#96: "Forget the Notes, It's Your Frequency": Doug Wimbish on Jaco Pastorius, Sugar Hill Records, and the Birth of Hip-Hop.
Gear Club Podcast
Our guest is Doug Wimbish, one of the most renowned bass players of all time, known for his work with a wide range of artists, including Living Colour, Tackhead, Sugarhill Gang, Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, and many more. He is also the founder of WimBash, a series of community-based charity events supporting music education. In this episode, John and Stewart talk with Doug about his extraordinary journey through the music industry. They discuss topics such as his start at All Platinum Records, the birth of Sugar Hill Records, recording "Rapper's Delight", his life-changing encounter with Jaco...
info_outline
Working with Bob Dylan – On Stage and In Studio
Gear Club Podcast
To celebrate Bob Dylan’s birthday, we’ve compiled a special Gear Club episode that offers a behind the scenes look into Dylan’s Life and music. Bob has been described as a shape-shifter, a song and dance man, and the Shakespeare of our time. Over his 60 plus year career, he’s written more than 500 songs that have been covered by over 2,000 artists. He’s played nearly 4,000 concerts. He’s won 10 Grammys, an Oscar, and a Nobel prize in literature. But who is this guy? What’s he like to work with? Listen in as Chris Shaw, David Mansfield, Toby Scott, and Steve Addabbo share their...
info_outline
Ketchup with William Wittman
Gear Club Podcast
Producer and Engineer William Wittman was one of our early guests in 2017 with a two parter, Episodes and , where he discussed making seminal records with Cindy Lauper, Joan Osborne, and The Outfield, his time coming up through NYC recording studios, and his work/prank relationship with our very own John Agnello. In this episode, I catch up with Bill about making records with his band Too Much Joy, drum mic techniques, the things we like about in the box mixing, and working at the famed Van Gelder studio in Englewood, NJ.
info_outline
#94: The Gear and The Garage with Mitch Easter
Gear Club Podcast
In this episode, John and Stewart sit down with producer, engineer, musician, song writer, studio owner, and the Godfather of Jangle Pop, the one and only, Mitch Easter. Mitch has always been and continues to be a staple of the Indie Rock scene in North Carolina and beyond. First operating out of Drive in Studio located in his parents' garage, and in 1994 moving to his current studio, the Fidelitorium. Mitch has worked with a laundry list of seminal artists, including R.E.M., Helium, Pavement, Wilco, Ben Folds Five, Pylon, and Polvo. He’s also an active musician and writer, releasing music...
info_outline
Ketchup with Russell Wedelich
Gear Club Podcast
In 2018 the H9000 Harmonizer®, Eventide’s flagship multi effects processor, won a TEC award for best signal processing hardware. We had the team behind the H9000’s design and development on the podcast in Episodes , and to talk about the process of designing, building, and testing the latest in Eventide’s revered Harmonizer line. Now we’re back to talk about what’s new at Eventide and the 2023 TEC award for best signal processing software awarded to their revolutionary equalizer plugin, SplitEQ. Russell Wedelich is the VP of development and director of signal processing at...
info_outline
#93: The Singer and the Song with Thom Panunzio
Gear Club Podcast
In this episode, we’re delighted to talk with industry legend, Thom Panunzio. Getting his start as an assistant at NYC’s Record Plant, Thom went on to work in every facet of the music business. He’s produced, mixed, and engineered albums for Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Joan Jett, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Alice Cooper, and Aerosmith just to name a few. He helped design The Hit Factory in NYC, A&M Studios in LA, and the Thom Thom Club in Santa Monica, and was the Executive VP for Universal Music and head of A&R at Geffen Records for many years. Thom talks with John...
info_outline
Ketchup with Greg Calbi
Gear Club Podcast
Mastering engineer extraordinaire Greg Calbi is a dear friend and was our guest on Gear Club Episode #2 way back in January of 2017. Over the last 50 years Greg has mastered a seemingly endless list of albums across every genera of music, and it’s almost a certainty he’s had a hand in the making of one of your favorite records. In this episode Greg and I got to chat about Sterling Sound moving from Manhattan to its new facility in Edgewater NJ, his workflow from converters to compressors to clients, and the unique changes, challenges, and expectations of modern mastering.
info_outline
#92: Capturing the Passion with Bob Gruen
Gear Club Podcast
In this episode, we sit down for a conversation with renowned rock photographer Bob Gruen. Bob has been documenting the artists, concerts, and clubs that have come to define rock music, and is responsible for some of the most iconic images of the idiom. Listen in as Bob talks with hosts John and Stewart about his artistic philosophy, his move from film to digital, and being a part of music history.
info_outline
#91: The David Mansfield Multiverse
Gear Club Podcast
This month, we’re thrilled to have David Mansfield on the show, a composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and arranger with a long and storied career. We have each worked with David for a long time, and know firsthand the talent and depth he brings to all the music he touches. Growing up in New Jersey and beginning his career in local bands, he started playing with Bob Neuwirth at The Bitter End and, at 18, joined Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue. From there, he went on to tour and record with Dylan over many albums, and in his 50-year career has worked with an endless variety of...
info_outline
#90: Fur Peace from Everywhere with Jorma Kaukonen
Gear Club Podcast
In this episode, we talk with Jorma Kaukonen, electric guitarist extraordinaire for Jefferson Airplane, vocalist/blues picker for Hot Tuna, prolific solo artist, and all-around great guy. At 81 years young, Jorma is still writing, teaching, and gigging with no signs of slowing down. Listen in as we chat about his early career playing Bay Area clubs with Janis Joplin, life in The Airplane, his guitar mentors, speedskating, touring, and teaching guitar at his Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio.
info_outlineIn this special Gear Club episode, we celebrate the post-Beatle life of John Lennon, who would have turned 82 this year on October 9th. After The Beatles broke up, John and Yoko moved to New York where John produced, recorded, and played songs that spoke to the post-60s generation as they struggled for justice and an end to war. John Lennon impacted the lives of all those he came across, and that impact continues to live on.
To mark the occasion of his birth, we’ve collected first-hand accounts from the producers and engineers who worked most closely with John as he wrote and recorded songs from “Imagine” to “Starting Over”. These people include Shelly Yakus, Jack Douglas, Rod O’Brien, Ed Stasium, Jay Messina, and Greg Calbi.