Episode 59
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 59
June 21, 2021
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 52
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Q: Has Jon’s mixing setup ever been portable? Has he mixed on the road ever?
Jon:
I’m not sure why anyone would ever want me to mix outside of my studio. I’m not sure why I’d ever want to, either.
I’m so familiar in my space and I’ve done so many reps here that to move would require a lot of adjustment in the new space.
Consistency in your mixing space is what allows you to be consistent.
I’d need to scale down my speakers and I’d need a second Hilo and VT-5 EQ to be portable.
Matt:
I love getting out of my regular space.
Moving around provides a lot of new stimuli to inspire me.
Variety is very important for the writing/production part of the process.
It depends on what part of the process you’re in.
Q: How do you deal with engineering or mixing in other studios? How do you adjust to a new room?
Jon:
I usually have a pair of TwoTwo6’s that I’ll bring in and listen to the room.
I’ll play a recent mix that I just heard the day before and walk around the room and observe how the sounds are affected/different in the room.
It happens a lot in big studios that the upper-midrange is so brash.
Matt:
Everyone should have a reference playlist to listen to in new spaces.
Q: Thoughts on Dolby Atmos?
Jon:
Clients are now asking if I can provide Atmos mixes.
It’s unclear how delivering Atmos mixes will affect the fee structure right now.
The barrier of entry into Atmos is probably the highest barrier to mixers in a long time. It is incredibly expensive to become outfitted for Atmos and Dolby certified.
The Conversations crew are going to set up an Atmos panel at some point in the future.
It’s poised to replace surround-sound.
The Atmos stereo mixdown on Apple Music isn’t successful yet. Currently it’s unsettling to listen to. It’s not going to replace stereo any time soon.
Matt:
To young engineers: Don’t worry about doing Atmos mixes right now.
Jon:
I’m doing Almos because it’s the first time I can make music feel like the way I think it should feel. This enables me to do that.
I’m investing in this for the fun of it and the love of music.
Don’t feel like you need to invest in this and will get a good ROI by providing that service.
Q: Will there be a Twitch mix stream this year?
Matt:
If Jon and I work on something together, we may potentially stream something if we have permission from the artist and label.
Q: What other art forms inspire your music?
Jon:
Cooking. Chefs are the true rock stars to me.
Also the art of sense-making in conversation
Matt:
I love visual art, fashion, and stand up comedy.
I see similarities in the career arcs of stand up comics and musicians.
All of these art forms give me perspective on what we’re doing.
Oversampling
Jon:
Don’t do it.
A lot of the time you think it sounds good but you don’t realize that it’s smearing the sound. You tend to realize this after the fact.
I pretty much only use it on background vocals or synths that I want to have smeared transients.
Matt:
Listen to it. And if it messes up your transients don’t do it.
It is not a button that makes your shit sound better.
Being able to blind-test things will help you make good judgements.
Jon:
Every time I make a move I turn on my screensaver and listen-down to the song and listen. Sometimes I do it twice. I do a lot of listening. It takes your brain about 30 seconds to appreciate the change. Otherwise you might do too much. Your ear adapts to the change.
Matt:
In production mode it’s easy to make big moves, but when it comes time to mix you need to slow it way down.
Q: Can you have a career as a mix engineer by working only in the box?
Jon:
Yes. I believe most people are working in the box today.
New mixers should learn to mix in the box.
I think people would be better mixing in the box then they would be mixing with a bunch of gear.
You don’t need gear to be at a certain level.
Matt:
Absolutely. Everybody is in the box.
Get everything you possible can out of mixing in the computer.
Q: How’d you get that smooth vocal top-end on on the new Leon Bridges record?
Jon:
I loved that mix (Motorbike). Now I think we could have gotten away with an even warmer vocal.
I EQ’d a lot of 6-7k off. Almost 8dB w/ a 6db octave LPF. Then I added it back in with another tool, like Spectre, or my VT-5 Master EQ on my master buss.
I mixed 6-8 songs on the album and Ricky Reed mixed the rest. My mixes were trying to match what he was doing.
—————
Jon:
I don’t understand why everybody likes the Sony C800. I think it’s a little overcooked.
It sounds like there’s a compressed 10k and up. It’s not dynamic at all.
I like a 251 or an M49, or a C12, or a U67. Any of these mics over a C800. I think It’s a lazy mic.
You can’t undo all of that top-end. It’s dangerous. You shouldn’t have to take it off.
What if you simply boosted the top-end instead of using that mic? You can’t undo all of that top-end. It’s dangerous. You shouldn’t have to take it off.
Matt:
I find a 251 or a U47 to be more favorable or controlled.
A 251 is probably the most used mic for “high-end” pop music these days.
The C800 is more of a hip hop mic these days.
Q: Talk about communication with artists. How do you encourage and get A+ takes with them?
Matt:
It’s experience. It gives you an amount of confidence and empathy that makes people trust you. If you’ve done it a lot and worked with a wide-spectrum of projects it gives you a level of calm that you can’t get any other way.
It makes the people around you relaxed and trust you.
Communication and trust is how you get those results from an artist.
On a recent session the artist and I just hung out for 3-4 hours before we even started working, because we’d never worked together before.
Spending that time together will allow them to understand that this is the place that we can take risks.
Unless you are the artist you are there on some level to serve the artist.
You should favor the artist because you’re going to make a thousand more records but they’ll have to live with that for the next two decades of their life.
You have to get joy out of helping other people achieve their vision.
Ultimately we’re in dialogue with our collaborators and with the public/audience.
Jon:
I want people to feel heard and feel that their ideas aren’t stupid.
Even if the idea is not great, just do it, it might make you land on an even better idea.
It’s their art, let’s do what they wanna do.
Without that sensitivity we’re not going to get hired.
