Matt Linesch

Heir: Why did you get into sound engineering and production? Where did you train and who mentored you?

ML: Music has always been a big part of my life & I always played music as a kid. It wasn’t until later in my life that I realized I wanted to pursue it professionally. I had attended college and I found myself in a position where I really wanted to specialize in something. I wanted to have a vast knowledge in something specific. At that time in my life, I had many different interests, and I just wanted to pick something. I went through the process writing down all my interests on sticky notes and placed them all on my wall. I slowly started removing them and decided the last one left would be the thing I would focus on for the next 10 years of my life. I would do that without questioning or doubting myself even when it got hard. That was the process I had to go through to give myself the courage to dive full on into something. 

The last two things left on the wall were music and optometry. Which in the end made my decision pretty easy. I knew music would be more of a fun road, so I went with that. Which then became the question of whether I pursue music as a musician or a collaborator on people’s projects. That was sort of something I worked through while I dove into music. I quickly realized I didn’t want to be on stage trying to pursue my music. I was definitely more interested in collaborating on various projects. Most of my life I've taken leadership roles whether it was sports teams or other activities. It felt very natural to me to be a leader in facilitating someone else’s vision of their own music. I went to Loyola Marymount University where I got a degree in recording arts, which laid a pretty big foundation for me. 

I met a man named Ross Hogarth, whom I worked under for about 3 years. We worked on projects for artists such as Van Halen, Doobie Brothers, & Don Henley to name a few. During that time, I would listen and watch what he was doing. I took notes, and when we weren’t working together in the studio, I took what I learned and practiced on my own time with some smaller no name bands. Today, they are now some of my good friends and happen to be in bigger bands. I kept up relationships with every connection I made. One of the people I stayed in touch with was Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe. Which led into my first big project.

H: What was the first big project you got to work on?

ML: It was kind of classic California music story. Driving down Santa Monica blvd, my phone rings and it's Alex from Edward Sharpe. Alex told me they were needing help finishing the build of their studio. He asked if I was willing to come up to Ojai. I dropped everything that I was doing at the time. I literally left a session the next day just to get up there. I commuted there everyday for months. Helping them build their studio, & getting them going. Before even being hired officially. I decided to just move there. I ended up working exclusively with them for about 3 to 4 years. Which in a lot of ways built the foundation of my career. We did some beautiful projects together such as Here, PersonA, Live in No Particular Order, & Self Titled.  Eventually we closed that studio and I moved back to LA. I ended up having a studio at United Recording for about 3 years after. Which then led me to realizing if I was going to further my career as a professional producer, recording engineer, and mixer. I needed a proper studio of my own.

H: Talk about the history of your studio

ML: I am so grateful to be in the studio I’m currently in. Before me, the studio was inhabited by the drummer of TOTO named Simon Phillips. Before Simon, Sheila E (Prince’s drummer) owned it. I didn’t change a thing in the studio, it was just perfect and ready to be used. I moved in my 1972 40-channel API console, brought in my tape machines, one of which is a Studer A827 24-track tape that I bought from Jim James, and all of my other equipment. I am grateful to have gear companies and friends that supported me with this big endeavor, and still do. It has been about 4 years now since I’ve been in this studio and i’ve been fine tuning it ever since. The studio is growing, the musicians are growing and now I have started my own record label HiRes Records. We are in the process of signing our second artist. All of this is a dream for me because it means I get to work with artists that I would like to take a chance with. Typically in my career path you want to work with someone, but they need a budget or they need to have a label. Its all over the spectrum these days. Either you have a label, family money of sorts, a benefactor, or you're hustling to make it happen. There is so much talent out there. The label gives me the opportunity to try things. If the projects end up working out, then we have a label backing.

H: How do you think music has changed or evolved since you first started?

ML: It is an interesting thing because music is always evolving and always changing. My entire career has been based upon working with real instruments and collaborating with groups of musicians. Working in a heavy analog capacity, removed from the computer. I think there has been a whole decade, if not longer, of people being stuck in their computers. I’m starting to see that more artists are wanting to get out of that small universe and wanting to work more with other people. At-home recording became such a big thing and I’m excited to see that the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction. I am personally getting a lot of phone calls and people interested in taking stuff they have been working on and building upon it on a larger scale. As far as the production side goes, I’m also beginning to see that people want more substance from their music. We got into a thing for a long time where music (which makes sense) is something that gets people moving, makes you feel good, helps you release. However, with all of the collective trauma that’s gone on over this last year, I’m starting to see people in my life are interested in finding music that has more of a message and meaning. I have hopes this industry is in the middle of a big change right now. A change that will actually create more meaningful art than what has been in the mainstream side of things. Albeit there are some gems out there, I just have grandiose hopes that the amazing, timeless and deep type of music that came out of the 60s & 70s (when there was also collective trauma, war, & political issues) will make an energetic resurgence.  A type of music to come out of what we as a collective have been dealing with during this time. I would love to see that, and be a part of that change.

H: What are the top highlights of your career?

ML: Honestly, nothing sticks out in my mind more than the time I got to spend in Ojai with Edward Sharpe. It was a once in a lifetime experience, that I’m not sure I will be able to relive again. The first record I did for them titled “Here”, debuted at number 5, and making that record was an 11 month process. We worked everyday. I think I had a total of 3 or 4 days off doing that whole process. But that whole time it didn’t feel like work, it was just plain simple fun. Everyone had this energy of wanting to create. It is infectious and we all thrived off one another. Being up in Ojai, there was this freedom to what we were creating. It didn’t feel like we were part of the rest of the world during that time. We left the standard things behind and dove deep into this creative hole together. The camaraderie and the family we created together is so special to me. Those people are my closest friends today.

H: What other artists have you been excited about working with, and why do you love doing what you do?

ML: All of my artists are so important to me. I have loved being able to work with people like Issac Waters, Lauren Ruth Ward, Grace Mitchell, Calling Cadence, Alpine Decline, Farmer Dave, and Dave Mason. Dave is one of my legacy artists. He was a founding member of the band Traffic and has become like family to me now. There's a lot of artists I love working with. I don’t take on projects I don’t vibe with on a fundamental level. More importantly I don’t take on projects where I don’t vibe with the people. I have been blessed with my career path where I never actually feel like I am working.  

To be able to make records, and then get messages from people all over the world. Letting me know how much the music has affected their lives is so meaningful to me. That is what makes it all worth it. Most of my life I am in the studio either with a band, a musician, or by myself. You start to forget about the world out there. You forget that people out there are going to listen to this music. I do this because I want to make amazing art. Getting that feedback from people is always the best reminder. I am able to create a positive effect in someone else's life. That feels good.

The amount of time and energy that goes into a song before you hear it on Spotify or Apple Music is immense. It is important to be focused on where that energy is going, and the people you’re putting that into. Which is one of the reasons I started the Label. I’ve worked on so many projects that people have never even heard before. Which is the name of the game in this industry unfortunately. It’s not uncommon that producers, engineers, & mixers work on projects that don’t ever see the light of day, or fall on deaf ears when they’re released. I was tired of seeing that happening with projects that I really believed in. I wanted to be able to participate in the careers of some of these artists, even after they leave the studio. To now be able to continue those stories means the world to me.

H: What are you most excited to release that you are working on?

ML: Currently an Issac Waters record. His record is something else! Anyone that I have shown snippets to are over the moon by it! It’s a very unique album and I’m very proud of the work. There's a couple of songs on the record that we wrote together. Which is very exciting for me because I don’t always get the opportunity to write from the bottom up with artists. We don’t know the release date of the album yet, but I’m very excited for that project to come out.

Next on the list are Grace Mitchell, as well as a new artist, a band named Calling Cadence. Both are incredible and I cant wait for their releases.

H: What top 5 artists outside of your work are you personally listening to right now?

ML: Grateful Dead, Ethiopian jazz like “Ethiopiques”, William Onyeabor & Ted Lucas. Oh and Victoria Bailey. She is a country singer. I love her voice, and I love her songs. I find them very easy stories to listen to, which is important these days.

H: How does Heir work into your life and what about do you connect with?

ML: I love the stuff, I throw it on my beard. I throw it on my hair. First of all, the smell of it calms me instantly. I feel so relaxed, and that is a big thing for me lately.  A lot of projects I have been working on recently, I have 5-8 people in the studio. Everyone is looking to me for the answers to every question, which can be a lot of pressure for me. In a funny way when I use Heir,  before I dive into something. I immediately enter a headspace where I am very calm. Heir also just makes me look put together when I’m not always put together! It has been a great addition to my routine. Like my routine of always listening to the Grateful Dead on the way to my studio. I have these little things that I do to clear my mind, especially creatively when I’m having to jump from one project to the next (sometimes within the same day) which can be very taxing emotionally. So simple things like putting Heir on can play a lot into the headspace, and it does that for me.