He sits at the console quite ordinary-like.  There is no "fat cat" approach like there was in the photograph on the front of the August 1998 Mix Magazine.  I am here to talk to him in person, while he's sitting in front of his 64 input Solid State Logic Console.  It has been a while.  As a student, he had been part of my life every week for over a year yet I had not seen him in 12 years.  The last time was at an AES (Audio Engineering Society) Convention in New York.  It was one of  the last times before this year that I attended a convention.  It is the same for him, we both had been much too busy to attend a lot of conventions. We both, however, had briefly attended the 1998 AES convention in San Francisco. 

He's really a Hollywood star engineer.  The August 1998 issue was the second Mix Mag cover that had featured him. The 1991 Mix Cover was published when he completed the #1 club remix on Paula Abdoul's platinum record, Straight Up. In 1991 he was in Canton, Michigan, only dreaming of Hollywood.  Now he owns a 3 studio complex in Burbank, Ca.

He's putting off making money to talk to me.  He's supposed to start mixing and the client will be there in a couple of hours to check his progress.  But he doesn't feel like mixing, he feels like talking to his ex-instructor (and yes, friend) Bob Dennis.  He hasn't had enough carrot juice to wake up yet.

I'm asking him about his gold records and he say's "Oh I'm not into that stuff, I guess I should have about 10 gold records.  You only see them in the halls because they sent them to me and some clients want to see them on the walls. It's really old-school though and not the image I want to project - that's why they're down the back hall."

I'm asking him about the titles so that I can note them in the article.   He replies "The X Files Movie Sound Track" and... listen Bob, can you call my manager's office and have them send you a discography - they have someone who does that kind of thing all the time.  Talk to Shawn..."  He doesn't want to waste the time he has with Bob trying to remember the titles.  The Hollywood engineer with his own manager.

We exchange opinions about the SSL, talk about digital vs analog, etc.   He states "Bob I worked for slave wages for years, now they pay me right, even over-pay me.  I have this studio because I came upon the right deal.  I had been wanting to get out of Michigan for years.  I had many talks about deals that would put me in LA but this deal allowed me to move my studio from Michigan to California."

I sense he's getting antsy about time and we part company for the day.   I take the time to set up an internship interview with Ben for a recent graduate who will be in LA for a year.  I also let him know that I will be back as a studio client giving a seminar in his studio.  Little does Ben Grosse realize that I'm going to want him to talk for an hour at the seminar.

RELATED ARTICLE ABOUT BEN'S CAREER START  IN MICHIGAN

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