Podcast
Gear Club Podcast
Hosted by John Agnello & Stewart Lerman · EN
Gear Club Podcast is hosted by engineer / producers John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.) and Stewart Lerman (Patti Smith, St. Vincent). Each episode of the podcast features an interview with a key player in the audio industry, and also offers tips and guidance to the next generation of engineers and artists. The podcast is an informative, yet irreverent, look at the art of recording by leading practitioners of the art.
20episodes
Episodes
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#103: Pearl Jam, Lollapalooza, and Life in the Studio with Tom Beaujour
2w ago01:01:11Tap to summarizeIn this episode we talk with author, producer, engineer and musician Tom Beaujour. Tom's career started as a writer for Guitar World Magazine, going on to found Revolver magazine and Guitar Aficionado, and most recently co-writing The books Lollapalooza and Nothin' But a good time, Oral histories of two pivotal moments in rock music. In tandem with his writing Tom has been recording and producing albums for the likes of Nada Surf, Juliana Hatfield Three, and Doug Gillard. We chat with Tom about writing his latest book, striking a balance between journalism and record making, and hear some great stories about the insanity of the Lollapalooza festivals.
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Record of the Week: Out of the Blue
Apr 900:15:08Tap to summarizeThis week on Record of the Week, we dig into one of the most overlooked and mysterious songs connected to The Band: "Out of the Blue," tucked away on The Last Waltz Suite. Robbie Robertson's lead vocal, the unusual arrangement, and the lack of clear information about who actually played on the track all make this song a real puzzle. John Agnello and Stewart Lerman sit down with David Mansfield - violinist and multi-instrumentalist for Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue - to dig into the mystery. We discuss Robbie Robertson's voice and his role in The Band's harmonies, the Garth Hudson keyboard signatures buried in the track, why the rhythm section doesn't sound like Levon Helm or Rick Danko, and what the song tells us about the final days of one of rock's greatest groups. We also get into The Last Waltz recording sessions, John Simon's revelation that nearly every note in the film was replaced in post-production, the relationship between The Last Waltz and Bob Dylan's Renaldo and Clara, and the Rolling Thunder Revue's place in Dylan and The Band's shared history. 0:00 Intro: Record of the Week 0:12 Discovering "Out of the Blue" on The Last Waltz Soundtrack 1:26 The Mystery of Robbie Robertson's Solo Vocal 2:22 Who Is Actually Playing on This Track? 3:30 Why Are No Other Band Members Singing? 4:06 The No-Show Sessions at Shangri-La 4:49 Analyzing the Rhythm Section: Levon Helm and Rick Danko 6:43 Robbie Robertson or Richard Manuel? The Vocal Question 7:34 Rolling Thunder, Before the Flood, and the Band's Final Days 8:11 Bob Dylan's Contentious Rights Battle Over The Last Waltz 10:01 The Tension Between Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm 11:11 Identifying Garth Hudson's Musical Influence on the Track 13:03 The Post-Production Secret: Every Note Replaced in The Last Waltz 14:12 Outro: Final Thoughts
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#102: Rick Chertoff: The Producer Behind Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne & Decades of Hit Records
Mar 801:11:54Tap to summarizeIn this episode John and Stewart sit down for a chat with friend and mentor Rick Chertoff. Rick is a Producer and songwriter whose career started in A&R for Clive Davis's newly minted Arista records in 1974. From there, he went on to be senior VP of A&R at Columbia records, started his own Blue Gorilla record Label at Polygram, and all the while produced songs and albums for Cyndi Lauper, The Band, Joan Osborne, Sophie B Hawkins, and many others. In this interview Rick discusses his path through the music industry, gets in depth about the writing and recording of Cyndi Lauper's smash first album She's So Unusual, and shares behind the scenes stories from a career filled with hit records.
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#102: Rick Chertoff: The Producer Behind Cyndi Lauper, Joan Osborne & Decades of Hit Records
Feb 2701:04:07Tap to summarizeIn this episode John and Stewart sit down for a chat with friend and mentor Rick Chertoff. Rick is a Producer and songwriter whose career started in A&R for Clive Davis's newly minted Arista records in 1974. From there he went on to be senior VP of A&R at Columbia records, started his own Blue Gorilla record Label at Polygram, and all the while produced songs and albums for The Kinks, Air Supply, Cyndi Lauper, The Band, Joan Osborne, Sophie B Hawkins, and many others. In this interview Rick discusses his path through the music industry, gets in depth about the writing and recording of Cyndi Lauper's smash first album She's So Unusual, and shares behind the scenes stories from a career filled with hit records.
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#101: Tad Kubler: In the studio and on the road with The Hold Steady
Jan 2901:04:07Tap to summarizeIn this episode John, Stewart, and myself sit down with Tad Kubler, best known as guitarist and songwriter for the best bar band in the world, The Hold Steady. John and I have both made records with the band and it was awesome to catch up with Tad about gear, guitars, and all things Hold Steady. We also got into Tad's production and engineering work, his burgeoning home studio, and his writing and demoing process.
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#100: 100th Episode Extravaganza: Shocking Moments with Lennon, Prince, Bob Dylan and Studio Legends
Dec 401:18:30Tap to summarizeFor our centennial episode, we took a trip down memory lane and revisited all the interviews we've shared over the years. We gathered some of our team's favorite moments—stories that inspired us, moved us, and reminded us why we love making this show. We're incredibly proud of everything we've created together, and we hope you can feel that joy and gratitude in this special episode. Thanks for being here, and we hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed putting it together!
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#99: From Taylor Swift & Lauryn Hill to Helping Brooklyn Artists | Lorenzo Wolff at Restoration Sound
Oct 600:54:12Tap to summarizeIn this episode, I sit down with Grammy award-winning producer, engineer, musician, studio owner, and cool name having Lorenzo Wolf. Lorenzo has worked with artists such as Taylor Swift, Randy Newman, Lauryn Hill and and just about every musician local to New York City. Lorenzo owns and operates the recently expanded and renovated Restoration Sound in Brooklyn, New York, featuring a main tracking studio with a 32-channel 80-series Neve console and multiple production rooms — including one reserved for his Resident C program, a rotating residency supporting local artists. We talk about his work on Grammy-winning albums, his ongoing work with Ms. Lauryn Hill, his unique approach to record-making, and the process of producing his own music. This interview begins after a studio tour of Restoration Sound, which you can also find on our YouTube channel.
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Record of the Week: Every Picture Tells a Story
Sep 1200:11:35Tap to summarizeThis week on Record of the Week, we dive into Rod Stewart's classic song Every Picture Tells a Story. We break down what makes it so memorable, how the band works together, the production choices that make the song stand out, and why it still rocks hard, even 45 years later. If you love classic rock or just want to hear what makes a song timeless, this episode is for you!
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Updating Punk Classics: Ed Stasium Talks mixing the Ramones, Talking Heads Using Eventide Plugins
Aug 1100:10:33Tap to summarizeRecently, we caught up with Ed Stasium about remixing classic albums from The Replacements and Talking Heads and his dive into the world of immersive audio. In this clip, Ed walks us through remixing the Ramones catalog in Atmos and how he used Eventide's immersive plugins to both stay true to the original recordings and bring them to new life in the spatial audio arena.
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Michael Imperioli's band Zopa on Making Art, the Chaos of Rock, and The White Lotus
Jul 900:54:37Tap to summarizeHey everyone! Recently, we had the band ZOPA over to the studio for a listening party! Their new album, Diamond Vehicle, was produced, engineered, and mixed by our very own John Agnello. We had Michael Imperioli on the show in Episode 89 where he talked about his own creative process and the history of the band. In this episode, John sits down with ZOPA to listen through the album and give us a behind the scenes look at the recording, songwriting, creative process, and gear that went into this fantastic record.
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