I've been browsing your discography. You've worked on such a variety of things!
With any career, it's like you can't really choose. You get sucked into a vortex or something. But it's been fun bands, so I've been lucky in that regard.
Weezer, for one, has been around forever.
It's hard to be into rock music and not have some Weezer influence; they're so pervasive in the music industry. I used to work with a producer named Jake Sinclair. He's done a handful of Weezer records, and I got to work on OK Human. I love that record. We were toward the tail end of finishing it right when the pandemic happened. We were supposed to fly out for a string of dates to New York right when lockdowns happened. And we didn't. The recording sessions were truncated and extended.
I see. That's a weird way to work.
It ended up being fine. The studio that the producer had at the time had two rooms. I'd be in one room working and he'd be in the other room. Once things settled down with the pandemic, we could think, "Okay, this is our new normal."
That probably had ripple effects, in terms of your process and being up for anything, ready to get it done no matter the obstacles.
Truly. That record was supposed to be very organic. The first record we worked on, OK Human, has lush strings and horns. It's interesting to do it that way. A lot of files got sent digitally, just by virtue of how the world was.
Has that opened you up to doing more remote work?
No. It's not the best way to work. I feel music is synergy between multiple people. Sometimes it's nice to be by yourself. You have to have those moments of solitude, but – especially when you're engineering or producing and you're working with a band – you're helping them facilitate their project. If they're not in the room, you're making decisions, which is fine. But at the end of the day, we're servicing the artist and what the artist wants.
You also did some work on the Frozen II soundtrack. How did that come about? Was that a Weezer/Panic! at the Disco connection that led to that?
Basically, at the end of Frozen II, they asked a bunch of bands to cover all of the Frozen II soundtrack. Panic! did a song, and Weezer did a song. It was so fun to do rock versions. "Into the Unknown" is a notoriously hard song to sing, but Brendon [Urie, of Panic!] is such a powerhouse singer that he nailed it immediately. It was fun working with Panic! to turn that into something a little less Disney and more in their vein.
The Disney scoring process seems very intensive. Was it complex for you, or was it fairly straightforward?
I think it came pretty easily. [Frozen II songwriters] Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez came by the recording studio to watch; they loved what the band was doing, as well as the producer's choices. We did a lot of the recording for Panic! at Capitol [Studios, Tape Op #114], and it sounds incredible in there. It's easy to make things sound good.
They have all the resources in the world over at Disney. I was wondering if there is much of a contrast between that and the more indie work that you do.
We were less involved in the Disney [aspect]. They let the rock bands mainly do their own thing. This was pretty easy.
How did you get your start?
I started recording when I was 15 or 16 in my basement, from necessity. I didn't realize you can hire people to record you! [laughter] I knew, but I didn't quite understand that. I would record all these demos and band recordings. I was working in a smoothie shop, and one of my co-workers was a musician, and they asked, "Will you record us? We'll pay you 100 bucks for five songs.” I was like, "Perfect!" [laughter] As I started doing random recordings for other people, I was thinking, "I should probably learn what I'm doing, instead of watching YouTube videos." Obviously, YouTube was such a crucial help. I didn't understand what the difference between a dynamic, condenser, or ribbon mic was. There's a women's audio group called LAWIM, Los Angeles Women in Music. I went to a LAWIM talk that featured Lenise Bent [Tape Op #146]. She'd worked on Steely Dan.
I love the women who get out there and help educate in this industry; the ones who are really out there trying to eliminate the gatekeeping and share what they know.
I definitely benefited from that. Lenise was doing a talk with Eva Reistad. Afterwards, I was talking to Eva, and I said, "I want to learn more about audio. I was thinking about going to school, or maybe getting an internship." She replied, "Well, I definitely think you should get an internship, and I'm a studio manager at Kingsize Soundlabs. Would you want to intern there?" The next week, I met her and she became such a mentor to me. Kingsize was definitely my home away from home. They had a bunch of studios, and at the time they were opening 64Sound [Tape Op #109]. I got to be there at the beginning of that. Rob Schnapf [#9] was next door, so I got to watch him do his thing. A bunch of amazing musicians and bands would come in. That's how I originally met John Congleton. Jake Sinclair found me via Kingsize as well. Suzy Shinn, his original engineer, was transitioning into producing, and he was like, "I need another engineer." So, he plucked me, and that's how the beginning of my career started.
You put yourself out there.
It's so much about doing the scary thing. I feel very lucky. I'm from L.A. – born and raised here – so there's so much more access to this. I think it's about letting your intentions be known. Most people respond kindly to that, where they're like, "Oh, let me see if I can help you." I certainly do that when people ask me. The other part is just being a good hang. If you're bringing the atmosphere in the studio down, you're not going to last very long!
I feel like I've heard that specific line a lot in the audio world.
We're so lucky to get to do music. Why would you want to be with someone you don't like?
I was also born in L.A. It's definitely an experience being an L.A. kid, just because of the people that you know peripherally.
I've lived one life, so it's hard to compare it to other people's situations. But I feel very lucky. Between the fires and ICE raids, I feel like Los Angeles is the pinnacle of resistance in some ways. It's also the land of idealism. Everyone coming here is like, "I'm going to make this thing happen," and there's a lot of hope in that. It translates into people's actions in every other field.
