WC NEWS

By Misty Browning 

It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to recognize the talent of famed recording engineer Dean Baskerville. After nearly four decades of experience, including recording multi-platinum albums with some of the greatest in the music industry, Baskerville says he’s the best he’s ever been at this point in his life as he reflects on his career. Now, he’s ready to share his knowledge with the students at Weatherford College with its recently rolled-out audio engineering program.  

Starting as a songwriter who wanted to record his compositions, Baskerville knew early in life that he wanted to make records. As a young adult, he would read the album credits to see who recorded the albums, where they were recorded and imagine himself as the songwriter, arranger, or drummer, not the person behind the console.  

“I never planned on being a recording engineer per se, but I knew that I wanted to make records,” Baskerville explained. “There was a guy in the band who was a recording engineer, and he used to bring me in to help him. He used to bring me in to press play, fast forward, and rewind on the tape machine. Unknown to me, the studio owner was paying attention, and he called me up to record a rock band in Portland one night, and my career started on that. I didn’t know one end of the mic from another. It was a happy accident.”   

While attending Warner Pacific University in Portland, Oregon, a four-track tape machine and recording console were donated. Now—36 years—later, and a career most would dream of, Baskerville says he never knew how long his job would last. He just knew that when he turned 40 or 50, people would not want “that guy” behind the console.  

Baskerville started his career in recording in 1986, engineering for many major and independent label recording artists of varied musical styles. He engineered Sheryl Crow’s single, “Soak Up the Sun,” for which he was presented a TEC award by Mix Magazine for “Best Record Production/Single or Track” in 2003. The song was number one on Billboard’s Adult Top 40 chart for nine weeks. Impressively, three of the four albums he worked on for Sheryl Crow were awarded multi-platinum status. He also engineered albums for the bands Everclear and Kutless.  

“It was cool to hear my musical ideas and other people’s musical ideas get documented to tape and hear it played back. Not only hearing them and seeing them but getting the curtain pulled back and seeing how it was done,” he explained.  

In 2007, Baskerville moved his career to education, teaching audio recording classes at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon. Life changes brought him to Texas in 2017, eventually allowing him to apply to Weatherford College.  

“I saw the job for Weatherford online last June, so I put in my resume. When I got an interview, they hired me on the spot. It was great meeting Duane Durrett and Fredrick Sanders. They have a 35,000-foot view of this program. I’m a details guy, so it’s a perfect marriage. They have the ideas, and I try to implement them. It’s the perfect thing for me. Mr. Sanders is a great educator and great communicator. I love him and Mr. Durrett and their leadership with the program,” he continued.  

Even though the program is in its infancy, all three individuals have a vision for the upcoming year. With the purchase of new equipment and two studios being used for audio, one in the Alkek Fine Arts Center and the other in the newly-acquired Nan and Bob Kingsley building, students will be able to gain real-world experience in the audio engineering program.  

“I am very excited to have Dean teaching audio engineering classes at WC,” said Duane Durrett, WC’s dean of fine arts. “His experience and teaching skills make our program a fantastic opportunity for students wanting to learn the skills required to work in recording studios. Dean is a master teacher with a compelling reputation in the recording industry as a top-line professional recording engineer.” 

The newest technology is one thing students can expect Baskerville to teach in the two-year program. Technology has revolutionized every aspect of producing and listening to music. Starting with a tape deck, Baskerville says the digital revolution has captured and has done an excellent job of analyzing what the analog world accomplished, allowing him to record and mix at home compared to the first third of his career he worked in the studio.   

“One exciting thing for me is that I came from a one-year program in Oregon, and it’s always hard to try to teach all you want to teach to send students on their way. This is a two-year program, and I can take more time and detail into what I’m trying to expose the students to. I’ve done sessions with a partner in Oregon, and I can go in and set up the tracks in his studios on my computer and do all sorts of things from two thousand miles away. Covid taught us that we could work with people worldwide and, in real-time, play a mix we are working on while tweaking it. The world has gotten a lot smaller as we embrace technology.”    

Professor Tim Kimsey, the newest addition to WC’s program, agrees with Baskerville that this program will offer state-of-the-art technology not seen when he started the business over four decades ago. 

“The program has incorporated professional recording techniques using industry-standard tools such as ProTools,” he explained. “I have been a recording engineer for 43 years, which means there were no such program or education possibilities other than finding a ‘runner’ position at a studio. Now students get an opportunity to learn from professionals who have spent decades perfecting their professional recording techniques.”    

Baskerville said a student can have a lot of experience and learn something or have no experience and learn something.  

“You don’t have to end up being a recording engineer,” he said. “You can just be interested or want to record. For me, it’s one of the most fun classes you can take, and it’s open for all ages.”