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The PNW Section presented a virtual interview and studio tour with Shawn Everett for its April 2023 meeting. Everett is a six-time Grammy winner known for his work with Adele, Alabama Shakes, Beck, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, Julian Casablancas and many others. He comes from Canada, and now operates a Los Angeles-area facility. Around 20 AES members participated and another 20 non-members, via Zoom.
PNW Committee member Micah Hayes has been a friend of Shawn's for many years, and conducted a wide ranging virtual interview including such topics as how Micah and Shawn met at Banff Center in Canada, working together as paid staff in the recording program there. Their early work there included a lot of sampling, and Shawn hilariously described making and recording prank phone calls to generate material from the responses, and then moving to Los Angeles without much of a plan but almost immediately making great connections and finding work, which built upon itself to where he is today.
Shawn showed his current control room with Neve and API consoles, and how he often records to ProTools and analog tape at the same time, with the tape also going into ProTools. This gives him choices to use. He also showed some of his favorite gear, including an Unfairchild compressor, Eventide Harmonizer and UltraHarmonizer, and the Shure Level-Loc. Shawn mentioned that he insists on having a studio headphone monitor system controlled by the players, so that's one less thing he has to pay attention to, and how he likes his analog Furman system. Stories were related of odd drum kits, including one made up of nothing but snare drums; using headphones for drum mics; and "reamping" drums for a particular sound. He also showed his main room, and his Space Echo tape delay.
Shawn said he owes a lot to engineer/producer Eric Valentine for helping him get started in LA. He also talked about being influenced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois.
Shawn and Micah talked more about their Banff years, giving much credit to Banff Center's director at the time, Theresa Leonard (an ex-AES President).
Altiverb was discussed, and there were audience questions about certain albums Shawn has recorded. He concluded with some recording tips/suggestions, and some thoughts on recording and mixing philosophies.
Following Shawn's talk, members of the audience introduced themselves and talked a bit about projects they were working on, or whatever else they wanted to talk about.
About Our Presenter:
Shawn Everett
(born July 6, 1982) is a Canadian music engineer and producer best known for his work with Alabama Shakes, Kacey Musgraves, The War on Drugs, The Killers, and Julian Casablancas. He is a six-time Grammy-winning engineer/producer, working in his Los Angeles based studio.
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