podcast Archives - Page 35 of 41 - Recording Studio Rockstars

Category Archives for "podcast"

Warren Huart

RSR064 – Warren Huart – Produce Like A Pro

RSR064 – Warren Huart – Produce Like A Pro

My guest today is Warren Huart, a producer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. Warren is the creator of a highly prolific Youtube channel, and audio learning website called Produce Like A Pro, where he teaches you how to record and produce music through tutorial videos, interviews, studio tours, and a dedicated membership site.

PLAP

(This is my affiliate link for Produce Like A Pro. If you click it and later decide to purchase any of the great courses there I will get a commission for the referral. There is no additional cost to using the affiliate link, same prices. This is a great way to help fund all the hard work that goes into the podcast and RSR. So I thank you in advance for checking it out!)

Warren has been a part of many platinum selling and billboard charting albums over his 20 year career, and has participated in the development of a number of successful artists’ careers. Some of Warren’s credits include: Ace Frehley, Areosmith, James Blunt, Marc Broussard, The Muppets, The Thrills, The Fray, Better Than Ezra, and Vintage Trouble.

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

  • Growing up with A Sailboat.
  • iPhone vs. Android for music making, and portable recording.
  • The value of limitations in the studio, and what we can learn from the Bauhaus school of design.
  • What we can learn from Malcolm Gladwell’s best selling book, Outliers.
  • How to get the best drum sound ever in your small room studio.
  • The secret snare sound of The Fray, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Mettalica, and many of the great hits from the 90s era records.
  • We discussed the great drummer, Dave Mattocks of Fairport Convention, recording with Glyn Johns.
  • Warren listed some top drum kits you might consider for your studio.
  • ADATS, SMPTE, and MIDI the all caps hat trick!
  • We also talked about many great bands and their production strategies: Aerosmith, Nirvana, The Fray, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Jack Douglas, Metallica.
  • Slate Virtual Microphone System, and Mesanovic.

’@WarrenHuart @producelikeapro”]

Leave a comment at the bottom of the post and let us know what you think, and thanks for being a Rockstar!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON0SSKJ_TOg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gadSYc38ErM

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjVQ36NhbMk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTWKbfoikeg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc3cE4pYw5I

 

FREE Mix Training with Lij Shaw
Get The Mix Master Bundle with over two hours of mix videos, multitracks, ebook, and mix template.

Thanks to our sponsors!

Chris Graham Mastering - Chris Graham has mastered thousands of songs and has charted on Billboard in multiple genres. Every mastering project includes a free video mix consultation because he knows that the better a mix sounds before mastering, the better it will sound after mastering. Go to RSRockstars.com/FreeMasteringSample today and get your free sample started and your record finally finished!

Miktek Audio
john jaszcz

RSR063 – John Jaszcz The Yoshman – Recording Funk with Bootsy Collins & Funkadelic

RSR063 – John Jaszcz The Yoshman – Recording Funk with Bootsy Collins & Funkadelic

My guest today is John Jaszcz, aka the Yoshman. He is a multi Grammy and Dove awarded mixer, engineer, and producer. He is well known for his work in Nashville with gospel, country, Christian contemporary, and rock artists and will sometimes have multiple songs on the top of the charts at the same time. His mixing credits have included Billy Ray Cyrus, Roberta Flack, Donna Summer, Wynonna Judd, John Michael Montgomery, and Collective Soul to name just a few.

But Yosh got his start far north of Nashville in Detroit MI where he learned how to record and mix under the gurus of funk like Bootsy Collins, Parliament/Funkadelic, George Clinton, Roger Troutman, Sly Stone, and Zapp. And it was through his work there with Gospel great Fred Hammond of Commissioned, and the legendary Thomas Whitfield that Yosh ultimately made his connection to Nashville and then moved here to grow his career.

I met Yosh recently through our mutual friend Carl Tatz, who was also a guest on the show in RSR050.

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

  • Recording Bootsy Collins with an Ovation acoustic guitar.
  • Recording Atomic Dog, George Clinton, Sly Stone, and Funkadelic.
  • The origin of the Talkbox with Pete Drake and the Talking Steel.
  • How Bootsy Collins would record his bass and why they used three tracks!
  • Sly Stone and the most challenging sessions of Yosh’s career.
  • How to get a funky kick and snare in your mix.
  • The importance of bass pocket, and the important difference between Meters style funk, and Funkadelic groove.
  • Pro and cons of multing microphones for live recording.
  • Neve, Summit, Fab Filter, and plugin chains for your stereo mix buss.
  • Using Invoice Pro, and what can we learn from financial guru Dave Ramsey in the studio?

Leave a comment at the bottom of the post and let us know what you think, and thanks for being a Rockstar!

 

 

FREE Mix Training with Lij Shaw
Get The Mix Master Bundle with over two hours of mix videos, multitracks, ebook, and mix template.
Robin Eaton

RSR062 – Robin Eaton – Alex The Great & Club Roar Studios

RSR062 – Robin Eaton – Alex The Great & Club Roar Studios

My guest today is Robin Eaton, a songwriter, producer, poet, and artist from Nashville TN. He owns his own studio, Club Roar, and is also co-owner of Alex The Great recording with Brad Jones who was my guest on episode 34.

Beginning as a songwriter and artist signed to Warner France and then Ze-Island records in NYC, He was also in the original Broadway production of Hair. After moving to Nashville in the 80s and building Alex The Great, Robin went on to co write and produce Jill Sobule’s self titled record with the hit single “I Kissed A Girl” about ten years before Katy Perry’s song of the same title.

In 2005 Robin and I co produced The Spinto Band’s Nice And Nicely Done, and then later KS Rhoads Dead Language. Some of his other credits include: Butterfly Boucher, Tim Easton, Tommy Womack, Lion Limb, Swan Dive, and Mary Kate Oneil. But more importantly Robin is my mentor. He took me in and showed me how to make records at Alex The Great, and has been a creative inspiration and friend to me for 20 years. He even officiated at my wedding!

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

  • Getting a record label deal in France and NYC in the 1970s.
  • Mixing at Trident Studios in London.
  • Mixing at Electric Ladyland in NYC.
  • Advice for writing songs and keeping notebooks.
  • Cowriting with Jill Sobule.
  • How to get simple cool drums sounds in the studio.
  • Recording prepared piano.
  • The changing music scene of Nashville TN.

FREE Mix Training with Lij Shaw
Get The Mix Master Bundle with over two hours of mix videos, multitracks, ebook, and mix template.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think, and thanks for being a Rockstar!

Joe Baldridge

RSR061 – Joe Baldridge – Multi Grammy Winning Producer & Engineer, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley

RSR061 – Joe Baldridge – Multi Grammy Winning Producer & Engineer, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban, Dierks Bentley

My guest today is Joe Baldridge, a producer, and multi Grammy winning and number 1 charting engineer with over 25 years experience in production, recording, mixing, artist management and brand and artist development. Joe has over 300 album credits on AllMusic.com. And he has received a nomination for 2014 “Record of the Year” for his work on Taylor Swift’s RED, and won a Dove award for production work with Toby Mac.

Joe also teaches at Belmont University right here in Nashville having joined the Audio Engineering Technology department at the Mike Curb College Of Entertainment & Music Business as an adjunct in 2010, and as Full time Lecturer in 2013.

Joe brings to teaching his creative experience from working with such artist as Kelly Clarkson, Keith Urban, Eli Young Band, Jake Owen, Dierks Bentley, Toby Mac, Taylor Swift, the Newsboys, Brooks and Dunn, and Third Day to name just a few.

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

  • Nashville’s progressions toward rock.
  • How the iPhone changed pop music from guitar based to synth based.
  • Amplifying the drums during tracking.
  • Setting up live vocal fx, and delay spins during tracking.
  • Minimize your use of plugins during tracking.
  • The secret to hit mixes in one minute.
  • The importance of working with great artists.
  • How to get low end right from Humberto Gatica.
  • How to pan your instrument and avoid using plugins.
  • How to build your bit bit all the elements together.
  • The importance of starting out in a musical hub whether physical location for online resource.
  • The best way to mic a guitar with two mics.
  • The differences between Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Studio One, Steindberg Nuendo, and Ableton Live.
  • Why you should comp your time for an up and coming band.

 

 

FREE Mix Training with Lij Shaw
Get The Mix Master Bundle with over two hours of mix videos, multitracks, ebook, and mix template.

Leave a comment below and let us know what you think, and thanks for being a Rockstar!

Fab Dupont

RSR058 – Fab Dupont – Flux Studios & PureMix.net

RSR058 – FAB DUPONT – FLUX STUDIOS & PUREMIX.NET

Fab Dupont is a multi Grammy nominated writer, producer, mixer, and teacher. He is owner of FLUX studios in New York, where he has worked with many great artists like Queen Latifah, Jennifer Lopez, Isaac Hayes, Shakira, Santigold, Mark Ronson, Les Nubians,Toots And The Maytals, Bon Jovi, Marc Anthony, Sean Lennon, John Travolta, Babyface, Nat King Cole, Bebel Gilberto to name just a few.

Fab has taken his many years of recording and mixing experience to co-found Puremix.net, an audio tutorial website dedicated to learning what is not in the manual.

And for you Rockstars Ive got a great deal! Use the link below and the coupon code for 10% off anything at PureMix.

http://RSRockstars.com/puremix & Use coupon code: RockstarPM10

PureMix

Some of things Fab and I discussed on the show:

  • Growing up playing saxophone.
  • Living and recording in NYC.
  • The challenges of running a full production studio.
  • Creating PureMix
  • How to get your low end just right when mixing.
  • How to get the ultimate Hip Hop kick drum sound.
  • The secret to getting a killer vocal mix.

Or you can start your mix training with Lij Shaw for free at MixMasterBundle.com


P.S. (Many of the links I use are affiliate links where I earn a commission if you click through, even if you don’t buy right away. So go ahead and click through to take a look. I only promote products that I believe will help you be a Rockstar of your studio. This is a great way for me to fund all the hard work that goes into creating a podcast and blog. So I thank you sincerely in advance!)

RSR057 – Nick Devan – G.E.D. Soul Records

(Press play on the green strip above or listen on iTunes with the link below)

RSR007 - David Glenn - The Mix Academy

If you dig the show I would be honored if you would subscribe, and leave a rating, & review in iTunes.

RSR057 - Nick Devan - G.E.D. Soul Records

My guest today is Nick Devan, a drummer, producer, mixer, and lover of old school soul music. In 2007 he started G.E.D. Soul Records with Dave Singleton, which allows him to write, record, and play drums for the label. He also owns and operates Poor Man Studio in Madison, TN.


Nick Currently performs with Magic in Threes, who are currently recording, mixing, and releasing a song every week in 2016. He also plays with DeRobert & the Half-Truths who have just added the new singer, Du'Juan Mandell.


I was first introduced to Nick a couple of years ago when I reached out through Craigslist to hire him not for his drumming skills, but for his impeccable lawn service skills! In fact I was only introduced to his music later when he called in to quit one day, saying the yard work was too tough on his wrists which he needed for his drumming.


The following week as I was begrudgingly hauling brush around my back yard I thought the least I could do was check out Nick’s music while I worked. So I texted him to ask his band name. I then cued up Magic In Threes on Spotify and it instantly became the only thing I wanted to listen to all week. I’m talking about the kind of excitement when you hear something new and feel like you’ve finally found the music you’ve been looking for! Deep funky soul grooves that sounds completely like the real deal.

Only in Nashville right? The grass is now up to my knees and the hedges out front look like fourth of July fireworks. But man I don’t care, I just don’t care, because I am chilling to a new groove called Nick Devan the grass man.

“You can get a publicist and really hype something up, but it won’t grow legs unless it’s a good record” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

How Did You Start Your Own Label?

We were doing a radio show when it started. Dave and I had a radio show at MTSU doing the GED Soul Review, just spinnin records. There’s the defunk program here in town that Doyle Davis runs, we were really inspired by him; he’s been on for years and years. It was just a funk and soul format radio show and we had a couple bands that formed out of that. Dave’s usually played bass and I’ve usually played drums. We were pressing our records ourselves and getting them distributed by someone else. Really I’ve always kinda said, “All you have to do to start a label is put the name on a record and you’ve created a label.” That really was as simple as it was when we started and we’ve learned a whole lot as we’ve gone along

After Creating a Label What Are the Next Steps?

Well we were doing it in a way where we were producing and recording pretty much everything instrumentally and just getting singers. In that instance all you need to do is get your singer and you can kind of invent your band. Later on we got the Coolant System, AJ and the Jiggawatts, and Oliver James, so we’ve had other artists who were self-contained outside of what we do. We started off just doing 45’s. We did about 6 of those before we did a full length album and now we’re on our 12th full length. When we started off doing 45s in 2007 digital was starting but it wasn’t what it is now. Now we go for every outlet we possibly can and digital is definietly a good portion of income for us.

“Every record I get out is a success” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

What Was Your Business Model?

We never took out a loan. Dave and I, for the first 45’s, would both just throw in and sell them so it was just an investment for us. We did it where we paid for ourselves. Once we did do a kickstarter campaign and we got the money. It was helpful, but the three records we had out didn’t sell quite as well as we wanted, but that’s with any label. Even if you think you have a “sure thing” sometimes it doesn’t work, and vice versa. Sometimes you think you don’t have anything and it starts rollin’.

“Even if you think you have a “sure thing” sometimes it doesn’t work” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

How Do You Tell If A Record Is Doing Well?

First it has to be really good. You can get a publicist and really hype something up, but it won’t grow legs unless it’s a good record. Because if it’s really good it’s easier to catch a buzz about it. You have to show it to everybody. Sometimes you don’t want to show it because you don’t want to hear what people have to say about it. But even in the mixing process I’ve found that to be so crucial, I’ll show anybody and even if they say they like it, you can visually see if they’re feeling it or not.

Jam Session 

Q- What was holding you back at the start?
A -Definitely lack of gear. At that time I was running a couple mins and really had a poor setup, but it’s really built from there.

Q- What was some of the best advice you got early on?
A - I think using what you have has gone a long way with me because you could really wait forever for the right scenario of any recording and you really just got to get it out there and do it and make the best of it. Make the best of every recording that you do, I feel like that’s how you get to where you want to be is by just starting somewhere no matter how little you know about it.

“Make the best of every recording that you do” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

Q - Q- Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.
A-
 Delay! Get a reel to reel tape machine and use it for your delay or even mixing down for that going back into ProTools, that could have a huge impact on your sound. Another one is the Auratone. Get yourself and Auratone and mix in mono and really listen to a lot of music on it.

Q -Share a favorite hardware tool for the studio
A-
 Having a couple nice instruments around! I love the Rhodes that we have here. I feel like the one thing a lot of studios don’t have now is a real piano and you can get those for free! Just look at craigslist and get a free piano and get it tuned up! I personally hate digital piano. I feel like on the digital side they can do a pretty good everything except for horns and piano. That Unidyne 57 is very useful as well if you want an old school sound that sounds great into ProTools as well.


“I think every small labels biggest problem is money” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

Q -Share with us a tip for the business side of the recording studio

A - Google Docs is one of the coolest things businesses have available for any business now because you used to have to pay a lot of money for those excel and word programs and now they’re offering it free and it's all cloud based, worry free. Beyond that if you put out 15 releases and they have artists and you try to think about the royalty calculations and they differ for digital and physical and individual songs with different writers, that gets very complicated very quickly. So we started using Label Worx, we started using the Royalty Worx section of it. It’s set up so great you can get everybody on it, put the information in in a simple format and it gets rid of all that complicated stuff.

Q - If you had to start over what gear would you need?

A - I feel like especially now the analog equipment is your best investment. I would say get an 8 track Tascam machine and some sort of analog machine if you’re going that route. If you’re going ProTools get a nice converter, preamp and a mic and you’re on your way.

“They say the two things that set the time period of the song is the vocal and snare sound” - Nick Devan

Click to Tweet

Q- If you could go back and give yourself advice for when you were starting out, what’s the single most important thing you would tell yourself about becoming a rockstar of the recording studio?

A- I wish I hadn’t focused so much on getting gear, I really liked my first setup. I’ve still got the Tascam 8 track machine and I had this Tascam board that sounded great and I could have really kept on going with that for a long time. I felt like sometimes I would really focus on moving on with the gear when I really should’ve focused on making more music with what I had. You don’t really have a perspective for that until you put music out. Stick with your gut, for sure.

Contact: 
GEDSouldRecords
Nick Devan Facebook

Big Thanks to Tyler Cuidon & Merissa Marx for this week's episode!!

RSR056 – Ben Loftis – Harrison Consoles, MixBus 32C, Designing MixBus Plugins

(Press play on the green strip above or listen on iTunes with the link below)

RSR007 - David Glenn - The Mix Academy

If you dig the show I would be honored if you would subscribe, and leave a rating, & review in iTunes.

RSR056 - Ben Loftis - Harrison Consoles,
MixBus 32C, Designing MixBus Plugins

My guest today is Ben Loftis the product manager for the Harrison’s workstation products. He is also an all-around developer, and partner in the company. From its Nashville, Tennessee facilities, Harrison designs, manufactures and markets large-format, professional audio mixing consoles for international film and television production, post-production, broadcasting, sound reinforcement and music recording markets.


Harrison also makes a unique digital audio workstation, The MixBus32C, following an analog paradigm that embodies form, function, and sound. Where other DAWs might use a computer paradigm, MIXBUS grows from Harrisonʼs distinguished 40-year heritage of platinum records, such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Paul Simon’s Graceland, and the blockbuster film Spider-Man to name a few. MIXBUS is the first full-featured DAW with true analog style mixing.


Ben has been at Harrison for over 15 years, which puts him right in the middle of the Harrison family with some of the employees having been with the company since the very beginning in 1975. During that time he's been part of many product launches, both large and small.


Before Harrison, Ben worked at a commercial audio company called IED, where he developed custom audio software for clients as varied as NASA, Fort Knox, and Caesar's Palace.


I am super excited to be joining you from right here at the Harrison Console Factory in Nashville TN. I can’t wait to learn more about MixBus and how it can help you make your best record ever.

“People get introduced to this industry because they like the sound of things. Sometimes you like the music, and the music is obviously important, but there are people like us that get into the sound of that music, which is a completely different thing. I mean anybody can appreciate music, but it does take a little bit of education to appreciate what good sound is.”

Ben Loftis

History of Harrison Consoles

I came in relatively late in the Harrison company. I’ve been here about 15-16 years, which is a long time to work somewhere but short in the scheme of things. Dave Harrison was collaborating with Geoff Harnett and they were building MCI consoles. Harrison was the designer for some of later MCI console models. He also had a company called Studio Supply and he would go build studios and install these MCI consoles and tape machines. He had a really cool idea for mixing consoles that would make things go faster and smoother in the studio, it was intended to be made up of the new syncable machines you’d have not just 16 but 24-32 tracks recording at a time, so he developed the Harrison 32 Series console (he actually took the idea to Geoff Harnett). Geoff decided not to manufacture that and that irritated Dave enough that he wanted to go make it himself. He kicked off his own company, took a prototype around the world and pitched the idea in the 70’s. He really did solve a lot of problems. Harrison came up with this concept called an inline console, the basic idea being instead of having a fader for the microphone which feeds into a tape machine and comes back through another mix board, he decided you could save space and do a lot of cool tricks, share a lot of electronics, and get dual use out of your console. The inline console is basically the tape machine inserted into the middle of the console path and you can either monitor the playback from the tape machine or you can monitor the microphone in the room. You’re taking the same piece of gear and with a button push using it twice.


I can tell you from some of the better documented ones that a lot of the Queen stuff, Another One Bites the Dust, Sade’s Sweetest Taboo Album, Michael Jackson stuff, Thriller and Bad, and then you’ve got AC/DC’s Back in Black. I listen to all those records and I hear a sound. They say it’s all about the recording and it is, it’s all about the musician of course that’s more important than the gear you use, and when I listen to that selection of things, I really do hear a sound to that.

“It’s important to build up a workflow so that things move along smoothly” - Ben Loftis

Click to Tweet

MixBus 32C

We launched a product called MixBus about 5 years ago and that was a workstation that allows you to cut, copy, paste, import and export, it has all those things in it and we customized the mixer to have our channel strip. A simplified EQ and compressor and we made and introductory level audio workstation that has all the features that you could want but it also has a Harrison mixer in it. When we came out with that it was a huge success, but there were people who said well cool, but I have to have the harrison 32C sound. People knew about that 32C EQ and wanted it to be in MixBus. We also had some longtime customers who had the 32 series console and the knew exactly where you were supposed to turn those knobs to make it happen, they kept asking us to make that 32 series EQ. We held off for several years, and now we have launched MixBus 32C and it has a modeled software emulation of that original Harrison EQ. I’m not an analog guy and don’t want to give away too many secrets, but the recreation of that EQ goes beyond the range of the knobs that these people cross. You have to think, the guys that work here went through a process that arguably no one else in this whole industry has gone through. We used to make analog consoles, and then we made a product which was a digitally controlled analog console.

Unique to the MixBus32 DAW

It is a DAW unquestionably. It is a complete workstation with midi tracks and virtual instruments and editing, importing, exporting, all those things. You can look at a DAW and realize what each DAW makes the focus, what they give the most screen space to. When you open up MixBus32 each channel module has things on it other DAWs don’t have like a phase button. You have an EQ on every channel which was intended for the purpose of mixing. When you sit down to mix, most of what you’re doing is “I need a little more thwack from the beater and I need more body on the snare.” The process of mixing is working with bringing the multiple parts together so you need to see them all at the same time. With the typical DAW you have to double click and pop open the window of an EQ plugin and then if you want to see 4 channels in a row you have to open 4 windows and it quickly starts to get really inconvenient. We’ve got compressors and gain reduction also in every channel so that you can scan your eyes across the console and see what all the compressors are doing and that saves you so much effort. We also do a little trick where if you turn one of the knobs on the EQ, it turns the EQ on and then you can click the bypass with or without the EQ.

Check Out MixBus Plugins Here!! 

“This guy sat me down, pulled out a Pink Floyd record, put it on these killer speakers, and it blew my mind. That’s when I became an audio file nut” - Ben Loftis

Click to Tweet

Jam Session 

Q- What was holding you back at the start?
A -Most of my career is programming and working on these products, I’m not a recording engineer, but I have done a lot of recording with my friends. We’ve recently gone into a studio and one of the things we found is if we want to work on something collaboratively, it can be a real pain because some guys are on macs, some on windows, this guy has these plugins, this guy doesn't have anything, etc. So one of the things I focused on when I was working on MixBus .. A lot of guys go back and forth sending recordings around. Being a computer guy, I get called on to be the IT guy and I’ve got to go over and say, “Oh they sent you this kind of file, they didn’t line it all up together..etc.” I’ll help people get through that process. I’ve really focused on making that really easy so MixBus works from Windows XP all the way up to Windows 10 and it also works from Mac 1068 all the way up to the current 1012. So pretty much no matter what computer you’ve got, it’s going to work on there.

Q- What was some of the best advice you got early on?
A - We went in to record with this band, the guy that runs the studio shared it was real important to him to have us all in there playing at the same time. I know that sounds obvious, but after I just spent 10 min talking about people collaborating a whole lot, there really is a magic with playing together. I would say my favorite piece of advice is to capture the moment. We’re probably not going to be famous rock n roll stars, so what I really don’t want to do is listen to this record in 15 years and say, “Oh man, that’s awesome. I’m the bass player and I’m singing some harmonies. But that’s not really me, they auto tuned the vocal and somebody pasted over the parts I couldn’t play very well.” We’re leaving in most of the mistakes trying to capture this part in time, I think there’s honesty and integrity in that.

“There are some 32 series consoles that have been maintained from the beginning that are still in operation” -Ben Loftis

Click to Tweet

Q - Q- Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.
A-
 I think I would have to say layer those guitars, man. Give it a couple of different tones, layer it on! You’ll never get exactly those same notes in a row and it gives it a nice big, fat sound that you can pan left and right. Although we try to recreate ourselves, it’s really him! (Just 8 times over)

Q -Share a favorite hardware tool for the studio
A-
 My first thought was don’t forget to bring the rug for your drummer. But we also just came out with something really cool, that is a 32CS. Continuing the trend with the 32 series consoles, we’ve relaunched the channel strip out of that console as a rack mount box. This box gives you a mic preamp, really awesome sound. It has the high and low pass filters, a 4 band EQ, and we have 2 new cool innovations in there. There’s an insert point that you can patch a piece of gear into your channel strip and it’s moveable! You can either put it before the filters or after, it gives you a lot of tone and sculpting kind of stuff. The other cool feature we have in that box is it has a little bitty monitoring section that has a stereo input on the back so that you can blend.

Q -Share a favorite software tool for the studio
A- 
Oh man, I have tons of favorite software tools. Not only are they good tools, but I use them because I’m always on Mac and Windows. Although Apple makes some great tools they have a great email program that I can’t use anywhere else. When I’m swapping from computer to computer to computer all the time we use Google stuff like crazy.

“Dave Harrison was always really pushing the limits of technology” - Ben Loftis

Click to Tweet

Q -Share with us a tip for the business side of the recording studio

A - We use a payment processor called FastSpring, and they’ll take credit cards and have all types of coupons that make all that safe and secure so we don’t have to worry about having people’s credit card numbers here. It’s important to build up a workflow so that things move along smoothly. The other tool that we picked up fairly recently that we really love is called Help Scout, and this is a tool we use in our customer service department so that when somebody emails us, it shows up in a list that all of us can look at. When I start to answer an email, everybody else knows that I’m answering it and we won’t end up answering it together at the same time.

Contact: 
HarrisonConsoles.com

Big Thanks to Tyler Cuidon & Merissa Marx for this week's episode!!

RSR055 – Bob Bullock – Recording Crazy Horse, Chick Corea, & Steely Dan

(Press play on the green strip above or listen on iTunes with the link below)

RSR007 - David Glenn - The Mix Academy

If you dig the show I would be honored if you would subscribe, and leave a rating, & review in iTunes.

RSR055 - Bob Bullock - Recording Crazy Horse, Chick Corea, & Steely Dan

My guest today is Bob Bullock, whose career started as a studio engineer in Oakland CA, training under such greats as Humberto Gatica, Reggie Dozier, Barney Perkins, Roy Haley and Roger Nichols. And he became a top engineer himself, working with many great artists like The Tubes, Art Garfunkel, Seals and Crofts, Crazy Horse, Chick Corea and REO Speedwagon.


In 1981, while working at Lionshare Recording Studio for Kenny Rogers, he was approached by legendary producer Jimmy Bowen to engineer for Warner Bros. Records in Nashville and finally moved here full time in 1984.


Bob's engineering credits extend over fifty gold and platinum albums, including Shania Twain, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, George Jones, John Anderson, Hank Williams Jr., Jimmy Buffet and Steve Wariner.


Bob has spent 40 years working with major label artists like Kenny Chesney, Loretta Lynn and Keith Urban, but in sharp contrast now enjoys working almost exclusively with independent artists from all over the world including Switzerland’s Baton Rouge, Norway’s Gunslingers and Canadian acts, Tyler Whelan and Friends of Jack.


He has also expanded his musical contribution outside the studio and now lends his teaching expertise to multiple universities including Belmont University & The Art Institute in Nashville, TN, and Troy University in Montgomery, AL.


Bob is also passionate about helping artists develop their work at a time, when the traditional artist development label no longer exists. He recently joined the team of providers at PCG Nashville - The Science of Artist Development, a company dedicated to educating and mentoring artists.

“The way audio producers and engineers landed in studios is it was a master apprentice situation so studios had staff engineers and producers. There would be openings for an apprentice. I wouldn’t say intern because they were jobs, might not have been minimum wage, but it was still a real job. I guess the mentality in those days was that if they found somebody that they thought was going to work out, they made an investment in you.”

Bob Bullock

Working with Chick Corea

When Chick Corea came into Kendun Recorders to do the Mad Hatter record, people booked rooms for a couple of months it wasn’t like they just came in to book a session or tracking date and that was your day in, day out job for that period of time. Everybody lived together and sometimes we would just stay at hotels near the studio. In Chick Corea’s case it was kind of a cast of different musicians he had coming in and we would cut tracks one day, maybe do overdubs on another day, the only thing we didn’t do there was mix, they took the project over to Crystal Sound.

One of the guys I learned a lot from Bernie Hersh was his name. He was Chick’s regular engineer and so I assisted Bernie on some stuff, did some overdubs myself. Bernie worked with him even live so, Bernie really knew Chick’s style and sound and most of the time in those recordings, so much of it is still the musician, there’s no magic tricks. In fact we probably at the time had two AKG 414’s on the grand piano. Again when you work in an environment where you’re spending a few months recording, you have the opportunity to experiment with different things for different songs. So it’s not like there are any magic tricks, it’s just being able to try something different for this particular piece and then there are other things that contribute. We were working I believe a Harrison console that was in that studio, but we were also recording to Studer a800 analog tape machines, so all those things contribute.

                                                  Chick Corea - Mad Hatter

How do you See Recordings Sessions Contrasting Today Compared to Then ?

It really was about getting everything the way you wanted it on the front end you know through the 70s & 80s. I still work that way myself for projects I produce, I record them in commercial studios at least getting them the basic tracks down so the only real difference for me and recording music now is that we have to work more time efficiently and have to make decisions much quicker because of smaller budgets. I find myself having to do more pre-planning, more organized, more sure of what I’m going to do. There’s pros and cons to that, that’s a bit of a fight for me because you’re telling yourself that every decision you make has to be the right decision for the music and the artist. Aside from the time constraints, I really record exactly the same way I did 30 years ago with the exception of recording to generally ProTools.

“I only reach for the gear when I think I need it. It’s all about being creative” - Bob Bullock

Click to Tweet

Recording Art Garfunkel

The part that I played in it was really cool because I got to engineer it, but I recorded horns for the Garfunkel project Fate for Breakfast . There would be different microphones of choice for the different horns. Most of us would have the musicians standing side by side not really worried about isolation because it was a section, I was mostly worried about the musicians all being comfortable. We recorded in a larger room, but room decisions are always just song to song and project to project. I think Bill Conte was producing and I think describing what they wanted for Art Garfunkels horn section was a more controlled room. As far as mics it’s just a matter of being familiar with what the range of different microphones are. For trombone I’d probably for example a Fet47 with a pad on it, trumpets were probably more likely Norman 87s at that time also with a pad. It was generally just like here’s a go-to starting set-up and if everybody’s jumping up and down and happy then that’s great, if any one of the creative team, including me, say gee I think the trumpets sounding a little thin let me try a different microphone, then that’s what we did.

                                               Art Garfunkel - Fate for Breakfast

“It’s always been my passion. My passion is to try to help an artist try to change it up” - Bob Bullock 

Click to Tweet

Jam Session 

Q- What was holding you back at the start?
A -Well I just made a transition so I can’t say it was an obstacle. I started playing guitar at like 11 years old, I first wanted to be a rockstar. But when I was 15 years old walking into Sunset Sound and seeing this real, professional recording environment, my first thoughts were I wanted to learn how to engineer and produce music so I could produce my band. I still play guitar, but after that I came to the conclusion that I didn’t think I could be as good at a lot of things so I felt like I really loved the technical side of it and it was a wake up that I really need to put the time into this. So it wasn’t an obstacle so much as it was a change.

Q- What was some of the best advice you got early on?
A - I had the good fortune of working under the best of the best Reggie Dozier, Barney Perkins, Roy Haley, Roger Nichols, the list goes on and on and I got to be an assistant engineer for all those people. Mostly what I got pretty consistant was you shouldn't do this unless you really love it and it’s all about working with people, you have to be a people person. Every person I just mentioned, their biggest contribution to me was they were always creating a calm environment for artists and producers.

“The vibe of the studio really leads me to pick where I’m going to work with someone” - Bob Bullock

Click to Tweet

Q - Q- Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.
A- 
I learned different things from different people. Al Schmidt was very minimalist on everything and made fantastic sounding records, Roy Haley was real big on a lot of effects and reverb on his work with Simon and Garfunkel so I learned a lot of reverb tricks. From all that I realized I only reach for the gear when I think I need it. It’s all about being creative. Some of my favorite records have happened because of people that made a record that really didn’t know what they were doing and didn’t know how other people did it, they just used their own ears to come up with something that sounded good to them. In many cases those would become classic records.

“Doing what I do is the right fit for me, I wish that for everyone” - Bob Bullock

Click to Tweet

Q -Share a favorite hardware tool for the studio
A-
 I don’t really have any. I’m so used to working in different rooms with what they have. For recording I’m flexible. If a band approaches me to record them, I’m going to take us into a studio I think captures the vibe and maybe the sound. There’s a room here in Nashville called Ronnie’s Place. I favor that tracking room a lot because it’s an old 70s wood tracking room and drums just have a different tone.

Q -Share a favorite software tool for the studio
A- 
I’m a fan of the UAD plugins and also Waves, but I also use PSP plugins quite a lot it’s much smaller company out of Poland. PSP has a couple of EQ’s and delay programs that just sound a little different to me and so I use those occasionally, it seems to break things up a little bit, a little more boutique.


“I’ve always wanted a more controlled environment and with Carl Tatz Phantom Focus System, I do” - Bob Bullock

Click to Tweet

Q -Share with us a tip for the business side of the recording studio

A - I think you have to find a niche, that’s the main thing. What I’ve found myself doing is constantly changing, it’s an evolution. This is not an industry anyone should be in unless they feel like they can’t do anything else. The task is to find out how you’re going to make it now. You’ve got to find your niche, find a way to monetize enough so that you can keep doing it.It’ a constant change and you have to be able to embrace it.

Q- If you could go back and give yourself advice for when you were starting out, what’s the single most important thing you would tell yourself about becoming a rockstar of the recording studio?

A -  As a young person I think it’s important, if you want to work in video games or want to work in hip hop or country go to the places where they do that best. If you want to work in video games, starting a career in Nashville is probably not the right place. You’ve got to go to the places that are doing what you want to do and you have to be open minded to learn from the people who have experience.

Contact: 
BobBullock.net

Big Thanks to Tyler Cuidon & Merissa Marx for this week's episode!!

1 33 34 35 36 37 41