about me
I started playing music at an early age. My first instrument was the saxophone playing mostly classical music. When I turned 15 and entered high school I took up the drums. Any real musical discoveries all happened though the drums during the next 10 years of my life. After getting fed up with doing random sessions and too many dive bar gigs in and around NYC I decided to pursue a job working in a studio.
I got a gig at the legendary and now defunct Hit Factory studios in NYC through the great producer and engineer Thom Panunzio. My time at the Hit Factory lasted just over a year. It culminated with working with two Los Angeles based producers John Fields and Jim Scott. The two of them both encouraged me to move to Los Angeles where there was more of a rock scene.
John was the first to offer me a gig in LA and I immediately accepted it. After I did a few gigs with him I decided to stay. Soon after moving I helped open up my first studio in Silverlake called RedStar Recording with my friend and studio owner Dave Kalish. I then decided to follow up on my relationship with Jim Scott which resulted in a job at Cello Studios. Bill Putnam, the father of modern recording, designed the studio in 1957. Cello, originally called Western, was perhaps the most legendary studio on the West coast hosting sessions by the Beach Boys (Pet Sounds), Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones as well as hundreds of other historic and groundbreaking artists. Jim and I worked together almost exclusively until the studio closed its doors in 2005 (the studio has since re-opened under the name East West).
The relationship I established with Jim lead to us working for Rick Rubin on the Dixie Chicks album “Taking The Long Way”. The entire project lasted for over a year. During that time I not only worked on the record but also the live show, the website, ringtones and audio for the movie “Shut Up and Sing” directed by Academy Award winning documentarian Barbara Kopple. “Taking the Long Way” debuted on the Billboard 200 chart in 2006 at #1. It won all 5 Grammy awards it was nominated for at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards, taking away all 3 top prizes, Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. I won 3 Grammy awards for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Country Album of the Year.
Following the Dixie Chicks record I immediately went to Tempe, AZ to work with Jimmy Eat World, co-producing and engineering their record “Chase This Light”. The legendary Butch Vig had signed on to executive produce. I was now working with the second of my favorite producers of all time. “Chase This Light” debuted on the Billboard 200 chart in 2007 at #5 (the band’s highest charting album to date).
After getting settled back in Los Angeles I established my second studio in Silverlake named the Greenhouse. I produced, recorded and mixed records there for the next 2 years. Since that time I have moved to Burbank where I mix at home in my Brighton Street Studios. All my tracking as of late has been done at my original, and now super tripped out studio Red Star Recording in Silverlake.