Local producer Scottie Hoaglan helps bands find their own sound
by Mike Gibson
Scottie Hoaglan is best known to some as the long-time lead guitarist for Christian rockers Nailed, but anyone who listens actively to local music has probably heard his work.
His aural signature is writ large on releases by Copper and See Through Human, Birkenstockian jam band Left Foot Down, Tool-ish prog-rockers Pleuroma, and fellow Christian artists Box of Souls—to name just a few. And come July, you can even hear recorded evidence of his studio expertise on the latest from Sevierville's own Dolly Parton, when her new Halos and Horns bluegrass album is released nationwide.
"It seems like I've worked with everyone in Knoxville now," says Hoaglan with a lean chuckle that suits his wispy frame. "Studio work has become my mainstay over the last couple of years, even over playing guitar."
A Newport native, the 30-year-old Hoaglan began learning the knob-twiddling aspects of recorded music after Nailed coalesced in 1993. When the band's tuneful brand of Christian metal landed a deal with Rugged Records, he took an active role in the studio evolution of its two albums and three No. 1 singles (on Christian music's Loud Rock charts), and in the process he evolved from four-track dabbler to full-fledged producer and engineer.
"I ended up in the studio all the time, doing demos, hanging out with [local producer] Travis Wyrick," says Hoaglan, reclining in a swivel chair in the dim but plushly comfortable control room of BPM (formerly Southern Sound) studio off Middlebrook Pike. "When the band would go to out-of-town studios for recordings, I'd get them back and I'd always think 'I could do a better job than this.'"
He was right. Now, after a year or so of studio free-lancing, Hoaglan works full-time with BPM, and studio co-owner Paul Jones offers nothing but praise for his newest engineer.
"One of Scottie's skills is that he gets these guys in local bands who've never recorded and he produces them without even knowing it," Jones relates. "He makes 'suggestions,' how to get this sound or how to get this part."
"I try not to be the guy who just pushes a button and says 'we're rolling,'" Hoaglan adds.
Hoaglan is of course well-versed in the engineering—or knob-twisting—side of the process, and will receive second engineer credit on the upcoming Parton project. "She was thrilled with the recording, and she loved Scottie," Jones laughs. "She always referred to him as 'you skinny little hippie.'"
But his larger ambition is producing, the holistic process of fashioning coherent musical statements from the raw materials of recorded sound. "A producer is an outside ear," Hoaglan says. "He's an arranger; he knows where to add a guitar part or how to make a vocal performance better. Producing is the process of bringing a song into a new life. Because bands play their songs over and over again, and they lose sight of the possibilities of where the music can go."
The local artist's lot is a hard one, Hoaglan says, and he must often deflate the unrealistic expectations of musicians who want to pull too much sound out of too little time and money.
He advises that local bands are often best served by pooling their funds and recording only a few songs at a time.
"I always ask guys in a band 'what's a record in the last couple of years that really floored you," Hoaglan says. "Then I have to tell them 'there's no way you can get that out of 10 hours of studio time.'
"And that's my goal when I do a record. I want the band to get something that sounds like it could be played on commercial radio. My pay-off comes in seeing the band running around in the studio, excited about how their recording sounds. You want to make them walk out saying 'Wow!'"
There's more to come from Hoaglan's own band, as Nailed is currently looking for a new deal after deciding recently to end their association with Rugged. Their prospects are excellent, since Nailed has proven itself a salable commodity in the burgeoning Christian market, having produced five- to six-figure album sales worldwide. "It's been fun; we've seen the world and done a lot of cool things," Hoaglan says. "I think that if we lay down a couple of good tunes, that maybe we can get another deal."
In the meantime, you can feel Scotty Hoaglan's firm presence, hear his influence all over the locals-only CD bin of your nearest record store.
June 13, 2002 * Vol. 12, No. 24
© 2002 Metro Pulse
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