If it sounds good then it is good! Brennan talked about the importance of embracing your own sonic thumbprint, mixing with depth, programming drums, how to make a cooler gated snare, asynchronistic work, recording with an iPhone, and lyric writing.

My guest today is Brennan Aerts, a producer, writer, and musician who has worked extensively in film, television, and ads since 2010 in Los Angeles, CA and Nashville, TN. He owns a music house called Bird Nest Int'l and has produced music content for every major network as well as multiple national ad campaigns, movies, and artists. He is a member of the bands Vinyl Pinups and The Werewolves and recent credits include Moon Taxi, Better Than Ezra, and Devon Gilfilian to name just a few.

Thank you to Jay Tooke for the introduction!

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Website Links:

www.wearewerewolves.com
www.birdnestintl.com

Instagram: @vinylpinups @thewerewolvesrock @brennanaerts

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

Give of yourself generously to those you work with! Jeremy talked about producing indie rock and pop bands in a small studio, touring in a signed band, building a new production studio, starting a mastermind group, and family life vs work balance.

My guest today is Jeremy Steckel, a musician and producer in Columbus OH. Having settled into an indie-pop and rock production and mixing universe, Jeremy focuses on building the landscape of the song around the core part of almost every modern song: the vocal performance. Nothing speaks louder than an emotional, well-captured vocal delivery and the song always has to serve that objective.

Jeremy’s credits include MEOWBOYS, Coastal Club, Lui, Darity, Sean Mac, Trauna, Brightest London, The Orphan The Poet and Embleton to name a few. Today we will talk about working as a touring guitarist, building a new mixing studio, how to get a great production and mix, and even finding ways to level up your business through the power of a mastermind group.

Thank you to Jim Stewart for the introduction!

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Website Links:

http://www.jeremysteckel.com/
Instagram: @jeremy_steckel

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

What does it sound like miked in the bathtub? Matt talked about being at Strongroom Studios, tape flying off the machine, why you need hardware synths, MDing for Björk and Ellie Goulding, how to record ambient music, and why real guitar pedals rock!

My guest today is Matt Robertson, a British-born, Canadian-based, 3x Grammy-nominated composer, producer, and musical director. Matt has worked with Björk, Anohni, Arca, The Cinematic Orchestra, and Ellie Goulding as musical director and orchestrator / arranger. 

He has released four albums under his own name to date, balancing ambient sound design alongside warm organic techno and ripples of delicate electronics. His albums ‘Forecast’, ‘In Echelon’ and ‘Entology’, have been described as “symphonic electronica and leftfield techno that’s cinematic in scale” (Mixmag), “magnificent…wild, electronic sound” (The Line Of Best Fit) and “Nils Frahm’s modern classical meets Jon Hopkins’ grainy techno” (MOJO).

Growing up listening to a healthy mixture of Jean-Michel Jarre and Jimmy Smith, Matt graduated from the University of Surrey before working at recording studios in London learning how to fix, and later build, some of his own synths. Working with a collection of vintage, modern and DIY synths, and combining electronic music production with classical composition and cinematic soundscapes; artists, producers, and film composers alike seek his enveloping and distinct sound. His work with Anoushka Shankar awarded him 2 Grammy nominations, and he recently scored the films ‘The New Corporation – The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel’, and' ‘Navalny’.

Thanks to Damian Taylor for making our introduction!

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Website Links:

https://www.mattrobertsonmusic.com/

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

How many room mics do Atmos drums need? Matt talked about recording and mixing a jazz band in Atmos, how to let old gear go to make room for new gear, speakers, mix levels, full setup for mixing in Atmos, and new ways to think about space and sound.

My guest today is Matt Boudreau, a very successful audio engineer, Atmos mixer, producer, drummer and podcast host. I often call Matt “my brother from another podcast” as the host of the awesome Working Class Audio podcast where he also conducts interviews with producers and engineers about life in the studio but more focused on work/life balance for the working audio professional.

Matt has been a guest on Recording Studio Rockstars a couple of times already so you can check out his back story on episode RSR053 (when we actually met) and then again on RSR375 when Matt taught us all about mixing with drum samples. And today we will talk primarily about mixing because after 28 years, Matt now focuses on mixing and mastering in Stereo and Dolby ATMOS (immersive/Spatial audio). In fact Matt mixed two of the songs on my record Skadoosh! In Atmos which you can hear in the show notes along with other great works from his discography.

Matt Boudreau is based in the San Francisco Bay Area but works with people around the globe. Whether you are a self-funded artist or a major-label artist, Matt is here to help you finish a record you are proud of (literally in all directions through immersive audio)!

Thanks to iTunes search function and finding Working Class Audio for making our original introduction.

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Website Links:

RSR375 – Matt Boudreau – Mixing With Drum Samples (Tips For The Home Studio)
RSR053 – Matt Boudreau – Working Class Audio Podcast
https://solo.to/wca
https://solo.to/mattboudreau
https://www.workingclassaudio.com/
https://www.mattboudreau.com/
Instagram: @working_class_audio @matt_boudreau
Twitter: @workclassaudio @matt_boudreau
Matt on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattboudreau/
Working Class Audio on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/company/working-class-audio

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

Be willing to chase the dragon! Nick talked about creating the ultimate custom mix template, finding your ideal studio listening level, why you should only use two volumes, ninja tips for Soundflow and Avid S1, de-essing vocal tricks, and fx chains.

My guest today is Nick Krill, an indie rock producer, mixer, and engineer. Nick's interest in the studio began as a teenager when he would spend weekends in a basement 4-track studio with his band, The Spinto Band. 

Nick spent the first part of his career simultaneously playing in bands and recording and mixing other artists in the studio. In the early 2000s, The Spinto Band gained notoriety and went on to release 4 LPs and tour extensively in North America and Europe. After the Spinto Band went on hiatus, Nick spent four years touring and recording with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. In 2018 Nick decided to focus solely on the studio side of his work, and now produces, mixes, and engineers indie rock full time. Some highlights of his recording work include:

- Recording and mixing two volumes of "A Philly Special Christmas" (Which went on to chart on in the top 10 on various Billboard charts and had a No.1 iTunes single), 

- Producing and mixing the  "I Can't Handle Change" EP by Roar (This EP now has over 700 million Spotify streams, and the song "Christmas Kids" charted in the UK last year)

- Working as a recording engineer on the last two War On Drugs Lps ("A Deeper Understanding" and "I Don't Live Here Anymore")

- Producing and mixing the most recent Generationals LP "Heatherhead."

Nick has been a guest on the show before for episode RSR128 where you can hear more about his backstory. Today we will talk about new records and how to make an award-winning record!

Thank you to The Sin City Band and also Robin Eaton for the introduction!

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Website Links:

RSR128 – Nick Krill – The Spinto Band, Grammy winning War On Drugs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Tchad Blake, and Dave Fridmann
https://www.nickkrill.com/
Instagram: @nick_krill

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

Make some noise about dither ya'll! Daniel talked about how mastering flow is like songwriting, how to null check audio files, his hybrid mastering signal chain, why Wavelab is so cool, monitor levels, Ozone 11, and the magic of an old Mackie mixer.

My guest today is Daniel Bacigalupi, a Minnesota native who has been mastering music in Nashville for 15 years. Daniel began his career at Ithaca College in New York where he earned a B.M. in Sound Recording Technology under the direction of Alex Perialas. Upon graduation, he moved to Nashville and began a 6 year career at Georgetown Masters with renowned Mastering engineer Andrew Mendelson. 

Daniel opened dB Masters in Green Hills in 2014 before teaming up with Grammy Award-winning engineer Pete Lyman and Infrasonic Mastering. He now works out of Infrasonic Nashville and continues to work on projects across a variety of genres.

Daniel has mastered for a range of artists including Gabby Barrett, Darius Rucker, Parker Millsap, Parmalee, Kane Brown, Levi Hummon, Ross Copperman, Republican Hair, Ginny Owens, Hey Romeo, Here Come The Mummies, Phoebe Hunt, and more.

Thank you to Raelynn Janicke, Reid, and Pete Lyman For the Introduction!

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Website Links:

https://www.infrasonicsound.com/
Instagram: @infrasonicdan @infrasonicsound

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

What does fifteen 1176s at once to vinyl sound like? Bobbi talked about cutting direct to disk for Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown, choosing the best compressor, pure analog mastering, speakers vs headphones, recording a Broadway cast, and iZotope RX.

My guest today is Bobbi Giel, a mastering engineer based out of Nashville, TN. She made the move to Nashville in October 2017 and spent four years at Georgetown Masters under the direction of Chief Mastering Engineer Andrew Mendelson before joining the team at Welcome to 1979.

Bobbi began her career at University of Hartford’s The Hartt School where she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Production and Technology with a concentration in Classical Piano and a minor in Business Administration. Following graduation in 2015 she spent two years working at various recording and post-production studios in New York City including MSR Studios (now Sound on Sound Studios in Montclair, New Jersey), the new Atlantic Studios at Atlantic Records, and LVLY Studios.

In addition to mastering, Bobbi is a member of the Audio Engineering Society and a member of the Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy. In 2016 she was also featured on Humans of New York, a popular photo blog and book of street portraits and interviews collected on the streets of New York City.

Thank you to Chris and Yoli Mara for the introduction!

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Website Links:

https://welcometo1979.com/mastering/
Instagram: @bobbigiel
X: @bobbigiel

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

"1000 burritos, tacos, and Bud Lights came flying at me like the arrows in 300!" Andy talked about recording Andrew WK from a mobile truck, doubling vocals like Mahler, learning to listen, recording Cuban music, guitars, vocals, and tuning drums.

My guest today is Andy Freeman who got his hands on a console at age 12 and at age 21 got his first job in audio, recording and editing voice over artists in Atlanta. In 2002, after a friend asked if he produced bands, Andy said yes. 

This was a lie. But he hasn’t stopped producing and mixing bands since then, so I guess it was a good lie.

Learning on the job at his own studio in Atlanta, he and his wife Malie [“Molly”] moved to San Francisco in 2008, then to Los Angeles in 2015, then to Nashville in 2017 where he works out of a full tracking and mixing space in his house. 

Andy doesn’t hear music in genre, preferring the idea that there are only two kinds of music: good and bad. Consequently he’s been able to work with just about anyone. Jason Hawk Harris, Ace Monroe, Leeann Skoda, Eisley, and lots of fun San Francisco bands you have never heard of. He also made a lot of live recordings in his time rambling around the country in a mobile recording truck with Bay Area Tone. They include Andrew WK, Carney, The Bravery, The Sounds, Niko Case… Anyway, if there’s passion and determination, he wants to be involved.

Oh, and he likes real stuff. Like real people in a real room playing real instruments while being really inspired by each other's presence. If you work with him, he will spend an awful lot of time talking about energy and flow and stuff like that. Because he wants to know who you are as an artist, he’ll use words like “identity” and “impact” and “deliberate” and he will frequently ask you why you’re doing what you’re doing when you could be doing something else. He believes in tube amps, consoles, tape machines, analog hardware, and doing it the hard way. He will make a record in Pro Tools but he doesn’t like it, and he refuses to learn how to program because let’s face it, everybody else can already do better than he could anyway.

He also doesn’t like writing in the third person. He thinks it’s weird.

Importantly to me Andy teamed up with Mark Rubel in 2020 to create a GoFundMe page to help me save home studios in Music City, which we did. It was probably the greatest honor I've ever received in music. So thanks Andy!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/nashville-says-039thank-you039-lij-shaw

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Watch More On Youtube:

Website Links:

RSR017 – Mark Rubel – Blackbird Academy & Pogo Studio

Instagram: @andyfreemanaf

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

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

Music needs boundaries to be great! Steven talked about starting in Seattle studios, moving his studio, being organized, limiting io inputs, becoming a backup badass, headphone mixers, reamping drums, modular synths, & when to buy your own building.

My guest today is Steven Lee Tracy, a writer, musician, producer, mixer and owner of Saint Cecilia Studios in Tucson, Arizona. Steven works with a variety of artists from electronic pop with big modern vocals to indie rock bands to Americana acoustic music. So I look forward to learning more about the ways he can interact with different artists to bring out their best work.

This episode is particularly interesting to me because Saint Cecilia is also the patron saint of music. And Cecilia is the name that I gave to my one of a kind, famous MCI console, originally from Criteria Studio C in Miami, that I had here in my studio, The Toy Box Studio, for 15 years. This is the console that recorded hotel California for the Eagles, the Bee Gees staying alive and Saturday night fever, Margaritaville, We’re An American Band, and the Grease soundtrack to name just a few. 

Thank you to Björgvin Benediktsson at Audio Issues, and Matt Boudreau at WCA for the introduction!

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Website Links:

https://www.saintceciliastudios.com/
Instagram: @saintceciliastudios

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