Production Expert Podcast

In this week’s podcast, Julian, Audrey and James talk about breaking the “rules”. Maybe better referred to as conventions, there are some ways of doing things which are so common that we sometimes follow them unquestioningly but as the saying goes - rules are to be broken!

In this week’s podcast, Russ, Julian and Sara discuss Apple’s announcement of their move to ARM based chips in future Macs. What does it mean for audio professionals and what effect will it have on developers? They also discuss  the use of the word ‘Stem” in audio and share their finds of the week.

In this week’s podcast, Mike, Alan and Emma discuss their experiences of working in post-production  during COVID. How have things changed? To what extent have remote working practices replaced face to face interactions and when people are actually in the same building, how is safety maintained? 

In this week’s podcast Julian and Audrey are joined by James Richmond. They discuss mix references. We all have tracks with which we assess and judge our mixes, equipment and environments. Why do we choose particular tracks and what are the reasons behind these choices? They also consider the development of audio recording and ask whether there was a sweet spot and if so, when it happened.

In this week’s podcast Russ and Sara are joined by William Wittman. They discuss mixing, specifically the mistakes they keep seeing, or making. Over-compression? Monitoring too loud? Not using a reference? Confusing louder with better? There are so many pitfalls, which do they single out as their personal bugbear?

In this week’s podcast Julian and Chris are joined by Steve DeMott. They discuss the use of additional screens in the studio, whether carrying Apps which supplement DAWs or anything else and the wisdom of buying cheap equipment.

In this week’s podcast Mike, James and Audrey discuss channel strips and studio security, Do we use channel strip plug-ins or do we create our own from individual EQs and compressors? Is there a sonic benefit in using the same processes across every channel? 

In this week’s podcast Julian and Eli welcome James Richmond to a podcast in which they discuss the relevance of analogue consoles to production work in 2020. Most of us admire them but would we actually use one if it were available. Let alone pay for one and tolerate the running costs?

In this week’s podcast Russ, Dan and Sara are discussing the practicalities of using a laptop as the only computer in a professional studio. Laptops have been suitable for pre-production, songwriting, tracking,  mixing and many other things for a long time but so many of us own a desktop for the studio and a second laptop in addition - Why?

In this week’s podcast Mike and Julian catch up with Emma, who has been busier than she expected. What opportunities are out there for people working in post and are is all the work being done remotely or are parts of the industry starting to adapt to social distancing? Dolby Atmos is here to stay so is it time to get educated? The team discuss…

Like most of us Julian, Dan and Sara are all spending even more time in their studios during lockdown, On this week’s podcast we discuss what we’ve done to ensure our studios don’t damage our bodies, and hopefully our minds. What have we done and what changes would we like to make to create spaces which don’t risk RSI, poor posture and all the other issues extended sedentary work can cause.

James and Julian welcome Chris Vandeviver from Logic Pro Expert to the podcast and discuss monitors, specifically what we are using, what we like and what we’d like to try. Coaxial monitors, Beryllium tweeters and the merits of inexpensive monitors get discussed along with deals, our finds of the week and the inevitable, and unavoidable Coronavirus.

Mike, Dan and Eli swap tips and ideas about production, arrangement and mixing. Vocal tuning, intelligent virtual player plugins, the merits or otherwise of analogue emulations… In these days of few technical limitations do we embrace this freedom or does it make things more difficult to make decisions?

The long anticipated LUNA launch happened last week to much excitement but James, Julian and Audrey ask why we should try it and what does it bring to the DAW landscape?

Acoustic Treatment is important but how much difference does it make and how much should acoustic performance affect how you use your studio space? Russ, Julian and Sara discuss in this week’s production Expert Podcast.

In our latest Post Production Special with the profound effect of COVID-19 on the industry there has never been so much to talk about. We hear the perspectives of Mike Alan and Emma on this rapidly changing situation.

With so many working from home how do we best face the challenges both practical, social and emotional that this can present, especially if you aren’t used to it? There’s probably 50 years combined experience of working from home between the podcast team, what advice can they share?

It wouldn’t be possible for us to avoid the subject of the spread of coronavirus around the world. We’ll leave the health advice to others but do we have any advice for people working in audio who find themselves affected by the changes these events are causing in our working lives?

James, Dan and Eli discuss templates. With Dan having recently moved over on to a PC and Studio One, James being a Pro Tools user on PC and Eli being a Logic user is is very much a mixed environment but does that affect their approach to templates?

Russ, Julian and Sara discuss client approvals and the tools we can use to share and get feedback on work. Are you still happy sending dropbox links and getting email lists of revisions or are you using something more sophisticated? This week’s Production Expert Podcast also includes new competitions for March and random discussions about AMSR.

In a break from the norm we have Eli, Emma and Audrey presenting the Production Expert Podcast. Talking points include which plug-ins they reach for when starting a mix and what they do to improve their skills, something which is particularly relevant in an industry in which so many freelancers don’t have the regular contact with colleagues and peers which people in other industries enjoy.

Which is the best audio interface? That largely depends on what features you need it to have and as we find out in this week’s Production Expert Podcast, that very much depends on who you are and what you do.

In this week’s podcast the team talk about the new Mac Pro. HDX users wanted a machine with PCI slots for their cards but our recent power test proved that there was so much power available in the Mac Pro that the processing power of HDX is largely unnecessary for most users. Aren’t the people who really benefit from the power of the Mac Pro people working in Dolby Atmos? However because of the wa...

Russ, James and Alan talk about the differences between working in Post and Music, and whether or not immersive audio is driving new demand?

James, Julian and Dan discuss what other skills you need to run a successful audio business.