Ted Young and I have two favorite things in common: Star Trek and making music. But unlike me, Ted is a Grammy award-winning audio engineer. He’s spent the past twenty years recording, producing, mixing, running live sound, and doing studio installation. Ted’s career began at Water Music (Hoboken, NJ) and The Magic Shop (NYC): two storied studios. He’s worked with a lot of big artists, including Kurt Vile, Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Andrew W.K., The Gaslight Anthem, and Sonic Youth, and renowned producers like John Agnello, Bob Ezrin, Kevin Killen, Mike Barbiero, Tony Visconti and Niko Bolas. He won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album for mixing The Rolling Stones’ Charlie Is My Darling. These days, he spends a lot of time in his own studio, Outer Space, in Philadelphia, and travels nationally and internationally for recording projects. He frequently collaborates with Fort Worth native Matthew McNeal and his drummer, Andre Black, co-producing, recording and mixing McNeal’s latest offerings, including his most recent record Good Grief (April 2020) and a new forthcoming concept album, dreamed up during the pandemic.

We review Star Trek (the Original Series), Season 1, Episode 10, “The Corbomite Maneuver." Topics include: Star Trek conventions and the struggle to not drop $500 on signed headshots, how Star Trek teaches a different kind of heroism: people working in teams, scientists saving the day, and everyone working together for the betterment of humanity, Trek’s unfailing optimism about the future, the first album Ted worked on- analog with the Allman Brothers, working with Tony Visconti and the importance of creating good vibes in the studio, Grace’s all-womxn recording session, the gendered roles we fall into in the studio, why we respect Taylor Swift so much, Matthew McNeal’s new concept album about a guy and a girl and a gas station, Corbomite vs. Carbonite (Jerry??), Clint Howard (Ron Howard’s younger brother) playing Balok, Ensign Rand and phasing coffee, Kirk’s unhealthy and weirdly sexual relationship with his starship, “The Corbomite Maneuver” as an introductory episode, Kirk is sweaty, McCoy is sassy, and Spock is smart, how did Bailey make it this far in Starfleet?, what will Balok learn about humans from this encounter and from Bailey?, “Balok and Bailey: Travels with Tranya,” the First Federation’s buoy cube vs the Borg cube, humanity’s drive to explore and connect with new cultures, weighed against its inability to leave well enough alone, why are scientists putting human cells in monkey embryos?, the Arecibo radio telescope, searching for the unknown far away, juxtaposed with the unknowns of the jungle immediately surrounding it, how Star Trek taught us not to fear the unknown, and to recognize the value of diverse perspectives and the strength in difference.