Recording Studio Rockstars

My guest today is Ken Sluiter, a grammy-nominated recording engineer/producer/mixer whose credits include artists such as Heart, Jerry Lee Lewis, James Blunt, Andra Day and Weezer. His work can also be heard on many records from indie-icons including Mekons, The Jesus Lizard and Ok Go. Working closely with producer Joe Chiccarelli, Ken has recently mixed several projects for artists such as Morris...

My guest today is Mike Indovina, a recording, mixing and mastering engineer based out of Toronto, Canada. He also runs the website masteryourmix.com where he shares many of the lessons he's learned throughout his audio career to help thousands of musicians and engineers create better mixes that they're proud of. In addition, he hosts the MasterYourmix Podcast where he has interviewed many top-leve...

My guest today is Wyn Davis and I am going to read his bio to you know because it tells his story well: I started playing guitar when I was 10. I grew up in Southern California and was influenced by all the music that was created here and in Northern California. Beachboys, Doors, Canned Heat, Spirit, Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa, all of it. I think the releases of 1967-1968, the folk music, the...

My guest today is Jordan Reynolds an established voice actor and in-demand, progressive voice-over demo reel and audio producer in Los Angeles. His voice has been heard all over the world. Voicing internationally known companies such as LEGO, Audi, Sprite, and Cisco - to voice dubbing and impersonating celebrities - to screaming in video games such as World of Warcraft to voicing villains in Netfl...

My guest today is Dave Hillis who started his career as a 17 year old guitarist for the legendary thrash metal band "MACE." Dave also spent ten years alongside legendary producer Rick Parashar, at Seattle's famed London Bridge Studios, during the birth of the Grunge era where he worked as the engineer on Pearl Jam's debut album "Ten" , "Mother Love Bone", the movie soundtrack for "Singles", Alice...

My guest today is Stuart Richardson who began his career as a recording engineer in his native Wales in the mid-'90s, cutting his teeth with bands and musicians who would go on to become breakout artists, such as Funeral for a Friend, Bullet for my Valentine, The Blackout, and Kids in Glass Houses. In 1998, Stu joined the band Lostprophets, who signed a record deal with Columbia Records/Visible No...

My guest today is Brandon Bell, a Grammy-winning recording engineer known for his work with Bluegrass, Americana, and Country music artists. Originally from central Arkansas, Brandon moved to Tennessee to study recording at Middle Tennessee State University. He got his start interning for, and later assisting, renowned recording engineer & producer Gary Paczosa. With Gary he was twice nominated fo...

Every year in April here in the US it's tax time, and for those of us working professionally in the recording studio, it means organizing all the income, bills, and expenses of the year to see how we did and then send off a check to the IRS to show our gratitude to Uncle Sam. So today I have a guest that will help us better understand how to organize your recording business, and manage your money...

My guest today is John Paterno, a Grammy winning Los Angeles based producer, mixer, composer, engineer, mastering engineer, and musician who has worked with a diverse range of artists including: Robbie Williams, The Steve Gadd Band, Soraya, Robben Ford, Eros Ramazzotti, The Thrills, Tim McGraw, Bonnie Raitt, and Badly Drawn Boy in his twenty five-plus year career. Dubbed 'Mr Meticulous' by industr...

My guests today are Simon Walls & Greg Bonnier from Montreal CA. once a year, they pick a country, board a plane, pack suitcases full of gear and record as many talented artists as they can find. They have an amazing series on Youtube now called Simon & Greg Record The World. Simon Walls is a music producer, songwriter and adventurer. After producing his own original records, he has been producing...

My guest today is Spencer Bastian, a Michigan-born and Los Angeles-based producer. Starting out as a musician Spencer played with Jason Evigan's band After Midnight Project, and their first single "Take Me Home" peaked at number 25 on alternative rock radio in 2009. Spencer went on to your the 2009 and 2010 Vans Warped Tour opening for bands like Chevelle, Papa Roach, and The Used. Toward the end...

My guest today Alan Evans is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, studio engineer, record producer, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae and the psychedelic. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Alan often plays guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and percussion on his solo recordings as well as for other artists. Alan is also a fou...

My guest today is Pete Johns, a singer-songwriter, recording enthusiast and music educator from Adelaide, South Australia. Pete played in bands and dabbled in recording in the 90s, before a full-time career and family put music on the back-burner. Twenty years later, Pete started getting back into writing, playing and recording music, starting out using Cakewalk and eventually Reaper to record on...

My guest today is Jonathon Jircitano, a vocalist and songwriter who started playing in rock bands at the age of 12. After fronting bands for over six years, he decided to start performing solo after inspiration sparked working with former Cage The Elephant member Lincoln Parish. Jonathon spent time living and writing in Los Angeles, focusing on creating his sound, with influences from artists such...

My guest today is Yoli Mara who along with her husband Chris Mara, manages the Nashville analog focused recording studio, Welcome To 1979. Located in what used to be a thriving record pressing plant in The Nations area of Nashville, Welcome to 1979 is a spacious recording studio that specializes in analog recording at a time when most studios are 100% digital. Yoli also helps to manage three other...

My guest today is Charles Holloman, Audio Engineer, Producer, Musician, Songwriter and Studio Owner in Muscle Shoals, AL. Originally from Atlanta, GA graduating from Georgia State University with a recording degree he migrated to Charlotte, NC, where he operated Charles Holloman Productions (chpaudio) for over 20 years. From his studio, he recorded everything from Anthony Hamilton, Fantasia and Be...

My guest today is Smith Curry, a session player primarily on pedal steel and slide guitar who also has toured with acts ranging from uber-star Kid Rock to British synth/pop stars Erasure. As a Session Player over the past two decades Smith has worked as a Sideman with over 100 major-label Country artists such as Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, and Randy Travis and his credits include CMA, ASCAP and A...

My guest today is Tim Easton, artist, musician, songwriter, and troubadour originally from Akron Ohio before starting his musical journey traveling Europe busking the streets of London, Paris, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Ireland for seven years. Tim has since had a long career of songwriting, collaborating, and record making that includes his band the Haynes Boys in the 90s, foll...

My guest today is Daniel Tashian is a Gammy nominated producer, musician, and song writer who started early in his career with a deal at Elektra Records at 19 years old. He grew up in a musical family. Daniel's father opened for the Beatles at Shea Stadium. Daniel did a record with T-Bone Burnett but it did not get traction. After his deal ended, Daniel went back to art school to study photography...

My guest today is Michael Estok, a producer, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter born in Youngstown, OH. Starting with school at the Recording Workshop, and then Full Sail University. In 2004, Michael moved to Nashville, TN for an internship at Sony/ATV Tree studios, and worked under the watch of music industry legend, Pat Mcmakin. During the 14 years he spent in Nashville, Michael wor...

My guest today is Brian Charles, a producer, engineer, and now plugin designer from Boston Massachusetts. Brian's studio (Zippah) has become a renowned destination for indie rock bands from New England and around the world. Brian's credits span 30 years of record making, from the punk band "The Vatican Commandos" (fronted by a young Moby) in the 80's. To the indie guitar pop of the 90's from bands...

My guest today is Chris Graham, a multi genre Billboard chart breaking mastering engineer who has worked with thousands of artists. He's also the co-host of "The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast" with Brian Hood. Their podcast aims to help audio engineers make a full time living from the comforts of their home studio. Chris has a passion for seeing audio engineers make a solid living from their skil...

My guest today is Tim Lauer, a Nashville based composer, producer, songwriter, and musician. He recently completed his second season as Executive Music Producer for the television show Nashville. He produced over 125 cast recordings for the Nashville show and was also EMP for Greenleaf Season 1 and wrote and produced the main title song performed by Mavis Staples. Tim is an Emmy-nominated writer w...

My guest today is Vance Powell, a six-time Grammy award winning producer, engineer and mixer, whose impressive list of credits includes Chris Stapleton, Elle King, The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, Wolfmother, Seasick Steve, Black Prairie, Tinariwen, and Jeff The Brotherhood, among many others. Powell recently won two Grammy awards in 2018 for mixing and engineer...

My guest today is Matt Beaudoin, a Boston-based engineer, producer, and educator. While currently a freelance engineer, Matt has had a long association with Q Division Studios, where he was a chief engineer from 2003 to 2010. While he has worked in a wide variety of genres, Matt particularly enjoys employing classic recording techniques while working on music made with a live, ensemble-based appro...