Joey Miskulin interview

How did you first get started in the music business?

My Dad brought an accordion back from Italy where he was stationed during WWII.  I was fascinated with the instrument and began formal instruction at age 5.  At age 12 I was asked to play for Mom’s company picnic for $12 and I thought that this was the way to go!   I started taking music and the accordion seriously with the success of Frank Yankovic, Art Van Damm, and Myron Floren as a big inspiration.  I joined Chicago’s Roman Possedi Orchestra and performed on Radio, TV, and live engagements.  I made my first recording with Roman when I was 12.  Yankovic, who by that time had sold millions of Columbia recordings, heard me play and asked me to join his band.  I was barely in my teens and touring the country, appearing on TV, and recording for Columbia.  It was an absolutely wonderful time.  I stayed with Frank until the fall of 1968.

I went on to tour Hawaii, Hong Kong, Viet Nam, Thailand, Okanawa, with John Malo’s Hawaii Internationale.  Playing half way around the world for our servicemen and women was emotionally and financially rewarding.  I returned home in 1969 and, once again, teamed up with Frank Yankovic to record five albums for RCA in Chicago, New York, and Nashville.  I continued to record and perform through the 70’s.  In 1978 I opened Miskulin’s Lounge in Cleveland, and for the next six years it was one of that city’s premiere music venues.  I sold the nightclub in 1984.  I knew if I wanted to continue recording I’d have to leave Cleveland. 

Steve Popovich who, while working in New York for Epic, earned his reputation as the wonder boy of record promotion is a dear friend.  He worked with Michael Jackson, Boston, Johnny Cash, Sly and the Family Stone and many other music giants.  At the peak of his success, Steve moved back to Cleveland to raise his daughter and son.  While there he formed Cleveland International Records and signed Meatloaf.  Bat Out Of Hell has sold over 26 million records to date.  Steve signed Yankovic to Cleveland International and asked me to produce and perform on a series of Frank’s albums.  These sessions resulted in the first Polka Grammy Award for Frank Yankovic’s, “70 Years of Hits” featuring Joey Miskulin.  Legendary producer Jack Clement started flying me to Nashville for sessions in 1985. 

I moved to Nashville in late 1986 when Jack made me Executive Producer for Johnny Cash’s Mercury/Polygram recordings.  Since moving here I’ve produced or appeared on recordings with Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Michael Martin Murphy, Hank Williams, Jr., U2, Paul McCartney, Shania Twain, Brenda Lee, Garth Brooks The Everly Brothers, Alison Krauss, etc.  Over 400 albums during my career.

How did you become a member of Riders In The Sky?

It all started with a recording session in 1988 for the album Riders Radio Theater.  The Cowboy Trio had a radio show and MCA decided to do an album to promote the show.  The Riders liked the sound and asked me to guest on the radio show.  It was such a natural fit and so much fun that when they asked, I decided to join the group.  We eventually became partners and I have been with them ever since.

What are some of your favorite Riders in the Sky Projects?

It was a thrill to play to a sold out Hollywood Bowl with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.  Everyone played there, Ella, Sinatra The Beatles.  The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra’s approach is like that of a recording musician’s, always on top of the beat. 

My favorite recording project was for Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 2.  We got a call from Pixar asking if we would be interested in recording a song written by Randy Newman.  We, of course said YES!  Randy sent the demo to us in Nashville. We arranged it and recorded it in LA with Randy and Pixar’s John Lasseter standing by.  Frank Wolf and I produced the track and mixed it at Skywalker Sound.  We did a follow up album Woody’s Roundup featuring Riders In The Sky that resulted in another Grammy win for me and the first of two for Riders In The Sky. 

When Monsters, Inc. came up they asked us to write and play and produce the music for the animated short subject called For the Birds which went on to win an academy award.  I had to do all of the cues manually to match the picture. It was then I knew I had to upgrade to a computer based studio as offsetting tapes was nuts.  I’ve also produced the track for Boundin’ preceding Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles, and had songs in The Wild and Cars.

How did you first get exposed to Nuendo?

I asked mastering engineer Denny Purcell what should I go with and he told me about Nuendo.  We did blindfold listening tests with the different systems and I picked Nuendo every time.  It simply sounded the best.

Can you describe your studio setup?

My studio is based around Nuendo, Cubase, Wavelab and an O2R 96.  I got the second O2R in Nashville.  A representative from Yamaha came over and set it up.  The Japanese engineers eventually came out to ask my opinion. A lot of my suggestions are found in the O2R96 which I now use.  It is very logical.  I have an overdub/tracking room that can fit 3 or 4 people comfortably.

Have you had a chance to play around with Cubase 5?

We recorded 3 dates with Nashville Symphony Orchestra for a live Riders In The Sky album.  The recording had lots of bleed and the vocal levels were recorded really low.  The pitch correction wasn’t working in Melodyne as it was tuning all of the background music as well.  I tried Cubase and the tuning was wonderful.  I have used Melodyne in the past but it just didn’t work for this situation.  There is no other solution that would have worked and it saved the project.

What other projects are you working on?

While Riders In The Sky was performing at the Hollywood Bowl with LA Philharmonic, John Dennis invited me out to Disney Imagineering for a meeting regarding a new project.  I thought that I would love to check it out see what was going on behind the scenes.  They were creating a new attraction for Disney California Adventure and Disney World Orlando.  It would be called Midway Mania based around Toy Story. 

The waiting line can be very long so they created an animatronic life size Mr. Potato Head that would bark to people in line and sing songs. Don Rickles was the voice of Mr. Potato Head.  He was to interact with people in line.  I was asked to write and produce the musical tracks with Don Rickles.  Too Slim and Ranger Doug, my Riders In The Sky partners, agreed to co-write the songs with me.

Don was incredibly busy so we created the vocal tracks by my singing a line and recording it as Don sang it back.  I brought the files back to my studio in Nashville and assembled it all in Nuendo.  It took a while but I couldn’t imagine doing it with any other tool!

What was the reaction to your work?

Disney liked Nuendo so much that they are now mastering in Nuendo.  Some other facilities were running Pro Tools and I didn’t have any problems exchanging files.  Broadcast Wave files work great.

Do you use the notation features in Nuendo?

I used the notation in a project for Meredith Hodges, Charles Shulz’s daughter.  She lives in Colorado and raises champion mules.  She has created a cartoon character “Jasper” the mule, and written several books about his experiences.  She contacted us to write the theme song and create the underscore for the one hour animated special.  I used the time warp and the notation which worked great.  I was impressed by the capabilities.

Have you had any scary moments in a session?

I remember one session in particular.  We were filming the scene at Sun Studios in Memphis with U2 for their film and album Rattle and Hum. Jack Clement was producing the tracks.  I had been asked to arrange the parts for the Memphis Horns for Angel of Harlem.  I wrote out all of the parts and did the correct orchestral transposition for the brass.  I was playing Hammond B3.  The track started with my organ glissando when the Horn section starts playing in the wrong key as they were used to transposing on the fly.  I told them to read it as written and everything worked great.  It was probably my scariest moment in the studio.

How many dates a year does Riders in the Sky perform?

Riders in the Sky has been busier than ever.  We did over 200 dates last year and we normally try to do about 180 dates a year.  It is fun.  I have been on the road for 47 years and it is still fun. 

You have been in the studio business for a long time.  Did you ever think the technology would evolve to where it is today?

Absolutely not.  I started at Chicago’s Columbia Studios in 1962.  I know the engineers would have given anything to have these tools.  When I moved to Nashville I had a small demo studio with a 16 track 1 inch and eventually moved up to DA 88s.  With bigger projects for Disney I needed a lot more control.  I love having my personal studio where I can leave everything set up and pick back up right where I left off.  Steinberg provides that.  It still to me sounds better on Nuendo than anything else. When there is a side by side comparison Steinberg software just sounds better. 

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