Episode 45
Show Notes:
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 45
Mar 23, 2021
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 42
w/ Cian Riordan - Week 1
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Q: Thoughts on analog vs. In-the-box summing?
Matt and Jon both thought that analog summing wasn’t a widely-used technique these days.
Jon:
If there’s a box that gives you something that you like from it, then use it.
Most people desire the sound of ITB these days.
Some engineers think they’re giving tracks separation. Jon is actually looking for NOT separation in his mixes.
Matt:
Most A-list mixers don’t seem to be using analog summing anymore.
Q: Thoughts on AI-assisted mixing tools?
Matt:
We encourage you to not use it, because our viewer base is more interested in mixing and having more control and facility than what these tools can provide.
Jon:
If you think that is what mixing and mastering is, then you’re doing more harm than good to the audio.
Neutron-style masking meters can be helpful.
Jon uses Gullfoss on every session, but only in very small amounts.
He doesn’t use it any more than 4%. Even the manual recommends this.
It introduces phase issues and can get rid of punch or articulation.
Matt:
Any plugin that anyone wants to use is awesome if that works for you. But the point is that if something is working and you don’t know what it does or why it’s making those choices then you’re doing yourself a disservice. You need to know how it works so that you can have the skill for yourself.
If what you’re trying to do is not think about mixing, then go ahead and use these tools, but that’s not who we are as a group of viewers. We are here to learn about mixing in great detail.
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Jon heard the Harry Styles mix for ‘Golden’ which he engineered on. He didn’t mix it.
The dynamic range in the top-end was over compressed. It sounded like hissy white noise when he heard it on the radio. At that point the compression from radio stations was over-cooking a mix that was already tuned to match a “radio” aesthetic.
Jon can hear this on the Tidal and Spotify versions too, but on the radio it is 10x’ed.
We need to start thinking about mixing differently for radio. If the radio stations are going to apply their own compression, then hyping the mix to match that sound will be counter-intuitive by the time it goes through their processing.
Jon knows that Spike hyped the record for radio, because Jon saw the session before it was passed off to Spike.
Matt:
The non-hyped mixes are the ones that sound the best on the radio.
The Rich Costey Muse mixes.
The Tchad Blake Arctic Monkeys mixes.
Skrillex and Deadmau5 will turn their album mixes down for live/DJ dates so that it’s not slamming the DJ mixer. Now they can overdrive more musically and get a better dynamic range.
Cian Riordan has entered the chat
Matt and Cian worked together with Eric Valentine. He played drums on the new St. Vincent record and mixed it.
Cian just approved the Atmos mix for the new St. Vincent record.
Jon had the opportunity to do an Atmos mix recently. After experiencing the musical sensation that he was able to create, he wonders why this is not a thing.
Going through his first Atmos mixing experience made him feel like he had a sonic playground.
Q: As a mixer, what makes a producer fun to work with?
Cian:
Getting things that are put together and organized are great.
Receiving sessions from someone who’s been able to articulate a specific vision for the record is great.
A lot of what he works on is “fixing” and that’s just the reality of being a working mix engineer. Not everything you’re going to receive is going to be well-structured, thought out, or presented. It’s a requirement these days.
If you’re able to be the person that’s able to take that record to the next level and stoke the producer who gave it to you, it’s good to be that person in the process.
The most-fun producers to work with are those who see the mix process as an extension of the production process.
Some producers just want you to treat the mix “close to the chest” and just bring out a little more of what’s already there, without any large contributions or changes.
The people who are looking to explore more of what the song can be are fun.
Sometimes Cian will have to program or track additional parts. He’s not interested in getting “additional production” credits. He merely wants the song to be as good as it can be.
Matt: That’s the person you want to be. Someone who people hear the efforts you’ve made to get the song sounding amazing, such that they will want to hire you forever.
Matt:
Because he’s often doing the production and mixing for a song and can do it all himself, he’s missing out on the collaborative aspect of the process.
Jon:
Someone that you connect with.
Someone you can be fast friends with. People who text you and hip you to new stuff or suggest ways to help you out.
Cian:
There are a lot of different types of mixers now:
The Tchad Blake or Shawn Everett types. The heavy-handed transformations. Eric Valentine can be like that.
Serban types who add the tiny polish to get a perfect pop mix.
Jon:
With the new mixer/finisher role, Jon doesn’t want to touch someone else’s sounds or performances.
Jon will, however, pitch a sound down or up accordingly so that a sound can get out of the way of another.
Jon doesn’t want to open that door and be known as someone who will replay or re-tool your parts, as that may invite more clients who are unprepared for his step of the process.
Matt:
This is more of what Matt is doing in his line of work. He’s taking what’s already there, and making the tiny tweaks, changing drum sounds, etc.
That’s the biggest tool that Matt has over Jon and Cian. He’s more of a producer/arranger.
Rick Rubin is famous as someone who reduces and removes elements to refine the arrangement.
Cian:
Being in a position to make these reductionist decisions is a function of being someone that the team would trust to do so in the first place.
Matt:
Artists want to know: can we communicate together and can we trust you to do this job?
