Meet Benjamin Etter | Record Engineer, Mixer and Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Benjamin Etter and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Benjamin, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
I spent the first few years of my career as a staff engineer and studio manager at Maze Studios in Atlanta, working 70+ hours a week away from home and keeping odd hours. I saw it as an investment into my career and future opportunities at the time, but I also quickly realized how challenging this lifestyle would become for my home and social lives, as well as my physical and mental health in the not so distant future. This realization is what made me want to go out on my own and figure out if there is a healthier way to work on music for a living. The way that ended up shaking out for me, was building a mixing and production room in my house and figuring out what tasks I really needed to be in a fully-fledged recording studio for, and what could be done remotely. It definitely took some adjusting, but I’ve arrived at a point where I feel like I’m working more efficiently than ever, which helps me create more time for myself, friends and family and be a happier person in life. This new setup is also the reason I got through the pandemic year relatively unscathed. I’m so flexible now on the budget side, that I can easily pivot from doing a higher-budget label production to mixing a self-funded bedroom production. As long as the music is compelling, I couldn’t care less!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I record, mix and produce indie rock records and I’ll wear these hats to varying degrees depending on the project. Some recent records I particularly love are Deerhunter’s latest “Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?”, which I co-produced, recorded and mixed, as well as the Hazel English LP “Wake Up!”, on which I recorded and mixed several songs. Mixing and producing have become the largest part of my workload now and my clients tend to come to me for my more experimental and unorthodox approach, especially in mixing. When the material allows, I like to push my mixes pretty far and incorporate quirky analog devices into my digital workflow, such as guitar amps and effects, old tape and cassette players etc. It’s an inspiring way to work and leads to less predictable results than staying completely in the computer. I’m always on a quest to discover what makes an artist unique, and often I’ve learned that those things make themselves known in the imperfections and happy accidents that exist all over the music that we love. These days, a lot of my production ethos rests on creating an environment where those moments can arise uninhibited, where we’re not afraid to give up control a little bit and let the process take us to unexpected places. There is so much control in music production now, especially for those of us working digitally that I’ve found it important to create some distance from the computer screen during the recording process. Almost treating it as just a recording medium. much like a tape machine, and limiting the artist and myself to shaping our sounds with only the tangible things around us. That can be truly liberating and some records cannot happen any other way!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We probably went out the night before, so we’ll go straight to lunch at Lotta Frutta in Old Fourth Ward, that place is like one giant hug. We’ll skip the congested beltline and take my dog on a nature walk to Doll’s Head trail at Constitution Lakes south of town. It’s this swamp wildlife habitat that makes you think you’re in a completely different place, although you’re still basically in the city. Unfortunately, the place has had a bit of a littering problem, which some creative souls have turned into a public art project, reclaiming lots of the trash and other discarded items (such as toy doll heads) as improvised art sculptures all along the trail. Then we’ll head to Little Five Points to go record shopping at Criminal Records and Wax ‘N’ Facts. We’ll spend the rest of our night in East Atlanta Village, grabbing some dinner at Korean food staple Gaja and patio hopping for some cold beers before catching a Small Reactions set at the Earl before dipping into 529 for the last band of the night, We end the night at Mary’s dancing, singing karaoke or talking to strangers on the back patio.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I owe a lot to Maze Studios in Reynoldstown, Atlanta. After years of interning and making my friends’ records in my bedroom, producer Ben Allen and engineer Jason Kingsland gave me my first real shot at a career in music production. We worked on a lot of exciting records from all over the world as a trio and I learned more during those early years than maybe ever in my life. It was grueling at times and required a huge time commitment from myself to make it work, but it eventually lead to me moving up the ladder, becoming head engineer, before eventually becoming an independent producer and mixer. There is so much informal training in this industry that your early mentors and teachers can be a decisive factor in your success. I was certainly lucky in this regard and I’m proud to carry on this legacy by staying involved at Maze and passing on as much knowledge as I can to the staff engineers and assistants there and anyone else who wants to reach out and learn!

Website: https://www.benetter.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebenator/

Image Credits
Deerhunter LP cover: 4AD Hazel English LP cover: Polyvinyl All other photos are from my personal collection