Brian Warwick is a GRAMMY ® Winning audio engineer and music professor at Northern Vermont University( NVU) – Lyndon. We had the privilege to sit down with Brian at Old Mill Road Recording Studio and speak with him about the lessons that he learned from working in the music business. His personal experiences with legendary musicians and industry icons helped him create a unique educational program at NVU – Lyndon, which prepares students for a successful career in the music business through innovative hands-on learning.
Sherman: Where were you born?
Warwick: I was born in Grafton, Massachusetts, right outside of Worcester. If you’ ve driven from New York City to Boston, you’ ve most likely driven through my town on the Mass Pike.
Sherman: Who are some of your early musical influences?
Warwick: One of my early influences is
Weird Al Yankovic. The first cassette tape that I ever owned was Weird Al Yankovic’ s Dare to be Stupid. I learned about popular music by listening to his records. My parents’ taste in music also influenced what I listened to. I really got into The Beatles through them. They continue to be a huge influence. In early junior high, I really got into alternative rock. I still remember a couple of early music videos like Metallica’ s“ Enter Sandman” when it first came on MTV. I thought to myself“ Ok … that’ s a cool sound. That’ s something that I want to learn more about it.” Then there was Nirvana. I remember an early morning sitting in my parent’ s den when“ Smells Like Teen Spirit” came on. I know in lots of documentaries people say things like“ That’ s when my whole world changed.” It really did. At that moment, it felt like there was a whole new music genre that wasn’ t anything like the“ hair-rock” metal of the 1980s. When Nirvana came out, I thought“ That’ s something I can identify with. That’ s what I want to listen to.”
Sherman: It’ s interesting that Weird Al was such an early idol considering that you ended up working with him. When you work with people that you admire so much, it can go either way. You can fall in love with them even more, or you can be totally disappointed and disillusioned. Tell me about your experience working with Weird Al.
Warwick: I’ ve had both of those types of experiences. Luckily with Al, it was a very positive experience. I first worked with Al when I was as an assistant engineer. I used to work at a recording studio called Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California. He was a regular client of that studio. He came in one night, and he was mixing the last portions of the Straight Outta Lynwood record, which had the big single“ White N’ Nerdy.” When I first met him, Al was really friendly. He wasn’ t demanding. He was really polite. We did a couple different songs, including“ Trapped in the Drive-Thru” which was a parody of“ Trapped in the Closet.” We also worked on a parody of“ American Idiot” called“ Canadian Idiot.” I remember at the
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