Mentor My Mix: Forward Never Straight!

Martin Luther McCoy: singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and native San Franciscan. Martin Luther shares stories of his career starting from a gospel music childhood in San Francisco’s Bayview, to performing and touring with Philadelphia-based Hip Hop Band, The Roots, and being cast as Jo-Jo in the Hollywood musical, Across The Universe. Experiences and lessons learned, including adapting to...

Shawn Mercado, aka SHDWS, producer, DJ, engineer, and sound designer. A Bay Area native and Pyramind Alum. Shawn shares his experiences with DJing and promoting for iconic San Francisco clubs like EPR, Ruby Skye, and City Nights. He’s produced music previously as M3RC, and spent years honing his craft and discovering his signature style, leading into rebranding and releasing a polished sound under...

Excerpts from different episodes of the Mentor My Mix Podcast, hosted by Greg Gordon. Brought to you by Pyramind, America's premier Music Production School. http://www.pyramind.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Shane Hazleton's seven years of education included his undergraduate degree in Music Interdisciplinary Computing in The Arts at UCSD (where he studied with the likes of Miller S. Puckette, inventor of MAX MSP), and was followed by his MFA at Cal Arts in Experimental Sound Practices and Integrated Media. This led him down a path of visionary development where his idea for creating a matrix-based to...

From New York bands to the University of Miami and back. Working through the tech boom of the late nineties to support a growing music career. Trying to get signed to the German label Studio K7 producing Trip Hop, Drum & Bass, Jungle and experimental Hip Hop. Getting referred to the sales division of OM records. Building the relationship with OM over a period of a year to getting signed as MING &...

Breaking down the funky Dubstep infused track, Skunked. Evaluating the current trends in modern Dubstep & Riddim. Playing shows in France & Budapest before Covid. Signing with Maximum Boost Agency. Playing the content game and releasing on the "regular". Live streaming shows from the Social Sanctuary in LA. Mentoring with Pyramind. Mixing & Mastering services business and assorted "random audio jo...

The evolution of The VIBE: Vibrational Individualized Body Enhancement System and using Sound, Light Frequency Vibration for Wellness. Growing up in New Jersey with a father who was a pharmacist and pursuing sports medicine and then studying to become a chiropractor. Drawn to moving West and moving to Denver Colorado to establish a wellness practice. Invited to move to San Diego to help develop a...

Releasing on Synesthesia Records, Inspired by a love of baroque music and making bangers with harpsichord melodies and the original OG: J.S. Bach. Scoring an original track for the video game, Sunset Overdrive. Working with Reason and loving the interface, the look of the mixer and racks and the block arrangement views with block arrangement view with entire section color coding to create a great...

From Live sound and national touring to theater sound to assisting and running sessions in LA recording studios to the scoring stage at Universal Studios. Getting lucky with a gig in Editorial, laying in backgrounds and sound effects for TV shows and movies. Developing custom sound design for the Weird Science TV series. Getting exposed to working in Dolby Surround and using that experience to tra...

Remixing for political action with Dubfire and The Bishopgame, The Sound Of Change, The Four Track Remix EP, the universal human condition, loneliness, the impact of Covid-19 and the current election cycle, the Affordable Care Act. An homage to nineties melodic rock meets contemporary electronic production. Production techniques creating variations and twists in the remix but honoring the original...

In this episode Greg and DJ Celeste discuss the transition of the current live music industry from venues and festivals to online live-streaming, Twitch and VR parties, including the use of Tiltbrush and Blender as a stage building tool for visual artist in collaboration with musicians and venues in the online space.  Collaborating with cello Joe in Oakland. Filming a music video pre-covid. The am...

Bridging the gap from '70's love & hate to rave culture. Born in the oil fields of Oildale California and coming to the Bay via Eureka. Coming to SF heart broken when his band broke up. Going to his first rave in Golden Gate Park and waking up to a whole new generation of music. Asking to buy a rave machine and walking out with two turntables, a DJ mixer and vinyl from Frequency 8. Going back nort...

Getting his start at 17 at the landmark New York club CBGB's as a lighting tech, then touring with Jane's Addiction as a lighting tech and then Mix Master Mike as his Tour Manager for almost 10 years. Moving to Maui in the early '90s. DJ'ing & producing and moving to SF in 1993 as a DJ and producer, Stand Out Selector. Conscious music and Dancehall Reggae as a driving force. Management techniques...

Jamming in Ableton to produce new music as Wavelux. Dealing with canceled tours and making the most of being given "a break from the road". High pressure lifestyle of the DJ and getting "a year off of Raves". Starting out as a young promoter as 17 and moving quickly to touring as a DJ. First big break with "mentors" willing to take him under their wing in the studio and the clubs. From small hits...

Starting at young age and sticking with it. Influenced by the greats: The classics Beethoven, Mozart, Ludovici, to the contemporaries Yani, Avicii, Kygo, and Eminem and studying their music and productions. Training your ear to develop the acquired skills needed to hear intervals, chord progressions, arrangement, arpeggiations, and in so doing playing over 5000 covers and releasing close to a thou...

Meet Jor van der Poel: Originally from the Netherlands and now living, working and producing in Berlin. Jor has been working with Pyramind as a music production educator and course developer for over three years. Moving from bands to production work and transitioning from being a drummer to guitarist and now full 88 key pianist and keyboard player. Why starting with an instructor is so important a...