PropertyOfZack had the chance to catch up with producer Sam Pura a few weeks ago for a great new Producer’s Corner feature. Sam and I discussed his work on The Story So Far’s debut album, his views on bands producing their own material, Kickstarter, The Waiting Room, and much more. Check it out below!

Your name has been popping up a lot more since The Story So Far released Under Soil And Dirt, but you’ve been engineering bands for a long time now.  Obviously bands are always going to be in the spotlight, but is it nice to begin to being recognized as a name to fans as well now?
It’s totally cool. The cool thing about working with The Story So Far is that I started working with them right at a period when Heavy Heavy Low Low, another band I worked with, broke up. So it got to a time where I needed to start fresh, and they were a new style for me. We’ve done like three records together and because of that, our relationship is really great and positive. It’s awesome to have a bunch of bands hit me up and be really stoked on the work I’m doing again. Heavy broke up and they had been going on tour all the time, and it’s cool that The Story So Far are kind of carrying the torch with them.
 
Do you enjoy working with bands multiple times and building a relationship like that?
I’ve always wanted to approach recording as being a member of the band. I liked playing in a band, and being in bands were awesome, but at the end of the day, I like recording records more. I think I make a better record when I have that relationship with the band. I’m not trying to change a band’s songs, I’m just trying to make them sound awesome.
 
Do you think there can be downsides to working with a band so many times?
The only downside is that those bands eventually grow and they want to do bigger things, and that’s totally cool. Sometimes it’s just sad that they move on. I don’t have an issue with those relationships though. Eventually that relationship is going to end if they want to do something cooler. I don’t want to hold them back from that.
 
Can you discuss the process of recording Under Soil And Dirt and everything that went into it that some might not be aware of?
A lot of times bands aren’t that talented when they come in to make a record. Since we had a lot of experience together in the past, I knew that they were really talented guys. We all worked hard together before. This is the first record where I didn’t have to do a lot of editing. This was about capturing an awesome performance from awesome musicians. It sounds amazing. We wanted everything to fit naturally rather than to have a manufactured product. I respect them as musicians and I wanted them to play their actual music rather than having it manufactured. That was one thing about that record that is different from most of the records I make. We didn’t do any drum sampling either. There was a lot of natural talent and it was about capturing that rather than manufacturing it.
 
The record has taken off over the past few months. When you work with pop-punk bands in particular, do you think successful records need to just be natural and not manufactured?
Definitely. When you listen to a CD, you probably listen to it because it vibes well with you and because you want to have the experience of being in the same room with those guys. That’s what I attribute to punk shows. We have all these punk bands that are completely garbage. It can be so autotune and all I want to do is make a record where you’re listening to the band play at their best possible potential. I’ve heard stories about kids hearing the new record and just moshing between bands over the PA at a show. We wanted everything to feel right. I wanted to make a record that made me feel like I was a part of the band when I played it. I definitely get that vibe when I play that record.
 
What have been some of your other favorite records to work on in your years of engineering? 
Sabertooth Zombie would have to be one of the big ones. I love that band. They’re a really awesome punk band. They are talented musicians, so when I record them I have the ability to capture a naturally talented band rather than me manufacturing something. They’re fucking awesome. I always have a great time working with Low Low. They’re the greatest friends. Doing anything with any Pure Noise bands in general is also awesome. I just love Jake from Pure Noise. I really like working on records with him. We did the new American Scene record, and they’re a lot of fun to work with.

Some engineers and producers are excited by the fact that it’s becoming increasingly easy for bands to record their own music, but many producers also see that as a threat. What are your thoughts on self-recording and engineers they may or may not interfere with your job down the line? 
That’s an interesting one. I’ve been recording this one band, and I did all their drums. They’re super experienced. They’re a really good, really technical metal band. It took three days to do their drums, which are so complicated. They went home and then they did all the guitars themselves on their computers. They spent a good two months on that, brought it back to me, reamped it all, recorded vocals, and then it was done. The entire process was so easy because they spent enough time refining their sound and getting as technical as their music is supposed to be. I really respect stuff like that. I’m stoked to make records like that. Other bands just want to take full control of it and do it themselves, but eventually they’ll have to ask someone like me to mix it and I don’t enjoy doing that because it’s done so poorly. There’s a yin and a yang to it. I like it for bands who can use it to their full advantage, but otherwise guys have no idea what they’re doing in their garage.

A lot of established engineers and producers have to deal with records selling less and less due to the natural flow of the music industry. Do record sales truly matter to your job at this point?
It’s never mattered, unfortunately. It would be awesome to sell records though. Sales are not the norm anymore. I’ve grown up in the download industry my entire life. It’s never mattered, and it probably never will.

With the industry struggling how it is, are you open to working with bands or artists who may not seem very talented to you or are out of your comfortable genre of music if they’re willing to pay higher values for production? Especially if that means that you’ll be able to work with bands that you love for less money?
That’s been more and more of an issue recently. I was working a side job and doing the studio too, but it’s a cool situation now where I have Brad doing booking and he’s helping out. In the past, I rarely accepted any bands who people would think sounded awful, not because of the recording, but because of the band being awful. I’m lucky to not be in that position anymore. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about that too much nore.

Kickstarter is a tool that many bands have been using to raise money for the recording process to be able to work with producers of their choosing. Do you think it’s right for bands to ask their fans for money, especially when they can’t guarantee happiness with their final product? 
I love Kickstarter. My friend is actually a graphic designer there. I’ve known about it for a long time. I didn’t think it’d be successful, but it’s so weird how successful it is. It’s crazy to see some bands getting $10,000. I’m totally into that model. I’ve contemplated doing that to get bands in The Waiting Room and things like that. I bet it would do well. I bet a bunch of kids would pay to see New Found Glory. I think the model of using that to make budgets for records is definitely the future. People like Pure Noise don’t have the startup funds to pay for a record up front. I think Kickstarter is great.

A lot of attention has been directed towards your feature called The Waiting Room. Can you discuss that for people you’ve yet to hear about it?
The Waiting Room is a concept where we just want to do cool shit. If we don’t get paid for it, we still want to do cool shit. That’s what The Waiting Room is. I want to record awesome bands that I respect and to show people awesome quality live performances. I want bands to come to The Waiting Room because they’re awesome live bands.
POZ: Has it been good promotion for Panda Studios?
Sam: It definitely goes hand in hand. At the end of the day, if I didn’t have my studio I’d probably just do Waiting Room, because I want to be a part of it. I love waiting records, but I also love documenting bands in their rawest moments with their real potential. That helps me with actual recording a lot.

What else are you currently working on that you’re allowed to discuss? Are there any other new projects on the way that you’re extremely excited for? Both in terms of engineering and The Waiting Room?
We have a lot of bands coming to The Waiting Room. Every episode we do is confirmed, but sometimes schedules don’t allow for it to happen. We have Seahaven, Touché Amoré, and Man Overboard. We’ve got a bunch coming up. I’m pretty excited about it. We’re in discussions with AP to let them feature all the episodes. It takes a few days to edit everything, but we can turn it around pretty quickly. The new episodes are so much better than the past ones. Nothing is too set for next year in terms of recording new bands in the studio. We’re in discussions with bands right now.