How did this onetime studio space of yours, which we're sitting in, first become known as “Harry's House”?
I don't think Harry Smith's health was great in New York, so there was this opportunity, like, "Hey, we have this cottage on the campus." Allen [Ginsberg], I would assume, told Harry that he could live there and they'd keep him on as this resident wizard or something. [laughter] That's sort of how I thought of him as a child. Everyone knew his Anthology of American Folk Music, and that compilation approach informed me later on.
What's it like working with your mother [Anne Waldman], both recording-wise as well as touring as her keyboardist?
For me, she is both the easiest person and the most difficult person for me to work with. Sometimes it's one, sometimes it's the other. She's a forceful person, and, thanks to her, I've gotten to go to a lot of really cool places and meet a lot of cool people.
What's your musical background?
I had always played music, and I would make little recordings of myself at home. In my twenties, I did an audio engineering program at a school called Pyramind in San Francisco, and I had good mentors. I was just tired of making mistakes recording or learning the hard way. Although I still learn the hard way, I have a good foundation. I finished that program and I started collaborating with my mom a bit. She would send me something she recorded, and I would layer music onto it. Other poets saw me doing that and said, “Oh, I'll send you some files and you can play around with them.”
Describe some of your “Harry's House” recordings.
For one track, “Africa,” poet Amiri Baraka was recorded on a little handheld recorder in a classroom. Amiri told Anne, “Let’s see what Ambrose can do with it.” Then I took it and mixed my own sounds with it. We created this collaborative track that was done independently but was also informed by each other: He's drumming on the table, and I was dropping my keys on the table and playing guitar while adding effects. One summer, I recorded Meredith Monk right here with Anne during a school lunch break. They just popped in for five minutes. A lot of these collaborations are just one or two takes. Nothing's ever perfect. I don't think that's the point, really: Art can be essential, without being precious. We've done three albums with Thurston Moore and Clark Coolidge. Clark's a poet, but he was in this band, The Serpent Power, in the '60s. He's a great drummer – he's 86 now. I think on the first collaboration, they just started playing and I didn't even get to set the mics up or anything. Max Davies, a local musician [and occasional Fast Speaking Music producer and artist], and I were placing the mics as they started playing.
You continue to record eclectic combos in the school's newer studio with some of the guest faculty.
In 2024, I got a duo of Thurston Moore and Tongo Eisen-Martin, the poet laureate of San Francisco, collaborating in the studio. Where else is that going to happen!
You mentioned spending time around producer Hal Willner.
Once, my mother and I were in New York at a party with Hal. Anne said, “Hal, give Ambrose some advice!” Hal was holding four CDs that we'd made, and he said, “I think he's already doing it. I don't know what else I can tell him.” Just hearing him say that made me feel okay. I must be doing something right if Hal thinks it's worthwhile. And Hal would actually listen, especially to the first Heroes Are Gang Leaders [Highest Engines Near/Near Higher Engineers], which was recorded in this space. I remember giving Hal that album, and he was really into it. I met James Brandon Lewis, Thomas Sayers Ellis, and Luke Stewart here in “Harry’s House.” We made multiple albums together in NYC. So, the workflow that started in “Harry's House” led me to recording people like William Parker, Jaimie Branch, Cecilia Vicuña, and Laurie Anderson in my bedroom in New York.
What's your go-to mic for spoken word, as well as for singing?
I think it depends on the person's voice. They're nice mics, but they're sort of regular condensers, like the AKG C 414s. I feel those are very versatile for moving quickly when I need to record a voice, or I need an instrument or whatever. But also, the Shure SM58 for the poets who are especially used to performing live. They're so used to that mic – the way it looks. I sometimes just give them that mic to hold and I'm not even recording with it; I'll have other mics in the room!
Yesterday you had poetry students laying down tracks in the studio, as well as no wave performer Lydia Lunch reading her spoken word pieces. You seem to be able to put folks at ease and comfortably segue very quickly between people who are either just reading or who are doing readings combined with backing music.
That approach goes back to Hal Willner a little bit – watching him allow people to be themselves. I think with artists, a lot of it is making them feel comfortable. And if you're comfortable, they're comfortable.
