The recording process with Jay Messina

[ZenKen]

We were lucky enough to be asked to do this...

Jay Messina has recorded some of the most famous music over the last forty odd years. Bands such as Aerosmith, Kiss, Cheap Trick, John Lennon, Supertramp, Ted Nugent, Miles Davis, Slash, The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Lou Reed, Peter Frampton, and many many others.

This Podcast is just a fly on the wall perspective on what it takes to record an album or in this case, a three song demo. The Classic Futures were gracious enough to participate
in this recording.

YouTube - The Recording Process with Jay Messina - Episode Two

[robertshaw]

one of the most forgotten engineers but Rocks and Toys in the Attack are still 2 of the best sounding rock records ever recorded within their era and of maybe of all time.

The gtr tone and and drums sounds on those records are legendary.
I've emailed him a few times over the years about gear. He always got back to me and remembered much of the gear they used in the Aerosmith days.

Growing up, I lived a couple miles from the 'warehouse' in Waltham where they cut some of rocks at. So I was always intrigued by that. I asked Jay all sorts of questions it seemed like he loved talking about it. I think he told me around the time they were cutting rocks at the
warehouse, 'Boston' actually used the rehearsal room/studio for a couple days too showcase for epic records. We used to skateboard around there we couldn't get close but their
were always sports cars with tinted windows pulling in and out. Didn't know for sure who it was but rumor was, it was asmith ........

I f I remember right he told me they miced up Kramers kit through a PA or something like that and that is what you hear for ambiance on the Rocks record. Kinda cool stuff. Also he told me Toys was tracked on a Spectrasonics and mixed on an API which is real cool rock trivia too.

Love all his work. Cheap tricks early stuff is legendary production. It really is so underrated and never mentioned but that stuff and even the Nugent stuff still stands up today. Aerosmith is timeless. FM radio wore out stuff like Walk this way and Sweet Emotion but that gtr tone is still relevant today and still has a spark when you hear it. Uncle Salty is one of the best produced songs ever. Still get a spark

Messina is a legend as is Jack Douglas


great history........

[ZenKen]

Jay is a class act all around.
With all of the artists he's worked with he is among the most humble people I've ever met.

He was so RELAXED in the studio and it made us super-comfortable. Basically the thing that came out best was the first take of the first song (that we basically ran through to make sure our monitor mixes were good).
Ain't it always the case...and it was mostly due to the vibe he helped create in the studio.

He has a ridiculous collection of gold and platinum records at his house and he's still SO down to earth and cool. A great example.
Oh yeah, and he's a killer engineer (and producer).