What was the thing that interested you in recording versus just playing music?
JD: I was always into recording. My dad knew a guy who sold CBs and got Shure mics at cost. I got two of them in seventh grade, plugged them into this old Zenith 8-track and would record myself playing the bass.
On an 8-track cartridge deck?
Yeah, the old-school ones, you know, as in, "It went the way of the 8-track tape."
Right on. How about you John?
JL: My parents lived in a quad level, and they had the NuTone. Remember those old intercom speaker systems? There was an RCA input on each panel that all lead back to a main box. We had a piano in the living room, so I'd put a microphone into the panel in that room and record myself playing. It sounded like shit, but I actually tried to start my first band around that deal. I recorded just about everything as a kid, and was really into Super 8 too.
So when was Ghetto recorders started?
JD: Well, John had Freaktone productions, ten dollars an hour, and...
JL: You have to recognize the fact that it was an evolution. I mean you have to think about how we even found that fucking space. How else would we even end up down there?
How did you find it?
JL: I was working for Detroit Mackinac, [the first brewery that was in the building] so I used to deliver to the Elwood [Bar & Grill], because we could self-distribute back then. The Elwood was owned by Mr. Forbes. We got to talking one day and I mentioned that I was looking for a living/studio/rehearsal space. That's how I got in there, then four years later Jim moved in and that's when it officially became Ghetto Recorders — in 1996.
I understand that some of the first records done there were via studio parties. Who were some of the bands and what was the modus operandi?
JL: The Detroit Cobras and The Dirties [Dirtbombs] were a couple I can think of. The Hentchmen are another. I'd get a keg of beer from work, the bands would play live, and we'd just record them. You'd get some drunken crowd noise, etc., but man was it fun.
JD: The first "studio" records involved Bantam Rooster, The Dirtbombs, and Outrageous Cherry. I was working at another studio in town, called Tempermill [Studios], and that's where I met Mick Collins [former front man of The Gories]. He said he had a new deal going on [with The Dirtbombs] and wanted to do some singles, etc., so we did about two or three here on the old gear. That stuff was all on 8-track 1/2". We had a [Tascam] 38 and a Tascam M-50 broadcast console then. That console and tape machine didn't last too much past those early records.
As you acquired better gear and word of mouth spread a bit more, who were some of the people you started to record?
JD: Things were starting to reach the national level for attention on Detroit, and this was around '97-'99.
JL: The renaissance, if you will. JD: The Dirtbombs, Volebeats, Immigrant Suns, Andre Williams, Kim Fowley, Outrageous Cherry, Witches, John Spencer, New Bomb Turks, The Go, The White Stripes, The Sights and you guys [PAIK] were early on. The Wildbunch, who changed their name to The Electric 6, were being recorded then.
JL: If I can interject as well, one of my favorite unknown bands to come out of the studio was Ko and The Knockouts. That CD was great, very commercially viable, but just didn't get the exposure.
JD: Definitely.
The Sights are an awesome group and good people. What's it been like working with them from such an early period?
JD: The Sights have been a lot of fun. I did their first record in '99 right after Eddie Baranek and the bass player, Mark [Leahey] had graduated high school. It's been fun 'cause we've gotten to grow together as their sound evolved, and I have played I would think a good part in that. I really love working with those guys because they have a lot of the elements I like in music — choruses, melodies, harmonies, and they're not afraid to experiment with sounds and have fun in the studio. I am really looking forward to the next record.
JL: The Dirties did a record there too that Mick produced, and I have to tell this story about that session. So they're recording/crashing at our space, and Tim from Crypt Records was gonna be in town and staying at our place. So the party goes all night, and he finally crashes out. The Dirties all sneak into his room and start whispering, "Tomorrow when you awake you will sign The Dirties" over and over again for like five minutes or so. He did!
That's hilarious!
JL: There's one more worth a spin too. We had The Red Aunts in from L.A. and had been recording all day. That night we're partying and one of the girls asks to hear the mixes back from earlier. No brainer right?
JD: Except that John didn't notice that I had spliced another partial reel on the supply side to fit a couple more songs onto the reel the following day. And I was asleep by then.
JL: So I hit rewind, start talking and whatnot. All of a sudden I look over, and the tape is way past the edge of the take up. Before I could hit stop the whole thing just explodes all over the place! It was the proverbial scratching of the record. The whole party just kind of stopped and Debbie is standing looking at me like, "Is that what we just spent all day doing?"
JD: Luckily I had backed up the mixes on a DAT, so we were able to totally splice it back together again, and it came out fine.
JL: Total panic!
What about the early White Stripes sessions? What was it like doing those records?
JD: We recorded the first record here in winter of '99. I had done a couple records with another Detroit drum and guitar duo called Bantam Rooster that had sounded pretty mean and tough that Jack liked. I had also done the first Dirtbombs full length there, and I know Jack was a big Mick Collins fan. I don't remember how much time we spent on the record — they were a new band and it was their first time in the studio. I remember doing a lot of takes of each song. We did guitar and drums live and I think a scratch vocal through these Traynor PA columns I have. You can probably hear some of it bleeding through on that first record. Most of the vocals were done through this 1953 Revere reel-to-reel with built in speaker and AM radio. I don't even want to talk about that thing. It sounds so good on guitar, vocals, or anything. No one else in the world should be allowed to own one except me!
So on to a bit about the studio itself, what was the location originally used for?
JD: It was a poultry processing plant, and the control room was the walk-in freezer. But man, you'd never freeze in there!
I remember working in the summer there, and it being like 98 degrees in the control room sometimes.
JD: Yeah and the tracking room would be like ice in the winter.
I remember that as well!
