Bob Dylan is back in Studio B at Hollywood’s famed Capitol Studios recording the follow up to his critically acclaimed 2015 album, Shadows in the Night, engineer Al Schmitt told Billboard Feb. 11 at the Recording Academy’s Producers & Engineers Wing’s salute to Rick Rubin in L.A.
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Schmitt, who engineered the Shadows album as well, said that Dylan is once again covering standards (although it’s unknown if the selections are all songs that Frank Sinatra had previously recorded, as they were on Shadows).
“It’s going along great,” said the 20-time Grammy winner, who had just left Dylan in the studio to come to the Rubin salute.
Dylan is producing the Columbia Records release, presumably under his Jack Frost moniker.
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“He sounds great,” Schmitt said. “His mood in the studio is fabulous. We’re having a good time. We’re like two old shoes together now, we’re so comfortable with one another now.”
When asked one thing that surprised him about Dylan, Schmitt said it was his level of intelligence. “He’s extraordinarily smart and he’s so aware of everything that’s going on, so he knows what’s happening at every moment.”
Shadows in the Night, which included such classics as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “Autumn Leaves,” debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. On that album, Dylan and his five-piece band recorded the songs live.