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Billboard

November 27, 1993

Seattle Act Helps Teach The Sounds Of Science

BYLINE: BY MARILYN A. GILLEN

SECTION: PRO AUDIO; Pg. 108

LENGTH: 591 words

DATELINE: NEW YORK

A funny thing happened to the members of on their way to recording their upcoming A&M Records al- bum in /'s . "Disney Presents ," that is. There's probably a simple story explaining how the rock band came to be featured on the educational children's show in an episode, airing nationwide this weekend (27) in syndication, that offers an in-the-works glimpse of the band's next . This isn't it. "We've always said we'd never do television, except for 'Saturday Night Live' -- and 'Sesame Street,' of course," says , guitarist for the Seattle-based Soundgarden. "But this was 'Bill Nye The Science Guy'!" Furthermore, local celeb, comedian/scientist, and show host Bill Nye (also featured on Seattle's own "SNL," "Almost Live") was planning an episode on sound, and Soundgarden, besides having the perfect name, happened to be recording its album at Bad Animals, the same facility in which the sound design and posting for "Bill Nye" is done. Add that Thayil was once himself an "Almost Live" fixture with "the lame list" ("I did that like three years ago, and they keep rerunning the clip," he sighs) and it was, well, "a cosmic coincidence," to quote the guitar player again. The "Science Guy" episode in question focuses on sound in a number of different environments, including the recording studio. "We were trying to show that everybody uses science every day in their jobs, even audio engineers," says Hamilton McCullaugh, a member of the show's production team and a former producer of "Almost Live." "Having a rockband underscores the fun -- I'd love to have more popular bands on the show." During the segment, members of Soundgarden track a new song called "Kickstand" while second engineer runs down the ways sound can be altered via the console -- doubling vocals, zeroing in on an instrument, etc. (The album's producer and engineer reportedly refused to appear on the kids' show. "They're from New York," Thayil offers by way of explanation.) The weekly, half-hour show is itself an example of the increasing variety of roles sound plays in waht would be consid- ered a traditional studio environment. Bad Animals, owned by Steve Lawson and Ann and Nancy Wilson, is known for the that have come out of it, but, like a growing number of recording studios, it also has found a nice niche doing commercial and postproduction work. The facility has an audio sweetening staff of four sound designers/engineers who work on the TV show each week, providing sound design, ADR, and some original music (composed by Tom McGurk). The team already had worked on a variety of video, industrial, and commercial projects, but this marks their series debut. "The basic philosophy with 'Science Guy' is 'anything goes,'" says Jim Wilson, the studio's lead sound designer. "But it's always seeing to it that everything you hear and whatever is going on in the background relates to the subject at hand -- and enhances the level ofenjoyment." Page 2 Seattle Act Helps Teach The Sounds Of Science Billboard November 27, 1993

Speaking of which, Thayil says the band, which wrapped recording at Bad Animals Nov. 12, is walking away from the studio with a good feeling about their new album, which is due in February. "I don't think there's any real change in direction on this," he says of comparisons to the group's major-label debut. "But there's just an amazing depth to the new record -- song by song and collectively, there's variety. I think all of us are real happy about how it turned out."

Copyright 1993 Billboard Publications, Inc.