He let my band in at night and we experimented until we figured out how to record our instruments. "My friend had insulated the room and sectioned a bit off so you could record drums and sit behind the glass and hear it through the monitors. "It had a computer with an ancient Aardvark Q10 PCI audio interface,” Joey recalls. His band was on the lookout for a cheap way to make a demo, and started recording themselves in a garage that a friend had converted into a studio. It was while drumming for a grindcore band that Joey unwittingly stumbled into production. On many projects, Joey receives writing, arranging, mixing, engineering and mastering credits, demonstrating the depth of involvement he has in nearly all of his productions. These days he is one of the biggest names in metalcore production, shaping the sound of albums by bands such as Asking Alexandria, Emmure, I See Stars, Miss May I, The Devil Wears Prada, We Came As Romans and Attack Attack!.
Learning on the job might not be for everyone, but it's certainly paid off for Joey. Sometimes those are very interesting situations that breed interesting solutions.” "If you are being paid for a session and suddenly you come across some issue, it's scary and you have to solve the problem right there. "I didn't go to a school for music, but I think you learn a lot more by solving problems in your own way,” says Joey Sturgis. From humble beginnings, Joey Sturgis has become a leading producer in the highly technical metalcore scene.