Producer Spotlight:

An analysis of the chosen producer or production style. This will include a discussion of the historical/musical/cultural/technological context of the production style, as evidenced in existing literature; at least three case studies that identify the musical/sonic/aesthetic concerns of specific recorded works through a combination of original analysis/scholarship and reference to existing literature; and a discussion of your findings.

Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 3 Literature Review...... 3 Methodology ...... 5 Case Studies ...... 6 Interview – Kurt Ballou ...... 9 Conclusions ...... 9 Appendix A – Timelines...... 12 Appendix B...... 16 Kurt Ballou Interview ...... 16 Appendix C – Frequency Analysis ...... 18 References ...... 19

Introduction

When looking at the progression of the music industry from in current practice and the journeys of the individual parts that make its sum, it is evident that there is no singular archetype that describes or typifies the process of creating, producing, marketing, selling or playing music. This line of thinking is also applicable to the individual roles within the music industry and the beings that occupy them. This paper will focus on one particular role: that of the , and using renowned underground musician, engineer and producer Kurt Ballou as a primary centre, will explore and discuss the way in which his production style achieves a particular sonic result. This will comprise a retrospective analysis of existing literature as well as an invasive study to identify his operational philosophy as a record producer, a case-study of previous production work across different records and genresand an accompanying discussion of musical and aesthetic concerns with regard to this philosophy.In particular, a focus will be placed on his role of producer as either sonic architect, musical documentarian or spiritual conduit, and questions posed as to how his production style has developed and whether or not that has imparted a sonic signature on his body of work.

Literature Review

What’s Been Said

As guitarist for pioneers Converge, owner/operator of Godcity Studios in Salem, and professional studio engineer and record producer in his own right, Kurt has in recent years attracted much interest from the greater media collective regarding his creative output in each discipline. The majority of that interesthas been realised and disseminated through the internet, manifest primarily as one on one print interviewsthrough online publicationsoras video interviews, howeverby analysing the body of information as a whole a clear picture of his production style and musical philosophy as a record producer can be gained.

As a music industry identity, Kurt was, and arguably still is, publically recognisable first and foremost for his musical output as a musician, confined to the recorded works of hardcore band Converge. Now more than twenty years deep, it is no surprise that the thirty-eight year old is subject to more interest regarding his time in the band thanhis tenure as a record producer and studio engineer. Online publications punknews.org, Slug Magazine, gearnerd.info, musicradar.com and pitchfork.com have all published interviews with Kurt within the last 5 years that centre around his time in the band, posing questions such as “How many different tunings do you use?” (Freyer, 2009.), “what made you want to learn the guitar?” (Gardner, 2010, p.1) and “how long have you been playing?” (Six questions with Kurt Ballou (Converge),2011). Understandably, given the target audience that each of these publications is written for, these are fairly expected questions that would provide the kinds of answers that the target audience would come to read. While not always giving express reference to Kurt’s work as a record producer, there are instances throughout such interviews however in which details of his musical upbringing and previous experiences with different genres of music are revealed, which allows a perception of his approach to musicality and how and why it formed to be developed.

During an interview with SLUG magazine published in 2009, and during the same year in an interview with Punknews.org, Kurt responded to a question regarding his training as a musician by explaining his musical upbringing as involving time spent learning and playing “saxophone in school band... I played baritone sax (sic), I played a little bassoon, I played , I had a little bit of as a kid.” (Freyer, 2009.) He also continued to explain that he had theory classes and was accepted into the Hartt School of Music (Freyer, 2009.) but ended up going into Aerospace Engineering. In a separate interview published on deafsparrow.com he was quoted as saying “Being a producer helps me be a better musician. Playing drums and piano make me a better guitarist. Playing country helps me play punk better. Being an engineer makes me a better drummer,” (Kurt Ballou: The producer behind some of the most forward sounding hardcore releases, n.d.) which indicates that not only does he feel that his work as a producer assists his musicianship but that, although not expressly stated, the inverse is also true. It stands to reason that as a better musician who can make use of a larger “musical vocabulary” (Kurt Ballou: The producer behind some of the most forward sounding hardcore releases, n.d.), as a record producer, depending upon the style and philosophy that person follows, a person’s ear for commercially successful music and understanding for how to produce it would improve.This assumption was a gap identified in the existing literature that was used to form part of the question to be posed and explored later in this paper.

Of the existing literature that didn’t focus on Kurt’s career as a musician, there were two sources that specifically dealt with his career as a producer and one source that focussed on his technical career as a recording engineer. Because it did not contribute any information that was worth considering as useful for the purposes of the research, the video interview that dealt with Kurt’s engineering career was ignored.

The aforementioned interview hosted at deafsparrow.com and a more recent video interview conducted by Scion AV wereboth quite comprehensive and informative regarding Kurt’s production history and the way in which he approaches the role of studio producer. It was interesting to note that during both interviews, Kurt mentioned that his approach is scaled on how much time he has available in the studio with the band, how complete the songs are when the band enters the studio and how receptive they are to new ideas (Kurt Ballou: The producer behind some of the most forward sounding hardcore releases, n.d.).This approach suggests that with any particular studio session, his production style can shift from documentarian to architect depending on the project; an example ofthe former can be seen in studio footage posted by Meek is Murder (Meek is murder god city algorithms studio report 1, 2011) and the latter can be seen in studio footage posted by (Kvelertak I USA del 1, 2010). This particular aspect of his production style was used as a topic for further research which will be discussed later in the paper.

What’s not been said

Fortunately, there have already been two identifiable in-depth sources that explore Kurt Ballou’s recording and production technique. What neither explicitly touches on, which will form part of the research question, is Kurt’s history in musical training and how that specifically contributes to his production style. The other part of the research question, as will be explored through the three case studies that follow and as Kurt himself mentioned in the video interview with Scion AV, is the notion that he doesn’t have (or tries not to have) a specific sound that resonates through his production catalogue.

Methodology

In order to explore these topics further, two different approaches have been utilised in the research: the first is three case studies. Because of the range and diversity of bands that fall under his production credits, and in order to identify the existence or absence of a particular ‘sound’ pertaining to Kurt’s catalogue of production work, it was deemed necessary to explore three different songs from different bands and across different genres. More than likely due to the band that he plays in and the style of music he is known for, the majority of bands that Kurt produces are quite fast, heavy and aggressive in nature, however the three songs chosen reflect different takes on that style of music, so as to give a broader understanding of his body of work and to more definitively identify if there is or isn’t a unifying sound to the records that Kurt produces. The first song is from Kurt’s own band Converge, titled Dark Horse which comes from the 2009 record , the second is ’sFucking Viva from the 2008 record Siezures in Barren Praise and the final song is Took a Turn from Young Widows’ 2008 release Old Wounds. Each song was selected as each is the opening track from its respective release and each record was released within a year of each other. This is important to capture, for the purposes of analysis, to give an accurate representation of this particular production style. Upon performing these analyses, as will be discussed, a further analysis was performed on two other Converge tracks (Appendix A) as a kind of control for what Kurt himself musically produces to identify any lineage between his personal and professional production catalogue.

The second approach wasan interview with Kurt himself. Although aware that this has been done before, the interview questions were specifically written to ignore his musical and engineering career and focus on his production work.

Case Studies

Refer to Appendix A

Case Study 1 – Converge – Dark Horse (2:55)

Compositionally Dark Horse is fairly simple, following a repeating A-B-A-B form with a short two bar repeating motif between each and a slower C section bridge. The guitar tuning is, as mentioned in the interview Kurt had with Ultimate Guitar , a secret, however most guitar tablatures available place it at Drop C. The song itself is played in the key of Bb Major.

From a mix perspective, there’s a definite, almost audibly intentional production style present. Where other examples of extreme metal production, such as that on Dillinger Escape Plan’s Farewell, Mona Lisa, place the vocals at the forefront of the mix, often only contending with a thundering kick drum for real estate, Ballou’s vocal treatment on Dark Horse buries vocalist ’s visceral barking further back in the mix, often becoming difficult to discern from the scratchy, mid-heavy guitars. In a way this helps to reinforce the rhythmic chord changes on beats four and one of each bar during the B section, which adds to the freight train momentum the song carries. This style of vocal production in a mix has been referred to as the “Converge school of record making” (Lamington, E. 2011, p. 65), which, while it doesn’t refer to Kurt’s production style specifically, creates an irrefutable link to his work.

Overall, there is a lot of room sound in the mix as well, most present in the lead guitar lines during the A and C sections as well as the screeching two bar motif that punctuates the end of each section, and in the reverb tails of the drum sounds. It is most likely that the guitar sound was achieved using a ribbon microphone close to the cab to capture the crunchy transients as well as the low-mid bloom of the room to the rear of the microphone. This gives the guitar sound a sense of air and depth without subtracting from the punch and clarity of the guitar tone during the more frantic lead lines. As noted in at least one print and video interview, Ballou likes to make use of the AEA R88 stereo ribbon microphone as an overhead on drums (gearnerd.info). This would definitely lend more of a room sound to the overall drum mix, especially considering the overt compression over the whole track. As with the guitars however, there is a lot of punch and clarity in the drum sounds, especially on the snare and kick drum which, given ’s almost manic stick work, lends a sense of size and weight to the rolls and flurries of kick drum blasts that are most recognisable in Converge’s sound.

Case Study 2 – Trap Them – Fucking Viva (1:41)

There are almost immediately a few parallels that can be drawn between the production work on Dark Horse and that on Trap Them’sFucking Viva. The most overt of which is the use of room sounds to reinforce the size and weight of the drums. The song is crafted in such a way that the repetitive storm drum style rhythmic motif repeats in lots of four bars starting at bar five, and being introduced in three stages. The first repeat has the room mics in the drum room play in mono through the left speaker for stage one, stage two begins at bar nine with the same mono room sound playing through the right speaker, and the final stage of the drum sound introduces the overall stereo drum sound at bar thirteen. What this staggered approach achieves is akin to what one would expect to hear from a drum line or marching band, it gives the sense that there are three drum kits in the room as opposed to one. Given the simplicity and drive of the rhythmic motif that repeats throughout the song, this approach is very successful in achieving a big drum sound that reinforces the momentum and aggression of the song without confusing the mix.

Another stark parallel is the guitar sound. Not so much the tone, as there are noticeable differences between those, but the way in which each tone is presented. Obviously on Dark Horse there is a much more vintage tone present, without the oppressive crunch of the digital clipping that the HM-2 distortion pedal that Trap Them use introduces. This style of tone is typical of old school Swedish bands like Entombed who really made the sound popular, however there is a lot more mid-range presence in the guitar sound in Fucking Viva as opposed to the highly scooped sound of the bands and records that came before.

Compositionally there is very little in the way of similarities between Fucking Viva and Dark Horse. Stylistically as well, while both are quite obviously metal influenced songs played by metal influenced bands, the two tracks are easily identifiable as being from different bands, different records, almost different eras of music. Ignoring the fact that different people have written the songs on different instruments, there is little that has been done in an effort to carry a sonic signature between this and Dark Horse as far as production style goes. This reinforces the idea that Kurt most likely had very little to do in the shaping of the song itself, rather just assisting the band in achieving the best sounding version of their style of heavy music that they could get.

Case Study 3 – Young Widows – Took A Turn (3:17)

Took A Turn is easily the most unique of the three case studies. The vocals aren’t screamed, the rhythm and tempo convey a sense of lethargy as opposed to frantic urgency and there is an overall air of classic rock as opposed to metal or punk present.

In terms of sonic differences, the bass guitar extends much lower than on either of the other tracks, ranging from 60hz all the way up to 4k with a noticeable dip around 5oohz up to 1.5k; the bass guitar in Dark Horse and Fucking Viva only extended as low as 100hz-125hz. Compositionally as well, Took A Turn is much riff based as in the other two songs, and seems to be a more ethereal experience when compared to the brutal assault experienced when listening to Converge or Trap Them.

That said, there are definitely discernible similarities between Took A Turn and the other two songs. The bass tone is still quite distorted and aggressive, the same high-midrange peak shown to allow the growl of the bass guitar to speak through. The same principle in drum sounds as found in Fucking Viva, and even to an extent the room sound heard in both that and Dark Horse, is also present on Young Widows’Took a Turn. It’s likely that this is because all three songs were tracked in the same drum room at Kurt’s God City studio, which in its own way has loaned a kind of signature sound to the three tracks. However in this instance, unlike the extreme panning of the room sounds on Fucking Viva, for the Young Widows track all the drums have been physically recorded twice and panned to either side of the stereo image, so literally there are two drummers playing instead of one.

The ideal of introducing the songs, and in turn each respective record, with single or pairs of instruments at a time (drums and bass, drums and vocals, drums by themselves, guitar by itself etc.), is another element shared amongst all three. Because this isn’t necessarily an integral part of the composition of the song, as much as say a verse or chorus, it’s likely that this is a production technique in order to open each record in such a way that assists, as Kurt has said, in “getting the song to where it needs to go” (Appendix B). Interview – Kurt Ballou

Appendix B.

In using the information given through this interview and that which is available in the existing literature, there are a number of distinct, key notions that can be rationalised in order to identify and clarify the operational modalities that Kurt adopts in his production method. It is important to understand these modalities in order to gain a concrete understanding of his current practice, before attempting to uncover how his musical upbringing has influenced his production style and whether this has produced an identifiable sound in his production work.

While no direct answer was given as to whether his first musical endeavours have in any way shaped or influenced his production style, the clues present in the existing literature and those obtained through proactive research allow an idea to be rationalised. The response given to the first question, that his recordings of punk/hardcore bands try to invoke a feeling of melee and chaos just as it would be at a live show, exposes and reinforces his desire for transparency and a documentarian stance when it comes to producing bands. This is shown as well in the liberal use of guitar feedback in, and rough overall sound of records that Kurt produces. This will be explored further in the case studies.

His response to question five also gives an indication that his early experiences with playing in school bands has influenced his production work by allowing him to better understand his role as producer in the ensemble of people that make up a recording session. However it is his response to question two that most prominently educates the idea of his passive approach to production work; simply taking part in the recording and production process by “pushing the record along to make it the best it can be” while allowing the end product to be more a reflection of the band than it is of him, again reinforcing the idea that he is acting as a documentarian moreso than a sonic architect.

Conclusions

Having reviewed, the existing literature, formulated new literature and made case studies of three musical works falling under Kurt’s production history, an answer to the two questions posed at the beginning of the study can be rationalised. The first question posed when beginning the study aimed to discover whether Kurt’s musical upbringing playing more orchestral instruments in school bands as a child has assisted him in becoming a recognised and successful record producer. What was discovered through analysing the existing literature and interacting with Kurt himself was that, as far as he believes, the more musically trained he becomes, the better equipped he feels he can be when dealing with bands in a production sense. The intent when going into this study was to uncover whether he takes a more musical theory approach in sculpting songs written by bands that he works with; whether he pays attention to form and tempo, structure and melody from a theory point of view when in the studio. What was discovered is that to him, it rarely matters what the songs sound like before the band enters the studio as if he doesn’t like the music, chances are he won’t work with the band or will simply make suggestions in order to assist the record in getting to an amicable completion point, rather than make a decidedly audible mark on the record that belies the sound of the band themselves. This is definitely an area of further study, as even though it wouldn’t appear to be substantial at all, in giving suggestions towards song writing is still in a small way playing sonic architect, especially when that person also has control over the engineering and overall sound of a record. The ethical concern that accompanies this is that Kurt is quite clearly a busy person, he tours almost fulltime with Converge, and as mentioned in the video interview with Scion AV, has to often turn down engineering or production work because he is “too busy”. It is likely that another email interview would result in the same one sentence replies given to most of the questions posed for this study, and a face to face interview, such as that with Scion AV, would yield more informative results.

The second question posed regarding Kurt’s ‘sound’ and whether or not it exists can be answered for both the affirmative and negative. When looking at bands that he works with outside of Converge, apart from the identifiable room sounds that music recorded at God City studios all inherently posses, there doesn’t appear to be a strong unifying signature that ties the music to Kurt’s catalogue. There are different forms present in the three case studies, different guitar tones, different vocal deliveries, different treatments on each instrument and different musical styles. This ties in with the ideas presented through the literature review as well as that uncovered through the interview that Kurt prefers to take a hands off approach to production, to allow the musicians to write the songs and select the style in which they are delivered, and simply make adjustments where necessary to assist the songs in becoming a fully realised product that reflects the band, not the producer.

Looking within his own musical creations with Converge, there is an identifiable formula at play between songs (Appendix A). Each song follows a similar form, swapping verse for chorus with a short bridge section between and each is mixed almost identically; guitars up front and loud with vocals buried amongst the cacophony and the same punchy room sound echoing around the drums. With this in mind, an argument could be put forth for Kurt acting more as performer-producer than producer outright. As a guitarist of many years, Kurt’s ear would be attuned to what he is comfortable hearing onstage. While this is not an immediately apparent nor confident parallel to draw,it certainly provides a question for future research. Overall however, Kurt Ballou is a producer for the sake of making music exist in a recorded format, not to inject a sound of his own into the musical atmosphere. His sound exists within his band, which is the way he would prefer it.

Appendix A – Timelines

Converge – Dark Horse (Axe to Fall)

A (0:00.0) Intro A 5/4 Intro, and bridge into outro. Just drums and bass. (0:00.0) Verse (0:14.2) Pre-Verse A’ 5/4 Whole band (0:14.2) Motif 4/4 bridging riff between A’ and B’, only ever plays two bars at a time (0:27.9) Verse A' 5/4 Introduction of vocals Same guitar riff as Pre-Verse (0:30.7) Motif (0:44.3) ▲ (0:47.1) B (0:47.1) Chorus I 4/4 Heavier, more riff based guitars. Introduction of "Dark Horse" vocal indicates chorus. Melodic departure (0:47.1) ▲ (0:47.1) Motif (0:58.0) ▲ (1:01.0) A (1:01.0) Verse II (1:01.0) ▲ (1:01.0) Motif (1:14.4) B (1:17.2) Chorus II (1:17.2) Motif (1:28.1) C (1:28.7) Bridge (1:28.7) Bridge Buildup (1:57.2) A (2:23.5) Intro repeat (2:23.5) Pre-Verse (2:30.7) Motif 4/4 Ends on anhalf cadence (2:45.0)

Trap Them – Fucking Viva (Siezures in Barren Praise)

A - Intro (0:00.0) Guitar 4/4 Guitar intro, guitar feeding back into riff. Vocals join after 2 bars. (0:00.0) Drums Left Drum fill begins, left channel only. Only rooms mics, no direct sounds. (0:16.1) Drums Right Drum fill continues, spreading to right channel. Only room sounds. (0:23.0) Drums Front/Middle Guitar continuing riff. Close drum mics brought in, more attack. Left and Right room sounds continue behind. (0:29.7) Bass Bass line begins. Very distorted bass tone. (0:36.3) Bridge Drum fill eases off. More of a punctuation. Main drum fill continues as normal in last two bars. Bass stops. Guitar feedback comes in from left and right just before end of eighth bar. (0:56.3) A' Whole band, same guitar riff but decidedly heavier. Guitars present in left and right channels instead of just in mono. A kind of resolution. (1:09.8)

Young Widows – Took A Turn (Old Wounds)

A- Intro (0:00.0) Bass 4/4 Repeating bassline (0:00.0) Vocals 4/4 Bassline continues Vocals begin (0:08.1) Drums Drum fills on beats 1 and 2 of the first and third bars. Galloping fill on each beat of bar five and six. 4/4 beat begins on bar seven and continues to end. Bassline and vocals continuing. (0:53.0) Guitar 4/4 Guitar enters in centre. Vocals double in L and R channels. Drums double in L and R channels. Bass spreads across entire stereo spread. (1:34.2) B - Outro (2:00.5) Bridge 4/4 Guitars fade out Drums change to tom, kick and snare off beat rhythm. Bass changes to arpeggiatedbassline. (2:00.5) Motif 3/4 Three note motif repeating between phrases of outro section. Repeats to end. (2:15.6) Bridge (2:17.0) (2:32.0) Outro Verse Vocals repeating "there aint much set in stone in here" as in first verse. (2:33.4) (2:40.9) Outro Chorus 4/4 - 2 bars Short guitar lead line. Bass and drums continue as normal. Vocal line "are you proud?" (2:42.3) (2:46.1) Outro Verse (2:47.5) (2:54.9) Outro Chorus (2:56.4) (3:00.1) Outro Verse (3:01.5) (3:09.0) Final Chorus Bass drops out. Drums reduce to just kick drum. Guitars double playing different version of lead line heard in Outro Chorus. (3:10.4) Converge – Reap What You Sow (Axe To Fall)

Intro (0:00.0) Pre-Intro 4/4 Drums only Guitars feeding back Introduction to the groove of the chorus section of the song tee-tik-tik-tee-tik-tik-tee-tik-tik-tee-tikka-tikka-tikka, emphasis placed on triplet feel. (0:00.0) Intro 4/4 Full band Builds on rhythmic motif at the beginning (0:05.4) Verse I 4/4 (0:19.1) Chorus I 3/4 Return to triplet feel of drums introduced at the beginning. (0:30.7) Verse II 4/4 (0:48.5) Chorus II 3/4 (1:00.2) Bridge (1:18.3) Bridge intro 4/4 Snare roll reiterating hi-hat rhythmic motif in pre-intro section, mimiced by palm muted guitar in right channel playing chordal progression in next section (1:18.3) Bridge 4/4 Rhythmic motif continues, with the pattern being played on kick pedals under a straight 4/4 d-beat for first 4 measures, changing to straight double kick 16th notes under same d-beat for remaining 4 measures. Guitar continues same pattern in both channels. Guitar solo over the top. (1:29.9) Bridge II Exactly the same as Intro (1:53.5) Verse III (2:07.2) Chorus III 3/4 Same bass line as previous choruses. Guitars playing lower register adaptation of higher main lead line in previous choruses, using chords as opposed to single notes. Drums no longer playing fills throughout, continuing straight 4/4 beat with double kicks entering in last 4 measures. Whole band accentuating rhythmic hits on beat 1 of each three count measure and each three-and-a in final 4 bar measure. (2:18.7)

Converge – Effigy (Axe To Fall)

Intro (0:00.0) Verse I (0:11.9) Chorus I (0:24.1) Verse II (0:35.7) Bridge I (0:47.2) Verse III (0:50.4) Chorus II (1:01.9) Verse IV (1:13.2) Chorus III (1:24.7)

Appendix B

Kurt Ballou Interview

1. How has your musical upbringing influenced your production style/approach to producing music?

KB - I grew up going to punk shows in a lot of DIY spaces – the type of thing where the band and audience were indivisible and it all felt like a melee of sweat, feedback, and chaos. When I’m recording punk/hardcore records, I try to invoke that feeling in the recording.

2. There are a number of styles of behaviour which different producers align themselves: the passive producer as documentarian who sits back and interjects minimally (ie. John Hammond), the producer as architect who takes an active role in scultping both songs and records (Brian Eno, Phil Spector), and the producer as conduit who invokes a more spiritual and often eccentric side of musical production (Lee Perry - burying master tapes in the dirt to get a grittier sound, blowing bong smoke onto the tape heads believing it to affect the sound etc). Where do you feel your style of production sits amongst these?

KB - I should say first that the vast majority of records I’ve work on have not had the budget to spend enough time with me to call me the producer, even though they’ve credited me as such. I’m mostly an engineer, but when I have the chance to produce, I’m just doing whatever needs to be done to push the record along to make it the best it can be. But all the while, it’s important to me that the record is a reflection of the band more than it is a reflection of me.

3. Following on from this, do you have a particular sound or archetype that you consistently work towards with your production work either sonically, or structurally?

KB - I try not to repeat myself too much, but I do find myself falling into certain patterns that I know will work, plus everything is filtered through my ears and brain, so there’s going to be some common elements in my recordings by default.

4. As a guitarist, how do you find yourself, from a producer’s standpoint, relating to musicians (those you’re not completely familiar with) who, for example play drums or other instruments?

KB - I’m very comfortable with drummers. I probably put more work into recording the drums than anything else. While I’m not a spectacular drummer, myself, I have a good understanding of how drums are played and what adjustments a drummer needs to make to best present the song. The drum takes really have to be great or nothing that you overdub on top of them will be any good.

Guitar and bass and no problem for me. Vocals are probably my weakest spot. Part of the problem is that because the body is the instrument, I can’t do nearly as much to help a singer as I can an instrumentalist.

5. Do you actively engage in learning to play different instruments and if so do you find this assists your production work?

KB - Yes I do. Well, I haven’t done a lot of experimenting as of late, but I can make sound on just about anything. The more you know about other instruments, the better you are at your own instrument, but more importantly, the better you understand your role within an ensemble.

6. Regarding Converge records, do you take the same production approach when in the studio with your own band?

KB - Yes and no. Converge has more budget than most bands I work with, so I can spend more time and be more heavy handed with my own band.

7. What is your level of interaction with major and independent record labels as a professional producer?

KB - I mostly just deal with the bands. I haven’t had a whole lot of experience dealing with major labels, but when dealing with larger bands, I sometimes need to interact with their management. For the most part, everyone has been cool and there haven’t been too many people I’ve had to chase around for money.

8. Are you ever employed specifically to produce a record? Or is it more a case of production through your engineering work?

KB - I’ve never worked as only a producer with someone else engineering. There’s been a few cases where I’ve given bands comments about demos, they’ve recorded with someone else, then I’ve mixed. But I’ve never sat in a studio producing without getting my hands dirty aside from a some of the earlier Converge recordings before my engineering chops were up to snuff.

9. Out of the work you are offered, how do you decide which bands/artists you would like to work with? Upon what criteria do you base your decision?

KB - It’s important to me that I work on music that I like with people that I like. I want to have a happy, comfortable working environment. It’s also important that there is sufficient budget to accomplish their goals.

Appendix C – Frequency Analysis

Young Widows – Took a Turn

Screenshot taken during first 5 seconds of song, only bass guitar playing.

References

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Meek is murder god city algorithms studio report 1[video] (2011). Retrieved March 2, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxHa7GD4R9s

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Studio Tour with Kurt Ballou (Scion av) [video] (2012). Retrieved March 13, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60_VYCsTAeE