Category Archives for "podcast"

​Kim talked about rising from intern to mastering engineer with Alan Douches, how getting fired was the best opportunity for success, building Knack Mastering and Whitestone Audio, and how to get the lows and highs right on your record. Plus lots more...

My guest today is Kim Rosen a mastering engineer working out of her own studio, Knack Mastering, located in Ringwood, NJ. Kim’s mastered six Grammy® nominated albums in the past four years; one winning for Best Folk Album (Aimee Mann), three nominated in Best Blues Album categories (Bettye LaVette, Victor Wainwright and Theresa James) as well as two nominations in the Best Engineered Album/Non-Classical category (Bonnie Raitt and The Milk Carton Kids).

Kim grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts and poured herself into the vibrant college music scene. In the summer of 2002, a friend turned her on to a mastering studio in NJ that was looking for an intern. Kim jumped at the opportunity, moved to NJ and began her journey at West West Side Music with Alan Douches (RSR092).

In 2009, after working her way up to Staff Mastering Engineer at West West Side, Kim decided to go out on her own and has built a growing list of clients that includes producers and engineers such as Ryan Freeland, Ed Cherney, Joe Henry, Matt Ross-Spang, Paul Q. Kolderie and artists such as Rhiannon Giddens, Aimee Mann, Belly, Bonnie Raitt, Billy Bragg, Wynonna Judd, The Birds of Chicago, The Barr Brothers, Over The Rhine, Sarah Jaffe, Anthony Green and Title Fight. 

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Tommy talked about his rock band Government Cheese in the 80s, writing with acoustic vs electric guitars, becoming an author, and how to know a good song from a bad one and then finish it.

My guest today is Tommy Womack A Singer-songwriter, author, humorist and Kentucky native Tommy Womack got his start in 1985 to 1992 with legendary Bowling Green based post-punk and college radio faves, Government Cheese (who’s story is immortalized in Tommy’s cult classic book “Cheese Chronicles”). 

Upon moving to Nashville in 1992, Tommy’s become known for his long working relationship with Will Kimbrough, starting with their bands the bis-quits (who made one classic album for John Prine’s Oh Boy label in 1993), and their band Daddy, who have made two albums and enjoy a cult following.

Since 1998, Tommy has released seven solo albums, the latest being the brand-new “Namaste”. He looks forward to the back half of 2016 with new songs from that record to play, in addition to such proven past show-stoppers as “Nice Day”, “Vicky Smith Blues” and “Alpha Male & the Canine Mystery Blood.”

In addition to “Cheese Chronicles”, Tommy is the author of the comic Civil War novella “The Lavender Boys & Elsie”, and the recently published “Dust Bunnies”. He has written for many magazines, including the Oxford American, and is a regular contributor to The East Nashvillian.

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Matt talked about going full time with a studio in a church in a small town, how to create live streaming multi cam videos for bands, learning how to make the record sound like a mix when tracking, and tips for recording drums and big guitars.

My guest today is Matt McQueen a studio owner, recording engineer, music producer, and videographer who built his studio in 2013 in an abandoned church located in the mountains of a rural East Tennessee town. The building has a 30 x 50’ live room with 24’ high ceilings and large old wooden rafters.

Matt has recently gone full time with his studio having had plenty of experience creating music but also creating content as a videographer for other producers like Warren Huart and Glenn Fricker. This has led him to create his own video channel for his studio to help promote local artists and bands.

We live in a world where social media and YouTube channels can be an important part of our musical output. So I’m psyched to talk with Matt today about making the leap to go full time in music and also see what we can learn about creating content for our own studios and artists that we work with. And of course we will be digging into his process for recording and mixing too.

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Billy talked about how to mix a hit song in Pro Tools in 45 minutes using templates, getting the perfect drum mix, finding the right monitors for your studio, and his new plugin series at Joey Sturgis Tones plus lots more!

My guest today is Billy Decker originally from Nebraska. He studied criminal justice before following his calling in music to become one of the highest ranking students at Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in 1992. Then in 1994, Decker moved to Nashville where he’s been working ever since. 

Billy has mixed 14 #1s to date - most recently, Chris Young's "Losing Sleep". He has mixed for Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean. Jaime Lynne Spears, and Sam Hunt making history in July of 2014 when Sam Hunt became the most added new artist of all time. Billy had the honour to mix George Jones’s last album before he died. 

Billy also makes signature mixing plugins for Joey Sturgis Tones where you can find all in one tools for Drums, Bass, Guitars, Vocals that model Billy’s tried and true methods for mixing quickly to get that hit country sound that he is so well known for.

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Colt talked about designing his new home studio, outsourcing drum tracks, taking an artist from work tape to master, tricks for tuning and doubling guitars, and the power of building your production career through social media.

My guest today is Colt Capperrune who for the past 18 years has been a FOH engineer, studio engineer, live guitarist, and songwriter. His focus these days is Producing, Mixing, Session guitarist, Artist Development, and Mastering. In the past several years you could add Social Media Influencer to that list too. 

He produced his first record when he was 19, and has now charted Top 40 on Billboard, had #1's on iTunes, Amazon, and other radio charts. He has spoken at Belmont University, and is super passionate about developing artists so they make a living from their music. His website even makes a point of showing before and after examples of starting with a worktape for an artists and developing a finished production.

I connected with Colt recently through another guest on the show Daniel Ford, and I’m psyched to talk about producing awesome guitar records and whatever else we can come up with.

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Andy talked about learning under Bob Ludwig, mix levels from CLA, monitors, mixing and mastering for the car stereo, the MFiT standard, and how you can deliver better mixes from your home studio.

My guest today is Andy VanDette a mastering engineer who started his career interning at the legendary Masterdisk under Bob Ludwig. After completing his degree in Tonmeister Studies, he was hired full time. During the CD’s explosion, he spent time with other mastering luminaries -Tony Dawsey, Howie Weinberg, Greg Fulginiti, Greg Calbi, and Vlado Meller. 

He learned more than just how to Master and cut vinyl. He observed their perspectives on processing and musicality. By the time the MFiT standard was introduced, Andy had been Chief Engineer for 14  years and had mastered classic albums from the Beastie Boys, Uncle Kracker, Whitney Houston, David Bowie, Rush, Deep Purple, Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, and more.

Andy has spoken at audio schools, AES conventions. Interviewed for the New York times, Ars Technica, SonicScoop.com, MusicPlayers.com, and presented “Friends Don’t Let Friends Press Bad Vinyl” at SXSW 2015.

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Tim talked about studio design, the amazing sound of analog tape, and his complete mixing template breakdown for a hybrid analog meets digital setup at Eclectica Studio.

My guest today is Tim Dolbear who cut his musical teeth playing live with people such as Sammy Hagar, and in the studio with his mentor, producer Keith Olsen. Currently, he works with both labels and independent artists, and receives projects from all over the world. Since 1999, He has owned and operated Eclectica Studios, originally located in Los Angeles, operations were moved to Austin TX in 2006. In 2019 Eclectica Studios moved to its current location in Nashville.

Tim is a guest lecturer for audio production at many colleges throughout N America including Blackbird Academy, NYU and SAE. Tim is also a published writer who writes for MIX, Sound on Sound, and Professional Sound Magazine.  

I met Tim recently through Mark Rubel at Blackbird Academy. So thanks again Mark!

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Steve talked about how to mix a record from analog tape through a console with advice for how to mix in Pro Tools, techniques for mixing kick, snare, and toms, aligning bass, getting the low end right, mixing vocals, and lots more!

My guest today is Steve Albini musician engineer and owner of Electrical Audio in Chicago. Steve is known for his love of analog tape and extensive discography that includes artists like Nirvana, The Pixies, The Breeders, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, The Stooges, Cheap Tick, and PJ Harvey to name only a few of more than a thousand records he has made spanning the past 40 years. 

Steve has also been a previous guest on the podcast when we talked about his start in recording and creating Electrical Audio. So please check out that episode RSR078. He also makes time to speak publicly about music and recording and teaches as well through Mix With The Masters.

So on today’s episode I thought I would focus more on mixing and see what we can learn about mixing records on analog tape through consoles and also how that might inform the decisions we make when mixing digitally in the computer as well (or not).

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James talked about creating videos for Production Expert, how to shoot great video for your music in the studio, Location Recording studio in the UK, how to record great sounding drums in a small studio, and how to create a network backup system.

My guest today is James Ivey, the Technical Editor of Pro Tools Expert and owner and facilitator at Location Recordings in London UK. 

James has been playing drums since the tender age of 7, performing his first paid gigs at the age of 8. From that moment on there was no stopping him. His parents brought him is first 4-track tape recorder (a Tascam Porta 01 costing well over £1000) at the age of 12 which gave him the bug for recording and ever since then he has been collecting and acquiring gear to make his studio and productions the best they can be.

James’ first job in the audio industry was with a pop video production company where he learned what the term deadline really means and other audio skills which have stuck with him, like the importance of clock and sync. Since then he has worked for studio equipment suppliers and installers as well as companies like Sibelius and later Avid and a production demonstrator.

James or Jivey is officially the Production Expert gear junkie. If it makes a noise and you can play it or record it, he’s interested.

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