 Paul Mahern burst onto the American music scene in 1979 as the 17 year-old singer for seminal hardcore punk band, The Zero Boys. The band was known nation-wide for its intense live performances, but it was their debut album, "Vicious Circle," that remains a punk-rock staple to this day, recently seeing a re-release on celebrated indie label Secretly Canadian Records.
During his days in The Zero Boys, Paul was drawn to the other side of the glass and started learning about the production aspects of record-making. He began by recording bands local to the Indianapolis area, and was soon working at Hit City Recording as an in-house engineer. After a few years of paying his dues in and around Indy, Paul made a move to Bloomington, Indiana, where he started working with major label acts like The Blake Babies, The Judybats and Mysteries Of Life.
Paul's years of solid production work and deep ties to the Indiana music community eventually attracted the attention of local and international music legend, John Mellencamp, who now works exclusively with Paul as his recording engineer. Most recently they undertook an exciting project for Mellencamp's "No Better Than This" album by touring the country with co-producer T-Bone Burnett to record in legendary rooms with a single 1950's reel-to-reel tape deck and one microphone. The astounding results have garnered praise from the music press and recording community alike.
Always open to learning more about his field, Paul worked for two years at Indiana University on the NEH-funded Sound Directions project at the Archives of Traditional Music. It was there that Paul was lead engineer on an IU and Harvard University co-authored paper on best practices for audio preservation. His work there involved all aspects of transferring analog sources to the digital realm, including everything from restoration and repair of old tapes and discs to digitization and metadata management.
These days, Paul spends his time working out his ownWhite Arc Studios in Bloomington, where he has a burgeoning audio mastering and record production business. He continues to collaborate with several of the recording industry's most sought after artists, producers and engineers.
You can see a small sample of Paul's client list here, and if you would like to inquire about his engineering services, you can visit our Contact page here. |
