Steve Churchyard (INXS, The Pretenders, Billy Joel)

Grammy-winning producer, engineer and mixer Steve Churchyard started his career at Sir George Martin's legendary AIR Studios in London. Churchyard engineered and mixed The Pretenders’ album Learning to Crawl and mixed INXS' breakthrough release, Listen Like Thieves. Other notable credits include Elton John, Adele, The Eagles, Billy Joel, George Michael, and Meat Loaf. He has been nominated for fifteen Grammys.

Tell us about your current studio setup.

I've been graced with a career that has taken me to recording studios throughout North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Japan, and Australia. I have been fortunate enough to be able to go where the projects take me.

These days I work almost exclusively in studios in Los Angeles.

The equipment used is according to the project's needs. I have no set preferences there. In fact, for me, it's more about the recording room and microphone choices.

My favorite piece of new gear is usually something old I’ve discovered. Having said that the $50 ValhallaDSP is blowing my mind right now!

Having produced and mixed so many songs over the past few years, how do you stay fresh and excited about making music these days?

It must be the thrill of the chase and waiting for all those lucky accidents to happen. Being in the studio with an artist who is passionate about their music is an incredible experience. That never gets old.

I'm here to listen to the song, get the best performances, and support the process. It's always different and never the same.

How do you typically approach a mix: what's your process for setting it up? How often are you making big editing decisions in your mixing?

Some people have incredible successes recording in a hotel room or their bedroom on a laptop. That's never going to happen to me.

I'll grab a college notebook before I've even heard one note and then scribble away as I take my first listen, whether it's in a rehearsal room or an audio file on my iPhone. It always starts that way.

Ideas for the song, arrangement, structure, instrumentation will happen right there and then.

My recording approach has always been a collaborative one, bouncing ideas around. I like to work quickly in the studio. I'm not a fan of the open-ended recording process, which happens a lot when you record at home, just because you can. Put together a budget, book a block of time in a great-sounding classic room, and get it done.

What typically sits on your mix buss?

I'll always take the ‘less is more’ approach. If I’ve recorded everything correctly and the mix sounds good to me, then maybe all I'll need is some subtle EQ and compression. What I will use depends on my thoughts for the song that day.

Part of the job is figuring out what's going to hit the song out of the park. It's not necessarily a one size fits all approach. I wish it were that easy.