WCA #046 with Matt Wallace

Matt Wallace is an American record producer. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, and has been producing professionally since the early 1980s. He is best known for his work with Faith No More, Maroon 5, O.A.R., The Replacements, and Train.

Wallace has produced some of Faith No More's most iconic recordings, including We Care a Lot, their debut album on Mordam Records. He produced and mixed their breakthrough album, The Real Thing, which featured the hit song, "Epic." He produced Angel Dust, named the #1 most influential album of all time by Kerrang!. In 2015, he joined the band again to co-mix their album, Sol Invictus. The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hard Rock Album chart.

He produced albums for The Replacements (Don’t Tell A Soul), Paul Westerberg (14 Songs) and John Hiatt (Perfectly Good Guitar). He co-produced the debut Juno-nominated album for Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk. The album was certified double platinum in Canada.

Wallace produced and mixed Songs About Jane, the debut album for Maroon 5, including the Top 40 hit singles "Harder To Breathe," "This Love," "Sunday Morning," and "She Will Be Loved." The album has sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and won a Grammy Award for "Best New Artist" in 2005.

Since then, Wallace has co-written songs and produced two albums for O.A.R. He has also co-written and produced several songs for Andy Grammer, an album for Pepper, and mixed Blackberry Smoke's album The Whippoorwill.

In 2013, Wallace started a live music project with Will Kennedy (whose credits include Michael Franti, Thirsty Merc, Andy Grammer, and Pepper) called 'Live at Studio Delux'. The goal is to help music fans discover the joy of authentic live performances. With over 30 years of combined experience professionally recording and producing music, Wallace and Kennedy capture the artist at their best in a live studio environment. Each artist session is recorded in one day at Wallace's own studio, Studio Delux. The mastered recordings are made available on iTunes while video content can be watched on the project's Youtube channel.

Matt talks with Matt about almost giving up, the reality of vintage instruments, as well as getting back into having his own studio and being a one man production house.