Episode 102 - Jon Castelli
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 102
Nov 8, 2022
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 82
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Show Notes
Re-writing Your Own Story
Jon is interested in how you can change up your mode of being over time. Similar to how mixers would re-assess their mixbuss each year.
Jon:
I’m considering selling all of my gear and starting over. Everything but my DW Fearn gear and my big monitors.
I feel like I use this program a lot to say things and see what sticks, and then hold myself accountable.
Today Oeksound reached out to me about my previous ranting on Soothe. They said my judgement was emotionally weighted, and I was correct. They also agreed with a lot of things I had to say as well.
In this moment I was held accountable to my language.
Mike Miller, one of my closest friends called me recently to tell me how great my mixes sound.
My response was to come up with a strategy to “de-differentiate” myself and make myself more chameleon-like and adaptable like some of the other great mixers out there.
I study the business models of great mixers as well to see what I can learn.
I’m considering mixing on two-way monitors because they translate a little better on smaller consumer speakers.
“Workshop the workshop so that the work works outside of the shop.”
Matt:
There’s something interesting about doing things the way you want to do them because of the pure way you think about things as an artist.
So the question is “what do you want to do” vs “how do you optimize the business model”?
What do you sacrifice when you go hard in one direction or another?
I wonder if there is going to be a business model that pops up that is somewhat akin to stem-mixing and mastering. Is there one role that may be the finisher/mixer/mastering engineer role?
Jon:
I’m working on a project right now where I’m doing the heavy-lifting mixing instead of my usual mode of doing the last 10% of a producer’s mix. It’s very much my kind of record.
I’m getting rough mixes in that are coming in at -20 and aren’t even fully panned.
I recently had to redo a mix because I made the mistake of taking off the producer’s mix buss. Once I mixed into their original mix buss I got a very enthusiastic response. Me stripping off their mix buss initially was an ego-driven mood, and maybe somewhat taste-driven.
Matt:
The role of mixing for most popular music in most cases comes with the expectation that it’s not going to be too different from the rough.
Very often they just want a better version of the rough mix.
Back in the 1950’s and 60’s the recording engineers were doing the mixing because it was up to them to get the sound of the record up-front and deliver the whole sound.
Jon:
If the producer is mixing as they work, but a third-party mixer is hired to mix is that producer still considered a mixer on the track?
Quite often the mixer is taking a session backwards somewhat and stripping it down in order to bring the mix forward an extra 5%.
Q: What are you trying to do next? What’s the new thing for you?
Jon:
I’m trying to detach myself from the need to be in one place to mix all of the time.
Q: Did Jon notice a difference in the mixes that he did at the Just For the Record Studio livestreams?
Jon:
I tend to mix with more low-end at Just For the Record. It’s more fun to add a lot of bass in that room.
It usually only takes me 15-30 to make changes when I get back to my home studio. It’s very broad-stroke changes.
I’ve been very beholden to my home mixing space. I’d like to find a solution that would allow me work without relying on it.
Q: Do you do much mix-buss automation?
Jon:
Yes, but rarely. More often I’ll do it on sub-groups.
I’ll automate clippers on different sections of the song.
I love the new clipper in the Ozone 10 Maximizer.
I think the coolest plugin that could be made is an auto gain-staging plugin
This would have to be built into the DAW as a feature.
It could gain down all of your mixes to -6 so that they don’t clip, unless you want them too.
This could be a feature that you enable/disable like Heat on Pro Tools.
On the other hand, artful clipping is something like the PC Music people or Dylan Brady productions. That’s great, but for everyone else it would be a benefit to not allow your mix buss to clip.
Q: What do you think about Noah ’40’ Shebib as a mixer on the new Drake/21 Savage Record?
Jon:
Noah’s assistant engineer ‘Gadget’ is great and does amazing work.
I think the vocals on the record are a little loud, though.
Matt:
My favorite contemporary mixes are the ones that are right on the edge of being super-bright without harsh.
I love the clarity of Drake’s vocal mixes on his records.
