people come to me as a producer because I'll help  them to realize their vision I'm beholden to my  

captors and then I'll use my skills that I've  learned in engineering just because I love gear  

and I love gadgets so it's their vision but  I'm going to supply the paints and I'm going  

to supply the canvas and I'm going to say here  use this brush for this part they are doing the  

actual painting of the image it's their work and  it's their song and their music and their ideas

their voices shine like crying it's too sweet

I came from a background in engineering so  I started by learning the equipment and then  

watching what producers do and then having  my own opinions on what they were doing so  

when I had my own clients I was ready to jump  in and take that production role so I do both  

in the studio oftentimes all engineer and  produce at the same time it just is easier  

for me to create the sound that's in  my ears I and I'll be able to create  

the sound using the studio tools that I  have and then I also am a mixer because  

I'll take what's been recorded and then  I'll do a final balance on it it'll make  

it finished I'll make it ready for consumption  basically ready to be listened to by everyone

I got my first studio job in San Francisco I  basically worked for free and realized that if  

I really wanted a career as a producer I would  have to go to Los Angeles and not stay in San  

Francisco so I moved to LA and got a job at Tower  Records because no one would give me a studio  

job at the time but while I was working at Tower  Records I met the people from a band called green  

jello and part of the members of green jello were  also in a band called tulle and when we started  

recording the green jello record it was very easy  to record tool at the same time so that's how we  

all got together to do the first tool record and  then it made a big splash and one thing led to  

another and here we are today one of my first fun  creative moments was with the tool record where I  

really thought about what is the loudest sound  in the world well let's try to get a crane and  

get a couple pianos and just drop some pianos  from cranes and record that and see what that's  

like but I couldn't get any company to help  me with this this idea so I got the two pianos  

anyway they're cheap fifty dollar pianos and we  brought them into the studio and miked them up  

and then the drummer Danny Carey had a shotgun  so we loaded that up and started shooting the  

piano recording the sound of the piano as it's  being shot and it was quite dramatic it's over  

rumbling sounds and then we had purchased  some sledgehammers and pickaxes and I gave  

everyone you know safety equipment gloves and  the goggles and said okay here now we've got  

this miked up let's destroy these pianos and  so we just completely dismantled these pianos  

and recorded every bit of it and then created a  song on the undertow album called discus to pated  

I realized that even if it hadn't worked even  if we didn't use any of it the memory of that  

that session we'd have forever so why not do that  with every session so if it's possible I'll try  

to build something into every session that you'll  remember forever and to do that I have a box full  

of toys that will bring two sessions and then  I'll pull something out when I think it'll help  

inspire the artist to do something different  to break out of their their box that they're  

in and so I have some of these things here for  instance this one where you take an old speaker  

and you wire it backwards so it's actually being  used as a microphone we put that right up to the  

kick drum and it sounds just like an 808 style  kick like a booming kick and then I'll use a  

hose and tape a microphone onto one end and drape  the hose underneath a drum kit and the sound that  

you get is a great room sound with drums but it  doesn't have all the shrill symbols in it so you  

can use it as an effect or as a replacement for  a drum room mic for better drum recordings it's  

really an exciting thing to do there's times when  there will be just an inspirational moment like I  

thought well if you take a potato and you can use  the power of a potato to drive a small clock right  

I thought well why can't you you use a potato  as an audio filter so we invented a new thing  

it's a potato filter and what does it sound  like well it's kind of okay it was more fun  

just doing it than actually using it in the track  but maybe that's all that matters it's inspiration  

so imagine this plug this out of an amplifier  this speaker oh this is the speaker out of an  

amplifier okay and then plug in various kitchen  appliances into this your lab okay and then you  

mic up the kitchen appliance with a mic okay  I've done this before and if you use the same  

the right amp and hit it just the right way  that the appliance starts up this is amazing  

wonderful sound probably totally not appropriate  for this music no but what the hell yeah there's  

a lot of people that are doing very unusual things  that you don't really hear about it's not in any  

textbook so I wrote a book called recording  unhinged and it's a book about unconventional  

recording besides my own stories like 35 people  all shared their little secrets their techniques  

and I got to draw diagrams of how they did things  and other panel illustrations and then tuned

when there was an opportunity to write this book  I spent a lot of time sharing these stories and  

writing them down kind of as a Legacy Project  and I realized there's really a lot to share so I  

started speaking in front of classrooms and doing  workshops and I'll record a project and we'll just  

do every wacky thing that we could possibly do  because I want to show the people that come to  

these workshops exactly how far they can go and  just come on let's be fearless and let's just go  

all the way plus when I go to these places I also  pick up a job or two if I want to record an album  

heck yeah well you know we look around for the the  best and most unusual places to record when I was  

in Bergen Norway there was a submarine actually  available and so we got a chance to do some bass  

recording on a submarine that was great I hope  to be doing a lot more of this type of recording

I think the type of space that you record in is  essential and being creative producer because a  

perfectly tuned soundproof studio is oftentimes  really uncomfortable to be in till why would you  

do it why would you spend time there so there's  very few walls in the studios that I like to work  

in I like to work in a big open room where I'm  sitting in the same room with the artist we're  

communicating directly not through headphones  or through glass then I think things happen  

more comfortably and more immediate there's a  choice every time it comes up yeah and then I  

like to record through analog equipment and I  use a Neve a t-38 console for the microphones on  

the way to Pro Tools then in the computer I'll  manipulate the sound with plugins and plugins  

are very important now so I use a combination of  external rack-mounted analog gear and plugins to  

finish the recording it's very important to keep  up with the technology so that you're on top of  

new ideas in digital plugins for recording and I  have to keep learning every single day so that I  

can keep up I'm learning to enjoy mixing in the  computer better but I find it lacks a few things  

that I like to use so I'm working with a company  called waves on creating some new plugins that  

will add a different flavor and a different color  my own special style to not only my recordings but  

other people's recordings - I think right now the  tendency is for people to be a little lazy because  

most of the instruments that they could use are  easily accessible in Pro Tools or in logic but  

I want the artists to actually go out and feel the  music even if the recording is not as good as what  

you could get with someone else's recording in  a virtual instrument it's worth the time to go  

out and make your own sounds and do your own  recording I'd like to see more women artists  

writing producing their own music and there's a  few out there that are fantastic right now and one  

is Lady Gaga and the other is Taylor Swift so I'd  like to see more of this type of thing because a  

lot of the women artists are using other people's  material and I know that they have it in them to  

write their own material write their own music  so that's what I'd like to see haha and the route  

wipes are thirteen or fourteen thirteen fourteen  great are you gonna play some more please same  

kind of thing with some Tom fills that's great you  know being a woman in a male-dominated industry  

I have not really felt discriminated against I  think it's difficult for anyone male or female  

to get started and to be successful in this in  this business the job is working 16-hour days in  

a studio and you really just have to completely  dedicate your life to this but production is my  

passion and inspiration comes from the music and  the artists and the emotions that they're trying  

to convey with their writing because I want  to follow through and help them make something  

special over the last three years now whenever  I get a chance I'll have an easel set up in a  

session and I'll be painting while I'm working  with an engineer who's actually turning the knobs  

and channeling the music too because depending  on the music that's happening on this session the  

paintings are completely different every time I  think because I get to paint I'm a better producer  

suddenly there's much more creativity overall  and I think it inspires other people in the  

room to to be more creative so it really enhances  the sessions to be painting during the sessions

as a producer I want to build in  extra time in the budget so that  

we can have some fun make some mistakes  and you never know what comes out of it

I think it's important for everyone  who's in the recording industry or  

wants to be a producer to become more experimental

being creative with audio is as much holding  a paint brush in my hand as the actual real  

thing with a canvas it really is a  wonderful tool for being an idols