Working Class Audio

NAMM 2020 took place over January 16th-19th. The show was well attended and I had loads of fun. In this episode, I’m joined by mastering engineer Kim Rosen of Knack Mastering, drummer Emily Dolan Davies of emilydrums.com as well as mastering engineer Pete Lyman of Infrasonic Sound. Short interviews talking about NAMM and a NAMM wrap up by me! Enjoy, Matt. In this episode, we discuss: All things NA...

WCA #265 with Alex Oana – Science Experiments, Imposter Syndrome, Spinach, Exercise, Motivation, Failure, and Audio Test Kitchen. Alex Oana , is the creator and co-founder of Audio Test Kitchen. Alex started out as a musician, became a recording engineer and producer, got into pro audio sales and marketing, and designs and develops products.   In this episode, we discuss: Imposter Syndro...

WCA #264 with Justin Perkins – Diversification, Diet, Commercial Space Benefits, Keeping Clients Happy, Teaching Audio, Disengaging from Audio Forums, and Mastering Therapy. Justin Perkins is a mastering engineer located in Milwaukie, Wisconsin. In this episode, we discuss: Diversification Diet One gig leading to another Commercial space benefits Keeping Clients Happy Teaching Audio Disengaging fr...

WCA #263 with Jacob Sciba  – 99 Cent Pizzas, The IRS, Mailbox Money, Game Planning, and Fear of an Empty Calendar. Jacob Sciba  is a producer/engineer/mixer based out of Austin, Texas.  In this episode, we discuss: Music Store Influence Microphone Obsession 99 Cent Pizzas Studying Business Low Overhead The IRS Fear of an Empty Calendar Game Planning Pre Production of life Mailbox Mo...

WCA #262 with Jordan Richter – Going Broke, Burning Out, Keeping Audio Fresh, and Moving into Coding. Jordan Richter  is a producer/engineer who, after 25 years of making records, has decided to move full time into coding.  In this episode, we discuss: Nashville Portland Burnout Recording for joy Scarcity Being a business person Going broke Jackpot Studios Keep audio fresh Identity Links...

WCA #261 with Dave Gardner – College Radio, Critical Thinking, Diversity, Power Dynamics, Communication, Compromise, and Context. Dave Gardner  grew up in Pittsburgh, became an adult in Minneapolis, and lives in Northeast Los Angeles. He is the Chief Mastering Engineer at Infrasonic Los Angeles and a long time fan of loud sounds. His mastering and producing credits include Sun Ra, Rocket From...

WCA #260 with Ben Bernstein – Being a guide, Low friction, Planning, Getting credit, and Being a team player. Ben Bernstein  is a producer, engineer, and mixer based out of Oakland, California. This is Ben’s second appearance since first appearing on WCA #055 (  https://bit.ly/2E2ND0o  ). More on Ben :  https://www.benbernsteinmusic.com/ In this episode we discuss: Live sound D...

WCA #259 with Lenise Bent – The smell of tubes, Leon Russel’s studio, Roger Nichols, Mike Chapman, Cancer, Networking and Diversification Lenise Bent  is an American audio engineer who has worked in both the music and film industry. She was one of a handful of women working in the Hollywood recording studio business in a technical role during the 1970s and was the first woman to rec...

WCA #258 with Jason Livermore – Selling Beer, Studio Ownership, Production Details, Cross Fit, and Thousand Dollar Vape Machines. Jason Livermore is a producer/engineer/drummer and co-owner of the Blasting Room Studios located in Fort Collins, Colorado. For more info on Jason visit:  https://theblastingroom.com/ In this episode we discuss: Selling Beer Fort Collins Studio Ownership Partnershi...

WCA #257 with Music Expo – Warren Huart, Lenise Bent, Michael James, Starita, Emiliano Caballero Music Expo San Francisco 2019 took place at the SAE Institute in Emeryville, California on November 9th and 10th. It featured a wide array of panels and discussions. The Producers and Engineers panel was the Keynote panel held on the 10th. Enjoy. -Matt For more info on Music Expo:  https://musicex...

WCA #256 with Scott Evans – Quitting his day job, Drug money, Wrestling mixes, Imposter syndrome and being financially conservative. Scott Evans  is an engineer and mixer based in Oakland, California. This is Scott’s second appearance on WCA. His first appearance was Episode #010 in 2015. We met at his studio for a great discussion and follow up to our first interview. For more info on Scott...

WCA #255 with Steven Gillis – Chicago winters, studio partnerships, Chuck Berry, HVAC systems, SSL myths, and the last studio he’ll ever build. Steven Gillis  is a drummer producer/engineer and mixer working out of Transient Sound, his studio in Chicago that he shares with studio partner Vijay Tellis-Nayak. For more info on Steven visit:  https://www.transientsound.com/ In this episode w...

WCA #254 with Jonah Strauss – DIY Attitude, The Aftermath of Fires, Advocacy, Dealing with Debt, The Dynamics of East Oakland and Serving his community. Jonah Strauss  made his first appearance on WCA #016. Since then he’s been through some experiences that have changed his perspective and outlook. He’s back with a new studio, new approach and primed to serve a community dear to his heart. Fo...

WCA #253 with Mary Mazurek – Recording live, Knowing your worth, Complicated gigs & Parents with multiple fridge/freezers. Mary Mazurek  is a Grammy-nominated recording engineer, artist, educator, speaker, and consultant. She currently works as a producer/engineer at WFMT in Chicago, teaches as an Adjunct professor at DePaul University as well as an instructor at Columbia College and Illi...

Dave Hillis has spent large amounts of time on both sides of the glass as a guitarist, producer, engineer, mixer and writer. He worked alongside famed producer Rick Parasher for several years in Seattle and was the engineer on Pearl Jam's breakthrough album "10". For more info on Dave visit: https://davehillismusic.com/ In this episode we discuss: Brooklyn to Seattle Metal beginnings DIY Focus Rec...

Piper Payne is a mastering engineer who has been a guest on WCA before (See WCA #045). She has been through some business experiences and changes since we last spoke and now has set up a homebase in Nashville but also continues to spend time in Oakland where she still has a facility. She joins me for a discussion of those changes and opportunities post Summer NAMM. Piper has mastered a wide variet...

Vance Powell is an old friend to Working Class Audio. His first appearance was on episode #007 almost 5 years ago. Vance is a 6 time Grammy Award-winning record producer, engineer, and mixer and has worked with Chris Stapleton, Jack White, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, and Martina McBride, among many others. I joi...

Jeff Kolhede is a Grammy-nominated producer, composer, engineer, and musician. He is currently a staff engineer at 25th Street Recording and is also a house producer, engineer, and mentor at Zoo Labs both located in Oakland, California. Jeff can be heard on film, television, advertisements, and artist projects, including the trailer music for the movie, Moonlight, a s a sound-designer, for the Vir...

Eyal Levi is a critically acclaimed educator, musician, producer, former guitarist and primary songwriter for the band  Daath, as well as a co-founder of URM (Unstoppable Recording Machine) Academy, an online education platform for producers with thousands of students from across the globe. In the studio, he has worked with such artists including The Black Dahlia Murder, Monuments, The Contor...

Justin Colletti is a mastering engineer, and the author of hundreds of articles on the art, science, and business of music and sound. He acts as director of content and publishing for SonicScoop and has written for outlets including Tape Op , The Deli Magazine , Trust Me I’m a Scientist and many more. In 2019, he began the weekly SonicScoop Podcast , interviewing music and audio industry luminarie...

Eric Fredricey started with hand me down cassette decks and mixers, progressed to a broadcast internship in Junior High, worked at a tv station right out of high school and is now chief engineer at KCSB-FM college radio in his hometown. In this episode we discuss, The World of Broadcast Running with the clock Getting yelled at Tailoring your resume Negotiating your salary Getting into broadcast FC...

Steve Chadie started interning for Willie Nelson's studio in 1995. 24 years later armed with a host of high profile clients, awards and experiences Steve still has the same enthusiasm he did when he started and a desire to lend a helping hand, gear or advice to upcoming young engineers that he collaborates with. In this episode we discuss Working with Willie Nelson Sharing knowledge Legal Pads Bei...

Paul Drew is a producer, engineer, mixer, session guitarist, and member of Production Expert. He's also the D in DWB Music Ltd and DWB MIXING. His experience is diversified and has served him well. Paul walks us through the details of all of it and tells us about his new venture The Studio Rats. In this episode we discuss The Asian music market The value of diversification His transition to Studio...

Patrick Meza is a Mix Tech at Warner Brothers. He is a prime example of how perseverance can open doors and shape your career. While still at the early stages of that career, Patrick has worked at some amazing places including Somatone Interactive, Disney, Pandora, and Skywalker Sound. In this episode we discuss The power of connecting over LinkedIn The importance of staying hungry Assuming the ro...

Brian David Hood is a producer/engineer, studio owner, and entrepreneur. Brian takes us through his journey, from playing drums on tour, opening a studio in his parent's basement, hitting a major low point that spurred him on to better opportunities, creating a video course and a podcast and his entrepreneurial ventures.   In this episode, you’ll discover: Brian's podcast that addresses the b...