Bill Stevenson

Co-founded with engineering partner Jason Livermore in 1994, The Blasting Room was forged from Stevenson's decades behind the kit for Descendents, ALL, and Black Flag. Stevenson treats recording as an athletic and emotional discipline: 'The song is king, every stroke must hit with complete commitment, and there is zero tolerance for complacency.'

High-velocity punchy kick and snare transients, tight rhythmic gating, bright layered melodic guitars with zero mud, and upfront, highly intelligible vocal harmonies. It established the global engineering gold standard for 90s/2000s melodic hardcore and skate-punk.