RSR071 – Chris King – Poetry Scores & Field Recording With Lij Shaw

RSR070 – Roger Moutenot – Producing Yo La Tengo & Paula Cole

RSR070 – Roger Moutenot – Producing Yo La Tengo & Paula Cole

RSR068 – Pat Sansone – Recording with The Autumn Defense & Wilco

RSR068 – Pat Sansone – Recording with The Autumn Defense & Wilco

My guest today is my good friend Pat Sansone, a prolific, and talented multi instrumentalist, songwriter, and Grammy nominated producer.  Pat’s early bands included playing guitar with Beagle Voyage and Stretch Armstrong, a rock band influenced by Black Sabbath and the Butthole Surfers, and then his own power pop band Birdy. In 1999, Pat formed The Autumn Defense, in New Orleans, with his friend John Stirratt of Wilco.

They went on to record four full-length albums: The Green Hour in 2000, Which I helped record at Alex The Great in Nashville, and then Engine in Chicago, and then Circles in 2003, which I recorded right here at The Toy Box Studio when it was in my house, with cables running all over the place. In fact it was Pat who aptly named my studio The Toy Box Studio after recording here while surrounded by my collection of toy instruments. The Autumn Defense then went on to make their self-titled album The Autumn Defense in 2006, and Once Around in 2010.

While living in both Nashville and New York, Pat working as a producer and studio musician. He contributed to albums by Joseph Arthur, Andrew Bird, Josh Rouse, Mavis Staples, Swan Dive, Jenifer Jackson, Ryan Adams, The Clientele, and others.

In 2004 Pat joined Wilco following the departure of multi-instrumentalist Leroy Bach. And now Pat plays guitar, keyboard, maracas, and several other instruments, as well as singing backup vocals with Wilco. He was also involved in the writing and recording of Wilco’s albums: Sky Blue Sky, Wilco, and co producing The Whole Love in 2011.

Pat has also created a book of photography called 100 Polaroids, a collection of polaroid photographs taken with an SX70 camera, from his travels with Wilco and The Autumn Defense. And he has worked with many great musicians and artists along the way including: Dawes, Jamie Lidell, Phil Selway of Radiohead, The Future Monarchs with Josh Shapera, Elizabeth Cook, Garrison Starr, Richard Julian, and Will Kimbrough.

• Pat’s musical beginnings in Meridian MS.
• Peavey headquarters.
• Recording Heartbreaker with Ryan Adams.
• Recording at the Wilco loft, at Easley Studio, and with Josh Shapera at the Mixin Administration.
• How to record fantastic drums on your record.
• Recording Wilco acoustic guitars with an iPhone.
• Why Freddie Mercuries sound great in the mix.
• Working with Richard Dodd
• Recording Hammond B3, Leslie, piano, and Wurly.
• Why Jeff Tweedy prefers recording his vocals with an Shure SM7.

This is the great video showing you how a Shure SM57 sounds on electric guitar in 7 different mic positions!

Here is Brand New Song from Americanitis by Will Kimbrough and co produced by Lij Shaw using the iPod mic for vocal and acoustic guitar.

Jeff Tweedy Sukierae with more demo guitars recorded on iPhone that became part of the record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvc6EFUx9Xo&index=1&list=PLxpRNq5SCAvJvS6-nqJjbCmaibbUgKdHJ

Here is Jack Ashford from the Funk Brothers of Motown showing us how Tamborine is really done right!

Tack Piano

Autumn Defense performing at East Side Manor, a beautiful studio in East Nashville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h72IUSsXq1w

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

RSR067 – Carl Nappa – Producing and Mixing Hip Hop with Nelly & The Hit Factory

RSR067 – Carl Nappa – Producing and Mixing Hip Hop with Nelly & The Hit Factory

My guest today is Carl Nappa with over 30 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum records as an engineer, mixer or producer. He has worked with a long list of high profile artists in Rock, Hip Hop, R&B & Pop. In his 20+ year career Carl is credited as engineer or producer for more than 50 million records sold.

He has been a staff engineer at The Hit Factory in NYC, owned and operated “Hell’s Kitchen Recording and Social Club” In NYC for 4 years, is a voting member of NARAS and now also teaches in St Louis at the Ex’Treme Institute by Nelly.

• Stealing donuts to make a big impression on the studio as an intern (we don’t recommend this!)
• Recording with Extreme
• Mixing on various consoles

• Working with Prince at The Hit Factory.
• How to mix from careful notes.
• How to know when your mix is done.

• Recording Sean Pelton on drums.
• How to soundcheck drums like a pro!
• Setting up Nelly’s Home studio.

• How to make a hit record.
• Designing and building Nelly’s Extreme Institute
• Working with Francis Manzella FM Designs from NYC.

• How to get great Low End in a mix.
• Sample level bass management.
• How to get better fast at recording and mixing when you are just starting out.

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

Carl’s mixes:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TegGJsIzB0o

 

Carl Nappa

Executive Director & Campus Director EI

Vatterott College ex’treme Institute by Nelly

800 North 3^rd Street St. Louis MO. 63102

314.657.4410

314.241.1089 fax

314.637.4908 cell

carl.nappa@eibynelly.com

Web | Facebook | Twitter

RSR066 – Danny Wyatt – EDM and Mix Master Wyatt Academy

RSR066 – Danny Wyatt – EDM and Mix Master Wyatt Academy

My guest today is Danny Wyatt, a multi-platinum, Grammy and Emmy nominated audio engineer with credits from Ultra Records to Old Dirty Bastard to Norah Jones, and one of the most influential mixing and mastering instructors and course designers. In the last decade he taught over 1,000 producers and audio engineers how to mix and master modern styles of music from deep house, minimal techno, and trance to hip hop, trap, dubstep, and drum’n’bass. Many of his students have had their tracks hit the iTunes and Beatport charts.

After teaching at SAE and DubSpot, a school for budding DJ producers, he went on to launch his own school, the Mix Master Wyatt Academy, where you can learn everything about composition, production, mixing, and mastering from the basics all the way to advanced. 

If you are ready to get serious with your EDM production then check out: Mixmaster Wyatt Academy

https://youtu.be/-03CnPOtCps

Use Coupon Code: RSR10 for 10% off any course!

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

• Recording with Gladys Night, Steve Windwood, Curtis Mayfield, Lenny Kravitz, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springstein, Eric Clapton, The Isley Bros, Branford Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, BB King, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John.
• Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Sound Bombing records.
• The origins of BackPacker Hip Hop

• Why organic sounds will make a comeback in production.
• The evolution of Hop Hop production and mixing.
• Why Hip Hop sounds different today.

• “Once while mastering I accidentally made someones jazz album mono. And it got released like that!” Danny Wyatt
• How what we aspire to in production is a bit like being in middle school.
• Why getting rid of the bad is the best way to get to the good in mixing.

• Big Room is the new one and its replacing Progressive House. But then theres minimal and theres Techno. And theres Tech House, and theres Deep House. Theres Tropical House…
• Why Dubstep sounds like Transformers having sex!
• How to get big bass in EDM

• How to get loud mixes in EDM
• How to get the pumping breathing sound for EDM.
• Beset practices for multiband saturation.

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

 

 

 

 

 

RSR065 – Meghan Gohil – From Live Sound to Studio, Recording with Lij Shaw

RSR065 – Meghan Gohil – From Live Sound to Studio, Recording with Lij Shaw

My guest today is Meghan Gohil, a producer, engineer, musician, studio and record label owner in Hollywood CA. He has been recording for longer than I have and the reason I know is that Meghan was who recorded my first college band in St Louis called Dr Seuss. When I first got started recording with my four track Meghan was the expert that I turned to for advice and microphones. He recorded many projects with me over the next couple of decades. Our first big release was for my band Enormous Richard, “Enormous Richard’s Almanac” a twangy alt country band from St Louis. We recorded 30 songs live to cassette in a basement in Granite City IL and went on to sell and distribute several thousand copies, nearly landing a record deal in the process.

That was followed by Enormous Richard “Answers All Your Questions” our first CD release. Then later we renamed ourselves Eleanor Roosevelt and made “Walker With His Head Down”  with Meghan for his college audio program at Webster University where he studied under Barry Hufker, and Bill Porter who recorded Elvis, Roy Orbison, and The Everly Brothers.

After that was another basement record. “Warm Milk On The Porch.” on 8 track cassette. And finally our band break up record aptly named “Crumbling In The Rain” which was live to two track digital tape, known as DAT tape, without headphones from the livingroom of his big old wooden house. (Like many band break ups we got back together later to make more records) I’m sure I am forgetting to mention many other sessions, but we can get to that during the interview.

Meghan moved from St Louis to Hollywood in the 2000’s to further his recording and music career, and has gone on to record with many greats including: Cure co-founder Lol Tolhurst’s band, Levinhurst, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Jack Johnson with the Animal Liberation Orchestra, Phil Lesh & Joan Osbourne, Digable Planets, and Michael Frante to name a few.

For 20 years Meghan has maintained a dual career in radio promotions, and career development & management working with many independant artists. He worked as the Project Manager at Contemporary Productions in St. Louis, SFX Entertainment, and Clear Channel Concerts.  And He’s also consulted for AEG Live and Emery Entertainment.  

Currently, he records from his home studio which you can check out at HollywoodRecordingStudio.com,  and works as a Strategy and Analytics Manager at Live Nation Entertainment’s Amphitheater division..

Cool stuff we talked about on the show:

• The benefits of starting out in live sound.
• Why you should keep a two track running during the whole session!
• How not to setup a PA…

• How to use scene changes to make your mix more interesting.
• The single most important thing to learn starting out in a studio?
• Why you should always copyright your songs!

• The importance of release forms.
• How to use speakers instead of headphones for overdubbing.
• My first band house was a mortuary! Hear the stories.

• How a recording session can be more important than a stolen car!
• How to break into touring with your band.
• Which plugin is like having a Dalek mix your song?

• What are the sweet spots for mixing levels: kick drums & speaker volume.

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

 

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!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0ZGNGBNIL8