Craft
Mike Elizondo The producer, songwriter and bass player has found huge success in diverse genres. GEORGE SHILLING (who also likes wearing several hats) compares notes
M
ike Elizondo studied classical double bass for a good number of years before finding himself in a studio, employed by Dr Dre, replicating electric bass parts from old records on hip-hop productions. He was soon part of the Aftermath label’s core team and having previously been a signed songwriter with his college band he gradually added production and songwriting to his portfolio. Elizondo co-wrote Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady, and co-produced tracks on Snoop Dogg’s 2000 album The Last Meal. He co-wrote and co-produced much of 50 Cent’s Get Rich Or Die Trying including the hit In Da
Club. Other credits included Mary J. Blige, and Eve and Gwen Stefani’s singles and in 2005 he produced Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine album. Other diverse credits have followed including Regina Spektor, Alanis Morisette, Jay Z, Ed Sheeran, twenty øne pilots, and forthcoming albums with Rag’n’Bone Man and thrash metal band Turnstile. From 2011, invited by industry legend Lenny Waronker, Elizondo took an A&R role at Warners for eight years, which “was a really cool education of how decisions get made,” he says — but one that was taking him away from the creative studio process.
In 2018 he moved from LA to Nashville, setting up an impressive studio with a classic SSL 4056E/G (that came from a New York facility, but was originally ordered for another Nashville studio), and the latest Genelec The Ones monitoring system. Elizondo is currently working with twenty øne pilots and doing songwriting sessions with artists including Grace Vanderwaal. There are also projects in the works for Netflix including one with Brittany Howard. Resolution chatted with Elizondo stationed in the studio’s museum-like keyboard room. How has it been with Covid? Even with the pandemic, we were able to be pretty busy this last year. A lot of it was just me and an engineer, sending files back and forth. But there were a good amount of sessions as things started to get safer, where we would have socially distanced sessions, with maybe just two other people in the room. We even did a session where me, the artist, the engineer and all the musicians all got a rapid test result within 20 minutes. And even with that assurance, we all still wore masks. April/May 2021 / 43
