I used an
old Tascam
8-track, which
I fed into a
24-track for
a raw sound
that you don’t
get when
using digital
equipment
exclusively.
anyone else tried to get us to do
we would have just told them to
go away. He understood so completely how every instrument
works, both alone and in a band,
and had a democratic approach
to producing, as opposed to
someone coming in and saying,
“I’m the producer—the rest of
you don’t know crap.” I think
I’ve adapted a similar approach
to engineering and producing. I
never say no to what a musician
wants, no matter how crazy that
thing is, unless I know it’s absolutely not going to work.
What’s an example of an odd
request that another producer
might reject but that you’d
accept?
When I work with Jon Spencer,
he might ask for something so
compressed that it’s all static-y
and fucked-up sounding—
sounds that most people try to
avoid. Or he might want an
odd percussive sound and I’ll
help him find it, for example,
by banging on the edge of a
Wurlitzer with a drumstick.
How would you sum up
your overall philosophy when
it comes to writing, playing,
and producing?
I say no matter what you
do, let your spleen show—
give it your all.
