Cobras & Fire Podcast
Some bonus coverage. Bakko talks with the engineer of Pearl Jam's "Ten", Dave Hillis. Dave has plenty of amazing anecdotes from the making some of the biggest records in Grunge and Rock music in general.
Muscle Shoals Storytellers
Telling the story of the sound of Muscle Shoals, the hit recording capital of the world, and its far-reaching musical and artistic community. Muscle Shoals Storytellers brings you interviews from legendary Muscle Shoals musicians, as well as other artists, engineers, producers, and entrepreneurs that come to the area to record in our historic studios.
THE ROCK SAVAGES PODCAST
On this episode, we had the pleasure to talk to the legendary Seattle Engineer Dave Hillis. Dave was the principle Recording Engineer for Producer Rich Parashar during the Eighties and early Nineties. The team worked at the famous London Bridge Studios and together helped create some of the biggest selling and legendary Grunge/Rock albums of the Nineties, including Pearl Jam’s Ten & Alice In Chains Dirt. Dave chats with us about his days at London Bridge, his early years in the band MACE, his current creative endeavors and his new studio life in Pittsburgh PA.
Couch Riffs
My guest on this episode of the Couch Riffs Podcast is Dave Hillis who transformed from 80s thrash guitarist to engineer and producer on recordings that you have most definitely heard. Albums like Pearl Jam's "Ten", Alice In Chains' "Dirt", Temple of the Dog and The Afghan Whigs' "1965". His first band, Mace, had quite a reputation around the Northwest (and beyond!) in the 80s. You won't find it on streaming services but YouTube has some stuff that fans of thrash/crossover will certainly enjoy. In the 90s, after engineering some of the biggest albums of the decade, Dave started another band, Sybil Vane, that again made a splash beyond the Northwest landing a slot on the Empire Records Soundtrack album. Dave continues to write, record, produce and engineer in Pittsburgh PA these days.
WORKING CLASS AUDIO
Dave Hillis has spent large amounts of time on both sides of the glass as a guitarist, producer, engineer, mixer and writer. He worked alongside famed producer Rick Parasher for several years in Seattle and was the engineer on Pearl Jam’s breakthrough album “10”. In this episode we will discuss:
- Metal beginnings
- DIY Focus
- Brooklyn to Seattle
- Record store education
- Rick Parasher
- Pearl Jam
- Closing and opening studios
- Traditional record making
- Committing tracks
- Moving back East
Recording Studio Rockstars
Dave talked about recording the grunge scene in Seattle, beating the demo, blending mics for great guitar recordings, the importance of headphone mixes, and the never before heard story of secretly editing the Even Flow master tape for Pearl Jam.
My guest today is Dave Hillis who started his career as a 17 year old guitarist for the legendary thrash metal band "MACE." Dave also spent ten years alongside legendary producer Rick Parashar, at Seattle's famed London Bridge Studios, during the birth of the Grunge era where he worked as the engineer on Pearl Jam's debut album "Ten" , "Mother Love Bone", the movie soundtrack for "Singles", Alice in Chains, Blind Melon, The Seattle Symphony, Love On Ice, and many others.
Dave’s producing and engineering credits include The Afghan Whigs', The Twilight Singers, Kevin Martin of Candlebox, and he has even worked with comedian, Denis Leary among many others.
BEHIND THE BACKLINE PODCAST