Send Santa's sleighbells to the chimney object of course! Brad talked about recording awesome drums, creating your own snare and kick samples, how to get a great kick drum sound, how to capture a guitar DI without the buzz, and mixing 9.1.4 in Atmos.

My guest today is Brad Wood, a producer originally from Chicago where he had Idful Music Corporation - a small but mighty recording studio in Wicker Park. There he recorded albums by bands like Seam, Tar, Shrimp Boat and Eleventh Dream Day. In 1993 he produced Exile In Guyville for Liz Phair which became the catalyst for what became a very long and prosperous career as a producer and mixer.

Brad wrapped up the 90’s with many debut albums under his belt, including Sunny Day Real Estate‘s Diary, Veruca Salt‘s American Thighs, Placebo’s self-titled LP, Placebo, and Ben Lee‘s Grandpaw Would. He also notably produced the Original Broadway Cast Recording for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Throughout the iconic decade, Brad also worked with bands such as Far, that dog., Menthol, Pete Yorn, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore (which peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 charts).

Later Brad relocated to Los Angeles, California, where he built Seagrass Studio where he’s tracked and mixed for Say Anything, mewithoutyou, The Bangles, Sherwood, Touché Amoré, and many other artists. I am excited to have Brad back on the podcast again. You can catch his earlier episode RSR095 when he talked about his work in Chicago and moving to LA. Today we will catch up with Brad to see what’s new at Seagrass Studio and talk about producing and mixing in Atmos among other things.

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LISTEN TO DISCOGRAPHY
ON SPOTIFY and
apple music

Website Links:

RSR095 – BRAD WOOD – PRODUCING LIZ PHAIR, VERUCA SALT & SMASHING PUMPKINS

https://www.bradwoodmusic.com/
https://www.threads.net/@bradwood_producifer
Instagram: @bradwood_producifer

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Organization is everything! Marc talked about recording Bill Frisell & John Zorn, producing The Ramones tribute with Steppendoom, how to make a great compilation album or killer remix, traveling the world to collect vintage ribbon mics, and backup.

My guest today is Marc Urselli a 7-time Grammy Award nominated, 3-time Grammy Award winning music producer, audio engineer, mixer, sound designer and front of house engineer, Marc Urselli is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar and devotee of all things art, sound & music and works for and collaborates with musical & visual artist, bands, musicians, composers, theater directors, film, TV, brand & mixed media multi disciplinaires from around the world.

He has worked with U2, Foo Fighters, Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Sting, Keith Richards, Kesha, Jeff Beck, Les Paul, Buddy Guy, Luther Vandross, Bill Frisell, Kronos Quartet, Laurie Anderson just to name a few in syles ranging from rock, pop, metal, jazz, experimental/avantgarde/new music, urban and electronica and classical. He also collaborates as an artist on some of his records which you can hear in the playlist below.

Marc currently resides and works as Chief House Engineer for the historic & legendary recording studio EastSide Sound. And he has been a guest on the podcast before for episodes RSR264 & RSR 378 where you can hear his backstory in music and get some excellent recording and mixing tips!

Thanks again to Rudy Roopchan for our original intro, and to Adam Audio!

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Website Links:

RSR378 – MARC URSELLI – FINE ITALIAN ESPRESSO, VINTAGE RIBBON MICS, MIXING TIPS, THROAT SINGING, AND DOOM METAL!
RSR264 – MARC URSELLI – PRO TOOLS MIXING TEMPLATE BREAKDOWN FROM A GRAMMY WINNING ENGINEER

https://marcurselli.com/music/
Instagram: @marcurselli
Facebook: @marcurselli
X: @MarcUrselli

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

A hit recording might only be 2.5 min in 13.8 billion years of the universe! Dom talked about playing bass for the Queen of England & Obama, the history of KC jazz, learning to make beats, the power of publishing, and 5 reasons to use Ableton Live.

My guest today is Dominique Sanders, an accomplished producer and composer from Kansas City Missouri. By age 16, he had performed for the Queen of England and established himself as a mainstay in the Kansas City music scene. During one of his many shows in the area, Dom was discovered by Tech9, which started a writing/producing partnership that continues to this day. Dominique currently resides in Los Angeles California and is a published songwriter and producer at prescription songs

Notable works include many of Tech9’s #1 Billboard chart debuts, and collaborations with Nipsey Hussle, James Fauntleroy, Jidenna, Janelle Monea, The Game, Jay Prince, Snoop Dogg, and Boyz II Men, Herbie Hancok, Robert Glasper, Wiz Kalifa, Chance the rapper, and many more.

Thank you to Kelle Musgrave at Linear Management for making our introduction!

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Website Links:

Instagram: @bassman816

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Don't pull my beard... unless you're Les Paul! Vance talked about recording Phish on tour with 244 mic inputs over MADI in a remote truck, mixing low-end bass and kick, how to mic a rock drum kit, studio wire and why tweaking mixes is a fool's errand!

My guest today is Vance Powell, a multi-Grammy award-winning producer, engineer and mixer, and owner of Sputnik Sound in Nashville with Mitch Dane. Vance’s many credits includes Chris Stapleton, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, and Wolfmother to name just a few. Vance is a repeat guest on the podcast and you can hear his previous episodes on RSR002, 171, 293, 360 and 403 all of which are in the music playlist below so please click through to listen to his discography and to hear about his backstory and get some great tips on mixing and mixing in Atmos.

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Website Links:

RSR403 – VANCE POWELL – ANSWERS ALL YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT MIXING AND ATMOS
RSR360 – VANCE POWELL – MIXING IN DOLBY ATMOS ON PRO TOOLS AT SPUTNIK SOUND
RSR293 – VANCE POWELL – ANSWERS ALL YOUR HOME STUDIO RECORDING AND MIXING QUESTIONS
RSR171 – VANCE POWELL – HOW TO PRODUCE, RECORD, AND MIX A RECORD THAT ROCKS
RSR002 – VANCE POWELL – GRAMMY WINNING PRODUCTION, MIXING, AND ENGINEERING AT SPUTNIK SOUND

https://globalpositioningservices.net/vance-powell/
https://sputniksound.com/index.html
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/vance-powell-mn0000307596#credits
https://www.pro.blackbirdstudio.com/engineers/vance/
https://www.puremix.com/mentors/vance-powell

Instagram: @vancalot
X: @Vancalot

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Make mine a phantom center! Steve talked about the birth of mixing in Atmos, recording strings for the last Beatles song, Now And Then, how to record immersively, building a home mixing studio, mics for strings, object bed mixing, and the LFE sub.

My guest today is Steve Genewick a Grammy-nominated recording engineer with 30 years of experience, both as a studio and live recording and mix engineer. Steve has had the pleasure of working at iconic recording studios around the world such as United Recording, East West Studios, Sunset Sound and Village Recorders in Los Angeles, Abbey Road and Angel studios in London and La Fabrique Studios in France.

For 20 years, Steve had the great honor of working alongside the legendary 23-time Grammy award-winning producer and engineer, Al Schmitt. They worked with artists such as Diana Krall, Chris Botti, Gladys Knight, Neil Young, George Benson, Quincy Jones, Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney. Steve also joined Al for “Mix With The Masters” seminars for nine years in the south of France, in addition to collaborating on their instructional film “The Art of Recording a Big Band”.

Steve worked primarily out of the famed Capitol Studios in Hollywood as a staff engineer from 1994 to 2022. At Capitol, he worked with countless renowned artists such as Elton John, Bastille and Trisha Yearwood. Steve was among the first studio mixers to begin mixing music in Dolby Atmos, working on projects with Beck, Gregory Porter, LL Cool J, Sam Smith and Niall Horan, and on the popular video game Apex Legends.

In 2017, Steve received the Pensado Award for Best Recording Engineer. He was also a part of the Universal Audio and Capitol Studios team that won a 2020 TEC Award for their Capitol Chambers plugin.

Check out Steve’s earlier episode on RSR231. Thanks to Matt BOUDREAU at the Working Class Audio podcast for making our introduction!

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Website Links:

RSR231 – STEVE GENEWICK – RECORDING AT CAPITOL STUDIOS WITH AL SCHMITT

https://stevegenewick.com/bio
Instagram: @steve_genewick
Facebook: @Steve-Genewick-Recording-Engineer
X: @stevegenewick

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Trust your first instinct! Sara talked about setting up your monitors for accurate mixing, how to place your subwoofer, learning to balance a mix first, why 85db is too loud, the power of a high pass filter, group vs solo audition, and mixing vocals.

My guest today is Sara Carter, a BBC trained mixing engineer based in Leicester (pronounced “lester”) in the UK. Sara started recording and mixing music as a hobby in the mid-90s then later turned it into a full-time career after studying Audio Engineering at the SAE Institute in London and working as a Sound Engineer for the BBC. 

Sara learned her trade at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios by working under the mentorship of some of the best engineers in the business. During this time, Sara worked with a wide variety of artists such as Adele, The Black Keys and Rod Stewart to name a few. More recently she focuses on helping home studio musicians mix music at home through her training courses, coaching sessions and YouTube channel, Simply Mixing.

If you enjoy this interview please check out our earlier episodes RSR204 and RSR377 when we talked about her background in music and shared some great home studio mixing tips. Today we are going to focus more on how to eq everything and then get into some compression talk.

Thanks again to my brother from another podcast Matt Boudreau at Working Class Audio for making our original introduction!

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Website Links:

RSR377 – SARA CARTER – MIXER, PRO MIX ACADEMY TEACHER, AND YOUTUBE CREATOR
RSR204 – SARA CARTER – MIXING AND MASTERING INDI MUSIC IN THE UK

www.simplymixing.com
https://musicmixpro.co.uk/
YouTube: @SaraCarterSimplyMixing
Instagram: @saramixesmusic
Facebook: @musicmixprouk

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Is your home studio the best place for your client? Ken talked about recording at home vs a big studio, playlists vs endless sessions, why pressure is good for music, riding the master fader, mixing with drum samples, and setting up for Atmos.

My guest today is Ken Sluiter, a Grammy-nominated recording engineer/producer/mixer who has been on the podcast before for episodes RSR111 and RSR194 when we talked about his background and shared some awesome mixing tips for the studio. Ken's credits include artists such as Morrissey, Flogging Molly, Andra Day, Divine Fits, Heart, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Blunt, Weezer, the Mekons, The Jesus Lizard and Ok Go to name a few. He has worked with many audio greats like Joe Chiccarelli, Jim Scott, and Andrew Scheps. 

It has been a few years since we've chatted with Ken so today we will be focusing on what's new at his studio and surely sharing some more thoughts on mixing in stereo and immersive audio.

Thanks to Brad Wood for making our original introduction!

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Website Links:

RSR194 – KEN SLUITER – TIPS FOR MIXING IN THE BOX WITH PRO TOOLS IN 2019
RSR111 – KEN SLUITER – RECORDING WITH JIM SCOTT, ANDREW SCHEPS, JOE CHICCARELLI, AND KEITH RICHARDS

www.kensluiter.com
Instagram: @kensluiter

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Do frozen cats make your mixes cooler? Joe talked about the history of Ocean Way Studios, how to fix cymbals ruining your drum mix, how to make a Decca tree in your home studio, double miking vocals, mixing with parallel dynamics, & immersive audio.

My guest today is Joe Baldridge a multi Grammy winning engineer with over 36 years of professionally credited experience in music production, recording, mixing, artist management and brand / artist development with nearly 600 credits on AllMusic.com, and has received a nomination for 2014 Record of the Year for work on Taylor Swift’s RED and won a Dove award for production work for Toby Mac. 

Joe is a graduate of Belmont University where he also now teaches. He joined the Audio Engineering Technology department at The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business as an adjunct in 2010, Fulltime Lecturer in 2013 and Instructor in 2019. He is now the Director of Studio Operations at Ocean Way Nashville, designed by Allen Sides and purchased by Belmont in 2001, and the number one tracking room in Nashville and a world-class teaching facility that also serves an impressive client roster. 

Housed in a 100-year-old Gothic revival gray stone church, Ocean Way Nashville provides an exceptional acoustical space, all in the rich visual beauty of a sanctuary. The studio serves a diverse list of clients spanning various styles from pop, rock, hip hop, country, gospel while emerging as the premier scoring facility in the Southeast. Besides being a sought-after space for full band tracking, Ocean Way Nashville has become an internationally favored destination for orchestral recording and scoring for today’s most popular films and video games. 

Joe continues to teach in the classroom through an adjunct role teaching master mixing techniques, a course he designed which meets at Ocean Way.

Joe was a guest on the podcast back on episode RSR061 when he shared his story of getting into music and later teaching, and today I am happy to have him back to talk more about what he teaches in the master mixing class and to focus on the future of music making in the studio.

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Website Links:

RSR061 – JOE BALDRIDGE – MULTI GRAMMY WINNING PRODUCER & ENGINEER, TAYLOR SWIFT, KEITH URBAN, DIERKS BENTLEY

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Produce records with bands or bricks? Dave talked about assembling a production for an artist, songwriting for publishing vs self, how to get songs finished, the importance of sightlines and headphones, and how to find your voice on stage and studio.

My guest today is Dave Coleman who grew up near the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area, in Jamestown, Tennessee. He thought he’d become a park ranger, but his love of guitar and music sent Dave to Belmont University in Nashville. He started a band (The Coal Men, still active after 24 years), had a brief publishing deal with Acuff-Rose Music, played for years with Duane Jarvis, and a long list of Nashville’s roots and Americana artists. Producing, recording, and mixing became his day to day around 2010. He’s a self described “multi-instrumentalist with a community-driven heart.”

Dave has produced and recorded albums for Amelia White, Tim Carroll, The Rough & Tumble, Lynn Taylor and the BarFlies, Ned Hill, and lots more. The Coal Men, have released 5 albums, with another coming in 2024. I have had the pleasure of knowing Dave for many years and in 2013 worked with Dave here at The Toy Box Studio doing overdubs and mixing his record Escalator.

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Website Links:

www.thecoalmen.com
Instagram: @thedavecoleman
YouTube: @thecoalmen4

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya

Ga Ga Ti Ga, Ga Ga Ga Ti Ga... John talked about the Samba sing-a-long, studying in India, and Brazil, recording vibes and various percussion instruments, the importance of cultural context in music, and bringing your A-game to every studio session!

My guest today is John Arrucci, an acclaimed master artist in Classical, Jazz, North Indian, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian and other indigenous traditions and someone I first met when he moved to Nashville to build his studio. Having composed, performed, and instructed for over 40 years, John has studied on three continents and received numerous honors. 

His work as drummer and percussionist is featured on scores for feature films, television, commercial spots and recordings including on Sony, Polygram, Mercury, Chesky, Koch Jazz, Chiaroscuro, Rykodisc and other labels. He has performed and/or recorded with Michael Brecker, John Patittucci, Mariah Carey, David Byrne, Philip Glass Ensemble, and for Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu and many other dignitaries and has performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Merkin Hall and United Nations.

His percussion can be found on programs including Patriot, Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O’Donnell. 

As a composer, John has received numerous commissions, grants and awards from members of The New York Philharmonic, The Manhattan Marimba Quartet, The Mannes College of Music and many others. His acclaimed 2011 release “Metaphors” features 9 of his compositions and performances on Drum Set, Vibes, Marimba and Percussion.

John taught for over 20 years at Princeton University, the City University of New York, and many other prominent institutions including an Eastman School of Music where he graduated with distinction. The Smithsonian Institution awarded him a Post-Doctoral level research fellowship to study Tabla in Benares, India with Pandit Sharda Sahai. He has also studied music in Brazil, and Shekere and Agbe with the renowned Chief James Hawthorne Bey, and Conga and Afro-Cuban drumming with Frank Malabe and Tabla with Robert Becker.

He has basically done a tremendous amount of music and finally landed in Nashville, Tennessee making himself available for in-studio and remote recording, live performances, touring, commissions and Master Classes, one of which I recently took to learn Samba drumming which was amazing!

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Watch More On Youtube:

Website Links:

https://www.johnarrucci.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnarrucci/
Facebook: @johnarrucci.musician

Additional podcast editing and production by:
Brayden Stremming
Vlad Vasilcenko
Liz Hulitskaya