Recording engineer and producer Toby Wright launched his audio odyssey while an undergrad at NYU. One day, he and a friend set themselves a challenge: to go through the N.Y.C. phonebook and see who could land a studio gig first. He soon found himself as an intern at legendary sound shack Electric Lady, earning a mere five dollars per day. Since then, he’s worked with artists including Alice in Chains, Metallica, and Korn. He was active in the construction of both The Village Recorder’s famed Studio D and One on One Recording, engineered Alice in Chains’ Jar of Flies and produced the band’s venerated MTV Unplugged session.
Wright’s background in maintenance has enabled him to capture several unique sonic stories over the years, his use of a fan on Korn's Follow the Leader, for example. This approach is something that still serves him well. “I like to experiment to discover the best way to get a particular sound,” he explains. “I was brought up in the day of ‘Mic placement is your EQ.’ It’s amazing to start out with something that sounds like it should, evolve from there and then have fun with it.”
When Music Connection spoke with him, Wright was dabbing the final brushstrokes on his Supertruck, a mobile recording studio with video capabilities. He was inspired to build it after a recent experience mixing live streams at Flint, MI’s The Machine Shop in a 10-foot by 11-foot storage container. “Live mixing is really cool,” he says. “But when the winter came, I realized that I needed a truck. I found a PBS TV station backup vehicle that was rack-ready. It’ll record in 4K video and I’ll be able to stream all of the live events that I can get my hands on. I’ve got a 32-input Yamaha LS9 and four Blackmagic 6K cameras.”
With engineering excellence virtually running through his veins, Wright was tapped by Alice in Chains to produce the band’s Unplugged for MTV, a session for which, incidentally, a mobile recording studio was used. “I was mixing and did mostly everything that you see and hear,” he recollects. “But Layne [Staley] hated the MTV cuts. He asked me to get it to where he came off a little better. I went to [N.Y.C.’s] Right Track Recording, set-up four video monitors behind the console and took an entire legal pad of notes. I’d never done anything that adventurous before and it was my biggest challenge.” Using his interpersonal skills to evoke peak performances from artists is what he enjoys most about production and engineering. “I have a unique way of bringing out their creativity and that’s what it’s all about,” he says. “Songs will always sell music regardless of the genre. When you have a great one, then you have something good to work with. Getting the best out of an artist depends on what they’re into. I like to sit down with them and talk about their vision.”
Relentlessly prolific, Wright is currently working on a few mixes and continues to develop his sound-healing therapy Taummhoms, which he began following a car accident in 2005.
Contact tobywrightmusic.com, thesupertruck.com, taummhoms.com
