Near the end Ross Robinson [Tape Op #79] did Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot, At the Drive-In, Glassjaw, Soulfly, and Sepultura. I engineered a number of those. And then my assistant, Chuck Johnson, became his in-house engineer, until Ross fired him for not being dependable. I mixed the second Korn album [Life is Peachy] because Chuck just didn’t show up. Chuck got credited on most of that stuff; but I did a lot of the engineering because it would be the first two or three hours of a session where you’d get all the sounds together, and then Chuck would show up. I’d have everything together, they’d be recording with Ross, and Chuck would <strong>com</strong>e in and sit in the engineer’s seat. But that’s okay. That’s part of being the owner sometimes. Yeah. I know what I did. They know what I did. And Chuck’s a great guy. Chuck has since cleaned up his act, and to this day is a very wonderful guy and a brilliant engineer. I heard Ross Robinson would get the bands pretty riled up. Ross would go out in the live room and leave the engineer in the control room to get things right; he trusted Chuck and I. He would dance around, whoop and holler, scream, make motions, and give them cues. If it sounded great in there, it better sound great when he walked back into the control room. He knew how to get the bands fired up into getting takes that were unbelievable. David Briggs was also a master at that, but in a <strong>com</strong>pletely opposite fashion. Ross would get the bands into almost a spiritual high. Briggs would get them so rattled and uptight that they would perform just to escape his wrath. [laughter] He knew how to push people’s buttons; he would get the most incredible performances out of people, in the exact opposite way of Ross, but equally valid. It seems Indigo Ranch had a really unique vibe. There’d be this musical ghost that appeared at various sessions; I don’t know what to think about that. We had a UFO sighting on the property that was seen by a dozen straight people. Even the Malibu sheriff saw it! There were all kinds of amazing things that happened, and amazing people <strong>com</strong>ing in and out of there. r Visit for more from Richard’s interview, including more about archiving Bing Crosby’s radio shows. The Aengus console from Indigo Ranch now resides at Rock Garden Studio in Wisconsin. For more about Indigo Ranch and Richard: Go to https://www.flickr.<strong>com</strong>/photos/101051783@N04/ to see tons of photos of the rest of Richard’s impressive gear collection which he is auctioning off in one single lot. Contact Richard at: indigoranch77@gmail.<strong>com</strong> bonus article: http://tapeop.<strong>com</strong>/interviews/103/richard-kaplan-bonus/ 46/Tape Op#103/Mr. Kaplan/(Fin.) Mike Pinder and Indigo Ranch One of the earliest sessions I did in my early twenties at my first “real” studio job was with Mike Pinder, who lives in Northern California, in the foothills above Sacramento. That was almost 30 years ago. I don’t remember a lot of it, but I remember that Mike knew his way around a studio and was a nice guy, which was good, since I was a bit nervous about working with one of the founding members of The Moody Blues. When Larry sent me the Indigo Ranch article for layout, I thought it would be nice to track Mike down and get his side of the story. -John Baccigaluppi What brought you from the UK to California before opening Indigo Ranch? My ex-wife was from Los Angeles. She wanted to move back with our young son. As I had always loved my tours and visits to California, I was happy to move across the ocean. I was tired of the English rain and was ready for some California sunshine. What about the property at Indigo Ranch made you think of using it for a recording studio? I wanted some place where I could have a house, as well as a recording studio; and I loved the privacy and view of the ocean from the Malibu property. You came up with the name The Moody Blues from the Duke Ellington song, “Mood Indigo.” Did that same song inspire the Indigo Ranch name? Yes. I always loved “Mood Indigo.” Moody was used, and Indigo was left. Was the studio originally for personal use? Yes. When I lived at the Ranch, I only recorded for personal use, although I did do a couple of projects for friends, and friends of friends. What prompted opening up the doors as a <strong>com</strong>mercial studio? I moved to Hawaii with my new wife, Taralee. Richard Kaplan and Michael Hoffman bought the property and the studio from me. They opened the studio <strong>com</strong>mercially at that time. Did you retain an investment in Indigo Ranch after you started working for Atari? I never formally worked for Atari, but I did use the Atari Computer for music recording. It was the beginning of MIDI and Atari <strong>com</strong>puters were ahead of the game, at one time. My friend, Greg Whelchel – a keyboardist from L.A. and band member for The Pointer Sisters – and I were both using the Atari for sequencing and sounds, and we did demos at some of the NAMM Shows. Do you still have a home studio for your use? Yes, I still have a home studio. Some of the hardware I use is Digidesign. I dabble around and it is occasionally used by two of my sons, Michael Lee and Matt Pinder. They record professionally as the Pinder Brothers and do solo projects as well. You’re well known for being an early adopter of the Mellotron and popularizing it, but you’re clearly <strong>com</strong>fortable with new technologies and adapting them for musical use. I love that musicians can record at home. Given the sad shape of the music business, it is essential that talented singer/songwriters can easily afford to record their own music. On the one hand, it levels the playing field a bit. The music died when corporations took control and began producing a homogenized version of music. True creativity was stifled. The genius of the ‘60s music scene was that there was diversity and creativity on every level. Today’s young people are fed TV shows with bland showbiz formulas. I think it is harder than ever for young people today to discover true musical talent. By that I do not mean a good singer – you can find a good singer at your local talent show. I mean a true musician, skilled at playing and writing songs that you want to sing along with; songs that be<strong>com</strong>e the fabric of a life. I thought that with technologies like the Internet, musicians would have access to their audience. But, unfortunately, it is ponderous to wade through a lot of semi-talented musicians to find the gems of music that are really melodious and meaningful. Anything else you want to add about Indigo Ranch, or working with Richard? Living and working at Indigo Ranch was a wonderful experience. I was surrounded by friends and talented people. It was really a loving, supportive, and creative environment. Richard is a very warm and intelligent guy, and learning engineering was second nature to him. Richard and I were very dear friends, and became close, like brothers, during those days. It was a special time for me, and I think the magic of Indigo remained for the musicians that followed. r The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) 7 CD box set These are original masters of a radio show that was done from 1954 to 1956. Some of the tapes I got had 3M numbers on them, and it’s among the earliest known tape. The Buddy Cole Band was four guys, with keyboard, bass, guitar, and drums. It was like a cocktail band, and Bing would sing. It was all done live; there was no multitracking in those days. They went into a studio, and each guy had a mic. These were guys that could play. It’s probably the biggest splicing project ever done in analog tape. I did over 50,000 splices. The tapes were poorly stored. Many of them had been flooded; the boxes were melting, the tapes were molding. I had to go through, inch by inch, with a camel hair brush to wipe off the mold, restore each of the splices, and fix where they had torn. -RK <strong>joaoveludo@gmail</strong>.<strong>com</strong>
<strong>joaoveludo@gmail</strong>.<strong>com</strong>