Recording Studio Rockstars

Get Jordan’s Free 3-part video series RSRockstars.com/FullStack This series will hand you the blueprint to becoming a paid professional in the studio.  Jordan Valeriote is a producer, mixer, and engineer specializing in hardcore music who fast-tracked his decade-plus career from assistant working with Usher, Timbaland, Serena Ryder and The Jonas Brothers to a successful major label producer for Silverstein, Antimacy, the Dead and Divine, and Prophets for the Counterparts, Nick Johnston, Forevermore, Great Lakes, Mandroid Echostar, and Skynet. Jordan is also an educator at Hardcore Music Studio helping to transform students around the world from home studio hobbyists to top-tier rock and heavy music producers. He has helped thousands of music producers learn how to produce powerful rock records and build successful careers from their music studios. In this episode, Jordan shows you how to go from charging $100 to $1000/song as a full-stack producer while understanding the 4 key ingredients for how to capture r

My guest today is Dana Nielsen a Grammy-nominated mixer, engineer, producer, and saxophonist known for his work with Damien Rice, The Smashing Pumpkins, Neil Young, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer, Adele, The Avett Brothers, Bob Dylan, and Kanye West.  Nielsen also frequently works with music for picture, producing, recording, and mixing a growing number of film scores and soundtracks, such as Will Ferrell’s Anchorman 2 (Paramount) and Casa De Mi Padre (NALA), as well as the Sam Rockwell/Olivia Wilde dark comedy Better Living Through Chemistry. I am psyched to talk with Dana today about everything from recording to mixing both in the studio and remotely around the world. Thanks to our sponsors! OWC: Other World Computing: https://www.OWC.com JZ Microphones: https://usashop.jzmic.com Spectra1964: https://www.spectra1964.com PreSonus Studio One: https://www.presonus.com API Audio: http://www.apiaudio.com/ RSR Academy: http://RSRockstars.com/Academy Want to learn more about mixing? Get Free mix training with Lij a

My guest today is Eyal Levi the CEO of URM Academy, the world’s best school for rock and metal producers. Eyal is a critically acclaimed entrepreneur, musician, podcaster, educator and producer having cut his teeth as the guitarist and primary songwriter in Daath, a progressive death metal band that released albums on Roadrunner and Century Media. In 2014 he founded URM Academy, an online education platform for producers with thousands of students from across the globe. URM is best known for its flagship program, Nail The Mix. The platform hosts some of the most prestigious rock and metal producers including Tom Lord Alge, Will Putney, Dan Lancaster, Daniel Bergstrand, Jens Bogren, Adam “Nolly” Getgood, Frederik Nordstrom and Kurt Ballou among dozens of others. An accomplished speaker and educator, he has logged hundreds of hours teaching the next generation the craft and business of music production. His URM Podcast is now in its 5th year with over 250 episodes. In the studio, he has worked with The Black Da

My guest today is Mike Fanuele a recording engineer, music producer, and live sound engineer based in Washington, D.C. Starting out in the studio in 1998, he has recorded and mixed hundreds of bands over the last 22 years, including Breaking Pangaea, Dashboard Confessional, The Deadmen, Second Letter, Further Seems Forever, John Bustine, Meghan Trainor, Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, and many others.  Mixing FOH for live shows, Mike has toured with Brand New, The Chainsmokers, Dashboard Confessional, Fifth Harmony, Fountains of Wayne, Garbage, Gwen Stefani, Hanson, Jimmie Vaughan, Meghan Trainor, and Miley Cyrus, to name a few. Mike stays busy when he’s off the road at his private home studio, Lavabed Recording, where he’s focused on creating an environment that keeps bands comfortable while making great music. Mike also does remote broadcast mixing for some of his live touring clients, combining the world of the live performance with the polished sound of the studio. So today we will talk about how the studi

My guest today is Chuck Zwicky a mixer, engineer, writer and producer in Manhattan. He’s built studios, designed plug-ins and recorded, mixed and mastered hit records. His credits include Prince, The Rembrandts, Reggie Watts, Soul Asylum, Nine Inch Nails, the Jonas Brothers and more. He has a private mix room in his home in Manhattan. I met Chuck at a recent AES show when he was doing a presentation for Eventide showing off some ninja tips for the H9000 Harmonizer. Thanks to our sponsors! OWC: Other World Computing: https://www.OWC.com JZ Microphones: https://usashop.jzmic.com Spectra1964: https://www.spectra1964.com Presonus Studio One: https://www.presonus.com API Audio: http://www.apiaudio.com/ RSR Academy: http://RSRockstars.com/Academy Want to learn more about mixing? Get Free mix training with Lij at: http://MixMasterBundle.com Hear more on Youtube If you love the podcast, then please Leave a review on iTunes here CLICK HERE FOR SHOW NOTES AT: http://RSRockstars.com/260

My guest today is Eric Masse a Producer and engineer living in Nashville since 2006.  Self-described as a three times Grammy losing producer originally from Grand Rapids MI, later living in Boston. Eric is a fan of great songs and focuses on producing (or co-producing), cutting, and mixing the records he makes.  He loves European Football and is a Chelsea FC supporter.  He loves giving people the thumbs up. He has a beard and almost exclusively wears plain black t-shirts. After graduating Berklee School of Music in Boston he moved to Nashville to intern at Blackbird Studio by day and tend bar at night. Masse’s first studio was called "Cabin In the Woods" (Fairview, TN), followed by Idiot Dog (Music Row), and finally, The Casino (East Nashville), where he works today. When a record calls for a larger studio, he prefers Southern Ground. In 2014, while playing in a golf tournament, Masse met eminent Nashville producer, Frank Liddell. That connection led to a collaboration that has born several projects, most not

My guest today is Michael Beinhorn who has lived his life in the pursuit of artistic expression, first as a visual artist, then as a performer, and finally as a record producer.  Michael began in 1979 as co-founder of the seminal New York musical collective Material and has since produced and or recorded a long list of artists including Brian Eno’s “Lizard Point” from “Ambient 4: On Land.”, Herbie Hancock’s Future Shock, which included the groundbreaking cut “Rockit.”,  the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ breakthrough albums “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” and “Mother’s Milk”. Michael’s recordings have achieved combined worldwide sales of more than 45 million albums helping to define the careers of a diverse range of artists, including Soul Asylum, Hole, Soundgarden, Ozzy Osbourne, Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson, Social Distortion, Korn, and Mew.  Over the past 20 years, Michael has become increasingly aware of the concerns facing artists and producers alike who are trying to maintain their creative ethics, personal expre

My guest today is Packy Lundholm a Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer/engineer. He plays the guitar with Nintendo rock band I Fight Dragons, who just released their third LP "Canon Eyes" and celebrated their 10th anniversary. Packy runs his recording operation out of the B-room at Sound Vault Studios in Chicago, where he records various artists, and works as a session musician at Rax Trax Recording and Gravity Studios as well.  In recent years he has collaborated on several projects with Vulfpeck keyboardist Woody Goss, sharing credits with Vulf members Theo Katzman and Joe Dart. Outside of the studio he performs live in different contexts, from jobbing bands and bar mitzvahs to improv-heavy tributes to Traffic and the Grateful Dead. Packy writes and records his own music from time to time, his most recent full-length release being 2016's American Soccer. His music draws heavily from early power pop influences with touches of psychedelic rock and Americana. He is slowly brewing plan

My guest today is David Rodgers, a California native David Rodgers is one of the most exciting talents in Nashville’s jazz scene today. Currently an active member of Keb’ Mo’s band as a keyboardist, he has also recorded on numerous records including Keb’s Grammy-winning Oklahoma (2019).  David has toured and performed worldwide at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Playboy Jazz Festival, among many others with a Bachelor of Music degree in classical and jazz piano performance from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music and a Master of Music degree in commercial composition from Belmont University. His compositions have been performed and recorded internationally, including guest appearances at the 2018 Jazz Education Network’s Young Composers Showcase where the U.S. Airmen of Note played his winning big band composition, as well as in Canada where he was invited as a guest artist to the Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music.  In addition to being a

My guest today is Ike Schultz, a Multi-Platinum award-winning mixing and tracking engineer based in Los Angeles, CA originally from Toronto Canada. He’s collaborated and worked on albums for a variety of artists including Tinåshe, Lizzo, Adele, Rihanna, Kanye West, Ariana Grande, Adam Lambert, Whethan, Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa, Charlie Puth (pooth), Phantogram, and more. Ike worked at the legendary Larrabee Studios directly assisting nine-time Grammy award-winning mixer, Manny Marroquin, for 3 years. Then went on to mix Lizzo’s debut release ‘Coconut Oil’, under executive producer Ricky Reed at S.K.A.M. Studios. Ike worked on the majority of the album including the singles “Phone” & “Good As Hell”.    While at S.K.A.M. Studios, Ike worked with DJ Felli Fel, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil Yachty, Whethan, DRAM, Imad Royal & Post Malone. Afterwards, he mixed & contributed as a songwriter for multiple feature films for Paramount Pictures’ music department, and began working with Grammy award-winning producer &

My guest today is Kevin White a Nashville based musician, audio engineer, musicologist, film composer, and audio educator.   As an audio engineer, Kevin has worked with national corporate clients, films, radio, rock bands and gained a reputation for his retro-futurist aesthetics. He has taught classes on mixing and lo-fi production techniques. Kevin is a voting member of the recording academy and works full-time for the audio production college, SAE Institute. A notable milestone in Kevin's career has been his contributions to the NASA Apollo Flight Journal. His musicology and audio restoration work has contributed to the preservation of American/space flight history as well as expanding the frontiers of musicology.   Kevin was part of the newly-released documentary film Teslafy Me (2019) which presents the history of renewable energy and the authentic story of Nikola Tesla from the perspective of his Balkan homeland. As the film's composer and sound supervisor Kevin specifically used sounds from Tesla's life

My guest today is Mike Senior, a professional recording, mixing engineer, teacher and writer for years at Sound On Sound magazine. He is also the author of the popular books 'Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio', and its sequel 'Recording Secrets For The Small Studio'. Mike was on the podcast back on episode RSR124 when we got the story of his start in audio and also talked about the importance of making mistakes in the studio. He shared lots of tips for recording drums, bass, guitars, and vocals, and even talked about various methods for setting up mics for stereo recording. Today we are going to focus on mixing. Mike has some great suggestions for software that you can use to get a pro mix in your studio, and not the expensive kind either. In fact, Mike has recently put together a list of his favourite freeware that you can find and download from anywhere right now. So if you are on a budget for your studio but still want to make your mixes sound great then you’re going to want to listen to this episode. Th

My guest today is Collin Dupuis a Nashville and Detroit based multi Grammy-nominated and two time Grammy-winning mixer, producer, and engineer. Collin has developed a sought after sound over the last fifteen years working with critically acclaimed artists and projects including Angel Olsen, Lana Del Rey,St. Vincent, Dr. John, The Black Keys, and many others. Beginning his career playing in bands, running a DIY recording studio in Michigan, and doing tech work around the Detroit area, he quickly found himself working at FBT (The Bass Brothers) studio as an assistant engineer. From there, he cut his teeth working with artists and producers of the likes of Mr. Porter, Eminem, Pharoahe Monch, and many more.  He soon got a call to set up a studio at Jack White's house and help out on the White Stripes’ “Get Behind Me Satan.” Shortly after that, Collin was hired over at Carl Craig’s Planet-E records. He engineered for the next five years alongside Carl on remixes, production, live sound in Europe, mastering, and mi

My guest today is Jamie Tate a Grammy and Emmy award-winning recording engineer, mixer and producer. Jamie is the owner of The Rukkus Room studios in Nashville TN. Jamie has worked on records of all kinds, from writers publishing demos all the way up to Grammy winning, and #1 chart topping hits. We spoke with Jamie from his studio back on RSR081. Jamie has extensive experience mixing for artists like Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Marty Stuart, Justin Moore, Thomas Rhett and Billy Currington. His clients include major labels like Big Machine and Broken Bow Records, and he regularly works with professional country & pop songwriters from publishers such as Ole, SeaGayle, Dan Hodges Music, Starstruck and many more.  So today I thought we would focus on mixing, learn all Jamie’s secrets, and see what we can learn about creating better mixes ourselves in our own studios. :-) Thanks to our sponsors! OWC: Other World Computing: https://www.OWC.com WhisperRoom: https://whisperroom.com Get 10% off the 4x4 or 4x6

My guest today is Anthony Gravino an independent music maker based in Chicago, IL. He has worked with a wide variety of artists across multiple genres as a producer, recording engineer, mixing engineer, mastering engineer and musician. Anthony has been on the show before for Episode RSR156 when we talked about how he makes records in-studio capturing great sounds for Indie rock, jazz, and other genres. His private studio, known as The Drake, is equipped with a large collection of classic recording equipment and instruments with a focus on comfort, flexibility and high-quality sound. Anthony loves to create compelling recordings with exceptional sonics and is always striving to serve the song. We had the pleasure of hosting a mix clinic in 2019 at Shirk Studios owned by Steven Shirk with Rockstars travelling from all over the country to join us for the weekend which was packed and really fun to do. And so I thought I would have Anthony back on the show today to talk more in-depth about his mixing process both

My guest today is Derek Bargaehr Chief Everything Officer of Vanguard Audio Labs. Co-Founded with Ken Avant, Vanguard's goal is to make fantastic-sounding, original microphones & audio gear that's within the financial reach of the everyman musician. Their V13 tube microphone has been used on a number of hit records by Grammy-winning engineers and artists. Derek began burning himself with a soldering iron and messing up his guitar pedals in high school, eventually working as Director of Operations for Avant Electronics (creators of the Avantone MixCubes) for several years. A freelancing engineer, producer, gear tech, and bassist, Derek received a BA in Commercial Music – Audio Engineering & Music Business from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, CA. Vanguard Mics have gotten some great praise from engineers like Steve Genowick, Ray Kennedy, and Bob Bullock to name just a few and are seriously affordable super cool looking mics that will make you wish you had one for a hood ornament too! Thanks to our sp

My guest today is Fela Davis a graduate and recent Hall of Fame inductee at Full Sail University with almost 20 years of experience in audio engineering, working for clients like Clair Global and House of Blues. Fela also has experience mixing live shows for the likes of Ron Carter, Brian Blade, Jose Feliciano, Meshell Ndegeocello and Bilal. She's currently front of house engineer for 6-time Grammy Award winner Christian McBride, mixing sold out shows across Asia, Europe, Canada and  America.  When not on the road, she's recording and creating new projects at 23dB Productions & One of One Productions Studio.  23dB Productions specializes in live mixing, recording, producing original music, podcasts, creating video and social media content for businesses and offers mobile recording services for Live Nation NYC venues like Music Hall of Williamsburg and Bowery Ballroom and SiriusXM's Real Jazz The Lowdown. 23dB records, mixes, and edits at their One of One Productions Studio located 5 minutes from NYC in Fo

My guest today is Larry Crane, the editor and founder of Tape Op Magazine (est. 1996), owner of Portland’s Jackpot! Recording Studio (est. 1997), a freelance producer/engineer/mixer who has worked internationally, and archivist for the Estate of Elliott Smith. He's worked with artists like Sleater-Kinney, The Decemberists, Jenny Lewis, M. Ward, The Go-Betweens, Elliott Smith, Stephen Malkmus, Wooden Shjips, Quasi, David J, She & Him, Richmond Fontaine, and more. His music recording courses at Linkedin Learning feature over 12 hours of real recording tips and tricks. He's spoken on and moderated panels about recording for TapeOpCon, SXSW, NXNW, NARAS, AES, and CMJ. He has worked in the past as a record label owner, radio station music director, DJ, record distributor sales, freelance music journalist and bass player (in bands since 1984, including Elephant Factory, Vomit Launch, and the Sunbirds.) In 2019 he was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. Thanks to our sponsors! OWC: Other World Computing

My guest today is Chris Shaw a four-time Grammy Award-winning American producer, engineer, mixer, and musician. Beginning his career at Greene Street Recording, he quickly worked his way from his start as an NYU intern, to assistant engineer, to a position as a staff engineer working with influential hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Run-DMC, and LL Cool J. In 1991 he played bass with LL Cool J on his famous performance on MTV Unplugged (along with De La Soul, MC Lyte, and A Tribe Called Quest). He went independent shortly after and has since made records with Weezer, Wilco, Bob Dylan, Ween, Jeff Buckley, Soul Asylum, Sheryl Crow, Super Furry Animals, Death Cab For Cutie, Lou Reed, Bad Brains, Ric Ocasek, Cheap Trick, Elvis Perkins, Joss Stone, The Meat Puppets, Nada Surf, Dashboard Confessional, and The Derek Trucks Band. He has worked on six of Rolling Stone's "500 greatest Records of All Time". Originally based in New York, Chris relocated to the Austin, Texas area in 2013. Thanks

My guest today is Howard Willing a Nashville based engineer/producer/mixer previously from LA where he made records for 22 years. He was also A&R at Capitol Records and has worked with an amazing list of artists including Sara Bareilles, Linda Ronstadt, Ok Go, Sheryl Crow, Dean Martin and Scarlett Johansen, Glen Cambell, Counting Crows, American Idol, Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins, Mute Math, Van Hunt, 2 Pac, and Snoop Dog among many others. Thanks so much to Brad Wood for making our introduction. Thanks to our sponsors! OWC: Other World Computing: https://www.OWC.com WhisperRoom: https://whisperroom.com Get 10% off the 4x4 or 4x6 booths now when you mention Recording Studio Rockstars. JZ Microphones: https://usashop.jzmic.com Spectra1964: https://www.spectra1964.com Presonus Studio One: https://www.presonus.com RSR Academy: http://RSRockstars.com/Academy Want to learn more about mixing? Get Free mix training with Lij at: http://MixMasterBundle.com Hear more on Youtube If you love the podcast, then please