Dave Jerden

Dave Jerden is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer who has worked with artists in various genres including alternative rock, punk rock and metal. However, Jerden has stated that he dislikes the term "producer", preferring to refer to himself primarily as an engineer.^[1]

Jerden developed his engineering and mixing skills at Eldorado Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, beginning in the late 1970s.^[1] 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.^[2]

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.^[1] "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."^[3]

As a producer and mixer, Jerden also worked with artists such as Fishbone, Anthrax, The Offspring, Meat Puppets, Social Distortion and Red Hot Chili Peppers.^[2][4]

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.^[5]

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.^[1]

Jerden is the co-owner of Tranzformer Studio in Burbank, California.^[4] He has two children: Michelle (Jerden) Forrest and Bryan Jerden.