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In this episode of #WhereIWork, seven-time Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer and mixer Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Elle King, The White Stripes) talks about his role in helping build two of the most well-equipped and storied studios in the world – John McBride’s Blackbird and Vance’s own Sputnik.

#WhereIWork is where we flash our VIP passes and gain access to the sacred spaces, the hallowed grounds where some of the best producers, songwriters, engineers and artists call home, and explore some of the amazing projects that took shape there.

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Blackbird is a kind of a, it’s a, it’s a unicorn in the business.

I was sort of basically hired onto Blackbird because I had just built a studio for this band for Jars of Clay that we’d won this Grammy award for.

It’s a studio that didn’t, uh, I mean it had a budget. It’s just nobody paid attention to it. If John wanted it, it got done. 2000 microphones, you know, 800 tube mics, you know, I mean, just craziness.

There are things that Blackbird has that I don’t think anyone’s ever used. There are MIDI tie-lines between buildings. I don’t think anybody’s ever used that.

So all these different things, what you kinda learn is what works and what doesn’t work. So we moved over here to Sputnik. This is my studio, my half of the studio that I share with my partner, Mitch Dane.

I came after Mitch did. Mitch’s side got done first. I knew what I needed. I knew where it needed to go, and I knew that we needed it fast.

They put the console in here, then they painted, and then we put these tiles up on the day before the session, and then a band came in the next day and we started recording.

And it’s evolved tremendously since.
#MixTricks is where the very best mixers, engineers, producers, and musicians let us in on some of the best secrets tips and tricks they’ve picked up on their way to the top.

In this episode of #MixTricks Grammy-nominated mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering Pete Lyman (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile) speaks about the power of EQ and why it is every mastering engineer’s best friend.

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My name’s Pete Lyman, and my mix trick, which is actually a mastering trick, is how to use EQ to raise the apparent level of a track.

Most mastering engineers don’t pay attention to meters or numbers. It’s all about EQ. In mastering, I think there’s a misconception that we’re just using a ton of compression and limiting.

To get a track to sound louder reality, I would say 90% of it is EQ, getting the mid shaped and, and getting the areas that your ears hear immediately.

You know, really working on that midrange. Oftentimes a midrange boost, maybe a boost around like somewhere in between one or two k.

A nice broad boost will make the track sound louder than just pushing it into a limiter, especially if your mix already has a lot of low end.

You can push it into a limiter and you can get a reading on a meter that says minus 6 LUFS or whatever.

But that song could still sound significantly quieter than a well mastered song that was, metering, lower controlling the sub frequencies, tailoring the mid-range properly. That’s really the trick to loudness.
A successful career in music doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, patience, and an unwavering sense of dedication to achieve your goals and reach the dizzying heights of your dreams.

#TilYouMakeIt is a collection of stories chronicling those moments and capturing wisdom from the game’s most esteemed producers, mixers and engineers.

This time around, Grammy Award-winning mastering engineer and owner of Nashville-based mastering powerhouse The Hit Lab, Nathan Dantzler (Niall Horan, Megan Moroney, Teddy Swims, Kelsea Ballerini), sheds light on the importance of creating emotionally impactful listening experiences for artists and fans alike.

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We’re trying to remove as many barriers as possible between the artist’s heart. And the listener’s heart.

Make it feel as effortless as possible. When a fan or a listener listens to a song to connect with the song, we don’t want anything getting in the way of that. Sometimes that’s something as nerdy as sibilance. You know, like I find sometimes like if something’s overly de-essed, then you kind of struggle to pay attention to the vocal.

And so we try to figure out how to get that right on the edge to where it’s intelligible again. So that’s like a technical example, but sometimes we’re working on a master.

We don’t know what it is that we’re looking for, but like it’s like as soon as you’re kind of find that thing, it’s almost like the light and the air of the room changes and it like clicks into place.

And so it’s a really fun experience when you’re working on something and maybe it’s a small move, maybe it’s a big move, but sometimes you feel that and it’s almost like the air changes density and everyone in the room can feel it.

And it’s really fun to experience that when no one’s saying a word and we all just click, we all just feel it.

Like, boom, that’s it. We got it. We work on a record. And sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s really special when it does.
“That’s one take, it’s the live vocals, the whole thing is live.” – Vance Powell

Maybe it’s working or jamming with a childhood hero or hearing a vocal that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. This is #PinchYourself.

This time around, we hear from seven-time Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer, mixer and co-owner of Sputnik Sound Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Elle King, The White Stripes) lifts the veil and gives a behind-the-scenes look at the recording session of the iconic Chris Stapleton track Tennessee Whiskey.

Watch to discover his #PinchYourself moment.

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TRANSCRIPT

It’s a cover. It was a cover of a George Jones song, so it was so different from George Jones version. That now nobody knows the George Jones version.

I’ve got quite a few of them with Chris Stapleton, we had a session called ‘Jams’ where it was just the band jamming and I walked in and our assistant Soral, she had the session open, but it wasn’t recording, but it was open and they were playing Tennessee whiskey. And I was like, oh, that’s cool, hit record.

So she hits record and was like, oh my gosh, that’s great. And went out and talked a little bit and we cut it and then we cut it again. And that’s the master.

And the thing is crazy is we just thought, oh, that’s it. That’s cool. Great. Next song. And then we played it for, uh, the background singers and the band, the band we were recording and they all freaked out and they were like, oh my God. And we were like, Well, we know it’s good, but they’re like, play that again. Play it again. Play that part again. You know,

That’s one take is live vocals. Live. The whole thing is live, so that’s pretty cool. Tennessee Whiskey, by the way, is the most played song at Waffle Houses in America. It’s the most played song just by the way.

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“It’s all about creating an environment where you feel happy, safe and creative.” – Alina Smith

#WhereIWork is where we visit the sacred spaces of producers, songwriters, engineers and artists to uncover how the world’s biggest records come together.

In this week’s episode, number-one-selling songwriter, record producer, and co-founder of LYRE Music, Alina Smith (ITZY, Red Velvet, Fall Out Boy), invited us into her LA home studio, a space adorned with treasured items, music memorabilia and unique furnishings that breathe positive energy and creativity and into her workflow.

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I would definitely say this space is a reflection of me and my husband because he built a lot of the things here like this desk.

I do everything here. I am very much like a homebody producer. A lot of the times they get invited to really nice studios and I’m like, can I not just do this at home?

Because I have all my gear that I like. I have the mics that I like. Everything is kind of set up for me and personalized, so that works really well for me.

I have a few fun things here in the studio. I have some signed records by groups like ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, who’s one of my favorite songwriters and Aretha, who is one of my favorite singers.

You know, it’s just nice to have things here that I enjoy. I have this big, giant crystal on my desk, amethyst.

It’s all about creating the environment where you feel happy, safe and creative.
We’re uncovering the biggest pinch-me-moments that the world’s most esteemed producers, engineers and mixers have experienced, from working with childhood heroes to winning awards or landing their first hit record, hear the stories that make you #PinchYourself.

In the latest episode of #PinchYourself we sit down with number-one-selling songwriter, record producer, and co-founder of LYRE Music, Alina Smith (ITZY, Red Velvet, Fall Out Boy) in her LA home studio.

Alina spoke to us about the importance of staying grounded, appreciating where you’re at in your career, and knowing that what once made you #PinchYourself might not do so now. It might just feel earned and even normal.

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When you’re very young, you think you’re gonna feel a certain way about your successes.

You think, wow, I’m just gonna be so happy if this thing happens for me. But when that thing happens, the thing is you’ve been working toward that moment for so long that it, it isn’t anti-climactic for necessarily.

It just feels very like, Normal. So all of my successes, I’ve never been like, wow, I can’t believe this is happening, cuz I’ve been building toward it and you know, really going through the grind to get to that spot.

So when you’re there you’re like, okay, great, I’m so, I’m so glad I’m here. As long as I’ve been doing this, everything feels kind of calm and nice and honestly I prefer it that point.
How did the Abbey Road Studios’ recording engineers stream orchestral sessions before LISTENTO?

In this #TilYouMakeIt episode, Senior Recording Engineer, Andrew Dudman, explains the expensive, unorthodox method that was used.

In this example, it was a session for ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’ taking place in Studio One where the engineers streamed over satellite to John Williams, George Lucas and the entire ‘Star Wars’ team based in LA while running lengthy cables to a broadcast truck in the studios’ car park.

“LISTENTO has revolutionized how we work on these remote projects.” – Andrew Dudman

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TRANSCRIPT

Cables running through the doors out to the, out to the car park, streaming over satellite to, to get to them

Before the rise of internet streaming and quick, simple, easy, easy methods to stream, uh, music on a certain Star Wars session.

That was just a day’s recording, so no one came over. Producers John Williams and George Lucas, everyone stayed in in America to make it work. We actually had an outside broadcast truck he’d pay through the nose.

For bandwidth and quality wasn’t great. Nowadays, obviously we don’t have to worry about getting trucks in or ISDN lines.

It’s so much easier these days using LISTENTO for the stream of the audio, whether it be stereo stems or five one, it literally has revolutionized how we work on these remote projects.
#DreamCollabs uncovers the reasons behind these collaborations and why it’s essential to dream big, whether meeting their childhood music heroes, working with an emerging artist that excites them or collaborating with an artist whose sound has influenced the creative choices these industry powerhouses make.

In this latest episode, we speak to the number-one-selling songwriter, record producer, and co-founder of LYRE Music, Alina Smith (ITZY, Red Velvet, Fall Out Boy) in her LA home studio.

Watch to discover who her dream collaborator is or, rather, who they could be. Creating magical collaborations does not always involve having the world’s biggest names in music. More often than not, it boils down to connection and what feels natural in the moment.

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TRANSCRIPT

A lot of people ask me about what’s your dream collaborator like? What artist could you work with if you had all the access in the world? No restrictions, and I have kind of a funny answer.

I don’t have anyone in mind because my modus operandi is I will work with who I’m meant to work with.

Yes, it could be maybe a very well-known artist, or it could be a person no one knows yet that’s gonna become this amazing person.

You will push sometimes for collaborations cuz somebody’s successful where they have this thing going on or this thing going on. But if it’s not natural, It doesn’t gel, it doesn’t work. And sometimes a person comes in and it doesn’t make logical sense, but you try it and it’s like the most beautiful thing.

To give an example, when we were starting LYRE, my partner, Ellie and I, my publisher at the time, really tried to discourage me from working with her cuz she was quite young. She was eighteen I believe when we started.

And they were like, oh, why are you working with those young girls? Kid, like you could be working with more established people and I just felt something really special there, so I pursued it regardless.

I just have an open mind to anything that feels right. Whoever is right will be right.
‘The first take you record could be the magic take. So you just need to have everything slick’ – Andrew Dudman.

In the latest #TilYouMakeIt episode Abbey Road Studios’ Senior Recording Engineer, Andrew Dudman speaks on the importance of precise planning ahead of a recording session and how the support of Abbey Road Studios’ team of assiduous engineers, recordists and runners enables big orchestral recordings to run like a well-oiled machine.

Many films are as famous for their soundtracks as they are for anything that happens on screen, and Andrew has been responsible for recording some of the most iconic and beloved scores in cinema, with credits including the Star Wars prequels, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hacksaw Ridge, Baby Driver and Gravity, to name just a few.

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The first take you record could be the magic take. So you just need to have everything slick.

Certain sessions, certain band recordings, you can kind of adjust as you go get the band in.

Everyone gets a feel of the vibe and then you kind of work out how you’re gonna do it. But when you’ve got a big orchestra, it needs to be organized.

That’s the joy of having the staff of this building where. You know, we’ve got six runners and nine assistants, and seven or eight engineers.

We’re very well organized, very well planned. When you come in with an empty studio, everyone has a detailed setup sheet, and we draw floor diagrams so you know where everything’s gonna be set out.

It would be chaos if you didn’t have a plan. Do you need to find out all the information in advance? Plan it all out. Get it ready.
“The thing I’ve always been fascinated with is writing a song, chasing an idea and trying to capture that lightning in a bottle” — Jack Leonard

Songwriters and producers Jack Leonard and Matthew Genovese have never met in person.

Being paired in a virtual songwriting session, the duo quickly bonded through their mutual love of the same bands and artists and decided to create something unique.

Using a combination of Zoom and LISTENTO throughout the creative process, the duo can bounce ideas back and forth, collaborating with the same energy and freedom as if they were in the room together.

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TRANSCRIPT

The thing that I have always been fascinated with, more than sort of playing live or anything is writing a song and chasing down an idea, trying to capture that lighting in a bottle.

My name’s Jack Leonard, I am songwriter producer and we are here in my studio in West Hampstead, London.

So I’ll be working with Matt, he’s a producer based out of LA. I have actually met Matt before, we have been working together via Zoom and through Audiomovers.

When you’ve got someone to spar off and someone to bounce off, they’re the sort of times where you get the greatest songs in my opinion.

He is going to send me the LISTENTO link, and so it’s like I’m in the room with him.

Being able to listen to it whilst you’re in the moment, whilst you’re excited about it, whilst you’re like trying to capture this thing is really, really important.

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