The Ongoing History of New Music, encore presentation: Studio stories with producer Chris Birkett

[Let’s call this reading week. New episodes resume in seven days. – AC]

Like a lot of music fans, I’m fascinated by what goes on in the kitchen: the recording studio. How is music made and recorded? Who is responsible for doing what? What kind of jobs are available?

You may have wonder what a producer does? What’s the difference between a producer and an engineer? How have things changed over decades when it comes to recording technology? And what’s the difference between the attitude towards recording music back in the day versus what’s happening now?

The only way to get proper answers to these questions is to call in an expert. I found Chris Birkett, a producer, engineer, musician, and songwriter who has seen things evolved over a number of decades.

Let’s hear some of his studio stories.

Songs from this show:

• Sinead O’Connor, Nothing Compares to You
• Cage the Elephant feat. Beck, Night Running
• White Stripes, Seven Nation Army
• Rodrigo Y Gabriela, The Soundmaker
• Broken Bells, The High Road

As usual, Eric Wilhite has created a playlist for us.

The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:

• 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7
• Live 88-5/Ottawa
• 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener
• FM96/London – Sunday night at 7, Monday night at 11
• Power 97/Winnipeg (Sunday nights at 11)
• Rock 97.7/Grand Prairie – Sunday nights at 6.
• Sonic 102.9/Edmonton
• The Zone/Victoria
• The Fox/Vancouver
• WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown The show runs at 11 am Sunday. This, by the way, is a great option for American listeners who are prevented from listening to the show live because of geo-blocking,

We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor,  Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.

If you ever miss a show, you can always get the podcast edition available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your on-demand audio.