Episode 98 - Jon Castelli
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 98
Aug 2, 2022
w/ Jon Castelli - Week 79
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Q: What’s the first thing you guys bought after your big check came in?
Matt:
I think the best thing to spend your money on is sleeping better. So buying a good mattress is important.
Sitting in a chair all of the time sucks. If you’re doing it all of the time you’re going to have back problems, and a good mattress, will help you correct that.
I also started going to breakfast every morning. Having time to relax in the morning and not have to worry about made my life easier.
Jon:
My last big check bought me this new mattress.
With my first check (from a publishing deal) I moved into the loft I’m in now, bought the attack wall, a great computer, and my VLC preamps.
For a long time, I pretty much had everything that I needed. Lately I’ve been reinvesting in my career and buying the things that I use every day in the studio.
I’ve also been investing in the light around my home.
———
Matt:
Wherever you are in the process of making a song or record with someone, your first pass is the pass that you get to make it sound the most like what you’re hearing. From there, every revision and note takes it farther away from your vision, and that’s alright. That’s part of the process.
9/10 mix notes from clients are usually right.
Q: Tips for getting a nice combo of mono kick and stereo bass ala Kanye’s ‘Hurricane’
Jon:
Hire Cirkut to do your bass. (producer on track)
Matt:
You have to be very wary of the phase interactions between all of the low-end elements.
Sometimes the relationship between the kick and bass will change from note to note.
You can’t really have sub information in both the kick and bass. They will conflict too much.
Focus on the arranging approach to sound selection instead of trying to EQ it.
On bass you can remove the bottom octave and still maintain the character of the sound.
Mix Buss Processing for Atmos?
Jon:
The Atmos spec does not have a traditional mix buss, so there’s no ability to process sounds at the mix buss level.
The question then is how do you replicate that effect on an Atmos mix?
In the case of limiting, if I want consistent reduction and glue on a mix then I will set a limiter on one channel, set it and then copy/drag it to every track on the mix that I want to have that feel.
Q: Have you ever used the Ozone Master Assistant?
Jon:
No.
I think there’s a lot of potential harm to have it apply so many new EQ point across the master buss which can smear the phase relationships.
Matt:
Every time I use this feature it makes the mix sound insane. I never use the results, but it can teach you something interesting.
It’s rarely a good move, but from a creative standpoint it can yield interesting results to jump off from.
Q: Do you get the kick and bass as loud as you can first and then build everything around that?
Matt:
It really depends on the song.
Vocal and drums are the defining anchors to a record when I’m producing.
Jon:
No. I think it’s common for kicks to be too loud in a mix these days.
If you let your kick hit 0 dB, the minute you put your vocal in it’s going to clip the limiter.
Q: When do you decide to print or commit a track?
Matt:
These days I commit far more than I used to.
I’ve started printing more reverbs and delays.
Jon:
I commit all the time.
By looking at my sessions you wouldn’t know how much I’m committing. I process a lot of my songs through outboard gear, so the plugins that I have on the channel end up getting committed as I record through the outboard.
Committing is a philosophy on how to perform as a mixer these days.
If you commit you should always keep a playlist of the original, so that you always have the ability to go back to the original sound.
Quite often the producers are delivering great sounds already, so heavy-handed processing is rarely necessary. At that point, all I have to do is enhance it subtly.
Q: Wisdom on maintaining healthier relationships when business gets in the way?
Matt:
It’s challenging and it’s always there.
Many of our musical relationships are also work relationships in the music industry.
If i’m getting together with an artist for several days to work we’re getting into really intimate details about their lives. This builds a bond between the two of you. It bonds you differently than working with someone who’s not a creative collaborator.
Jon:
The term “chosen family” comes to mind.
People who do what we do understand us in a way that others cannot, and are more understanding because of it.
At the same time, you also need people who are removed from it and who can bring you back down to earth.
To paraphrase David Whyte, it’s important to understand the difference between ambition and a vocation.
Never-ending ambition usually turns into loneliness.
The found joy in others’ success matched with building strong relationships will allow us to build the true relationships that we seek.
Matt:
When you think about being ahead or behind others, that’s ambition. When you think of being further ahead in your own personal process, that’s vocation.
Almost everyone I know has had some sort of falling-out with people who they’ve been creatively engaged with. That’s what happens in relationships where there is a lot of ambition going around. Sometimes it just falls apart, and that’s normal too.
