#Smarts studios manual#
#Smarts studios pro#

It was all kinda' to record our own stuff. The first board we had was an Allen and Heath. I think we had a spring reverb unit, we had a handful of mics, all 57s or even cheaper stuff than that that was the most expensive mic we had.We had one DBX-160 compressor that we bought used for fifty bucks. So, we started doing little demo things in Steve's basement and when I finished college, Steve and I had the idea that we could make a go of this, so we rented a space in a warehouse and bought an eight-track. I was really into it, and at the time also playing in bands and we couldn't afford to go into proper studios. I can't even remember what I was listening to back then. They were very inspired by John Cage and even more accessible stuff like Brian Eno's solo things, or Stockausen. But, some of the soundtracks were pretty interesting. I was recording electronic ambient things for a fellow film student's soundtracks.Įxactly, they were very un-watchable. Steve and I met in film school and he had a four-track in his basement at the time.

#Smarts studios manual#

I still like to get a new piece of gear and just plug it in and fool around with it see what you can do with it.I'm also not a good manual reader.ĭid you start Smart to record your own band? What was the reason behind starting it? I always just did it by the seat of my pants. I was never really classi- cally trained as an engineer never went to any of those schools. But, I still get behind the board all the time and even now as I'm talking to you, I've got my laptop and a Kurzweil, a little keyboard, and this Yamaha speaker set-up 'cause we're working on some b- sides and we spent most of yesterday pro- gramming some loops and things.

#Smarts studios pro#

Even though we made Garbage's Version 2.0, our guitar tech, Billy Bush, by default became the engineer and he handled a lot of the technical aspects, particularly because this is the first time we jumped into using the full-on Pro Tools System. Do you miss engineering as much as you used to when you first started Smart? You started Smart Studios (in Madison, WI) a while ago, and you used to record a lot. And what happens? They got along like peas in a pod. John runs a very analog orientated studio, so I figured with him chatting up Butch, who works extensively in Pro Tools, we'd get some sparks flying. After some contemplation, John Vanderslice of Tiny Telephone studio and M K Ultra (himself a former Tape Op interview victim) came to mind. When we got the opportunity to inter- view Butch, it was originally going to be in San Francisco. Then, as if this wasn't enough, he and Steve put a band together with Shirley Manson and Duke Erickson and called it Garbage.

As time went by his reputation got bigger, leading to work with Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana ( Nevermind) and Sonic Youth ( Dirty). In 1984 he and Steve Marker founded Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin, and started working with tons of indie bands (like Killdozer, L7, Urge Overkill), including quite a few albums for records labels like Touch and Go, Slash and Sub Pop. Butch Vig has created a big name for himself in the recording world.