Episode 62
Show Notes:
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 62
August 3, 2021
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 55
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Studio Ergonomics
Matt:
My takeaway has been that sitting in a chair is just not good for one’s body.
A lot of people don’t have the core and lower-back strength to support themselves for many hours.
Standing desks are not ideal for mixing, because we have to consider speaker height.
The thing that most anyone can learn from is sitting upright, not slouching, and doing exercises that work on your core.
Yoga is probably the easiest one that anyone can do.
Jon:
If you don’t work on your core first you can’t begin to sit upright.
Do planks. Do isometric exercises.
By building this core strength you will sit better naturally.
I regularly go to a physical therapist because of a prior accident. Therefore I have chronic back pain.
My physical therapist has approved my chair and how I sit in it.
You should sit in an uncocked position. One that doesn’t signal to your body that you are preparing to run. If your legs are in a running position it makes your brain prepare to run.
Sitting up straight with your feet perpendicular to your knees is a restful position that you should strive for.
Not all ergonomic chairs do this for you.
When you sit, is your tongue resting against the roof of your mouth or is it floating in your mouth?
If your tongue is up against the roof of your mouth your core is more supportive.
Sitting upright, by default keeps you more alert and active.
You shouldn’t sit for more than 90 min at a time. You should be getting up and taking breaks for 15 min.
I consciously keep my glass of water away from my desk so that I am forced to stand up and go to it.
Matt:
I’ve found the idea of having lower-back support on your chair is just taking away from you and strength that you should already have for it.
I use a drum throne in the studio mostly because it forces me to sit upright.
Studio pushups are definitely a thing. Sometimes it’s good to take a break and encourage everyone to do some pushups and get some physical activity in.
Jon:
For late night sessions I think pushups are more energizing than caffeine.
Matt:
The fact is, you need to have your physical health in order before you work.
Pro poker players and chess masters will perform better if their health is in order.
I don’t drink a lot anymore because it limits me to 95% capacity instead of 100% when I’m making music.
I need to be the adult in the room and act as the producer and be ready to seize on anything that presents itself.
The New Kid LaRoi Record
Jon:
It was a bit of a roller coaster for me. In a lot of ways, it’s my first No. 1 album.
When the song that was a hit was re-done with Justin Bieber the team decided to go with Serban to mix it again.
Lonely and Fucked Up
I had one hour to mix that song at 12:30a on a Sat night. It had to be done and mastered by 3a that morning.
I’m preparing for a sprint. I’m setting my time aside for that night and making myself as prepared as I can be for it.
When I get mixes from his camp the songs aren’t super-finished and limited, which gives me a lot of room to work and do my thing.
Vocals are where I spend the most amount of time with this stuff.
I’m lowering the verb sends they provide for me, but I’m saturating it more to get that density.
If you’re saturating verbs it will make the decay longer, so you may have to shorten the decay in the plugin to compensate.
The sound of his voice is what makes him special, and if I don’t bring that out as much as possible it’s going to diminish his chances of succeeding.
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Jon:
I just try to make the drums knock. I rarely have to touch the 808’s. Maybe I’ll add a little low-end or some upper-harmonics with the Gainstation.
Tupe is doing very subtle, seemingly correct, tape emulations.
When I turn up the input 10, 20 or 50% it gives you the sound that you want expect tape to make. It saturates it.
I’ll saturate my delays too.
If it doesn’t make an obvious improvement then it doesn’t need to be on the mix.
Q: Would you still do your job if you never had a Top 100 song again?
Matt:
It’s such an obvious yes for me, because I didn’t have them for the first 17 years that I did it. I’m gonna do this shit forever.
We both know people who, on paper, are far more successful than us, but without it they’re miserable.
Jon:
I love the feeling of having No. 1 albums.
———
Jon:
I am actively practicing not having harsh “presence” frequencies in my mix. Theses are things that people go to other mixers for, and I’m still working on finding my version of that.
I’m not trying to beat Manny or Serban at their own game. They’ll always be better at being them than I will.
I don’t want to always give people what they like. I want to give them something that they don’t know that they like.
Matt:
Your goal should not be to make the thing that pleases the most people, but to make the thing that you really love.
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There’s no straightforward answer to the question of how to get assistants jobs.
If you make great records and meet a lot of people you’ll get a chance to shoot your shot.
