Ep. 70 - Stephen Shirk - Owner of SHIRK Studios

We love reconnecting with old friends and collaborators - this week the Buds got to do just that, welcoming to the GB fold Stephen Shirk, owner of SHIRK Studios in Chicago. Steve generously talked us through getting his start in central Illinois, moving to NYC to work at the Hit Factory while building his engineering and production chops, evolving along with the dawn of DAWs, and eventually heading back to Chicago and opening multiple iterations of the world class Shirk Studios. We discuss recording years worth of Hear Ya Sessions, Sphere consoles, the Highland Dynamics BG2 compressor, the unquestionable glory of Balthazar amps, pushing sonic limits with Fur Trader, and Donny Osmand’s (by way of The Bonfires Vintage) old EMT 140. Plus, you know we had to ask for some recording and mixing tips, so we get into using Pultecs on a 2-bus, parallel compression on drums and vox, and taming bass guitar. Also discussed: the free Bvker Metro Boomin sample pack, Hank’s podcasting article on Reverb, Jack White’s gear auction, Pantera, Bill Callahan aka Smog’s Knock Knock, and Jonathan Wilson. If it sounds cool, it IS cool.