Email Email brian_charles@emerson.edu

Brian Charles has devoted the past 30+ years to producing, engineering, mixing and performing music. He is the sole owner of Zippah Recording Studios, a revered fixture in Boston since 1989. He’s worked with thousands of artists over the years and has made albums in almost every genre imaginable. From jazz records with the likes of John Lockwood and Bob Moses, to early punk rock with artists such as The Vatican Commandos featuring a young “Moby” as the lead singer.

Brian is also a published songwriter through “Rough Trade Records” in NY, and is the longtime producer and touring member of the band “The Sheila Divine”. He still tours multiple times per year in Europe as well as the U.S.. These affiliations have earned him a special reputation as a sought-after indie-rock producer.

In 2013 Brian and his bandmate Aaron Perrino created a musical/ community recording project called “Tuesday Night Recording Club” where they would pick a legendary album and recreate the sounds of that album in the form of an original song. This required many hours of research, a weekly scavenger hunt for the necessary gear to pull it fFVt5 and audio-forensics of the highest order. The project produced 12 episodes and brought the local community of musicians together to play on these specialized tracks. The end results of these sessions were released and shared as a video/single with an accompanying technical blog, which has served as a learning reference for many engineers throughout the years.

Brian’s passion for the perpetual learning that is associated with his art has always been something of great interest, and in 2009, The Recording Workshop at Zippah was born. Brian and his staff developed a curriculum of recording fundamentals and have hosted many adult students over the years. While the studio has become a bit too busy to host bi-weekly classes these days, they still host intensive 3-day workshops a handful of times per year.

Brian’s passion for audio doesn’t stop in the analog world. In 2018 he started an audio plug-in company called Rare Signals in which he set out to make the most accurate digital replications of some highly sought-after analog plate reverbs. Pulling this off required a combination of electrical engineering skills as well as learning and developing cutting edge ways to use Convolution technology. The company’s first product - “Transatlantic Plate Reverb” has been met with much success and has received testimonials from some of the most iconic mix engineers in the world.

About

Education

B.A., Curry College