John McEntire (born April 9, 1970) is an American recording engineer, producer, drummer, and multi-instrumentalist, based in Chicago, Illinois. He is a member of both Tortoise and the Sea and Cake.
Early life
McEntire was born on April 9, 1970, in Portland, Oregon. He started playing drums at age 10. Throughout high school, he performed in marching bands and studied privately for seven years. He went on to attend Oberlin Conservatory initially as a percussion major, but eventually switched to study in the school's then newly created program for Technology in Music and Related Arts.
Production/engineering work
As a producer and engineer, McEntire has mixed and remixed recordings by many artists. He also owns and operates Soma Electronic Music Studios in Gladstone, Oregon, which he relocated in 2019 after 25 years in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago and then brief stints in Los Angeles and Nevada City.
McEntire produces and engineers most of the recordings for his own bands, as well as many of the solo efforts by bandmates Sam Prekop, Archer Prewitt, Jeff Parker, and Doug McCombs. He has also engineered, produced, and/or mixed albums and tracks for many artists including: Bell Orchestre, Stereolab, Bright Eyes, Bobby Conn, Teenage Fanclub, Sylvain Chauveau, Kaki King, Tom Ze, the Ex, Smog, Trans Am, Eleventh Dream Day, Cougar, Antibalas, Innaway, the For Carnation, Dianogah, U.S. Maple, Chicago Underground Duo, Spookey Ruben, Blur, Pivot, the Fiery Furnaces, the Car Is on Fire, Small Sins, Broken Social Scene, Coldcut, Spoon, Jaga Jazzist, Great 3, Yo La Tengo, Radian, Pia Fraus, and most recently, La Ciencia Simple.
McEntire is a pioneering user of modern digital audio workstation software, first employing Pro Tools on the 1997 the Sea and Cake album The Fawn and then on Stereolab's Dots and Loops, released later the same year.
Discography
Studio albums
- Sons Of (with Sam Prekop, Thrill Jockey, 2022)