Shelly Yakus – Mentoring
Mentors are a huge part of my story, but not all of them are like Olly Alcock who I sat with and played guitar and listened to music with. Some, like Jack Douglas and Shelly Yakus made records that inspired me to create music myself.
I grew up in a little Village called Crookham in Hampshire in England. My daily ritual was filled with visits to the local Record Stores, Boots the Chemist, Woolworth’s and The Record Box on Fleet High Street, where I sifted through albums reading the back covers assembling a mental note of all of the Musicians, Producers, Engineers and Studios who made the albums I loved! A consistent name that came up was Shelly Yakus. Shelly worked on John Lennon’s Masterpiece ‘Mind Games’ with the late great Roy Cicala, Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper, The Band’s ‘Music From The Big Pink’ and so much more!
I remember breaking up with my first girlfriend and being heartbroken, then along came ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by Dire Straits to ease my pain, recorded and mixed by of course Shelly Yakus. The great album ‘Damn The Torpedoes’ again recorded and mixed by Shelly was a huge influence on me!
Years later I moved to Los Angeles with my band and I started a studio, that studio morphed into another studio and there I met Jack Douglas. Jack was working in the room next to me and we became good friends and colleagues (although no one can match Jack’s resume, except a small elite!). One day I asked Jack about Roy Cicala and Shelly Yakus, he spoke with such huge respect for both of them and relayed how much he learned from their tutelage.
Jack introduced me to Shelly, immediately I found someone who was not only completely down to earth and approachable but was a master of his craft and a mentor to so many. Shelly through his recordings and through his friendship has become a huge mentor for me.
In today´s video I have the pleasure of interviewing Shelly and pick his brain about the making of of great records – which Shelly has recorded and mixed PLENTY! – recording techniques, production advice, songwriting and more.
It´s and amazing interview and it´s over 1.5 hours long! So grab your favourite beverage, some popcorn, sit back and learn from one of the greatest engineers of all time!
Have a marvellous time recording and mixing,
Warren
Warren, I can’t thank you enough for sharing your knowledge and experiences with us all. This conversation was simply fantastic. Shelly has always been such an inspirational figure for myself and I’m sure many others. It’s apparent in this interview “WHY” he’s so often been in the chair while some of the greatest records EVER were made. Please keep em coming.
Hi @jamisontoomey:disqus thanks ever so much for the kid words! Yes, Shelly is a true master, a wonderful guy and an inspiration! I am very blessed to know him and learn from him! Have a marvellous time recording and mixing, many thanks Warren
Maybe we’ll try out Pro-Master. To Shelly, show me a drum riser you like and I’ll build you one like it. (Just make sure it’s OK to really give it a thorough inspection.) And thank you for this. Very informative.
During the interview you guys talked about knowing your monitors and I got to thinking. When I’m taking the time to set up my new studio space, maybe it would be helpful o just play my reference choices the whole time on the monitors.
Regarding key of a song. How about this phrase: Key is key.
On the part about Van Morrison singing different on each song. For me it’s about playing the part of the person telling the story the song tells. I tend to take on the character as I feel is appropriate but don’t try to be something I’m not. I mean, I’ll sing, for instance, a country song with a style indicative to a country song, maybe a touch of twang, a little break, nothing unnatural. I try to be part of the message. Maybe Van was acting the part?
Shelly: Click on an album for a story is an awesome idea. Please, please do that!
Thanks Warren. Enjoyed it, as usual.
Awesome! …better do some actual work first, but this’ll be my Friday evening entertainment 😉
Awesome Shelly idea : @plap-disqus-d3d9446802a44259755d38e6d163e820:disqus you and Shelly take one of the classic tracks he engineered and try to beat it in the box!
…can you imagine working on the original recordings of ‘Refugee’ or ‘Here comes my Girl’?
It’d be an amazing learning experience and absolute gold for any aspiring mixer / producer – pure 100% gold!
Hi Warren ,Thanks for all your Videos , Great stuff. Re the API sound with your SSL desk could you use the Kush Audio transformer plugin ? .After the Joe Ciccarelli interview I thought I would try their API plugins to get the guitar to sit better and I think it works great.the Neve plugin is also very cool.
http://www.thehouseofkush.com/plugins
Warren,, I ever meet you,,, be ready for a big man hug ,,, lol,,,
The time you take for all this, is that much appreciated…