RSR070 – Roger Moutenot – Producing Yo La Tengo & Paula Cole

My guest today is Roger Moutenot, a multi platinum Grammy nominated producer and engineer here in Nashville. Roger started out in Cliffside Park NJ with a view of Manhattan recording bands in his basement studio before attending the Institute of Audio Research in New York and landing a job at Skyline Studios in 1975.

During his time at Skyline Roger recorded many important artists including Laurie Anderson, They Might Be Giants, and 10,000 Maniacs. Making the inevitable shift to freelance Roger began working at Chung King House of Metal with Run DMC, Heavy D, and Stetsasonic, and also recording greats from the the NY jazz scene John Zorn, Bill Frisell, and Don Byron.

Moving to Nashville TN in the 90s I first met Roger when he was mixing Jill Sobule at Woodland Studios where I was interning. And then we got a chance to work together at Alex The Great studio owned by Robin Eaton and Brad Jones recording a cool indi band Toy Bean.

In 1993 Roger produced Painful, for the college radio favorites Yo La Tengo, which began a long relationship with the band going on to record seven full length albums. These included the critically acclaimed albums I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One in 1997, and 2000’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.

Roger continued to make records in both Nashville and NY until building his own Haptown Studio, where we are today. He has a long list of credits which include: producing Paula Cole’s double platinum, Grammy Nominated album, This Fire, Joseph Arthur, Lambchop, Josh Rouse, Jefferson Airplane/ Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, Lou Reed, Rosanne Cash, John Cale, Jeff The Brotherhood, Son Volt, Mindy Smith, Cheap Trick, Gillian Welch, and John Mayer. The list goes on…

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You can reach Roger at: haptown491@gmail.com

Here’s Roger with his recommended reading for the studio:

The Edison wax cylinder.

Brand New Noise – cool noise boxes!

The Advent Cassette Deck

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