Michael Perez-Cisneros: A Tribute

June 2026 began with Michael Perez-Cisneros and I speaking at great length. In fact, we had spoken frequently in the weeks prior, planning various collaborations for later in the year. I enjoyed many incredible studio adventures with Michael—his warmth, expertise, and humility left an indelible mark on my life. As far as I knew, there were plenty more adventures to come. As June 2026 draws to a close, it is absolutely surreal to me that I am now recounting the many great memories I have of my dear friend Michael. To honor his legacy, I’d like to share some of those memories with you.

Michael and I during one of our many sessions at Big Orange Sheep, pictured here in 2019.

Being a devotee of album liner notes and recording credits, I knew of Michael’s brilliant work going back to when I was in high school in Australia—a time during which I discovered much of the music that laid the foundation of my life. While attending New England Conservatory some years later, one of my teachers, the legendary John McNeil, frequently suggested that I record with Michael. By November 2014, that opportunity finally arrived. I joined my friend and fellow NEC graduate, the incredible saxophonist Nicholas Brust, for his debut recording, with Michael engineering the session. We would be joined by a stellar rhythm section featuring Alexander Claffy and Kenneth Salters.

After numerous hours of practicing Nick’s music, both in rehearsal at Kenneth’s apartment and at home by myself, I was ready to play and on my way to Peter Karl Studios in Gowanus. The first thing I had to do, however, was work out how to cut across 4th Avenue in Brooklyn—it was the chilly morning of November 2, 2014, which, unbeknownst to me, was the day of the NYC Marathon. Obviously, there was no way I could part the sea of runners charging up 4th Avenue to make my way across to Douglass Street (the location of the now-closed studio), but I had to work it out somehow.

My favorite track from Nick's EP session with Michael at Peter Karl Studios in November 2014. Just listen to how I was able to push Michael's amp from 5:35 onwards!

I finally made it with 10 minutes to spare before the session began at 12 noon. I greeted Nick, Kenneth, and Claffy, and met Michael, at which point he enthusiastically ushered me over to a huge shelf of guitar amps—Matchless, Mesa Boogie, and his own hand-built amps that he had worked tirelessly to build. Out of curiosity, I chose one of his hand-built amps, soon realizing that, from amplification to microphone placement to recording, Michael's expertise helped deliver the best guitar sound I had ever been able to achieve. I was in shock as he played it back in the control room. The combination of not only playing with an incredible band but also achieving the best possible guitar sound inspired me to deliver a performance that I’m still pleased with to this day. Claffy and I looked at each other—we couldn’t believe the sounds Michael was getting. With a debut album of his own on the horizon, Claffy booked his first album sessions for January 2015 with Michael at the very same studio.

Two of Michael's hand-built amps at Big Orange Sheep, around 2016. I used Michael's amps on all of our sessions. In the early days, he would often set up both of these amps so I could run a stereo split from my pedalboard. Halfway through the 'ACE' album sessions, we decided to use only one amp (the one on the right) with a stereo digital delay added in Nuendo.

And so began a three-person production partnership—taking on the form of a musical Cerberus, perhaps? Maybe not. Michael, Claffy, and I worked together in various configurations over the next four years, assembling all-star bands and recording albums, all of which I am incredibly proud of. It was the greatest on-the-job education you could ever ask for: if Claffy wanted the bass to sound like Paul Chambers, and I wanted the guitar to sound like Steve Stevens on ‘Don’t Need a Gun’ (an actual scenario), Michael knew how to make it work, and it would sound incredible. Then Michael would segue into a hilarious story about bumping into Billy Idol in the East Village. That’s how it always was: hard work, deliberation, and big laughs. Conversely, if I wanted to achieve a beautiful acoustic sound akin to Earl Klugh, but Claffy wanted to plug in his 1968 Gibson EB-3 to sound like Jack Bruce, Michael would effortlessly make that work as well.

An all-star session at Big Orange Sheep for 'Claffy II', 2017—L-R: Michael (on a chair), Me, Adam Arruda, Alita Moses, Matt Chalk, Alexander Claffy, Kush Abadey, Eden Ladin, Mike Stephenson, Kate Kay Es and Mike King.

Though he would downplay it, Michael was a great guitarist in his own right, and he loved the guitar. "I was always good at coming up with parts," he would say—and it was true. If he spontaneously thought of a great guitar part while we were in the studio, he'd pick up a guitar and play it perfectly. Not only did he capture the best guitarists in the world, he told us incredible stories about playing in bands in Miami in the late '80s, Seattle in the '90s, working at the original 30th Street Guitars location in Midtown Manhattan, and pushing his Power Mac G4 to the limit to capture the incredible sounds on Kurt Rosenwinkel’s ‘Heartcore’—Michael had done it all. And beyond guitar, he could record any instrument or sound to perfection. In fact, Michael’s work on ‘El Arte Del Bolero, Vol. 2’ by Miguel Zenón and Luis Perdomo presents the listener with not only a brilliant duo performance, but also some of the most sonically beautiful saxophone and piano captured in the history of recorded sound. Michael deservedly won a Grammy in 2024 for his work on this album. We all were, and still are, incredibly proud of his achievements.

Michael at the helm with Kevin Thomas assisting while I play a bass guitar overdub at Big Orange Sheep, March 2018. Photo by Joe Musacchia.

Michael loved Telecasters. We even went to hear Daniel Donato’s great band one night at Pianos in the East Village to check out his playing, and of course, his Telecaster sound. Said with no hyperbole whatsoever, Michael built the best Tele-style guitars I’ve ever played. In our final conversations, we had spec'd out a new Tele-style guitar he offered to build for me later in 2026. We discussed the ideal woods, the perfect neck shape, the pickups, and the switching system. I suspected all of my requests would take some time and effort, but for Michael? It was easy. No problem. “Come over one afternoon and we’ll put it together.”

An overdub session at Big Orange Sheep with one of Michael's incredible Telecasters, 2018. Photo by Michael.

During the sessions for Claffy’s first album in 2015, Michael was so excited when I showed up at Peter Karl Studios with a blue Stratocaster that I’d purchased from 30th Street Guitars. I plugged it into one of Michael’s hand-built amps, and this guitar/amp combination could basically deliver any tone imaginable. The physical wear on the guitar was mostly real—after all, its production year was 1982, and it had undoubtedly cycled through several previous owners. However, some of the stripped paint on the body’s arm contour looked suspiciously glossy, as though it had been intentionally stripped and then revarnished—a possible embellishment by a previous owner to make the guitar look a little more ‘road worn’.

As I stood in the live room discussing the session with Claffy at the end of the recording day, Michael walked in from the control room, grabbed my Strat off the chair, and took it over to the back corner. Grabbing some fine sandpaper, he began meticulously sanding part of the guitar’s body. “What on earth is he doing?” I wondered. He was working away with such focus and attention to detail that I was curious to see what would happen. Five minutes later, he walked back across the room, handing me the Strat. “There you go, that looks better.” Looking down, I noticed that the suspiciously glossy, embellished parts of the wear were now as uniformly worn as the genuine physical wear—a simple but immediate improvement that made the physical appearance of the instrument far more dramatic and aesthetically pleasing. I’m pleased to say that my Strat still appears this way to this day, and I hope I’ve added a little natural wear of my own as well.

The infamous Blue Strat, pictured here with Kush Abadey and Alexander Claffy at Big Orange Sheep, January 2019—moments before we began filming the 'Ace Of Hearts' and 'Three Of A Kind' music videos, with Michael setting up the live room while we took this photo.

After I encountered a difficult run-in with the infamous phenomenon of 60-cycle hum produced by my Strat (an undesirable electrical buzz produced by single-coil pickups) while onstage at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2016, I returned to Brooklyn and immediately asked Michael if he knew of any solution, especially to assist me during a high-stakes gig like a big festival: huge audience, minimal time for soundchecking—plug in, check your levels and basic EQ, unplug, and get offstage until showtime. Short of replacing my pickups with a new set of noiseless pickups (a solution I was not willing to consider), Michael recommended the Ilitch BPNCS—a backplate that can be installed on your Strat utilizing a dummy coil that eliminates hum without altering the sound of your pickups. It was a brilliant recommendation. He expertly wired it up and completed the installation in minutes, and immediately, the guitar was more versatile than ever. It remains installed in my Strat to this day. As for the hum that day in Monterey, I narrowly avoided disaster by playing the entire show on the “humbucking” settings of my Strat (pickup positions 2 & 4), but thanks to Michael’s expertise, I never had to make that compromise again.

I even brought in a Les Paul I picked up for cheap from a polite young guy on Craigslist who had to part with it. “Take good care of it,” he requested, informing me it was a gift he’d received during his teenage years. It was a nice guitar, but with some serious quirks—to wit: it weighed a ton, and the finish on the headstock was visibly peeling off. I brought it in for one of the first ‘ACE’ album sessions at Big Orange Sheep, and Michael told me that he knew how to fix the peeling finish on the headstock. When I arrived back at the studio the following week, Michael stepped out with a spray can and a massive respirator mask on, ready to refinish the headstock. He fixed it perfectly, with the guitar easily looking better than ever. Sadly, I too had to part with this Les Paul, but with Michael’s assistance, I certainly took the best care of it while I had it.

Michael's 4-step process to restore my Les Paul headstock in 2017. Check out the final finish in the fourth image—looking better than ever!

Also during the ‘ACE’ sessions, I decided the music called for a 12-string electric guitar. More specifically, a slightly rickety $100 12-string 'Strat' that I wanted to transform into a 12-string version of the famous John Oates Strat—but, with a set of Lace Sensor pickups I had lying around, pre-loaded into a black pickguard. A kooky idea? Probably. For Michael, it was easy. He had the guitar assembled and wired up in under an hour. After he tested the electronics, I went home and braved the madness of stringing up a 12-string guitar. Kooky as it was, it sounded great. In fact, you can see it in the video for ‘Three Of A Kind’, which we filmed the same day as the ‘Ace Of Hearts’ video, with Michael instinctively setting up a small wall of guitar amps behind me to fulfil my request for an ‘early MTV’ aesthetic—a clever touch that we all thought was quite funny, and perfect for both videos.

The 'kooky' 12-string Strat, assembled masterfully by Michael. Pictured here in my video for 'Three Of A Kind', 2019.

Even better, Michael and I joked about how it would be somewhat appropriate to have a ‘rock and roll’ guitar tech moment in the ‘Three Of A Kind’ video—that is, an onstage guitar tech swapping out my 12-string for my Strat mid-song, ensuring I could start soloing without interruption. As we discussed this idea, our usual assistant engineer (and great guitarist in his own right), Alex Haley, was just popping into the studio for only a few minutes that day, so Michael said, “Hey Alex, why don’t you play the guitar tech in the video?” Alex kindly agreed, quickly stepping in front of the camera. Alex only had a few minutes, so our director, Steve Brickman, set up the shot, filmed a couple of takes of Alex swapping out my guitars, and that was it. “Cool, is that everything?” Alex asked, and it was. “Great! See you guys soon!” We all laughed together once again, finishing the final part of the video and wrapping for the day. I was lucky to walk out of the studio with two music videos that I’m really proud of, and with Michael’s guidance, both videos and the full album were released in the following months.

The guitar swap! Featuring Alex Haley—devised by Michael, January 2019.

After the turmoil of 2020, I had to put my future recording plans on hold indefinitely. Although Michael and I never got to record the ‘next album’ we always talked about, the dialogue always continued. I worked with Michael whenever I could, asking him to master three tracks I had composed and recorded for a series of promotional videos for Ibanez Guitars between 2022 and 2024. I had attempted to mix the audio myself and sheepishly asked if he would consider mastering something I had recorded and mixed. In true Michael fashion, he was incredibly encouraging, complimenting both my playing and the overall sound of each mix. His mastering delivered the professional sheen necessary to elevate the audio, and the project, to a professional standard.

'AM/FM'—a promotional video for the Ibanez AM153QA guitar, mastered by Michael, 2022.

I could go on and on… There’s the time we A/B tested a headless Strat-type guitar against an actual Strat, with hilarious results. The time Sandra Bernhard asked if I could play electric mandolin—with Michael saving the day by letting me use his 12-string electric soprano guitar for Sandra’s six-night run of shows. The many discussions we had about the lesser-known recorded works of Mike Landau and Steve Lukather, or even Michael’s willingness to accommodate my pedantic requests for 10, 20, or 30 mix revisions on a single track. The stories go on, and I’ll always remember them.

What’s fascinating is that you could ask anyone who knew Michael, and they would give you an entirely different set of incredible stories. This is the kind of positive impact Michael had on everyone who was lucky enough to meet him. And I met a lot of incredible people through Michael: Ricardo Grilli, Chris Benham, Simen Solvang, Alex Haley, Kevin Frias, and so many more.

Michael and I at Big Orange Sheep, February 2019.

Michael would call me up, telling me about something he was working on, or a piece of gear he loved, and he’d say, “I have to tell Ben about this!” And I’d like to think that wherever Michael is, on his next great journey, he’s saying, “I have to tell Ben about this.” In fact, I think he’d be saying that to all of us who were close to him.

Safe travels, Michael.