StrongWriter On The Radio – Episode 170 “LENISE BENT – Follow Your Bliss, Get Better & Be Prepared” (AUDIO PODCAST)

I have the true pleasure of introducing you to a friend of mine who is a sound recording hero with a legion of technical skills. LENISE BENT is a professional engineer/mixer/editor and producer whose diverse skill set includes foreign dubbing and Foley for film. She is also an archivist, instructor, and consultant to musicians and songwriters. Lenise was so gracious to spend about an hour and a half of her time gracing my program with her experience and stories. Her heyday at the legendary Village Recorder studios in Los Angeles from 1976 - 1981 is the focus of a lot of our conversation. She was fortunate to be hired with three other female assistant engineers to become the first team of women in the studio. Lenise goes into detail about the famous album projects in which she got to play a key role. She worked on albums for Steely Dan, Supertramp, Blondie, the Knack, Jean-Luc Ponty, Suzi Quatro, Frank Zappa and Fleetwood Mac... and so many more. There is more to the story of Lenise Bent, and you'll enjoy hearing it from the woman herself!
Dean Olson
StrongWriter On the Radio

* Listen to Lenise's Interview with Dean! *

Featured Guest: Lenise Bent

Born in Los Angeles, Lenise started her career at the early age of 8 in the Screen Children’s Guild, doing extra work in the TV and film industry. She already had her first tape recorder by then which she had begged for and received on her 8th birthday. Coming from a musical family, singing and performing were a part of everyday life, with Lenise studying piano and flute and making her first recording with the Compton Youth Symphony Orchestra at 9 years old. Throughout high school she split her time between seeing films and live music every chance she got and eventually went on to study film & TV and radio production at USC & Cal State Long Beach. As her passion for music began to dominate her life Lenise shifted her studies to audio engineering at SoundMasters Recording Institute, one of the only recording schools in existence at that time. Soon after graduation she started her recording career as an assistant engineer at The Village Recorders in Los Angeles, working on several albums including “Aja” by Steely Dan, “Breakfast in America” by Supertramp and “Tusk” by Fleetwood Mac. Later she became chief engineer for producer Mike Chapman recording the platinum selling record “AutoAmerican” for Blondie plus several of Chapman’s other artists such as The Knack and Suzi Quatro, recording at a variety of studios which include The Record Plant, Air London and United Western, which later became Ocean Way, then Cello, and now EastWest Studios.

Eventually Lenise moved into post-production mixing, editing and supervising where she still works with all types of audio, from music to voice-over, ADR and foley. She has traveled all over the world for Dreamworks, supervising & producing vocals and dialogue for their foreign language versions of films including SHREK, SPIRIT & SHREK 2.

Lenise is a long-standing member of NARAS, AES, The Blues Foundation and the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy and is on the board of directors of the Los Angeles chapter of Women in Music. She is also a production coordinator with Active Music, a non-profit organization that raises awareness and money for other non-profits through the music community. 

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© Copyright 2019 – StrongWriter Productions
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About the Author
DEAN OLSON is a songwriter host and producer of the weekly radio show "StrongWriter On the Radio." The popular long form music interview program is now a weekly podcast with new episodes being added each week. Dean is based out of Orange County, California.

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