John Agnello: Dinosaur Jr. & Sonic Youth Producer On New Indie Rock Sounds, Classic Techniques

JERSEY CITY: In 1979, a Brooklyn teenager and avid record collector named John Agnello landed an internship at one of Manhattan’s most prominent music studios. Thanks to some hard work and genuine affability it wasn’t long before he found himself assisting on major releases from contemporary heavyweights like Aerosmith, Cyndi Lauper and Twisted Sister.

It’s an unexpected beginning for a Producer most known for his involvement with classic Indie Rock darlings, many of whose records still pepper the favorites lists of young fans. Success on early releases with Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees and Buffalo Tom made way for work with The Breeders, Sonic Youth, The Hold Steady and Nada Surf.

We grabbed a quick bite with John near his Jersey City home between sessions with Kurt Vile at Williamsburg’s Headgear Recording Studio.

Looking through your early discography, we see you listed as an assistant on some pretty mainstream releases. It’s interesting to see your credit list take a left turn in the early 90s toward more bold and unique artists, branded back then as “Alternative Rock.” It looks like you’ve never turned back. I’d like you to take us through that journey a little. How did you get your start?

I started assisting at the Record Plant in ’82, and started engineering in ’84. I was engineering for a long time, all through the 80s and into the early 90s. It took a while to really get considered to produce records. And with good reason! (laughs) I wasn’t really a “Producer” at first.

What changed? Were there any seminal records that acted as a turning point for you?

The first Dinosaur Jr. record was a really great experience. I was credited as an engineer, and I wouldn’t say I was a “producer” on those records. But I definitely helped J. [Mascis] get to a different sonic level. When we worked on together, Dinosaur Jr. records started to sound like classic records, not just gnarly discs with great songs covered in “Ka-Kssshhhhh” (makes sound effect of gnarly midrangey goodness). Once those records were doing really well and A&R guys noticed what I was starting to contribute to the process, things began to change.

How does your approach as a producer differ from that of your engineering days? Is there a learning curve?

Over the years I’ve learned a lot about what a producer can do, and pushed the envelope a lot more. When I started producing, it was in the middle of this Indie/Alternative Rock explosion. Things were really open.  What a producer had to do was create a vibe, get the bands to perform, and let them do their thing. You might help with an arrangement here or there, but that was it. Bands were being signed because somebody somewhere liked them.

The attitude was: if a band like Spacehog or Nada Surf or Jawbox hit the charts, great! And if they didn’t… they didn’t. In that way it was a totally different world.

Today, I spend a lot more time in rehearsals with bands really working through arrangements and giving them actual direction. Things these days are so much tighter. There are so many records coming out, indie-wise at least, and it’s so much more competitive because everyone posts their songs online.

For an unknown band to have a chance of getting noticed, it’s really important for the record to be concise and bring out the best of what they do. Sometimes we’ve got to leave out all the extra filler that makes listeners go: “Boring!” Attention spans have gotten to be…miniature.

So do you find yourself working more as a musical gatekeeper than you would have in the past?

Absolutely. I’m in pre-production rehearsal with bands right now, and you have to bring these things up: ”The song’s too long, let’s cut the chorus here in half here,” or “The key’s not right for your voice, let’s try modulating there.” When you’re making good suggestions, bands are really receptive. And it’s fun too. You feel like you’re even more a part of the band and a part of the record. It’s great to notice: “Hey the verse… It’s really this song’s chorus, isn’t it? Let’s build around that.”

Let’s face it: anyone can be an engineer these days. That’s no slight against the guys who are great engineers, because there are some really good ones. The point is: Any one of these bands *could* stay at home and make their own record. These days just being an engineer isn’t enough to separate yourself from everyone else out there. You’ve got to bring something else to the table.

So here you are being hired for your ability to filter and to make perceptive musical choices… but you didn’t even start out as a musician?

No, not at all!

How did that happen? Did you become a player as things wet along?

I didn’t. That’s another thing that’s interesting to think about: when I first started assisting, I really had no concept of pitch. I was just a kid who loved listening to records. I wasn’t a musician, I wasn’t trained. I had to learn to listen and understand what pitch was and to focus on it. It’s just another one of those things that you learn to do well through repetition.

You’ve done a lot of work with promising bands as they’re discovering their sound. But you’ve worked with established artists as well. The last two Sonic Youth records you’ve worked on have featured some really masterful sounds.

Considering how long they’ve been around and how long I’ve been around, it’s been really great to finally work with them. It made me feel really good about my station in life, to be able to make two really wonderful records with a band I’ve always loved.

Sonic Youth are a band known to have a lot of vision and often share production credit on their records. How is your role different with a band like that?

Oh, they know what they’re doing. A big difference between working with a Thurston Moore or a J Mascis and all the other bands we’re talking about, is that you don’t need to tell either of those guys anything about songwriting (laughs). What’s the point?! What a band like Sonic Youth really requires is that we’re on time delivering the record, and I can help keep them on track while they have so many other projects going on.

Rather Ripped in particular made some waves for helping put the band back on the map after some rare time away from critical acclaim. That album took a distinctly punchy and muscular sonic direction compared of their prior records. The guitars in particular command an unusual amount of power and clarity. Can you tell us anything about your approach there?

Rather Ripped (2006) and The Eternal (2009) both have Lee on the left and Thurston on the right. That’s how they stand on stage. I just love the clarity of stereo. It’s great to hear each dude doing their part, and it’s really cool to hear that in headphones, especially when one part steps out a bit from either side.

Definitely. It leaves a lot of room for power in the drums too. I hear that kind of spread on one of your newest releases as well. Dead Confederate’s Sugar came out this past month, and in some places the guitars are also really wide, but much more textured and layered sounding.

They have a cool sound. I joke that’s almost like “Freedom Grunge.” You know? Like Freedom Rock + Grunge, with some shoegaze mixed in. It combines a lot of things I like.

I’ve heard you tend to use the same mics a lot on guitars: a classic combination of [Shure] SM57, [Neumann] U87 and [Sennheiser] 421 mixed together. Is that true of those two records, even though they have such different sounds?

Yeah, a lot of it comes from the amp, and the player. That’s the first place to change things. If there’s something that ties those sounds together it’s that I really like my guitars close-miked, even if they have a lot of effects on them. If your amp is really blowing and you have the mic right on it, that’s where you get a lot of intensity. If you start to move it back, sure you can get some more air and some room maybe, but you sacrifice that intensity.

When you use a blend of mics like that, which mics are you listening to in the control? What about the players?

I’m old school. I’ll blend them together and print it to tape or to Pro Tools. If I’ve got a great sound that’s moving me, I don’t want to have to think about how I got it ever again. When I’m producing, I want to shut up the Engineer-guy in my head as much as possible so the Producer-guy can take the wheel. Sometimes I’ll even print my snare top and bottom on one track.

What about kick drums? Some of your records have a powerful-yet-organic sound you don’t hear a lot these days.

I think both those Sonic Youth records and a lot of the Dino stuff is a double-headed kick drum, no hole. It’s really hit-or-miss though. If you put a mic up on either side and it sounds good, you’ll have an amazing sound. If it doesn’t, you could struggle with mics and anything else for hours and you’ll never get there.

What else are you excited about? I hear you’re in the studio with Kurt Vile now, making a record for Matador.

He’s great. Really quirky, unique stuff while also being classic and beautiful. My daughter Bella is in love with him and sings his songs in the car all the time!

Have the digital and home studio revolutions changed the way you work much?

Not a lot in my niche. Every once in a while I’ll get a record to mix that was recorded by a new band at home. You wouldn’t get projects like that years ago. And sure, I use Pro Tools and edit digitally, but other than that, I pretty much work the same way.

I feel like you can’t make the same record all the time, and each album should be unique, but I use the same tools a lot.  I pick my favorite studios like Water Music, Headgear and Magic Shop because they have tape machines that work and the monitoring is great. It’s almost embarrassing to admit, but I’ve been using the same stereo bus compressor for almost 24 years! (Laughs.)

— Justin Colletti

For more on John Agnello, visit his website at www.johnagnello.com and follow him on Twitter @John_Agnello.

Justin Colletti is a Brooklyn-based audio engineer and music producer who’s worked with Hotels, DeLeon, Soundpool, Team Genius and Monocle, as well as clients such as Nintendo, JDub and Blue Note Records.

Studio Sweet Spot: Sundlaugin * Mosfellsbaer, Iceland

Facility Name: Sundlaugin Studio

Website: www.sundlaugin.com

Location: Mosfellsbaer, Iceland

How to Get Here from NYC: JFK to Keflavik Airport, then 40 minutes drive towards Reykjavik.

Where You Can Stay Once You Get Here: Hotel Laxnes, five minute walk from the studio. Or any hotel in downtown Reykjavik which is a 15-minute drive from the studio.

Neighborhood Advantages: Sundlaugin is literally one of the last houses before you hit the countryside. Quiet and green area with beautiful walks all around. A river runs three meters from the sweet spot in the control room. Outside, though.

Date of Birth: 2000

Facility Focus: Very well suited for live tracking as we have a fairly big main recording room with high ceilings and four other rooms/booths, as well as a great collection of microphones. Great for mixing also; Neve desk, nice outboard and loads of plug-ins.

Clients/Credits: Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Damien Rice, the Album Leaf, amiina, Mugison, Seabear, múm, Ólöf Arnalds, Skúli Sverris, Pétur Ben and many other foreign as well as Icelandic bands.

Key Personnel: Birgir Jon Birgisson, engineer/manager/owner; Kjartan Sveinsson, producer/owner

System Highlights: Neve V0 desk; ProTools HD2; Otari MTR90 mkII w/Dolby SR; Manley, Neve, Empirical Labs, Lexicon, AMS, Alan Smart, Shadow Hills outboard; Neumann, RCA, AEA, AKG, Coles, Sennheiser, Melodium mics

Distinguishing Characteristics: Loads of natural light, especially in the control rooms which is a rare treat in a studio — makes it a lot easier to spend long hours working. Five separate rooms to record in, four of which you’d fit in a full drum kit. Each with different characteristics.

The building is on fire, you only have time to grab ONE thing to save, what is it? Neumann U47 valve microphone

Rave Reviews: The vibes in and around the studio; we have a pond and a river just outside the control room with a view of a field and even a small forest which is a rare sight in our fair country.

Having such a nice environment makes everyone feel at ease which makes the process so much more enjoyable. Drummers also love the main room.

Most Memorable Session Ever: Super Mama Djombo; a 14-piece band from Guinea-Bissau. They taught me it’s not the gear you use but how you use what you have.

Session You’d Like to Forget: That one involves bad notes and Melodyne for six days straight.

Dream Session: The band would be Tom Waits, Dolly Parton, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Dave Grohl and Davíð Þór Jónsson.

– Biggir Jon Birgisson, Engineer/Manager, Sundlaugin

Sennheiser Sound Academy Studio Recording Seminar At The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center, 8/11

On Wednesday, August 11, the Sennheiser Sound Academy will host a session on key recording techniques, concepts and practices at The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center Studios.

Jim Anderson, past president of the AES and a professor at the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at NYU, will be the guest engineer for the tracking portion of the seminar.

The seminar will be led by Sennheiser’s Chris Spahr, who oversees national market development for live sound and studio markets. Spahr has performed live sound work for concerts, corporate functions and theater applications, and spent five years as a staff engineer at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL working on music, TV and film projects.

Following are details on time and location:

When: Wednesday, August 11 between 10AM and 5PM

Where: The Fuse Box @ Manhattan Center Studios
311 West 34th Street
New York, NY 10001

This seminar will speak to recording engineers who want to develop a firm understanding of studio technique as well as those who simply wish to brush up on their studio basics while picking up some useful new tips. The course highlights basic microphone techniques and advanced studio recording concepts and practices.

The Sennheiser Sound Academy seminars are $149 and include lunch, swag, informative workshop materials and a $50 coupon toward the purchase of any Sennheiser product. To learn more about the seminar or to register, please visit Sennheiser’s event page at http://www.sennheiserusa.com/aboutsec_events.

Sennheiser Sound Academy Presents Seminar on Installed Sound Tomorrow in NYC

Sennheiser will be hosting a Sennheiser Sound Academy ‘Seminar on Installed Sound’ at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Times Square tomorrow (8/4), from 9AM-5PM.

The seminar ($149 registration) will feature classroom-style training on “key practices, topics and trends in the installed sound/systems integration business.”

Led by Sennheiser’s own Kent Margraves, Chris Phillips, and David Theis, the day-long event covers everything from wireless personal monitoring systems design and applications to digital audio networking, microphone selection and system troubleshooting.

With nearly 40 years of combined specialized experience, the co-leaders offer a variety of skills that appeal to myriad sound professionals.

In addition to the variety of skills and techniques the seminar will cover, attendees will also gain 7.5 credits towards CTS certification renewal. Included in the registration fee is “lunch, swag, informative workshop materials and a $50 coupon toward the purchase of any Sennheiser product.”

For more information about the seminar, visit the event website at Sennheiser USA.

Sennheiser Teams Up With Universal Republic & Pick The Band To Promote New Music

Earlier this week, Sennheiser announced its HearIAm promotion, an awesome new campaign uniting artists and fans while promoting new music.

Here’s how it works: the HereIAm website interfaces with the music service site Pick The Band, inviting fans to listen to, discuss and share their favorite music through various social media tools. Fans are able to cast votes for their favorite artists, making both artists and fans eligible to win prizes including trips to music festivals such as the CMJ Music Marathon in NYC and Osheaga in Montreal.

By accessing and placing their material on HearIAm, artists can become eligible to play at these music festivals. And, through a combination of tallied fan votes and an expert panel of judges, artists chosen as finalists will be given the opportunity to be selected for a Universal Republic Records package that includes an A&R showcase and distribution opportunities. Finalists can also win a 3-song recording session with a major producer, plus $10,000 in Sennheiser gear.

By the time the contest wraps up in spring of 2011, a single grand-prize winner will be selected to receive this A&R showcase and a distribution deal, courtesy of Universal Republic records. A random drawing will determine which fans will win the all-inclusive music experience.

You have to be in it to win it, so get to it! To register for HearIAm as either an artist or fan, and for more detailed information about the various prizes, head over to the website at www.heariam.com, or go directly to www.picktheband.com.

Back At Manhattan Center, Hardgroove Opens The Fuse Box

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN: Public Enemy musician/producer Brian Hardgroove has returned to Manhattan Center, the 34th Street entertainment and studio complex where he came up as an assistant in the 90s. Hardgroove has taken over and reconfigured Studio 4, renaming it “The Fuse Box,” after his nationally syndicated radio show, which will now be produced out of this studio.

Beyond the radio show, Hardgroove’s mission with The Fuse Box is to provide a top-notch recording and mixing environment for developing talent.

This idea was well illustrated when we visited The Fuse Box just a few weeks ago, as teenage rock band Comic Book Heroes was in session with producer Jimmy Landry. Comic Book Heroes was tracking four new songs — two of which will go to ESPN where they are the featured 2010 band for NASCAR and all of which will go for their upcoming full-length record.

“These guys are certainly on the radar right now, but they’ll be on the map within the year,” says Hardgroove of the band. “When Jimmy approached me about working here, and I met with the band and their manager, I saw that they have the right kind of support behind them — they’re smart and they’ve got their bases covered, and I can throw the studio’s weight behind supporting that. And that’s exactly what I’m here to do.”

Working with manufacturer-sponsors including Sennheiser, Cakewalk and TC Electronic, not to mention a fantastic Neve VR-equipped studio to begin with, Hardgroove has created an environment to serve as an incubator for emerging talent.

“The Manhattan Center was originally built as an artistic center, to be a home for artists who could really make something of their talent,” says Hardgroove. “When the owners suggested I come back and base myself out of one of their studios, I thought back to the origins of this entire place and found that we were all on the same page about what I could do to help cultivate great music here. I’d originally thought of taking over one of the old studios on the 8th Floor, but as the plans developed, we decided I should use the showcase room.”

THE LOG CABIN ON 34th STREET
Manhattan Center’s Studio 4 has a large live room and access to even larger live rooms (The Grand and Hammerstein Ballrooms!), awesome Adirondack-style log cabin aesthetic, impeccably maintained equipment and a rich history. In the last decade, this is the studio where Jimmy Douglass recorded and mixed so many Timbaland-produced hits. As The Fuse Box, a new wave of artists and producer/engineers will gain access to this classic room, newly endowed with an incredible microphone collection and multi-platform DAW capabilities.

“I believe you need a good technical environment to develop talent, almost as much as you need the talent itself,” says Hardgroove. “Jimmy Hendrix, one of the great American talents, had technology and an amazing engineer, Eddie Kramer, by his side constantly and they worked in places like this to make his music what it was.”

To augment the already high-end technical environment, Hardgroove called on some of his favorite brands. “I thought if I can get the manufacturers to support this studio the way they’ve supported me as an artist, then maybe we can get something new and cool going on here,” says Hardgroove. He called on Sennheiser, Cakewalk, TC Electronic and Gibson.

“I called David Missall at Sennheiser, and we spent 45 minutes talking music before we ever started talking gear,” Hardgroove notes. “We talked about how the studio would be a showplace for Sennheiser, while simultaneously supporting emerging artists. He totally got it and was behind the idea. He asked me to put a list of mics together, which I did, and then he added to that. Suddenly, we had this banging collection of Sennheiser and Neumann mics coming in!

The Fuse Box microphone cabinet filled out with Sennheiser MKH 8020, 8040, 800-P48, 800 Twin, MD 441, 421 and e series microphones as well as Neumann’s TLM 103 Anniversary, TLM 49 and TLM 67 SET Z.

“I had similar conversations with Cakewalk, Gibson and TC. They all ‘got it,’ they saw it as an opportunity to showcase their gear and wanted help get the word out about the studio. It was a total win-win.”

Hardgroove hooked up with Cakewalk’s Steve Thomas through Public Enemy DJ/producer Johnny Juice. Cakewalk provided a SONAR V-Studio 700 and a range of synths and controller keyboards, making The Fuse Box a dual-platform room running Pro Tools and Sonar.

“Our hardware is platform agnostic — we can play with everybody,” notes Thomas. “Our involvement is not so much about getting people to use Cakewalk, as it is about supporting an artistic environment by providing choices so that people can work with whatever they’re comfortable using.”

In The Fuse Box, Hardgroove has built an environment that’s inspiring and comfortable for artists at any level, and exciting for engineers. The studio has a Neve VR-72 console, ample outboard equipment, large live room with isolated drum room, full kitchen and lounge, and an acoustically treated office that can double as a second production room. Big rock, acoustic jazz, intimate singer/songwriters, horn sections, string sections, what have you — this room will accommodate all in the name of producing great content.

“I wanted to create a place that would be an incubator for good music, and Manhattan Center is giving me a lot of latitude to be able to bring people in and be flexible with pricing,” says Hardgroove. “Comic Book Heroes, for example, are here at a super discounted rate. The idea is to get great artists in here, to support bands that can really blow up and do something, and in the process, build a studio that’s super hip.

“We’ll also be building a production/publishing arm of the company as well, where we’ll be able to provide songs and songwriting so that we’ll be able to participate in the back end of some of these projects.”

PHILOSOPHY IN PRACTICE: COMIC BOOK HEROES

For Comic Book Heroes, whose members are still in high school in Pennsylvania, coming to work at a top-notch Manhattan recording studio is a huge thrill.

“This is only our second time in the studio for an extended amount of time — and our first experience was a good one,” says lead singer/guitar player Ned Goldberg, “But this is a total step-up equipment-wise. It’s so extremely comfortable. I keep saying that I want to live here! We’ve been recording for five days and we’re excited to come back next week to mix.”

Producer/engineer Jimmy Landry first heard the band at SXSW in ’07. “I was way in the back of the room, and it was the worst-sounding PA you could ever imagine, but Ned’s voice cut through and I was won over,” Landry says. Soon after meeting the band, he began working with them, and produced/engineered and co-wrote their ’08 EP, Take a Seat.

“The last record I did with Comic Book Heroes, we were in a basement in Brooklyn, literally underground with a rack of 1073s and an API Lunchbox. And it sounded great, but we were all on top of each other.” In contrast, says Landry, “Working at The Fuse Box is totally refreshing. There’s no question, you really do get more creative in an environment like this. And it’s far less fatiguing. For the last four days I’ve been looging some serious ‘midnight candle hours’ and it really doesn’t feel like that. It’s so comfortable, not to mention the gear is ridiculous and it’s all in amazing shape. I have not experienced one glitch in this place. Not one.”

Keeping it all running so smoothly is Manhattan Center’s chief technician, Joel Scheuneman, and chief engineer Darren Moore.

Johnny Juice points out, “Engineers are key. That’s something that’s really been missing, as kids come up working on Mbox’s trying to be all these people at once — musician, songwriter, producer, engineer — and maybe not being good enough at any of them.

Here, Brian will be eliminating those obstacles for an up-and-coming artist by providing pro engineers, pro gear, great rooms; this fosters the idea that you don’t have to be some monolithic genius, like Prince. He’s able to do all of those things expertly but that is a rarity!”

In addition to scouting out next-big-thing artists of every genre to bring into The Fuse Box, Hardgroove will also be bringing his own projects through the studio, including upcoming sessions with Bootsy Collins and Fred Schneider. And the facility can expand for larger-scale projects.

“When I’m working with Juice on the sessions with Bootsy and Fred, we’ll set him up in the B room and then the place will be humming. Then there’s some vibration in the joint,” he emphasizes. “These days, everyone’s working from 500 miles away and people are bragging about the solo they did in their slippers — where’s the spirit in that? We all grew up with people making music together and I don’t think that’s old-fashioned. I think it’s more fun and I think you have a better chance of tapping into the universe, doing something special.”

Get in touch with Brian Hardgroove and The Fuse Box via www.myspace.com/brianhardgroove. For more information on Manhattan Center Studios, visit: www.mcstudios.com. And, check out Comic Book Heroes at www.myspace.com/cbhmusic and Jimmy Landry at http://www.audiostrike.com.

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