Recording - March 2015 - 51

MARCH 2015

TAXI's Secret Sauce: Michael Laskow Interviewed
Interview by Rachel Lee
This interview was inspired by a recent episode of
TAXI TV, during which Multi-Platinum
Producer/Engineer/Mixer Rob Chiarelli
interviewed TAXI's CEO, Michael Laskow. We
hope you enjoy this in-depth version that gives
Michael's take on the company he created in 1992,
the current state of the music industry, and what
songwriters, artists, and composers can do to
become successful in today's music industry.
Rob Chiarelli's TAXI TV interview about your career
inspired me to ask for this interview. I found it interesting that he focused on the career path you took led
you to be uniquely qualified to start and run TAXI. I
want to know more, and I'm sure other people who
saw that video feel the same way. What was it that
made you want to get into the music industry?
The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in
1964 that was the actual moment I knew the music
industry was the thing I wanted to do. I was nine
years old, and I quickly knew that I didn't want to
be a rock star, per se. Seeing photos of George
Martin and Geoff Emerick in the control room
really sealed my fate. Engineering and producing
appealed to me more than being on a stage and
having fans.
How did you get your first gig in the music industry?
I overheard a delivery guy at a music store in
Miami say that he was going to Criteria Studios to
drop of a piece of rental equipment. I begged until
the delivery guy let me go because it was one of the
top studios in the country at the time. He told me
to wait in the lobby.
I overheard the studio owner (Mack Emmerman)
say they needed a new "kid to clean the place up,"
so I called him five times a day for five days straight
until he finally interviewed me for the internship. I
got the gig, and my life was forever changed.
Who were some of the acts recording there during
that period - the mid-seventies, right?
Yeah. The Eagles were doing the One of These
Nights album, Clapton was doing 461 Ocean Blvd.,
with "I Shot the Sheriff " on it, the Bee Gees were

working on Jive Talkin', Stephen Stills was doing a
solo record... it was a incredible to go to work there
every day. I started as the low man on the totem
pole, but I still got to be in the room with legendary
producers and engineers like Tom Dowd, Arif
Mardin, Karl Richardson, and Don Gehman on a
daily basis. Eventually, I got to work on records
with all those guys, and I can't even begin to quantify how much I learned from them. I've been able
to pass along a lot of that stuff to TAXI's members
over the years.
Didn't you work on the Stills/Young record, Long May
You Run?
Yeah, I was the assistant engineer on that record,
and every now and then, Don Gehman would let
me set up a rough mix or record background
vocals. It was sort of my engineering Bar Mitzvah
[laughs]. At one point, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and
Young were all on that record, but then things
melted down and it became Stills/Young again.
Imagine CSN&Y all around a single microphone
singing harmonies. All the lights were dimmed in
the studio except a blue one that bathed the tops of
their heads. The control room was dark except for
the glow of the recording console, and those incredible harmonies were pouring out of the big
monitors. I was in heaven!
How did you end up working with Neil Young?
He found a studio I was running Ft. Lauderdale
about two years later. He showed up unannounced,

saw me in the lobby and said, "Hey now, I remember you... wanna do a record?" I had recently left
Criteria to go out on my own as a producer, but I
was more than happy to engineer for Neil. It was an
incredible experience. Just Neil, my assistant (Paul
Kaminsky), and me. Most of the time it was just
Neil playing acoustic guitar and singing. Sometimes
he'd play piano, sometimes we'd layer guitars, he'd
almost always sing the vocal live... pretty basic stuff,
but he taught me the most valuable lesson I think
I've ever learned in this industry: "Go for the emotion, vibe, and performance, and don't worry about
perfection." After we'd finish a take, Neil would
look at me through the window and ask, "How was
that one?" He helped me hone my production skills
and taught me what true artistry is.
Which album was that?
Actually, we worked together for months and
recorded a bunch of songs that landed on several
albums. Many of them ended up on Comes a Time,
and the rest on Rust Never Sleeps, Hawks and Doves,
and Decade. He didn't credit any engineers on Rust
Never Sleeps, but he sent me gold and platinum
albums for that record, and they're hanging on the
wall here at TAXI.
So why did you quit making records and move to New
York in the '80s?
My first daughter was born, and I was hardly ever
home. I decided to quit making records and move
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