Originally from Canada, Chris SD (Shreenan-Dyck) took an early interest in studio craft, discovering that he loved to work behind the glass as much as he did in front of it. He soon found a mentor in multi-GRAMMY-winning audio engineer Trina Shoemaker. For several years, he and his family made their home on an L.A.-based sailboat but now they’re landlocked in eastern Tennessee. He’s had a hand in several Juno-winning records and in 2012 was nominated for Recording Engineer of the Year.
SD is drawn to production and engineering due to the influence either can have on a song or record. “I like the story you can tell with a sonic landscape,” he explains. “If I listen to PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love and what [producer] Flood contributed to that, it astounds me how production can completely change the translation and the emotional meaning, almost, of a song. I once listened to John Lennon’s home-taped version of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever.’ It was really nice but the [completed] production was earth-shakingly epic... Production is great wine to great food. It elevates the meal.”
In 2016, SD inaugurated Sync Songwriter, a company that connects artists and music supervisors who can place music in film, TV, and commercials. Upon its launch, SD "got asked a lot by clients ‘How do I get my music into TV and film?’ It was kind of the new, hot thing. You didn’t have to tour, you didn’t have to have a label, and people wanted to know about it. I started to meet a lot of music supervisors, expanded my network, and realized that the real value was connecting indie musicians directly with industry people. One of our biggest successes recently was that two of our members got five tracks into [the Oscar-winning film] Anora.”
The biggest challenge that SD has faced is one that was internal rather than external. “Music production’s not that hard,” he asserts. “If you’ve done it for a while, you can make something sound good. My own internal battle sometimes is wanting to cut new cloth; wanting to carve a fresh path to the point that [a song] sounds original. At the same time, there’s that tug and conflict to make sure that it stays relevant. If you go too far off of the beaten track, you may come up with something brilliant, but you also might not sell any records.”
SD continues to focus on Sync Songwriter and plans to begin work on a solo record soon. He counts the TAB V72S, Neve 1073, and API mic preamps amongst his favorite and/or most-used gear. Investment in a digital emulation mic such as Antelope, Townsend, or Slate is also something he recommends strongly to indie artists.
When SD and his brother met punk progenitor and original Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren at a music conference, they asked him for advice about the industry. McLaren replied "You don't come to them. You write great songs and make them come to you."
