Are you from Madison originally?
No. I grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, which is like a suburb of Manhattan almost. My mom did commercial work, and is from a musical family, so I wanted to do production work of some sort and got involved with a multi-media company in Manhattan that was doing Fortune 500 magazine work at the time. This was in the early '80s. I was mentored by a really talented, but corporate- minded man, who taught me all about post- production sound for video, film and slide. I did that for about eight years and I got really burnt out on just the whole corporate environment that I was in. I decided to quit and go to school in Madison because I wanted to get out of New York. I came out to Madison and started doing live sound for a ska band about a year into moving here. I really had no idea how to do it. I would just help out all the guys in the club, just picking up stuff as I went along. During that time they told me about Smart Studios, which I didn't know existed — I didn't even know who Butch [Vig] [Tape Op #11] was. In fact, I don't think I had even heard Nevermind at that time. It was around the time that Butch was into Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins work. I started interning there. At the time Smart was so much smaller — the place was really lo-fi but hi-fi studio. The guy that hired me there just threw me into sessions. I was just terrified when working with bands. Fortunately I was given the usual free time, with bands that I brought in, to kind of learn. I ended up doing a record for the ska band that I had been working with, at the time I think I did one session with Steve Marker, who is in Garbage, and I helped out. Doug Erickson used to do some sessions there. It was very informal seven years ago. So I hung around there for a couple of years, still doing live sound and then I started my own band. Then a guy that I met, at Smart actually, had a lead on a 16-track 1". It was available in Milwaukee, and he thought I could get it for $1500. I think I ended up paying two grand for it and I got this Logic mixer — all stuff from an old ad agency that had really low hours. So I picked up the deck and the board and I came across this old British board. Legend has that it's the old Cheap Trick live board. But I found this 24 x 4 x 2 Hill for $150, and everything worked on it. I mean it needed some modifications on it — like it didn't have direct outs or anything.
And that's not too hard.
Actually, I modified it and then I had this Logic 12 channel board that was really sweet and I would track on the Logic and do the tape returns through the Hill. So I started doing projects in the basement of the house I was living in. Really lo-fi set-up, but really good for crunchy rock and roll records. It was a way for me to do whatever projects I wanted, and not rely on the studio's time, but my own time. I began to work a lot more by having a studio. Madison, you know, is a real hotbed for bands that just want to do quick turn-around stuff. Like do a quick single, or their first demo on cassette. I was doing a lot of that work. The first studio was up for two and a half years, then they were tearing the house down. So I needed to decide if I was going to just stop or actually look for a space and upgrade. So I looked for about three months for a self-contained building in Madison, which was not easy to find. It took me three months to find one, I was looking everyday.
So you found a small warehouse space?
Well it's relatively big. It's 700 square feet. 15 foot ceilings. It's really, really comfortable. I think half the warehouse is the lounge.
Are you renting?
Yes, I'm renting. It's scary to take big steps in this business.
Umm, yes it is! How did you start when you got the place rolling, even at your house, how did you get work initially?
It was a band that knew I was at Smart. They knew that I now had this $15-an-hour lo-fi set-up in my basement and there were a lot of bands that wanted to take advantage of that. I didn't have this huge reputation, but they knew that I kind of knew what I was doing. Actually, the first band I recorded were friends of mine from Columbus, Ohio. These guys, for some reason, drove all the way to Madison to make a record with me. I'm sure that I didn't charge them much, like a couple hundred dollars, to live in my house for a week and do this record. Then a friend of mine from Chicago brought his band up and some bands that I knew because I was in a band. Which has made such a difference in my career — to be in a band, play out and network that way. Honestly, the advertising that I've done, and I think I have taken out maybe two ads total in five years, has never brought me an ounce of business. People know Coney Island, and the more projects I do that sound good will bring in the calls. Bands, in general I think, enjoy coming to this studio. It's a very cooperative environment.
I think your lounge probably helps too though. You have a similar set-up to our studio. Your lounge is way bigger, but just having a place where people can kick back, relax and read magazines.
I used to not have that. I've put about $5,000 into the construction of the studio and that was just putting up walls in a very large room. I couldn't do much else because the landlord wouldn't let me. But the space was laid out in a way that it was just perfect for doing this kind of stuff.
How long did it take you, once you had the space, to get it all built up and open?
I think I signed the lease two years ago this August. I did three weeks with a carpenter, who really helped all my ideas materialize. Then I left to go to New York to work for three or four weeks straight to try and make up the money. In October I started doing sessions. When I had closed the first studio and opened this I wasn't turning away projects because I was really busy. I actually, in retrospect, was kind of insane to make an upgrade when I wasn't bursting at the seams. I learned a really hard lesson, in that it probably wasn't the best time to expand. I thought that I would open this place up and have an open house and I thought that I wouldn't be able to control the crowds. That so wasn't the case.
Really?
I mean it was business as usual. I had work but there wasn't a lot of work. There has been a steady increase and the projects are just getting better. I might not be as busy, every month, as I would like to be, but what I'm busy doing is pretty cool. So I think it was a good move. This is only the second year in the warehouse. I think I bring a lot of life experience to the sessions that I do. Just trying to guide people that I barely know through a process that is very hard for them. I work with a lot of bands that are recording for the first time, and it's taking them out of an environment that they are so comfortable with, like their basement, and having them set-up and perform. Having them become recording artists for the day. It can be a really delicate situation. I love working with bands who have worked in tons of studios and with different people.
It's easier for them to get comfortable in the recording situation. You don't have to guide them through the very simple stuff. What kind of mics have you accumulated for use in there?
It's pretty basic. I have an AKG D112, an AudioTechnica Pro 25 that I'll use for toms and sometimes bass cabinets. I'll use a 57 on almost anything. I've got a Neumann U-67 that I can almost use on anything. Except shit that's really loud. I just paid $1000 to fix that U-67 — when the guy got it he was, "Ma'am they didn't make guitar amps that loud when this mic was made. So you really need to be careful." So I limit the use of that, but it is an amazing vocal mic. I just got an SM 7 as a stand-by, because I needed something that was full and warm that I could use in place of that U-67 in case it was being temperamental that session, and it sometimes is. Using these AudioTechnica 4033s for overheads are unbelievable. They are great microphones and really great on acoustic guitars. I have an old Sennheiser 421 which I really dig. I would like a couple more of those. It has to be one of my favorite mics. I think it is really underappreciated. God, you know a PZM gets thrown up sometimes. I've been using these microphones for about five years. I just set-up a session and start getting tones, and if it doesn't sound weird I just keep moving forward.
Yeah. Everyone has stand-bys that they know are going to work on certain things.
