Mix Notes From Hell

Episode 8 - Spec Mixes - Working for Free

We start by bringing up the idea of doing spec mixes or spec anything and what that means.

Marc talks about not doing alot of these because he was taught early on to always be paid for doing gigs.

Matt goes on to talk about working at a studio where he couldn't do spec work. Later on when he got his own studio, he was able to start getting spec work where he takes a piece of the artist.

Kenny goes on to describe shootouts by major labels and the issues with them.

Richard joins us from his German submarine and points out how politics become a bigger issue with shootouts more so than the actual mix.

Marc talks about how to adjust his invoices to allow discounts for clients.

Matt goes on to discuss contracts for spec work.

Kenny discusses a few more horror stories.

Thanks for listening!!!!

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 7 - Risk Management - Great Music vs. Getting Paid

We start by reading a question involving the balance of dealing with choosing the music we work with based on budget vs. how good the music is and what are the repercussions of each.

Kenny brings up how hard it is to build a career recording music that just isn’t very good. Even if the money is there.

We then talk about how much to charge and the positives and negatives that go with being expensive vs. being the “budget guy”.

Matt brings up “vanity” projects that never seem to end. And cost you more in the long run.

Kenny brings up the idea that if you’re stuck in a rut of recording bad music, you can’t expect to keep moving forward.

Kenny talks about production costs and being able to charge a flat fee vs. a day rate.

Thanks for listening!!!!

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 6 - Signal to Noise Ratio on Forums and FB Groups

We start by talking about the not so informed discussions on gear forums and facebook groups and the echo chamber created.

Kenny brings up the idea that room treatment has become a lot more important to novices than most professional.

Will brings up the idea that people are getting focused on small things and completely missing some big ones.

Then Kenny brings up the over-importance of Mastering Engineers and how mixing is taking a back seat. And how Mastering engineers are being required to fix bad mixes.

Kenny then also brings up what a Mastering engineer is supposed to be.

Matt also brings up how much more sense it makes to make a 3 or 4 song EP instead of making full records. That's all folks.

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 5 - Mixer’s job - Create the Vision or Take Direction

We start by reading a listener’s comment:

“This whole obsession with you guys having to match what is on the radio to me means you have bought in to this arbitrary standard that usually sounds worse. Why not set the parameters and standards for what is actually good? Because people under 21 only listen to stuff in a crappy format that sounds like shit, why not nudge them in another direction instead of accepting what sounds bad?”

Matt explains that this is a service business and that we can only do what the client wants. Our job is to make a great mix that the client is looking for.

We discuss the days where taste makers decided what music should sound like. As opposed to today where it’s about creating what the listener wants. The fans create the demand.

Next we talk about smashing masters again and where in the process this should take place and whether it should or not.

Phil then fights with everyone over the idea that people can hear a 1 dB difference.

Kenny then brings it back to content. Smashed or not. People like loud music but it’s still about the song.

We then say ByE!!!!

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 4 - Recording Schools - To go, or not?

We start by mentioning we have a Facebook page and group. Please sign up.

We then start talking about recording schools with Matt talking about how import mentoring and internships are.

Will talks about having less studios with less upward mobility.

Kenny brings up the inflated curriculums of recording schools to appeal to students or parents to entice enrollment.

We then bring up Berklee and the famous Berklee “bell” that becomes a staple of this episode.

Kenny discusses the importance of you vs. your gear.

We then discuss our studios and whether they are personal or open to the pubic.

Somewhere in the middle we begin our unpaid advertisement for Berklee School of Music. LOL.

We then talk about how to get from being an assistant or a runner into becoming a recording engineer.

Kenny brings up the importance of being able to get clients by putting yourself in a scene and bring artists to recording studios so you can learn how to produce by making those recordings with the studio. Creating a position in the process.

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 3 - Expensive Thrifty-ness - Cutting Corners - Studio Musicians

We start off discussing expensive thrift-ness or cutting corners to save money and having it hurt you in the end. Will tells us a story of why you need a producer.

Kenny tells stories of working with great (studio) musicians and how important that is and how easy it is to record and produce records using them. Plus all the time it saves.

We then talk about how novices might not know how a great record sounds without being there to see it happen.

Will tells a story of how important pre-production is.

The discussion moves on to discussing different types of producers and how to make sure everyone gets their ideas heard and when to have patience in the studio and when to move it along.

We move on to discussing Mixing again and how we want our tracks to arrive from engineers.

Finally we discuss getting tracks with FX printed vs getting everything dry.

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 2 - Self Producing as the Artist

We start off this episode by introducing ourselves again adding Grammy Winning/Multi-Platinum Mixer Richard Furch to the mix or group.

We then discuss more and more music being self produced by the artist and the positives and negatives of this situation. And the possibility of being able to record yourself becoming a part of the skill set in the future for artists.

The discussion changes again towards discussing changing the tracks of the artists we mix without getting their permission.

We then discuss the benefit of mixing as we go in the production process and how important the producer is.

We also talk about having to produce and engineer at the same time.

Richard Furch

http://www.richardfurch.com

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com

Episode 1 - Notes for the Mixer

We start off this episode by introducing ourselves and noting that Kenny doesn’t have a website and giving him a hard time for it.

We move on to discussing “Mix Notes” and what’s the best way for engineers to communicate with their mixing engineer and vice versa to get the most out of this relationship.

The discussion moves towards “Mastering” and how important that is with a great mix and how much to squash it and how much to leave it til that stage.

Phil brings up the importance of having a mix sound good or translate on all systems.

Next we discuss chasing the rough or having to match elements of the rough mix that the client loved.

We move on to discussing how long it takes to mix and when you start to really “get it”.

The discussion moves on with Kenny describing his childhood and how he built a studio with no knowledge of how to do it.

Next we bring up the idea of Pro Tools rigs as a separate source of income and a Pro Tools operator or editor being a different job than a recording engineer.

We all then describe how we all moved from recording engineers on real consoles and tape machines to using DAWs as our main workstation.

Kenny Gioia

https://www.facebook.com/kenny.gioia

http://www.groove3.com/str/authors.php?authorid=7

Matt Hennessy

http://vsopproductions.com

Will Kennedy

http://www.willkennedyproducer.com

https://www.facebook.com/willkennedyproducer

Marc Lacuesta.

http://www.marclacuesta.com/home.html

Phil Dubnick

http://www.phildubnick.com