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Dave Jerden

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Dave Jerden
Background information
Birth nameDavid Jerden
DiedFebruary 5, 2025
Genres
Occupations
Years active1976–2025

Dave Jerden (died February 5, 2025) was an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. He is best-known for producing, engineering and mixing albums recorded by a variety of bands from the mid-to-late 1980s and 1990s, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jane's Addiction, Alice in Chains, Social Distortion, the Offspring, Anthrax, Fishbone, the Meat Puppets and Spinal Tap.[1][2][3] He had also engineered and mixed albums by the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and Frank Zappa.[1][3] However, Jerden had stated that he disliked the term "producer", preferring to refer to himself primarily as an engineer.[2]

Career in production

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Jerden developed his engineering and mixing skills at Eldorado Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, beginning in the late 1970s.[2] He engineered and mixed acclaimed and successful records by artists such as Talking Heads, David Byrne, Frank Zappa, Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones and many others.[1]

His career as a producer emerged in the late 1980s, beginning with albums by Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains. Music Radar stated that these albums went against the prevailing sonic qualities of the day—dominated as it was by "hair metal bands"—and that Jerden had an important hand in shaping such genre-defining sounds.[2] "Dave was a great guy," recalled Jane's frontman Perry Farrell, "but I wasn't always sure how he would receive my moves. I remember waiting for him to look the other way so I could push the sliders on the desk up higher."[4]

As a producer and mixer, Jerden also worked with artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers Fishbone, Anthrax, The Offspring, Meat Puppets, Social Distortion, the Meat Puppets, Biohazard, and Sacred Reich.[1][5]

In 1986, Jerden met with The Replacements about producing the album that would eventually become Pleased to Meet Me. Jerden's sobriety, however, was a disqualifying factor for the notoriously hard-partying Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson, who were both drunk for the meeting and expected any prospective producer to at least attempt to keep up with them, despite the band's then-recent firing of Stinson's brother Bob for his mounting drug and alcohol abuse.[6] Jerden was also initially offered to produce Megadeth's 1990 album Rust in Peace, but, according to engineer Micajah Ryan, "after a few days, Dave Mustaine, the quote was, 'I think there's too many guys named Dave around here, we're gonna get rid of one of them.' And Dave Jerden got fired."[7]

By the mid-1990s, Jerden felt overwhelmed by the trappings of his success and decided to "lie low": working on occasional projects, but primarily experimenting with recording equipment involved in the transition from digital to analogue domains.[2]

Jerden was the co-owner of Tranzformer Studio in Burbank, California.[5]

Personal life and death

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Jerden had two children: Michelle (Jerden) Forrest and Bryan Jerden.[citation needed]

Jerden died on February 5, 2025.[3]

Selected discography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Credits: Dave Jerden". Allmusic. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e Bosco, Joe, “Production Legend Dave Jerden on 13 Career-Defining Records,” Music Radar, accessed February 1, 2015, http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/production-legend-dave-jerden-on-13-career-defining-records-586973/.
  3. ^ a b c Gallucci, Michael (February 6, 2025). "Jane's Addiction and Alice in Chains Producer Dave Jerden Dies". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
  4. ^ Halbert, James (August 2001). "Nasty Habits". Classic Rock. No. 30. p. 56.
  5. ^ a b Saxon, Jonathan, “Dave Jerden (bonus): Really Wrong Productions," Tape Op - the Creative Music Recording Magazine, accessed February 1, 2015, http://tapeop.com/articles/86/dave-jerden/.
  6. ^ Mehr, Bob (2016). Trouble Boys: The True Story of the Replacements. Da Capo Books. p. 228. ISBN 9780306825361.
  7. ^ jomatami (February 21, 2017). "'Rust in Peace' Engineer: Dave Mustaine Fired the Album's Second Producer Because His Name Was Dave". Ultimate Guitar. Retrieved February 6, 2025.
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