [Be an intern. -ed.] The only way I could glean information was to hire one of these guys, whose work I love, to work on one of my records and then ask, "Can I take a look under the hood? Are you cool with that?" The chance is that they're going to have so much more gear that I don't have anyway. My actual fantasy would be to work with someone that I admire and respect, and then ask them to work on my system!
What reverbs did you use on Beyond the Door?
J: [Fender] Twin Reverb.
S: Yeah, everything's going through a Twin Reverb. No, I'm kidding. But I'm just dicking around. I have a [Sonnox] Oxford reverb [plug-in] that I use. But it's mostly on the snare. I also use a slap delay; I have a little bit in there. My father-in-law, Lenny Waronker, is a producer. I was talking to him about his producing days, and I don't remember what particular session he was referring to, but he was talking about how they used an early take. He said, "We had to go with this take and we didn't even have the reverb right yet." I realized, "Oh, right. Because that's the one thing that you guys could fuck with." The whole thing was probably going through a chamber. That stuck with me. I maybe even misinterpreted what he was saying, but it made me realize that on a lot of my favorite records everything might be going to reverb. If you can find that magic spot, then who cares if someone would laugh at you about it or think it's wrong? I love reverb on bass. I know that people will tell me that it creates some rolling wave that crosses out sounds. But when I listen to "Hello Hooray" on Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies, I hear a reverb on the bass guitar. I fucking love it. It's so bitchin'!
What's your drum mic'ing scheme at the studio?
S: Shure was very kind to Redd Kross two years ago and gave us a nice care package of BETA 57s and 58s to go out on tour with. I use one of the BETA 57s on snare and a BETA 52A on the kick, as well as a PZM [mic] inside the drum. For overheads, I have a couple of Shure condenser mics in a "cross" pattern [X/Y]. I point them away from the cymbals; a little bit behind the drummer. That's a method someone recently showed me. Our drummer, Dale Crover [Melvins], nails the cymbals. I don't want it to take over everything. I also have two room mics about 10 feet away in a stereo pair; I bleed it in a little bit. Otherwise they sound pretty trashy.
