Frank Giaramita
04/20/05, 08:44 PM
An interview with Beau Birchell of Saosin (www.saosin.com) can be found below. This interview was featured in the May/June edition of Law Of Inertia magazine and it focuses mainly on Beau's role as a producer in the band.
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BEAU BURCHELL
NEWSFLASH: ANOTHER SUBURBAN GARAGE BIRTHS GENIUS
Beau Burchell becase a hot item just shy of three years ago. His forward-thinking production skills and wildly original band, Saosin, caused quite a bleep on the indie radar. Coming from the famed school of "Teach yourself, cause everything else sucks" trained him in a way no bottom of the barrel sound engineering school could. We chatted over a vanilla latte about where he came from and where he's about to go... which, by the way, is pretty damn far.
How did you get into production?
I got into it with just tape deck. I was trying to write songs and I could never remember the stuff I would write so I had to record it. Then I got a little CD thing- a little .wav recorder.
You didn't start on a 4-track?
No.
That's strange. 4-track machines are usually staple for burgeoning producers.
Actually, you know what? I started off with two tape decks, so I guess I kind of did. I would play guitar on one tape deck, play that back, and then mix it right there with what I recorded on the other tape deck. So it was two boom boxes, basically. One would be playing guitar and I would play guitar along with it.
That's clever. How old were you when you started doing that? How did you figure it out?
I was probably about 15 and it just sort of made sense to me.
What other producers were you interested in or trying to emulate?
I really had no idea. Honestly, I was just doing it to get my music out there and I was just trying to find people to be in a band with. People would ask, "What kind of music do you want to play?" and, of course, I couldn't explain it. From there I started doing my own stuff on the computer and I would show it to other people and they were like, "Man, that sounds good."
Did you start recording on a really local level?
Yes. After I had finally got a band together I would show the stuff I was recording around. The people I showed it to were like, "Oh man! This sounds a lot better than the stuff we are paying a bunch of money for." So I just started recording bands out of my parent's garage, but I needed a microphone because drumkits are five pieces and I only had four microphones. So instead of charging the bands money, I would just have them buy my equipment.
For you personally what is of greater interest, songwriting for your own band, Saosin, or being a producer?
They are two totally different thing to me.
Can you elaborate on the difference?
Playing in a band, having fun, and actually playing in front of people- having the crowd go totally crazy for you- is incredible. But there is nothing like the gratifiacation of doing a record for someone and having them totally praise you at the end; pretty much making everyone feel happy. That's the only reason I started doind the whole producing thing. I was in a band when I was younger and we were signed to Zomba and it was like- I want to say that it was just a really bad experience. I was 18 or 19 at the time and we were recording at the stuido where Guns'N'Roses did Appetite For Destruction[]/i]. We were there for the first time and I was like, "How come this guitar sounds like crap?" and they said, "We'll fix it in the mix." [i]Everything was supposed to be fixed in the mix and the producer didn't really give us the time of day. He was like "I'm a hotshot, don't touch me."
It really sucks when people get thrown into ta situation like that. Do you feel like producers control the artists nowadays?
I think it's a yes and no answer. You figure a band isn't going to work with a producer unless they like what he is doing. If you don't like what a producer is doing you can fire him. Obviously, the producer ultimately has a lot of say but the band decides if they put it out or not. It is one of those questions where there really is no right answer. At the same time, a lot of those bands are just trying to make money. "We will write a song and try to sell as many copies as we can" sort of thing.
Switching gears, what is going on with Saosin and your new album?
It's coming along awesome. It's been a slow process, you know? Trying to switch gears from producer into writer is difficult for me. We're doing the Taste of Chaos tour and we might go to Europe with My Chemical Romance.
What are you going for with the next record?
All I can tell you right now is that it's going to sound super huge.
------------------
BEAU BURCHELL
NEWSFLASH: ANOTHER SUBURBAN GARAGE BIRTHS GENIUS
Beau Burchell becase a hot item just shy of three years ago. His forward-thinking production skills and wildly original band, Saosin, caused quite a bleep on the indie radar. Coming from the famed school of "Teach yourself, cause everything else sucks" trained him in a way no bottom of the barrel sound engineering school could. We chatted over a vanilla latte about where he came from and where he's about to go... which, by the way, is pretty damn far.
How did you get into production?
I got into it with just tape deck. I was trying to write songs and I could never remember the stuff I would write so I had to record it. Then I got a little CD thing- a little .wav recorder.
You didn't start on a 4-track?
No.
That's strange. 4-track machines are usually staple for burgeoning producers.
Actually, you know what? I started off with two tape decks, so I guess I kind of did. I would play guitar on one tape deck, play that back, and then mix it right there with what I recorded on the other tape deck. So it was two boom boxes, basically. One would be playing guitar and I would play guitar along with it.
That's clever. How old were you when you started doing that? How did you figure it out?
I was probably about 15 and it just sort of made sense to me.
What other producers were you interested in or trying to emulate?
I really had no idea. Honestly, I was just doing it to get my music out there and I was just trying to find people to be in a band with. People would ask, "What kind of music do you want to play?" and, of course, I couldn't explain it. From there I started doing my own stuff on the computer and I would show it to other people and they were like, "Man, that sounds good."
Did you start recording on a really local level?
Yes. After I had finally got a band together I would show the stuff I was recording around. The people I showed it to were like, "Oh man! This sounds a lot better than the stuff we are paying a bunch of money for." So I just started recording bands out of my parent's garage, but I needed a microphone because drumkits are five pieces and I only had four microphones. So instead of charging the bands money, I would just have them buy my equipment.
For you personally what is of greater interest, songwriting for your own band, Saosin, or being a producer?
They are two totally different thing to me.
Can you elaborate on the difference?
Playing in a band, having fun, and actually playing in front of people- having the crowd go totally crazy for you- is incredible. But there is nothing like the gratifiacation of doing a record for someone and having them totally praise you at the end; pretty much making everyone feel happy. That's the only reason I started doind the whole producing thing. I was in a band when I was younger and we were signed to Zomba and it was like- I want to say that it was just a really bad experience. I was 18 or 19 at the time and we were recording at the stuido where Guns'N'Roses did Appetite For Destruction[]/i]. We were there for the first time and I was like, "How come this guitar sounds like crap?" and they said, "We'll fix it in the mix." [i]Everything was supposed to be fixed in the mix and the producer didn't really give us the time of day. He was like "I'm a hotshot, don't touch me."
It really sucks when people get thrown into ta situation like that. Do you feel like producers control the artists nowadays?
I think it's a yes and no answer. You figure a band isn't going to work with a producer unless they like what he is doing. If you don't like what a producer is doing you can fire him. Obviously, the producer ultimately has a lot of say but the band decides if they put it out or not. It is one of those questions where there really is no right answer. At the same time, a lot of those bands are just trying to make money. "We will write a song and try to sell as many copies as we can" sort of thing.
Switching gears, what is going on with Saosin and your new album?
It's coming along awesome. It's been a slow process, you know? Trying to switch gears from producer into writer is difficult for me. We're doing the Taste of Chaos tour and we might go to Europe with My Chemical Romance.
What are you going for with the next record?
All I can tell you right now is that it's going to sound super huge.