Steve Vai is a Grammy award-winning musician, composer, producer, and inventor of the Hydra: a three-neck, 36 string beast of a guitar with a steam-punk attitude and endless possibilities. Steve shows just what the instrument is capable of on his newly released album, ‘Inviolate’. In this episode, John and Stewart chat with Steve about his creative process, his fantastic new record, and the inspiration and design behind the Hydra. This is part one of a two-part interview. 

#82: Lair of the Hydra with Steve Vai (Part 1)

Gear Club Podcast is hosted by engineer / producers John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) and Stewart Lerman (Patti Smith, St. Vincent). Each episode of the podcast features an interview with a key player in the audio industry, and also offers tips and guidance to the next generation of engineers and artists. The podcast is an informative, yet irreverent, look at the art of recording by leading practitioners of the art.

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In this episode, John and Stewart sit down with producer, engineer, musician, song writer, studio owner, and the Godfather of Jangle Pop, the one and only, Mitch Easter. Mitch has always been and continues to be a staple of the Indie Rock scene in North Carolina and beyond. First operating out of Drive in Studio located in his parents' garage, and in 1994 moving to his current studio, the Fidelitorium. Mitch has worked with a laundry list of seminal artists, including R.E.M., Helium, Pavement, Wilco, Ben Folds Five, Pylon, and Polvo. He’s also an active musician and writer, releasing music for almost a decade with his band "Let’s Active" and currently as a solo artist. In this episode Mitch discusses building, operating, and outfitting his recording studios, the joys and perils of tracking to analog tape, producing the first R.E.M. records, and why it’s not always a good idea to fix everything in a recording.

#94: The Gear and The Garage with Mitch Easter

In 2018 the H9000 Harmonizer®, Eventide’s flagship multi effects processor, won a TEC award for best signal processing hardware. We had the team behind the H9000’s design and development on the podcast in Episodes #66.1, #66.2 and #66.3 to talk about the process of designing, building, and testing the latest in Eventide’s revered Harmonizer line. Now we’re back to talk about what’s new at Eventide and the 2023 TEC award for best signal processing software awarded to their revolutionary equalizer plugin, SplitEQ. Russell Wedelich is the VP of development and director of signal processing at Eventide and had a heavy hand in writing the DSP code that went into the H9000. He’s also the lead DSP engineer responsible for the SplitEQ plugin and its patented technology. Russ and I got to chat about what went into developing SplitEQ, the new Eventide H90 Harmonizer pedal, and the culture that makes Eventide so consistently innovative. For more from Russell and the rest of the H9000 team check out Gear Club Episodes #66.1, #66.2 and #66.3.

Ketchup with Russell Wedelich

In this episode, we’re delighted to talk with industry legend, Thom Panunzio. Getting his start as an assistant at NYC’s Record Plant, Thom went on to work in every facet of the music business. He’s produced, mixed, and engineered albums for Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Joan Jett, Ozzy Osbourne, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, Alice Cooper, and Aerosmith just to name a few. He helped design The Hit Factory in NYC, A&M; Studios in LA, and the Thom Thom Club in Santa Monica, and was the Executive VP for Universal Music and head of A&R; at Geffen Records for many years. Thom talks with John and Stewart about his time on staff at the Record Plant, his favorite mixing desks, his reluctant entrance into the world of A&R;,  and how the industry and technology has changed over the course of his almost 50 year career. 

#93: The Singer and the Song with Thom Panunzio

Mastering engineer extraordinaire Greg Calbi is a dear friend and was our guest on Gear Club Episode #2 way back in January of 2017. Over the last 50 years Greg has mastered a seemingly endless list of albums across every genera of music, and it’s almost a certainty he’s had a hand in the making of one of your favorite records. In this episode Greg and I got to chat about Sterling Sound moving from Manhattan to its new facility in Edgewater NJ, his workflow from converters to compressors to clients, and the unique changes, challenges, and expectations of modern mastering.

Ketchup with Greg Calbi

In this episode, we sit down for a conversation with renowned rock photographer Bob Gruen. Bob has been documenting the artists, concerts, and clubs that have come to define rock music, and is responsible for some of the most iconic images of the idiom. Listen in as Bob talks with hosts John and Stewart about his artistic philosophy, his move from film to digital, and being a part of music history.

#82: Lair of the Hydra with Steve Vai (Part 1)

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