"Keep working with cool people and make good music" – interview with Andy Schichter.

Andy Schichter co-owns the esteemed Park Sound Studio in North Vancouver, Canada with Dan Ponich. He produces, engineers and mixes local and out-of-town artists with his assistant, Hudson Schelesny.

Hello Andy, thank thank you for taking the time! Tell us about your musical roots! What brought you to the audio field?

My family moved from Montreal, Quebec to Waterloo, Ontario when I was 10 years old. That was a 7hr drive! 

We'd go back to visit family quite often, especially those first few years. So I would just sit in the back of the van with my Discman or iPod. I would obsessively listen to albums, and started to wonder how albums sounded different from each other sonically. Was it the room? The gear? The producer? The microphones? My background in audio definitely comes from a production standpoint, and less from a performance standpoint.

 

Haha, I can actually relate to that, discovering whole musical worlds in the back of the family car. Beautiful memories. Do you play any instruments as well?

I do! I started playing guitar when I was 13, and played guitar/keys in a touring band in my mid-20s playing shows across Canada and performing a couple of gigs in Korea. Lately, I play a lot more bass on recordings, and some guitar and synth when needed. 

 

 

And how did you end up in the engineer’s chair?

I tried recording my own songs amateurly in high school, renting mics and gear and using my parent’s PC, but really struggled with the process. I had no idea what I was doing, and YouTube was just in its infancy so finding tutorials was a bit trickier. 

I honestly don’t even remember the DAW that I was using. But I loved the pursuit, and got interested in computers and all the cool gear.

When it came time to look into colleges and universities, I told my parents that I wanted to go to school for music production. My mom found Fanshawe College that offered a Music Industry Arts diploma, about an hour outside my hometown. I had a great experience, but probably like most engineers, I really developed my skills buying my own mobile pro tools rig and recording friends' bands in their basements.

I think, a lot of us can relate to this situation! What were the bands and records that got you hooked?

A huge band for me was Silverchair. I remember listening to their ’Neon Ballroom’ and then ’Diorama’ albums religiously and was blown away at their songwriting progression from their first 2 albums. ’Diorama’ especially led me to listen to ’Pet Sounds’, which led me to tackle the Beatles catalogue and studio lore. That’s when I really started to think that I might want to do music production for a living.

 

 

And in regards to this what’s the origin-story of the studio itself?

So my studio partner and I started Park Sound Studio in 2017. We were both freelance engineers, and also played in the same band. We were both at the point where we felt like we needed our own room to level up our projects.

We built that studio ourselves and it was great. I have so many good memories there. We even hosted concerts once a month to connect with the music scene here. After being there for 5 years, we felt like we maxed out what we could accomplish at the studio so started to seek out new opportunities. 

We came across Crew Studios in North Vancouver that seemed to struggle in recent years. The owner was more than willing to have us take over the space and revitalise the studio. He also sold us some amazing gear for a great price, including the API 1608. We moved into our new studio in January 2023. The history of the studio itself dates back to the 90’s and has been a staple in the Vancouver music scene since then. Global TV did a whole TV segment on the building.

 

 

That sounds like an amazing origin story! What music styles are you drawn to mostly, when working there?

I tend to work on music and projects that excite me and lean into my tastes: Alternative, rock, indie, singer-songwriter-y type of stuff.

 

Anything, that you haven’t worked on but would love to?

You know, not so much genre-wise. I really love to record music that I enjoy listening to myself, and keep trying to create music of that ilk. It’s been a while since I’ve worked with quartets or horn players, so I’d love to incorporate some of that on upcoming recordings.

 

To turn this question around a bit, how do you approach projects, where you don’t necessarily like the music, you have to work on?

I’d rather flip the question into approaching projects of music I’m not necessarily familiar with, which happens often. I try not to work on projects that don’t excite me. It’s also not fair to the artist. For example, I don’t listen to a ton of hip hop or rap, but certainly get studio inquiries about recording/mixing that genre. I would much rather refer them to engineers who work on the genre and can best serve the artist.

But for approaching projects of a new genre, I like to do my research. That includes listening to reference tracks, and looking up recording techniques. It’s important to know what kind of engineering and mixing expectations an artist or a listener might have. I have noticed that typically when I record a project like this, I always learn something new and can take a technique or two that will serve me down the road.

 

That is a respectable level of self-awareness! In regard to this, what are the projects you're most proud of?

It’s hard to pick one, because I am always the most excited about the last thing I recorded or mixed. So, because I am writing this mid-October, I’ll bring up Anna Katarina’s ’While I Was Dreaming’ album which came out earlier this month. 

 

We recorded that over the spring and summer of 2024 and feel like we had such a clear direction of what we were going for from the get-go. There is also a song on there called ‘The Wind’ which is very special to me. 

We tried recording it on Anna’s first album in 2021, but didn’t nail the groove, so we shelved it until album #2. We both loved the song so wanted to re-visit it with a fresh perspective. We experimented with the key, tempo, arrangement and groove until it felt right. We could not be more pleased with the end result. The recording felt like a personal accomplishment.

 

 

So there was mention of a beautiful API 1608 console…

When Dan and I took over the studio that was there before Park Sound, the owner had an API 1608 that was kind of sitting off to the side and not on a desk. We wanted that thing to be front and center, and have easy access to our outboard compressors and EQs, especially ones that we used for mixing. The Buso Audio API 1608 desk seemed like the natural fit, so we ordered that. It has plenty of rack space to house outboard gear, and a heavy-duty top for studio monitors.

Was it always your plan to have a console as the heart of the studio? Or you saw the API and just fell in love?

When we moved into our new room, we purchased the API from the previous owner, but it was kind of off to the side. We wanted to centre the desk, and use it for monitoring, line mixing, etc… 

 

Which parts of the process are most exciting to you?

Recording and producing always seems to be rolled into one phase, so it’s hard to separate those too. It’s more about the people you work with. If you don’t get along with the artist/band, it makes the job much more difficult. If I vibe with them, then I don’t care if it’s more of a producing or engineering session. 

I do love mixing though, especially when you have a good amount of time to yourself to work on a mix, and audition effects or compressors. It can be relaxing and inspiring to spend a day with a song and experiment at your leisure.

I really enjoy taking a well-rounded approach with artists, and helping artists with their marketing and release strategy, which I think is a modern approach to producing. You’re not so much producing the song in the classic sense of the word, but being a guiding hand to hopefully ensure the song just doesn’t sit in the vastness of the internet. 

 

Accumulating gear and building such a fantastic workplace sure must’ve taken a lot of time and effort and sacrifice. Are you satisfied with where the studio stands now, or do you see areas that you’d like to improve?

It helps when you have a studio partner, as we’ve both put a lot of time into our studio and accumulating gear. I’m really happy with our studio, but I know it’s not a forever home as our landlords will sell the building to a developer eventually. The whole surrounding area is full of high rises now, so the next step for me will be to find somewhere with long-term stability.

 

 

Let’s expand a little more on your musical influences!

Silverchair’s 'Diorama' was the first album I remember hearing as a kid that truly blew me away. From there, it led me on path to discovering Pet Sounds, then the Beatles catalogue, which just opened up a can of worms of me obsessing over 60’s music by the time I was in high school. But I would say those mid-2000s college/indie bands very much shaped what I like to hear on records: My Morning Jacket, Sufjan Stevens, Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie, The National. There are certain drum and guitar sounds on those records that I am always trying to emulate. For the past 5-10 years, it’s been a lot of The War on Drugs. There’s a reason why so many bands out there sound like them now. What they accomplish on records is astonishing.

How can you implement this atmosphere into a record in 2025?

It starts with my tastes, which will influence the type of instruments and gear I purchase. I might listen to an album then wonder what kind of gear was used on it. I can’t always be purchasing a new mic or a new board from every session, but let’s say I’m digging an album and find out it was mixed on a Neve console, with a Curve Bender and Neve 33609 on the mix bus, and printed to a Studer 2-track at 30ips. I’ll load a Neve channel strip on every track and use the plugin equivalents to start a mix. The process of just having a fresh starting point on a mix, helps me stay inspired as opposed to just using my mix template for everything. But in terms of leaning on my tastes, I really try and purchase gear and instruments that are used on my favourite albums or used by my favourite producers.

 

 

What about your influences from an engineer’s perspective?

Shawn Everett, Tucker Martine, Jacquire King, Peter Katis, Brad Cook are all producers/engineers that I love. 

 

So we’ve covered the heart of the studio, but what about the gear built around the API unit?

Our studio is centered around an API 1608, hence the need for the Buso workstation. I love the sound of API’s on drums. 

The frequency bands on the 560’s are so locked in for kicks and snares. I don’t know if I have a certain gear of choice, it’s so dependent on the application, and sometimes you just get excited by a new purchase and try to fit it in on every project—but that’s a boring answer. Gear wise, I’ll have to go with a Distressor. I have 3 of them and they are just so incredibly versatile. I really like gear that sounds good in every application, and that I can mix well. Ribbon mics are similar. I recently purchased a pair of Coles 4038s, and have had M160s for a few years now. It’s hard to make those sound bad. This might be controversial, but I have always struggled to mix a SM7b as a vocal mic. I get why they’ve become so popular in the last few years on home recordings, so a condenser might not be ideal in an untreated room.The RE20 blows the Sm7 out of the water though in my opinion.

 

Lot of engineers like to accumulate a lot of gear, while your space looks more like clean and well thought-through.

I do feel like I own a lot of gear, but I like my space to be clean and organized and not feel like you’re tripping all over everything. I try not to keep more than I need. 

I’m a big fan of Great River preamps. I currently own 2 of them and just purchased 3 more, currently being shipped.

The low end of those things are so stable and full I love the colour it adds, especially on vocals and guitars. Once the other 3 are in, I’m really going to push them on drums and see what I can get out of them. I really pride myself on having great instruments for artists to use. I like when bands can come in, and have multiple drum kits, snares, cymbals, amps, pedals and guitars for artists to create any tone that comes to their head.

A few cool pieces that readers might be interested in are 6 channels of Shep Neve 31105 Mic Preamps, a 1970s Urei 1176 Rev D and a 1970s Teletronix LA-2A. 

I use those all the time. The Sheps are my go-to pres for acoustic guitar, and a lot of vocals are tracked through those. The 1176 I put on everything, and the LA-2A on almost every vocal and bass track. About a year ago, I got a Reverend Double Agent OG, and it’s quickly become my go-to electric guitar. It’s so versatile and clean. It handles every pedal beautifully, and is a breeze to play.

 

 

Having a clean and thought-through workspace must affect your workflow as well!

When it comes to recording or mixing, I love to get a sense of what a client is listening to and inspirations they have for the project. It’s actually the main way I discover new music these days. It’s important for me to get in the mindset of what colour palette and toolkit we have to play with on a project. After that, I don’t have a set way of working since you’re working with other people. I need to know how someone else likes to work, so I can get the best out of them and they can get the best out of me. I try and do my best to create a comfortable, relaxed environment. In regards to Buso products, the desk is at the heart of my workstation, so it’s integral to everything I do and work on. I like having my outboard compressors and EQs close to the monitors, so the Buso desk has been perfect for me as I’ve just loaded it with my go-to pieces of outboard processors.

 

Perhaps in 2025 this question is getting less and less relevant, but what’s your take on the analog vs. digital debate?

Are people still having that debate haha? Don’t trust anyone who is so regimented on one side. I think like most engineers, I love aspects of both and use both daily. They are both fun, but both present challenges. It all depends on your budget, accessibility to gear, and workflow. 

Does a vintage 1176 sound better than the UA plugin? Probably, but you have to factor in the cost, the ability to do fast recall, and use multiple instances. Other than a Burl summing mixer—which doesn’t need any recall compared to the API console—I’ve started to mix solely in the box. 

I have a pair of Tube-Tech PE1Bs and an SSL G-Buss compressor that have been in my mix chain for a few years; but one thing I love to do on my mix bus is play with the order of EQs, compressors and tape emulators, which is not always easy to do in a hybrid system.

So I’ve gone back to using plugin equivalents. I found the Cytomic The Glue and Noise Ash Rule Tec to give me the exact sound I love on my chain FYI!

In terms of future of analogue gear, I really hope there will be a way to emulate what a preamp can do. Compressors, EQs, tape and amp simulators all sound amazing. But I would love to plug a mic into some magical digital box that can sound like an API or Neve preamp one day, and switch on a dime. That would be rad!

 

 

As in all other aspects, AI is gaining more and more ground in the music industry as well. How do you see the future of our beloved scene in regard to this?

Oh that’s a big question, and don’t think I’m remotely qualified to make a prediction here. I know there is AI generated music out there, and some people love listening to it, so I’m sure that will eat up some of the music market. But artists are always going to want to make music and push envelopes of songwriting and production. That’s not going to go away, so I’m not going to be all doom and gloom about it. Just figure out how to keep working with cool people and make good music.

Thank you very much Andy for sitting down with us! And now it is my honour to ask for a song to our Buso playlist!

I’m choosing Coca Cola from Kay Brette!