Craig Leon: Repeated Listening
by Ian Brennan
Craig Leon produced a host of who’s who New York band debuts in the mid-1970s, including Blondie, Richard Hell the Voidoids, and Suicide. He went onto work with many stalwart artists such as Guy...
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by Ian Brennan
Fantastic Negrito: Taking Left Turns & Pushing Back
by Ian Brennan
Fantastic Negrito’s new album, White Jesus Black Problems, is based on the true story of Negrito’s seventh generation white Scottish grandmother (Grandma Gallamore), an indentured...
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe: In-Between the Notes
by Ian Brennan
Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe is one the most innovative composers working today. With his experience in punk and metal bands, and as a vocalist, his compositions are grounded in a way that is usually...
Stan Shaff: San Francisco’s Immersive Sound at Audium
by Ian Brennan
Stand at the console Stan Shaff’s fascination with the use of sound movement as a compositional tool grew out of his roots as a jazz trumpet player. In 1960, he began staging the first of...
Tom Wilson: An Unsung Hero of the Studio
by Ian Brennan
Tom Wilson at Mayfair Recording Studios Times Square, New York City. Charlie Steiner © 1967
Piper Payne: Respect For the Craft
by Ian Brennan
A drummer turned mastering engineer, Piper Payne is a Bay Area audio professional who I’ve long admired. She has worked with the likes of The Go-Go’s, Shannon & the Clams, Third Eye...
Matt Still: More About the Song Than the Gear
by Ian Brennan
Grammy-winning engineer Matt Still has become Elton John’s go-to person for decades. This speaks volumes, given the no-doubt exacting nature of such a veteran and commercially successful artist....
Ian MacKaye: Recording as an Artificial Exercise
by Ian Brennan
Ian MacKaye and I have been friends for over 20 years, ever since I convinced him and the band he was in, Fugazi, to come and play at the "Food Not Bombs" 20th anniversary free show in San Francisco...
Peter Asher: No Overriding Rules
by Ian Brennan
Gordon Waller and Peter Asher (Peter and Gordon) at Studio Three at EMI Recording Studios Paul McCartney lived in his house for two years. His mother was George Martin's music teacher. He is...
Alvin Lucier: Do Something Original
by Ian Brennan
Alvin Lucier is one of the most influential composers in the post-John Cage era. Having authored over 172 pieces for film, theater, television, and dance companies, it is fair to say that he is...
Kevin Army: "If I made it sound beautiful it would just kill it."
by Ian Brennan
Kevin Army was a secret force behind the East Bay punk explosion of the late '80s and early '90s. Being a generation older than the bands he worked with brought depth and wisdom on two-fronts that...
Looking Back at 50 years of Music and Family with John Golden: w/ April & JJ Golden
by Ian Brennan
Beginning his foray into music as an artist, John Golden has been mastering records for nearly 50 years, a time span very few share. I started making records back in the 1980s, and had the good...