Learn from Legends

Background

Ryan Hewitt is a Grammy winning engineer, mixer and producer with a credit list spanning all popular genres of music for such notable artists as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Avett Brothers, blink-182, The Dixie Chicks, needtobreathe, Flogging Molly and Jamie Cullum.

Relocating from Los Angeles to Nashville in early 2015, Ryan took residence at House of Blues Studios in Berry Hill and jumped into a non-stop string of records. In between mixing albums for The Avett Brothers, Third Eye Blind, Sean McConnell, and Harry Connick, Jr., Ryan produced and mixed up-and-coming Georgia rockers, Crass Mammoth, Knoxville troubadours, The Black Lillies and Nashville mods Elle Macho. He spent last summer recording and mixing The Lumineers’ #1 album Cleopatra with producer Simone Felice in upstate New York and has since recorded and mixed several more songs for film soundtracks.

Background

F. Reid Shippen is a New Jersey-born, Nashville-based, highly motivated, completely caffeinated multiple Grammy® award-winning producer/engineer/mixer.

Background

Tim is one of alternative rock’s most recognized and respected names. Originally from England, then L.A., and now based in Austin, Texas Tim is a “household name” among famous musicians and record executives. His platinum credits speak for themselves: as a record producer, engineer and mixer Tim’s credits include David Bowie, Tin Machine, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears and U2.

Background

Columbus Smith III, better known by his stage name Rahki (sometimes Rahk or Rahki Beats), is an American record producer and songwriter from Los Angeles, California. He is known for his work with mentor DJ Khalil and acts such as Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Currensy, Evidence, Schoolboy Q, 50 Cent, Domo Genesis, Lecrae, Aloe Blacc, and more.

Background

Ross Hogarth is a man of many talents. He’s an award winning producer, mixer, and engineer. He’s been the main man behind the control board for such artists as The Doobie Brothers, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Sick Puppies, and Van Halen.

Ross is one of the Learn from Legends mentors at the Recording Connection. He works with advanced or graduated students to further their abilities. He’s given numerous apprentices their first big break. He’s one of the mentors in Los Angeles that put the students first. When you’ve been around as long as Ross has you’ve seen people come and go. You’ve seen trends die and fades fade. You know that the only way to really be successful is to follow your passion and create the work that you want to create.

This is something that gets lost in the hubbub and doldrums of Los Angeles. People are always chasing the almighty dollar. But Ross knows that the real success lies in following your passion.

When one of the Recording Connection students works with Ross they’re going to be gaining a wealth of knowledge, make valuable connections within the industry, and learn the ways of a master craftsman.

Background

Noel “Detail” Fisher has been behind the scenes crafting the biggest hits for Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Jennifer Lopez and more. Producing songs like the Grammy Award winning hit, “Drunk in Love” as well as, “7/11” for Beyonce’. Are just mere pieces of the eclectic producer of Detail+Music Studio whom gave us the heart felt “How to Love” by Lil Wayne, and the melodic “We Dem Boys” by Wiz Khalifa.

He connected regions through Drake’s “305 to My City”, and sent good vibes through the globe on Lil Wayne’s “No Worries”. These sonic historic landmarks established Detail as an artist who can do more than just create a hot beat. His songwriting and hookcraft abilities have helped him emerge as one of the biggest and most well-rounded talents in hip-hop today.

Detail was first known for being a co-executive on Ray J’s Raydiation, which was his first major contributions on an album. However, times have changed for the Detroit, MI native, “When you’re in Detroit there’s nothin’ to do. There’s no opportunity” Detail explains.

“All of the record labels left, and it’s just been a desert. All I could do was ,sing, play the piano and write. I came up from that era of just tapping into all genres of music. It’s not different than having a house and pulling in the person that does the air conditioner and the person that does the plumbing;’ that’s what I’m doing with my music. It’s a household and I’m connecting with the best people to make that happen.”

With production in the works for Big Sean and more, Detail is slated to not only be one of the most talked about names in music, but will be defining the sound of our modern generation.

Background

Warren Huart is a well-known songwriter, audio engineer, music producer and mixer who has produced, mixed and/or engineered on recordings for The Fray, Korn, Better than Ezra, James Blunt, Matisyahu, and Howie Day to name a few. Warren also has extensive Film and TV credits including Inglorious Basterds, Transformers 2, MTV’s The Hills, Lost, Scrubs, and Grey’s Anatomy. Warren also co-owns a recording studio in Los Angeles, CA.

Background

Niko Bolas is known as a “vibe oriented” producer/engineer in music studios and in forays with hi-tech companies. He has recorded and produced music and technology since starting at the famous Record One Studio in 1979.

In music, he’s cut with a wide spectrum…



Classic Artists – Neil Young (The Volume Dealers), Billy Joel, Rod Stewart, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Keith Richards, Herb Alpert, KISS, Steve Perry…

Contemporary Artists – John Mayer, Los Lonely Boys, LeAnn Rimes, Big Head Todd & The Monsters, The Mavericks…



Emerging Artists – RACES, The Vim Dicta, Incan Abraham…

Film work spans “The Breakfast Club”, “Singles”, Scorcese’s “Lightning In A Bottle”, and Beyonce’s “Cadillac Records”.

In ’89 Niko co-founded Fakespace Music, and at computer graphics conference SIGGRAPH ’95 in Los Angeles, débuted two new patented music technologies in Virtual Reality.

In ’98 he co-founded internet radio company Sonicbox, and as President/CEO, successfully raised venture capital, and integrated Sonicbox technologies with several consumer products (Acer, Panasonic, Phillips). In 2000 the company was re-named iM Networks and in 2001 merged with Japan’s software giant Softbank.

Niko moved to Nashville in 2006, and set up a room at the amazing Blackbird Studios. He bought George Jone’s former house where he could fire up his secret passion, Bird Watching, which he did every free chance he got, along with his pet, Shovelhead.

In late 2010, Niko moved back to Los Angeles, where he promptly set up a the now infamous Surf Shack mix room in the Capitol Records tower…

Niko is also technical advisor to the Microsoft Surface (multi-touch computing) project in Los Angeles.

Background

Four-time Grammy award winning producer, mixer, engineer, and co-owner of Sputnik Sound

Background

Los Angeles based, 12-time Grammy-winner, producer/mixer/engineer Rafa Sardina has built an eclectic and impressive client list in the recent years. As a musician, engineer and producer Rafa connects easily with artists and has tremendous respect for creating a studio vibe that’s performance-friendly for both new and established talent.

Rafa’s love for music began at an early age playing guitar and attending recording sessions in his native Spain. After four years in Medical school, Rafa chose to pursue his life-long passion: Music. A live sound stint with folk, jazz and world artists in northern Spain and the south of France led him to the United States. Soon after he landed an engineering position at the legendary Ocean Way Recording Studios in Hollywood and Record One Studios in Sherman Oaks. Rafa had the unique opportunity to work with world reknowned artists on a daily basis – from Natalie Cole to the Black Crows, Celine Dion, Greenday, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frank Sinatra, the pre-recording of The Academy Awards and worked on numerous movies. Rafa’s intuition to move to Los Angeles proved to be one of the most rewarding synergies of his life.

Though Sardina is best known for working on pop, rock and R&B projects, he has recorded and mixed just about any genre of music you can imagine: orchestral recordings, big band, R&B, dance, gospel, soul, rap, choral, film/TV soundtracks and movie scores like “Any given Sunday”, “102 Dalmatians”, “Michael Jordan – To the Max”, “Biker Boyz”, Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Family Reunion”, Johnny Depp’s “The Rum Diary” and many more.

Over the years Rafa has developed professional and personal relationships with many artists that he has grown to respect.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to a simple studio philosophy – I’m there to make sure the artist is able to realize his vision and have fun in the process.”

Rafa founded Fishbone Productions in 2001. He built “Afterhours Studios” from the ground up with artists’ needs in mind. “It helps me to be more flexible with today’s recording budgets and create a safe place for artists to work without having to worry about the clock,” says Sardina, who specified the acoustics and gear installation details of his studio in Los Angeles, California. He also frequents major studios around the world. “Basically, I go where the projects take me…”

Background

John Greenham has more than two decades of mastering experience to draw from. His client list is about as versatile as it can get, from Jerry Lee Lewis to Ice Cube to Queensrÿche, Susana Baca to Ae$op Rock, Kimya Dawson to American Royalty and up-and-comers Bad Suns. Now ask him to explain just what “mastering” is and he turns to metaphors to help explain the process. “Closure” is the word that comes up again and again. For Greenham it’s less about certain processes since every album, track and artist is undoubtedly different: “Mastering is like framing a piece of art. You have a bunch of paintings lying around but no one’s going to be able to look at them and appreciate them until they’re framed properly and hung. That’s what mastering is, it’s framing the art, not changing it’s essential character.”

Now ask John Greenham what mastering is not, and he gets pretty adamant. For him the job of the masterer is NOT to put their signature mark on the work. The job of any good mastering professional is to achieve the sound, feel and character that the artist intended. Greenham says, “You’ve got to get behind the artist’s music and their vision. You’ve got to love it and feel passionately about it, otherwise, it just won’t work out very well. Ultimately, you’ve got to allow it (the song) to speak directly to the audience and get all the technical stuff out of the way.”

We are honored to have John Greenham of Infrasonic Sound on board as our newest Recording Connection mentor. We look forward to placing our students with this gifted master of mastering.

Background

Nashville based Jeff Balding’s hits are almost too many to list. He engineered & mixed Don Henley’s Billboard #1 country debut ‘Cass County’ and recently finished working with Megadeth’s own Dave Mustaine on the band’s upcoming album. Recent mixes include tracks for superstars Brett Eldridge, Jana Kramer, Ashley Monroe,Michael Ray, and Chris Janson just to name a few. Jeff has been at the helm mixing some massive hits like Taylor’s Swift’s self titled debut, Kellie Pickler ‘Small Town Girl, Keith Urban’s ‘Day’s Go By’,LeAnn Rimes ‘This Woman’, Trace Adkins ‘Songs About Me’, and Brooks & Dunn ‘Cowboy Town’ as well as recording Brad Paisley’s’This is Country Music’, Shakira’s ‘Shakira’, and Trisha Yearwood’s’Jasper County’. Jeff’s projects have won multiple Grammy awards and received even more nominations.

Background

Recording Connection is happy to welcome producer/engineer Matt Linesch from Ocean Way Recording to our mentor-family!

Ocean Way is a world-renowned studio that has worked with many of music’s biggest names. The multiple-award-winning studio boasts four locations including two in LA, one in Nashville, and one in St. Barths in the French West Indies. All told, this powerhouse studio has been in on the ground level of project which have sold more than one billion units globally!

Working out of the Ocean Way Hollywood location, Linesch is an LA native. The producer and engineer’s deep love and dedication for making music was fostered from a young age. An independent musician in his own right, he feels a great sense of accomplishment from working with artists and helping them to develop their own unique sounds. Personal and creative growth are a big part of what he’s about and Linesch is always checking in to see where his expertise and relationships can help take a project and an artist to the next level.

As this pro’s career continues to thrive as a producer and engineer, so does his passion for making his own music. For him, everything is connected. Ultimately, the goal is to share the music he believes in and to continue building a life that’s wholly centered around music.

Background

Since the late 70s sonic-master Adam Moseley has had a very successful career as producer, engineer, and mixing for bands like U2, Beck, The Cure, Rush, Kiss, Maxi Priest. He’s also mixed audio for big budget movies like The Big Wedding and hit TV shows including True Blood and The Americans.

With more than three decades worth of experience in the music and audio industry under his belt, for Adam Moseley building tracks is a very big deal, an enlarging and fine-tuning of one’s perception and “sonic awareness.” On this point Moseley says, “The essence of music is arrangement, both musical and sonic.” Becoming proficient at assembling tracks entails learning how to “build a musical arrangement through awareness of your sonic field.” Attaining this heightened level of awareness involves sharpening one’s listening skills, talking about the craft (and having the vocabulary to do that) as well as growing through one’s experiences and becoming fine-tuned to the work itself.

To those future apprentices we say: Listen, learn and take it all in from this most sagacious master of sound.

Articles

Adam Moseley mentors for Recording Connection!

Background

Bob Bullock knows what it takes to compete in today’s ever changing market and brings years of creative and technical expertise to every recording session. He possesses a unique understanding and sensitivity when it comes to creating the perfect atmosphere for an artist or musician, helping them to reach their highest potential. Whether he’s working with today’s hottest acts, independent artists on the rise or the young, developing artists of tomorrow his attention to the needs of the client, combined with his ability to combine the different colors of musical instruments and equipment, make Bob Bullock one of the industry’s top producer/engineers.

Background

a two-time GRAMMY®-nominated Producer-Remixer, Artist and Artist Relations Manager for Native Instruments, a leading manufacturer of software and hardware for computer-based music production and performance.

For those of you who are not totally familiar with Carmen, he’s got one very eclectic career! From co-writing, engineering and programming material on Seal’s classic 1994 self-titled album (aka Seal II), to co-producing and co-writing Paul Oakenfold’s Bunkka album; remixing such artists as BT and Tiesto; collaborating with Tuvan Throat singers Huun Huur Tu; and co-founding the ground-breaking World Music act Niyaz, Carmen has done it all!

Background

Visionary songwriter, performer and all-around musical pioneer Gary Wright has spent more than forty years shattering conventional ideas about how to make chart-topping rock music. Not only have his classic songs “Dream Weaver,” “Love is Alive” and “Really Wanna Know You” proven their genius by achieving hit status in four different decades; Wright’s musical wizardry has also extended, more than once, to changing the very sound and texture of contemporary pop.

Background

Critically acclaimed drummer/percussionist, producer/composer, Josef Peters has written, performed, produced and scored countless television shows, films, trailers and commercial campaigns. Joey is recognized for his dynamic attention to musicality and detail and for his keen perception of what drives the visual.

Always endeared to his original instrument, Josef created a niche market of unique tribal percussive cues favored for trailers. Some of these credits include: Taking Pelham 123, Terminator Salvation, Armored, Bangkok Dangerous, Beowulf, The Brave One, War, Suspect Zero, Bride Wars, Planet of the Apes, Fast Food Nation, Lost, and Apocalypto.

His commercial campaigns run the gamut from quirky pop songs to emotional score, play nationally and internationally and include spots for Victoria’s Secret, Coke, Gillette, Toyota, Haagen-Dazs, Honda, Panasonic, Old Navy, Sony, Sure, Nikon, Verizon and Camry. Some of his recent TV credits include: True Blood, Entourage, (HBO) and American Gangster.

Joey’s seminal band of many years, for which he was drummer/percussionist, Grant Lee Buffalo (GLB), released four CD’s on Warner Brothers (1992-1999) and toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Japan and Australia. GLB played with REM, The Cranberries, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins as well as headlined its own tours. GLB contributed songs for film and television: Friends (NBC), I Know What You Did Last Summer (Columbia/Tristar) With Honors (Warner Studios), Velvet Goldmine (Zenith/Single Cell/Killer Films) and is reuniting for a European tour, summer 2011, kicking off with a show at the Royal Festival Hall in London.

Not forgoing his love of live performance, Josef is involved as musical director and drummer for band, Rusty Truck, performing with Willie Nelson, Kenny Wayne Shepard and Seu Jorge. Rusty Truck’s debut CD includes tracks produced by: Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, Jakob Dylan, Sheryl Crow, T-Bone Burnett, and Gillian Welch. Rusty Truck has been featured on the Don Imus show, MTV Brazil and the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Deemed a child prodigy by those in San Francisco’s music scene of the late seventies and early eighties, Joey stayed behind, when his parents moved from Santa Cruz, CA to Hawaii, to play with Charlie Musselwhite. While playing professionally by age 16, he simultaneously studied music at Cabrillo College then moved to Los Angeles in 1985.

Background

A student of the legendary Les Paul, Geoff Gray has worked with countless musicians and recorded hundreds of albums for over 30 years.

Locally, Geoff has helped bands come away with albums that are polished by platinum-record holding engineer standards. Geoff’s number one rule is quality, and combining the tools and tricks hidden by industry greats with new techniques has satisfied many musicians looking for a truly professional sounding album.

Background

Michael has become one of the most respected and sought-after sound design consultants to the pro-audio industry as a result of his roles as a preset/algorithm designer and beta-tester for several highly successful, award-winning products from Lexicon, Eventide, Sound Toys and TC Electronics, among others.  He is a long-time endorser of Mesa/Boogie Amplifiers, Tom Anderson Guitarworks, Taylor Guitars, Eventide, Manley Labs, Dangerous Music, Chandler Limited, Avalon Design, Tonelux, Glyph Technology and SIT Strings.

Today Michael is in constant demand as a mix specialist precisely because of his multi-faceted skill set.  As a writer-mixer, he knows when to make the technology get out of the way of the song and the artistry.  As a musician, he can completely rearrange a song when an artist wants to dig deeper—even at the mix stage.  He is frequently hired to do just that, often performing new guitar, bass and keyboard parts at the artists’ request, breathing new life into the song and the mix.

Background

“I’m a Los Angeles based producer, composer, and engineer. I’ve been a part of some amazing productions, and am always excited to hear about new opportunities and adventures.”

Background

The accomplishment of Fred Vail in the music and entertainment industry is phenomenal in the sense that he achieved these at such a tender age. Starting his career in 1957 as a teen news announcer in Sacramento, California at the age of twelve, he became a disc jockey at fifteen and rose to become country music program director at seventeen. Then, when he was a high school senior, he became the youngest American concert promoter at the age of 18 when he started booking at graduation parties, teen clubs and school assemblies popular recording artists such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Righteous Brothers and Jan & Dean. He also produced the first major concert appearance of The Beach Boys and was employed by the popular group that same night as its marketing manager and event emcee.

In 1964, when Fred Vail was 19, he again produced and emceed another concert by the popular group and came up with the idea of producing the famous album based on the event entitled “Beach Boys Concert,” that eventually topped the charts and was certified gold. Five years later, when he was 25, he rose to become the manager of the Beach Boys and headed as well the band’s Brother Records label. Three years later, at the age of 28, Fred Vail got the opportunity to work with the best record men at that time when he was hired as promotions and marketing manager of Capital Records, and RCA Records the following year.

Resigning from RCA in 1974, Fred Vail moved to Nashville and did independent radio promotions and marketing for performing and recording artists in the likes of Olivia-Newton John, Eric Clapton, John Travolta, Jimmy Dean, Ronnie McDowell, Earl Thomas Conley, George Clinton, as well as for record labels such as GRT and RSO Records.

In 1980, Fred Vail founded Nashville’s oldest independent recording studio, the Treasure Isle Recorders, Inc., which was the first multi-track digital studio and the best “live” tracking room in Music City. The country’s most popular artists such as John Denver, Johnny Cash, Isaac Hayes, Keith Urban, Linda Ronstadt, The Beach Boys and many others have all experienced the unique sound of Treasure Isle.

During his more than four decades in the broadcasting and recording industry, Fred Vail has received numerous honors, including 20 Gold and Platinum Awards. Aside from being the president and CEO of Treasure Isle Recorders, Inc., he has also served the recording industry in various capacities, such as Member of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Independent Music and Governor and Vice President of the Nashville Chapter of the Recording Industry. In 1986, he was also a Republican nominee in the 6th Congressional District of Tennessee.

Background

Recording Connection mentor Gregory Hainer is an interesting case. Usually our Recording mentors work primarily in the music industry but Gregory has made a successful career for himself in music as well as film, television, and video game entertainment as a music composer, voice over specialist, Sound FX designer and mixer on numerous projects including: Plants vs. Zombies 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Guild Wars 2, Prince of Egypt, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, We Were Soldiers, Dishonored, Black Hawk Down, and many more.

Gregory does most of his work from Scorpio Sound, his boutique studio located in the Hollywood Hills. His unique skills-set, talent, and setup enables him to do work larger audio studios can’t. “From a client’s perspective, I own the studio, so there is no middle management overhead to worry about because the owner/operator is also the creative head. This means I have the freedom to choose to spend a little more time with my clients in order to get things perfect versus having to be out of a studio by a specific time.” Specialty might as well be Gregory’s middle name. “I get quite a few calls for the most unusual or difficult to design stuff that many in-house teams can’t quite seem to pull off convincingly, such as creating sounds for creatures, magic spells, sci-fi effects, light sabers and the like. But I will also get the occasional call to do the less-fun direct stuff like cleaning up poorly recorded production audio from a film, or digging out inaudible archival dialogue from excessive background noise.”

On top of working in the film, TV, and video game industries Gregory also takes on Recording Connection apprentices and teaches them about both the industry and the craft of audio engineering.

Articles

RC grad Andrew Holscher reports back on his Eddie Kramer Experience
Recording Connection mentor Gregory Hainer on Vibe and Flow

Background

Kevin Sharpe is an Emmy Award winning producer, engineer, and keyboardist. He has produced, recorded or mixed many fine artists. Click here to see a list of credits.

Kevin began recording at the age of 15 years old with a 4 track Teac reel to real, a Yamaha mixer, Moog synth and a broken drum machine. Soon he was recording local bands and the neighbors dog. After years of making noise and honing his recording skills he opened a small studio in Troy, Michigan. twenty five years and a couple of thousand bands later, he still gets chills while mixing a great song.

As a producer, Kevin is 100 percent committed to doing whats best for the song, while preserving the unique chemistry of the preforming artist or band. By making the recording process work for the music, the artists vision shines through to the finished product. After all it is always about the music!

Kevin attended Oakland University before studying music at Rochester College. After completing his education, he has taken several courses at The Berklee College of Music.

Articles

Graylyn “Gino” Claiborne gets hired by his mentor’s studio after graduating!Aver

Background

Recording Connection mentor Josh Monroy is proof-positive that getting in and showing your commitment to the craft, day-in and day-out, can launch your career to unprecedented heights. With more than a decade in the music industry, Josh “Igloo” Monroy has worked with everyone from Justin Bieber to Quincy Jones, to The Notorious B.I.G. The seasoned engineer/composer/producer is also known for his longtime work with iconic artist Ludacris. An Atlanta native, Josh recently answered the call to come out to Los Angeles and is now co-owner of Studio 1 Zero. His most recent success includes the work he’s done on JoJo’s critically-acclaimed album Mad Love, which includes three tracks recorded, produced, and co-written by the multifaceted music professional.

Articles

RC mentor Josh Monroy Talks How He Got Hired by Ludacris and Doing JoJo’s “Mad Love”

Background

A true music industry veteran, Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker is the owner and chief producer/engineer for Maximus Music Records, one of the top recording studios in Charlotte, NC, serving clients like Jadakiss, DMX and many others. As a Recording Connection mentor, Ira is passionate about training up new talent and always looks for opportunities to push his students to expand their skills.

Articles

NUGGETS OF TRUTH: Recording Connection mentor Ira Parker on pushing the limits
Wes Hagy: From Mechanical Engineering to Audio Engineering