Happy birthday to Michael's Mixdown! I've been podcasting for five years now. I've met a lot of very cool people, and I've experienced a lot of cool things. Today I want to recap my journey to this point, and go over some of the things I've learned. I can't teach you how to make a lot of money, but I might be able to teach you how to be a better podcaster.

This episode comes on the heels of the notice that many of my episodes have been taken down due to copyright violations. It was my understanding that Spotify was granting a blanket license to use any music found on their platform so long as this show was hosted on this platform. They notified me that the protection was going to be removed going forward, but that episodes published before June of this year would be honored. I guess they walked back the deal. The entire topic of "fair use" is for another time, but this impacts the ability for this show to exist. Going forward, all episodes will be interview style and any copyrighted works presented will be done so with the express permission of the artist who is being interviewed.

All that being said, Michael's Mixdown will be taking a back seat to other plans I have. If you feel so inclined, please check out The Hellscape, and The Custodians.

https://shows.acast.com/the-hellscape/episodes/the-custodians-episode-one-hell-breaks-loose

In today's episode, I sat down with the team at Bewildered Biscuit Productions (BBP) and discussed their projects in animated comics! Many of my voice acting friends are involved in their various projects, including former Michael's Mixdown guest Nels Gross (episode 36). BBP take comic books and turn them into something special far beyond any ordinary motion comic. They add animation, voice acting, music, and sound effects! So come learn a little about the process and then check out their work!

https://www.youtube.com/@BewilderedBiscuitProductions

https://bewilderedbiscuit.com/

https://www.instagram.com/bewildered_biscuit_productions/

https://www.tiktok.com/@bewilderedbiscuit?_t=8gyUUFiOSTL&_r=1

https://www.facebook.com/bewildered.biscuit.productions

Joining me today is Carolyn Regula, aka The Cell Doll! I saw Carolyn talking on her YouTube channel talking about building a booth for home recording, and I knew that we should have a conversation about that! We talk all about her career as a cellist, our favorite metal bands, and about her journey to becoming a home recording artist. I guarantee you will learn interesting things about recording, and have a ball laughing along with us.

The Cello Doll website:

https://www.cellodoll.com/

The Cello Doll Social Medias:

https://www.facebook.com/thecellodoll/

https://www.instagram.com/thecellodoll/

https://www.youtube.com/@CelloDoll

https://www.tiktok.com/@thecellodoll

Check out her latest single:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5qq0oYxougANW8RHhTqpEJ?si=Yt_bBXd9QUmFe6Mx6k3G9A

Pete came back! This time, we talk about Pete's solo career, but we do talk a little about No More Kings. Pete has released 4 albums and half a dozen singles spanning the last 9 years. We go into his process for production, how his solo stuff alters from No More Kings, and a few nerdy tangents. Oh, and if you listened to the last episode with Pete, you might remember that I tried to set up and interview a Robo Petey, but it didn't work out very well. So for this episode, I interviewed Pete inside a soundproof room inside of a Faraday cage. I am certain that Robo Petey will not find out about it.

Find Pete's stuff here, including his artwork

https://daspetey.bandcamp.com/

http://www.daspetey.com/

https://www.etsy.com/shop/daspetey

Or listen to him on Spotify

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0wIOhOQ25lu76ffjsbDFCN?si=b9BWZRUbSNGNAhUqGLtppg

Follow him on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/petemitchellmusic

Join his Patreon

https://www.patreon.com/daspetey

Who is Aaron? Why does he do audio? Come find out in this episode of Michael's Mixdown. Today's guest, Aaron Willis, has nearly 30 years of audio experience and joins me in this episode to share his experiences and share some wisdom he's picked up along the way. We also talk about some of our favorite audio software and other gear. We wax philosophical about how to get the best out of your time in the studio.

Find Aaron's website here

https://aarondoesaudio.com/

Follow Aaron on Tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@aarondoesaudio

Warriors, torchbearers, come redeem your dreams! Joining me in this episode are Markus Kaarlonen (aka Captain) and Olli Tukiainen, who appear in Alan Wake 2 as Tor Anderson and Bob Balder respectively. Captain and Olli are the keyboard player and guitarist from Poets of the Fall, but they also make music as the Remedy Entertainment in-universe fictional band Old Gods of Asgard. We discussed how they make the switch from Poets to Old Gods, how interactive game songs like "Herald of Darkness" and "Take Control" are created, and their appearance at The Game Awards 2023!

The progressive metal scene has been shaken up by some dudes from North Carolina calling themselves Nospūn. Their bass player and audio engineer, Cole Millward, joins me on this episode to talk all about the production of their debut album Opus. Opus is a concept album following the story of a young man who is obsessed with completing his opus, and will sacrifice just about anything to see it through. Cole tells me all about the recording and engineering on the album, from guitar cab sims and drum samples, to the surprisingly complicated layers of the vibraslap sound in the middle of Earwyrm. We do a brief overview of the story for the album, and we discuss what's next for the band!

Catch Nospūn live at ProgPower 2024

https://progpowerusa.com/

Follow Nospūn:

https://www.facebook.com/NospunOfficial

https://www.instagram.com/nospun_official

https://www.tiktok.com/@nospun_official

Check the music video for Earwyrm:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt8Ccwa_j9s