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Ryan Hewitt |
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The son of legendary recording engineer Dave Hewitt, Ryan was in and around recording studios before he could reach the faders. It was not long before Ryan discovered an intense curiosity to learn the craft of recording music. Already apprenticing at 12 years old, he assisted in capturing tracks for such talents as Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam and Billy Joel.
With this upbringing, Ryan was constantly surrounded by musicians and their intricate creations, so he began to explore the performing and writing aspects of music for himself. He was introduced to the drum set on the legendary Billy Cobham's kit at the Record Plant Studios in New York City. Later at Tufts University, by night, he played in bands and recorded demos for the multitude of acts around campus, and by day, Ryan studied the true complexities of sonic transmission as an Electrical Engineering student. When the call of the studio began to drown out the drone of the classroom, Ryan knew he had to follow that sound. If he would be sitting in front of a computer for the rest of his life, it would, at the very least, have to be making music.
Ryan's first major studio experience came interning at Sony Music Studios in New York City. Staying all hours to learn from those around him, Ryan observed some of the best in the business, who eventually took on the role of mentors: Michael Brauer, Phil Ramone, and Elliot Scheiner. Quickly gaining the respect of his teachers, Ryan traveled the world recording live performances with his father, and served as House Engineer at Phil Ramone's home studio.
With the confidence and experience required to make a name for himself in the world of Rock and Roll, Ryan left the East Coast for Los Angeles. Landing at Cello Studios under the guidance of Jim Scott, Ryan made his mark on some of the most important recordings of the last decade, including Tom Petty's "The Last DJ" and the Red Hot Chili Peppers "By The Way".
Leaving the comfort of a steady staff engineer gig for the freelance world, Ryan continued his relationships with previous clients, recording John Frusciante's groundbreaking solo album Shadows Collide With People and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Live at the Olympic DVD. A new friendship with producer Jerry Finn brought Ryan to San Diego to record Blink-182's self-titled platinum release, and later, the Alkaline Trio's Crimson. Other projects of note include Grammy Nominated artists Tift Merritt and Robert Randolph and John Frusciante's "6 records in 6 months" series.
This year has been a busy one so far. In March, Ryan completed work with producer Rick Rubin engineering and mixing The Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium" double album. Continuing with the RHCP family, Ryan mixed an album for Deep Purple alum Glenn Hughes, with Chad Smith drumming and co-producing, and John Frusciante making a guest appearance on two tracks. In May, Ryan completed mixing the debut album for The Heavens (featuring Matt Skiba of the Alkaline Trio) titled "Patent Pending" for Epitaph records.
Following a short vacation (his first in 8 years!), Ryan mixed several tracks for so-cal band Pepper on Lava/Atlantic records, two live radio broadcasts and 2 b-sides for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, another Ataxia record for John Frusciante, and the debut album for Pomona-based band Casket Salesmen.
Most recently, Ryan has been in the studio producing LA band Oslo, and has been mixing for UK band Fields for Atlantic Records.
Top Ten List
- UREI 1176 Blackface: The original one. It's the single greatest compressor ever. I'd like a whole rack of these one day...
- 2. Tonelux EQ: Essential for mixing other people's recordings. Surgical, but with vibe.
- Aphex 204: Fixes anemic sounds. Can make a tiny, boxy sounding kick sound giant. Adds balls to bass. Adds sheen to guitars. Adds girth to toms...
- ELI Fatos: In a digital world, like a nice scotch; mellows your world.
- Chandler Germanium Tone Control: FAT. There's a common thread here!
- SPL Transient Designer: Everyone needs one of these.
- Tonelux Mic Pre: Ballsy and open sounding, and the tilt feature often negates the need for EQ.
- Audio Ease Altiverb: When you can't have a collection of the greatest reverbs, rooms, chambers and effects units in your room at the same time, this is the greatest invention ever!
- Yamaha analog delay and API 205 DI: My favorite vocal effect. Clean, dirty, fat, thin, whatever you want...
- Tape: I love tape. Nearly all music sounds better when it hits tape. I like to track to tape, but that's not an affordable option with budgets the way they are, so mixing to tape is one of the only saving graces these days. 1/4" 15ips can sound amazing!
Thanks Ryan!
www.ryanhewitt.com
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