BIG EGO Studios

The responsibilities of a producer change everyday. Sometimes you are a conductor and confidant. Sometimes an artist and abettor. Ultimately you are responsible for producing something; whether it’s a song or a spirit. I’ve been working at this strange career for a while now and wanted to document what it meant to be a producer on Monday, September 13, 2021. By the way, if you’ve got a project that needs producing my schedule opens up in March 2022.

The great Iggy Pop played “Hospital Song” from Wall of Flowers on BBC 6 and had some very kind words about the album. We still have a few copies on vinyl and are shipping orders out as often as possible. Thanks Iggy. You made our day. Hope everyone is staying safe out there.

We are honored and humbled to be working on Jeremiah Lloyd Harmon’s new album at BIG EGO. The current season of American Idol only helped to shine a brighter light on an artist we’ve been championing for years. Over the last two weeks we’ve been cutting rhythm section tracks and can’t wait to see where the muse (and Moog Grandmother) will take us.

This week on BIG EGO Tapes Hand Habits alter ego Meg Duffy on the demos becoming the record, not sanding off the rough edges of art, working on Placeholder in Wisconsin, music as religion, and the transition from bartending to touring with Kevin Morby to going solo.

This week on BIG EGO Tapes fiddle shredder Philip Glenn on quitting his teaching job to become a full time musician, making his bluegrass album "Outsider" with non-bluegrass players, Nickel Creek and the Ska Crypt, working hard to sound like yourself, and why limitations make art (and Star Wars) better.

This week on BIG EGO Tapes The Dream Syndicate co-founder and prolific singer/songwriter Steve Wynn on hitting his artistic stride, writing songs to fill an emptiness, meeting Kendra Smith at UC Davis, looking for musicians in The Recycler, and only wanting to be successful enough to keep working on music.

Leeann Skoda - Call Me Back Home (Album Trailer)

What makes a place home? Leeann Skoda’s songs aren’t documents of place so much as they are documents of the scenery around her. Call Me Back Home was recorded live in studio with her band and captures a particular honesty. There's a feeling of presence in these songs. It’s rare for records to be made this way anymore but the spontaneous approach taps into a certain kind of magic. The sound of Leeann's songs filling up a room, making a moment into home, something to be lived in.

Philip Glenn - Outsider (Album Trailer)

There’s something evident about a good song — something that ties square dance music to punk rock anthems. A good interpreter knows how to look below the surface and see through to the core. On his solo debut Outsider, fiddle player Philip Glenn focuses on the center of ten songs, drawing threads that connect Appalachian music to the Ramones and Monk. A good song makes itself known, but it takes a good player to notice. Glenn’s something of an anomaly, a self-described “Filipino kid from Los Angeles playing mountain music.” He began studying piano at four, and picked up the violin at 10, but specifically got into neo-bluegrass in college. From there, he began tracing the origins of the music back in time, discovering Bill Monroe and then going even deeper into the vast American folk tradition. He studied intently, attending the prestigious Mark O’Connor String Camp in Johnson City, Tennessee, where the rhythmic drive of old-time music grabbed him and never let go. His versatility landed him recording session and live work and in 2013 he became a founding member of The Show Ponies. Folk music is centered on the idea of tradition, and while Glenn often approaches these songs with an archivist’s ear, he’s unafraid to interject his own idiosyncrasies and stylistic moves. In this way, he honors the foundational idea of bluegrass, itself an amalgamation of blues and English ballads that mutated and evolved as they took on new character in the Kentucky and Tennessee mountains. The moment a tradition stagnates, it begins the process of dying — with his adventurous playing, Philip Glenn finds his way into new territory. Recorded in a whirlwind session — the album was tracked over a feverish day and a half — Glenn and his collaborators leaned on their years of playing, with no second guessing. First thought, best thought. The result puts you into the middle of a jam, offering a chance to lose yourself in a collective musical consciousness, as is Glenn

Leeann Skoda - Bird on the Wire (Leonard Cohen Cover)

Recorded & filmed live in a single take at BIG EGO. No overdubs. From the Album: "Like a Drunk In A Midnight Choir -- Record Store Day Celebrates the Music of Leonard Cohen" In stores April 22nd, 2017 Credits Danny Frankel - drums Joel Martin - pedal steel guitar Jessie Payo - backing vocals Anthony Shadduck - double bass Leeann Skoda - vocals, guitar Produced by Chris Schlarb Engineered by Devin O’Brien Mixed by Chris Schlarb & Devin O'Brien @ BIG EGO, Long Beach, CA. Filmed and Edited by White Sitar

Terry Reid - Chelsea Hotel No. 2 (Leonard Cohen Cover)

Recorded & filmed live in a single take at BIG EGO. No overdubs. From the Album: "Like a Drunk In A Midnight Choir -- Record Store Day Celebrates the Music of Leonard Cohen" In stores April 22nd, 2017 Credits Stephen Hodges - drums Terry Reid - vocals, guitar Produced by Chris Schlarb Engineered by Devin O'Brien Mixed by Chris Schlarb & Devin O'Brien @ BIG EGO, Long Beach, CA. Filmed and Edited by White Sitar

How To Choose Your Recording Studio

We made a short video about what great recording studios have in common and how to pick the right place for your project. BIG EGO is now booking full album projects for the fall of 2017 with limited availability in May and June.