Jim Scott
Jim Scott grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri. At the age of 6, he asked for a guitar. He would then play trumpet in a high school band. Scott would decide he wanted to play drums after hearing the Beatles. His dad took him to buy a Blue Sparkle Ludwig kit, which he still uses in his studio. Scott would play in rock n' roll bands during high school. They would perform at a club called Rainy Daze in St. Louis. There he would learn how to work a P.A. and use microphones.Scott studied at the University of Southern California. Whilst at the university, Scott shifted his focus to geology, after deciding he wasn't good enough to pursue a career playing drums. He would though help engineer the shows of a student folk-rock band.
After leaving university, Scott pursued a career as a geologist.
At the age of 28, Scott took a job at the Record Plant, Los Angeles to go back to his dream of producing music. He would start a job answering the phones, then became a janitor before making his way up to being an assistant.
In 1981, the tv channel MTV started and Scott would work recording videos of bands at gigs to make music videos.
Scott married and wanted to quit life on the road. By this time he was the Record Plant top assistant engineer. He asked for a raise from co-founder Chris Stone but quit after he didn't get it. Stone would tell him he was now a recording engineer and to go out and get clients. After a period of unemployment, Record Plant to offer him work as a "super-assistant" engineer. He would be called in for complicated jobs where the client was not happy with the staff personnel.
Scott was called in for a super-assistant session with for The Police's Synchronicity tour. The engineer for the session was Pete Smith. Six months later, Smith called Scott to engineer Sting's solo album "The Dream of the Blue Turtles". The record was nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Album.
In 1995, Scott won the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical for his work on the album "Wildflowers" by Tom Petty.
In 1999, Scott won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for his work on the album "Supernatural" by Santana.
In 2003, Scott won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Album for his work on the album "One by One" by the Foo Fighters.
In 2006, Scott won the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and the Grammy for Album of the Year for his work on the album "Taking the Long Way" by the Dixie Chicks. In addition, Scott won a Grammy for Record of the Year for the song "Not Ready To Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks. Also in 2006, Scott opened Plyrz Studios, Valencia, California. The studios feature a Neve 8048 console and a range of vintage instruments, outboard gear and microphones.
In 2011, Scott won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album for his work on the album "Revelator" by the Tedeschi Trucks Band.
Scott has worked as an engineer with a range of other artists including the Rolling Stones, Wilco, Roger Daltrey, Crowded House, 7 Worlds Collide, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lowen & Navarro, Jack's Mannequin, Styx, Matchbox Twenty and Ron Sexsmith.
In 2013, Scott featured in the film "Sound City".