Robert Cheek — sometimes credited as Robert "Flossy" Cheek — is a Sacramento-based record producer, engineer and mixer who became one of the city's most-used and most-respected studio hands across the late 2000s and 2010s, frequently working out of The Hangar studio.[1][2] He is also an active musician, playing in the bands By Sunlight and Roman Funerals.[3] A 2016 article called him a "Sacramento legend."[4]
Before his engineering identity solidified, Cheek — known by the nickname "Floss" — played guitar and keyboards in Quitter, a five-piece Sacramento rock band whose sound drew on U2's textural approach and Fugazi's guitar intensity.[5] He was living in Midtown Sacramento at the time, a few blocks from fellow Quitter guitarist Robbie Percell.[5] He also worked briefly as a guitar technician for Sacramento nu-metal act Simon Says before leaving that role to focus on his own songwriting.[5]
At a glance
- Producer/engineer/mixer long described as a "longtime staple" of the Sacramento music scene.[6]
- Closely associated with The Hangar, called "arguably one of Sacramento's most credible recording studios."[2]
- "He's from here," a hometown engineer steeped in the local math-rock/indie scene.[2]
- Also a working musician: member of By Sunlight and Roman Funerals.[3]
- Credited on national/regional projects including Band of Horses, Tera Melos and Chelsea Wolfe.[7][4]
Role in the scene
Cheek works as a producer, engineer and mixer, repeatedly described by Submerge as a "longtime staple" of the Sacramento music scene.[6] One band member who worked with him on multiple records called him "a genius," adding "there is not a better word for it," and described having him in a band as "a musician's dream come true."[3] He is praised both for technical skill and for an all-in devotion to music, with a By Sunlight bandmate noting that "music is really the only thing of interest to him."[3]
His engineering reputation extends to the more technical end of Sacramento's guitar music. The Speed of Sound in Seawater's Damien Verrett sought him out specifically because Cheek had produced or engineered records Verrett loved — citing Tera Melos, RX Bandits and Mister Metaphor — and because "he's really experienced in the genre."[2]
Background and training
According to Roland Cloud, Cheek began recording at age 19, purchasing his first equipment on credit — a start that put him on track for nearly two decades of professional engineering experience.[8] He learned his craft at The Hangar in Sacramento under engineer Shaun Lopez, and was also mentored by John Baccagaluppi, The Hangar's owner and a part-owner of Tape Op magazine.[8]
Local status
Cheek is treated throughout the corpus as a local, hometown figure. He is described as "from here" by a local musician choosing him in part for that reason, and as someone who "records all the music we love" within the Sacramento scene.[2] He is repeatedly framed as a "longtime staple" and "Sacramento legend" working "locally" as a producer and sound engineer.[6][4] No source describes him as coming from elsewhere; the consistent framing is hometown insider, supporting a local classification.
The Hangar and home/remote sessions
Cheek's name recurs alongside The Hangar, a Sacramento studio described as "arguably one of Sacramento's most credible recording studios."[2] Documented sessions there include:
- Mister Metaphor's never-formally-released final EP of five songs, recorded with Cheek as engineer after the band had already broken up.[9]
- The Speed of Sound in Seawater's EP Underwater Tell Each Other Secrets, with Cheek as producer/mixer/engineer over sessions March 11–13, 2011, tracked live.[2]
- Sherman Baker's EP Panic on Seventeenth (2011, producer/engineer) and his subsequent full-length Seventeenth Street (mixing, with Cheek "manning the boards").[1][10]
- I'm Dirty Too's debut full-length The Downhill Dive (2012), with Cheek engineering and Kris Anaya producing, split between The Hangar and Dusty Brown's home studio.[7]
He also works outside the studio walls when projects require it: for By Sunlight's album Penumbra, Cheek (himself a band member) moved in with bandmates in Seattle to record, and on Contra's EP he engineered the drums for a record otherwise self-produced by the band.[3][4]
As a musician
Beyond the engineer's chair, Cheek is a performing member of By Sunlight — the Seattle-relocated band built from Sacramento expatriates — where he is valued as "both a musician and technical mind."[3] He had engineered the band's earlier records and contributed to Penumbra.[3] He also plays in Roman Funerals.[3]
Selected credits and collaborators
The corpus links Cheek to a wide web of local acts as producer/engineer/mixer, including Mister Metaphor,[9] The Speed of Sound in Seawater,[2] Sherman Baker,[1][10] I'm Dirty Too,[7] By Sunlight,[3] Doom Bird,[6] Life in 24 Frames,[6] Contra,[4] and Trophii.[4] Sources also credit him with work on Tera Melos, RX Bandits,[2] Band of Horses and Chelsea Wolfe.[7][4] Recurring collaborators named alongside him include percussionist Matt McCord and producer Kris Anaya of Doom Bird.[10][7]
Beyond the Sacramento scene, Deftones and Tycho are among the national-profile artists Cheek has recorded.[8] He engineered Band of Horses' Why Are You OK (Interscope, 2016), a multi-session project he described as generating "so many fun memories" — noting he could "still remember almost every drum track or vocal take."[8][11]
According to Roland Cloud, Cheek produces approximately 60–70% of the records he engineers, making him a producer as well as an engineer on the majority of his projects.[8]