Trade Secrets

Tony Braunagel- He's an amazing drummer, producer and composer.

Tony has toured with some of the greatest artists of all time including Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Rickie Lee Jones, and Taj Mahal to name a few. He has also collaborated with Eric Clapton in the studio with the Phantom Blues Band and produced several projects with Eric Burdon.

He originally hails from TX but has been a California boy for a long long time.

I hope you enjoy our chat.

Gregg Field-is an amazing musician, producer and arranger. He has had such an interesting life, playing with Count Bassie at 19, and Frank Sinatra to name a few. Known for his ability as 1s class drummer, he is also an arranger. His work on the Mancini 100th anniversary album and PBS special is also award winning.

Henry Mancini's 100th anniversary was celebrated with various events and releases throughout 2024. A major celebration took place at the Hollywood Bowl, with a concert featuring his daughter Monica Mancini, (Gregg's lovely wife),Michael Bublé, Cynthia Erivo, and others. Additionally, a special album, "The Henry Mancini 100th Sessions: Henry Has Company," was released, featuring collaborations with artists like Lizzo, Herbie Hancock, and Quincy Jones. Other events include a concert at the Ravinia Festival, a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and a special event at the Library of Congress. All of which Gregg spearheaded and served as producer. He is a multi Grammy and Emmy award winner, and sits on the USC Thornton Schoool of Music board. He is a champion of all music creators and continues to produce great artists .

Marc Desisto is an amazing mixer, and recording engineer. Originally hailing from Boston, where everyone knows all the great engineers come from: Joe Chicarelli, Ed Goodreau, and Marc to name a few!

Marc is also a producer and studio owner.

And yes he's available for hire!!

I hope you enjoy our chat.

Jason LaRocca is a very talented musician, producer, engineer and film, tv and game scoring mixer.

He was touring the world at an early age as the front man and guitar player for the famed punk band Briggs. While working with Briggs, he became a very accomplished recording engineer.The LA native has been nominated for several Grammy's and in 2023 earned his 1st of 2 nominations for his mixing work on the Cast Album release of the hit Broadway musical " Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street".

Jason kicked off 2025 mixing the #1 Film Den of Thieves 2: Pantera.

Im looking forward to hearing more of Jason's work for many years to come.

In this episode you get to meet Emmett Skyy my dear friend who is a true musical talent.

You'll hear about his journey from growing up in Baton Rouge Louisiana and singing in the church choir,with his brothers and sister, to playing basketball, and then deciding music would be his life. He is a bi-coastal artist living in both NYC and Los Angeles. I hope you enjoy our conversation. Listen until the end to hear him play a great song on a beautiful Gibson acoustic guitar. You can hear his music on EmmettSkyy on Instagram.

Max Poscente-About You Band. After years of receiving stories from friends, fans and total strangers, About You (moniker for Max Poscente) has adopted these stories into songs found on their debut album. Outfitting themselves with vintage guitars, 808's and a rich study of music. About You is forging a musical path all their own to bring these stories to you. About You is a Los Angeles based 5 piece indie rock band led by Max. About You is a 2X winner of the International Songwriting Competition.

They have surpassed 1.4 million+ streams across all platforms, and has sold out shows across the US. Los Angeles, NY, and Chicago, and Dallas.

They have received international press(New Noise, Earmilk, Ones To Watch, Louder Than war,NBC.

I hope you enjoy hearing Max's story. He is witty and charming.

Toby Scott...Man what a talented cat

As a teenager admiring rock bands and the idea of music as a career, Toby wanted

to be part of the action. He was able to get into several recording studios

early on and started recording at home. Discovering that his talent wasn't in front

of the microphone, he decided the other side of the glass would work just as

well. Starting out at a small one-room studio in Hollywood, Clover, the artists

and producers on sessions found him to be an excellent engineer. Under the

tutelage of mentors, Steve Copper, Tom Dowd and others, he honed his craft of

engineering and mixing.  Among the

artists coming into the Clover was Bruce Springsteen, finishing the final mix

on his album, Darkness On The Edge Of Town. Toby and Bruce hit it off fairly

well and 2 years later Bruce came back looking for a mixer for his next album,

The River. Passing a brief audition, Toby spent months mixing to Bruce’s every

request.  Following that release, Bruce

asked him record live concerts on that tour. 

In between those occasional days on the tour, he was back in the studio

with other artists, Bob Dylan and Bette Midler among them.  In 1982, Bruce was back in Clover, this time

producing an album for Gary US Bonds and having Toby mix. Once that was

finished, Bruce wanted to commence work on his next record with Toby so it was

off to New York City and the Power Station recording studio where they began

work on Born In The USA.  Subsequently

Toby moved to New York City as his homebase and another tour and live

recording.  In 1987 Bruce had him set up

a studio at his house in New Jersey with enough equipment to cover everything

they needed.  That turned into the Tunnel

Of Love album, which was basically Bruce playing all instruments, Toby

recording and programming drum patterns with no other participants.  This collaboration and process continued on

successfully for another 20 years. During that time Toby was continuing to work

with other clients and occasionally at his home in Whitefish Montana. In 2018

they parted ways and Toby worked full time at his studio, Cabin 6 Recording.

There he records everything from narrations, singer/songwriters, rock and

country bands, and occasional remotes recording the local Glacier Symphony

Orchestra.

Always

looking for a way to pass on his experience and knowledge to those upcoming in

the industry, he speaks at colleges and other schools of audio engineering year-round.

Dusty Wakeman is a true gent. He's a fabulous bass player, producer, engineer previously studio owner Mad Dog Studios, CEO Mojave Audio!

I am honored to call him my friend. I hope you enjoy the cool story of Dusty's adventures in music.

Michael Lehman Boddicker is a renowned musician, songwriter and producer.

He worked with Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and many many others creating the soundtracks to our lives.

I hope you enjoy his charming and down to earth stories.

Jeff Ellis

Worldwide isn’t just a music mixer—he’s one of the most accomplished and

respected names in the industry.  As a Grammy-winning engineer with

credits on some of the most artistically revered albums of our time,

including Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange and Blonde, (He began his career

as Frank Oceans engineer btw) Jeff has consistently pushed the

boundaries of what’s possible in music production. Ranked among the top

music mixers globally, he has worked with groundbreaking artists

like Doja Cat, Kali Uchis, Joji, D4VD, Dominic Fike, Omar Apollo, Gracie

Abrams, JPEGMAFIA, Snoh Aalegra, Vance Joy, Jackson Wang, Niki, 100

Gecs, Rico Nasty, The Neighbourhood.