My guest this week is conductor John Jesensky, who is currently conducting premiere orchestras around the world in fully restored film score performances. Among the shows that he’s conducted include Harry Potter: In Concert, Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage, Amadeus, as well as The Godfather: Live.

John is also a freelance film composer, scoring short and feature-length films as well as trailer and source music for top production companies. Several of his short scores have made appearances and won awards at film festivals around the world.

During graduate studies at NYU Film School where he studied privately with renowned film orchestrator Sonny Kompanek as well as prolific film composer Ira Newborn, John was awarded the prestigious Elmer Bernstein Award for Film Composition.

During our interview John spoke about the hardest thing a conductor has to learn, the preservation of legendary scores, the differences between the many orchestras he’s conducted, tight film scoring budgets, augmenting scores with samples, and so much more.

I spoke with John via zoom from his office in Los Angeles.

On the intro I looked at how music streamers are losing millennials, and a new silk fabric sound isolation in development.

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My guests this week are Brianna Schwartz and Alexis Schreiber, the dynamic duo behind Schwartz & Schreiber, PLLC.

Their innovative approach to entertainment law sets them apart, as they aim to provide a true end-to-end partnership with their clients, becoming a member of their team rather than just a passive or reactive attorney that is only involved when there's an issue.

Brianna and Alexis first met on their first day at the University of Miami School of Law, where they were both pursuing a Juris Doctorate and a Master’s in Music Business and Entertainment.

After years of success within the industry, they officially teamed up in 2020 to create Schwartz & Schreiber, PLLC, a modern law firm specializing in music, entertainment, technology, and new media.

To date, their firm has supported over 70 clients, including GRAMMY-award winning and nominated artists, producers, songwriters, renowned labels, digital and tech platforms, national festivals, sync houses, and more.

During our interview we spoke about how the new record deals have changed, how having too many writers on a song can inhibit sync opportunities, how AI is affecting copyright law, where the industry stands on TikTok right now, and so much more.

I spoke with Brianna and Alexis via zoom from their offices in Miami.

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My guest this week Lara Chapman, who’s an award winning singer/songwriter turned viral vocal coach and the Founder of VoxTape Studios.

Born in Switzerland, her aspirations quickly took her to New York City, where she studied Musical Theatre and Acting for Film and Television. After that she moved to Boston to study Music Business, Songwriting and Vocal Performance at Berklee College of Music. While finishing her degree, she was signed to a major management deal and moved to Nashville to write and record her debut album.

After many successful releases, hundreds of shows, and navigating the brutal realities of the music industry, she discovered her true passion: helping others transform from singers into artists.

Lara’s coaching videos have reached millions of passionate singers from all over the world helping her build a reputation in the industry as the go-to coach for helping singers find their own voice as an artist.

During our interview Lara we learn a lot about singing as she talked about transitioning from performer to vocal coach, how the “good enough” mentality doesn’t work with singing, how singing is more than just hitting the right notes, why traditional singing lessons don’t work anymore, and so much more.

I spoke with Lara via zoom from their studio in Indianapolis.

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My guests this week are Matt Wallace and Will Kennedy, the Grammy-winning immersive mixing team that has done spatial mixes for Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, The B-52s, Kid Rock, Selena Gomez and many more.

Before entering into the spatial mixing world, Matt’s work as a producer includes hits for Maroon 5, Faith No More, The Replacements, 3 Doors Down and O.A.R., while Will’s credits includes One Republic, O.A.R, U2, Michael Franti and Spearhead and others.

Matt and Will set up their Dolby-certified mixing studio in the same complex as the legendary Sound City Studio in 2021 and haven’t looked back.

During our interview Will and Matt talked about why analog recording experience is so valuable, the track that changed their perception of immersive audio, transitioning their studio to spatial mixing only, why rock is the hardest to mix in spatial audio, tag-team mixing, and so much more.

I spoke with Matt and Will via zoom from their studio in Van Nuys, California.

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My guest this week is Trevor McShane, the musical alter ego for high-power entertainment attorney Neville Johnson, who has won more than $350 million for actors, writers and musicians who were shortchanged their fair share of royalties from both major film studios and record labels.

Called “one of the most feared litigators in Hollywood” by the Los Angeles Times and named a “Legal Legend” by The Hollywood Reporter, Neville began his career working for Yoko Ono on matters related to The Beatles' catalog.

He’s gone on to represent many celebrities and/or their estates in a variety of contractual, accounting and intellectual property disputes, including John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Michelle Phillips, Richard Dreyfuss, Rick Nelson, Sylvester Stallone, members of Earth, Wind and Fire, Mitch Ryder, Lloyd Price and others.

Neville has also written a number of books, including two about the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, that are available from his Cool Titles publishing company.

As Trevor McShane, Neville has released a number of well-regarded releases that have grown his Spotify followers to 100,000 and 150,000 on YouTube.

During our interview Neville and I spoke about keeping his music life as Trevor separate from his legal practice, what he learned from the legendary John Wooden, transitioning to being a litigator, AI copyright, and so much more.

I spoke with Neville via zoom from his office in Beverly Hills.

On the intro I looked at UMG settling its dispute with TikTok, and how music gear retail is changing before our eyes.

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My guest this week is Russ Hughes, who’s the founder of Production Expert, a group of blogs for music and post-production professionals. Over the last decade, Production Expert, Pro Tools Expert, Studio One Expert and Logic Pro Expert have become some of the leading industry websites with over 7 million visitors annually.

Starting his career on the leading edge of music technology as a synthesizer programmer in the 1980s, Russ soon gravitated to Soho where he worked in commercial post, something that he still does. Eventually he became an expert in Pro Tools, which led him to create his popular blogs.

On top of that, Russ is also the Managing Director of Sociatech, a global marketing agency for the audio technology sector, working with some of its biggest brands.

During our interview we spoke about the unusual way that Pro Tools Expert started, the pros and cons of using AI, moving from London to Ireland, the two character traits you need for staying in business, the gear changing moments in his life, and so much more.

I spoke with Russ via zoom from his studio in Ireland.

On the intro I looked at song catalogue purchases, and how noice canceling headphones could trigger anxiety attacks.

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My guest this week is Lisa Machac, who’s a music consultant with Little City Sounds and Director of the Omni Sound Project, which is an inclusive community for women and marginalized genders in audio engineering.

Lisa’s writing has been featured in Tape Op magazine as well as a popular Substack newsletter. She’s also the creator and host of the Reference Tracks podcast, which features producers and engineers discussing the songs that shaped their careers.

Lisa coaches independent musicians who are looking to grow their audiences and promote their music. She adds 20 years of community building and marketing experience to a natural enthusiasm for mentoring others.

During our interview Lisa and I spoke about how the Omni Sound Project began, how there are more women audio engineers than generally realized, the vibrancy of the Austin music scene, artists not knowing what to do with their projects, and so much more.

I spoke with Lisa via zoom from her studio in Austin.

On the intro I looked at how songwriters will be making less even though Spotify’s prices are going up, and we may be at the end of the guitar amplifier era.

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My guest this week is Stephen Schultz, who besides being an expert flautist specializing in Baroque flute, is an Associate Teaching Professor in Music History and Flute at Carnegie Mellon University and director of the Carnegie Mellon Baroque Orchestra.

Stephen is also an advocate for hearing protection for all musicians as he’s learned to overcome his personal difficulties with hearing loss.

Many people falsely identify hearing loss with rock musicians, but the fact is that 52% of classical musicians have some degree of permanent hearing damage, as opposed to only 30% of rock musicians.

The latest generation of hearing aids are so sophisticated that musicians can now wear them without any impediments to their playing, and so many high profile musicians are now doing so that the stigma of wearing hearing aids has now greatly diminished.

During our interview Stephen and I spoke about discovering he had a hearing problem, finding the right hearing aids for music, why more orchestral members suffer from hearing loss than even rock musicians, advice on looking for the right pair, and so much more.

I spoke with Stephen via zoom from his home in Pittsburg.

On the intro I looked at how Spotify may be introducing a new song speed feature soon, and whether we’ve reached Peak Music Gear as fewer new music and audio products are released.

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My guest this week is Josh Young, who’s the founder and CEO of Atrium Music, as well as an Emmy-nominated supervising television and film editor. His credits include shows like Lego Masters, Big Brother, World of Dance, The Masked Singer, and many more.

Atrium Music is a publishing and music library that licenses and places music in television, film, and commercial productions.The company allows “artists to be artists” while allowing the business structure of Atrium to handle their business needs. Over 550 artists and composers from over 30 countries have found a home with Atrium.

When not producing, editing, or music supervising television shows, Josh speaks at conferences and educational institutions across the United States, and is a board member of the California Copyright Conference.

During our interview we spoke about why communication skills are so important, the duties of a supervising television editor, the hectic pace of a hit TV show, learning a new workstation software package, what makes Atrium Music different from other libraries, and so much more.

I spoke with Josh from his studio outside of Los Angeles.

On the intro I looked at how UMG’s TikTok ban isn’t hurting its market share, and how lyrics have change in the last 40 years.

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My guest this week is Shelly Palmer, who’s an award winning composer, inventor, author, educator and a leading voice in technology. He is also an expert in Ai and it’s integration into the workplace.

Shelly began his career as a composer for television, working with hundreds of brands, agencies, broadcasters, publishers and tech platforms on advertising and marketing campaigns such as Meow Mix, Burger King and The City of Las Vegas. He was honored at ASCAP’s 13th Annual Film and Television Awards in the category of “Most Performed Television Themes.”

He holds a patent for the underlying technology for Enhanced Television that’s used by programs such as ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and ESPN’s Monday Night Football, which led him to pivot his career into technology.

He is currently a Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Shelly also covers tech and business for Fox 5 New York, and is a regular commentator for CNN and CNBC, and he offers a series of free technology courses via his Metacademy.

During our interview we spoke about growing up in a music store, how a used synthesizer got him into the jingle business, how one of his patents took him from music into the world of technology, why AI is a skills amplifier, and so much more.

By the way, I learned a lot about AI from Shelly's free Metacademy, which is something that you should check out.

I spoke with Shelly from his studio in New York City.

On the intro I looked at how the RIAA’s recent revenue numbers might be misleading.

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