Working Class Audio

Andrew Maury is an American record producer, audio engineer, and mixing engineer based in Brooklyn, New York. Maury has worked with artists such as Lewis Del Mar, Ra Ra Riot, Shawn Mendes, Grace Mitchell, Strange Names, Post Malone, RAC, Panama Wedding, Atlas Genius, Kimbra, Delicate Steve, Milagres, High Highs, Penguin Prison, Kisses, Satchmode, COIN, The Kooks, and CRUISR. In the summer of 2009, he worked on Tegan and Sara’s Sainthood alongside producer and Death Cab for Cutie guitarist Chris Walla at the world-famous Sound City Studios in Los Angeles. Maury also spent years mixing front of house on tour for artists such as Ra Ra Riot and Givers and has mixed shows for bands such as Delicate Steve, Surfer Blood, and Chairlift.About this Interview:Andrew talks to me from his home in Brooklyn, NY about management, health, working in the pop world as a rock guy, gear lust, Sound City, and much more. Many thanks to listener Chad Wahlbrink for suggesting Andrew.Show notes and links:The Patchbay I menti

James Tuttle is an recording/mixing engineer and producer with 40 years in the trenches. After growing up playing in local bands in the midwest and Colorado he traded his place on stage for a place behind the console and never looked back. He has worked with everyone from Carole King and Dan Fogelberg to Joe Ely and Big Head Todd and the Monsters. He is a 2 time Grammy nominee for his mixing work with singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson and Jungle Jazz For Kids creator Mark Oblinger. He currently lives outside of Boulder, Colorado where he returned to after a stay in the fertile music mecca of Austin TX. He continues to be actively involved in making records with local and national artists. After a long affiliation with Airshow Mastering where he had a mix room, he now works from his home studio and from the Studio at eTown Hall. His ongoing affiliation with the eTown syndicated radio show/podcast spans 20+ years where he is the chief recording engineer. Working on the eTown show has afforded him the opportunity

Katie Tavini began working as a producer and engineer before a piece of advice changed everything for her. “I was looking to improve my mixes,” she recalls. “Someone told me that if I wanted to do that I should learn to master. Whether it was good advice or not I took it. I loved what I discovered and never looked back.”With a fine balance of curiosity and experience, Tavini is now a mastering engineer with a rich and diverse client-list far bigger than any sound or scene.“I like things with a lot of influences,” she adds. “I like not being able to place a piece of music immediately and I love working with bands and artists who push their boundaries. I've found that a willingness to try and explore something new has often led to amazing results for my clients.”Katie is a mastering engineer who encourages, refines, expands and finishes. She loves to amplify the emotion and energy of an artist while bringing clarity and consistency to their art. People do not hear her best work, they fe

Horacio Bolz  is an engineer/producer from  Montevideo, Uruguay. By the age of 8 he was recording for fun and playing guitar and drums. While his life plan was originally to become a commercial airline pilot, it wasn't until  later he realized that music, producing and engineering was what I wanted to do in life. So by the age of 18 he moved to the UK to follow that dream. Horacio  started his Production & Sound Engineering studies at Alchemea Collage in London. Once there he began to work for Phil Manzanera and Javier Weyler as an assistant engineer. During this period he recorded part of Phil's last two solo albums (The Sound of Blue & Corroncho 2).   In 2012 Horacio returned to Uruguay where he started working as head engineer at Vivace Music. There, he recorded and mixed songs for most of the best bands in the country. Meanwhile he started doing live related work as a Monitor Engineer for Uruguayan bands. 2013 was the year in&n

Mastering engineer David Glasser  has over 35 years of experience  in audio engineering and has mastered thousands of records, including more than 80 GRAMMY nominees. A three-time nominee himself, he has earned two GRAMMY awards for mastering and restoration of the culturally significant  Anthology of American Folk Music (1997) and Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton (2002). David began his audio career with the Boston Symphony, followed by eight years of recording and production for NPR. He founded Airshow in 1983 and shifted to full-time mastering in 1990 with a modest studio in Springfield, VA. Expanding the company to Boulder, Colorado in 1997, David grew Airshow into one of the largest mastering facilities in the country. In 2016, David built a new facility where he continues to enjoy the daily variety of a busy mastering practice.About this Interview:David talks with me about his early days at NPR, recording live shows, transitioning in

Jim Homes is a producer /engineer and one half of the production team known as Boe Weaver who have worked with artists including Champs, Whyte Horses, Wolfpeople, Archie Bronson Outfit and Rhys Lewis. Jim is our guest today since according to him he is the chatty one and brother Rob is the quiet one. Jim and Rob parlayed their 90's era band's minor success into a production  career by making some very good decisions  about gear and money early on. Their studio is located on the Isle of Wight South of London on property owned by the Crown where they rent a 3 story water tower to make records in. Raising families and careers, the brothers have taken what some would see as a disadvantage (being isolated away from London) into an advantage by bringing artists to a truly magical place away from distraction to focus purely on music. About this Interview:Jim chats with me about living and working on the Isle of Wight with brother Rob, raising a family, working 9-5, working below a giant water tank and

Dom Morley is a Grammy Award winning producer and mixer based in his own Oxfordshire (UK) studio. Dom engineered  Amy Winehouse's number 1 "Back To Black" album, Mark Ronson's "Version" and "Record Collection", Richard Ashcroft's 'These People' and "Keys' To The World', the Grinderman (Nick Cave) debut album and singles for Adele, Morrissey & Estelle amongst others. Some recent mixes include Sting's 5.1 "Live at Durham Cathedral", Solomon Grey's debut album, Mull Historical Society's 'Dear Satellite' & 'City Awakenings' (both of which Dom also produced) 'Colin MacIntyre's "The Water", the Million Dollar Quartet OCR, and the soundtrack for the upcoming British film 'Gozo'. Dom has also engineered or mixed for Rag'n'Bone Man, The Staves, Rumer, Keane, Birdy, Lemon Jelly, Jeff Beck, Sting, I Am Kloot, The Verve, Live8 (DVD) and Underworld, as well as working with The Police on the pre-production for their world tour and recording and mixing the audio for the 5 "Intros" and "Input/Output" series (Mu

Bill Smith is a recording engineer & producer wIth over thirty years experience in the music industry. He’s worked with YES, John Fogerty, Steve Lukather, Trevor Horn, Natalie Cole, George Benson, Queen Latifah and many more. He’s been  involved with numerous Gold, Platinum and both Grammy winning and Grammy nominated records and film soundtracks. Simultaneous to his own career he also spent eleven years as the personal recording assistant, co-engineer and Pro Tools operator to twenty-two time Grammy winning recording engineer, producer and industry legend Al Schmitt. Bill has an extensive and diverse background in rock, jazz, orchestral and big band recording. He has also with been involved with product and preset development for both the hardware and software versions of the Lexicon PCM96 and the TC Electronic M6000 Multichannel Processor.About this Interview:In our interview we talk about Bill's early days in New York as a recording engineer and his decision to move to California. We also tal

Brett Bullion is a mixing engineer and producer based in Minneapolis, MN. Born 1984 in the suburbs of MN, Brett Grew up on 90s Warp Records and the Ornette Coleman box set. Brett's recording path started with playing drums in studios and eventually led to getting a Roland a digital multitrack as a kid. Brett earned  his  BA in theology from St Olaf College and eventually moved to Seattle where he spent his time drinking coffee, eating noodles, but kept recording on his own. After a move back to Minneapolis, he toured with Tarlton and Dark Dark Dark . Hundreds of sessions later he stopped performing to focus full-time on recording and mixing and has been at it ever since.About this Interview:I met Brett at Mix with the Masters in France. After hearing his work and spending time drinking wine, eating meals and talking shop I knew he had to be on the show. Enjoy!Show notes and links: www.brettbullion.com Morph plugin Coil Tap microphone

Rene Coronado graduated in 1999 with with an AAS in audio engineering from South Plains College and jumped straight into the working world as an audio engineer at Dallas Audio Post where he does audio post and mixing, sound design, field recording and voice production. He also builds and releases sfx libraries at echocollectivefx.com and is the co host of the tonebenders podcast  along with Tim Muirhead. About this Interview:I interviewed Rene when I was in France staying at Studio La Fabrique. We were challenged by 2 visiting wasps in my room and therefore did the interview in two parts (1 for each wasp-kidding). We discuss Rene's job at Dallas Audio post, work/life balance, sound design, capturing sounds in the field and maintaining those sounds for future access as well as his podcast Tonebenders. Special thanks to Mark Kilborn for setting this up! -Enjoy!Show notes and links:http://dallasaudiopost.comhttp://tonebenderspodcast.comhttp://echocollectivefx.com http

This week WCA features the 2017 attendees to Mix with the Masters with Tchad Blake. Noam Levinberg, Rishi Bradoo, Eduardo Molina Goigoux, Jeremy Glover, Chris Brandes, Brett Bullion, Peo Hedin, Horacio Bolz, Ryan Worsley, Matthias Ortner, Guillaume Charret, Manuel Egger, Vincent Bonanno, Oded Davidov, Bas Kennis and Gilles Olivesi all join me for short conversations about their experience learning from Tchad Blake at Mix with the Masters 2017. About these Interviews:From Sept. 20th-26th I was in France attending Mix with the Masters with Tchad Blake. I met a great group of audio pros while there. We formed a strong bond and I felt it was important to have a brief chat with each one of them over the course of the time I was there. These interviews took place in the backyard of Studio La Fabrique in St. Remy de Provence. 

Working Class Audio #144 with Jack Shirley!!! Jack Shirley is a record producer, audio engineer, musician and owner of The Atomic Garden Studio located in Palo Alto, California. He is best known for his work with Deafheaven,  Loma Prieta,  Bosse-de-Nage, Punch, Whirr,  La Bella, State Faults and Frameworks. Jack is currently one year into building a new studio in Oakland, California that will become the new Atomic Garden and has been designed by Wes Lachot . About this Interview:I visit Jack at his new studio location in Oakland, California and see the building in process. We talk about Jack's humble beginnings at his parents house recording on an Mbox and Dell Computer all the way to his current setup of an API 1608 and 2 inch analog machine. Jack takes me through his progression as an engineer and businessman, laying out his approach to money, band and work. Jack is truly passionate, focused and just an all around nice guy. Enjoy,   -MattShow notes and links:Atomic G

Working Class Audio #143 with Rocky Gallo!!!Anthony “Rocky” Gallo is a producer/recording engineer based in NYC.  Rocky has worked with artists such as John Legend, Tycho, Carrie Underwood, Cat Power, Yeasayer, Mos Def, Carly Simon, Jon Bon Jovi, Perry Farrell, Warren Haynes, Travis Barker, Robert Randolph, Andrew Bird, KRS1 and Talib Kweli just to name a few.As the former Chief Engineer at The Cutting Room studios for years, Rocky has worked on platinum award-winning and many Grammy-nominated projects. He has worked closely with notorious producers including Steve Lillywhite, Eddie Kramer, Will.I.AM, Track Masters, and Jimmy Douglas. Rocky is constantly producing artists himself and is always excited to work in all music genres.Since then Rocky has opened his own studio Virtue And Vice Studios located in Brooklyn, New York. Featuring a Vintage 8024 Neve Console(coming soon) he’s put together a variety of great instruments and high end analog equipment into one place with rates the indie a

Working Class Audio #142 with Tim Randolph!!!Tim Randolph is a musician, songwriter and record producer. After producing for several indie bands in a variety of studios across the U.S., Tim co-wrote and produced Nico Vega's debut album in 2007.  Since then, he has gone on to produce for and co-write with international stars such as Imagine Dragons, including two tracks from their 2017 album Evolve, reaching number two on billboard charts.  Along with a thriving career in production, Tim is a multi-instrumentalist that has toured globally, most notably playing arenas and festivals with The Killers.About this Interview:TIm joins me for a chat about his early recording and live sound days as well as  his current work producing and cowriting with Dan from Imagine Dragons. We also talk about the finer details of working with people in the music industry when it comes to songwriting splits and signing on with a manager. -MattShow notes and links:UA Link for Apollo Rack Dream Studio: http://www.u

Chris Selim is a musician, music producer and recording/mixing engineer.  Chris is renowned for his work in the French Christian music industry. Having produced and mixed artists globally in Canada, USA, France, Belgium and Switzerland, Chris has been working remotely with many of these artists using today’s technology. Out of his recording studio near Montreal, Canada, Chris has mixed and produced more than 75 albums over the past fourteen years.   Chris has worked with Canadian Christian Artist, Convenant Award winner (Canadian version of the Dove Awards) and Juno nominee Lianna Klassen. French Christian Artists such as Impact, Seb Demrey, Luc Dumont, Andreanne, Peggy Polito to n

Working Class Audio Session #140 with Robert Scovill!!!Robert Scovill is a modern day renaissance man with interests and activities spanning a wide breadth of professional audio. Robert is a 35-year veteran of professional concert sound and recording and has mixed over 3500 events in his career. His engineering and production talents have been enlisted by a veritable ‘Who’s Who’ of marquee music acts including Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Matchbox Twenty, Jackson Browne, Rush, Def Leppard, Prince and many others.Scovill’s body of live sound and recording work has garnered numerous industry accolades including 6 TEC Awards for technical and creative achievement in sound reinforcement. Robert is a 4 time nominee, two time winner of the PLSN Parnelli Award for live sound engineer of the year and has been a multi-year nominee for Mobile Production’s “Top Dog” Award along with being an inaugural nominee for the highly coveted Pensado Award for live sound excellence.As the owner of Eldon’s Boy Productions Inc

Langston Masingale has been working in recording studios for the last 24 years, starting at age 16 in his uncles studio in New Jersey.  Langston helped start JJ Audio Mics in 2009 and in 2014 invented what would become the core technology of Zulu.  He formed Handsome Audio in 2015 with his partner Tod Levine and Zulu was released this year. Langston still owns a recording studio called Narrative Audio based in Syracuse, NY where he still produces and records artists.His passion for the analog aesthetic drives him to create new and interesting tools for the modern recording engineer and record producer alike. About this Interview:Alan Evans (WCA#133) suggested I talk with Langston. Langston talks about his early experiences with his Uncle's studio in New Jersey, how early exposure to analog tape shaped his sonic viewpoint and lead him to develop Zulu. Langston also talks about his faith, family and how his experience in college also helped drive him to be the person he is today.  -Matt

Ryan Massey is a musician, recording engineer/producer, and is the co-owner of Sharkbite Studios and Jack London Rehearsal in Oakland, CA. Ryan has spent a lifetime in music- singing with the SF Opera as a choir boy, belting out punk rock anthems with his band American Steel (Lookout Records/Fat Wreck Chords), doing the pop thing with Communiqué (Lookout), rocking with The Sunset Shipwrecks (Lugosi Records), touring the world, running both studios and a very small label.About this Interview:Ryan came over to the house and chatted about many things including how he became the co-owner of Sharkbite Studios, how he runs his business, getting and beating Cancer, the importance of his family and the Bay Area recording/music scene. I have great respect for Ryan. He's a hard working honest guy who deals fairly when it comes to business.

Anthony Gravino is an independent musician and record maker in Chicago, Illinois. He primarily works as a producer, recording engineer, mixer and mastering engineer out of his private studio, The Drake in Chicago, IL. In addition to his music production background, Anthony also plays guitar, bass, percussion and sings as a backing musician and a solo artist in both live and studio settings. His work includes an eclectic variety of styles across many genres including rock, jazz, blues, folk, pop, classical, R&B and a lot of stuff in between.About this Interview:Anthony talks with me about being influenced by Adam Schmitt and our mutual friend Jonathan Pines, how he runs his studio, the transition from day jobs to full time recording professional, insurance, and the importance of getting out of the house to see live music and meet bands.Show notes and links:RIN-M Meta Data Plugin. Choose your airline seat carefully! seatguru.comThe Desk  https://output.com/products/platformAnthony's website: https

Kevin Becka has worked as a recording engineer for over 25 years, working with the top names in music including Kenny G., Quincy Jones, Michael Bolton, George Benson, George Lynch, and more. An experienced educator, Kevin is currently the co-director and instructor at The Blackbird Academy in Nashville. He has also taught advanced recording at Belmont University, surround recording and lecturer at the Danish Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark, and was director of education and instructor at the Conservatory of Recording Arts for over 10 years. Kevin is a journalist who has worked as editors of Pro Audio Review and Audio Media USA magazines. Since 2003, Kevin has been the technical editor of the industry-leading Mix Magazine where he writes features, product reviews and a monthly column.About this Interview:On my recent trip to Nashville I was given a tour of Blackbird Studios by former WCA guest Mark Rubel (WCA #034). On that tour I was introduced to Kevin Becka.