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5 Things about Michael Mason

you may not know (or need to know).
In 1977
In 2007
How long have you played guitar?
- I think I started in 7th grade. Before that I played Tenor Banjo, which was a good size for my grade school hands, but when I got to Jr. High and saw a band play the dance I instantly thought "Wow, guitar's cool - banjo is NOT". The next day I begged my parents to buy me a $90 Alverez acoustic guitar. I played guitar everyday for about 10 years. Played in many different bands, played in bars, went to Colorado State and studied music education. But when I became a recording engineer in 1979, and was working with some unbeleivable studio players, I put the guitar in the closet and just concentrated on recording. From that point on I really didn't play much for about 20 years. Then in 2000 I lost both my parents to cancer and found playing guitar very centering. It's taken me 7 years to get back into playing shape, but now I've come full circle and I'm back playing in smokey bars and pool halls.
You mentioned being a Recording Engineer. How'd you get into that job?
- One summer of college I played in the house band at "Rookey's Flame Room" in Streator, IL. To say the least it was an education. I saw guys fall asleep on the bar, get in fights, fall off bar stools, and really got an education in bad bar behavior. I quickly realized playing in a bar was an entertainment medium, recording was a creative medium. I was more interested in the creative medium so I focused my attention on getting a job at a recording studio. In 1979 I got my first job as a "runner" at Universal Recording. You know, run for lunch, run to the bank, run and pick up the clients shirts from the cleaners. Eventually I was assisting on sessions for all kinds of artists like - The Dells, The Manhattans, The Chi-Lites, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, Styx, Survivor, The Police, The Blues Brothers, Weather Report, the CSO, and many, many, many commercials. When I moved from assistant engineer to senior engineer I found myself enjoying post production for TV commercials. I was good at it, and that's what I do today. I've mixed commercials for so many familiar products - Bud, Coors, United Airlines, McDonalds, Sears, KFC, Delta, and really too many to mention. If you watch TV for more than an hour tonight you will no doubt see a commercial I have worked on. To view my reel go to; http://www.chicagorecording.com/newcrc/studio3.html
How does being a Recording Engineer effect your guitar playing?
- Oh man, in so many ways I've learned from big time studio players like Dan Huff, Elliot Randal, Buzzy Feiten, Bruce Gaitsch, Bill Rupert, and Craig McCreary. I think what it all comes down to is editing your playing. Don't play any more than you need to - it makes what you DO play that much more important. That means on many songs I may only play 2 or three notes of a chord. I look at Electric Guitar as just playing parts. It's not the cake, it's the icing on the cake. I've also learned the importance of getting a good tone, and many different tones. That may mean a different guitar, or signal processing, or amp for each song. Speaking of signal processing, THAT's what I do for a living. So working with delays, reverbs, chorus, EQ's, amp modeling just comes naturally. I might have a leg up on the average bear in this department.
What are you musical influences? Who do you listen to?
- Early on I listened to everyone from James Taylor and CSNY to Led Zepplin and Jethro Tull, to The Allman Brothers, Little Feat, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. In college I listened to a lot of classical and jazz music. Brahms, Berlioz, Miles Davis, Oliver Nelson, Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea. These days I find myself listening to country music. Artists like Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Little Big Town. I think the song writing and musicianship coming from Nashville is astounding. As a northern 'Yankee' you just have to get over the country twang and listen to the song and playing. My favorite album last year was Little Big Town's "The Road to Here". Go out and buy it! There's not a bad song in the bunch. If I look at the most recently played section of my iPod it would be one long playlist of JT, SRV, Clapton, Allmans, Keith Urban, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Hendrix, Zepplin, Chris Tomlin, Stephan Curtis Chapman, Delbert McClinton, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, etc.
If you could have the talent of any artist, who would it be?
- Dan Huff. He's one of the most talented guitar players I've ever worked with. In the last 10 year or so he's gone from top Nashville session player to producing some of todays top country artists. People like Faith Hill, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw. He's a studio cat, just like myself, but with a whole lot more talent. The first album I ever recorded as lead engineer was in 1984 at Pinewood Recording Studios, in Alexandria IN. The record producer had hired the 3rd string players from Nashville to come up and record the rhythm tracks. The electric player comes in and says "I'll need two mic's, I like to play in stereo." He sets down a Mesa Boogie Mark II and some other amp, (I can't recall what it was) and a whole heck of a lot of outboard gear for the time. I put up a couple of SM-57's and went into the control room. When I brought up the faders it was like "wow, my jobs done. I don't need to add anything." No EQ, no nothing it was perfect. That player was Dan Huff.