Jack Endino is a Seattle record producer, recording engineer, mixer, and musician with somewhere over 500 records to his credit, including bands like Nirvana, Mudhoney, and Soundgarden. He earned his BSEE from the University of Washington in 1980, and was recording in earnest by 1986.

(Our last meeting with Jack was in 2006) 

Jack's original "rant-style" interview about problems in the studio due to guitar tuning problems showed up in TapeOp Magazine in 2002 (and can also be seen on Jack's website, with addenda, here).  This evening was not just about tuning, but a huge list of caveats, tips and tricks to remember when dealing with modern guitars in the recording studio. Jack had his vintage Fender guitar amp, speaker stack, effects pedal array, and a couple of his guitars to demonstrate.

Beginning with general tuning differences caused by music style and picking style, he also covered many details about tuning aids and what works and what doesn't. Electric guitar construction, pickups and effects pedals and their problems were discussed at length.

Jack also talked about guitar amplifiers - tube/solid state, the raw speakers in the cabinets, polarity of inputs and speakers and different mic placements for different speaker cabinets.

After a refreshment break, door prizes were awarded to:

• AES 2018 NYC Convention Dailies: won by Rick Rodriguez
• Belden CAT cable prep tool, courtesy Steve Lampen/Belden: won by Jeremy Papke
• AES USB thumbdrive, courtesy Bob Moses/AES: won by Bob Ward
• Airline comfort kit, courtesy Bob Moses/AES: won by Steve Wilkins
• Fluke infrared thermometer, courtesy Rick Rodriguez/Fluke: won by Bunnie Moore

Finally, for something completely different, he played a bit on his custom commissioned, non-Western tuning 19-note-scale guitar. He noted that unknowing players new to his studio who just pick it up and start playing it get freaked out.