Episode 96 - Jon Castelli
Show Notes:
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 96
July 5, 2022
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 77
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Jon:
Just this weekend I had to go to extreme lengths to take care of a label request while on holiday. I went way out of my way to deliver to the label head.
This is why they’ll re-hire me in the future. Because they know I’ll be able to deliver, even in extreme situations.
Matt:
People get rehired for going above and beyond for others.
If you can be the person that makes people’s life easier, you’ll be the one to get called back.
Q: How do you print stems to have them recombine seamlessly as the final mix?
Jon:
It’s nearly impossible to do perfectly.
I prefer to make a new session for stems and bounce it through the mix buss.
When people send me stems I want them to bounce them through the mix buss.
Matt:
A lot of limiters will allow you to get a side-chain off of the entire mix so that when you print individual tracks they will be ducked in the same way as they would be in the full mix.
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Jon:
For engineers that aren’t super busy; fill the schedule with practice work or pro-bono work in order to get better and improve.
Matt:
Knowing how to push back on a creative idea is a very important skillset to have.
The New Drake Album
Jon:
I’ve only listened to it a little bit so far. I think it’s interesting for an artist to take a new stance that’s unexpected on the record.
Matt:
I’m always a fan when someone takes a shot and tries something ambitious. Even if it doesn’t connect emotionally with me.
I like hearing new shit and I want to hear what other people are coming up with.
The new innovations are always what’s interesting to me.
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Matt:
I hear a lot of people today revisiting the sound of the pop punk records that I was making 15 years ago, and that’s not very exciting to me.
Jon:
If I’m going to try and recreate the sound of an older era I’m always going to approach it with an eye towards modernizing the sound.
Matt:
One of the important details of being a producer or a mixer is that we are the ones to bring cohesion to the mix.
We don’t need to broadcast our aim to do so, but that’s an important service that we provide.
Jon:
Whether they state it outright or not, I find that a lot of my artists want cohesion in their projects.
It matters so much when artists like Harry Styles or Drake inherently have the vision, confidence, personality, and something to say.
Matt:
When you really get to those profound culture changing songs. The vast majority of them are some authentic personal lyric about somebody’s life.
The State of Jon’s Mix Buss
Jon:
On pop songs I’ve been reintroducing a little bit of limiting. Not on other genres yet. On those I’ll favor a clipper.
