John Spiker, multiple-GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, engineer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist has an impressive career, from award nominations, to wins, and working with icons in the music industry like Nine Inch Nails, Beck, John Carpenter, Slash, and more. One of John’s most memorable projects was working with the band Tenacious D with Jack Black and Kyle Grass, where he wore many hats from producer, engineer, bass player, and even composer.

We recently sat down with multi-talented John Spiker and caught up on everything from his latest projects, to his GRAMMY® win, and working with Audio-Technica gear.

You’ve worked on so many great projects from music to movies throughout the years. Can you tell us about any new projects you are currently working on?

Currently working on a number of ongoing voice-over movies and TV shows. That’s a relatively new space for me, but I’ve really been enjoying that process, and the AT5047 has become a centerpiece for that. The transient response and (wonderful) lack up top end “hype” makes it a perfect candidate.

I’m also in the middle of tracking a new record with the Infectious Grooves/Suicidal Tendencies camp. And as always, we are constantly cooking up new stuff in the land of Tenacious D. More details to come about that very soon!

You recently were nominated for a GRAMMY® and won! Can you tell us what that experience was like?

 I was actually out on tour with Tenacious D when we were nominated AND when we won. We had been nominated a couple of years prior and honestly I didn’t think we had a chance of winning this time either, so I didn’t even bother to check in on the results. I was out at a bar with some of the guys when the texts/calls started rolling in to say that we had won. I was completely floored. So crazy to see a project from its inception all the way to it winning awards. I had technically “won” a couple prior to that for records I worked on as an engineer, like Steve Earl, Washington Square Serenade, but this one felt a heck of a lot different since I engineered/produced/mixed. Very humbling.

Speaking of Tenacious D, we are huge fans! How did you get involved working with them?

I have been a fan of Tenacious D since I first saw the HBO episodes back in the 90s. I would go and see them every chance I could when I was living back in Ohio. After moving to Los Angeles, a happy accident of running into KG at a karaoke bar with my pal John Konesky, led to an audition for a band Kyle was starting called Trainwreck. After touring and recording with that band for a number of years, we were both lucky enough to be asked to get involved with their second record and the adjoining movie “Pick of Destiny.”

You have worked with so many great artists and people in the industry. What has been your most memorable moment of your career?

Oh dear, that’s a tough question. I’ve been really fortunate (mostly lucky) to end up in some pretty fun situations over the years. I still maintain that one weekend years back when Tenacious D played a (sold out) Madison Square Garden on Friday and the following night playing Saturday Night Live was one of the more memorable times of my life. But I try my absolute best to make it all “memorable.”

I’m stupid lucky to get to do what I do for a living, so I try to never let things in the studio or on the road evolve into any sort of “same ol, same ol - it’s a job - it’s just what I do” non-sense. I always try to keep checking in with 18-year-old me who would (and is) over the moon getting to do any manner of work that I am lucky enough to do day in and day out.

Working on so many different types of projects you’re constantly encountering new audio equipment. Can you tell us about the first time you worked with Audio-Technica gear?

 The first time I was ever introduced to A-T was in my early days when I was assisting the late Ed Cherney on a session. Ed had this huge trunk that he rolled into the session, and it was packed full of Audio-Technica mics and accessories. And I just remember seeing Ed put those mics up in some interesting places – places where I thought I would see some of the usual choices of mics, but this time they were A-T. I subsequently left that session and said ‘Well, if it’s good enough for Ed Cherney…’ And I went down to my local music store and bought an AT4033. And that was the first-ever microphone that I owned. To this day, I still have it and use it all the time.

After shadowing Ed and seeing him use A-T on a bunch of projects, it really got me fired up about Audio-Technica. I started listening to different mics and realized that the A-T models were generally a lot more well balanced.

I remember years ago I was over at Dave Grohl’s place, Studio 606, and he had ATM25s on the toms. I had never seen or heard of them, but once I did hear them, I said ‘Whoa, this sounds serious,’ and after the session I got home and immediately went online and bought a pair.

We love to hear about how you discovered each mic in such a unique way! When it comes to headphones, is there a specific pair that is your go-to?

I’ve got the guys, the whole Tenacious D band actually, set up with the ATH-M70x. Jack has bought a few pairs of those, just because he was using them here at the studio and called me later and said, ‘What were those headphones we were using the studio?’ And he ended up just snagging some pairs for his use at home. When he comes to the studio, he brings his own headphones now. And I always joke with him, that he’s like a pool shark going to a billiard parlor with his own personal cue stick. He shows up with his headphones and he takes them out of the case. I smile, it’s great.

Thanks for sharing! You have a lot of exciting projects in the works. How can fans keep up with your work?

I’m usually dropping bits of info on notable happenings on my Instagram account @boyjohnny (apologies in advance for the gratuitous motorcycle and boat content).