Episode 82 - Jon Castelli
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 82
Feb 8, 2022
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 68
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Matt:
If you are exclusively a mixer you are more left to the whims of the industry at large when they all decide to take a break during the holidays and new year. For this reason, work tends to be slow for mixers in January and early Feb as the labels and artists start to get back to work.
I’m at the point in my career where I’m trying to spend more time working on fewer projects that I am passionate about.
I don’t recommend this for everyone, depending on where they’re at in their career, but this is where I’m at right now.
Q: Any updates on the new clipper you were excited about 2 weeks ago?
Jon:
The Boz Digital Big Clipper’s sensitivity and frequency controls have allowed me to automate tiny changes in a way that I would have been prevented from doing with my previous clipper.
The Big Clipper can be a lot more transparent when needed.
It’s inspiring me to mix harder to get more out of a song.
Matt:
The T-Racks clipper is much better when doing heavy-handed things like drums that need to slam.
Jon:
I don’t have any limiting on my master buss. Instead I’m doing any limiting at the group level to even things out. By doing this it allows everything to feed into my master buss clipper in a more even and musical way.
This clipper is the last plugin on my master buss chain.
I’m lowering the ceiling to -.2 to prevent getting any digital overs.
Q: How do you make people want to work with you in the early stages of your career? How do you make a comfortable space for clients?
Matt:
I think the big thing starting out is to do great work and be nice to work with. If you are going to be a professional record maker you need to be someone who’s going to be a pleasure to work with.
Also be consistent and reliable.
Jon:
I started by making my space comfortable for me.
When designing a space, put together a mood board of spaces you like and try to orient towards that.
What is the feeling you want people to have coming into your studio?
Get some plants.
Make sure you’ve got lots of light. If you don’t have a lot of light, consider finding a new space.
If you can’t get a lot of light, consider installing a mirror to add more light to the room.
Having a bright space will make you more productive, and then transition to low light as you head into the evening.
If you can enhance the comfort level of your space that will enhance the work that you’re able to bring out of other people and get the best results.
Matt:
Make sure you have enough seating and clean up your studio if it’s dirty.
When you’re just starting out you can easily accelerate ahead of your peers by having the space that is the most fun to hang out at.
Q: How do you know when to take on a project that’s out of your comfort zone in order to grow?
Matt:
It depends on who you are. My whole career has been constantly trying to do the things that I don’t know how to do. You won’t know until you try it.
Jon:
That’s a tricky question. If an artist is coming to you because they see something in you that might be worth considering.
Are you a quick learner or someone who’s open to watching a bunch of Youtube videos to teach yourself?
Are you going to be confident in the finished product? If you fail at the project you may not get hired again.
If I were asked to work on something that’s not my forte, but I know someone who’s very good at it, then you offer to have them co-produce together with you.
Matt:
I like being the person that will figure something out when someone asks me. That’s my personality.
Fake it till you make it. Just get in the room and see if you can make it work.
Jon:
I’m at the place where I want the record to be as good for the artist as it possibly can. If I’m not the right person for the job, I’m at a point in my career where I feel comfortable turning down opportunities.
The long roundabout answer to this question is “probably just say yes and try it”.
————
Jon:
There is a lot of value in showing your records to a homie for feedback before you show it to an artist or someone else.
Matt:
When you bring someone into the room and ask them to listen, their very presence will make you hear the song differently, because you’re now hearing it through their ears.
You don’t even need to ask them for feedback, just having them in the room will help you to gain perspective.
The value of that is huge.
Q: How do you learn how to hear compression?
Matt:
This is something that takes time and experience to learn. These things take time.
If you want to be great, there are no shortcuts.
Jon:
If you want to know what compression sounds like, compress the hell out of everything, even if you don’t end up using it.
You have to know why you’re treating the thing that you’re treating when you use it.
I never just reach for a tool unless I understand the “why”.
Matt:
You shouldn’t be afraid of doing the “wrong” thing our using a tool incorrectly if it serves the song better. Sometimes it’s alright to compress the hell out of something.
Jon:
I think there are better tools for leveling sounds than compression, so the only way that I’ll use compression these days is to get the “sound” of compression.
Q: Lead vocal treatment vs. background vocals?
Matt:
A huge amount of this, as a mixer, depends on what the vocal production is.
This will dictate a lot of what you do in a mix.
Jon:
I’m a proponent of the mono lead vocal always standing out.
I’m usually doing something to make the side vocals go back a hair, so that they’re not perfectly level with the lead vocal.
Sometimes there’s less transients on the sides or I’m blurring the presence frequencies in order to set the backgrounds back subtly.
A lot of records would benefit from tracking the backgrounds with an alternate mic. I think it’s often pure laziness that causes engineers to use the same mic for every vocal.
Do yourself a favor and get a second mic for other vocals.
I would do backgrounds on a ribbon mic and rely on your LDC tube mic to track the lead.
Matt:
Everyone should go to Youtube and listen to the acapella version of Michael Jackson’s ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’.
Everything about this is perfect when it comes to the vocal production.
