Production Expert Podcast

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by Graham Kirkman, where they discuss the gear and software that they wouldn't want to live without. Talking Points: Let’s discuss some of the gear/software that we find ourselves relying on and why that is. Open Back Headphones,  Sit Stand Desk,  Macbook Pro, VisLM,  Celemony Melodyne.  Neve 1073 Mic Pre,  Neumann U87.  Logic Pro Finds...

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Eli Krantzberg, where they dissect the meaning of the commonly used term 'Sounds Like A Record'. Talking Points: We hear the terms ‘radio ready’ and ‘sounds like a record’ used a lot in this industry, so let’s break down the elements that make a song worthy of that statement, and why do some songs fail to sound like this? Music is c...

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Steve DeMott, where they discuss the future of music production and emerging trends in the world of audio. Talking Points: Let’s discuss some of the new trends and practices we are seeing pop up in the industry in general. Steve, you mentioned a few days ago that you’ve noticed a trend in audio plugins, how they seem to be geared towards impr...

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Luke Steven Ramsay, where they discuss how to revive and make use of old material, that’s currently collecting dust on our hard drives.  Talking Points Do you have a lot of unfinished material sitting around on your hard drive? If so, why do you think that is? Let’s discuss some useful ways as producers we can make use of the old unfinished mat...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Siobhan Anderson. Where they compare 3 of the most well known DAWs and ask, ´Does your DAW do this?´ Talking Points: What first attracted you to your DAW of choice? Let’s briefly discuss platform compatibility for Logic X, Pro Tools & Ableton What do you like about your DAWs user interface? Have you tried other DAWs, what didn’t you like a...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Marcel Schechter from Genelec , where they discuss  ‘Solving Room Acoustics For Better Mixes ’ Talking Points What are some common acoustic problems in recording studios, and how can they be solved? How can room size and shape impact the acoustics of a recording space? Are there specific materials or treatments that are essential for improving...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Paul Maunder and Roger Guerin, where they discuss the pros and cons of an education in audio.  Talking Points: How has education helped you in terms of knowledge and your career? There’s a plethora of free material online, on Youtube etc, how valuable is learning via this method? The value of structured courses. ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and James Richmond, where they discuss Perpetual Licences vs Subscription Models. Talking Points Pro Tools Perpetual Licences are now available for sale exclusively through authorised Avid resellers, they will not be sold via the Avid Web Store, thoughts on this? Pros and cons of perpetual licences vs subscription-based models from both the consumer...

In this week’s edition Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Vincent Hervy, where they discuss, how A.I and new technology  is changing the audio industry. Ways in which A.I/ new technology has changed the way we work in music up until now How will our jobs need to evolve with the ever improving advances in technology? How can we make A.I work to our advantage? Finds of the week: Toy Box Audio- Thu...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and Gareth Nuttall, where they discuss  how arrangement can affect the mix. Talking Points: How often do you end up changing parts of the arrangement to improve a mix?  The importance of sound selection, layers and instrument placement. Frequency masking and arrangement tricks that can help.  Filling in frequency gaps: Combining kick and bass, for a...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Graham Kirkman and Steve DeMott who discuss ‘Plugin UIs. What are the important things that developers need to consider?’ Talking Points: How important are visuals to us? Visual, graphical displays vs skeuomorphic designs, what are some of the pro’s and cons? What Plugin UI features do you think improve your mix/production decisions and why?  Inter...

In this week's podcast, Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Karen Down (The Support Squad) who discuss 'Mental Health In The Music Industry'. What are some of the challenges and pressures that audio professionals face in the music industry that might impact their mental health? Pressures of freelancing-How do we address the financial and emotional pressures that audio professionals m...

In this week’s podcast Julian is  joined by Ashea, Dom Morley and Steve DeMott who discuss ‘How much do traditional analogue rules still apply today?’ All four of us are producers/mixers of slightly different vintage, so it would be interesting to go around the table and hear a little about which techniques & practices we learned from and perhaps how that affects our workflow today.  Gainstagi...

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by George Tizzard and Rick Parkhouse of SUPER-Hi talking about the creative vision and technical decision making behind a chart hit.  Talking Points Starting a track, what is your approach, does it change depending on the vibe/artist? Producing for very established artists, what is the process, how involved are the labels/artist in the sound...

In this week's Podcast Julian is joined by Ashea and Ian Shepherd for a discussion about about mastering in the streaming age. Ian Shepherd is a mastering engineer of 25 years experience who has become well known for his work around the detrimental effects of the loudness wars. He runs the Production Advice blog and hosts The Mastering Show podcast. Talking Points Mastering for Streaming Plat...

Following up from our podcast looking at how post mixers use the new expanded Track Widths in Pro Tools 2023.6 Julian and Ashea are joined by Steve Genewick and Nathaniel Reichman to discuss Atmos for Music and whether track widths beyond 7.1.2 are significant for music mixers. Finds Of The Week Ashea - Gearfest UK Nathaniel - Auto Align 2 Steve - Vanguard Audio V44S Julian - UAD Capitol Mastering...

In this week’s Podcast Julian is joined by Ashea, Gareth Nuttall and William Wittman who discuss fixing in the mix. Can it be done successfully? Finds Of The Week: Julian - Space Lens in Clean My Mac Ashea- Avid Collab with Audio Movers or CHAPEA Gareth - Hi Hat Bleed Trick William- Dr. Tver Robert pedal by Aclam  

In this weeks episode Julian is joined by Ashea, Roger Guerin and Korey Pereira. They discuss the extended track widths introduced in Pro Tools 2023.6 and what they mean for Atmos mixers. Let’s go round the table and talk about each of your current work and how affected by Atmos it is. What has changed in Pro Tools 2023.6 regarding Track Widths? What is the 7.1.2 ceiling and why does it exist? How...

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by Greg Tan and Steve DeMott to discuss producing music for picture. Talking Points What is the creative process when composing music for movies/video games. How do you approach capturing the desired mood and atmosphere? What’s the collaborative process like with directors, producers, and other members of the creative team to understand their...

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Reid Caulfield and James Richmond. We discuss the announcements made at Apple’s WWDC 2023, particularly the much anticipated Apple Silicon Mac Pro. Talking Points Mac Pro - Who needs it when the Mac Studio exists? PCI cards - how relevant in 2023? Upgradeable SSD is back (kind of) New Mac Studio and M2 Ultra Game Mode in macOS Sonoma Apple Vision P...

In this week's Podcast Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Alex West , a BBC Radio DJ who works with up and coming bands as part of BBC Introducing. They discuss what makes a radio hit in 2023? Finds Of The Week Russ - I/O by Peter Gabriel Alex - Fizz At Great Escape Ashea - Slate Digital Storch Filter

In this week's podcast Julian and Ashea are joined by Ary Maudit and Iggy B, both working engineers who spend part of their time working at Strongroom Studios in London. In this podcast we discuss the role of studios in 2023. Finds Of The Week Ashea - Flower Pot Dessert at Bill’s  Julian - Mix To Mobile , routing to a Wifi Speaker Ary - Bloody Mary Iggy - Kara Jackson

in this week’s episode Julian and Ashea are joined by songwriter producer publisher and A&R Greig Watts. We talk about songwriting, the role of producers inthe songwriting process and Eurovision. Talking Points To what extent these days are songs written in a DAW? How involved are producers these days in the development of a song and how has that changed over the years? How many unfinished son...

In this week's podcast Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Reid Caulfield. They discuss the importance of workflow, as inspired  by Russ' article Sound or Workflow - What Matters Most? Talking points Russ, in your article you talk about the importance of workflow, what inspired that article? In his recent article on plugins which he uses on every mix Julian found that none of the plugins...

In this week's episode Julian is joined by Ashea and NAMM stalwart James Ivey to discuss the show and the products which were being shown! Julian Sound Radix Auto Align 2 Yamaha DM3 Sound Particles Skydust 3D Yamaha CK88 James Vangard Audio Labs - Stereo Tube/Valve Condenser Mic Nektar CS12 Channel Strip Controller. Antelope Audio Atlas i8 Active Speakers Fender Rhodes Mk8 Ashea Dreamtonics V...