Glenn Rosenstein
Looking at the list of artists Glenn has worked with is looking at the most influential, popular, and talented musicians of our time. Glenn, a GRAMMY award wining producer/songwriter/mixer/engineer, has worked on some of the most amazing music of the last 30 years. With a discography like Glenn's, most producers of his caliber would ignore small startup companies in favor of the big guys, but not so with Glenn. From our humble beginnings, Glenn has taken an interest in Sonoma Wire Works and followed our work over the years. We had a chance to reconnect with Glenn at Summer NAMM 2010 in Nashville, TN. We had the opportunity to show him how much we've grown as a company, as well as share with him all the new products we now have under our belt. One product in particular is now a staple in Glenn's arsenal, DrumCore. Check out our email interview with Glenn below:
How did you get involved with the music industry?
I was always surrounded by music growing up - my parents made certain of that. My love of music grew into a desire to make recording my career. I started off doing live sound in my early 20's, learning everything I could about the process of recording on my own, then begged a job working for a major recording studio in NYC. I started off as a receptionist and thanks to some very kind and knowledgable engineers and producers, was taught the business while on the job. I inevitably worked my way from being an assistant to engineering to mixing and ultimately producing.
Alot of producers have been telling us that the industry is changing and that you need to be a jack-of-all trades to succeed. Do you agree with this?
Very much so. The industry has fundamentally changed over the past 5 years both technologically, culturally and economically. While demand for recorded music may be historically high, the actual value assigned to that music has diminished in ways most people wouldn't have ever imagined. Budgets have dropped remarkably, unit sales have dwindled - even digital download sales are flat. The economy has changed the way most producers chose to do business. Like myself, most producers and engineers own their own recording equipment, if not a full-fledged studio. And many are trying their hand at songwriting, or expanding into music for film, tv, gaming, internet and advertising. Its a challenging time, to be sure, but there are rewards if you can branch out and cover a lot of territory.
What have been some of the projects that you are most proud to have been a part of?
I tend to judge the projects I have produced or engineered not necessarily on their sales success, but on how well we've hit the mark creatively, how close we came to the goals we set artistically. I can honestly say that there hasn't been a single project I've done where I haven't at least learned something, walked away with some new knowledge that hadn't occurred to me before. And, if the project is great fun, well, that's a significant bonus. I'm currently working on a project with an artist named Bill Lloyd (who plays with Cheap Trick) - he has an encyclopedic knowledge of pop music and is a wonderful musician. The music we are doing on his record is art I'm proud to be associated with. I've been fortunate enough to have been affiliated with many great artists over the years, most of which are listed on my website, all of whom I am proud to have worked with.
What does your studio setup consist of?
I'm pretty well equipped for a project-based studio. I fundamentally wanted to be able to work in an environment that wasn't a compromise gear-wise from some of the better commercial facilities I was used to. I'm using a hybrid between digital and analog gear, based around the Avid Icon 32 fader D-Control. I'm using a few SPL Mix Dreams and a host of 192 I/O's to get my analog gear in and out of the Pro Tools 9 HD environment. We're running an HD 6 Accel for the main rig, which is quite powerful - along with a few other DAW's for artists who's familiarity isn't necessarily centered around Pro Tools. I have a nice collection of guitars, amps, keyboards, mics - its a great place to create, and an easy place to get work done.
How does DrumCore fit into your workflow?
I was initially hipped to DrumCore by Gary Corbett (another of your endorsing artists). Gary and I have written together quite a bit, and his drum tracks were always first rate, especially for what started out as song demos - I knew I had to get my hands on this app. Of course, DrumCore is a breeze to use and it was a natural fit for all my writing work. But the surprising thing about DrumCore was how it started showing up on my records - we'd use it for programming and find that the samples were well recorded enough, dynamic enough to be used on masters. So DrumCore is the swiss-army knife of drum apps - its does so many things easily & well.
You have personally worked with many of the drummers featured in DrumCore. Do you think that DrumCore captures their essence?
Certainly so. While I can't tell you who or how they were recorded, Luis Conte's tracks are unmistakably Luis. I'd recognize those hands anywhere.
What projects are you currently working on?
The aforementioned Bill Lloyd. Just finished up a project with a killer rock band from Louisville called Heaven Hill. And about to jump into a project with the founding member of The Polyphonic Spree, Andrew Tinker. I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by great artists and good people.
Where can our users go to learn more about you and your work?
Have a look at my site: www.glennr.com.
