Ken Sluiter is an American recording engineer/producer/mixer from Chicago, IL now based in Los Angeles, CA.
Ken grew up in a small town called Wilmington, IL, about an hour outside of Chicago, IL. He was obsessive listener of 70’s AM radio and what is now called “classic rock”. One day while walking through a department store with his mother, he spotted the cover of “Rock and Rock Over” by Kiss. From that point on, he was hooked. Every dime he could scrape up went to the record section of the department store. More records from Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Sweet, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Cheap Trick, Beatles, Foghat, even Styx (Ken was young) were to follow. This all naturally led to borrowing a friends’ Silvertone guitar, then guitar lessons etc..
While playing in garage bands with friends, Ken was the one that kinda understood how to set up the P.A. That led to recording rehearsals, shows, cassette four tracking/overdubbing etc…. When his guitar teacher purchased an Oberheim OB-8, he gave Ken his “hand me down” Korg MS-20. That combined with discovering a college radio station led to a passion (which continues to this day) for all things new wave/synth pop. Soon Ken was hooking synths and drum machines to his Commodore 64’s MIDI sequencer. After spending more time “in the city” and discovering the Wax Trax label and Medusa’s dance club, the guitar started collecting dust and the focus became the stiff, cold groove of the machines.
After graduating college in 1992, Ken started his studio career working on jingles in the ad industry-dominated studio scene in downtown Chicago. The worked ranged from national ad campaigns to local furniture stores. It was in this environment that Ken learned to record, edit (w/ grease pencil and razor blade) and mix fast to meet the tight deadlines the advertising industry required. At the same time, he started assisting at studios that recorded local and regional bands. In 1994, Ken bought his first Pro Tools rig (a four track version that was the size of a fridge) and started working with other engineers as an editor. This enabled Ken to use his editing-skills learned in the jingle studios with engineers and producers that had previously never been exposed to the power/flexibility offered by the Pro Tools platform. It also allowed Ken to bypass some of the “dues paying” associated with being as assistant engineer (more on that later).
By the mid-nineties, Ken partnered with Dave Trumfio and Mike Hagler, founders of Kingsize Sound Labs. For many years, they made indie-rock records for the exploding indie/alternative rock scene that was happening in Chicago. Some notable acts that worked at Kingsize included Wilco, Billy Bragg, Andrew Bird, Neko Case, Mekons, The Frogs, Archer Prewitt, Kelly Hogan, Jonny Polonsky, Steve Earle, OKGO, My Morning Jacket, Jesus Lizard, The Sadies and hundreds of other bands. Label clients included Atlantic, Geffen, Warner Brothers, Virgin as well as Touch and Go, Sub Pop, Matador, Merge Records and Bloodshot Records.
During this time, Ken played and recorded with studio parter, Dave Trumfio’s new wave revival band, Pulsars. Pulsars made two albums for Almo Sounds/Geffen. Ken also co-founded local power-pop luminaries, Box-o-car, who in addition to recording two records, supported acts such as Iggy Pop, Cheap Trick, Teenage Fanclub, Mathew Sweet, The Kills and many more.
By 2003, as the indie explosion ran it’s course in Chicago, Ken re-located to Los Angles to continue his craft. As Ken felt he “skipped” much of the assisting phase of a traditional engineers’ career path; he pursued assisting opportunities including assisting Andrew Scheps on Weezer’s “Red Album”, Greg Fidleman on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “I’m With You” as well as Jim Scott on multiple records. Ken also assisted on scoring sessions, in which he learned...
