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Text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 and get free content delivered to your email!

Intro:

Mike purcell has a long list of recording, mixing and mastering credits including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brad Paisley, Waylon Jennings, and Billy Ray Cyrus. He is a recording artist himself, and has a passion for indie rock. He is also an entrepreneur with many business ventures.

He grew up in Nashville, and started playing guitar when he was 14. He began recording with 2 cassette decks and a Radioshack mixer, and his first recording studio experience in 1988 solidified his passion for recording.

Early Career:

Mike attended Belmont University from 1990-1994. He interned at The Castle recording studio and was offered a job there for $150/week. He later went to LA for a six month trip to record Lionel Richie.

When he returned to Nashville, he got a ProTools rig and was very into digital audio. He did a lot of vocal tuning work at this time. He would also often record using the Otari RADAR II digital multitrack recorder.

Demo Recording:

A demo recording is done for songwriters who want to pitch something to a recording artist. These songs are often done with session musicians who do not rehearse extensively before the session, because they can sight-read the charts.

At County Q studio, Mike would record a high volume of demos in a single day. Because of his ability and experience as an engineer, and the quality of the session musicians, they were able to record songs very quickly and efficiently.

Philosphy/Advice:

-What comes next in the recording industry is what you invent. Don’t be afraid to try new things and make mistakes.

-Mike Purcell prefers to find music he loves, and capture it, rather than finding music that he kind of likes and reinventing it.

-Take every job you can if it has anything to do with music. Take the gigs that you’re uncomfortable taking; you’re probably uncomfortable because you don’t know much about it, so you’ll probably learn from the experience.

-Don’t have an ego as an engineer. Try to fulfill the client’s vision rather than your own.

-Get hooked up with someone who is successful and doing something that you want to be a part of. Do the best job out of anybody there, and confess to your mistakes, and you’re likely to be successful.

Jam session:

-what was holding you back at the beginning of your career?

-lack of resources to and access to the good studios. That’s different now, because you can buy ProTools.

-what was some of the best advice you’ve received?

-do it right and do it once.

-What is your favorite recording trick?

-Sidechain compress the bass, using the kick drum as a key input, and squash it down half a dB. It helps keep kick punch through the mix.

-Do you have any book or magazine recommendations?

-Abbey Road book.

-Tape Op magazine.

-Favorite piece of gear that you have?

-SansAmp gt 2.

-Favorite software tool?

-I use an old standalone version of T-RackS (version 3) for mastering. You can get stuff really loud with it.

-Favorite internet resource?

-Facebook

-If you were dropped in a strange city, and could only take a simple recording setup, what would you take? How would you find people to record? How would you make ends meet?

-Take a simple m-box setup with a couple of mics.

-Go to shows to meet bands.

-Deliver pizzas or something like that to make ends meet.

Links to Check Out:

-Mike’s current project, 6minor Films, which creates documentary films about the music creation process:

-Website

-Facebook

-Youtube

-Mike’s facebook

-County Q website

So if you have any questions or suggestions for the show please email me

lij@recordingstudiorockstars.com

If you dig the show and find it helpful I would be honored if you would leave a rating and review in iTunes. You can tap through right on your phone from the podcast search page or go to recordingstudiorockstars.com/review for easy instructions.

And if you want to get on the email list for free content full of videos, tips, studio tricks, and special offers just text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 from your phone (super easy and I promise you won’t get spammed!)

Cheers!

Lij

Text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 and get free content delivered to your email!

Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars I’m Lij Shaw and this is the podcast created to help you become a rockstar of the recording studio! I am an award winning chart breaking music and podcast producer and have been making records for 25 years. I’m also the owner of a Grammy award winning studio called The Toy Box Studio in East Nashville TN.

But when I started out I knew nothing about recording and had to learn from the ground up. All I wanted was a chance to be in the studio learning from the best! Whether you are just starting out in recording, or want to take your recordings to the next level this show is made to help you get excited about recording and learn more stuff. Who doesn’t need that? I know I do!

I’ll be interviewing producers, engineers, studio owners, gear builders, or anyone else that is a rockstar of the recording studio. We will hear their stories from starting out to becoming the pros that they are today, and learn from their insights, tricks, and advice.

I be asking questions about their musical journey to keep us all inspired, and follow it up at the end with “The Jam Session” a series of shorter questions full of tips and tricks. So if you have any questions you would to hear me ask or suggestions for the show please email them to me

lij@recordingstudiorockstars.com

If you dig the show and find it helpful I would be honored if you would leave a rating and review in iTunes. You can tap through right on your phone from the podcast search page or go to recordingstudiorockstars.com/review for easy instructions.

And if you want to get on the email list for free content full of videos, tips,studio tricks, and special offers just text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 from your phone (super easy and I promise you won’t get spammed!)

Cheers!

Lij

Text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 and get free content delivered to your email!

Intro:

Vance Powell is a Grammy award winning producer, engineer and mixer from Joplin, MO. who’s impressive list of credits include Keb’ Mo’, Jars of Clay, Jack White (Third Man Records), Buddy Guy, Kings Of Leon, Sturgill Simpson, and local Nashville artists such as Jeff The Brotherhood, Moon Taxi and Bobby Bare Jr. He made his start in live sound, touring with local Missouri bands as a front-of-house engineer and in 2002 John McBride asked him to run Blackbird Studio. Vance is now also co-owner of Sputnik Sound.

Early Life:

Vance was introduced to electronics early in his childhood, as his grandfather was an electrical engineer and miner. He later attended electronic school while in high school. This helped him to land a job as a second audio engineer in a local studio – Massey Studios – in Missouri where he worked for $5/hour learning and teaching himself the arts of mixing, and other tools of the trade like tape duplication (i.e. mastering). This marked the beginning of his successful career as an audio mix engineer.

Reference Monitors:

Auratone Monitors are speakers designed to listen to mono mixes. Yamaha NS10’s later became the replacement for Auratone reference monitors.

“…I use NS10s (Yamaha) because they sound cool… and they will translate well in any situation.” –Vance Powell

“It’s all about your reference… It doesn’t matter what your speakers are,” says Powell. “I have definitely made changes to a mix based on a mono iPhone speaker.

When asked how one is able to hear the bass on a mono iPhone speaker he says simply “turn the bass off and then back on.”

Jam Session:

Q: What is the best advice you have for someone just starting out?

A: You have to be fearless to make it in this business. If you are a person who is afraid of change, or afraid of failing, or afraid of losing your house… you’re normal, but if you are afraid and act upon it because you are afraid, you’re not going to last.

Q: What was a time where you feel you hit a real point of failure or a time you felt like giving up that turned out to be a valuable learning experience for you.

A: A year after I moved to Nashville, I did my first session and I had no idea what these people were wanting or doing. In some ways that was an interesting failure but I’ve been very lucky in that I don’t have anything I can really point out and say, “that was a disaster.”

Q: I definitely know you for working with a lot of artists that like to push the boundaries and really get to the heart of what makes something great. You want to tell us a little bit about that?

A: Obviously, I’ve spent 8 years working with Jack white and that’s been an incredibly eye-opening thing because he’s pretty amazing. He’s probably the most talented person I’ve ever been around. He’s one my favorite drummers…ever. He’s my favorite keyboard player, pianist and organist. He’s the easiest artist I’ve ever had to get a guitar sound for. It doesn’t matter what amp he plays, it doesn’t matter what guitar, it doesn’t matter how old the strings are it doesn’t matter what microphone you put in front of it, it sounds just like him. It’s all in his hands. He’s an amazing vocalist.

Q: What is a tip about the process of recording that you learned while working with artists like Jack White?

A: Learn to be fast. I think anybody learning this business should do live sound. Live sound teaches you a bunch of things. You have to put a mix together in a very short period of time. You don’t have all day. You have one song to put a killer 48-channel mix together; otherwise you’re going to lose people.

Q: If you were dropped into a strange city and you were going to start out in recording or live sound, what advice would you have for someone who’s willing to take on that challenge?

A: If you want to record, the first thing you need to do is purchase some way to record such as a laptop and an interface or port-a-studio. Then go find a band that you are willing to do what ever it takes to help them out. That means cart their gear around, do live sound for them, or record demos in your basement. Get yourself 4 good microphones. You can pretty much record a band with 4 or 5 good microphones. Don’t let the technology get in the way of creativity. I have a rule for my own productions and that is: my entire record has to fit inside 32 tracks. Don’t be afraid to make a decision; that’s the number one thing I’d say to anyone first starting out.

Websites:

Twitter - @Vancalot

Sputniksound.com

Credits - Allmusic.com

So if you have any questions or suggestions for the show please email me

lij@recordingstudiorockstars.com

If you dig the show and find it helpful I would be honored if you would leave a rating and review in iTunes. You can tap through right on your phone from the podcast search page or go to recordingstudiorockstars.com/review for easy instructions.

Also leave a comment below on this webpage!​ Say hi to me and Vance.

And if you want to get on the email list for free content full of videos, tips, studio tricks, and special offers just text RSROCKSTARS to 33-444 from your phone (super easy and I promise you won’t get spammed!)

Cheers!

Lij