-14 LUFS? Forgetaboutit! Justin shared advice for delivering your mixes to mastering, how to get the loudness just right, stories from recording Butch Vig at Smart Studios, tips for iZotope RX, and why your offline bounce is ruining your mix!

My guest today is Justin Perkins a mastering engineer based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who has worked on remastering projects for The Replacements, En Vogue, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and mastering projects for Michael Franti &  Spearhead, Tommy Stinson, The Gaslight Anthem, Smoking Popes,  Anberlin, Screeching Weasel, The Mr. T Experience, and thousands of other independent bands and artists around the world. 

Before transitioning to mastering full-time he also spent time at Butch Vig’s Smart Studios in Madison Wisconsin recording and mixing a  number of projects, and has been working full-time in the audio field for nearly 20 years. His studio Mystery Room Mastering has been in business since 2009. 

Growing up and playing in bands in the midwest is what helped  Justin formulate a career in audio and ultimately led to playing bass for a time in the band Screeching Weasel, as well as playing bass for Tommy Stinson’s solo shows, and the relaunch of Tommy Stinson’s post-Replacements band called Bash & Pop who released a new album in 2017 on Fat Possum Records and performed on The Late  Show with Stephen Colbert. 

Aside from mastering tons of singles, EPs, and albums, Justin also masters nearly all the content for The License Lab which is a library music company based in Milwaukee Wisconsin, and recently started doing a monthly livestream for Steinberg Media to help both new and current users of WaveLab Pro get a better understanding of how to use it. 

Justin has also written a number of articles for the popular website  The Pro Audio Files on the topic of mastering, preparing for mastering,  and an overview of what types of master files you may need for various release formats.

A big thank you to Harold LaRue for making our introduction!

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Website Links:
https://www.mysteryroommastering.com
https://www.justincarlperkins.com
Instagram: @mystery_room_mke
Twitter: @MysteryRoomMKE
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

Is the iPhone mic good enough for the studio? Cason talked about producing artists who start the songs in home studios, producing "Girls Chase Boys" for Ingrid Michaelson, tips for co-writing and powerful lyrics, and why Zoom is the end of bridges.

My guest today is Cason Cooley a writer, musician and producer who started music at a young age in Wichita, KS, often travelling across the country with his parents who were a part of the Grammy award-winning Southern Gospel group, The Cathedral Quartet. In 1997 Cason moved to Nashville to pursue music becoming a member of the Normals followed by focusing his attention on songwriting and production. 

Cason has written and produced artists such as Ingrid Michaelson, including her singles "Girls Chase Boys" and "Hell No," American Authors single "Deep Water," Katie Herzig, Ben Rector, David Archuletta and more. His work has been placed in dozens of popular television shows including Grey's Anatomy and Pretty Little Liars. Most recently he has produced NEEDTOBREATHE’s latest album “Out of Body” and American Author’s “Seasons”, Drew Holcomb’s “Dragons” and Ingrid Michaelson’s “Stranger Songs." 

Cooley is now based out of Nashville, TN where he works out of his studio The Masonic Lodge.

Thanks to Alena Moran at Triple 8 mgmt for the introduction!

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Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

You're not still checking your mixes in the car, are you LOL? Bob talked about designing the ideal mix room to mix bass right the first time, tips for building bass traps, dialing in hi and low pass eq, how to mix vocals, and tons of favorite plugins!

My guest today is Bob Horn a multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning mix engineer known for working with artists spanning many genres; R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, Rock, Adult Contemporary, and Jazz, as well as artists from countries around the globe including The U.S., Korea, Japan, Australia, Spain, Indonesia, Brazil, and China.

Some of those artists include Usher, Timbaland, Michael Jackson, DVRKO, Neon Trees, Kelly Clarkson, Brandy, Ashanti, Everglow, Akon, Lupe Fiasco, Everclear, Brian McKnight, LeAnn Rimes, The Common Kings and many more.

Bob attended Berklee College of Music before relocating to Nashville to start his career as a recording engineer. In 2001 he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a mix engineer.

Although Bob's career focus is mixing music, he is an accomplished musician playing drums, guitar, bass and piano, and is also involved in songwriting and production. In 2011 Bob and a long time friend and colleague designed and built The EchoBar Recording Studios in North Hollywood, CA where he mixes for his clients.

Thanks so much to Maor Appelbaum for the introduction.

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Website Links:
https://www.bobhornmixing.com

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

It's all about your ear, not the gear! Michael talked about switching his Brauerizing mix template from analog to in the box, why and where the settings don't matter so much, and how you can design your own mix template in the box.

My guest today is Michael Brauer a multiple Grammy-winning New York mix engineer. His many credits include "Best Pop Vocal Album" for John Mayer's Continuum, "Best Alternative Album" for Coldplay's Parachutes, and also "Best Rock Album" for Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". Other credits include The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Jeff Buckley, David Byrne, Paul McCartney, Ben Folds, Willie Nelson, KT Tunstall, Martha Wainwright, and more recent projects include Zac Brown Band, Hootie & the Blowfish, Michael Kiwanuka, Slash, and The Courteeners.  

Beginning at MediaSound Studios in New York City in 1976, Michael worked his way up from the Shipping Department to staff engineer assisting the hottest guys in town including; Bob Clearmountain, Mike Barbiero, Ron St. Germain, Michael DeLugg, Ed Stasium, Godfrey Diamond, Tony Bongiovi and Harvey Goldberg. He became Luther Vandross’’s engineer recording all his music for four years including two Aretha Franklin albums and spent half of the eighties making records in London’s exploding music scene returning home to focus on the American scene after 1990.

In 2018 Michael opened BrauerSound Studios, in New York City's Chelsea area. At the new studio, he began utilizing a hybrid mixing setup for the first time in his career, making the mixing process more powerful and efficient. He also created the technique known as 'Brauerizing', in which mixes are routed through multiple compressors and busses to create a blended sound. And he is a co-founder of Mix With The Masters which has been running for over a decade. 

Thanks to Randy Fuchs at Artist Relations and OWC for making our introduction.

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Website Links:
https://www.mbrauer.com
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
https://reverb.com/shop/soundtowers

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

How do you set up a turntable properly? Piper explained the best way to get started with vinyl, analog vs digital mastering, why you need pro mastering for vinyl, and how you might be avoiding finishing your own record by attending the mastering session!

My guest today is Piper Payne a mastering engineer based out of Nashville, TN, where she works on albums for independent artists and major labels. In Spring of 2019 Piper joined the famed Infrasonic Mastering team, merging her successful Oakland studio, Neato Mastering, with the Nashville based company, owned by Pete Lyman.

Piper is a Trustee of the Recording Academy and she is Co-Chair of the P&E Wing Steering Committee. She is a Governor of the Audio Engineering Society and she is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the AES’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee as well as an active member of Women's Audio Mission and she serves on the Board of SoundGirls.org.

In addition, Piper is a keeper of Vinyl Quality Control and a consultant for vinyl record pressing plants and is opening her own vinyl manufacturing plant in Nashville in mid-2021. She has been an audio professor and guest lectures often about mastering and recording.

 Piper began her career with a BFA in Audio from The University of Michigan, continuing her graduate education in Audio at the University of Stavanger in Norway.

Piper has a diverse background in musical styles. As a drummer, she knows that the best outcome of every project is that it has to feel good. As an engineer, Piper is focused on technical quality and correctness. But, at the end of the day, mastering is about format conversion and quality control so the project gets just what it needs.

Piper has mastered a wide variety of music including nationally renowned artists Third Eye Blind, LeAnn Rimes, The Go-Go’s, Madame Gandhi, Geographer, The Steven Universe Soundtrack composers Aivi and Steven, Basement, Hundredth, Elettrodomestico (Jane Wiedlin/Go-Go’s), Blithe, ANIIML, Shamir, Betsy, Between You & Me, and Fritz Montana to name a few. 

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Website Links:
Sf_mastering (instagram)
Sfmastering (twitter)
Infrasonicsound.com/piper
Piperpayne.com

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

Ever seen a Flickinger console? Peter talked about recording in a French farmhouse to analog tape, mixing on a console, lessons learned from Steve Albini and Iain Burgess, capturing the best performance, and making the band comfortable in the studio.

My guest today is Peter Deimel, recording engineer and owner of studio Black Box in the French countryside of the Anjou region, close to the Loire Valley. Peter is a native German living and working in France since 1993 having attended the Technische Universität to study acoustics, electronics and communication techniques. 

After school, Peter began learning from Chicago based engineer Iain Burgess who was also Steve Albini’s mentor. As a UK native Iain Burgess had wanted to return to Europe and called to discuss the idea of building a residential studio in France with Peter. A few months later they bought an old farm in the french countryside and built their “dream studio”, studio Black Box. 

Eleven years ago Iain sadly passed away but almost 28 years later Peter is still there happily recording music and running the studio with his wife Sylvie. Peter’s discography encompasses a variety of music in a variety of languages and consistently sounds great for each genre.

Thanks to Steve Albini for making our introduction.

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Website Links:
www.studioblackbox.fr
facebook : Studio Black Box (France)

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

How do you make a record during a pandemic? Don and Peter talked about collaborating remotely to record lush rich vocals and percussion loops for Darlingside, the benefits of respecting the demo, and great lo-fi plugins to add mystery to your music.

My guests today are Donald Mitchell and Peter Katis. Donald plays vocals, guitar, banjo with the band Darlingside who have just finished their newest record Fish Pond Fish and Peter is a producer and engineer at Tarquin Studios, a 7,000 square foot Victorian home in Bridgeport, Connecticut that has been transformed into a residence and recording studio for musicians.

Fish Pond Fish is an album that brings together acoustic folk instruments with the cool band sounds of indie rock under a lush bed of vocal harmonies described as a story of geology, meteorology, ornithology, astronomy and botany. An album that catalogues the weird nooks of our world with the same curiosity of a botanist’s time-worn field journal.

Peter’s many credits include: Death Cab For Cutie, Frightened Rabbit, Gang of Youths, Interpol, The National, The Head And The Heart, and Kurt Vile. And In 2017, Katis and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads launched a concert series for emerging artists at The Fairfield Theater Company

Thanks to Martina at Music Marcom for making our introduction.

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Website Links:
www.tarquinrecords.com/studio
www.youtube.com/darlingside
www.darlingside.com

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

If they don't like your mix does that mean it sucks? F Reid Shippen explained why you need to take more risks in your mixes, offered tips for mixing vocals and drums, and revealed a whole list of cool plugins you can try on your next mix.

My guest today is F. Reid Shippen a multiple Grammy Award-winning mixer, engineer, and record producer, whose credits include 10 Grammy Award-winning albums and over 100 #1 singles and artists such as Ingrid Michaelson, Kenny Chesney, India. Arie, Cage the Elephant, Little Big Town, CeCe Winans, Steven Tyler, Colony House, Lucie Silvas, and Dierks Bentley. 

In 2020 F Reid just hit is The New York Times #1 song for 2020 for Avenue Beat! F2020 feat Jessie Reyez.

Reid has been on the podcast before on episodes 19 and 237 to talk about recording and mixing. And today we will dig into some more mixing tips and what’s new since the last time we spoke.

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Website Links:
www.robotlemon.com
Instagram
Facebook
RSR237 – F. Reid Shippen – Awesome Mixing Tricks To Try On Your Next Mix
RSR019 – F Reid Shippen – Multi Grammy Winning Mixer

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

Which came first the chicken or the egg? Jordan talked about the importance of getting the sounds right at the source to make sure your mixes sound killer for heavy rock music. Plus he shared lots of tips for recording drums, guitars, bass, and vocals.

My guest today is Jordan Valeriote an independent producer, mixer, and audio educator from Ontario, Canada, specializing in hardcore music. Recently Jordan joined us to talk about how to go from charging $100 to $1000/song as a full-stack producer. If you want to learn more about that go check out that bonus episode.

Jordan has worked with many heavy bands like Silverstein, Antimacy, the Dead and Divine, Prophets for the Counterparts, Nick Johnston, Forevermore, Great Lakes, Mandroid Echostar, and Skynet to name a few. And today we are going to focus on mixing and what lessons Jordan has learned about mixing heavy music himself and through his teaching over at Hardcore Music Studio. 

I'll see what we can learn about some of the most common struggles you might be having with getting rock music to sound powerful, tight, and in your face when you record and mix.

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Website Links:
HardcoreMusicStudio.com

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko

Put away your lab coat dude! Brian Lucey talked about the importance of creating music from a place of love rather than fear and why mastering is more about getting the feeling right than about how many pencils you have in your pocket protector...

My guest today is Brian Lucey, widely considered one of the very best mastering engineers. He began in the late 80s in NYC East Village as a professional musician (guitar, voice, piano) then became a student of Robert Fripp and Guitar Craft through the early/mid 90s. Mastering began in the late 90s and his experience in all other phases has lead to a distinctly musical approach to mastering. Brian works out of Los Angeles at Magic Garden Mastering.

Select Credits include: Chet Faker, Depeche Mode, Lucinda Williams, Elvis Costello, Shania Twain, Marilyn Manson, Green Day, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, Cage The Elephant, Dr John, Ghost and thousands more…

Thanks to Brian Murphree at Soundporter.com for making the introduction.

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Website Links:
magicgardenmastering.com
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Instagram

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Hugh Macdonald
Vlad Vasilcenko