Grammy-nominated Archives - Recording Studio Rockstars

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RSR026 – Matthew Weiss – The Pro Audio Files

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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.

RSR026 - Matthew Weiss - The Pro Audio Files

My guest today is Matthew Weiss, a Grammy nominated, and Spelleman Award winning engineer. He began his career assisting such notable engineers and producers as Bobby Eli, Mark Marshall, Denise Barbarita, and Ron St. Germaine.



His credits include Arrested Development, Snoop Dogg, Dizzee Rascal, Uri Caine, Sonny Digital, Mega Ran, King Midas, Armageddon, Ronnie Spector, and too many more to mention here.


Matthew also executive produced the self ­titled album "Soul Veggies" which debuted at #47 on the Indie Billboard Chart, #97 on the Hip Hop Billboard Chart, and #188 on Billboard's Top 200.


Most importantly for your Rockstars, is that Matthew loves teaching audio recording and mixing. He has appeared as a guest speaker at Cornell University, ProStudio Live, and SXSW. And his audio education tutorials are among the best selling and most highly regarded that you will find.


Matthew has teamed up with The Pro Audio Files to create many courses teaching you everything from mixing Hip Hop & EDM, or Rock and Pop music. He also offers advanced courses diving deeper into topics like mixing rap vocals or Hip Hop beats.


When you are ready to learn by example, you will enjoy Matthew’s Mixthru Series where you get to watch over his shoulder as he mixes an entire song from start to finish in real time. It’s like getting to hang out in the studio with a master mixer for hours during a real mix. Matthew even stops along the way to explain every detail. So you know not only what is going on, but why he is making all his mix decisions.

Learn Directly From Matthew Weiss!

(Keep reading to see the special discount offer created just for your Rockstars!)

MIXTHRU SERIES

Improve your mixing skills by watching a professional mix engineer at work. Learn the what, why, and how as Matthew mixes right in front of you.

MIXING EDM

Learn How To Mix Drums, Synths, Bass, Vocals, transitions, Drops, and More!

MIXING HIP-HOP

Levels, Compression, EQ and everything in between!

THE PRO AUDIO FILES MEMBERSHIP SITE

This is the place to find all of Matthew's tutorials and courses in one place for one monthly price!

The Pro Audio Files have created a special offer just for your Rockstars...

Now you can get 25% off of any Matthew Weiss product. (For a limited time so act now!)

Just use the code RSR25 at checkout​


Jam Session 

Q - What was holding you back at the start?
A - Money! It’s really hard to go places and do things when you’re working at a pizza shop.

“The most important thing in mixing and production is the decision making process” @WeissSound


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Q- What was some of the best advice you got early on?
A - I was backstage at a concert going on at temple university and KRS-One was the headliner and I got a chance to talk to him backstage. I asked him what's the magic key to success. and he said to me, “If you really want to stand in your own light, help someone else stand in theirs”, and that pretty much shaped my whole career.

“The direction of the hustle is a little different… I call it downstream production” @WeissSound

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Q- Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.

A - Understand the instrument you’re recording. If you want to get the best sound sonically speaking from a voice. They best way is to understand the mechanisms that go into vocal performance because if you know those mechanisms you will get such an improvement of sound at the source. You can throw up a bullshit microphone going into a bullshit preamp and still actually get sonically speaking good results.

Q - Share a favorite hardware tool for the studio
A-
I've got a fairchild clone. I love my hardware, a lot of it's modified to do what I want it to do. I got a Bricasti Reverb recently, that thing sounds so good. I picked out all this stuff for very specific purposes, not all of its expensive. I’ve got a drawmer punch gate, I’ve got a Bellari tube exciter and it's been modified, and that's not a very expensive unit, and I have a $7,000 compressor that sounds really, really good.

“I’m miscredited or not credited probably as often as I’m credited” @WeissSound

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Q - Share a favorite software tool for the studio

A - There's so many of them. Waves Inphase seems to keep making its way into my life. It’s one of the few things that you can do in terms of processing that actually adjusts the source recording. Getting a perfect phase relationship between things like miced bass cabinet and bass DI is pretty irreplaceable.

“If you do your work on the front end, it makes things like mixing a whole lot easier” @WeissSound

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

A - I haven't found too many great resources for the business side of things, so I would love it if your listeners send me their resources! I had been checking out accountants and decided to be my own. I talked to managers and ultimately decided to be my own manager. I’ve had assistants and all of them have been unfortunately fired. So I end up doing everything myself. I write my own contracts because I have yet to find any resource that helps with that. Google is amazing. If you want to know things, like what goes into a split sheet, but you can google it and get a sheet to print, and learn what it is and what it does. Be self-sufficient.

“Bragging rights are great, but nothing beats the experience” @WeissSound

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Q - If you had to start over what gear would you need? How would you find people to record? And how would you make ends meet while you got started?

A - You need a laptop because you have to be able to communicate with people. Whatever budget that you can get for equipment, but put a good amount toward necessities: an interface, a respectable microphone. My first microphone was an Audio Technica 433 A, I still have it and still use it. When you’re buying gear, try to buy the stuff you are going to keep. And don’t forget to save money for expenses on the way up. Be selective about who you’re working with, but know these are the people who are ultimately going to shape your career.

“Some decisions will turn out to be mistakes” @WeissSound

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Q - What is the single most important thing a listener can do to become a rockstar of the recording studio?

A - Get into the studio. Whatever sacrifices you have to make, trust me. What is going into a studio and buying studio time yourself in the face of that? Whether you’re going to college to get your degree in finance, it's a sacrifice in the beginning. You incur debt or pay out of your own pocket to get an education, to gain access to people, to form connections and network and expand what you’re doing. And after you make that sacrifice, the idea of the investment is it pays off down the road. So be willing to make sacrifices and realize they aren’t as big as they are when you’re making them.

Contact:

theproaudiofiles.com/members

www.weiss-sound.com

www.weissadvice.com
Blessing Offor

RSR021 – Blessing Offor – Songwriter Producer

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.

RSR021 - Blessing Offor - Songwriting Producer

Singer on The Voice

My guest today is Blessing Offor an eclectic musician, songwriter, and producer. Born in Nigeria and raised in Connecticut with cultural and musical influences that span continents, cultures, and decades, Blessing has a life story and a message that he has felt compelled to share through music from a young age.


As an artist and songwriter Blessing has mastered guitar and piano as the tools of composition. But his voice has taken him to studios and stages all over. He has been on the TV show The Voice, and appeared at The Kennedy Center on multiple occasions, and is also an international songwriting competition winner.


I have had the pleasure of working with Blessing in the studio many times, and it is a blast. Blessing has a sharp ear as a singer and producer, and uses the tools of the studio in very unique ways as you will learn on the podcast.

“Words are powerful, words put to music are unstoppable” @BlessingOffor

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Jam Session


Q. When you started out in recording what was Holding You Back?

A. I think what was holding me back, was making weird faces when I sang. My first voice teacher said, blessing you have open your mouth. No one looks attractive singing. So you have to stop worrying about looking cute. Opening my mouth was really weird for me.


Q. Some of the best advice?

A. If you don’t feel it no one else will. Real simple. If you’re not into it, who else is going to be into it.

“There’s writing because you’re inspired, and then there’s writing because it’s a practice and a habit.” @BlessingOffor

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Q. Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.

A. The one ear trick. If you’re having a hard time hitting a harmony, or a double, just lift one ear off. You actually have to hear yourself sometimes, as well what you’re matching because you have to tune yourself.


Q. Share with us a favorite hardware tool.

A. My favorite microphone. Neumann U87 or 47. When I hear it in my ears, I’m just like, who is that singing? Oh thats me!

“Everyday, just write something.” @BlessingOffor

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Q. Share with us a favorite software tool in the studio.

A. Apple's got a pretty much covered. If it wasn’t for that voiceover app, we wouldn’t even be here right now. But Logic is also pretty cool.

“On a record, you want to capture something eternal.” @BlessingOffor

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Q. Share with us a favorite tip for the business side of the studio.

A. I have a lot of friends who are much further in the business than I am, and I just pick their brains about everything. I pick their brains about mechanical royalties, what the music industry is doing right now, how to monetize yourself, and how streams of income are happening with streaming.

“Putting out a record that you’re not going to stand behind 100% is going to be the worst feeling of your life” @BlessingOffor

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Q - If you had to start over what gear would you need? How would you find people to record? And how would you make ends meet while you got started?

A. I used to only piano and I thought man, portability is a very nice thing about the guitar. So i started learning guitar. I’m not the best guitar player by any stretch, but I can definitely write and perform on it. I think that my best calling card is my songs and hopefully me singing them. So if i just dropped into a new city, and knew no one I would find the most crowded part of the city and just start playing and I think the rest would just work out on its own. You know, you’d be surprised how many different people that you meet.


“A friend said to me, you know blessing you have to get into the car first before you drive anyone anywhere, and then I thought, well me driving is a terrible idea” @BlessingOffor

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Q. What is the single most important thing that our listeners can do to become a rockstar of the recording studio’s themselves.

A. Become a gearhead… That’s a lie, actually quite the opposite. You should have a sound. Have an idea of what you’re trying to do. Conceptually before you go out and do a bunch of things, just know what you’re looking for. For me it’s been really important to know what the end goal is before you just head of on this Don Quixote quest.


Facebook: Blessing Offor.

RSR020 – Shane D Wilson – St Izzy’s Of The East Studio

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.

RSR018 - Shane D Wilson

St Izzy's Of The East Studio

My guest today is Shane D Wilson a Grammy-nominated, chart-rocking, multi-genre

music recording engineer. Starting out in the audio technology program at Indiana University, Shane later relocated to Nashville TN in 1991 (same year that I did) and was soon assisting some of the top engineers in town.


Not long after that Shane was able to establish himself as a principal engineer through his work with Charlie Peacock Productions. His career has led him to work with bands like Switchfoot, David Crowder, Derek Webb, Amy Lee, Owsley, Michael W Smith, Mercy Me and Wes Cunningham among many.


Shane often works from his cozy St Izzy’s Of The East Studio using a creative hybrid of analog and digital technologies to create beautiful sounds. And we will talk about how he likes to record and mix music on the show.

"Music is nothing if not all opinion. I firmly believe there’s more than one right way to do a song"  -SDW

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Things We Talked About 


Adat, Radar, Otari

Tracking vs. Mixing

Streaming Techniques

Avantone Mixcube (modeled after original auratone speaker)

Proximity Effect

Realistic - Pillow Speakers

Cartage - Storage and delivery of music gear

Jam Session:

Q - What was holding you back at the start?

A - The tendency to believe that you know it all... really feeling like you have it all together. You need to be open to new ideas, especially starting out. Go learn about new technology to make it the best it can be even with limitations.

“ProTools. Once it hit.. Man, it was a big tidal wave” -SDW

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Q- What was some of the best advice you got early on?

A - Do your best not to piss anyone off. If you’re really battling a kick drum sound, look around 500 hz. You might find you don’t want it in there so much.


An amazing producer where I was interning leaned on me and said, “I’m going to give you some advice. Whatever you do, it doesn’t matter who the person is, where they are in the pecking order of things, whatever those things may be in your career.. don’t ever piss anybody off. They may be nobody today, but chances are someday they’re going to be somebody and you’re going to need something and they’re only going to remember that you were awful to them.”

Shane D Wilson

Q- Share with us a recording tip, hack, or secret sauce.

A - The first thing that comes to mind is, I remember when I first got started with audio when I was 13 at a little church where a guy let me help with live sound stuff. Later on someone else took over and rewired everything. The new guy’s defense was, “we are gonna break the console, because we aren’t using stuff for what it’s labeled for.” Even at 13 I thought that was stupid. But later on, one of the most fun ways I work on a session is using pieces of gear for things other than what they have been made for. Just because something is labeled that it does X, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for Y. It can open up a whole new world for sound.

“Just because something is labeled that it does X, doesn’t mean it can’t be used for Y” -SDW


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Q - Share a favorite hardware tool for the studio

A- Roland Space Echo RE-201. Love it for tracking, love it for mixing. It is old school, but you can find it on reverb.com, craigslist, or ebay. There are several models of it.


Q - Share a favorite software tool for the studio

A - The Soundtoys suite of plugins. Everything that company does makes me smile. I have multiples of their stuff on every mix. They release their free plugin at South by Southwest every year. They started with the Radiator, and Lexicon Prime Time Delay (Primaltap) and a couple others. Keep your eye out on social media around that time for free downloads. I am also in love with the Fabfilter Pro-Q 2 EQ it's a great surgical EQ. You can actually real-time visualize the problem areas while you’re EQ-ing.




“Meekness is hard, regardless of your abilities” -SDW


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

A - This is a bit of advice. One of the guys for whom I was an intern for gave me some business advice specifically about taxes. Every check he has a separate savings account that he diverts money to, so if you’re paying quarterly or annually, there’s always something there. I always take about 25% of every check and put it in a savings account and pay my taxes out of that. Don’t forget about self-employment tax! Plan ahead. If you’re worried about stuff, it affects your art. Gear buying is a deductible, same with medical expenses.



Q - If you had to start over what gear would you need? How would you find people to record? And how would you make ends meet while you got started?

A - It really is a great time to be making music, you can be creative almost anywhere now. So if i was starting over, I would get an affordable laptop, the Apollo UA series of interfaces are the most stupidly, ridiculous, cool things that have come along especially with their plugins that model preamps, a Shure SM7, and some good cans. If i had those tools, i think it would be possibly to realize their art in most situations. I would hope to meet them in local clubs and coffee shops. Price yourself accordingly. Don't be afraid to make money doing something that’s not related to your art to make ends meet, but at the same time, don’t put yourself in such a safe place that you lose track of the ability to keep creating.

“To be able to move someone to feel something so much that there’s a physical, emotional response… that’s a good day” -SDW

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Q - What is the single most important thing a listener can do to become a rockstar of the recording studio?

A - Listen. Listen to people for whom you have respect for what they do. Listen to music. It’s easy to stop listening after you’ve been doing this for awhile.