Heavy Music at Home with Sanford Parker

Sanford Parker has been a go-to engineer in Chicago’s heavy music scene since the turn of the millennium, producing bands such as Yob, Indian, and Corrections House. As the stress and liability of co-owning a commercial studio becoming more trouble than it was worth, Sanford decided to go freelance, recording at others’ studios and building a mixing suite in house called the Hypercube.

Sanford Parker is well-known as a producer & engineer in Chicago’s heavy music scene.

Do you miss being a recording studio owner?

Absolutely not! [Laughs].

Is there any advice would you give someone crazy enough to start a studio these days?

The only advice I can give to a new studio owner is keep your overhead low and do as much, with as little, as you can. To get in over your head is suicide.

We started our old studio, Volume, with nothing and slowly built it up from there. Three of us invested $7,000 each at the time, which was a lot of money for me to come up with. That got us a basic Pro Tools rig, a couple of pieces of outboard gear, and a used MCI JH24 tape machine.

Eventually, I had built enough clientele over the years that it was better for me to just go freelance than having the stress of running a studio, which led me building a mixing room in my house.

What did building out your current home mixing space entail?

I built the diffusers myself using 2x4s, and 2″ thick sheets of insulation. Framed them out and put fabric around them. I knocked down two walls and put in thicker insulation and drywall. As far as the gear, it is just stuff I acquired over time, and got good deals on.

Sanford’s mix room at home, the “Hypercube.”

With high-quality recording equipment still becoming more affordable, and musicians recording out of their homes, do you feel that elaborate professional studios will continue to decline from here?

Is it possible, but most of the commercial studios overspent [on the wrong things]. Well-balanced rooms are cool, but a lot of big studios blew money on things that didn’t affect the sound, like big screen TVs, leather couches, and a fully stocked bar. I do think those kind of studios are a thing of the past. I think good basic studios are the ones that will survive longer for sure.

What has been like to switch to mixing at home, with all the endless recall and without the overhead of a studio?

It’s been amazing. I love mixing this way. I love waking up in the morning grabbing a cup of coffee, walking the dog, going down stairs and getting to work. I’ll print a mix, listen to it in my car and home stereo. Then, I’ll send it to the band for them to give me notes.

I’m way happier working this way, instead of mixing with the clock ticking in a studio, [only to] get it home and something like the bass is too loud or vocals are too quiet. Then you have to rebook time and practically remix the entire song or album from scratch, which costs more money.

Does that make the idea of going to an outside commercial studio to mix a record becoming?

I think so. [Recording] is one thing, but mixing them is another. You can do a lot more now for less, and the plug-ins that have come along way and keep getting better and better.

How do you deal with a client that is never satisfied and wants endless revisions? Where do you draw the line?

I haven’t had that happen a ton. I have had it happen a few times though. Normally on most mixes I usually do two or three revisions at most. But if someone that keeps wanting me to tweak things and we getting to 6 or 7 recalls, I try to get them to come over in person if that is an option which usually helps. There is a point that you have to cut them off and say “this is it or give me more money…” [Laughs]

When you are recording on a project you know you are going to mix, do you commit to EQ and compression while recording or wait til mix time?

I commit quite a bit. I tend to EQ and compress everything going in. Generally with EQ I don’t do much boosting, mainly attenuating. With compression, I might print some light compression to smooth out transients, but typically I don’t really use more than 3db of compression at all unless to smash something for effect.

One of Sanford’s analog racks at the Hypercube

Any new equipment hardware/software you are using that you are stoked about?

As far as software goes, I am super stoked on all the UAD stuff. I feel they come pretty close to the original hardware. I have been using their dbx 160 and Transient Designer plugins—which I have the hardware for as well—and the plugs do the job, for sure.

Even though the plugins are great I still think you need to get your hands on the hardware too if you really want understand how the plug ins work and get the most out of them, but sometimes that is all you can afford.

As far as hardware goes, the Thermonic CultureVulture is great. I’m always excited when I get a chance to work on Great River mic pre’s. Those are some of my favs.

Two critically-acclaimed records you recently produced, Wovenhand’s Refractory Obdurate and Indian’s From All Purity really couldn’t be more different from each other. Refractory Obdurate is really open and organic sounding, where as From All Purity is cluttered and very harsh. Impressively, both productions fit each album perfectly well. Was the production approach to these recordings very different?

Completely different. The Indian record was more about precision and making sure everything was tight. With From All Purity it wasn’t really about feel, but [about] harnessing sheer harshness and brutality.

With the Wovenhand record I was just trying to capture a mood and a moment in time. The experience with Wovenhand was cool because we tracked one song per day. Most bands I record I will start with the drums and track all the songs for the album then overdub the rest of the instruments per song after that. [But] on Refractory Obdurate we would go in and do the basics for a song, then everyone would come back in the control room to have a listen, and see if anyone had any new ideas to overdub on top of it and then go back in and try it. By the end of the day we had a completed song.

I loved working that way. It’s funny, I had just came off finishing the Lord Manti s album which has a similar misanthropic production [style] to the Indian record when I went to work on Refractory Obdurate. So it was a good change of pace and it probably would have bummed me out if it had been the other way around… [Laughs]

You went to school for audio engineering at Full Sail in Orlando. Would you recommend young aspiring audio engineers to go to a recording school like Full Sail in this day and age?

Probably not. A lot has changed since I went there, but they are more geared towards commercial studios. I would recommend going somewhere that is a [regionally] accredited college or university that has a good audio program such as Columbia College Chicago or somewhere like that so you gain a [broader] college degree—and not just an audio engineering degree—to fall back on.

Words to live by.

Do you still record with analog tape?

Not any more. To me, you have to weigh the pros and cons, and the cons of tape out weigh the pros of Pro Tools.

One thing I do miss about tape—besides sonically—is the interaction with the musicians while recording. There’s more interplay between you and the musicians that’s missing now. But the fact that you can line up three takes in Pro Tools, and comp one good one in minutes, saves so much time.

It’s easier to find where things need to be punched in Pro Tools by just looking at the wav file, instead of having to roll back the tape machine to find the right part and make sure you don’t make a wrong move where you might have to have the whole take redone, while the rest of the band is just waiting around. I haven’t used tape in about 3 or 4 years.

If you aren’t using tape much these days, what are you using to get that saturated quality in your mixes? Your recordings typically have a lot of distortion and grit.

I distort things on multiple levels. Sometimes I’ll run a mic pre or a compressor really hot, or put a saturator on an instrument. I might drive things during tracking and/or during mixing—it just kind of depends. With me, there is always some sort of distortion on every instrument except maybe an acoustic guitar or some strings. I feel distortion just adds some sort of extra excitement to the mix, especially for heavy music. I love having that extra level of grit that help blends it all together.

Are there any producer/engineers that have influenced/inspired you?

Joe Barresi [Tool, Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age], big fan of his. Rich Costey [The Mars Volta, Mastodon, Muse], love his work. I often use Costey’s mixes to reference to, they have to perfect blend of sounding natural but still sounding huge, upfront, and your face. Even Eddie Kramer [Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones] has been a huge influence as well.

What are some of the records you’ve been currently working on that you really excited about?

The new Corrections House, even though I had a hand in writing it, I was super stoked how it turned out. This band from Chicago, Bloodiest, that I just recorded at Electrical Audio is turning out awesome. Super stoked on it. Just mixed a record by a black metal band called Vattnet Viskar that is coming out soon on Century Media Records. The new Minsk album I just finished for Relapse came out super awesome and it is going to be super sick. I used to play bass for those guys a few year back and am super proud of this new material they came up with.

Do you have any tricks, especially on your personal projects, that help you keep perspective on a mix, or ways to regain it once you’ve lost it?

I don’t really have any tricks, but any time I get stuck I usually just walk away and take a break. Now that I have this studio in my basement where I’m stuck down here by myself, I do a lot of pacing and listening from different parts of the room which helps me keep perspective instead of keeping my head stuck between the speakers all day. Listening from the other room helps too. I’m always trying different ways to go about things on every project because that opens the possibility discovering new and better approaches towards mixing and recording.

Do you put any processing on your Mix Bus or do you leave it all for mastering?

I usually do some compression on the mix, but nothing too crazy, just to help gel it all together. I have an API 2500 that I use on some stuff [and a] TKL SSL copy I’ve used on a bunch of mixes, and I’ve even used Distressors on my mix buss before. Lately I have been really into the Allen Smart C2. I have been using that on all my mixes for the past year and half.

Have ever just considered Mastering your projects yourself?

I done some mastering before, but I don’t feel that comfortable doing it, really. I prefer going to a mastering engineer that just masters and nothing else. Having a good mastering engineer that you have a working relationship with is key. Anyone can throw a plug-in on the mix and call it mastering, which is tempting, but having a guy who has a nice room and speakers to serve as your safety net for a project is worth the extra money in the long run. A guy I use a lot is Collin Jordan at Boiler Room Mastering here in Chicago.

Another view of the Hypercube.

About the recent Twilight record you produced: How did you convince Thurston Moore [of Sonic Youth] to play on it and how was that experience?

When we were recording the previous Twilight record there was a copy of the metal magazine Decibel in the studio that interviewed Thurston Moore about his love of black metal. In the interview, he was referencing most of the other projects of everyone involved in Twilight. We all got a kick out of it and thought it was pretty awesome.

I had done The High Confessions record with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and was able to get Thurston’s contact. So when it came time to do III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb, I just emailed him and he said yes and we got the label to arrange everything. Thurston just came into the studio with a beat up Jazzmaster and a Whole Foods bag with a couple of random pedals and cables thrown in it.

The sounds he was able to get out of his guitar were truly inspiring. He was getting tones that dudes with forty pedals could only dream of and he just using a Metal Muff. [Laughs] It was amazing to watch someone who has perfected his craft and is a true artist. It was a trip… A super fun time for sure.

What are some of your favorite Studios in Chicago and elsewhere?

In Chicago, definitely Electrical Audio. That place is one the best studios in the world. I love working there. Also this place here in town called Minbal that I have been doing a lot of work lately is really awesome. They have great gear and great rates. As far as outside Chicago, there is a place in Champaign, IL called Earth Analog owned by Matt Talbot from HUM which I’ve done quite a bit of work at. Applehead Studio in Woodstock NY is really awesome as well.

Which of these worn out topics is your favorite and/or least favorite and why? Analog vs Digital, Tape vs DAW, Illegal Downloading vs Spotify, Studio vs Home Recording, Music vs. Recording Industry, Pono vs iPod, Vinyl vs. CD, Self Release vs Label Release…

[Laughs] Umm… I am definitely sick of the whole Analog vs Digital debate. To me that is like arguing a truck vs. a car. If one works for you, go with that and if it doesn’t then don’t. As long as the end result is good who cares how you got there. There are many more important factors that go into making a record besides whether you use tape or not. A lot of guys out there these days don’t even know how to calibrate a tape machine. So how is that going to sound good? [Laughs].

I feel the same with Vinyl. It can sound better, but if you send an album to someone who can’t cut a good lacquer then I’d rather hear it on mp3 or CD. Just because someone buys a tape machine or a cutting lathe doesn’t mean anything. It takes years to master those machines.

Dallas Thomas is a musician who lives in Chicago. He has been a guitarist for the metal band Pelican since 2013.

Please note: When you buy products through links on this page, we may earn an affiliate commission.