Phil Maass has spent the majority of his career mixing and recording a wide variety of Iowa music, from symphonies to bluegrass to good ol’ rock and roll. After decades of amplifying the efforts and stories of other people, Maass has decided it's time to retire.
Maass has amassed many stories of his own in his work for Iowa Public Radio, and his behind-the-scenes radio experience makes his retellings dynamic. The man behind the music isn’t one to call attention to himself, though — Maass is a humble hero of the local music scene whose life’s work has collected the largest known archive of Iowa music.
Maass grew up in Swarthmore, PA, where his love of music radio began with listening to Philadelphia’s WMMR and WXPN. His enthusiasm grew during his time at Oberlin College, where he worked for the radio station while earning a degree in studio art. Life after college brought Maass back to Swarthmore and eventually to San Francisco, where he worked his way up in retail and, most importantly, took a class on audio engineering with the sound technician for Jefferson Airplane. That class prepared Maass for a career in audio that has spanned nearly four decades.
“A friend of mine in the Midwest that I went to high school with happened to work for a booking agency in Madison, WI, and he said, ‘Why don't you come out and visit and, you know, kind of get past your troubles?’ And I said, ‘Well, I can't afford to do that.’ And he said, ‘Well, how about I get you a job?’ And he got me my first professional sound job,” Maass said.
Maass ran sound for the Piper Road Spring Band for two years before they ran out of funds. He then worked a variety of jobs around Madison, including furniture sales and the occasional sound gig. In late 1983, Maass got a phone call from an agent representing an Iowa band and went back on the road, this time running sound for Bo Ramsey and the Backsliders.
“I did a weekend with [Ramsey] and the only criticism they had was that I mixed them too loud,” Maass said. “So I started on the road with them and we did 18 months. And then, Bo broke up the band because he needed a break for about a year, and I went out on the road with a lounge band. I went back to Bo when he got money and started the band up again. I also did a couple of stints with the band out of Janesville called Tug Mumbo.”
After his first few runs with Iowa bands, KUNI’s Bob Dorr asked Maass to run sound for his Blue Band. Maass initially turned him down to follow a love interest to Chicago, but after that went south, he went back to Dorr to ask for the gig again. This time it was Dorr's turn to turn him down, and Maass did odd jobs around Iowa City for a while, until Dorr decided to give him a trial run.
“Bob called me up and said, ‘Okay, you can [join us] if you come on this 10-day tour with us. We''ll try you out.’ We played some absolute sonic hell holes, but for some reason, they decided that I was okay,” Maass said.
He was so good at what he did, mixing sound. He was meticulous about it and he'd done it for [so long], he had experience to know almost instinctively what was gonna sound good.Mark Simmet
Maass ended up touring with Bob Dorr and the Blue Band for nine years before learning about an opening at KUNI for a technical producer, which offered a regular paycheck — complete with health benefits. After convincing his partner, Diana, to relocate to Cedar Falls, the rest is history.
Maass started at KUNI in May of 1995. As a technical producer, he engineered live shows from Studio One, ran live remote broadcasts and recorded and edited musical performances in numerous genres. He served as technical producer for years before a brief stint in network operations (with Tony Dehner as his assistant), then returned to technical producing when KUNI merged with Iowa Public Radio in 2010. There have been many changes to the technological aspects of Maass’s job over the years, but his main purpose has remained the same: to circulate Iowa’s music to its people.
Maass has been behind the scenes of countless performances, both independently and for IPR, in his over 40 years of experience, and is considered one of the best sound technicians in the state. That expertise has even been recognized by the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the hall of fame in 2007 as part of Bob Dorr and the Blue Band, and then again in 2024 for his work recording local music for IPR.
He'll leave a positive legacy with the staff at IPR as well.
“He was totally into it, totally in the zone all the time,” Mark Simmet, who worked with Maass his entire time at IPR, said. “That's what I admire about his work. He was so good at what he did, mixing sound. He was meticulous about it and he'd done it for [so long], he had experience to know almost instinctively what was gonna sound good.”
“Phil is such a humble guy,” Dehner said. “I don't know a single person who doesn't think he's the best.”
Maass doesn't plan on disappearing from the local music scene in retirement, but does look forward to some reprieve from the frequent pressures of live broadcasting. Some peace and quiet is well deserved though! His steadfast technical support has been instrumental to the success of Studio One. Maass's last day was June 30.
