We’re taking on a new series about recording studios here at Twangville where we talk to owners, producers, engineers and the like. In the streaming age a lot of these folks don’t get the recognition that they used to when there were album credits and the like. And with the growing popularity of home recording, many studios are disappearing. But there’s still a ton of great ones out there making art daily.
Name: Dial Back Sound
Location: 1204 Bergland Street in Water Valley, MS. The space is an entire house dedicated to recording and living quarters for artists. No one lives there full time so it’s not a home/studio. It’s a studio.
Notable Producers: Bruce Watson, Simone Felice, Matt Patton, Barrett Martin, Patterson Hood, Clay Jones, Eric Ambel, Lydia Loveless.
Notable Artists: Jerry Joseph, Laura Jane Grace, Drive By Truckers, Thomas Dollbaum, MJ Lenderman, The Seratones, Dom Flemons, Jimbo Mathus, Jack Oblivian, Dash Rip Rock, Taylor Hollingsworth, Bobby Bare Jr., Riddy Arman.
How did you start the studio or what led you to start the studio?
The studio was opened by Fat Possum Records co-founder and producer Bruce Watson in 2009. I began playing bass on sessions there at that time. I bought the studio in 2016 when Bruce moved to Memphis to open a different studio.
How do you go about finding new gear for the studio and what’s your favorite toy?
I like to read about gear used to make sounds on records I’m enjoying. I listen to a lot of engineers and other producers about what they are using. I rely heavily on the engineers working out of the studio to advise before purchasing mics or other gear specifically for recording. For guitars and amps I generally buy what I’m into and can afford. I like to buy amps and guitars you don’t see every day. If I buy Telecasters, Stratocasters, Les Pauls, P Basses, etc everyone already has all that stuff. So I tend to go for the oddball pieces. I stray away from buying the hot new pedals, the hot new plugins because I don’t want the records made here to sound too much like every other record coming out at any given time.
Name 1 or 2 favorite/most meaningful sessions/albums from the studio.
My first memory of ever hearing live music is listening to the pianist at the church I grew up attending. This woman’s name is Tammy Black and she still plays every Sunday at The Church of God in Curry, AL. Eventually, she taught me to play bass by showing me what her left hand does when she plays. After buying the studio one of the first sessions I booked was inviting Tammy in to record some gospel songs I grew up playing along with her.
The studio’s in house label of the same name recently released Up Around The Sun’s ‘Water Valley’ LP. The guitarist for the old time Austin, TX based duo is Tim Kerr who formerly played guitar for punk bands like Big Boys, Poison 13 and The Monkeywrench. Tim produced earlier records I played on with The Dexateens and Lee Bains III & The Gloryfires. He helped demystify the recording process and make the studio fun for me. I don’t think I would’ve ended up playing on a lot of records, much less owning a studio had we not met and worked together.
Name 1 or 2 most surprising moments in the studio.
Recently I have been into reamping total mixes through a set of Klipsch La Scala hifi speakers. For years I read about this process carried out in a similar fashion using speakers or PA systems on records by bands like The Stooges to glue the sound together. I rely heavily on the expertise of engineers working here and I never could convince one of them to try it with me. I’ve had those old speakers sitting around unused for years. I’ve had engineers here who spent top dollar on room plugins while there were amazing sounding rooms here at the studio not being made full use of. So it was a real a ha moment when I finally convinced engineer Starlin Browning to give this a shot for the mixes for the upcoming album ’Thy Burden’ by Drunken Prayer. I think it’s my favorite method for taking individual tracks and making them feel live, immediate and together. We do mostly live tracking of basics here anyway. It reinforces that feel when the overdubs come into play. And, it’s so physical and out of the box, the opposite of the way everything has been moving the last couple decades.
What’s the best/worst part of running a studio?
Well, I own my place and there’s not a cooler feeling in the world than walking in and turning on the lights and seeing a clean, well appointed studio full of cool gear that is yours. A close second is walking into a record store and seeing records made at your place on the shelves.
The worst part is that everything breaks all the time.
What was the first session done at the studio?
I didn’t own Dial Back Sound at first so I’m not 100% sure. The first session I did was play bass on a record by Au Ras Au Ras, a solo album from Tess Brunet who had been drumming for Dead Boy & Elephant Man. This was very early on, the first year it was open.
Is there a non-musical aspect of the studio you are proud of?
I’m proud that I managed to finance and pay off the building and gear. No landlord is going to sell me out to some condos. So there’s that.
How would you describe the vibe in your studio? How do you maintain it?
People have described it as “down home”. It’s very worked in and lived in. I don’t enjoy studios that feel too modern, sterile, lab-like, minimalist or museum-like. Dial Back Sound is none of that. It’s very physical. You can drink a beer or six, have a smoke on the patio. It’s very rural and Mississippi, one of the last places you can still afford to make a place like it.
The engineers here maintain most of the permanent gear like the Sony/MCI console. If they can’t fix it they can usually tell me who can. I handle the amps and guitars myself getting them where they need to go. I like to use Athens, GA folks like Steve Hunter for amps and Dylan Keel at Classic City Guitars. They handle most of the tech work for my day job with Drive-By Truckers so they are the best at what they do. We have a local piano tuner who comes in twice a year.
Final thoughts.
I’d say if you’re an artist who has imagined recording in a classic studio setting, outside of someone’s house or apartment with their weird hours, roommates, pets, kids, significant others, etc to work around you need to prioritize doing so now. It’s disappearing every day.
About the author: Producer, Engineer, Musician and all around music enthusiast.