Episode 39
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 39
Feb 9, 2021
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 36
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Jon recommends Huberman Lab Podcast Lectures:
A series of lectures on neuroscience that start at the fundamentals and build from there.
It takes real, rigorous, practice to change your habits and become un-stuck in your ways.
(Jon paraphrasing Huberman) You need to get Adrenaline (norepinephrine) flooding through the brain, then have enough acetylcholine in your brain to help the experiences/habits you’re learning to “stick”.
You can supplement acetylcholine or eat 4 eggs to obtain enough of it.
The presence of these chemicals are necessary for neuroplasticity in people older than 25 years old.
The most important ingredient to consolidate these changes in your brain is quality sleep and/or non-sleep restfulness.
90 min of intense learning and then 20 min of non-sleep restfulness or good sleep will promote neuroplasticity and help you change your brain in the ways that you seek.
Jon has a very disciplined lifestyle that allows him to focus on building these habits.
He has a consistent lifestyle/routine and minimal inputs coming in.
Jon hopes to distill these new neuroscientific findings into routines and habits that newer generations can take advantage of and implement.
Matt:
Efficiency is not just about maximizing the time that you spend actively doing something, but optimizing the habits around that like good diet, good sleep, etc that maximize the work that you DO do.
Jon:
You’re not learning in the moment. You’re learning afterwards while your memories consolidate.
Super intense focus followed by no focus is the way to ingrain new practices and habits.
Matt:
Learning is akin to building muscle: “You get bigger and stronger by letting your muscles recover from working out”
It’s the recovery and the perspective that allows you to learn.
Dave Elitch’s advice as a teacher: When practicing drum rudiments, do 5 min of intense focus and then take a break to consolidate mentally.
These recipes are going to be different for everyone, so experiment with intense work and then breaking.
Analog vs. Virtual Synths
Soft synths are close enough to match the sonic quality.
The point is more that the workflow of hardware is beneficial. You want the joy and tactile response of paying with the instrument.
People don’t talk about this enough.
Not having a screen in your face as you work is a huge benefit.
Matt loves his Juno 6 because there are no presets and he has to tweak the sound every time.
It’s important to have tools that benefit your workflow in different ways.
The performative nature of instruments adds a quality that is not to be underestimated. It’s different from drawing in automation.
Understanding the performance aspect of a synth will also help you to draw in those moves when you DO decide to do so. It will help you mix those sounds.
Music is not being performed anymore. This makes a difference.
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Clients tell Jon: “I hire you to mix because you’re a producer.”
You don’t have to be a producer to be a great mixer. But it helps.
If you’ve never been in the room to see a creative session it’s hard to speak the language.
Jon can feel through the record and hear the moment when everyone jumps off the couch and go “That’s the melody!”
Be an engineer that talks like an artist.
Learn to speak the language of color, energy, vibe.
Yesterday Jon pitched a drum loop down 8(!) semitones. Then he changed the swing pattern on a tambourine.
This isn’t a mixer move. It was an intuitive choice that comes from Jon’s experience as a producer.
What does the role of mixer mean nowadays?
The only difference between mixer/producer nowadays is when a manager says “It’s time to mix.”
This represents a shift in mindset.
We should always mix musically and consider the feel of the record. Not necessarily how it sounds.
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Tony Maserati straight up told Jon not to be a mix engineer.
“You know how to produce. Let’s get you a publishing deal. You’re going to be a producer who can also mix.”
This experience as a producer informed his choices and strategies as a mixer.
Tony: “You do what people pay you to do.”
Jon is too hyper-focused to be a “does everything” person. Matt has his hands in every step of the process and loves it.
When you’re starting do a million things and find out what you enjoy doing.
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Q: Is there a way to be a good mixer without being a tech geek?
Jon:
You don’t need to be a tech-geek around your gear. You don’t need to know how the electrical components of microphones work.
If it’s not your primary job, and you have a technical issue outsource it to an expert who can help you.
As a professional you only need to understand the “why” at a deep enough level to know how to do your job.
Q: In what ways has the pandemic affected the music industry positively?
Quarantine has put artists in a position where they have to be more trusting of their collaborators.
There are deeper relationships being forged between people.
Matt’s sessions have required him to quarantine with the artist for days at a time and that’s created interesting results that he wouldn’t normally get.
Vocalists who were never engineers are having to record themselves. Now they are gaining an appreciation for how difficult that can be and what it takes to get a good sounding record.
Things like ‘Live with Matt Rad’ have started to crop up that had never existed before.
