If you stop being curious then you're done! Roger talked about choosing monitors for mixing, collecting guitars and amps, songwriting prosody, baritone guitar voicings, synth vs espresso, miking guitar cabinets, and how to take great session notes.

My guest today is Roger Alan Nichols, an all-around musician, songwriter, engineer, producer, mixer, and owner of Bell Tone Recording in Nashville, TN. His producing and engineering credits include a Grammy-nominated project with Larkin Poe and artists like Hayley Williams (Paramore), Steven Tyler, Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown, Kim Richey, and many others in Rock, Country, and Americana genres.

From 1981 to 1989, Roger Alan Nichols toured the 50 United States and Canada professionally as a guitarist, with multiple rock bands. During a brief stint in Atlanta, he attended the Art Institute and continued doing sessions and performing with regional acts. Roger then moved to Nashville and formed the alternative rock band, Dreaming In English. The band toured the Southeast, gaining a large fan base before releasing their debut album, “Stuff,” in 1998 to critical acclaim.  Shortly after that, Roger signed a publishing deal as a writer with Acuff-Rose/Idea Music. Through this publishing deal he started producing and engineering his own demos. Eventually, he established his studio where he began producing and writing with, and for, other artists. 

As a multi-instrumentalist, Roger has written and produced tracks for Showtime, HBO, MTV, Spike TV as well as all 3 major networks. His diverse playing and producing skills were showcased in the trailer music for Mission Impossible III’s national TV campaign and most recently he composed the music for “Bluebird,” a documentary on the legendary Nashville venue where numerous songwriters have advanced their careers. 

Listen to Roger’s previous episodes RSR045 talking about his start in recording and RSR286 when he joined us with Tyler Bryant in the studio.

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Website Links:

RSR286 – Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown With Roger Alan Nichols – the Making of the New Album Pressure
RSR045 – Roger Alan Nichols – Recording Vocals With Steven Tyler

https://www.rogeralannichols.com/
Instagram: @belltonerecording

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