Sylvia Massy

Sylvia Massy is an American entrepreneur, music producer, mixer and engineer, writer and artist in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles alternative metal band Tool ^[1] and her works with System of a Down,^[2] Johnny Cash^[3] and Red Hot Chili Peppers.^[4]

History

Massy's first project was in the mid-1980s as producer, engineer, and mixer for a compilation album titled Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 3 on the CD Presents label.^[5] Acts featured included Adolescents, Raw Power, Doggy Style and Mojo Nixon. She followed this with producing the punk band Verbal Abuse for Boner Records,^[6] engineering two projects for metal band Exodus^[7] and co-producing the Sea Hags independent album with a young guitarist Kirk Hammett,^[8] who had just finished the "Master Of Puppets" album with thrash metal group Metallica. She also produced "Television, Drug Of A Nation" by Beatnigs, the former band of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy's Michael Franti.^[9]

From Green Jellÿ to Tool

Towards the end of the 1980s, Massy moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles and worked at Tower Records on Sunset Blvd.^[10] At Tower she met the members of a Buffalo, New York band named Green Jello (later known as Green Jelly) and recorded their debut independent album. After becoming a staff engineer at Larrabee Sound in West Hollywood, she was hired by Zoo Records/BMG to produce Green Jello's major label debut album,^[11] which featured members of a new Los Angeles group called Tool. On Green Jello's "Cereal Killer" album, the voice of Tool singer Maynard James Keenan is heard on the song "Three Little Pigs", as well as Tool drummer Danny Carey playing on the album.^[12] This began a relationship Massy would have with the band Tool that would span two records: Opiate and Undertow.^[10]

Los Angeles and Larrabee Sound

In Los Angeles, Massy was an engineer, producer or mixer on recordings from artists including Aerosmith, Babyface, Big Daddy Kane, Bobby Brown, Prince,^[13] Julio Iglesias, Seal, Skunk Anansie,^[14] Paula Abdul, Ryuichi Sakamoto and many more. She worked with manager Gary Kurfirst on Irish rock band Cyclefly for Kurfirst's Radioactive Records.^[15] At Larrabee Sound, Sylvia connected with producer Rick Rubin and would work with him on several projects spanning seven years.

Sound City

From 1994 until 2001, Massy's vintage Neve 8038 console and other specialized recording equipment occupied Studio B at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Besides Massy's own work at Sound City, several other successful projects were recorded on Massy's equipment during these years, including albums by Sheryl Crow,^[16] Queens Of The Stone Age,^[16] Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Smashing Pumpkins, The Black Crowes and Lenny Kravitz.^[16] Massy's equipment is visible in many scenes of Dave Grohl's "Sound City Movie".

Rubin and beyond

Massy engineered and mixed several projects for producer Rick Rubin, including Johnny Cash's album Unchained,^[17] which won a Grammy award for Best Country Album in 1997. With Rubin, she also recorded Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Slayer, Donovan, Geto Boys, The Black Crowes, Danzig, and System of a Down's debut album.^[18] In the '90s, Massy produced material for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust, and Powerman 5000, which featured guest appearances from Rob Zombie^[19] and actor Malachi Throne; and for newcomer Pauley Perrette.^[20] In 1997 Massy mixed the Beastie Boys' "Tibetan Freedom Concert"^[21] in New York with Adam Yauch and producer Pat McCarthy.

RadioStar Studios and international acclaim

Starting in 2001, Massy owned and operated RadioStar Studios out of the Weed Palace Theater^[22] until its closing in 2012. She acquired the theater property in 2001 in Weed, California and operated it as a recording studio for 11 years, with notable clients having been Sublime, Dishwalla, Swirl 360, Econoline Crush, Cog, Spiderbait, Norma Jean, Built To Spill and From First To Last (featuring Sonny Moore of Skrillex^[23]). Massy's production of Lisa Haley's "King Cake" album was nominated for a "Best Zydeco Album" Grammy Award in 2004.^[24] Several international hits came out of RadioStar Studios with Massy, including Spiderbait's "Black Betty" which reached #1 on Australia's ARIA chart in 2004; Cog's "The New Normal" album received the Australian Triple J "J Award" in 2005; Seigmen's "Metropolis" which reached #4 on Norway's sales charts; Klepht was named "Best Portuguese Act" by MTV Europe; Econoline Crush received a Canadian Juno nomination and Platinum sales status for their "The Devil You Know" album; and Animal Alpha's EP reached Gold sales status in Norway in 2005.

Artwork, writing and music festivals

In the 2000s, she wrote a regular column in Mix Magazine called "Gear Stories" ^[25] which discussed vintage recording equipment vs. modern equivalents. She wrote an essay about Thomas Edison's contribution to the recording industry which helped award him a posthumous "Technical Grammy" award,^[26] which the Edison family received in 2010 at the Grammy Awards. Massy's written submission about Thomas Edison was included in the official Grammy Awards Program. As a graphic artist her artwork recently appeared on the cover of Grammy nominated Lisa Haley's "King Cake" album. In 2011, Massy co-founded the 4&20 Blackbird Music Festival^[27] which operated for two years in downtown Weed, California. The festival drew approximately 7000 people and featured 250 musical acts during its run.

In January 2015, Massy began to write a book called "Recording Unhinged" for Hal Leonard Publishing.^[28] The book will be released in March 2016. Interviews and contributors for the book include Hans Zimmer, Geoff Emerick, Bob Ezrin, Bruce Swedien, Michael Franti, Bob Clearmountain, Al Schmitt, Elliot Scheiner, Linda Perry, Ross Robinson, Matt Wallace, Ross Hogarth, Shelly Yakus, Paul Wolff. Massy will also be illustrating the book.

The cover of the March 2016 issue of Electronic Musician Magazine features Massy's illustration of a dinosaur and a robot in a battle.

As an educator

In 2015 Massy was a visiting professor at Berklee College Of Music in Boston . In 2016 she lectured at SAE Institute's audio engineering school in London and presented recording workshops in Dresden, Germany at Castle Rohrsdorf and at Mix With The Masters in Les Studios de la Fabrique in Saint-Remy-de-Provence in the south of France.

Current status

Massy lives in Ashland, Oregon and works out of her private studio. Recent projects include Pink Grenade in 2014, which she engineered, mixed, produced and arranged strings. The album features performances by members of the Wu-Tang Clan and actor Johnny Depp.^[29] In 2015 she produced and engineered Australian band Filthy Lucre. She also mixed for Cage The Elephant and Soilwork. The latter part of 2015 saw her overseeing production of Avatar's as of yet unnamed follow up to 2014's Hail the Apocalypse.^[30]

Massy continues to work as an independent producer, educator and music promoter. She recently appeared on an episode of "Pensado's Place", an industry video program with producer/mixer Dave Pensado and was nominated for "The Big Award" at the Pensado Awards in 2014 . Massy is a member of NARAS and served on the P&E Wing Steering Committee^[31] and Advisory Boards. In 2009, she traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for Musician's Performance Rights and continues to be involved with musician, producer and educational advocacy work on behalf of NARAS. In February 2016 Massy won the Music Producers Guild's "MPG Inspiration Award" at the MPG's Awards show in London. The award was presented by John Leckie.

Works

Sylvia Massy has worked with the following musicians (roles abbreviated here are P, E, and M for Producer, Engineer, and Mixer, respectively):

References

External links

• Official website
• Sylvia Massy on The Producer Series on Triple J
• Sylvia Massy at AllMusic