Ryan Hewitt discussed working on the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic Stadium Arcadium in a new Tape Op podcast interview, and how the band disrespectfully went against John Frusciante’s wishes by not hiring him. Alternative Nation reporter Mike Mazzarone transcribed his comments.
“I wound up doing a lot of solo records for John [Frusciante], it came time for the next [Red Hot] Chili Peppers record and they chose someone else against John’s wishes. John wanted me to engineer everything because we had become real tight, but Rick [Rubin] had a different idea and they hired someone else.
I wound up being brought on a few weeks into the record as the tape op because no one knew how to run a tape machine anymore but was my forte at the time. All the stuff with John was on tape and I could punch in on minuscule gaps, things like that and I knew how to get it done.
So, I sat in as the tape op, watching another engineer record all this stuff. I think he had to go off on some other gig and then I took over for a few days and wound up doing a re-cut of ‘Dani California’, what would become a single as well as a bunch of overdubs. After basic tracks were done, John was like, ‘You know, you’re going to be the guy after he leaves, after basic tracks.’
So we went to John’s house and I finished all the overdubs with him and Flea. Andrew Scheps did all the vocals with Anthony [Kiedis].”
Hewitt then discussed his mix getting picked for the record after a ‘mix off.’
