“Graeme Gibson may be the ultimate musician's engineer/producer. A talented drummer and bass player as well as a gifted recording and mixing engineer—he has often played as much on as produced the many recordings he's worked on over the past seven years. Graeme has the ability to not only bring out the best in those he works with, but also to effectively communicate ideas and concepts in the common language of a diverse array of musical artists.”
I started twiddling knobs when I was about 14 and I started playing the drums when I was 9. I don't come from a musical family so I had to seek it out. By the time I was 16 I was borrowing equipment (cassette 8-trk and a Trayner Audiopro mixer) from my high school and recording the bands that I was in as well as my friend�s bands during spring and summer breaks. After graduation I moved to Vancouver B.C. Canada in January 1997 where I attended the Trebas Institute studying recording arts and sciences. By June (while still in school), I started interning at �Hipposonic Studios�. Working my way up the recording studio ranks in Vancouver, I was continually gaining crucial knowledge of recording, mixing and producing from some of the many industry veterans I encountered.
At a Tortoise show in Vancouver 1996, I met multi instrumentalist/ engineer/ producer John McEntire (the Sea and Cake, Stereolab, 5iveStyle, Eleventh Dream Day, Trans Am, etc). After a few years correspondence, John had mentioned that he had decided to open his own studio in Chicago named Soma. After a few tests, John flew me out to help him untangle the ball of wire and solder that became Soma Studios.
After a year and a half and the initial completion of Soma, I was on my own. I stumbled upon a studio on the southside of Chicago that had been abandoned by the operator (Brian Deck) and left to the owners. Clava Studio has provided an outlet for a wide range of projects with a nice balance between options and limitations in its instruments, equipment, and clientele.
My multi-varied and comprehensive work experience is a testament to my abilities; as an engineer I've worked on a wide range of projects from folk to country, vocal jazz to free jazz, hip-hop to pop, sound-track to sound-scape, rock to metal, art rock to punk rock, and any combination of the above.
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