Producer/engineer/mixer/studio owner Matt Linesch has spent the last seven years building out Infinitespin Studio, a space that reflects his years dedicated to practicing the craft of analog recording combined with a contemporary hi-fi digital approach for a modern, hybrid workflow.

The Los Angeles studio has a rich legacy—it was built in the ‘80s by South African producer Bobby Summerfield, and hosted legendary artists like Whitney Houston, Toto, Alan Parsons, Prince, Joe Satriani, Limp Bizkit and LeAnn Rimes, to name a few. In 2023, the team won a GRAMMY for the Edgar Winter album Brother Johnny that was recorded at Infinitespin.

We sat down with Matt to talk about his relationship with Vintage King (which goes back to the start of his career), what he thinks of the changing music industry, and what his plans are for the future of Infinitespin.  

When we spoke to you last, you were at United Recording—tell us about your journey to setting up Infinitespin.

Providing a high-caliber work environment for musicians to feel creative has always been a big part of my contribution as a producer, mixer, and engineer.

I've been lucky enough to work in big studios for a lot of my career, starting with assisting Ross Hogarth, working with artists like Van Halen and The Doobie Brothers, then transitioning into working with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, again in a big studio in Ojai, and then completing some of our work at United Recording. After that I moved into United Recording in Hollywood, taking over the mastering room for a few years after Alan Yoshida moved out. 

One thing I wanted to maintain in my next studio was the caliber of workspace. I like the focus that a studio facility brings out in people when they walk through the front door—a kind of professionalism that will push your creativity and skills. Moving into Infinitespin seven years ago was a natural step, a time to push myself and my craft. 

Working in a studio like this means that anything you can imagine, you can do—there are no limitations except for yourself. Whatever creative idea you come up with, we’re able to fulfill it here. A lot of this comes down to the people working in the studio as well. My team here at Infintespin are some of the most skilled “studio rats” (I’m one too) that I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside. I think I’ve really settled into the large-format, sometimes analog, workflow while being at Infinitespin.  

How did you first become aware of Vintage King and what was your first experience working with us? 

I think I first became aware of Vintage King when I was a student at Loyola Marymount University, or maybe it was when I worked for Margarita Mix Studios in the early 2000s. I didn't start working with VK directly until I was assisting Ross Hogarth on some of those great Van Halen and Doobie Brothers albums.

I started buying from VK on a regular basis during my time with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. VK helped us build our first studio in Ojai, which would have been sometime around 2010 or 2011; that's when I got to know Jeffrey Ehrenberg, whom I still keep in touch with regularly. Between Vintage King and Charlie Bolois, we were always in the best of hands. 

Then, when we moved the Edward Sharpe studio to New Orleans, we continued to work with VK, which is great because you guys have always bent over backward for anything we’ve needed—whether it's purchases, exchanges, or loaning us a demo piece of gear.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear that you have purchased from Vintage King?

Oh wow, I have so many favorite pieces of gear! There have been a few select pieces of equipment in my career that have changed my workflow and the biggest has been my ATC 45s. They were a game changer; all of a sudden I could hear in a way that I've always wanted to hear and that was life-changing and career-changing. The more you hear, the more you can do.

My second favorite would have to be my Retro Sta-Level. I used that compressor throughout my records with Edward Sharpe, and it has remained an important part of my vocal chain, bass chain, and sometimes my snare chain. Shoutout to Phil Moore!

A strange favorite is my Benchmark A/D converter. While converters might not be the most talked about piece of studio gear, I find them to be crucial, especially in my drive for hi-fi recordings. I have the Benchmark normalled to the stereo bus output of my API console; all of my mixes go through it.

And finally… my pair of Coles 4038s; they’re definitely a go-to for drum overheads at Infinitespin. It’s between that and a condenser mic like my Neumann SM69, but with the 4038s I find that there's this texture that really comes through, especially with a Retro 2A3 EQ on them going into a silky compressor like my EAR 660s. 

I’ve picked out all my equipment one by one. My criteria for buying gear is by need, really. I feel very connected to my collection of equipment. It makes it really hard to sell things—I don't know if I could ever sell any of this gear. [Laughs]

How has Vintage King helped you with gear selection, purchasing, and servicing in the past?

The equipment industry isn’t easy, especially with hi-fi analog gear. You don't always know what you need until you try a few options. VK has always been part of the decision-making process, helping me decide which piece of gear will fulfill the need I’ve identified, and sometimes letting me give gear a try before purchasing. As we all know, this gear gets expensive!

VK has also been there in times of need with gear failing mid-session. I remember my clock going out mid-mix. I don't really remember how it all ended up shaking out because it was years ago now, but I know Jeff helped me get through that session. I might not even have ended up buying the clock from VK because it was a discontinued model, but he still helped me through it because I'm a client—loyalty and relationships are everything in this business.

Vintage King has your back; they support you, and know the industry. It’s not just a sales team, it’s people that understand what we're doing here, how we’re using the equipment that you're selling, and the challenges that can come with that. Making music is by no means an easy endeavor, but it sure is fun.

What sets Vintage King apart from other pro audio gear companies?

Your approach with customers—we’re clients, not just a customer to sell something to and collect a commission. VK staff are more like teammates, in my experience, that's what really sets you apart as a company. I don't feel like I'm being sold something. By the time I pick up the phone, I already know why I'm calling so I don't need to be sold on something; I just need a knowledgeable person to discuss the decision I’m making and offer input, options, and solutions.

Tell us about some of the memorable artists you have worked with over the years.

Working with Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros will always be one of my most memorable experiences. It was a very rare experience—something I’m realizing more and more. We worked on the album "Here" for eleven months; we were all together, all the time, and were entirely focused on the art. The rest of the world just fell away once we walked through those studio doors. There was such artistry in it, free of industry demands. If we worked for a week on something and decided to set it aside for a minute and try something new, there was no problem—things feel rushed now.

The last three records that I produced and engineered have been full analog productions—never touching a computer—recording to 24-track, mixing down to a 2-track, and then mastering to lacquer. That's been a humbling, exciting, and challenging experience. It pushes me, on this side of the glass, to my limit because it's using all my skills and tools at once. Using outboard gear, tape machines, and analog effects is a far different experience than anything you might have with a laptop. You can really screw it up if you don’t know what you’re doing. I realize now that I’ve been training myself in this approach for decades, and only now do I think I can deliver the quality production that I’ve been hearing in my head—I still have so much to learn too. 

The three artists that I've produced analog recently are Isaac Watters, Regina Ferguson, and the band Calling Cadence, and it's been really fun to see all of the artists step up to the plate and say, “We're going to do this” and understand that it's unlike any process that 95% of the industry is doing right now. In the end, it really feels like art.

I also continue to work with Dave Mason from the band Traffic. We've been making music ever since I was in Ojai with Ed Sharpe. That's always a thrill because he's got so many gems in his songs and past recordings; I'll fly up to meet him and he'll have a whole new batch of songs that he just transferred off tape and it'll be songs with him and George Harrison, or him and Jimi Hendrix; that's amazing and always a lot of fun.

How has the industry changed since you first opened your doors and how has your studio adapted to those changes?

That's a very interesting question, and everyone's answer probably has had something to do with COVID, right? I've had this studio for seven years and the pre-COVID time was different than now. Over the first few years of being in the studio, there was a steady growth of clients and outside engineers and producers that rented the studio; then everything kind of fell apart during COVID. Fortunately, during COVID, I was in the middle of all three of these analog projects, and as a studio, with my assistants and the musicians, we all became a COVID bubble. We didn't see anybody but we worked on the albums, which was a saving grace for us. I think my craft and skills greatly furthered during that time.

As for the industry as a whole, I think it is really confused right now; it doesn't quite know what to do. Studios like mine are closing—people aren't spending as much money on their productions, but it makes sense; it’s tough to make money in the music business. There seems to be a big shift happening in the creative world right now. I think we’re in an age of quantity, which can make it difficult for artists to be recognized—some still do though, thank goodness. 

What’s happening with the film and television world is a reflection of similar things that I believe the music industry went through years ago when Napster came out, but there’s no striking in rock 'n roll—you just don’t work. [Laughs] So we've had to try to adapt and I think we're still trying—that’s why we see most people working from home and the conflict with DSPs, royalty payouts, etc.

My wish for all of the creative industries is for some kind of evolution to happen; I think the creatives are really in a tough spot right now. As a part-time teacher at Loyola Marymount University, I try to pass on knowledge of my experiences, mistakes, and successes to my students—they’re the generation that will either turn things around… or not.

Looking back, what are you most proud of or excited about in terms of your studio’s history?

The studio provides and follows through to whomever chooses to come and work here. I feel proud that I’ve put together a space that can step up to any challenge. It doesn’t matter the genre of music, the age of the artist, or the level someone is at in their career, Infinitespin gives you the ability to excel. That feels really special to me. 

I have always wanted to be at a point in my career where I could execute a very high-quality analog record and now I can do it—I can do it over and over again. Since I was a student, then an intern, and then an assistant, I was listening to all these albums and trying to understand all the little puzzle pieces that went into the productions… the subtleties in the way that tape as a medium works, the 200 different ways to record a drum set, vocals, acoustic guitars, or an accordion, or whatever it is. To be able to take those puzzle pieces and put it together into a piece of work that is an actual recording of a performance—it's not a creation of a performance, it's a recording of a performance—I have spent almost two decades learning that. And while there’s still so much to learn, I feel very proud that if anyone, whether it was The Rolling Stones or Adele or whoever it is… if they wanted to do a hi-fi analog record, I could give them a product that is on par with a Steely Dan album or a Fleetwood Mac album and it would be a fun and creative process.

When working on tape, I always dump it at high resolution to Pro Tools, as a backup. So when I get to the point of mixing an analog album, I will actually get my preliminary mix done via the 96K digital recordings to get a ballpark idea of how the mix is falling into place, and then I always reach a point where I'm like, “Okay, time to switch over to tape.” And it's not because I'm almost done, it's because I've reached a point where the bass and the kick drum are competing, or the vocal and the acoustic guitar are competing with these weird frequencies, and I’m banging my head against a wall trying to fit them together. 

When you switch over, it's like everything in the room just took a big deep breath and all the sounds start working together; the thing that I spent two hours with, the bass and the kick drum problem, it's gone! It sounds beautiful and if there's anyone else in the room—and you don't have to have a trained ear for this—if there's anybody in the room, it's like night and day. All of a sudden, the sound is washing over you. It is a very unique experience. Of course, it means you have to be in the studio at that exact time during the mix [laughs] but it's really special and eye-opening.

What are your plans for the future of your studio? 

Oh, this is a fun one! I'm actually in the midst of a full rebrand of the studio right now, and then I'm going to be doing a big marketing push just to let people know we're still open for business. I never did that post-COVID. I've mostly flown under the radar with my studio, but I want others to have special experiences here; I never wanted the studio as a place just for me. My goal was always to put together a studio that held the qualities and professionalism of any of the top studios but was maybe a little bit smaller and maybe a little more affordable for more people.

One of the other big things that I'm doing is branching out further than just the music business. When I went to film school, I really enjoyed the crossover between the film and music world so I've wired the studio to accommodate scoring and even voiceover stuff. That is going to be another element of my push because a lot of my colleagues are working with top musicians on music for films and I would love to have them enjoy this studio I've spent years putting together.

Vintage King has been a part of this process with me. The studio has incredible acoustics: a 25-foot by 4-foot bass trap in the back of the room, the walls are full of sand, there’s baffling all through the ceilings… It’s a studio that you can walk into and, within a short amount of time, be up and running, having some of the best sounds that you could ever get. I think that's why we were able to participate in the Edgar Winter record that got the GRAMMY. Edgar and producer Ross Hogarth brought in top-tier artists to come in and play on his album, and they knew that by coming here they could gain the same level of craftsmanship as they would at one of the bigger studios. So that's my plan—keep on going, that's all you can do; but doing it in a new way. I think it's time to have a fresh start, a facelift, so that's what I'm going to do.

Want to hear more from Matt Linesch? Watch our Make Your Mark video below to learn what inspires him and how he prefers to run a session.

Don SpachtIf you’re interested in purchasing any of the gear mentioned in this blog, contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.