Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with producer/engineer GARTH RICHARDSON, known for his work on KISS, ALICE COOPER and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

UG: You were mentored by some of the recording industry greats, such as Bob Ezrin and your late father Jack Richardson. What were some of things they taught you that has held you in good stead in your own production career?

Richardson: "Bob basically taught me that it was all about excellence, accountability and all about caring. It was also all about doing the best possible job that you could possibly do. That meant you’d always be the first one there at the studio and the last one to leave the studio. They both taught me a strong work ethic, which I think is a major problem with today’s youth. Everybody thinks that they are owed something and nobody is willing to put in time for it. So from Bob and my late father I was taught an incredible focus and work ethic."

UG: Do you think, a large part of the problem you just mentioned, is due to the fact that the technological advances that have been made, have given younger bands the ability to rely on the technology itself. One which allows any one to correct and make things perfect rather than concentrating on perfecting their musicianship and studio skills?

Richardson: Yes, and you have to understand that I am going to be 53 this summer. I was sitting in a studio with my father when I was 15 years of age and it was my second engineering gig with my father. It was on BOB SEGER’s Night Moves album. And my father always told me, that the session started at noon and once it started it was like the vault door would shut. You’d call up the front reception desk and request them to hold all your calls. And we would work through until dinner when we’d come out and eat, and check to see who had called us and if it was something important, then we’d call back. After that, we would go back in to the studio and work until midnight or the early hours of the morning. What’s happening now is that everybody has a cell phone, everybody has a computer, and everybody is so focused on trying to be seen, that nobody is actually doing their job. I find if you listen to the records that were made in the ‘60s and ‘70s and even the ‘80s, I find them to be more real and having more passion and soul."

UG: A lot people comment on how there’s a lack of soul for want of a better word that permeates a lot of today’s music.

Richardson: "I find the records being made today, most of them have nothing that would have my kids telling their kids about them, music like the Justin Biebers or the Katy Perrys. You know what? My kids have finally just discovered the music of FLEETWOOD MAC, THE WHO, LED ZEPPELIN, all these amazingly written and played records. I find that the whole technology thing has made everybody lazy today. It is called instant gratification, nobody is willing to put their heads down, roll up their sleeves and get the job done right."

Go to this location for the complete interview.