Today we’d like to introduce you to Jim Waters.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have always loved music. Growing up, there was always music in our house and I was drawn to it from a very early age.
As a teenager, I hated school and rarely went. I barely graduated from high school. All I knew was that I wanted to find some sort of career in music.
My older brother Joe had a band that rehearsed in our basement, and one day, somebody brought over a little SONY 2 track tape recorder.. That was all I needed to know.
After that, I saved up and bought a used TEAC 4 track reel to reel machine and proceeded to go around recording all of my friends bands and assisted anybody that needed sound work.
By the time I moved to New York in 1981, I was pretty comfortable around musicians and easily found work work at recording studios there.
In 1984, I began work at Howard Schwartz Studios which was a studio specializing in commercials. I met my wife, Pat, there and we eventually opened our own little independent studio (Waterworks Recording) down on 14th street( in the Meat Packing district) where I worked with many of the New York bands at the time including Sonic Youth and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
Tired of New York, we moved to Tucson Arizona (1993) where we opened Waterworks Recording West and have continued to make music, do more film work, record audio books and create podcasts, notably, The Crossing Guard Tapes.
I am always fascinated by the sounds we hear around us everyday and tend to get out my little recorder to collect them. It came in very handy when I started making the Crossing Guard Tapes podcast.
For The Crossing Guard Tapes I began recording playground sounds, traffic and street sounds, helicopters and industrial sounds to incorporate into the podcast. I feel that the realistic and sometimes lo-fi sound design is one of the things that sets it apart.
THE CROSSING GUARD TAPES tied with HBO/WB’s Batman podcast for a Silver Signal Award for best sound design in 2023.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Running a tiny, independent recording studio is chock full of obstacles. First you need to be an advertising exec. Then you need to be an accountant. You will also need to be a janitor, a secretary, an appointment manager among many other jobs…and then somewhere in there you have to be a recording engineer and a creative partner/music producer….and psychologist.. Nobody tells you these things when you apply for the job.
It’s a good thing that I really love music and helping people realize their creative ideas, because the entire workload is very time intensive and sometimes exhausting..
We opened Waterworks Recording studio in New York city one week after our first child was born. Emma didn’t sleep through the night very often so the first few years were a blur.
Nonetheless, I enjoy all of it.
In the case of my Podcast (The Crossing Guard Tapes) the biggest obstacle was finding the right voice talent to fit the tone of piece. After a few false starts, we found a local voice actor named Tommy Nicolai who fit the bill to a T. He has been my constant collaborator ever since.. Being a multi talented fella, Tommy also provided the music for the podcast.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
One the thing I enjoy most about working with bands/musicians is being able to help them bring their ideas to life. I enjoy a challenge. Every music project requires it’s own approach . My M.O. is that no idea is too extreme.
I also love writing and working on podcasts. Podcasts allow me to use all of my sound recording skills in creating sound environments.
My team and I (Jaz Garewal and Tommy Nicolai) are currently working to finish season 3 of The Crossing Guard Tapes and have also begun work on our new podcast series about a fictional town in Arizona full of mystery, magic and vortexes. The series is called Vortex Arizona, It’s like an updated version of The Firesign Theater.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memories would involve discovering music. There was always music playing on our hi-fi at our house and I remember laying in my crib and hearing all kings of music. Jazz, Classical, Latin, Broadway Musicals (Porgy and Bess was a favorite). My mother used to play the piano and we would hear a variety of things like Fats Waller, Boogie-Woogie and classical piano selections.
It made a huge impression on me and I knew that I had to somehow find a way to make music a part of my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://waterworksrecording.studio/ and https://www.thecrossingguardtapes.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingguardtapes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecrossingguardtapes
- Twitter: https://x.com/orderoftheguard
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_9eYoIBOwA&list=PLQuM_9kJfmQ0&pp=0gcJCbwFa94AFGB0
