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Five Towns College
Open House Saturday, January 12 at 1 PM
631.656.2110 305 N. Service Road Dix Hills, NY 11746 www.ftc.edu
• AUDIO RECORDING TECHNOLOGY • COMPOSITION/SONGWRITING
• MUSIC TEACHER EDUCATION • MUSIC BUSINESS • MUSIC PERFORMANCE
• MUSICAL THEATRE • MUSIC TECHNOLOGY • MUSIC HISTORY
By Jonathan Widran
After 26 years as owner of his famed original studio on Larchmont (in
Los Angeles) and a second location in North Hollywood, Skip Saylor
(http://skipsaylor.com) made bold career decisions in the mid-2000s
which brought him back to his original passion as an engineer and producer.
After selling all but one roomful of his favorite equipment, he flew to New
Zealand for a gig producing and engineering an album for the young funksoul-ska
band Spacifix, which later won Album of the Year at the Pacific
Music Awards. Inspired by this experience, Saylor began building a studio
in the barn on ranch property he had purchased near the Van Nuys Airport.
“All those classic rooms in town have high ceilings, which made my two
story barn, with its natural acoustics, the perfect setting for my new room.”
Saylor, credited on eight of Billboard’s Top 300 selling records of all
time, brought a star studded history to his now thriving studio. Launching his
career with gigs on classic projects like Tom Petty’s Damn The Torpedoes
(under Jimmy Iovine) and The Wiz (Diana Ross and Michael Jackson),
Saylor later engineered for everyone, from classic R&B artists like the
Whispers to Mattel Toy commercials. His facility on Larchmont hosted
many classic sessions, including Grammy winning k.d. lang’s Ingenue,
Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion I & II, Ice Cube’s The Predator, Santana’s
Supernatural, Boyz II Men’s II and Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape.
“While we do host sessions for outside clients, my studio was built
around the idea of being an engineer/producer with my own space instead
of a commercial facility,” Saylor says. “My other studios were successful,
but I spent a lot of time running the business. These days, I don’t look at
myself as a studio owner but as a producer/mixer with my own rig. I have
a couple of young engineers I use on my projects, Ian Blanch and Lester
Mendoza, and I love working in my own space where I have all the tools I
need to make great recordings.”
Having used some of the highest end new and vintage equipment, Saylor
is selective in the gear he chooses to work with to ensure excellent sound.
The centerpiece is the 100 input SSL that he has had since the mid-‘90s,
which he calls “the best sounding board I ever owned.”
Saylor’s wife, singer-songwriter Lynn Carey Saylor, has been endorsed
by several amp and guitar companies, so the studio is full of Goodsell
and Wizard Amps (which AC/DC uses) as well as guitars, a classic 1956
Hammond B-3, a Yamaha Grand, in addition to classic mics and outboard
gear like an EMT 252, AMS Reverb and Delays and UREI Limiters and
Compressors.
In Saylor’s earlier days as a mixer, he often resisted the advice friends
and colleagues gave him about the value of diversification. But with the
new studio, that has happened naturally, and he has worked on a unique
array of projects in recent years. Two recordings typifying Saylor’s slate
of projects include vocalist/guitarist Jonathan Butler’s “Grace and Mercy,”
which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart and No. 9 on
the Gospel charts; and a self titled project for indie rockers Bootstraps (on
Redeye Records, original label of the Black Keys), whose songs received
10 placements (Parenthood, Private Practice) even before the album was
released. Songs from that project were also in an independent film, which
earned “Best Music in a Film” at the Nashville Film Festival.
Saylor has recently been tapped to be Director of Sound for the animated
film, California Dreamers, the brainchild of writer-director-producer Jay
Segura, which finds Saylor restoring 24-track tape recordings of hip-hop
greats including Kurtis Blow, Melle Mel and Tone Loc. The soundtrack also
features new productions. Earlier in 2012, he co-produced and mixed “High
Off The Fame,” a Top 30 dance single by Candyman 187 featuring Snoop
Dogg. Other projects include a single with Rap legend W.C. (Westside
Connection) and European star Brainpower and material for Los Angeles
acts Ceasefire, LA Velvet and End of Ever.
Sometimes dubbed the Compound, Saylor’s facility has bedrooms, kitchens
and living areas for artists to utilize during their projects. “I enjoy the
diversity of work I do here,” says Saylor, “and I strive to offer the best tools
for making the highest quality recordings, providing an environment where
the artist is comfortable and can thrive.”
Contact Skip Saylor, 818-300-0400
16 January 2013 www.musicconnection.com