Dave Carlock
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Dave Carlock is a Los Angeles-based record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. As compared to a "triple threat", a term describing tri-faceted creative artists, Dave's unusual ten-strong combination of abilities as a singer/writer/producer/arranger/engineer/mixer/guitarist/bassist/keyboardist/drummer has led to his being known as "the Decuple Threat". His production style could be described as very hands on and song oriented, following in the footsteps of legendary record producers/songwriters David Foster, Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Todd Rundgren.
Dave began following his love of music at an early age by singing in front of restaurant jukeboxes at the age of 4. By the time he was in junior high school, he moved forward by teaching himself guitar, bass and keyboards. By the time he graduated, he had begun engineering at local recording studios, producing local bands and doing string arrangements for local 60-piece symphonies.
He began his professional career as a songwriter/session musician for Columbia Records artist George LaMond, contributing songs, as well as vocal and instrumental arrangements to LaMond's debut record "Bad Of the Heart". After turning down a job offer from famed dance producers Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa to be a staff producer/engineer/writer, Dave focused instead on building a 16 track recording studio and continued to develop as a producer/writer until moving to New York, living there for 3 years and then moving to LA.
While in New York, Dave worked as a tech/consultant with artists such as Hall & Oates and Lenny Kravitz due to his experience with a largely untried recording platform known as Pro Tools, which as of 2005, has grown to be the de facto standard in the recording industry, all but replacing analog tape recording. Lenny Kravitz's first album recorded with Pro Tools went on to win him the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Dave also produced local bands, most notably, Coward, whose work with Dave got the band a deal with Elektra Records.
Upon moving to LA, Dave's career began to bloom while working with Greg Ladanyi, producer of pop music giants like Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac & Warren Zevon. Dave partnered with Ladanyi's Tidal Wave Entertainment in 1999 for a year during which time they co-produced the Tubes' live/studio hybrid album "Tubes World Tour 2001", which featured collaborations with David Foster, Richard Marx and Steve Lukather. Dave's involvement with Ladanyi also led to sessions with Eric Clapton, Dolly Parton, Rodney Crowell and other respected staples of the music world.
To mix things up a bit from the pop world, Dave began a long collaboration in 2000 with Rancid frontman and punk rock songwriter Tim Armstrong, first as engineer/mixer on several projects for Tim's label, Hellcat Records, and then eventually as co-producer/co-writer. The team's first co-production work together was on the Transplants record, which was born out of the combination of two projects: a side project for Tim and a separate project Dave and Tim were recording for Armstrong friend and AFI roadie Rob Aston. After working off and on for two years and then adding Travis Barker to the band, the Transplants came to life and the record went on to be heralded as one of the best punk records of the early decade. Dave's skills as a pop musician--guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, drum programmer and singer--perfectly complimented Tim's gutterpunk snarl and punk instincts as a songwriter and guitarist. Dave also toured as keyboardist/sample guru during the Transplants tour with the Foo Fighters and appeared with the band on Jimmy Kimmel Live and Snoop Dogg's "Doggy Fizzle Televizzle" show.
Following the success of the Transplants, Dave also engineered on 9 songs for Pink's album "Try This" in 2003, offering up bass, vocals, keys and programming to the tracks. Dave received a 2003 Grammy Award Certificate for his engineering work on Pink's song "Trouble". Following his work with Pink, Dave started up a production label called 27 Sounds to produce and collaborate with unsigned artists between his time working on major records.
In 2004-2005, Dave worked with the Transplants for their 2nd album, Haunted Cities, co-producing and engineering again with Tim Armstrong and contributing keyboards, bass, guitar, vocals, theremin and songwriting. Dave's song "Madness" has been regularly reviewed as an album pick. In the fall, he also worked with Nine Inch Nails in preparation for their summer tour.
2006 witnessed the release of several EPs produced and cowritten by Dave for 27 Sounds artists such as Counterpush, R&B/pop artist Jackie Ray, pop/rock/dance artist Shevyn and 13-year-old pop/rock artist Shelby Spalione, culminating in one of his most prolific periods to date.
