XL Recording Studio Guide 2006

Spoon drummer takes a seat at the mixing table

By Joe Gross
Thursday, September 28, 2006

Three months ago, Jim Eno found himself with a 2-year-old child, a day job as an electrical engineer at Metta Technology's Austin office and a recording studio called Public Hi-Fi he built on his property adjacent to his West Austin house.

Eno spent the better part of two years designing and building the place, razing the 20-feet-by-20-feet building that had served as Public Hi-Fi for years, replacing it with the beautifully appointed studio of his dreams.

Oh, yeah. For 12 years, Eno has been the drummer in Spoon, the increasingly well-regarded Austin rock band who, in 2005, released "Gimme Fiction," their most successful album to date, both critically and financially. So throughout 2005 and part of '06, there were many months of touring behind that release.

"We did the U.S., Australia and Europe," Eno says. "For a while there it was three weeks on, week off, three weeks on for a couple of months."

It was a bit much.

"When we were building the studio," Eno says, "I'd get a call from a builder saying, 'We need to decide colors today' and I'd say, 'Well, OK, but I'm in Berlin.' My wife really became the second general contractor."

These days, Eno has slightly less on his plate. Metta Technology closed its Austin office two months ago and Eno finally no longer has a day gig. He and Spoon are about to start recording the follow-up to "Gimme Fiction." And his reputation as a producer with an excellent studio is growing by the day.

"Just doing the studio full-time is daunting," Eno says, "but I'm actually turning down work at the moment."

As we talk, we walk around Eno's two-level studio. The exterior walls are double-thick framed walls, the inside walls are adobe brick, all the better to insulate the bands playing inside from the neighborhood outside.

"The adobe brick had to be made by hand," Eno says. "I called Frank Meyer (an Austin musician who also runs a sustainable building company called Thangmaker) and asked him if he's ever worked with adobe before, and he said, 'No, but I've always wanted to.' "

The main studio and control room for Public Hi-Fi (public-hifi.com) is downstairs, a lounge area is upstairs. But there are outlets and inputs all over the place; an amp can be isolated almost anywhere in the building. (Yes, including the bathroom, for that shower-singing sound.)

A vintage 24-track Neve 8036 No. A41 board sits in the control room, and a Studer A827 two-inch tape machine is hidden in its own quiet corner. ProTools can be slaved to the the Studer, which makes it easier to edit and archive recording sessions.

"Tape is a wonderful medium," Eno says, sitting down at the board, "but it's nerve-wracking to work with. This setup makes for a more relaxed session and a more creative environment."

While Spoon recorded at Eno's old 20-by-20 place, this upcoming album will be the band's first tracked in the new space. He punches up a few tracks from a project he just finished from the New York indie rock band Via Audio. It's sharp, tuneful pop, the sort of thing that Spoon has likely inspired all over the country.

Eno looks over in the direction of his house.

"You really can't beat the commute," he says.

jgross@statesman.com; 912-5926