Episode 115 - Jon Castelli
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 115
June 4, 2024
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 90
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Jon:
I'm feeling much more inspired and in touch with mixing this year after a fairly slow year last year.
- I wasn't feeling inspired by what I was working on last year and I had gotten locked into a particular way of thinking.
My template was starting to make my stuff feel a little too much like "me" as soon as I brought up the session.
- On the Billie record, Aron Forbes and I opted to strip off my template and start from scratch.
Everything this year feels like a back to basics approach for me.
- I don't want people to know that I was the one who mixed the record. I don't want to have a "sound" right now that people can tell right away
Co-Mixing the Billie Eilish Record
I co-mixed this with Aron Forbes, Billie and Finneas' musical director.
- He was there every day while mixing the record.
- Having Aron in the room allowed us to make bigger choices about the sound and feel of the record.
This year I've been collaborating on mixes for nearly every project so far, which has been beneficial.
My favorite mix on this record is 'The Greatest'
Aron is very big on textures that bring out the character of a sound. That's why we're good as a team.
- We both like saturation and organic, textural sounds.
We spent roughly 1.5 days on each mix, because we had the luxury of time to mix these records, which I don't always have.
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I've been blocking out time for records this year rather than having overlapping mix gigs, which allows me to really focus on the record in a great way.
I love being in touch with the artist and producer as I'm mixing.
- Sometimes you just need someone to tell you something is great, or it's not working.
I see myself continuing to be a finisher.
- I like the psychological aspect of people finally feeling ready to put it out.
Having Separate Home and Studio Spaces
Having a home and a work loft hasn't been great. It's a little stressful.
- It's more to manage. Financially and logistically.
I do like the ability to say "I'm not in the studio right now, can I knock out that note tomorrow?"
I'm very inspired by The Gift Shop and the work that I am doing right now.
Q: How much intention was there from the Billie camp on this record?
I was told to make it sound good. Make it sound like a great, timeless, classic album.
There was no label, mgmt, or a+r involvement on the mix of this record.
We were four songs in when I didn't nail one of the mixes on the first go-around (Birds of a Feather)
- I heard it on the radio for the first time today. I love that feeling.
- I mixed it way too pop. That was my instinct.
- They asked for it to be softer, warmer, and darker and it become too dark and soft
- So I started over for a third time and tried again, before I nailed it.
- You have to relinquish the ego in these moments when your mix isn't right because the artist IS the one that's right.
I look up to Billie and Finneas' work. I feel very privileged to be involved in this project.
- All that mattered to me is that they were so stoked on the sound of the record.
Are there any new things you've tried on this record?
Yeah. Fast attack compression.
- I used to be all about transients and slow compression, but now I'm the opposite and using fast attack everywhere.
I experimented a lot with de-transient-ing.
I'm using the H3000 spreader on the high-end of the drums on a few songs.
Pulling out transients allows for more vocal clarity in the mix.
- This is something that Aron and I deliberately did for this album.
Saturation
There is minimal clipping on this record. Just a little bit of Soft Clip on Ozone Maximizer
- Aron likes Decapitator and Devil Loc
I'm not a fan of band-specific saturation, though I do like Specter.
- It gets phase-y too quickly if you start separating and treating bands.
Mastering
I'm only delivering one version to Dale for the record.
- The album was delivered around -10 LUFS.
I've been starting to give Dale (Becker) non-limited mixes again, which is new for me.
- I'll still send him a photo of my limiter settings.
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I like to mix records without having heard the songs previously.
- I'm the last person who can hear the song for the first time.
- I want to be able to sprint on a song for an hour, unhinged
If artists send me rough mixes I don't listen to them at all until I have the mix session prepped and in front of me.
- That said, I am constantly comparing to the rough mix.
One of the functions of my assistant, Brad, is to get the session up and sounding as close to the rough mix as possible, unless the client specifically tells me that they don't like the rough.
Obsessing Over a Record
I'm so tuned into every millisecond of every record that I mix
- That's why it's important for me have my sessions color coded and everything cleaned up nicely and prepped.
If an artist hires me I am going to live inside of their song.
I think in order to be a great mix engineer you need to have a hypersensitivity and hyperfocus to the record. For this reason I don't think everyone is capable of mixing.
Matt:
If you're making a contemporary record at the highest level, someone in the team needs to be insane.
Jon:
I will take 100% of the obsessiveness off of the artist's shoulders and get fully immersed in the record on their behalf, if they'll allow me to.
Every world class tennis player has a great front hand and backhand, but what separates them from the rest is their mental game.
