I started playing the guitar at a young age (after watching The Partridge Family and seeing how all the girls went crazy for Keith Partridge!).

After years of practice and absorbing as much as I could about the instrument, I decided life on the production side of the glass was much cooler than being in a band and dealing with flaky band members.

So I moved to California and got myself a job in a studio and have been working at it ever since.

How did working your way up the ladder in LA help your mixing and engineering craft?

Working at several different studios in the formative stages of my career allowed me to see different control rooms, different gear, and different clients. And while I still had my favorite places to work, it was a great learning experience because I never got used to doing the same thing all the time.

Some rooms were mainly tracking rooms, some mixing, some Neves, some SSL’s. The fact that there is a studio on every corner in Los Angeles afforded me the opportunity to freelance and learn as much as I did.

Would you characterize yourself as a "guitar gear addict?” Favorite gear?

Yes…I have over 40 guitars, 70 amps and hundreds of pedals. It’s more of a disease than being an addict. My "favorites” category is too vast to even get into…everything has its place and purpose.

I love the saying, "One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!” It’s more about finding creative uses for what you have.

How would you characterize the difference between a mixer and producer? What are the different responsibilities?

Well, a mixer theoretically just takes the tracks that are already recorded and blends them into the final product. A producer gets the music to that stage and most times sees it through the mixing too.

There is a lot more psychology in producing. You have to make sure that the performances are good, the band is getting along, and that the songs are properly recorded, edited, and created. Budgets are the responsibility of the producer as well.

Most mixers just do what they do and don’t have to deal with all the other aspects of creating the music, just the physical part of blending tracks to a pleasant stereo sound for all our enjoyment!

Tell us a little bit about your history with Queens of the Stone Age. How was working on their debut album (before they were signed) different from working on their most recent one, Lullabies to Paralyze?

Well, both records were fun to make. One was a three-week desert experience, and the latest one allowed us more time and money to really experiment with sounds and recording techniques. We also cut a lot more songs on this last record.

I love both, as well as the three Kyuss records I engineered and mixed previous to the Queens of the Stone Age. That’s where we all met, and how my relationship with Josh Homme began.

What other bands have you enjoyed working with?

The Melvins were always a blast. Great players, crazy weird music, and creative recording techniques. The Special Goodness was fun too—all analog tape, mostly all live.

How did you get connected with Epitaph?

The Epitaph connection came from doing a record for [Bad Religion guitarist and owner of Epitaph records] Brett Gurewitz. We became good friends after the record was done and that led to some more work for his label.

I have to say that Epitaph is my hands down favorite record label out there. They are always a pleasure to deal with.

Digging through some of your past interviews we found you saying that, "Yes, I am a guitar player and an amazing air trianglist!” Please discuss.

I love listening to old Aerosmith records. After hearing them use a triangle on "Sweet Emotion”, I decided I would single-handedly bring back that lovely sound by adding one triangle hit on every record I do from now on! The trick is to find that hit!!

You’ve been using our plug-ins, what do you think? Which did you gravitate towards?

I love the crazy amounts of distortion that Trash is able to generate!!! I have distorted where no man has distorted before!!

Ozone is a winner too. The EQ is really good, the stereo spreader is interesting if you really want to make some unique sounds, and this plug-in works equally well on a drum sub-mix as it does on the stereo mix.

Check out more information on Joe Barresi at http://www.mcdman.com/barresi.html.