Lij Shaw
INTRODUCTION
Lij Shaw is an award-winning, chart-breaking music and podcast producer, recording engineer, musician, and owner of the Grammy awarded recording studio, The Toy Box Studio in East Nashville TN. He is also the host of the #1 iTunes podcast RecordingStudioRockstars.com and mixing engineer for the annual TheHayBaleStudio.com backstage at Bonnaroo. In 2022 he saved home studios from extinction by suing the Nashville Metro government in the Tennessee Supreme Court for trying to shut down home businesses and banning home music studios in Music City. He won by pushing through new legislation to legalize home businesses for all.
CREDITS
Lij has produced and recorded countless records that have garnered praise in Rolling Stone and Spin for such artists as The Spinto Band, The Living Things, Jill Sobule, Glenn Tilbrook, Rosco Gordon, The Silver Seas, Barry and The Remains, Deer Tick and Twiggs. His musical productions have also been used in television and film soundtracks, including The Living Things’ “Bom Bom Bom” in the Cingular Razor commercial for the 2005 Super Bowl, and The Spinto Band’s “Oh Mandy” in a TV commercial for Sears. His studio, The Toy Box Studio in East Nashville, Tennessee, was awarded a Grammy certificate in 2015 for being the studio where Grammy-winner Chad Brown mixed Shine For All The People by Mike Farris.
From 2005 to 2019, Lij operated The Hay Bale Studio backstage at the annual Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, where he recorded and mixed hundreds of songs for national broadcast by such world-famous artists as Jack White, The Raconteurs, The Black Keys, Aimee Mann, Andrew Bird, Blues Traveler, Grace Potter, Wilco, and Tori Amos, to name just a few.
Getting Started
Lij’s first foray into making music was taking Suzuki violin lessons as a kid in New York City. He later learned guitar from his uncle on the porch of their family’s summer home in Ephraim, Wisconsin. But it wasn’t until his college years studying architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, that Lij dove headlong into making music. He played guitar and essentially any instrument available in various college bands, soon adding harmonica, melodica, banjo, and accordion to his repertoire. As a multi-instrumentalist, Lij played and recorded with crowd-pleasing twang-bangers Enormous Richard (alongside singer, published author, and equal rights pundit Chris King). He further honed his prog-rock guitar skills in power trio Green Eggs and Spam (with Dave Melson on bass and Autumn Hill Records artist Rob Silverman on drums).
Hong Kong
Four years of squeezing in classes between music gigs and rehearsal sessions yielded Lij a Bachelor’s degree in architecture. Post-college, he spent a couple of months months in London working on becoming a responsible adult, but music had other plans. Lij’s younger brother, Nate, was studying in Hong Kong and playing in a blues band, Blue Wail, which was in need of a guitarist. Nate asked Lij if he was up to the task, and Lij didn't ponder long. Within the week, he'd quit his two jobs, booked a plane ticket on his nearly maxed-out credit card, and bid his girlfriend goodbye. He hopped a fifteen-hour flight to Hong Kong, arriving there with no place to stay and no plan other than to learn to play the blues.
A turning point for Lij came when Blue Wail was invited to record a song in a professional studio in Hong Kong. Mesmerized by the blinking lights, enigmatic mixing console, and mammoth tape machine, Lij realized that he'd found his calling. To him, architecture had always seemed like frozen music. He was much more interested in creating liquid architecture, half a year later, he returned home to Boston set on going back to school, but not for architecture. This time, he was going to learn the art of recording music in the studio.
Alex the Great Studio
In 1991, Lij again packed up his things and headed for Nashville to study at Middle Tennessee State University, where he earned a B.S. in Recording Engineering. After graduating college a second time, he jumped at the chance to produce and record professionally at Alex The Great Recording in Nashville. Under the guidance of Brad Jones and Robin Eaton, Lij learned the ins and outs of making music sound amazing. Excited to apply his newfound skills, he independently produced bands in studios around the country, traveling widely over the next decade.
Poetry Scores
Lij’s passion for travel and recording music and poetry led him and his production partner Chris King to co-create the nonprofit group Poetry Scores, to bring music and poetry together on CD and film. Lij and Chris recorded and wrote music with such literary greats as Leo Connellan (Poet Laureate of Connecticut), and Les Murray (Poet Laureate of Australia). Lij went on to work with nonprofit organization Youth Speaks Nashville to produce spoken-word recordings of middle school and high school students in Music City.
Recording Studio Rockstars
Lij had learned from the best of the best in the music industry, and he wanted to help others do the same. In 2015, he launched the podcast Recording Studio Rockstars with the aim of bringing music-makers of all skill levels into the studio to learn from top recording professionals. Through nearly a thousand hours of interviews with world-renowned engineers, producers, and musicians, Lij has helped countless home- and pro-studio owners make their best records ever and become rockstars of the recording studio in their own right. In the process, he himself has learned a ton more about recording, mixing, and mastering. The love is in the learning - and for Lij, the learning never ends.
Lij Fights City Hall . . . and Wins!
It so happened that, also in 2015, Lij received a cease-and-desist letter from the City of Nashville, citing him for “operating a professional recording studio” out of his home. Not one to take oppression lying down, Lij fought Metro City Council for seven years to defend his own right and the right of all Nashville residents to work from home in Music City. He spearheaded the push for new legislation to legalize home studios for everyone, which, in 2020, culminated in a law allowing home businesses to operate within stipulated parameters.
The Toybox Studio
Having finally made his own recording studio legal, Lij’s newly remodeled Toy Box Studio now features a world-class Phantom Focus Room from Carl Tatz Design, where his framed, hard-won home studio permit hangs prominently on the wall next to his Grammy certificate. After five action-packed decades, fitness-obsessed Lij is on the lookout for his next musical adventure. And he’s more ready to rock than ever!