Jeff Powell
Jeff Powell
Owner | Take Out Vinyl
Jeff has been recording, mixing and producing records for more than 30 years – working with a who’s who of musical legends, from Bob Dylan and B.B. King to Glyn Johns and Eddie Kramer.
Powell served as staff assistant engineer, then engineer/ mixer and finally producer at Memphis’ legendary Ardent Studios from ’89-’97. He has been working independently since then, and now makes his home base at Sam Phillips Recording Service.
Working at Ardent in his early years afforded him many opportunities to work with some of the greatest producers and engineers of all time, roll call that includes Johns, Jim Gaines, Rob Fraboni, John Hampton, and Jim Dickinson. Powell also worked closely on half a dozen records with the late great Tom Dowd. Through the years he has taken what he calls “the best from the best” and come up with his own eclectic approach to making records.
Jeff has worked on multiple gold and platinum records and six different Grammy award winning projects. He was twice voted Best Engineer at the Premiere Players awards by the Memphis Chapter of NARAS, and was chairman of the Producer and Engineering wing for the Memphis Grammy Chapter for a decade.
Some of his many credits include Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Tonic, The Dave Matthews Band, Big Star, The Bottle Rockets, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sharon Jones, Centro-matic, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Lucinda Williams, Ryan Adams, Alvin Youngblood Hart and The Afghan Whigs.
Beyond his work as a producer and engineer, Jeff has expanded his horizons over the last 10 years and is now cutting vinyl records on his Neumann VMS 70 lathe at Sam Phillips Recording Service. His company is called Take Out Vinyl, and he has cut over a thousand records to date.
Among his vinyl cutting work are records by The Afghan Whigs, Kenny Wayne Shepard, Elvis Presley, The North Mississippi All Stars, The Black Keys, Roy Orbison, Daft Punk, Al Green, Irma Thomas, Professor Longhair, Ann Peebles, Gregg Allman, Johnny Cash and Lucero. His forthcoming projects include the complete Al Green 1970s singles and a previously unreleased version of Primal Scream’s legendary Memphis record “Give Out But Don’t Give Up” from Sony/Legacy.