AARON SPRINKLE

Best Producer

Best Producer Runners-up:

2. Jason Ingram

3. Ed Cash

Profile By Matt Conner

Over 200 albums bear the inscription “Produced by Aaron Sprinkle.” That means the brilliant Seattle-based helmsman has probably worked on a couple of your all-time faves. Artists like Copeland, MxPx, Anberlin and Thousand Foot Krutch have all sought time with Sprinkle in hopes of fitting on his busy calendar—a hard thing to do nowadays.

Aaron’s even too busy for his own material, putting off the next Fair record because TFK’S recording sessions ran over before heading into the studio with The Almost. It’s a never-ending cycle, but his work is why we love him and why you chose him as “Best Producer” of 2009.

QUICK LOOK BACK

I look back five years ago and realize that I didn’t even know what I was doing then. So it’s funny to look back on my first MxPx record. I had no idea what I was doing. I’m surprised I even got sound on to tape. I had no clue what was going through my head at that time.

TECHNOLOGY. FRIEND OR FOE?

I love the fact that recording technology is so accessible these days. Technology doesn’t scare me. It scares some people because they think it puts them out of a job. But I think it’s a positive. Bands come into the studio now with at least a very clear and basic knowledge of how recording works. At least every band has Garageband on their Mac.

THE AARON SPRINKLE SOUND

I’d like to think that there is [an “Aaron Sprinkle Sound”], but I would also like to think that it also doesn’t consist of, “Oh, there’s an Aaron Sprinkle snare drum sound or drum loop or whatever.” I’m probably in la-la land, but I’d like to think that my sound is just that the vision of the artist was realized and pushed the acceptable boundaries of what it is people were expecting…and that it sounds good.

MUSIC OR LYRICS?

I want to really move people and, honestly for me, the lyrics have very little to do with that. It’s the music. You can’t quantify or put a label on how Red House Painters makes me feel. You can’t reproduce it by showing or saying something to me. It’s the whole musical experience. It’s magical, and I still have that magical, mysterious view of music, even after being inside of it for so long. I never want to lose that. If I lose that, just put me behind a desk.

RECENT WORK

I did a record last year for Jonezetta called Cruel To Be Young, and I think it’s one of the greatest records I’ve been privileged to work on. It’s great in every way and, to me, that’s a record you need to sit down to listen to. When you do, you get something different out of it every time. The songwriting is awesome and very interesting and fun to listen to. It’s not really well known.

LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE

I feel like it’s just amazing that I get to contribute to this thing that I’m such a fan of. I love music. I just love it! The fact that I’ve gotten to do my little part in it and make a little splash is so cool to me. I feel so blessed. If I stopped today, I would still look back on my life and feel so happy and so blessed.

For more information on Aaron Sprinkle and the current projects he’s work on, visit myspace.com/aaronsprinkle.

For a complete list of 2009 Readers’ Choice winners, log on to CCMmagazine.com/readerschoice09winners.