An Interview with Legendary Recording Engineer
Jay Mark
Do you remember boogying down to Disco Inferno? Or how about dancing in your collarless sweatshirt to the Flashdance soundtrack? Behind those sounds and many others were the engineering chops of legendary recording engineer Jay Mark. Mark got his start in simpler times but his credits are impressive, ranging from The Beatles to Madonna to Stevie Wonder. EKayO feature writer, Rena Gordonson, caught up with the recording veteran in New York City and asked him a few questions.
EKayO: How did you get your start?
JM: I was a disc jockey and Production Director at a radio station in Atlantic City in the early 60’s. The Program Director invited me to New York to visit a friend of his who was doing a recording session at CBS studios in Manhattan and it just blew my mind. The sound, the equipment, and I thought, “I want to do this one day”.
JM: I stayed in radio in Atlantic City until 1968. At that time, through a friend of mine, I was offered a job as an assistant engineer at Columbus Recording in San Francisco, which was owned by The Kingston Trio’s manager. I took the job and worked in that studio for about 6 months and I learned on the fly. About 2 months after I started, the guy who hired me quit, and I was asked to take over as manager. For about 4 months I was managing the studio and doing engineering. The Grateful Dead used the studio, as did Steve Miller and Sly and the Family Stone. One of the first records I engineered was with Chuck Berry. After 6 months I had to move back East for personal reasons and I returned to radio. Then in 1971 I decided to try engineering again.
JM: There was a studio called Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. I went there asked for a job and they hired me. I started as a technician and worked my way up to assistant and eventually engineer. This was in the early 70s just as the Philly Sound was taking off, and all the major Philly acts used our studio, The O’Jays, The Spinners, The Stylistics, etc. At first I was doing a lot of recording and overdubbing but not mixing too much, but then I started working with a guy named Tom Moulton who invented the disco or dance mix. He had this idea to take records, deconstruct them and put them back together again. Now it’s very common. In those days it was a new thing. I started working with him night after night after night for a few years. Among the records we did together were More, More, More (Andrea True) and Disco Inferno (The Trammps).
EKayO: You won a Grammy for Disco Inferno.
JM: I did -- it was part of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and all the engineers on the album got Grammys.
EKayO: I was recently dancing to Disco Inferno at the birthday party of a 13 year old, and the Allman brothers continue to sell out the Beacon. Was there any indication back when you originally recorded these songs that they would have such longevity?
JM: Not with Disco Inferno, but there were a couple of songs I worked on where I remember saying “This is a smash” and I was right every time I can remember. The first time was Backstabbers by the O’Jays and When Will I See You Again by the Three Degrees.
EKayO: You won a Grammy for Jessica with The Allman Brothers as well.
JM: I did. It was for the 2nd of two live albums I did for the Allman Brothers and Jessica won for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. I actually got four nominations for my Allman Brothers work and won twice.
JM: I worked at Sigma in Philly until 1978 and then moved to NY to become Manager and Chief Engineer of their Manhattan facility. By 1980 I decided I’d rather be an engineer than a manager so I went back into engineering full time, with a couple of very successful dance mixers…John Jellybean Benitez (who worked with Madonna), John Luongo, Francois Kavorkian and Shep Pettibone. Working with them was a great experience and we had a long string of Dance hits -- Flashdance, Blue Jean (David Bowie), Winning Ugly (Rolling Stones)… At one time I had mixed 20 of the 50 songs on the Top 50 Dance Chart. I also did some early work with Madonna. I did 4 songs on her first album (Holiday, Lucky Star, Burning Up and Physical Attraction).
EKayO: Is there any one experience that stands out?
JM: I worked with Stevie Wonder and those sessions were exceptional. He’s a brilliant guy. He’s not only a great writer and a musician but he is also a great producer. Working with him and watching him work with musicians was unbelievable.
EKayO: What did you do with Stevie Wonder?
JM: There was one session that I really enjoyed: He was producing his backup group, Wonderlove, and we thought we were just going to record basic tracks (bass, drums, guitars and keyboards) for four songs. Well, we did that, but then we added horns and vocals to one of them and just about finished it – all in one 12-hour session. That was something! I also worked on a documentary soundtrack with him called The Secret Life of Plants.
EKayO: How have things changed in the business?
JM: Well one thing that has changed is that we have entered the digital domain. Now you can record with no tape hiss and no speed variations. You can manipulate the data and edit on the computer, the advantages in that arena are fantastic.
Going from analog to digital as the primary medium is the biggest thing that has happened since I got started. But also the peripheral technology; The fact that there are synthesizers and samplers that were not around when I got started means that anybody on a very modest budget can make records that sound as good as they want to make them if they spend the time. I think that still what matters is the creativity of the artist and the producer. Just because someone can bang something together doesn’t mean that it is good.
EKayO: Do you have any advice for people just starting out in the business?
JM: Well I guess my generic advice would be if this is what you want to do go for it. When I was younger I managed to get work by hanging around places until they hired me. That’s how I got into radio and it’s more or less how I got into recording, so I still advise people to do that – try to find someone or some place that’s doing the kind of thing you want to do. See if you can make yourself known. You can even offer to work for nothing. Actually, you don’t have to offer -- they will demand that you work for nothing! (Just kidding, I think...)
EKayO: It’s more competitive now though…
JM: So follow your bliss (thank you Joseph Campbell). Also since the tools are available now you can clearly make your own record. Make your videos, put them up on You Tube and you can express yourself and make yourself known without going through the usual channels. But certainly if you want engineering as a career I would recommend hanging around studios or producers who are doing what you want to do, if you can possibly do it. Put yourself where the action is and then one day someone is going to break their leg and they will need somebody.
EKayO: What are you doing now?
JM: A few things: I do live music mixing at ABC-TV's
The View as well as the production music for Good Morning America on the weekends. I also have a home studio where I work on smaller-scale projects, which I enjoy greatly. And I also do some website design and maintenance. I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to actually make a living doing so many things I love.
Jay Mark has contributed greatly to the landscape of American music. His ability to simply “follow his bliss” has led to the production of some of our great modern classics. In his humble way when I tell him he is a legend he says “in my own mind” with a grin on his face. Legend or not, no one can deny Jay Mark’s passion for making music sound its best and we are glad he chose to go there.
|
