Interview with Producer/Engineer Jeff Powell (Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Primal Scream)

This week’s interview session will be with producer/engineer Powell:

Photo by Pete Weiss

Jeff Powell has been recording, mixing, and producing records for 24 years. He was a staff assistant engineer, then engineer/mixer and finally producer at Ardent Studios from ’89-’97. He has been independent since then, but still calls Ardent home.

Jeff has worked on multiple gold and platinum records, six Grammy award-winning projects, was twice voted Best Engineer for the Premiere Players awards by the Memphis Chapter of NARAS, currently chairs the Producer and Engineering wing for the Memphis Chapter of NARAS, and has been honored as a legendary producer of Memphis at the annual Blues Ball.

His credits include such famous acts as: Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Tonic, Big Star, The Bottle Rockets, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sharon Jones, Centro-matic, Primal Scream, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, and The Afghan Whigs.

Jeff is also now cutting vinyl records on the original STAX lathe at Ardent. His vinyl-cutting business is called take out vinyl. Some of his vinyl cutting credits include The Twilite Singers, Robyn Hitchcock, The North Mississippi All Stars, Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, Centro-matic, The Mickey Hart Band, Shurman, The City Champs, and Lucero. In July of 2011, Jeff opened a warehouse, no control room style, recording space in the Edge district in Memphis called humongous too. He is also now an adjunct professor in the commercial recording program at his alma mater, the University of Memphis.

During the interview we discuss his old-school way of starting in the business, his minimalism approach to recording and his advice to bands wanting to record themselves.

Listen to the interview below:

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