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Dave Carlock
producer l engineer l songwriter l multi-instrumentalist

History: Passion for singing and singers has been a constant in Dave Carlock's life and work. Dave began singing to audiences at age 5 in his hometown in Michigan and later fronted local bands. By his late teens, Dave was giving guitar, keyboard and bass lessons and producing bands to satisfy his growing appetite for synths and studio gear.

In 1990, Dave attended the legendary New Music Seminar in New York as an artist in search of a record deal. John Coppola, founder of Coku Music (then promotion at Columbia, later VP of Promotion at The Work Group, Capitol and MCA), heard Dave's tape and quickly forwarded it to producers working on George LaMond's debut record. Dave ultimately placed three songs with LaMond and contributed background vocals and arrangements to the record. Soon after, Dave built his first substantial home studio around a 1/2" 16 track machine and started down the path of writing and producing professionally.

In '94, Carlock relocated to New York where he wrote and or engineered/mixed for several NY bands, most notably, 'Coward', whose work with Dave got the band signed to Elektra. He also wrote, produced and performed with Grandfather Beat. Their collaboration can most recently be heard in the film, "Hoboken Lou." It was during this time that Dave also became a sought after Pro Tools tech/engineer in NYC. This led to work as a consultant for Lenny Kravitz's 35th Street studio and Daryl Hall's A-Pawling Studio.

In '97, Dave moved to Los Angeles where producers and artists such as David Cole, Richard Marx, STYX, and Lisa Hayes & The Violets quickly valued Dave's involvement in their records. His protective instincts towards singers and non-Auto Tune vocal tuning techniques won him gigs with such vocalists as Duncan Sheik, Hal Ketchum and Dolly Parton, among others.

From fall 1999 to fall 2000, Dave partnered with Greg Ladanyi, one of the pillars of the classic California Pop sound. In their year together, they worked on a global group of artists including Spain's Araque, Mexico's Jaquares, and America's own Jo Davidson, an underrated singer/songwriter/pianist that helped open doors to the eventual success of multi-platinum artist Vanessa Carlton.

In addition to new artists, Dave and Greg worked with the Tubes, co-producing the hybrid live/studio album "Tubes World Tour 2001", a greatest hits collection featuring two new songs, including 'Loveline', which the pair co-produced with David Foster. They also worked together on an album for Buddy Holly's original Crickets, a project that featured special guests like Eric Clapton, Rodney Crowell, Vince Neil and others.


In 2001, Dave focused on mixing, and worked on several projects with songwriter/producer Alex Cantrall of Soul Power Productions (Soulshock Karlin & Cantrall), including B2K, Damon Sharpe, Az Yet, Aja, and Lea. Other 2001 sessions included work with producer/mixer Neal Pogue for artist Cherokee, Shaquille O'Neil, and several E/M projects for Hellcat Records, including The Distillers, Lars Frederiksen and The Bastards, the Gadjits, and the Rancid/NOFX split.

In 2002, Dave continued to focus on punk rock records, working with Bad Religion, Strung Out and Matchbook Romance. During this time, Dave produced, engineered and mixed the Transplants' debut record with Tim Armstrong, which has become one of the most talked about indie releases in 2003. Also notable was Dave's engineering credit on the Ramones tribute record, "We're A Happy Family."

Current Credits: 2003 has been a busy year, beginning in January with the pre-production phase of the current Blink 182 record on Geffen. Dave was responsible for setting up the band's recording environment in a rented private estate in San Diego, based around the mobile recording studio Dave designed for Travis Barker's new label, LaSalle Records. After six weeks, the resulting pre-production work inspired an album that some are calling Blink's best work to date. A true compliment was given when Blink's manager Rick DeVoe nicknamed Dave "The Wizard", which the band eventually changed to "Warlock". And much to his surprise, a few vocal arrangements, sonic palates and unique samples that Dave created on the original demos were used or recreated on the final record--the ultimate compliment!

Following his time with Blink 182, Dave began working with Rancid on "Indestructible", their current release on Hellcat/Warner. Aside from his Pro Tools work, Dave's musical contributions on the record included co-writing "Spirit Of '87" and BGVs on "Red Hot Moon".

In April, Dave was also asked to join the Transplants on a national tour with the Foo Fighters as their keyboard/loop/sample guru. The success of the Transplants record has also led to TV appearances for Dave on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and MTV's Doggy Fizzle Televizzle. And if you don't mute your TV during commercials, you can hear his piano playing and "woo woos" on the new Garnier shampoo spots, which feature the Transplants' runaway KROQ hit, "Diamonds & Guns."

Following the tour, Dave was busy engineering and performing on nine tracks for Pink's current release, "Try This." He was also hired on as her keyboard player for various TV dates to promote "Feel Good Time" from Charlie's Angels II, but when the recording schedule extended, he was asked by Pink to stay on as her engineer.

Carlock co-producered/engineered, co-wrote "maddness" and mixed "I want it all" on Transplants's new release, Haunted Cities on La Salle Records . He also Played key, bass, lead gtr and back vox. "We charted #28 on Billboard during our release week late June 05," says the producer.

Contact:  Carlock Productions
email: Carlock@studioexpresso

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