Most bands in Chicago know how to get ahold of me, and if they're not interested in having me work on their records, I wouldn't want to put them on the spot by thrusting myself on them.
I have worked with Blues Traveler and a few other jam-type bands. Generally, they set up and play live, so they can improvise and free-ball it the way they do onstage. It's a familiar and comfortable way for me to work.

If you're asking if I 'shroom first, then no, I don't 'shroom first.

My question: Are you sick to death of people asking you about Big Black?

OP, I almost pm'd you a while ago to urge you to do this.
Honestly, this is a great idea.

You are very familiar to me via my infatuation with the Pixies, but have obviously heard a lot more of your work. I actually didn't know you had worked with PJ Harvey, but it felt very obvious once you mentioned Rid of Me. Of course!

On to the questions:

Do you think you helped make Gogol Bordello huge?

Do I remember you talking about "Bone Machine" from that Pixies DVD a coupl'a years back?

Great thread!

My question - what's the worst you have seen in regards to the band's experience? Have you ever seen a band fall apart in the studio?

Great question. Off the top of my head:
Brickbat, Cordelia's Dad, Oxbow, the Cape May, Shannon Wright, Tar, Sloy, the Auteurs, Cheer Accident, Uzeda, Bokomolech, Ballydowse, Distortion Felix, Sonna, Desert Fathers... Jesus there's a bajillion of them.

I have made it this far in life without having to carry a phone everywhere, so only extra poker functionality would get me to join the cellphone team, and word is still out.

Hippies themselves are pretty harmless. Hippy music, I think I hate that even more than I hate everyone else.

Neither. I go straight for the vagina. You find them on women.

Extraordinarily lame. I'm guessing school project.

Something that makes me more terrifying please.

Absolutely. Steve, please send your hired goons to whatever part of Chicago they live in and browbeat them into reforming.

How do you play a pair of Eights?
Any swinging dick whose checks won't bounce.
You gay or something?

I hope to make it out there some year, but it will not be this one. It would be great to meet some of the irrepressible bons-vivants that frequent this site, though I am wary of POB attempts.

Not gay. Chicks listen to good music sometimes, too, you know.

Do you know if Arab on Radar have considered reforming? Did you ever do anything with them?

For your own listening pleasure, digital music (CDs) or analogue (vinyl)?

Any thoughts on the new higher sample rate/bitrate SACD or DVDA releases?

I thought the Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones remasters sound great on regular systems. Maybe SACD would be better.

thanks

Well, mixing isn't the magic bullet it's purported to be. A recording is about 90 percent as good as it's ever going to be from the moment of the first rough playback.

Most records that have survived scrutiny for a long time have some qualities that we all associate with them, and presenting them in a new way ("better sound" or whatever) cheapens them a little, and in the case of ZZ Top's '90s remixes, turns them straight to [censored].

I worked on a new version of Cheap Trick's In Color album (not a remix, but a whole new recording), and although everyone involved liked it, it's never seen the light of day, and I can't fault that decision.

About the only "classic" record that has ever been improved-on with a new mix and master is the Who's Live at Leeds, and there is a additional album's worth of excellent extra material added.

I've known Jeff for a long time, and my girlfriend and I hang with Jeff and his family somewhat regularly, but I've never recorded Wilco. They have their own recording setup and they work in a real informal way. I tend to strap-in for a fixed duration session.

And yes, Glenn is awesome.

No, it's a natural thing to ask a guy who was in Big Black. I understand. No big deal.

No, their live show makes them a sensation everywhere they play, and Eugene is a totally driven guy with a superstar personality and a knack for publicity. They were going to be huge no matter what.

Dude, I don't know what you remember. Get real.

lol, you post good too.

any opinion on why these guys are so boring live? their recorded stuff is great.

who was the biggest pain in the ass to work with?

were there any bands you recorded that were so damn good, you wish you were in their band?

how often do you wish you were 2+2'ing instead of recording?

The worst scene is when a band has a bunch of unspoken or passive/aggressive tension bubbling along in the background, but they've kept their [censored] together long enough to get into the studio. Once the session is winding down, in the last couple of days, the gloves start to come off and little complaints can turn into real freak scenes. I once saw a drummer quit a band while I was making him a cassette copy of the final master, over an argument about whether or not the last song should fade out a few seconds faster.

Obviously, that isn't why he quit. He quit because he couldn't stand being in the band, but this argument happened at a point where he could use it as cover. That's the sort of thing that I've seen happen.

[censored] like overdoses and tantrums, that only happens with childish rockstars of the type I seldom encounter.

Not straight ones in my experience, no they don't. You are either a lesbian, a dude, or you don't really like good music. This is a fact proven with science and charts.

Ah, you're from Providence. Okay. That explains everything. Forget what I said about the lesbian thing. You were probably just experimenting in college. But short hair looks good on skinny girls.

If I'm going to put on a record for pleasure, it will be a vinyl record, unless I'm at work. Understand though that I listen to original masters all day every day, and so I'm less likely than most people to want to throw on an album when I knock-off at midnight or whatever.

Doesn't matter, since both formats are now dead, but I think a greater bit depth (24 bits is plenty) grants a bigger quality improvement than increasing the sample rate. The downloadable version of the new album from my band (Shellac of North America) is available in compressed formats, but also 16-bit or 24-bit 44.1kHz versions. We did it as an experiment to see if anybody appreciates having it available.

No, I'm pretty sure they're still going to have Dylan and the Stones on them.

That would be Urge Overkill.

Yeah, I wanted to be in the Jesus Lizard and Fugazi after about ten seconds. In either case it would have made the band more lame though.

Maybe a better question is how often does the band have to wait for me to finish reading a BBV post before they can do another take? Happens every day.

Should have proof-read this post above. It should read:

Awesome. So, obviously my next question is...
HU for rollz?

And WTF happened with Urge Overkill? Sounds like a HELL of a story...

Do you ever have people recognize you and run up to you in public and start gushing about how they loved your work with _______?

If I recognized you at the grocery store, and I had a broken arm and wanted you to sign my cast, would you?