Top
photo: Mark Linett in his studio Second photo: Brian Wilson working in the studio
with Mark Linett Third photo: Mark Linett's Grammy Award for The Beach
Boys'
'The Smile Sessions' Fourth photo: 'The Smile Sessions' Box Set Fifth photo: Top L-R: Dennis Wolfe, Alan Boyd and
Mark Linett with Brian Wilson after winning the Grammy Award
for
'The Smile Sessions' Sixth photo: The control room at Mark Linett's studio Seventh photo: Mark Linett at a 'Pet Sounds Sessions'
event Eighth photo: The Beach Boys' 'Made In California'
box set Ninth photo: The Beach Boys' 'Hawthorne, CA' collection Tenth photo: The Grammy Award-winning CD, Dave Alvin's
'Public Domain' Eleventh photo: Mark Linett's Grammy Award for The Beach
Boys'
'The Smile Sessions'
Beach Boys producer and three-time Grammy Award
winner Mark Linett hired Al Gomes and Connie Watrous of Big Noise to run
the successful publicity campaign that won Mark, The Beach Boys,
producers Alan Boyd and Dennis Wolfe the Grammy Award for Best Historical
Album for The Beach Boys' box set 'The Smile Sessions.'
In the Rock and Roll Hall of
Famers'
50-year career, The Beach Boys had never
won a Grammy Award from the Voting Members of The Recording
Academy. That all changed on February 10, 2013 at the 55th Annual
celebration when music history was finally made. The news
sent ripples around the world. The New York Times declared,
"The Drought is Over!"
Al Gomes and Big Noise have also landed Mark interviews with Mix Magazine, among others.
Artists, record companies and the media can contact Big Noise about Mark at 401-274-4770 (USA) or by emailing [email protected].
Mark's Bio
One of LA's top flight engineer/mixers,
Mark Linett began his recording career
while in college when he started his own PA company. While
running the company, he began working with artists such
as Seals & Crofts, Sha Na Na, and Livingston Taylor. Two
years later, Mark began working in Hollywood for Artist
Recording Studio. 'It was a pretty funky old place,' he
said, 'at 6 PM every night, the local AM radio transmitters
switched patterns and began interfering with the recording
equipment.' Yet he remembers being happy about the recording
freedom he otherwise enjoyed there. For a brief period,
Mark worked for Paramount and then Mystic studios. But in
1973 he moved to New York and began working as a staff engineer
in Manhattan. He then enrolled at Boston University as a
communications major, moved to Boston and volunteered at
the school's 50,000 watt NPR station.
While living in Boston, he met
a Hanley Sound rep who knew Frank Zappa's crew. When Zappa's
soundman became sick before the first tour date in Hartford,
Connecticut, Mark received a phone call. It was Zappa's
band, who wanted him to fill in. He single-handedly mixed
the concert from their 48-channel board. From that success
he ended up working with Zappa's band for the next two years.
In 1976, Mark worked for Earth, Wind & Fire's 8-month tour.
During that time he met George Massenberg and was offered
a job as second engineer at Sunset Sound. While there he
worked with a range of artists including Hall & Oates and
Jimmy Webb. He worked at Sunset for two years before striking
out on his own to become an independent engineer in 1979.
In 1981, Mark went to work for
Amigo Studios (Warner Bros.) under Lee Herschberg. While
at Amigo, he worked with Randy Newman, Rickie Lee Jones,
Los Lobos and Michael McDonald. He remained at Amigo until
1984 when Warner Bros. shut the studio down. Mark returned
to his independent status full-time in 1984. He also engineered
all of the Jimi Hendrix posthumous albums during this period
including 'Live at Winterland' and 'Monterey.' One of his
long-term projects included working with Brian Wilson on
his solo LPs, Beach Boys compact disc reissues for Capitol
Records, and 'The Pet Sounds Sessions' boxset which earned
him a Grammy Award nomination in 1998.
In 1990, Mark built his own
studio in Glendale, California. The studio features a customized
API console with 36 inputs and flying faders, as well as
a huge array of analog gear including a 14-input Universal
Audio tube console, built in 1962 (originally installed
in historical Western Studio #2). Since then much of Mark's
work has been done at his studio (see control room photo
at left). 'The studio (a 20' x 15' room) allows me to develop
individual techniques, experimenting with room mics and
sounds,' says Mark. Because of his work on the Beach Boys
catalog, the studio also has every analog format from mono
to 24-track as well as a 32-input Pro Tools rig with Apogee
converters. Besides many Brian Wilson and Beach Boys projects,
over the years the studio has hosted a wide range of artists
including Elton John, Booker T. Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis and
Miley Cyrus. The studio was also used for Mark's first ever
mix of 'Pet Sounds' in stereo and 5.1.
In the studio,
Mark worked on Dave Alvin's 'Public Domain' which won Mark
his first Grammy Award in 2001. He also co-produced and engineered
the live Blasters reunion CD 'Trouble Bound.'
Mark mixed a live recording of Brian Wilson performing
the songs from 'Pet Sounds' at the Royal Festival Hall in
London, released in June 2002 by Sanctuary Records. Mark
also mixed the Beach Boys' albums 'Pet Sounds' along with
'Surf's Up' in 5.1 surround at 96 kHz sampling for DVD-Audio
release by Capitol. The 'Pet Sounds' DVD-A was released
in early 2003, with bonus cuts, including an instrumental,
'Summer Means New Love,' which originally appeared on the
Beach Boys' 1965 release, 'Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)'
and is very much a precursor to the way of working that
the band adopted for 'Pet Sounds.' Mark also co-produced
The Beach Boys' rarities collection, 'Hawthorne, CA.'
Over the course of his career, Mark has also worked closely with such seminal
artists as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, Love,
Rickie Lee Jones, Laura Nyro, The New Cars , Los Lobos and Jane's Addiction.
Additional Credits:
Mark received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Engineered
Album for 'Brian Wilson Presents Smile' which he recorded
and mixed for Brian who won his first solo Grammy in 2005
for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for 'Mrs. O'Leary's
Cow' from the album. Mark completed many remote recordings
during this period with his location recording services
dubbed 'Your Place or Mine.' These include projects for
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Brian Wilson's 'Live at
the Roxy,' and Love's 'Forever Changes Live.'
In 2006, Mark won his second Grammy Award for his work cutting the tracks for the
Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Stadium Arcadium.'
Additional artists
Mark worked with during this period include Nancy Sinatra,
Jerry Lee Lewis, Los Straitjackets (co-produced two and
engineered four CDs) Christy McWilson, Big Sandy & the Flyright
Boys, and John Lithgow. He also mixed Brian Wilson's 'Gettin'
In Over My Head' and 'What I Really Want For Christmas,'
the singer's Christmas album, at his studio.
Mark then won his third Grammy
Award in 2013 for producing and engineering the Beach Boys
'The Smile Sessions' box set.
Also in 2013, he was hired as the
technical advisor for the movie 'Love & Mercy' to recreate
the studios and gear used in the Beach Boys recording sessions
circa 1966. He also appears in the film as Beach Boys engineer
Chuck Britz.
Other record projects in recent
years have included Brian Wilson's 'Reimagines Gershwin,'
'That Lucky Old Sun' and 'In the Key of Disney' records
as well as albums for Michael Feinstein, David Campbell,
the cast album of 'Nice Work if You Can Get It' and The
Beach Boys' career-spanning box set, 'Made in California.'
In 2009, he and engineer Bob
Wartinbee created Music Mix Mobile West joining the East
Coast M3 family with a new 42-foot remote truck. The truck
boasts dual 192-track Pro Tools recorders as well as a 192
channel Pro Tools mix system using a D-Control surface as
the mixing desk. Over the past six years the 'Horizon' mobile
has done work with The Grammy Awards, The CMAs and the I-Heart
Festival, as well as projects with numerous artists including
U2, Coldplay, Tom Petty and Stevie Wonder. In 2014, Mark
also took on the role as live broadcast engineer at the
I-Heart Radio West Coast Theater where he has engineered
numerous shows including 21 Pilots, Coldplay, Demi Lovato,
Ariana Grande, Tim McGraw and Arctic Monkeys.
Mark's latest production, 'It's Everly Time' by Dead Rock West, a collection of songs originally performed by the Everly Brothers.
