Bob Clearmountain

Bob Clearmountain (born January 15, 1953) is an American recording engineer, mixer and record producer. He has worked with many major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Toto, Bon Jovi and Bryan Adams, with whom he has a very long association.Bob Cleamountain's Associated Artists List
He has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and won a Latin Grammy Award in 2007 for Best Male Pop Vocal Album for his work with engineering Ricky Martin's "MTV Unplugged". He has also won an Emmy and he has won seven TEC Awards for "Best Recording Engineer", two others for "Best Broadcast Engineer", one special "Les Paul Award" and a Monitor Award for the Rolling Stones' ''Voodoo Lounge'' pay-per-view show. He is married to Apogee Electronics CEO, Betty Bennett.

Biography

As a teenager, Clearmountain had many friends who were musicians or aspirants. He loved music, and played bass guitar in a bar band, but felt he did not want to rely on these capricious beings for his career. Always more interested in the technical side, Clearmountain had a makeshift studio at home equipped with a two-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, some microphones and a talkback. He also loved to make tape recordings of the band's concerts. According to an interview with ''Sound on Sound'', Clearmountain was immediately attracted when he entered a professional recording studio for the first time."Master Mixer Bob Clearmountain"
''Sound on Sound'', June 1999

His band had been making a demo recording at Mediasound Studios on 57th Street in New York. Determined to make a career in the technical side of the music business, he visited frequently and pestered the studio for a job. He was eventually hired as a gofer. Clearmountain claims that after making about two deliveries, he found staff at the office had been looking for him – they had apparently been expecting him to be working on a recording session, as an assistant engineer. The star-struck new assistant engineer found that his first session was with Duke Ellington.

According to Clearmountain, he was hired as Chief Engineer at the Power Station (now Avatar Studios) as they were opening in around 1977, and had a say in designing the recording studios and choosing the equipment as a rock music studio.

Clearmountain also played bass on the Dead Boys' first album, ''Young, Loud and Snotty'', before Jeff Magnum rejoined the group.

On September 3rd, 2022, Clearmountain recorded and mixed the live broadcast of the Foo Fighters Taylor Hawkins Tribute concert from Wembley Stadium. On September 27th, he recorded the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert at the Los Angeles Forum.

As mixer/producer

Clearmountain has worked with many of the biggest names in music, having, for example, mixed Springsteen's ''Born in the U.S.A.'', The Rolling Stones' ''Tattoo You'', and having produced or mixed extensively for Bryan Adams since 1981. He cites works he is most proud of are Aimee Mann's first solo album, '' Whatever''; albums by Australian band Crowded House, '' Play'' by Squeeze and ''Avalon'' by Roxy Music (1982). He also mixed David Bowie's 1983 album '' Let's Dance''.

Live at El Mocambo boxed set 2022 remix
He has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and won a Latin Grammy Award in 2007 for Best Male Pop Vocal Album for his work with engineering " MTV Unplugged" for Ricky Martin. He has also won an Emmy and he has won seven TEC Awards for "Best Recording Engineer", two others for "Best Broadcast Engineer", one special "Les Paul Award" and a Monitor Award for the Rolling Stone's ''Voodoo Lounge'' pay-per-view show.

Selection of his work as a Mixer

* Bryan Adams' '' You Want It You Got It'', ''Cuts Like a Knife'', '' Reckless'' and '' Into the Fire'' albums
*Jonatha Brooke's
Steady Pull
' and '' Careful What You Wish For'' albums
* The Church's 1982 album '' The Blurred Crusade''
* David Bowie's 1983 album '' Let's Dance''
* Hall & Oates' 1984 album ''Big Bam Boom''
* Paul McCartney's ''Tripping the Live Fantastic'' album
* The Pretenders' ''Get Close'' album
* Simple Minds' '' Once Upon a Time'' album
* The Who's '' Join Together'' album
*Michael Stanley Band's 1983 '' You Can't Fight Fashion'' album
*The album documenting the Woodstock '94 concert in Saugerties, NY
*The Silencers' ''Rock'' N''' ''Roll Enforcers'' album (1980)
*Crowded House:temple of the low men album (1988)

References

External links

Bob Clearmountain's homepage

"Bob Clearmountain: Master Mixer" Sound on Sound

Bob Clearmountain Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2016)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clearmountain, Bob
1953 births
Living people
Record producers from Connecticut
Grammy Award winners
Latin Grammy Award winners
Emmy Award winners
American audio engineers
Mixing engineers