Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, best known for his work with major acts, including

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

, Pretenders, and

Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born November 5, 1959) is a British and Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and photographer. He is estimated to have sold between 75 million and more than 100 million album, records and Single (music), si ...

. Described by '' Sound on Sound'' magazine as having "his name on more hit records than anyone else in the history of popular music", he is credited with establishing the role of mixing engineer. Clearmountain has mixed some of the most iconic live shows in music history, including

Live Aid Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...

and The Concert for New York City. Records mixed by Clearmountain have won eight

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s. He has also won two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

from five nominations.

Early life and education

Born in Connecticut, Clearmountain later moved to New York City, where he graduated from Greenwich High School in 1971. As a teenager, Clearmountain had many friends who were musicians. He loved music, and played

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

in various bar bands, but felt he didn't want his career to depend on other musicians. When a band he was a member of went to

Mediasound Studios Mediasound was an American independent recording studio facility located at 311 West 57th Street in New York City established in 1969 by Harry Hirsch and Bob Walters with financial backing from Joel Rosenman and John P. Roberts. History The st ...

on 57th Street in New York to record a demo, Clearmountain felt like he could live there. Recognizing his interest in recording, Clearmountain assembled a makeshift home studio with a two-track reel-to-reel tape recorder, some

microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic (), or mike, is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and publi ...

s and a talkback. He also loved to make tape recordings of the band's concerts.

Career

Mediasound and Power Station

Determined to make a career in recording, he visited Mediasound frequently and lobbied the studio for a job. He was eventually hired as a gofer in 1972. On his first day working at the studio, after making about two deliveries, he realized that studio staff had been looking for him – they had apparently been expecting him to be working on a recording session as an assistant

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

. The star-struck new assistant engineer found that his first session was with

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

. Ellington's solo piano session remained unreleased until 2017, when Storyville Records released it as ''An Intimate Piano Session''. At Mediasound, Clearmountain engineered albums for Kool & the Gang. He also played bass on the Dead Boys' first album, '' Young, Loud and Snotty'' (1977), before Jeff Magnum rejoined the group. In 1977, Clearmountain was approached by his Mediasound co-worker, Tony Bongiovi, who had decided to build his own recording studio. Clearmountain became part of Bongiovi's team that designed and opened

Power Station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

, with Clearmountain becoming the studio's Chief Engineer. Clearmountain worked exclusively at the Power Station over the next two or three years, working with artists including The Rezillos,

Narada Michael Walden Narada Michael Walden ( ; Michael Walden; born April 23, 1952) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He acquired the nickname Narada from Sri Chinmoy. He began his career as a drummer, working primarily in the jazz ...

, and others. During this time, he recorded several hit albums for the Nile Rodgers/ Bernard Edwards project Chic and Sister Sledge's hit album '' We Are Family'', which established his reputation as a mixing engineer. Clearmountain soon found himself being sought out specifically as a mixing engineer, with

requesting Clearmountain to mix their single, " Miss You", and

having him remix their single " Dance Away".

Independence and success

Around 1979, Clearmountain became independent, working at various studios in addition to the Power Station. Artists he had worked with brought him back, and he mixed Roxy Music's '' Flesh and Blood'' (1980) and '' Avalon'' (1982), and the Rolling Stones' '' Tattoo You'' (1981) (including engineering vocals and overdubs for " Start Me Up"), as well as their live album, ''

Still Life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

'' (1982). Clearmountain also began both mixing and producing with

on his 1981 album '' You Want It You Got It'', beginning a longstanding professional collaboration between the two that continued through '' Cuts Like a Knife'' and Adams' rise to mainstream popularity, and decades beyond. In late 1982, when

chose Nile Rodgers to produce his next album, Clearmountain was chosen to engineer the sessions at the Power Station. The resulting album, '' Let's Dance'' (1983) was a worldwide commercial success. The same year, Clearmountain mixed Huey Lewis and the News' album ''

Sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

''. The following year, he produced and mixed Hall & Oates' '' Big Bam Boom'' and mixed

's landmark album '' Born in the U.S.A.''. In 1985, he mixed

. He continued to mix new albums for Springsteen and Bowie, and worked with

Jimmy Iovine James Iovine ( ; born March 11, 1953) is an American entrepreneur, former Music executive, record executive, and media proprietor. He is the co-founder of Interscope Records and became chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscop ...

, co-producing Simple Minds' '' Once Upon a Time'' (1985) and

The Pretenders The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...

' '' Get Close'' (1986). In 1987, having established himself as a top mixing engineer, he mixed

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

's album '' Kick'' (1987), Robbie Robertson's debut solo album, and albums for Crowded House and Divinyls.

1990s

In the early 1990s, EastWest Sounds partnered with Clearmountain to release two commercially-successful Bob Clearmountain Drum sample libraries, and Clearmountain developed SessionTools, a studio management application. In 1991, after Clearmountain had mixed 21 tracks for the

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

albums '' Use Your Illusion I'' and '' Use Your Illusion II'', the band decided to scrap the mixes and start over with engineer Bill Price. Clearmountain continued to work with Adams, Springsteen, Rolling Stones, and INXS, and mixed albums for Bryan Ferry,

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

, Dire Straits,

Aimee Mann Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released ten studio albums as a solo artist. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often d ...

, The Corrs,

Jonatha Brooke Jonatha Brooke (born January 23, 1964) is an American folk rock singer-songwriter and guitarist from Massachusetts, United States. Her music merges elements of folk, rock and pop, often with poignant lyrics and complex harmonies. She has been a ...

, Melissa Etheridge, Counting Crows and others.

Mix This! studio

In 1994, Clearmountain built Mix This!, a private recording studio located in the basement of his home in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He eventually sought out the Neve 8068 from the Power Station's Studio A and acquired it for his studio. Episode 6 of the first season of '' From the Basement'', Nigel Godrich's web television series, was filmed at Mix This! rather than the show's usual filming location of London's Maida Vale Studios. Clearmountain later upgraded the studio to for Dolby Atmos, and used it for immersive album mixes of Roxy Music's ''Avalon'' and Simple Minds' ''Sparkle in the Rain''. On January 8, 2025, the studio and the residence in which it was located were both destroyed by the Palisades Fire.

Personal life

Clearmountain is married to Apogee Electronics CEO Betty Bennett. In January 2025, their residence and his studio were destroyed by the Palisades Fire.

Production discography

Selection of work as producer

- '' You Want It You Got It'' (1981), '' Cuts Like a Knife'' (1983), '' Reckless'' (1984) and '' Into the Fire'' (1987) *

- ''Steady Pull'' (2001) and '' Careful What You Wish For'' (2007) * The Church - '' The Blurred Crusade'' (1982) * Hall & Oates - '' Big Bam Boom'' (1984) *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

- '' Tripping the Live Fantastic'' (1990) *

- '' Get Close'' (1986) * Simple Minds - '' Once Upon a Time'' (1985) *

- '' Join Together'' (1990) * Michael Stanley Band - '' You Can't Fight Fashion'' (1983) *Various - '' Woodstock 94 (1994) *The Silencers - ''Rock 'N' Roll Enforcers'' (1980) *

- ''Get Yer Leeds Lungs Out''

Selection of work as live mixer/engineer

KCRW Apogee Sessions

In 2005, Clearmountain collaborated with Apogee Electronics to convert unused space in the company's Santa Monica headquarters into Apogee Studio, a recording studio and performance venue. Beginning in 2010, Santa Monica radio station

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

began hosting live music performances in the venue, called ''KCRW Apogee Sessions'' and later ''KCRW Live from Apogee Studio'', with Clearmountain handling the mixing and recording. Artists for these KCRW sessions have included David Gray, Ryan Adams, Chrissie Hynde,

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

, Vampire Weekend, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian Americans, Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's Indie music scene, in ...

Glen Hansard Glen James Hansard (born 21 April 1970) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician. Since 1990, he has been the frontman of the Irish rock band The Frames, with whom he has released six studio albums, four of which have charted in the top ten o ...

, the Shins, k.d. lang, Shelby Lynne, Leon Bridges, Norah Jones, the Avett Brothers, Mayer Hawthorne, Alabama Shakes, Belle & Sebastian,

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi mus ...

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

, and Queens of the Stone Age. In 2024, Cory Henry recorded his album ''Live at the Piano'' at the studio; the first recorded there to receive a

nomination.

Awards and recognition

Clearmountain has won multiple Grammy and Emmy awards. In 1991, he was awarded the TEC Awards Les Paul Award, honoring "individuals or institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio technology." The following year, Clearmountain was awarded the TEC Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2003, he was awarded the Music Producers Guild Icon Award for "a person seen to be an icon of the recording industry."

Grammy Awards & nominations

Emmy Awards & nominations

References

External links

Bob Clearmountain's homepage

Bob Clearmountain Interview
at NAMM Oral History Collection (2016)