Recording Studio Rockstars

My guest today is Larry Droppa the owner and president of API since 1999, when he acquired the company at auction. He and two friends launched ATI, the live console company, in 1988, positioning that company’s Paragon console as the premier live sound mixing tool for many years. After adding Uptown Automation in 1995 and then API in ’99, Larry’s quest for audio manufacturing notability had been satisfied. He spent the first half of his professional career as a live mixing engineer, progressing from a local bar band, to a small regional sound company, to one of the larger live sound companies in the US. Larry has toured with folk groups, orchestras, pop and rock bands and spent an ear-splitting 6 weeks on the road with the band listed in the 1984 Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘Loudest Band In A Performance’. But the highlight of his live mixing days is unquestionably the 12 years he spent mixing in-ear monitors for Stevie Wonder. Stevie was an early adopter of in-ears and Larry developed both high-qual

My guest today is Bjorgvin Benediktsson an Icelandic-American author, audio educator, and entrepreneur. He is also a friend of mine and the founder of www.audio-issues.com where he has taught thousands of music producers how to make a bigger impact with their music since 2009.  His latest book, You Get What You Give is a business parable a la The Go-Giver that follows Casey, an aspiring music producer stuck in a dead-end job. He dreams of becoming successful in the music industry but has no idea how to find clients. After a disastrous start (sound familiar?), he meets a mentor who teaches him the success principles he needs to make an impact and find success with his music.   Björgvin is the author of seven other books in the music industry: Step By Step Mixing, Get More Gigs, and Better Mixes in Less Time. He has written over 1,000 articles on music production and his advice has been featured in publications such as MusicTech magazine, The Huffington Post, CD Baby's DIY Musician's Blog, Audiotuts, and the SA

My guest today is Adam Greenspan A Grammy-nominated engineer, mixer, and producer who had a pretty good start to his career engineering Faith No More’s “Album of the Year” at age 20. He later spent time at two world-class studios, Westlake Audio and The Village Recorder, working with artists such as Marilyn Manson, Rage Against the Machine, and Bono before going freelance in 2000. As a consultant for setting up home studios, he met Nick Launay and began collaborating on albums by Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Refused, while at the same time taking on more and more producing and mixing gigs of his own for the likes of The Veils, INVSN, and French Style Furs (featuring members of Cold War Kids.) More recently Adam has seen great success receiving a Mercury prize nomination for IDLES “Joy As An Act Of Resistance.” also nominated for Best Album at the UK Music Producers Guild Awards and won the Ivor Novello award for writing. In 2019 Adam was Grammy-nominated for Thomas Dybdahl “All These Things” and he just

My guest today is Rafa Sardina a recording and mixing engineer with 5 Grammy wins, 12 Latin Grammy awards, and a total of 60 Grammy nominations during his career including winning the South African SAMA award in 2018. A Basque native of Spain Rafa started out with four years in med school before deciding to pursue his passion for music which led him to Full Sail University.  After graduating as valedictorian he found himself at Oceanway in Los Angeles working with a wide variety of artists including the Black Crows, Celine Dion, Greenday, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Frank Sinatra to name a few. Today he works from his own After Hours Studios where he regularly mixes artists from around the world. Though Rafa is best known for working on pop, rock and R&B projects, he has recorded and mixed just about any genre of music you can imagine: orchestral recordings, big band, R&B, dance, gospel, soul, rap, choral, film/TV soundtracks and huge movie scores like “Any given Sunday”, “

My guest today is S. Husky Hoskulds a Grammy winning engineer, and mixer who moved to LA in 1991 to study audio engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles.  He began his career working with Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake as a staff engineer at The Sound Factory in the early 1990s but would quickly move on to independent projects with Michael Penn, The Wallflowers, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits and steady collaboration with Mike Patton on his various projects.  In 2002 he won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical alongside Jay Newland for the multiple awarded debut album Come Away with Me by Norah Jones co-produced by Craig Street. Husky’s many credits also include Joe Henry, Solomon Burke, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Mavis Staples, Ann Peebles, Bettye Lavette, My Brightest Diamond, Billy Preston, Aloan, Chocolate Genius, Fantomas, Sheryl Crow and many more... Thanks to Andris at JZ microphones for making our introduction. Thanks to our sponsors! Soundporter Mastering: Get your free mas

My guests today are Roger Alan Nichols and Tyler Bryant. Roger has been a guest on the show before to talk about producing great rock records with his band Dreaming In English and artists like Paramore, Seal, Larking Poe, and Steven Tyler and you can hear his story on episode RSR45. But today we are here to talk about the records he makes with the other Tyler of Nashville based rock band Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown. Tyler is a gifted singer and guitarist who has released four successful studio albums with his band. He has toured with such groups as Jeff Beck, ZZ Top, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Guns N' Roses and Lynyrd Skynyrd, as well as playing several rock focused music festivals. The group's current lineup consists of Tyler Bryant (lead guitar & vocals), Graham Whitford (rhythm guitar), Ryan Fitzgerald (bass), and Caleb Crosby (drums). Recently Roger recorded Tyler and the band for their new record Pressure and powerful driving rock album that sounds like Audioslave, The Foo Fighters, and Tom Petty all wra

My guest today is Brent McCollough a Nashville-based producer, keyboardist, and artist.  He started playing the piano by ear at the age of five later accepting a full scholarship at the University of Alabama to pursue a degree in Music Production and Performance followed by a full-time graduate teaching fellowship for his master’s degree in Jazz Studies at the University of North Texas.  He records and mixes his own music as well as artists all over the country, and plays keyboards and sings for many bands like The Black Jacket Symphony, and Trace Atkins. More recently he became well known for his coronavirus parody video, “Stayin’ Inside,” which went viral and was shared by the Bee Gees, John Travolta, and countless news networks all over the world.  Brent’s studio work and content creation spans many various genres, and he is also regularly hired to mix and master live performances. He currently runs Brent McCollough Studios and prides himself in making his clients’ musical dreams become reality. Brent also

My guest today is Tony Black a Grammy-winning music producer, mixer/engineer & songwriter/musician. He has contributed to recordings totalling more than 50 million units sold or downloaded. He won a GRAMMY AWARD for his contribution to the album “THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS” for BEST R&B ALBUM. He also mixed and recorded  “RIDE OR DIE” on the Grammy-winning album  JAY-Z “HARD KNOCK LIFE VOL.2”.  Tony spent many years in NYC at legendary studios such as The Power Station, The Hit Factory, Quad, and Electric Lady. He became part of the 90’s hip-hop scene that would go on to make music history. Working with artists such as Notorious BIG, Jay Z, Q tip, Lil Kim, P. Diddy(Puffy), Cam’ron, Wu Tang Clan, Michael Jackson and too many others to list, he clocked in more than 4000 sessions in the 90’s alone.  These sessions led to a 6-year working relationship with Alicia Keys. He recorded and mixed all of The Diary of Alicia Keys. He continues mixing, recording, and producing new music today for label artists, indi

My guest today is Tony Succar a two-time Latin Grammy award-winning and #1 Billboard charting artist, producer, and composer/arranger Born in Lima, Peru and raised in Miami, Florida. Tony’s produces music in the world of salsa, jazz, pop, and afro-latino-inspired music. He has a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters degree in Jazz Performance from Florida International University. In 2018, Tony was nominated for the prestigious Latin Grammy Awards for Best Tropical Song, “Me Enamoro Mas De Ti.” He received four nominations in 2019 for Album of the Year, Best Tropical Song, Best Salsa Album, and Producer of the Year for his most recent album, Mas de Mi. Tony took home two Latin Grammys for Producer of the Year and Best Salsa Album, making history as the youngest winner to have ever won both categories. Mas de Mi was released by Tony through his independent label, Unity Entertainment. His inspiration for the album was to write and produce non-traditional songs that will appeal to younger generations. He has also worke

My guest today is Kurt Ballou is a Grammy-winning producer, engineer, mixer and studio owner in Salem MA with extensive production credits on some of aggressive music's most successful albums. In addition to his studio work, Kurt is the guitarist in ground breaking hardcore/metal crossover act CONVERGE. Kurt's studio, God City Recording, was constructed in 2003 and contains the finest analog and digital recording equipment available. God City has hosted bands such as Grammy winner High on Fire, American Nightmare, NAILS, Darkest Hour, Code Orange, Four Year Strong, Converge, Russian Circles, Torche, Cave In and many more. Kurt also designs guitar pedals and guitars under the name God City Instruments where you can get the heaviest guitar distortions and fuzzes pre-built and ready to use or build your own with ready-made PCB boards and kits. Thanks to Brian Murphree for the introduction. Thanks to our sponsors! Soundporter Mastering: Get your free mastering demo at https://www.soundporter.com JZ Microphones: U

My guest today is Billy Decker a Nashville producer, engineer, and mixer with multiple #1 hits for clients like Chris Young, Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean, Jaime Lynne Spears, and Sam Hunt and even George Jones.  Billy is known for his high-speed method of mixing using templates and systems for getting to the creative side of mixing immediately without getting bogged down in the tech side of mixing. He was a guest on the podcast previously on episode RSR210 and recently he has written a new book called Template Mixing and Mastering. So today we will dig deeper into Billy’s template mixing and get an introduction to what you will find in his new book. I highly recommend that you pick up the book since he does a wonderful job of breaking down every detail beautifully with images and charts to help you set up your own template for mixing in your studio. Thanks to our sponsors! Soundporter Mastering: Get your free mastering demo at https://www.soundporter.com JZ Microphones: Use coupon ROCKSTARS to g

My guest today is Justin Francis is a multiple Grammy Award nominee as an engineer, #1 Billboard chart mixer, and budding producer based right here in East Nashville. His work can be heard on records ranging from Ronnie Milsap to Alice Cooper including Top 40 hits for Little Big Town and Kelsea Ballerini; soundtracks with Kacey Musgraves and P!nk, and releases from diverse artists as Rodney Crowell, Tyler Childers, Margo Price, Buddy Guy, Deep Purple, Anti-Flag, Rozwell Kid and Diarrhea Planet reaching millions of streams every month. Justin has been a guest on the podcast previously one episode RSR220 when we got to talk about his background in the recording. So this episode we will continue to dig into mixing and production and ways that we can ramp up the quality of our work in our own pro or home studios. Thanks to our sponsors! Soundporter Mastering: Get your free mastering demo at https://www.soundporter.com JZ Microphones: Use coupon ROCKSTARS to get 50% off The BB29 mic at JZmic.com Spectra1964: https

My guest today is Chris Adams, aka Ahee, an EDM producer and artist with extensive experience touring clubs and festivals known for his prolific musical output, helpful YouTube tutorials, high-quality sample packs, & crowd engaging live sets. I discovered Ahee’s Youtube channel when I was searching for tutorials on using the Serum wavetable synth from Xfer Records and really enjoyed the ways that Chris broke down EDM production and techniques for everything from creating DIY synth drum samples to production using his custom sample and sound packs for Ableton Live, to mixing through RTA frequency analyzers so that we can compare our own home studio mixes to a huge club and festival mixes by top EDM producers like Skrillex. Plus Chris affectionately refers to his audience by introducing each video with “Yo What’s Up Aliens” which obviously a great way to talk them don’t you think so Rockstars? Some of his collaboration and remix credits include The Funk Hunters, Manic Focus, Defunk, Stylust, Psymbionic, Sti

My guest today is Daniel Schlett a Producer, Engineer, Mixer and owner of Strange Weather Studio seen on the cover of Mix Magazine in 2019 as one of the best rooms in Brooklyn NY. Daniel’s production finds itself at the creative intersection where acoustic and rock recording meets loop and edit based production. His discography ranges from NYC hip hop to live in-studio performances, to rock production from Mali with a clear sense of how each sounds best.  Daniel has worked with many great artists including Iggy Pop, Booker T., Songhoy Blues, Peelander-Z, Ghostface Killah, War on Drugs, Luke Temple and Here We Go Magic, Combo Chimbita, The Lost Brothers. And I’ve been enjoying a fantastic sounding playlist of videos for you in the show notes.  I’m psyched to talk with Daniel today about his philosophy of production with a wide range of musical styles and see what we can learn about working with a variety of artists. Thanks to Dave Hintze at API for making our introduction. Thanks to our sponsors! Soundporter M

My guest today is Brian Murphree mastering engineer at Soundporter Mastering in Spring Hill TN. After recording his first band in 1994 at a studio in Decatur, AL, and taking the mix-engineer helm in 1999 for his punk band, Random Conflict, followed by a 5-year stint with Surf Rock band, Daikaiju, Brian has been focused on recording, mixing, and mastering for underground artists who might lack the budget to track in major professional studios.  Brian spent 20 years recording, mixing, and mastering music in the North Alabama, Middle TN area, helping artists find their best sounds without blowing their budget. For the past 4 years, he has focused solely on mastering and has been able to grow his client list even in the challenging climate of COVID-19.  Grammy-winning “Boo” Mitchell of Memphis’ Royal Studios, Mark Slaughter, Melly Baldwin, and BZ Lewis are just a few clients Brian has worked with and his goal is to always help his clients realize their best production and mix no matter who they are, and to do it

My guest today is Kevin McMahon of Marcata Recording first started by The Walkmen in 2000 as a purely analog facility located in Harlem inside what had been a Nascar production facility.   Kevin joined in 2003 and took over daily operations, bringing his collection of vintage microphones, preamps, and a long history of studying great live performance from the decade of work as a live sound engineer/designer at the now-defunct but not forgotten venue Brownies in New York City’s East Village.   Doing live sound is where Kevin developed his love of living interactions between musicians, and the ability to recognize the spirit of an artists’ vision and to act with a sense of urgency toward nurturing an environment to allow that vision to be realized at any cost.  Some of Kevin’s credits include: Real Estate, Pile, Parlor Walls, Mr Gnome, The Walkmen, The French Kicks, Diarrhea Planet, and Herzog to name just a few.  Thanks so much to Caleb for making our introduction. Thanks to our sponsors! JZ Microphones: Use c

My guest today is Morgan Page a GRAMMY-nominated producer and DJ with hundreds of millions of plays, and charted multiple Billboard, Beatport, and US Dance Radio #1s.  Morgan has built a massive live following performing at major festivals across the world, including Coachella, EDC, Electric Zoo, Burning Man, and Ultra Music Festival, as well as countless shows in the world’s top venues and clubs. He typically tours nearly year-round and holds a Las Vegas residency at Daylight, having previously held a three-year residency at Wynn Las Vegas.  Morgan also curates and hosts a weekly radio mix show, ‘In The Air,’ which airs on Sirius XM and broadcasting weekly uninterrupted for nearly ten years, and has surpassed episode number 500!  Outside of music, his two main passions are the environment and technology, and particularly where the two intersect. The Tesla-driving producer installed solar panels to power his recording studio; he is always on the cutting edge and an early adopter and advocate of new tech.  In

My guest today is John Storyk, registered architect and acoustician, is a founding partner of WSDG (Walters-Storyk Design Group).  He has provided design and construction supervision services for the professional audio and video recording community since the 1969 design of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York City. John Storyk received his architectural studies from Princeton and Columbia Universities.  As an independent designer, engineer and principal designer of WSDG he has been responsible for over 3.5k world-class audio/video production facilities, including studios, radio stations, video suites, entertainment clubs and theatres.   His work includes private studios for Whitney Houston, Bob Marley, Ace Frehley, Russ Freeman, Taylor Dayne’s producer Rick Wake; Johnny Yuma Recording in L.A.; Greenway; C & C Music’s Robert Clavicles; Oven Studios (Alicia Keys); Roc the Mic (J-Z) and others. Professional audio video installations include Soundshop, Nashville; Crawford Post, Atlanta; Talking Ho

My guest today is Patrick Rene aka Killah Trakz a Miami native rapper and hip hop music producer who has worked with artists like Iconz, Rick Ross, 2 Live Crew, and Uncle Luke to name a few.  An analog junkie at heart adapting in the world of digital, Trakz has been at the forefront of the digital revolution of music distribution by having one of the most downloaded albums in the MySpace / Napster era titled “ Hoodz Prodigy “.  Getting his start in '07 at a time when the "Internet" was at its peak of popularity for all advocates of music, sites like AcidPlanet, UGHH, MP3.com, and hundreds more were gaining more notoriety by the day. Within the first week, Trakz saw his debut album surpass 50,000 downloads with ease. Overnight Success was an "understatement" for what would follow. After landing several placements with his production on numerous indie films, Trakz got calls from everyone wanting his sound. By 2008, his sound was hitting the radio waves but getting heard by millions by "ghost producing" for the

My guest today is Stephen Shirk an engineer, producer, and owner of Shirk Studio in Chicago. Originally from Bloomington, Illinois, he began playing in bands through junior high college at Miami University where he earned a degree in Business and Marketing.  In 1998 he moved to New York City to chase his dream of working in a recording studio where he worked at The Hit Factory, Pink Noise and Three Tree Productions as well as assisting on sessions at many legendary NYC facilities like Avatar (Power Station), Clinton, Right Track, and Sound on Sound. Recording in New York also exposed Stephen to a unique artistic community beyond that of music. His collaboration with Nadine Robinson would ultimately land one of his sound designs in the Museum of Modern Art’s Tempo exhibit in 2002.    In 2004, Stephen relocated to Chicago to continue producing and recording bands, creating sound for art installations, as well as providing audio services for the advertising community. This was the beginning of SHIRK studios. Thr