David Rivkin Interview - Grammy Award Winning Recording Engineer

On this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by David Rivkin, Grammy Award-winning recording engineer. The music of artists such as The Kingston Trio first sparked Dave’s interest in music, but it was when he heard the electric guitar for the first time that his life was forever changed. In 1963, Dave joined a local Minneapolis band called The Chancellors, and after recording the group’s local hit Little Latin Lupe Lu, Dave became hooked on learning how to record music.

By the mid-'70s, Dave was recording music professionally at ASI Studio. In 1976, Grand Central, an early band to feature Prince, came into ASI Studio to record some demos with Dave as the engineer. A year later, in 1977, with Dave now at Sound 80, he recorded Prince again. Dave’s sessions with Prince in 1977 resulted in three songs that would be featured on Prince’s debut album, For You. One of those songs, Soft and Wet, would become Prince’s first single.

While working at Sound 80, Dave also became involved with a group called Lipps Inc. In 1979, Lipps Inc. recorded a disco track called Funkytown, which Dave engineered and played on. Despite being released at the tail end of the disco era in 1980, the Funkytown single would sell 8 million copies and hit number one in Australia, Canada, the United States, and many other countries worldwide.

In 1983, Dave worked again with Prince when he recorded a short-notice benefit concert at First Avenue in Minneapolis. At this concert, Prince debuted the now-classic Purple Rain. The 70-minute benefit concert was recorded by Dave outside the venue in a mobile recording truck. Unknown to Dave at the time, the version of Purple Rain he engineered would become the official recording, both as a single and on Prince’s 1984 album of the same name.

In 1987, when Prince opened his Paisley Park studio, Dave moved from Sound 80 to become a producer at the new complex. One of his early production projects at Paisley Park was working with The Fine Young Cannibals. Dave produced the band’s hit She Drives Me Crazy, and he was responsible for the iconic snare drum sound on the track. The song would go on to hit number one in the U.S., number five in the UK, and number one in Australia.

Today, Dave is still active in the music industry, with recent work including mixing Jonathon Long’s debut album and remixing various Prince releases.

Jack phoned David to discuss his early days, the impact folk music had on him, the experience of hearing the electric guitar for the first time, his time with The Chancellors, his early production work at ASI Studio, recording early Prince demos, the making of Funkytown, the recording and success of Purple Rain, the iconic snare sound on She Drives Me Crazy, and his more recent work.

"We were in the moment. There’s no way you could know that this was going to be iconic... you just don’t know." — David Rivkin on engineering Prince’s Purple Rain in this episode of Vinyl Vibes.

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins.

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