The SonicScoop Podcast | Music Production, Audio Engineering, and The Business of Music

There's a powerful concept in the world of productivity: "Finish your day before you start it". This idea can also be applied to mixing or anything else in music production, with amazing results. In this episode, Justin Colletti of SonicScoop gives insights into how to come up with a plan of attack before diving into your mix, so you can get better sounds than ever before. Thanks to Soundtoys, Eve...

There's no such thing as a pair of studio monitors that are absolutely perfect. So, choosing the right speakers for your studio requires that you know your own biases inside and out, and that you pick a set that complements your strengths and weaknesses. Justin Colletti discusses in this episode of the podcast. Thanks to Eventide, Soundtoys and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this episode.

If you're new to releasing music, there's at least an 80%-90% chance that putting out an album first is not your best bet for developing your music or your audience. Try this approach instead. Thanks to Soundtoys, Eventide and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this episode.

This week, get one of the biggest "master tips" that will dramatically improve the way you set your levels in the mix. This strategy of "honing in" draws on a principle you'll find everywhere in the music world, once you know to look for it. It can help you not just with mix balances, but with how you adjust just about every knob in the audio world, from EQ gain to compressor thresholds to guitar...

Is getting a sub for your studio worth it? There's a right and a wrong reason to get a sub. Justin Colletti gives you a framework for figuring out if you would benefit from adding a sub to your room, or if it will just make everything worse. Thanks to Soundtoys, Eventide and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this episode.

Get the FREE Music Pre-Production Checklist here: https://sonicscoop.com/checklist/ Pre-production is arguably the most important part of the record making process. It's also the most neglected. Justin Colletti give you the strategies you need to succeed in any type of music release. Thanks to Soundtoys, Eventide and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this podcast episode.

► Sign up to learn the Top 5 Habits of Truly Great Mixers here: https://sonicscoop.com/MixHabits How do you get the low end to sit right in your recordings and mixes? Justin Colletti has answers. Join him for this deep dive into the bottom end of record production in this, episode 47 of the SonicScoop Podcast. Don't forget to sign up for the free workshop at https://sonicscoop.com/MixHabits Thanks...

In this episode of the SonicScoop Podcast, Justin Colletti gives some key principles on how to approach the prospect of "working for free" in the studio and audio world. Whether its "spec work" or the unpaid studio internship, or sample work, there are ways to make real progress, and ways to be sure to waste your time. Thanks to Gear Club, Soundtoys and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this epi...

Build your own home studio for under $5,000 here: http://bit.ly/winyourwishlist-sonicscoop Can you build a professional quality studio for just $5,000? This week, Justin Colletti offers some strategies and principles for doing just that. Along there way, he also gives some sound advice for making the most of any budget—whether you have $500 to spend or $500,000! Want to play along at home for a ch...

Justin Colletti gives you his master list of the very best places to learn audio and music production. And #1 might not be what you expect. Thanks to Gear Club, Soundtoys and Focusrite for sponsoring this episode.

Almost every producer, engineer and musician struggles in being able to hear compression at first—sometimes for many years. Justin Colletti offers a fool-proof strategy for really learning to hear these sometimes subtle differences. It involves limiting variables, and doing a little bit of focused listening. If you do the exercises in this podcast, you'll quickly be able to hear compression in all...

Justin Colletti answers a common question: Is it better to put your EQ before or after your compressor? Then, he dives into some tips and principles for using EQ sidechains and multiband compressors. Thanks to Focusrite, Soundtoys and Eventide for sponsoring this podcast. For much, much more on using compression, try Justin's full length courses: http://masteringdemystified.com http://mixingbreakt...

In this episode, Justin Colletti talks to Dave Hnatiuk, a music supervisor who has placed and written music for countless clients, including Viacom channels like MTV, VH1, BET, CMT and many more. Dave talks all about making money by placing your music in film, TV, games, commercials and a lot more. Listen for plenty of actionable advice on how to get started pitching your music. For the full cours...

In this episode of the SonicScoop Podcast, Justin Colletti talks to Marc Urselli about doing audio work in the studio vs the stage. Marc is an engineer and mixer who is equally comfortable whether mixing FOH or tracking and producing in some of the world's best recording studios. He has worked with the likes of Nick Cave, Lou Reed, John Zorn, U2, Mike Patton, Les Paul, The Black Crowes, Joss Stone...

In this episode, Justin Colletti reviews some of the most effective approaches in applying bus compression to a mix. Thanks to Soundtoys, Gear Club and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this episode. For more depth on this subject and more, try http://mixingbreakthroughs.com

This week, Justin Colletti gives an overview of 3 of the most useful advanced compression strategies, and details how to implement them on a variety of instruments. From parallel compression for drums, bass and vocals, serial compression for instruments and buses, and sidechain compression for making space, these are skills that should be in every producer or engineer's toolkit. Thanks to Eventide...

What holds you back in music, production or in mixing? This week, Justin Colletti talks to Ian Temple of Soundfly about some of the most common hangups and stumbling blocks for new musicians, producers and engineers and how to surmount them. Tune in for 5 of the most important principles for learning anything related to music and audio much faster, and for becoming much more productive in your pur...

In this episode, Justin Colletti details the positive effects on the brain and general health and well-being that come from learning music. This is why music education really matters. For more on this topic, try: https://sonicscoop.com/2016/02/27/why-music-education-actually-matters/ Thanks to Gear Club, Soundtoys and Mixing Breakthroughs for sponsoring this podcast.

This week, Justin Colletti shares some evidence-tested ways to get much better, much faster, at what you do—whether that's playing an instrument, writing songs, mixing records, running a business, or anything else. Research shows that there are better and worse ways to go about improving at your craft—and that talent isn't all that it's chalked up to be. For more on this topic, try: https://sonics...

This week, Justin Colletti shares some evidence-tested ways to get much better, much faster, at what you do—whether that's playing an instrument, writing songs, mixing records, running a business, or anything else. Research shows that there are better and worse ways to go about improving at your craft—and that talent isn't all that it's chalked up to be. For more on this topic, try: https://sonics...

In the world of audio or music you're either an amateur or a professional. Which are you? Sometimes we're not clear and honest with ourselves about what role we're currently in—and which one is really best for us. That can lead to heartache and headaches, no matter which goals you pursue. In this episode of the podcast, Justin Colletti offers his standard for telling the difference between amateur...

Nicolas Verhnes has worked with an incredible number of critically acclaimed artists including Fiery Furnaces, Cat Power, Bjork, Dirty Projectors, Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Silver Jews, The War on Drugs, Wild Nothing and more. In this conversation with Justin Colletti, learn more about his open-ended approach to record production, and his decision to leave his New York City recording studio b...

Mark Needham is an 11-time GRAMMY-nominated producer and mixer who has worked with The Killers, Imagine Dragons, P!ink, Fleetwood Mac, Bloc Party, Chris Isaac and many more. Today, he focuses on developing new artists from the ground up, helping them find what makes them unique refine their craft, and connect with big audiences and major labels. Find out more about Mark here: https://www.markneedh...

In this episode of the SonicScoop podcast LIVE from MixCon, Justin Colletti is joined by three brilliant panelists for a look at how music production is changing right now, and where the field is headed next. First, Jonathan Bailey of iZotope tells us about the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning in music production. Are you going to lose your job to a robot composer, perform...

Aside from your ears, the most important tool you use every day might just be the music you listen to in the studio, and compare your work against. According to Justin Colletti, there's a "right" and "wrong" way to use references however. Here's his tips on how to get the most out of them, avoid some of the common pitfalls, stay creative, and keep from chasing your tail while comparing your tracks...