Image by Adam Parshall
Brian Charles
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Brian Charles has devoted the past 30-plus years to producing, engineering, mixing, and performing music. He’s especially known as the owner of Zippah Recording Studios, a revered fixture in Boston since 1989. He’s worked with thousands of artists over the years and has made albums in almost every genre imaginable: from jazz records with the likes of John Lockwood and Bob Moses, to early punk rock with artists such as the Vatican Commandos featuring a young “Moby” as the lead singer. In recent years, Charles has continued his diverse clientele with the likes of the band Dispatch, pop artist Marina and the Diamonds, and indie rockers Weakened Friends.
Charles is also a published songwriter through Rough Trade Records in New York and is the longtime producer and member of the band the Sheila Divine. He still tours multiple times per year in Europe as well as in the U.S. These affiliations have earned him a special reputation as a sought-after indie-rock producer.
Charles’s passion for audio doesn’t stop in the analog world. In 2018 he started an audio plug-in company, Rare Signals, with the goal of making the most accurate digital replications of some highly sought-after analog plate reverbs. Pulling this off required a combination of electrical engineering skills as well as learning and developing cutting-edge ways to use convolution technology. The company’s first product, transatlantic plate reverb, has been met with much success and has received testimonials from some of the most iconic mix engineers in the world.
Tragically, on December 17, 2021, his home base studio of 33 years, Zippah Recording, was destroyed in an eight-alarm fire. The music community rallied around him to raise over $100,000 in just 24 hours. The fund continued to grow and has become instrumental to the rebuilding effort.
Charles continues to follow his passion of production and engineering, freelancing in many different studios while the relocation plans are in the works.