Making a Scene Presents

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Stacy Mitchhart Stacy Mitchhart’s musical journey began in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a house where jazz guitar masters like Wes Montgomery and Johnny Smith were always spinning on the stereo. With that kind of soundtrack in the air, it was only natural that he gravitated toward the guitar. But it wasn’t just the notes that grabbed him early—it was the performan...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Grainne Duffy Gráinne Duffy is an Irish singer, guitarist, and songwriter from Castleblayney, County Monaghan, who has built an international reputation through powerful live performances, soulful blues-rock songwriting, and relentless touring. Raised in a family of seven, she grew up singing in her local choir and performing in a family band wi...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Sawtooth Witch Sawtooth Witch was born out of restlessness and the open road. After years of crisscrossing the country with a string of bands, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Pat "Doc" Dougherty found himself chasing something he couldn't quite name — a sound that lived somewhere between the genres he'd spent a lifetime soaking in. He found the...

Making a Scene Presents - Bus Routing 101: How to Mix Like a Pro Without Overcomplicating It The Mix Is Not Just Sound. It Is Traffic Control. Most independent artists start mixing with one simple goal: make every track sound better. So they open the session, click on the kick drum, add an EQ. Then they move to the snare, add a compressor. Then the lead vocal needs help, so they add more EQ, maybe...

Making a Scene Presents - TikTok Is Still Music Discovery, But the Money Is Moving Behind Closed Doors TikTok Is Not Your Fanbase. It Is a Discovery Tollbooth. For the last few years, the music industry has sold artists a simple dream. Post the right clip on TikTok. Catch the algorithm at the right moment. Get a sound moving. Watch the streams roll in. Maybe a label calls. Maybe a playlist adds yo...

Making a Scene Presents - Building a Self-Sustaining Marketing Machine: The AI System That Runs Your Career The Artist Should Not Be the Entire Marketing Department There is a dirty little secret in the modern music business. Most independent artists are not only expected to write the songs, rehearse the band, book the shows, record the music, mix the tracks, post the videos, design the merch, ans...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Robin Batteau Robin Batteau is a Grammy-winning, Emmy-winning, Clio-winning, Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter, soloist, and producer whose career blends fearless creativity with world-class musicianship. Remarkably, his first record deal came just six months after graduating from Harvard with a degree in biochemistry—when he signed with Columbia Records a...

Making a Scene Presents - The Rise of Micro-Fanbases and Why 1,000 True Fans Is What Really Matters The Old Music Business Wanted Everybody. The New Music Business Needs Somebody. For decades, the music industry sold artists the same shiny dream: reach the masses, get famous, get signed, get played everywhere, and somehow money will fall from the sky like confetti. It was a beautiful story if you...

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Marty and Jenni Powell of Riff Raiders Riff Raiders have been cooking up their own loud, hook-heavy flavor of rock ’n’ roll since 2017—built on crunchy guitars, tangy riffs, and choruses that hit fast and stick hard. Their music lives in that sweet spot where modern hard ’n’ heavy meets classic swagger, and they’ve earned a reputation for face-m...

Making a Scene Present an Interview with Chris Murphy of Seven Crows! Seven Crows is the visionary project of Los Angeles–based violinist, composer, and producer Chris Murphy. Built around shimmering sustain lines, fluid legato phrasing, and live looping, Seven Crows creates music that feels both cinematic and deeply personal—like a wide landscape that still speaks in a whisper. His 2025 album Pow...

Making a Scene Presents - Phase Issues Explained: Why Your Mix Sounds Thin The Invisible Problem Hiding Inside Your Mix There is a special kind of frustration that happens in a home studio. You record the part. You play it back. The performance is good. The tone sounds fine by itself. The mic was not cheap. The interface is working. The meters are healthy. Nothing is clipping. Nothing looks broken...

The Music Industry Does Not Hate AI. It Hates AI It Cannot Control. Why indie artists should stop fearing the tools the major players are already using The music industry has always been very good at one thing: warning artists about the future while quietly buying stock in it. That is the part nobody says loud enough. Every time a new technology shows up, the official story is usually fear. The in...

Making a Scene Presents - From Data to Story: Using AI to Turn Analytics Into Compelling Fan Narratives Transform boring numbers into emotional storytelling that connects with fans There is a funny thing about music data. It looks cold when it is sitting inside a dashboard. A city name. A stream count. A spike on a graph. A merch order. An email click. A replay on a video. None of that feels very...

Making a Scene Presents - AI as a Bandmate: Where It Helps and Where It Hurts There is a strange new player walking into the rehearsal room. It does not carry a guitar. It does not complain about the van. It does not forget the bridge, show up late, drink the last beer, or insist the snare is too loud when the snare is clearly not the problem. It sits on a laptop, in a plugin window, inside a webs...

Making a Scene Presents - Panning Strategies: Creating Width Without Losing Focus Panning is one of the most powerful tools in mixing, but it is also one of the easiest to treat like an afterthought. A lot of indie artists open a mix, throw the vocal in the middle, push a guitar left, push another guitar right, maybe slide a hi-hat somewhere off to the side, and call it a stereo image. That is not...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Andra Suchy Andra Suchy is a North Dakota native with a voice that stops people in their tracks. Classically trained and a veteran of musical theater, she grew up in a talented, music-filled family and developed the kind of vocal control and emotional range that only comes from years of disciplined performance. Over time, that foundation has made her one o...

Making a Scene Brings you Gerry Casey's Interview with The 100 Watt Vipers The 100 Watt Vipers are a powerhouse blues-rock duo hailing from Jacksonville, Florida. Known for their raw, gritty sound and electrifying performances, the band is a fusion of classic Southern blues and hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll. With J Burton on vocals and guitar and DJ Riddick on drums, The 100 Watt Vipers have carved o...

Making a Scene Presents An Interview with Mark W Winchester Mark W. Winchester is a Grammy-winning bassist, award-winning songwriter, independent recording artist, and live performer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Originally from Monroe, North Carolina, Mark moved to Nashville with his wife in 1988 determined to figure out how a songwriter gets noticed in Music City. Ironically, he got noticed fir...

Making a Scene Presents - The AI Feedback Loop: Using Fan Behavior to Train Better Marketing Over Time Your Marketing Should Get Smarter Every Time a Fan Clicks For years, indie artists were told to market their music by guessing. Guess what time to post. Guess what subject line sounds cool. Guess which city cares. Guess which merch item might sell. Guess whether fans want vinyl, shirts, livestrea...

Making a Scene Presents - The Myth of “Exposure” in the Modern Music Industry The Most Expensive Free Thing in Music There is a word that has haunted musicians for decades. It shows up in emails from promoters, club owners, playlist curators, content creators, brands, festivals, podcasters, bloggers, and random people with ring lights who say things like, “This could be great exposure for you.” Th...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Zac Harmon Zac Harmon is an award-winning guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Jackson, Mississippi, whose sound carries the deep lineage of the blues while pushing it forward with soul, funk, gospel, reggae, and modern blues-rock energy. Critics have praised his “masterful” musicianship and his mix of Bobby “Blue” Bland sophistication with Freddie King–...

Making a Scene Presents - Stop Sending Your Fans Back to YouTube: How Indie Artists Can Embed Token-Gated Video Inside Their Own Website Your Website Is Not a Poster. It Is the Artist’s World. For years, indie artist websites were treated like digital flyers. You had a homepage, a bio, some tour dates, a few press photos, a store link, and maybe a YouTube video dropped into the middle of the page....

Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Ben Reel Ben Reel has always made albums that carry an undercurrent—something deeper than the surface of the songs. His twelfth studio release, Spirit’s Not Broken, continues that tradition with a record that speaks directly to the moment we’re living in. In a world shaped by conflict, climate anxiety, and constant noise, it’s easy to feel power...

Making a Scene Presents - Automation: The Missing Piece in Most Indie Mixes Why the Mix Does Not Come Alive Until It Starts Moving A lot of indie mixes do not fail because the artist used the wrong microphone, the wrong preamp, the wrong compressor, or the wrong $29 plugin they bought during a midnight sale while questioning every life choice that led them into home recording. Most indie mixes fai...

Making a Scene Presents an Interview with GB Leighton GB Leighton is the kind of artist the music industry talks about but rarely knows how to manufacture: a relentless road warrior, a natural frontman, and a songwriter who can make a room full of strangers feel like a community by the second chorus. http://www.makingascene.org