Category Archives for "podcast"

Stories about the music industry in the 80s, recording in Chicago, how mixing has changed over the years, and great advice on how to capture good music!

Ken Sluiter shares inside stories about working with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Keith Richards, Weezer, and gives epic tips on how to start a career in recording.

My guest today is Ken Sluiter, a recording engineer, producer, and mixer who started out in the Chicago jingle and ad scene, and was also an early pioneer in Pro Tools. He worked with Dave Trumfio and Mike Hagler at Kingsize Sound Labs recording bands like Wilco, Billy Bragg, Andrew Bird, Steve Earle, OKGO, My Morning Jacket, Jesus Lizard, and hundreds of other bands, while also playing in the new wave revival band the Pulsars.

By 2003, Ken moved to Los Angeles where he assisted Andrew Scheps on Weezer’s “Red Album”, Greg Fidleman on Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “I’m With You” and Jim Scott on multiple records. His Pro Tools skills saw him on projects ranging from Barry Manilow to Pink to Metallica. He also got involved with EastWest Studios in Hollywood to “shake out” the analog gear and configure the Pro Tools systems for each room. So he could ultimately record the entire EastWest “Hollywood” series of orchestral virtual instruments.

In 2009, Ken engineered and mixed two records for Jerry Lee Lewis with legendary drummer Jim Keltner as producer. This included doing overdubs with a “who’s who” of rock royalty, including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, John Fogerty, Shelby Lynne, Kris Kristofferson, Robbie Robertson, Nils Lofgren, Aaron Neville, Mavis Staples, Gillian Welch and Jon Brion. And his engineering and mix credits include a staggering list of talent like Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Sheryl Crow, Derek Trucks, Kid Rock, Daniel Lanois, Ringo Starr, John Mayer, James Burton, Leon Russell, Tim McGraw, Neil Young and Slash, The Pretenders, Marshall Crenshaw, Heart, Veruca Salt, Flogging Molly, James Blunt, Ron Sexsmith, and Dwight Yoakam. Ken has also has worked closely with producer Joe Chiccarelli, mixing for Morrissey, Augustines, and Nightriots.

Ken’s production credits include Weezer, the B52’s, Debbie Harry, Shirley Manson, and Siouxsie Sioux. And he has worked with film composer Brian Reitzell on several film scores including “Hannibal”, “American Gods”, and “Kicks”.

Dayna Manning chats about about recording with Sean Ono Lennon, capturing great vocals, using a metronome while tracking... and gives a bunch of great production tips!

Dayna Manning is a songwriter, musician, turned producer when she was just 17 years old, producing Sean Ono Lennon on her track "My Kind" for her debut record "Volume 1" (EMI). From there, her recording opportunites led her to work with the likes of Jim Scott, Rick Rubin, Don Was, Tom Lord Alge and Dave Kalmusky, where she learned as much as she could about recording and production in the studio.

Dayna has produced her own record Folkyo and her folk trio Trent Severn, as well as producing and engineering several national television commercials and branding an entire radio station, all from her home studio, in Ontario, Canada. Dayna firmly believes that production starts with a great song, so as a writer, she finds producing a natural fit.

I met Dayna at summer NAMM in Nashville thanks to Dave Kalmusky at Addiction Studios. And I am thrilled to not only have Dayna joining us on the podcast today, but to have our first woman as a guest on Recording Studio Rockstars.

Joe shares with us a number of ways that you can go from dreaming of making your own record to enjoying the satisfaction of having your music everywhere for your future fans, friends, and family to listen to.

Joe Gilder of Home Studio Corner is a songwriter, producer, and home studio engineer who has been recording and teaching recording for many years. His blog Home Studio Corner is dedicated to helping you make better records from your home studio.

His partner site, Dueling Mixes, is a collaboration with Graham Cochrane of recording revolution, where you can learn how to mix from your home studio, following along with two great teachers each month in a larger community of home studio mixers. Joe was actually one of my first guests on the podcast back on Episode 3, and we’ve been friends ever since. I’m psyched to have him back on for this special follow up episode!

Today we are going to talk about writing, recording, and self-releasing your own records. In fact, Joe has a long history of releasing his own records at a remarkable rate. Just this year, he will have recorded and released a stunning 4 EPs!

Russell Cottier tackles audio topics such as automation, mixing, loudness, recording drums and much more.

Russell Cottier is a producer, audio blogger, and YouTube teacher from across the pond in Liverpool, UK. Russell has worked with chart-topping artists and labels such as The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sony, Sky TV, Nuclear Blast Records, Tamoki Wambesi Dove, Cavern Records, Playboy Channel and many more.

He works all across the UK and internationally, and can often be found at the Grammy-Award Winning Parr Street Studios in Liverpool, the renowned Catalyst Studios or in his own private studio where he has the luxury of a classic British analog console.

Russell takes what he has learned from the studio and distills it down to audio blog articles and Youtube videos teaching you everything from recording to editing to mixing. What you learn will work on any DAW, but Russell uses Harrison Mixbus in many of his videos. So this is especially cool if you are a Mixbus user.

Today’s episode is going to focus on a very cool topic or perhaps I should say the very HOT topic of how loud your mixes should be. I certainly find it a repeated struggle in my experience during mixing when we are surrounded by so much loud music these days.

So Russell is going to help us tackle the issue of Loudness And The Lost Art Of Mixing. We will start out with some introductions and then dive right into this ever vexing question of loudness.

Ian Brennan shares inspiring stories about music he produced and recorded in Africa, where he helped bring forth the voices of voiceless people to the world.

My guest today is Ian Brennan is Grammy-winning producer who has produced four Grammy-nominated albums and published four books while all the while teaching violence prevention around the world since 1993.

He has written a fascinating book called “How Music Dies (Or Lives)” that shares his deep understanding of music, culture, and recording music all over the world, but particulaly the continent of Africa. And on episode 38 he told us all about his book and field recording music in general. However since our last interview Ian has released two more remarkable records and agreed to join us on Recording Studio Rockstars to tell us about the experience, play some examples, and talk about the process of recording them.

The first record is called Tanzania Albinism Collective and I’ll read from Ian’s own description:

"In the summer of 2016, I & my wife, Italian-Rwandan filmmaker and photographer, Marilena Delli traveled to northern Tanzania. The resulting album features individuals who’d never played instruments or written songs previously.Those born with albinism are among the most persecuted people in Africa. Due to assaults, rapes, and murders, many have been relocated for their own protection by the Tanzanian government to Ukerewe Island, one of the more remote places on earth. Traditionally, the albinism community has been discouraged from singing, even during many church services. The resulting album features individuals who had never played instruments or written songs previously."

The second record Abatwa (The Pygmy): Why Did We Stop Growing Tall? Is a collection of recordings from a remote part of Rwanda, “An area so very isolated, it was as if the genocide never ended… The Abatwa (“pygmy”) tribe is identified as one of the most marginalized, voiceless and endangered populations in Africa. In fact, their name is frequently taken in vain as a slur towards unrelated others.”

In true form Ian Brennan finds voiceless peoples of the world and uses recording and technology to bring their voices loud and clear to us grabbing the attention of national media and the Grammys along the way.

Kevin talks about the old music industry versus the new music industry, metadata, and the importance of networking.

Kevin Becka has been a recording engineer for over 25 years, working with top names in the music industry including Kenny G., Quincy Jones, Michael Bolton, George Benson, George Lynch, and more.

Also an experienced educator, Kevin is currently the co-director and an instructor at The Blackbird Academy in Nashville. He has taught advanced recording at Belmont University, surround recording and lecturer at the Danish Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was director of education and instructor at the Conservatory of Recording Arts for over 10 years.

As a journalist Kevin has worked as editors of Pro Audio Review and Audio Media USA magazines. And Since 2003, Kevin has been the technical editor of the industry-leading Mix Magazine where he writes features, product reviews and a monthly column. Kevin is also a voting member of The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), the Country Music Association (CMA), and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP).

If you heard my interview with Gebre Waddell of Soundways.com then you might be familiar with the RIN-M plugin designed to let you gather all your music’s metadata while you work from your DAW. Kevin introduced me to to Gebre and the RIN-M this summer at NAMM, and wrote a free book explaining how to use RIN-M which we are going to discuss today.