Scott McDowell

Here's a small selection of records I've made:

• Kanye West

  I spent a couple weeks working living on engineering team for Kanye West's album Donda. It’s defintely the largest team I’ve ever been a part of, with everybody on the team pushing themselves way past their best. In my time there, I had a ton of jobs, but the biggest moment was cutting the lead vocal on No Child Left Behind, which was used in preview trailer above.

• The Head and The Heart

  I’ve flown to studios all over the country with The Head and The Heart, working on both Signs of Light and Living Mirage.

  I also co-produced some limited release singles and EPs like The Stinson Beach Sessions LP and their cover of Neil Finn’s classic Don’t Dream It’s Over.

• Feist

  I engineered the first round of basics sessions for the upcoming Feist record, Pleasure. We spent three weeks up at the Panoramic House Studio in Stinson Beach. It was a pretty amazing collection of people to spend time with and Feist is every bit as impressive an artist as I had always imagined.

• Ty Segall

  In early 2019 I spent an inspiring couple of weeks helping Ty Segall finish First Taste out at Panoramic Studios.
  I learned a ton, dude’s an incredily inspiring person!

• Daniel Erik

  For this track by Daniel Erik, he brought in a bunch of heady jazz musicians to the studio. We tracked each part individually, with me doing aggressive sonic “shaping” while the mics were live, then feeding that to the player’s ears to inform their improvisations. It was a ton of fun!

• Josiah Johnson

  I’m currently in the midst of co-producing a new batch of songs with Josiah Johson. The first is Hello, Hello On Fire!, but we’ve working together since his time in The Head and The Heart including his first solo album: Every Feeling On A Loop.

• Elizabeth Moen

  I recorded and mixed Elizabeth Moen's upcoming album Wherever you Aren’t,
  a reimagined single of her first song ever,
  and this well recieved 2019 Tiny Desk submission.

• Sean Hayes

  I recorded and mixed the most recent Sean Hayes album, Be Like Water.
  In addition, I recorded basics for Run Wolves Run record and the Honeybees Falling EP.

• Rohan

  I’m in the process of mixing an upcoming album for Rohan.

• The California Honeydrops

  I’ve been working with The California Honeydrops for a looooong time. Nearly a decade ago I recorded and mixed Like You Mean It, which caught the attention of Bonnie Raitt.

  Since then I’ve done countless sessions with the band at multiple studios.

• Goodnight, Texas

  I’ve mixed four albums and an EP for Goodnight, Texas: A Long Life of Living, Uncle John Farquhar, Conductor, The Senseless Age (EP), How Long Will It Take Them To Die, and their contribution to the Metallica Blacklist: “Of Wolf and Man”.
  
  “The Railroad”, from their first album, has been picked up by Coors Banquet for their “Carry the West” campaign and was also used for the opening scenes in the first episode of Tiger King.
  
  I really love how these all three of these albums turned out, how their sound manages to feel traditional and modern without breaking a sweat, and how easily they can make americana feel timeless.

• The Rainbow Girls

  I had so much fun mixing American Dream record. Erin, Caitlin, and Vanessa are three incredibly creative ladies and we had a lot of fun crazy nights finishing this record together.

• Kelly McFarling

  For a while, I spent so much time in the studio with Kelly McFarling and her band that we began joking about how her crew had a “home team advantage” every time they came in. Ultimately that became the name of her band!
  We've made a total of five records together: Deep The Habit, Water Dog, Others, Ridgeline and Distractible Child.

• Marty O’Reilly

  I spent 10 days at Panoramic Studio with Marty O’Reilly and The Old Soul Orchestra,
  recording basics for the album Signal Fires.

  My pal Cian engineered the title track and somehow footage from that session got used for the “behind the scenes” video of Sleeptalking, but that’s just movie magic. I get it: Cian’s handsome AF.

  Following that we went to The Sebastiani Theatre and recorded a some live promo videos.
  These four musicians really have a special chemistry!

• Diana Gameros

  I co-produced, engineered, and mixed Diana Gameros’ album Eterno Retorno.

• The Brothers Comatose

  I recorded and mixed a couple cover songs with The Brothers Comatose including Ain’t No Sunshine and No Quarter.

• Whiskerman

  I recorded overdubs and mixed the this dirty rockin’ Whiskerman EP.

• The Stone Foxes

  I produced and mixed The Stone Foxes’ last EP, as well as the single for an international Jack Daniel’s campaign.

  “While I’m A King Bee might be a cover song, the Stone Foxes add more depth than The Rolling Stones did in 1964. [...] It's one of the most exciting covers of the song since 1957” - Liquid Hip

• Kendra McKinley

  In October of 2017, Kendra McKinley spent a month living at the Hendry Miller Library in Big Sur as an artist-in-residence. I packed up a rental car full of microphones, a Milkman amplifier, and a vibraslap and spent three nights recording a collection of tunes with Kendra inside the library.

• Hot Flash Heat Wave

  I had a blast recording super dry drums with Hot Flash Heat Wave for their first single of 2021: m o t i o n s.

• Kacey Johansing

  I really cut my teeth as recording engineer, mixer and producer for Kacey Johansing’s first record Many Seasons. I was so green, but I still love how it all turned out. I was also the recording engineer for her second record Grand Ghosts.

• Washed Out

  I recorded and mixed this live performance video for Yours Truly.

• Con Brio

  I recorded and mixed the Con Brio half of a 7 inch split they put out with The London Souls. I pulled
  some fun tricks in the bridge to make it feel like a drum loop, but it's played straight through.

  I also mixed half of the album: Paradise.

• BØRNS

  I spent some time up at Panoramic Studios with working along BØRNS and their producer Tommy English on the second album Blue Madonna.

• Ben Morrison

  I mixed a couple songs from Ben Morrison’s debut album Old Technology.

• Strange Pilgrim

  I mixed Strange Pilgrim’s self titled debut album.

• Max Daniel

  I mixed the album Meant to Be by Max Daniel.

• Don’t Be a Hero

  I engineered, mixed, and co-produced a few songs for the soundtrack to Don’t Be a Hero, directed by my good friend Pete Lee. It’s a short film set in Bakerfield, so we whipped up some country tunes. Four songs, written, arranged, recorded, and mixed in one day. The film took a lot more time, but turned out great!

  The actual sound for the film was mixed by my pal Jeremiah Moore, who has a mix room across the hall from my studio. We were literally recording the soundtrack the same day he was editing dialogue across the hallway (with Pete running back and forth between the rooms)! It was a fun day at Hyde.

• Suzanimal

  I engineered and mixed the debut record from Suzanimal: Body. This was record full of close friends, we all had too much fun putting it together, and I think it turned out pretty good.

• Saalt

  I engineered, mixed, and co-produced this single from Saalt. This was a really fun and createive band to work with! My favorite part was convincing Alisa to bust out her baritone horn for the outro. She crushed it!

• Oona

  I’ve known and worked with Oona in many different ways over the years, she a super creative woman who directs short films, writes scripts, and performs music as well! We are currnetly co-producing a new collection of songs, including this cover of I Am The Walrus. You can find three earlier tunes I recorded/mixed that Oona produced with Avi Vinocur at her bandcamp page. I’ve known Oona since the first year I moved to SF, and have been a fan or hers the entire time.

• Birds & Batteries

  Recorded and helped mix three records with Birds & Batteries: Panorama, Up To No Good, and I’ll Never Sleep Again.

• We Became Owls

  I co-produced, recorded and mixed We Became Owls’ latest EP: There Are Other Animals At The Zoo.

• Sadie

  I co-produced (along with Katie Day), recorded and mixed a three song EP with Sadie while she was still in eigth grade!

• Anastasia

  I co-produced, recorded and mixed Anastasia’s latest EP Country Flat, as well as her debut Only The Truth.

• The Singer & The Songwriter

  I produced, recorded and mixed Directions for The Singer & The Songwriter.
  These two are so wonderful to work with and this EP is something I’m incredibly proud of.
  
  We worked hard in the studio to find a folk sound that [...] people crave.
  I think we nailed it while managing to bring something unique to each song.

• Planes On Paper

  I spent a very stormy week out in Stinson Beach recording Edge Markings with Planes on Paper. Navid and Jen are two of the coolest humans and I would give anything to spend another week listening to them sing together every day.

• Trainwreck Riders

  I recorded and mixed the last Trainwreck Riders album: Ghost Yards.

• Angelica Rockne

  I’ve produced a series of singles with Angelica Rockne.

• The Fell Swoop

  I’ve produced a series of super fun singles with The Fell Swoop.

• Alycia Lang

  I wore a lot of hats on the EP MakeShift, from Alycia Lang (some records get blurry like that), but mostly I recorded and/or mixed a healthy chunk of the music. Alycia is an incredible song writer, with a bold sonic pallet, and funny AF. Every song on the record is so unique, oozes with character, and plays to the strength of the different collaborators she hand picked for each song.

• Aviva le Fey

  Aviva really didn’t want to record her debut album in SF, so she found a tiny cabin a few hours north in Ukiah. We packed up a rack of preamps, microphones, and mic stands and off we went! I literally threw out my back making packing for this record. Fortunately, Aviva has seat warmers in her van, and by the time we arrived at the recording location, I was mostly recovered. I mixed the whole thing in my apartment in SF, and I think it turned out pretty great!

• Mad Noise

  I mixed the For My Mother EP by Mad Noise.

• José Lobo

  I think I performed an actual kitchen sink on the ending of this recording I made with José Lobo.
  To be fair, he played everything else but the kitchen sink!

• Ghost & Gale

  I mixed this wonderful EP for Ghost & Gale, a colloration between Brodie Jenkins (of Cathedrals) and David Luning.

• Sonya Cotton

  I co-produced, recorded, and mixed two "mostly live in studio" records for Sonya Cotton: It Is So and Red River.

• Geographer

  Recording/Mixing/Producing for both of Geographer’s first two releases: Innocent Ghosts, and Kites 7”. The single ‘Kites’, is considered the song that “put them on the map”.

  “Tailor-made for your own personal late-night dance party”. -- Spin

• Chasing The Moon

  I created and co-produced the Chasing The Moon series with videographer Elijiah Pahati.
  The series lasted for three years and we managed to publish 36 episodes (always releasing on a full moon).

• Lia Rose

  I recorded and mixed Lia Rose’s split record: Conspire.

• Vandella

  I produced the latest release from Vandella, a four song EP called Shine You Up.
  In addition to recording & mixing, I also wrote out some horn charts.

• Old Gray Whistle Test

  I worked extra hard producing the first EP, Ouroboros, from The Old Grey Whistle Test, the solo project of Vandella’s Tracey Holland. We also had time produce this one off single for a spooky video.

• Rupa & The April Fishes

  I spent 10 days recording the album Build with Rupa & The April Fishes and producer Todd Sickafoose.

• Annie Girl & The Flight

  I produced, engineered, and mixed this record by the super talented Annie Girl & The Flight.

  “Engrossing, mysterious …heightened and hypnotic.”
  - Sylvie Simmons. MOJO album of the month March 2013

• Katie Day

  I recorded and mixed the Going Nowhere EP with Katie Day, and I produced and mixed the newer Burn It To The Ground EP.

• Kevin Rivers

  I produced, recorded, and mixed this awesome EP from Kevin Rivers.

• Tim Marcus

  I really love how this song turned out. I recorded and mixed this song by Tim Marcus for the Kelly McFarling / Lia Rose split album Conspire.

• Pretty, Handsome

  I recorded the vocals for these rad productions by Pretty, Handsome. Sierra Totten is a classicly trained singer and just awesome to work with, while Stephen Tucker creates the super rich textures with their music. His sounds are so inspiring! Every new song they bring in just completely blows my mind!

• Future Shapes

  I’ve been producing a bunch of great new music with Future Shapes. Fil plays all the instruments himself, and then gives me plenty of time to get weird with the recordings.

• Dot Vom

  I produced these two Dot Vom songs as part of a rad split EP with Future Shapes.

• Summer Peaks

  I produced Color in the Shade, the only full length from Summer Peaks before Melina hit it big with Jay Som.

• King Dream

  I mixed the self-titled debut album from King Dream.
  Produced by Graham Patzner of Whiskerman.

• Hot Buttered Rum

  I spent a week up at Panoramic House with the band recording Something Beautiful.

• Strike Iron

  I spent a week up at Prairie Sun recording Strike Iron's debute record with a full horn section (circled around my Royer SF-12 mic). It was an absolute blast!

• Wolf & Crow

  I mixed this the album Folklore from Wolf & Crow.

• Vinyl Spectrum

  I produced three songs for Vinyl Spectrum including their latest release: Plush Interior. Before that I mixed P.S. 118.

• Happy Fangs

  I recorded and mixed 5 of the 7 tracks on the new EP from Happy Fangs.