Producer Crosstalk: Michael Knox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . By Rob Putnam

Film/TV/video game composer, singersongwriter, audio post-production, studio owner. Notable Projects/Clients: Joey Lawrence, Universal Music, EMI, Animal Planet, Poor Yorick, Wayne Stylez, Arturo G. Alvarez, Lorelei Carlson, Caviar Content, iQimedia, Vox Pop Films *Email for more information

BILLY GRAZIADEI

(producer, engineer) Fire Water Studios Co-Founder of Biohazard.com 310-354-5901 Email: info@firewaterstudios.com Web: firewaterstudios.com Notable Projects: 9 Biohazard Records, Cypress Hill, Onyx, Hate Breed, Life of Agony, Pantera, Sick of it All, SlipKnot, Sid # 9, Type O Negative, Agnostic Front

ROSS HOGARTH

Hoax Productions Web: hoaxproductions.com Contact: Ross Hogarth Styles: all Notable Projects: Van Halen, Keb’ Mo’, Ziggy Marley , The Doobie Brothers, Gov’t Mule, Roger Waters, John Mellencamp, R.E.M., Jewel

CAZADOR RECORDING

(Top L.A. Producer, Audio Engineer, Studio LIVE Drummer/Programmer, Studio Vocalist, In-Studio Vocal Coach, Composer, Songwriter) Owner of Cazador Recording (ProTools10 HD6) Hollywood, CA 323-655-0615 Email: cazador.jimmy@gmail.com Web: jimmyhunter.com, jimbojamz. com Styles: rock, pop, R&B, most styles, live drumming or programming, Hunter has produced over 5000 songs since 1986 Notable Projects: JIMBOJAMZ (my solo projects), Todd Stanford (4 Country CDs), Ivy Lite Rocway (85 songs), Savannah Phillips (many songs), Tim Fleming’s Selective Amnesia, Mark R. Kent (3 CDs), Dr. Alias, the West Hollywood Cheerleaders, Dre Charles, Lisa Gold (1 CD), Thorn/Aerial School, Tom Powers, Carl Summers (Cix Bits), the Della Reese (UP church UFBL weekly Ministry)

THOMAS HORNIG

(freelance mixer, producer) Tomcat On The Prowl Productions Canaoga Park, CA 818-533-8669 Email: studio@tomcatontheprowl.com Web: tomcatontheprowl.com Styles: singer-songwriter, pop, americana, country/folk, rock Notable Projects: Jamila Ford – The Deep End (Engineer/Mixer), Matt Doherty – Dignity (Mastering), Red Bull Media – Blood Road (Post)

Web: tomcatontheprowl.com Styles: singer-songwriter, pop, americana, country/folk, rock Notable Projects: Jamila Ford–The Deep End (Engineer/Mixer, Matt Doherty–Dignity (Mastering), Red Bull Media–Blood Road (Post)

CHRIS JULIAN

145 Corte Madera Town Center Corte Madera, CA 94925 Ste 311 310-924-7849 Email: chris@chrisjulian.com Web: chrisjulian.com, ImaginePost.com Styles: rock,pop , AAA, alt., R&B. Artist development, allbudgets. *unsolicited material accepted

KEVIN KILLEN

Joe D’Ambrosio Management, Inc.

MICHAEL KNOX MAX DI CARLO BRENT FISCHER

Producer and music industry impresario Michael Knox has worked in various capacities over the course of his career. He launched his Nashville song-plugging company HIT PLUGGERS in 1992 and then Born and educated in Rome, the composer, producer and engineer Max Di Carlo picked up the guitar as a kid and has kept it close at hand ever since. In his late teens, he enrolled in Italy’s famed National Academy of St. Cecilia, earned his degree in orchestration and went on to work with Warner Chappell Music for a decade, which intro-composition and went on to work for a decade in classical music. In the duced him to the studio. He’s produced with and for a number of artists ‘80s, Di Carlo surrendered to the persuasion of pop and the first hit song including Jason Aldean, Trace Adkins and Carrie Underwood. He contin he penned in that genre—Gary Low’s 1983 “I Want You”—charted in ues his longtime association with peermusic and hosts KNOX Country several countries. Now he composes and produces largely for film and 360, his weekly syndicated radio show. Interesting aside: his father was Buddy Knox, the tunesmith behind the 1957 hit “Party Doll.” His first real client was multi-platinum country music star Jason Aldean. But despite his potential, it took Knox five years of shopping him around to various labels before a home was found. He then transitioned seamlessly into the role of producer with the 2005 inaugural release of Jason Aldean. “It was a tough first five years,” he recalls. “We had record deals but got dropped. lives in Calabasas, CA. Artists he’s worked with include Brazilian singer, Xuxa, and a pair of Johns: Elton and Olivia Newton. He spent many years composing and producing in the pop world, but returned to classical roots in 2004. In recent weeks and months, Di Carlo collaborated remotely with the Budapest Symphony and Prague Philharmonic Orchestras. As in nearly all things, remote recording comes with its joys and frustrations. “One of the advantages,” he says, “is that if you work with an orchestra [in Los Angeles], it will cost you something like $24,000 for a thirty-minute “For a long time in the nineties, [Nashville] was a real belt-buckle, hatsession. In Budapest, the same only costs around $1,200. But the big act town,” he continues. “I was looking for the next generation country challenge is mixing. The rooms [in European studios] aren’t like the guy; the Bon Jovi of the genre. I went ones in L.A. The sound is a little muffled and not as bright as it is here. to Macon, GA to see some acts and Hollywood studios have that famous Jason was the last to go on. Once I sound that we’re used to. The good saw his performance, I knew he was what I was looking for. I brought him to Nashville and six months later signed him to Warner Chappell. He dressed real traditional, so I told him to come back as if he were going on a date. He walked in the next day wearing baggy jeans, non-cowboy boots and a lot of jewelry. No belt buckle or starched shirt. I knew that was the look for him because that was the way country was going..” Knox’s approach to working with an artist is to find their strength or core and then assemble a supporting framework around it. “When I go into the studio, I build a team that is uniquely for a specific artist,” he news is that the European musicians are great. Also, if I’m doing, say, an Italian or English movie, a $300,000 soundtrack won’t be in the budget.” As a seasoned producer, often his biggest challenge is when he works with others in the same field who don’t always share or grasp his vision fully. “My sensitivity never married well with these people,” he admits. “Even with pop music, sometimes I’d go into the studio and the engineer was taking [a song] in a completely different way [than he’d intended]. That was a huge frustration for me. Transmitting my emotion to them was always hard. I have found engineers who get my taste, but even we still fight.” Unlike composing for pop or rock . . . lessons he’s learned as a producer, composer and engineer are: • When you work with artists, you’ll be a therapist. Each has their own background. • Respect one hundred percent the will and mentality of where an artist comes from. If they want to do rock music, don’t tell them to do pop; don’t impose your own views. • I keep my hand in my pocket, which is an Italian expression. It means that I take the rudimentary things The three most important lessons he’s learned as a producer are: • Creatively, less is more. If you find that you’re adding things to help the energy, maybe you should think about cutting some things out. • It’s not an insult to take care of your business; to make sure that you’re paid on something. Sometimes people walk into these things as friends and they’re not once it’s finished. • The last thing my father said to me before he died was ‘Don’t talk someone into singing something they don’t love because they might have to explains. “With Jason, I put a rock where there are usually just a handful that an artist expresses and sing it for 50 years.’ band together around him because of instruments involved—guitar, bass I make them the best that I he wanted to be country rock. It took and drums, primarily—classical and can. Ultimately, I let the artist a few years to build. I found guys who lived in Nashville but had a touring film scores will often employ upward influence me. rock background. They lived a country lifestyle, so it was believable but of 80. “Sometimes you need full brass they grew up on rock & roll. I do that with other artists too. It’s all about the music and the songs; what they can pull off.” When Music Connection spoke with Knox he was closing out Aldean’s 15-track album Macon, which dropped in mid-November. The companion album Georgia is planned for release in April, 2022. Through his label Music Knox Records, he’s working on new material with Tim Montana, whose album Long Shots came out in 2021. Lastly, he’s producing with American Idol’s 17th season winner Laine Hardy. With his enviable and woodwinds,” Di Carlo asserts. “It’s not because I like to make big music, but sometimes scenes require the push or power at the end.” Di Carlo spent ten years studying composition formally, but feels that he gained at least as much if not more insight and experience simply by working alongside legendary Italian composer Ennio Morricone. “He didn’t know that I was grabbing a lot of secrets just by being in the studio,” the producer observes. “In other words, I was listening very carefully. Those kinds of lessons are so important in the life of a would-be composer, maybe even more than 10 years of conservatory. If I ever output, he’s likely among the most prolific producers in Nashville and his teach, I’ll seat students in a studio with a composer for a year and tell future shines with equal promise. them to observe and absorb without talking.”