Producer Crosstalk: Bob Clearmountain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Rob Putnam

JP MASTERS

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PERFECHTER PRODUCTIONS

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SYNERGY PRODUCTIONS

958 N. 127th St., Ste. B Seattle, WA 98133 206-364-1070

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... lessons he’s learned as a mix engineer and producer are: • Gear doesn’t matter. People pay $30,000 for a Fairchild compressor. I can make my little LA-3A distressor sound just like a Fairchild. Just put everything on really slow attack and release.

• Find something that you love to do and are good at––hopefully they’re the same thing.

For me, that was mixing. If you’re really good at it, try to get to like it. • If you’re serious about this, work as hard as you can. Do every session possible and immerse yourself in the craft.

If you’re not going to make it a total priority, then you should be doing something else.

October 2021 musicconnection.com 63

BOB CLEARMOUNTAIN

Producer and mix engineer Bob Clearmountain has worked with some of the biggest artists in the industry—Bon Jovi, The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen are among the names that sparkle on his inch-thick resume. Like many in the business, he got his start in a band. When things didn’t work out group-wise, he asked if he could hang at N.Y.C. studio Mediasound. As a relative newbie, he came with hat in hand but also with some engineering experience in pocket. He was hired as a runner and expected to serve for at least a year in that lowly position. But on his first day, he was tapped to assist on a Duke Ellington session. He now works almost exclusively from Mix This!, his Los Angeles home studio, which is powered primarily by 72 solar panels.

Earlier in his career, he produced as regularly as he’d mix. On those occasions, he’d often bring in a separate engineer so that he could concentrate on his primary task. An outsider would also bring fresh ears to a record. “I did the Pretenders’ Get Close with Jimmy Iovine,” he recollects.

“It seemed like he was on the phone all the time. That was good, though, because he’d come in with all these good ideas and keep out of my hair.” Despite his enormous number of PRODUCER CROSSTALK – ROB PUTNAM credits, Clearmountain often found large projects to be a challenge, but for less than obvious reasons. “When

I worked on the Bon Jovi record, there were so many people involved,” he recalls. “There was someone from the label, a manager, maybe two or three different writers and they all had their opinions. I felt like I was pulled in five different directions. The Bryan Adams song ‘Everything I Do’ was another case where there were a lot of people involved. It felt like the phone was ringing constantly. I knew it was destined to be a huge hit and it took us a week to mix it because they were making a video at the same time. What you learn from all of that is patience. You can’t get upset about anything. Whatever happens, you just deal with it.” The range of gear he’s used over the years approaches incalculable. But DAVE SCHULZ there are a few pieces that stand out for him. “The Apogee converters make everything sound as good as possible,” the engineer says. “It’s a great Originally from Buffalo, NY, musician and producer Dave Schulz started on the piano when he was 11. He went on to play locally and win various awards. Toward the late ‘90s he got a call from baseline to start from. There’s also the SSL G series. I’ve worked on that Robby Takac, bassist with the Goo Goo Dolls, and was invited to play same basic console since about 1980. I can mix on just about anything keys for them at A Day in the Garden (aka Woodstock ’98). Schulz was but it won’t be as easy or sound as good [as with the SSL].” then tapped to join the band’s Dizzy Up the Girl tour, spending two years Recently Clearmountain completed work on a mix for Joe Bonamassa on the road. After his move to L.A., he organized an all-star jam night and a remix of The Band’s 1971 record Cahoots. In addition to his bulging at Ian Copeland’s The Backstage Cafe. He’s since collaborated with a production and mix portfolio, he collaborates with Apogee Electronics—he’s range of artists including Wang Chung, Berlin and Cherie Currie, founding married to Betty Bennett, the company’s founder––on his Clearmountain member of The Runaways. plugins. Chief among them is Clearmountain’s Domain, which features a His recent undertaking was a charity cover of New Radicals’ “You Get customizable suite of delays, reverbs, harmonizers and EQs. His latest offer-What You Give.” Artists involved include Currie, Takac and Bumblefoot, ing is Clearmountain Phases, which is a phaser based on a device that he formerly of Guns N’ Roses. “That song holds a special place for me used at the Power Station in the ’80s. Although he’s worked with countless because it sounds like a modern Todd Rundgren record and I’m a huge prominent artists, he’d still love to log some studio time with U2 or Wilco. fan,” Schulz explains. “It also felt extremely timely. The message alone Visit mixthis.com; apogeedigital.com speaks to a lot of things today, such as venues being shut down, potentially, by the pandemic and the general turmoil that COVID has caused. It will benefit The David Z Foundation, which helps kids with music education. It’s also aligned with Robby’s [Takac] Music is Art in Buffalo.”

Schulz has always produced his own records and in the past few years began to do the same for other artists. “I’d always wanted to produce