Five Sounds With

Singer/songwriter/producer Jamie Lidell is a sound artist in the truest sense of the concept–he loves a good sonic experiment and isn’t afraid to go down a rabbit hole to explore a musical idea that has potential. Over the course of six albums released in the past two decades, he deftly navigates genres, weaving together his electronic music roots, soul influences, and love for vocal exploration. Continue reading →

Los Angeles-based engineer, producer, and songwriter Carlos de la Garza has spent the better part of the last two decades stacking up an incredible resume. Whether handling recording, mixing or production, he’s been behind the desk for a number of Grammy-winning albums for artists such as Ziggy Marley and Paramore. Continue reading →

Joe Chiccarelli is a GRAMMY-winning producer and engineer with an impressive list of credits ranging from indie rock icons like the White Stripes to pop legends like Elton John. Recently, Joe teamed up with the software experts at IK Multimedia to create a custom Vocal Strip plug-in ($159) that combines all of his favorite mixing tools into one versatile, easy-to-use interface. Continue reading →

Born and raised in New York City, Ben Greenberg is a producer and mixing engineer with more than 20 years of studio experience. Perhaps best known as the guitarist of industrial-punk outfit Uniform, Greenberg’s truest talent is helping artists capture the chaos and translate their performances into a studio setting. We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Greenberg at his studio, Circular Ruin, for our Five Sounds With series. Read on to learn about his work with Bad Breeding, Portrayal of Guilt, METZ, Show Me The Body and what it’s like in the studio with his own band, Uniform. Continue reading →

A version of this interview with Erin Tonkon was previously published in PLAYBACK Issue 002. Be sure to check out the entire issue here. Erin Tonkon broke into the world of engineering at a young age and started learning under the best at NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. During her studies, the budding engineer began working with production legend Tony Visconti and the duo were at the helm for releases from David Bowie, Esperanza Spalding and The Damned. Erin has continued to amass an incredible discography of work, including mixing albums for Sad13, Richard Hell, Rosie Tucker, Lady Lamb and more. Read on to get the inside scoop on five favorites from Erin's career so far. Continue reading →

Based out of Miami, Florida, Ricardo Sangiao is one of the hottest names in mastering at the moment. Known for his work in the Latin, hip-hop, and dance genres, Ricardo has had a hand in many platinum releases in the past few years and shows no signs of slowing down. He's mastered records for Rick Ross, Danny Ocean, and Diljit Dosanjh, just to name a few. Working under legendary engineer Bob Katz, Ricardo has learned from the best and is now applying his knowledge at his own studio, World Class Mastering. Ricardo recently sat down with Vintage King for a Five Sounds With interview to talk about a number of records he has worked on, his process and the gear he uses. Continue reading →

Tamar-kali is an accomplished composer and performer, best known for her work on critically-acclaimed films such as The Assistant, The Last Thing He Wanted, and Shirley, all of which received high praise at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to her work as a film scorer, Tamar-kali also writes and performs with her rock band and her string sextet and voice project. We recently sat down with Tamar-kali for our Five Sounds With... series. Read on to learn about her approach to film scoring, her experiences recording a 16-person ensemble, and how she got her start in the New York punk scene. Continue reading →

Pinar Toprak is a renowned composer and instrumentalist with a diverse body of work spanning film, television, and video games. Known for her work on sci-fi hits like Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel, DC Comics’ Stargirl on The CW, and SY-FY’s Superman prequel series Krypton, Pinar is a powerhouse in the superhero circuit. Born and raised in Istanbul, Turkey, Pinar began her classical music education at the age of five before moving to Chicago to study jazz. She went on to earn a degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music, and a Master’s Degree in composition at CSUN. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with Pinar for our Five Sounds With... series. Read on to learn how she captured the iconic sounds of Captain Marvel, Stargirl, and other projects including the extremely popular Fortnite video game. Continue reading →

Maria Elisa Ayerbe is a Miami-based recording, mixing and post-production audio engineer who has worked with GRAMMY and Latin Grammy-nominated artists such as Mary J Blige, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, JLo and more. Maria was also recognized by the Latin Recording Academy with the Leading Ladies of Entertainment honor in 2019, for her outstanding performance as a professional and socially conscious woman within the arts and entertainment fields. We recently sat down with Maria for our Five Sounds With... series. Read on to learn about her approach to working with up-and-coming songwriters, her favorite technique for recording acoustic guitar, and how she recorded 120 drum tracks in one recording session. . Continue reading →

In our new series, Five Sounds With..., we talk with world-renowned engineers and producers about how they got five sounds from your favorite records. Johnny K is a Grammy Award-nominated producer and mixing engineer based out of Chicago, Illinois. Best known for his work in the hard rock and heavy metal scene, Johnny K has a long list of impressive credits under his belt, including Disturbed, 3 Doors Down, Staind, Finger 11, Plain White T’s, Sevendust, Megadeth and more. We recently had the pleasure of chatting with Johnny K for our Five Sounds With... series. Read on to learn more about how he crafted some of the heaviest guitar tones, made one of his favorite records in a barn, and gets DIY making his own gobos. Continue reading →