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Insider Profile | Ed Stasium | Record Producer [The Ramones, Talking Heads, Living Colour] |
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Producer/engineer/mixer, Ed Stasium would rather say “it’s all about the music” when pressed for highlights of his career. Helping an artist clearly bring their vision to fruition while taking care to make sure the sound shines, Ed finds himself taking a role as “just another member of the band” while leading a project to completion. Ed keeps has a fresh eye for musical substance where he can lend a veteran’s wealth of studio experience. His valuable instinct for mediation has been useful in many situations where he’s had to be a “Henry Kissinger of Rock & Roll” as he’ll describe with a smile. Ed Stasium hails from the beautiful Garden State (New Jersey), where he became interested in tape recorders and guitars when he was a young lad. He recorded, and was a guitar playing member of countless garage bands during his formative years. While attending the School Of Visual Arts in Manhattan, Ed joined a local New Jersey group named Brandywine. Setting up a makeshift studio in their manager’s basement he recorded demos, and in 1971 the band went on to sign with and record an album for Brunswick Records (engineered by Bruce Swedien!). It was during the making of that record that Ed found himself drawn to the production and engineering side of the recording process. In 1972 he left the band and through his childhood friend Michael Bonagura was introduced to producer Tony Camillo and producer/engineer Tony Bongiovi, owners of Venture Sound Studios in Somerville, NJ. There he became involved with the building and wiring of the room and became a staff engineer where he received his first ‘hands on’ experience in professional recording. Ed recorded and mixed his first gold single, Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” and had a top ten hit with Bazuka’s at Venture Sound. After three years at Venture, Ed next took a staff position at Le Studio Morin Heights in Quebec, where he produced his first gold album for French-Canadian group “Garolou”. While visiting New York in 1976 he again happened upon Tony Bongiovi and his new partner, former Mediasound manager Bob Walters who asked him to join forces with them to start up a new studio. This studio was to become the legendary “Power Station,” where he played an intricate part in the design of the room and choice of equipment. In 1978, feeling the constraints of being on staff, Stasium left Power Station to pursue an independent career. Ed has since recorded and produced such diverse artists as Ramones, Talking Heads, Julian Cope, Peter Wolf, Nona Hendryx, Mick Jagger, Jeff Healey, Joan Jett, Marshall Crenshaw, Living Colour, Soul Asylum, The Smithereens, Motorhead, Baby Animals, Biohazard, The Reverend Horton Heat, Shirley Caesar, Simon Phillips, Misfits, Blackfire, Joey Ramone, The Chesterfield Kings, Sihasin, Hoodoo Gurus, The Empty Hearts and The Long Ryders. In 1988, prompted when his hearing-impaired daughter asked him what music videos being played on MTV were about, Ed established an awareness campaign for the closed-captioning of music videos. To this day all music videos are closed-captioned. Today, Ed lives in San Diego, California. He enjoys listening to his 78, 45, and LP record collection while enthusing about the creative musical possibilities of working in the ever-changing analog/digital recording environment. And if one of his recent projects happens to add another record to his wall, he’ll likely say “it was all about the music.” |
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“Trust your instinct and believe in yourself as far as what you have to say about things."
- Ed Stasium
LISTEN:
A Cult of Personality: Trusting Your Instincts, a Life Behind the Boards
With Legendary Record Producer Ed Stasium
[Living Colour, Talking Heads, the Ramones] [MIP032]
TRANSCRIPT | SHOW NOTES
Books & Documentaries Record Production:
📒 Al Schmitt on the Record: The Magic Behind the Music - https://amzn.to/3OKiW5q
📒 Alan Parsons' Art & Science of Sound Recording - https://amzn.to/43YiAwk
