PRESS
Mushroomhead
Mushroomhead tapped Matt Wallace to mix their new album 'Call the Devil,'' reaching back for the engineer that helmed mixing duties on arguably the band’s strongest album, 2003’s XIII. His master’s touch is evident on the lead single “Fall in Line,” with layers upon layers of sound woven into a psychedelic swirl of pummeling industrial metal. This could sound like mud in the hands of a less competent engineer. Instead, it’s one of the more fascinating nu-metal songs of the year.
[www.consequence.net]
Des Rocs: Track-by-Track Exclusive
"Man, “In the Night” is a song I’m so damn proud of… This album was created with an incredible team of people who were so dedicated to the cause. There were so many bits and pieces of this song that I was constantly re-arranging. Matt Wallace and Alain Johannes were integral in challenging the arrangements and forcing me to become a better composer. They were also these incredible cheerleaders in the room who really brought out the best in Gerry and I. It was tough finishing this song because of the subject matter, but their energy helped me cross the finish line on a record that would’ve likely collected dust on my hard drive.After my first meeting with Matt Wallace and Alain, they’d mentioned cutting some of the songs live. This spooked me big time. I can get pretty deep into it recording hundreds of vocal takes and workshopping ideas over and over. I’m a control freak with baaaad OCD. But there was something fatalistic and natural about it that intrigued me. It was also a chance to leave the comfort zone artistically — something I’m always chasing. We performed a few takes. Each take had something I loved and something I didn’t. At the end of the day, we picked one." [www.consequence.net]
A new look at high fidelity music:The rise of Dolby ATMOS and Spatial Audio
Alan Cross of Global News enters Matt Wallace's Dolby ATMOS studio to explore the newest audio technology, where he is made a believer, and points out some of the advantages of ATMOS... for one, far less compression results in an insane amount of dynamic range. [www.globalnews.ca]
Atmos Adventures with Matt Wallace and Will Kennedy
Throughout his career, Matt has helmed the board for Maroon 5, Faith No More, O.A.R., 3 Doors Down and countless others. His latest adventure finds him moving into the world of spatial audio and mixing with Dolby Atmos.[www.recordingmag.com]
Behind The Board: Faith No More "The Real Thing"
In this brand new episode of “Behind the Board,” Matt Wallace takes us through select tracks from Faith No More’s groundbreaking third studio album, The Real Thing.
[www.youtube.com]
Matt Wallace Takes Studio Delux Atmos
As the momentum behind Dolby Atmos for Music continues to build in the wake of the launch of Apple Music’s Spatial Audio platform in May 2021, producer, mixer and engineer Matt Wallace has unveiled an immersive audio upgrade at his Los Angeles-based Studio Delux. [www.mixonline.com]
Insights In Sound - Matt Wallace
[www.youtube.com]
The Replacements
"Dead Man's Pop features a version of the album mixed the way they had originally intended it to sound, by Wallace. It makes the songs fuller - more like a band..."[www.rollingstone.com]
"...the remixed-to-the-point-where-its-nearly-new "Don't Tell a Soul" is the best rock 'n' roll record of 2019."[www.journalstar.com]
"...utterly magnificent... it feels like the heart has been put back into this album... We're left with no question that Wallace's vision would have painted a truer picture of the band - it deserves to be considered the definitive take on the album."[www.clashmusic.com]
"The results are as revelatory as you would hope. The overall effect is a cleaner, less cluttered, more natural recording that breathes."[www.americansongwriter.com]
"The newly spit-shined album kind of feels like the ideal nexus of the band as rowdy pros (or professional rowdies) and Westerberg as a grown-up."[www.variety.com]
"The changes are drastic enough that the most ardent naysayers of the album may finally come around... What's astounding about their new look is how Wallace doesn't lose any of that impact. If anything, these new mixes embellish how capable they were as a fearsome foursome at the time... Rarely, if ever, have the 'Mats sounded as beautiful as they do on Wallace's new mix of "They're Blind"... This is a total gem of a redux. It's lush, it's mystifying, it's a goddamn Cameron Crowe movie wrapped up in one." [www.consequenceofsound.net]
"4 Stars"[www.rollingstone.com]
"A resurrection..."[www.ndsmcobserver.com]
Matt Wallace: Journey to Producer Island
"Roll up your sleeves, make a mess, get dirty, get fired, get re-hired, tear it down, and build it all back up again. Then make it better than it was before. That could be a synopsis of a typical day in the life of Matt Wallace. He turned his nerdy love of electronics and music into a long and storied career that includes being a studio owner, songwriter, and producer/engineer, as well as working with iconic bands like The Replacements to helping groups like Faith No More and Maroon 5 craft their multi-platinum breakthrough hits. I caught up with Matt at his Studio Deluxe in the Sound City complex in Van Nuys, California."
[www.tapeop.com]
10 Things We Learned From Producer Matt Wallace
"On our upcoming record, we were able to work with one of the finest producers (and human beings) on this planet, Matt Wallace... He walks the walk in a way I have rarely seen... We learned a ton... Our live show improved immediately by all the fat that was cut out around the heart of the songs. Thanks to Matt for teaching us a ton about songs, recording and mixing, but also that you can be at the top of your game and not for a second have to stop treating everyone around you like they are every bit as important as you are. 'Cause they are."
[www.goodingmusic.com]
Classic Tracks: The Replacements
We talk a lot about "paying your dues" in the music business. Producer/engineer Matt Wallace paid his back in 1988 when he produced The Replacements' raw, charming and clever album Don't Tell a Soul. "I was basically hazed for most of that record," he says. [www.mixonline.com]
Hoobastank
"The writing and recording process was everything we could have hoped for. Matt challenged us and brought out different aspects of what we love about making music." [www.blabbermouth.net]
Maroon 5
The Adam Levine-led band first reached the chart on April 5, 2003, with the eventual No. 15-peaking "Harder to Breathe." The group would follow with its first two No. 1s, "This Love" and "She Will Be Loved," each of which ruled for 13 weeks in 2004. [www.billboard.com]
3 Doors Down
Faith No More
Faith No More
"I'm happy that Matt Wallace came on at the end, who comes from all the way back in our family tree. He did everything that we ever did up until Angel Dust."
R5 "The most important thing was to work with someone who understood that what we created in the garage was so authentic to us, and who wouldn't try to steer away from that," Riker notes. The band found just that in Matt Wallace." [www.r5rocks.com]
Faith No More In early 1989, Matt Wallace almost quit being an engineer/producer. Nearly in tears, he called his mom to ask how to get into real estate. Wallace's "failure" was producing, engineering and mixing Faith No More's third album, The Real Thing, which went on to hit Number 11 in the U.S. and sell more than 4 million copies worldwide. [www.mixonline.com]
MD: Did you have negative experience in the past with producers? You were able to put out some pretty weird music on major labels.
Mike: Well, the answer is no, because Matt Wallace, a family member of ours, did the records with us and he was always on board with what we were doing. [www.moderndrummer.com]
Faith No More A quiet, pervasive
influence on the new material was Matt Wallace. An old friend
of the band's, he was brought on board for the final mixdown but
his input can be felt across Faith No More's new songs. "It was
similar to having one of us one board, he speaks the language
that we speak. He knows the band so well so bringing him on board
was a real shortcut it enabled us to all move forward a lot quicker.
If we'd brought someone that we didn't know on it would have just
bogged it down. We were lucky to pretty much work amongst ourselves,
or with people who we know and feel comfortable with." [www.clashmusic.com]
Maroon 5 "That was one of the best
contributions our original producer, Matt Wallace, made," says
guitarist James Valentine. "When we went into the studio to make
'Songs About Jane,' our debut, we had all of these verses and
choruses. He'd say to us, 'Hey, come up with a bridge for that.'
" [www.nj.com]
O.A.R.
"Matt Wallace produced the record and we must thank him for seeing our vision and allowing us to be ourselves. That's really what this experience was all about. Getting on tape what we love to do in the most honest way we know how. And Matt provided the perfect atmosphere for us to create." [www.oarsa.org]
Return
to Matt's discography