Bob Both

Who is Bob Both?

Bob Both is an American recording engineer and record producer, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1970s.

Both was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the son of a carpenter. Inspired by The Beatles, he learned to play the guitar at age 11 and started his first band in the 8th grade. He also started writing songs and making simple recordings on a home tape recorder by age 14. Throughout high school Both continued writing songs and playing in bands.

When he graduated from high school he attended The Ridgewood School of Art and studied to become a commercial artist. In his second year of school his strong interest in music led him to quit art school and search for a job in the music business.

At age 19, armed with nothing little more than a letter of recommendation from one of his art teachers, he landed a job as A&R assistant to Peter K. Seigel at Polydor Records, NYC. There Both learned the basics of record production from Seigel and the fundamentals of record mastering from Bob Ludwig who was a mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He also began to develop his engineering skills producing mixes for James Brown.

In 1972 he became James Brown's recording engineer, A&R director and production supervisor. He worked on 11 of Brown's albums including the number one hits "Get on the Good Foot", "The Payback", "My Thang" and "Doing It to Death" with Fred Wesley & the J.B.s. Both also recorded records for artists signed to Brown's production company including Hank Ballard, Maceo Parker, Lyn Collins, Bobby Byrd, Vicki Anderson and others. Both left Brown in 1977 and opened his own studio, Twain Recording, in New Jersey. He has done recordings for hundreds of bands in the New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas. Both has also had years of experience recording punk rock/hardcore bands. New Jersey punk/hardcore producer Mark "The Mutha" Chesley recorded the bulk of Mutha Records catalog at Twain Recording including The Worst, Chronic Sick, Secret Syde, Tribulation, Youth in Asia, Stisism, Lost in Aggression, Fatal Rage and many more. Producer Marty Munsch of Punk Rock Records has also recorded many notable projects with Bob, including U.S. Chaos, The Vote, The New York Rel-X, Broken Heroes, The Flare Ups, The Stun Gunz, and Terabithia, to name just a few.