Ed Stasium

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Ed Stasium
Ed Stasium.jpg
Stasium in 2013
Background information
Born
New Jersey, United States
GenresRock
OccupationsRecord producer, audio engineer
Instrument Guitar
Years active1969–present
Labels Warner Brothers, Enigma, Capitol, Epic

Ed Stasium is an American record producer and audio engineer, who has worked on albums by the Ramones, Talking Heads, Biohazard, the Smithereens and Living Colour. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Raised in Green Brook Township, New Jersey, [2] and graduated from Dunellen High School. [3]

History

Stasium began his recording career in 1970 fronting the band Brandywine. He appeared on their sole LP, Aged. [1] When he returned to the music industry three years later, it was as a recording engineer. By the end of 1975 he was hired as a staff engineer at Le Studio Morin Heights in Quebec, Canada. [4] There he would assist with the recording of several albums by the French-Canadian band Garolou. [5] In 1976 he was involved as a sound engineer in the production of the album Morin Heights by the Scottish band Pilot, which was recorded in Canada in the studios of the same name.

Stasium's long affiliation with the American punk and new wave, and the latter-day alternative rock, began in 1977, the year he engineered both the Ramones' Leave Home and Talking Heads' Talking Heads: 77 . His production career began a year later with the Ramones' Road to Ruin , followed in 1979 by work on the group's It's Alive and the soundtrack to the film Rock 'n' Roll High School . [6]

Stasium enjoyed perhaps his greatest success during the latter half of the 1980s. In addition to engineering Mick Jagger's Primitive Cool , he scored a major hit with Living Colour's Vivid , [4] and also produced Soul Asylum ( Hang Time ), the Long Ryders ( Two Fisted Tales ) and Julian Cope ( Saint Julian ).

In 1990, he helmed the Smithereens' album, 11 , reuniting with the group a year later for Blow Up ; Marshall Crenshaw's Life's Too Short and Motörhead's 1916 appeared around the same time. Productions from acts including the Hoodoo Gurus ( Crank ) and the Reverend Horton Heat ( Space Heater ) followed as the decade progressed.

In 2014, he produced an album by The Empty Hearts on 429 Records. The band included Blondie drummer Clem Burke, The Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, The Cars guitarist Elliot Easton, The Romantics guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmar, and Small Faces and Faces pianist Ian McLagan. [7] The album was released on August 5, 2014.

Previously living in Bayfield, Colorado, Stasium currently resides in Poway, California. [8]

Selected Discography

As engineer

As producer

Mixing

References

  1. 1 2 "Ed Stasium | Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  2. Shearn, Ian T. (2023-11-10). "Where 'Midnight Train to Georgia' was made — New Jersey". NJ Spotlight News. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  3. "Ed Stasium of Green Brook, New Jersey, and Dunellen High School". The Courier-News. 1993-10-31. p. 78. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  4. 1 2 Matera, Joe (March 2023). "How I Got That Sound: Ed Stasium". www.soundonsound.com. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  5. "Ed Stasium: Legendary Producer on Ramones & Rock History". Tape Op Magazine. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  6. Bosso, Joe (2012-04-25). "Producer Ed Stasium on Joey Ramone's new album, ...Ya Know?". MusicRadar. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  7. "Meet The Empty Hearts: Members of Blondie, Cars, Romantics, Chesterfield Kings Form New Band". Billboard.com. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  8. Blackstock, Peter (2025-12-13). "Five questions with Ed Stasium: The Ramones and Talking Heads producer who landed in Poway". Times of San Diego. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  9. Ankeny, Jason. "Skypark Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More | A..." AllMusic. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
  10. "Ed Stasium | Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 28 January 2021.