Recording Studio Rockstars

What risks and rebellions in rock and roll history continue to echo in today's music industry?

My guest today is Nettie Freed, an artist, songwriter, creative director, and studio owner based near Nashville. With roots in a music industry family and decades of experience in L.A. and Nashville, Nettie shares her journey, her studio Spellbound Recorders, and fascinating stories from her family’s legacy.

In this episode, we dive into the rich history of rock and roll through Nettie’s perspective, exploring her grandfather’s role in naming and shaping the culture, crossing racial barrie...

What does it really take to design a studio that balances acoustic excellence with practical flow - without losing sight of the human element?

My guest today is David Amlin, a veteran producer, engineer, and studio owner with over 35 years of experience across film, music, television, and more. From helping build one of New York’s largest recording facilities to producing deeply personal projects, David’s insights span a broad range of studio design, technology, and human-centered recording.

In this episode, David shares the story behind his studio designs, emphasizing the importance of thoughtful acoustics, prac...

What does it take to finish a mix quickly without second-guessing your instincts?

My guest today is JJ Catalyst, a Los Angeles-based recording engineer and mixer with credits spanning Disney, Showtime, and Billboard number ones. He's Emmy-nominated and known for blending modern pop with broadcast-ready production. We met at NAMM 2026, and he’s here to share his process and philosophy.

In this episode, JJ opens up about his journey from growing up with a family immersed in music, through building a home studio in Phoenix, to moving to LA and focusing exclusively on mixing. We di...

What’s the secret to capturing that deep, punchy snare sound without overdoing it?

I asked Greg Giorgio about his approach to drums, and he shared how tuning and subtle miking tricks - like dampening with towels and choosing the right snare - make all the difference. It’s about working with the instrument’s natural voice.

My guest today is Greg Giorgio, a producer, engineer, and mixer known for his work with artists like The National, Delta Rae, and Death Cab for Cutie. With nearly two decades working alongside producer Peter Katis at Tarquin Studio...

What insights do immersive audio techniques, like Atmos, offer for emotional storytelling and how do different speaker setups influence our perception of space and emotion in music?

My guest today is BZ Lewis, a producer, engineer, and mixer with over 30 years of experience. He’s earned six Emmy Awards and specializes in immersive audio, working with major brands like Apple, Google, and Sony. BZ has a deep background in both stereo and Dolby Atmos mixing, with credits spanning television, film, and music.

In this episode, we dive into the practicalities of working in immersive audio, ex...

Have you ever wondered whether a killer drum sound starts with the right mic placement and kit selection, or if it’s something you can still craft in the mix? Or maybe you’re curious about how much room tone, mic choice, and tuning actually influence the final impact of your drums?

My guest today is Brian Moncarz, a Toronto-based producer and mixer who’s played a pivotal role in shaping the sound of modern rock across Canada and beyond. With credits including Alice Cooper, Our Lady Peace, and many chart-topping singles, he’s a master of capturin...

What does it really take to make your best record by embracing limitations and finding creativity in the constraints?

My guest today is Jordie Lane, a Nashville-based Australian indie roots artist, songwriter, and producer. With a background that includes performing at the Sydney Opera House, composing for TV comedy, and touring with legends like Billy Bragg and Old Crow Medicine Show, Jordie brings a wealth of unconventional recording experience.

In this episode, Jordie shares his journey from childhood in a traveling circus to making records with makeshift gear in unconventional spaces. We discuss how embracing...

What happens when you stop calling it pre-production and just start making the record?

My guest today is Vance Powell, multi-Grammy-winning producer, mixer, and engineer from Sputnik Sound in Nashville - and the most frequent guest in RSR history, now returning for his seventh appearance on the show.

Vance has been with us since episode RSR002, and once again he brings an incredible combination of blunt honesty, deep musical intuition, old-school engineering discipline, and hilarious real-world stories from making records with artists like Chris Stapleton, Tyler Bryant, and a whole roster of bands who trust...

What happens when you realize the soundtrack of space travel isn’t science fiction - it’s real music carried aboard real missions?

My guest today is Kevin White, Nashville educator, musician, and creator of Songs of Apollo - a documentary project that explores the real relationship between music and space exploration. This isn’t just a story about composers imagining the cosmos. It’s a story about the actual music astronauts took with them, the songs that woke crews aboard Apollo missions, the playlists that traveled beyond Earth, and how NASA engineers, mission control, and the entire s...

What happens when you start writing, producing, and mixing like the forest, not the trees, and you leave your worries behind?

My guest today is Micah Tawlks - producer, mixer, songwriter, and artist based in Nashville, working out of his home studio in Whites Creek. Micah first joined us back on RSR324, and he’s back to go even deeper into the intersection of writing, recording, and mixing. He’s known for work with COIN, Hayley Williams, Louis Prince, Judah & the Lion, The Lone Bellow, Stephen Day, Ben Rector, and many more, including immersive Atmos mixes with Matt...

What happens when you build a studio in an industrial zone…and still end up in court for making records?

My guest today is Toby Suess, drummer, engineer, and owner of Tinroof Recording in Fallon, Nevada - a studio that started as nothing more than a rehearsal space and grew into a full hybrid recording room with a killer drum sound. Toby has recorded everything from punk bands to singer-songwriters, dialed in his live room, rebuilt a broken console card-by-card, and learned how to get great drum tones using ribbons, condensers, overhead techniques, and detailed tuning.

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What happens when you finally stop chasing every plugin and build a mix workflow that actually works?

My guest today is Grammy-winning mixer, producer, and musician Jason Lehning, returning to the show after RSR074. If the name sounds familiar, it should - we’ve also had his brother Jordan (RSR104) and his dad Kyle (RSR094), the legendary producer behind Randy Travis. Jason grew up in studios and learned early on that songwriting, engineering, and mixing all feed the same creative impulse. In this episode, we dig into what it really means to build a mix template that su...

What happens when a Chicago multi-instrumentalist with power-pop roots, psychedelic instincts, and indie-folk sensitivity lands in Nashville with a home studio, a loop pedal, and a fearless creative streak?

What happens when a Chicago multi-instrumentalist with power-pop roots, psychedelic instincts, and indie-folk sensitivity lands in Nashville with a home studio, a loop pedal, and a fearless creative streak?

In this episode, I sat down with Packy Lundholm - songwriter, producer, guitarist, and longtime member of I Fight Dragons, Theo Katzman's band, and collaborator with artists like May Erlewine, Woody Goss, and Kory Quinn. We talk...

Why do your deepest, most emotional songs come out better when you stop trying so hard?

In this episode, I sit down with Nashville legend Bobby Bare Jr. - fearless songwriter, creative instigator, touring bassist for Guided By Voices, and the son of Country Music Hall of Famer Bobby Bare. This conversation is a masterclass in real creativity, free of pretension and full of joy, humor, wisdom, and truth bombs about songwriting, gear, life, ego, and the artistic process.

We dig deep into Bobby’s philosophy that the most powerful songs often come from the mo...

What do you actually need to know BEFORE you press your vinyl record… and what mistakes will totally ruin it?

In this episode, Piper Payne returns to take us way deeper into the real-world physics, workflows, and decisions behind vinyl mastering and pressing. We dig into how your mixes translate onto a lacquer, why the inside of a record behaves differently from the outside, and what you should never do with high-frequency content, fades, or waveform clipping if you want your album to play back clean.

Piper walks us through mastering decisions that happen long be...

What happens when your drumming videos blow up online… and suddenly you’re touring the world behind your own band?

Hi Rockstars, it’s your host Lij Shaw.

In this episode, I sat down with Nashville drummer and creator Kortney Grinwis, one half of the alt-pop duo Chapel, to talk about her journey from posting drum videos on the internet to building a full-time career on the road. Kortney shared how she developed her sound, her creative identity, and the instincts that guide her as both a drummer and artist.

We talked about what i...

What happens when you stop chasing the band dream… and start writing songs that actually work in the real world?

Hi Rockstars, it’s your host Lij Shaw.

In this episode, I sat down with songwriter, producer, and sync-music mentor Mike Meiers to dig into how he went from traditional band life to building a sustainable career writing music for film, TV, ads, and beyond.

We talked about how understanding the emotional core of a song is the number-one skill that determines whether your music connects - not just with listeners, but with supe...

Why does the rough mix always feel like the real song - and how the hell do you get that magic back without ruining it?

In this episode, Pat Sansone and I go deep into the lifelong puzzle of mixing: why the first tracking rough has all the energy, how chasing it can make you crazy, and why mixing is really more like photography than engineering. Pat walks through how his visual art - Polaroids, slide film, CMYK vs RGB, Lambda printing - has taught him to trust instinct, appreciate imperfections, and approach mixes like developing a...

What happens when you sit down with a songwriter who’s done everything from early fan-funded records, to major-label pop, to K-pop, to sync, to teaching songwriting at Berklee - and ask him what really matters in the studio today?

Bleu McAuley and I go deep into the intersection of creativity, workflow, sync licensing, AI, and staying inspired at a time when music creation is changing fast. We start with his early days in Boston, learning four-tracks and alternate tunings, following Ducky Carlisle around Room 9 From Outer Space, and eventually being pushed by producer John Fields to ta...

What happens when you rescue a forgotten studio that once shaped American music history - and bring it roaring back to life?

This week, I sat down with Teresa Knox, the powerhouse entrepreneur and preservationist behind the rebirth of The Church Studio in Tulsa, Oklahoma - the legendary home of Leon Russell, the early Shelter Records family, and the roots of what became known as the Tulsa Sound. Teresa shares the entire arc of this wild journey: from collecting Leon Russell Slurpee cups as an 8-year-old kid, to buying the abandoned church sight unseen, to rebuilding it...

What happens when you finally get to mix Spinal Tap in Dubly Atmos? You turn it up to 11, of course!

My guest today is Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer Steve Genewick, joining us from his Atmos room in Los Angeles to walk us through the wild, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt process of capturing and mixing the new "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" soundtrack and album. In this episode, Steve talks about working directly with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer; recording their live vocals; tracking the band as a real rock group; and assembling a full...

What if your mix engineer secretly backed up every session in triplicate just so your grandkids could remix your demo in 2085?

In this episode, I’m joined by my brother from another podcast, Matt Boudreau - veteran mixer, Atmos trailblazer, and the host of Working Class Audio. Matt’s credits include immersive mixes for Green Day, Alanis Morissette, and the theme for Real Time with Bill Maher, plus stereo magic on artists like Deafheaven.

We kick things off recapping our AES Long Beach hang - complete with acai bowl addiction, barefoot sandbox airport vibes, and pane...

What happens when a tree destroys your home and studio - and it leads you to a new creative life across two continents?

In this episode, I talk with Ronan Chris Murphy, the world-traveling producer, engineer, and artist known for his work with King Crimson, Steve Morse, and Tony Levin, and for teaching hundreds of musicians how to finish their records through his Recording Bootcamp and RIPA Festival of International Sound.

Ronan shares how losing his home and studio in the mountains north of Los Angeles became a turning point that reshaped his creative life...

What happens when you stop chasing shiny gear and start listening more carefully?

In this episode, Locke Davis, founder and CEO of the Pickr Music app, shares how his deep dive into Nashville's studio culture and Blackbird Academy shaped his approach to building a platform that connects professionals and democratizes the recording industry. We explore the importance of community, the nuances of studio etiquette, and how technical tools can complement but not replace the human element in music creation.

Locke also reflects on the subtle art of setting the emotional tone, how gear doesn't create...

In this episode, we dive deep into the art of staying creative - even when life gets messy. Tim and I talk about recording at home, the beauty of imperfection, Logic shortcuts, AI tools, Costa Rica inspiration, punk rock sound gigs, and songwriting prompts that dig into the soul.

We also laugh a lot about “Spanish Inquisition Part 2,” fart algorithms, “The Wrong Burrito” in Nashville, and how to survive creative burnout by reconnecting with nature. Whether he’s building Logic sessions in his home studio or drumming for meditation, Tim’s philosophy always circles back to one idea: just m...

Meghan Gohil is a producer, mixer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He runs Hollywood Recording Studio and GoHill Records, where he helps artists make professional-sounding records with smart workflows, hybrid mixing, and practical indie-release strategies. Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

In this episode, Meghan and I talk about the process of building a modern home-studio setup that competes with commercial rooms, how to blend analog gear with digital tools, and the best ways to keep your music career moving forward without getting bogged down in perfectionism or industry red tape. We dive...

Have you ever wondered how embracing chaos and intuition can transform your creative process? Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

In this episode, Laura Crapo shares her journey through music, film, healing, and the importance of staying authentic to your unique voice. We explore the parallels between art forms, the influence of environments, and how trusting your inner voice can lead to unexpected opportunities.

Laura discusses her experiences with analog sound, filmmaking experiments, spiritual practices like Reiki, and how they all interconnect in her artistic life. Whether you're a musician, filmmaker, or...

Ever wondered how seasoned producers handle low-end management, creative sampling, or guiding musicians without spooking them? Join me as I chat with Nashville's own Brad Jones to uncover practical studio techniques, legendary stories, and lessons learned over decades of making records. Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

In this episode, Brad shares insights from his experiences working with artists like Jill Sobule and Robyn Hitchcock, as well as legendary musicians like Buddy Emmons and Rosco Gordon. We discuss the art of capturing authentic performances, creative sampling tricks, and how to create emotionally resonant songs...

Ever wonder how the chaos of remote recording setups and complex signals can actually come together in a studio environment? Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Roger Alan Nichols, a Nashville-based producer, engineer, and songwriter with a résumé including Grammy-nominated projects, work with Hayley Williams, Steven Tyler, and the band Dreaming in English. He's also been a guest on the podcast multiple times, sharing detailed insights into studio workflows and production challenges. In this episode, Roger and I get into the nitty-gritty of managing complex signal chains, especially when re...

What does it really take to make a record that feels authentic, timeless, and even fun to make, without getting caught up in hype or hype-y gear? Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Jon Estes, a Nashville-born multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer with a diverse background working with artists like Béla Fleck, Robyn Hitchcock, Kacey Musgraves, and Rodney Crowell. He's known for blending vintage gear with modern tools and for his thoughtful approach to studio work, including his own home setup. In this episode, Jon and I discuss his journey f...

What happens when you mix turntables with virtual reality to reach 4 million students and 20,000 educators worldwide? Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guests today are Ronnie and Tiffany Notch, the creative forces behind Breach, a company that blends music, technology, and education in groundbreaking ways. They share their journey from a chance meeting in a recording studio to building Breach, highlighting the role of Asymbli, their entertainment division. The discussion covers their extensive educational outreach, which has impacted millions of students globally, and their collaborations with major brands like Microsoft. They delve into...

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Josh Frigo, a producer, mixer, multi-instrumentalist, and artist based in Nashville, Tennessee, who believes in putting artists and their ideas first. After several years as a touring utility player, Josh shifted his focus full-time to production and mixing, building a creative career shaped by self-learning, collaboration, and curiosity.

Working across pop, singer-songwriter, and alternative genres, he's produced and developed indie artists such as MisterMoon, Sparkbird, and Phùng Khanh Linh, and co-mixed Atmos projects for Niall Horan, NF, Bo Staloch, and more w...

What actually makes a mix feel musical before you ever touch an EQ?

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Eric Sarafin, better known as Mixerman - a gold- and platinum-selling producer, mixer, and engineer with credits ranging from The Pharcyde and Tone-Lōc to Ben Harper, Lifehouse, Barenaked Ladies, Foreigner, and Pete Murray. He's also the author of Zen and the Art of Mixing, Zen and the Art of Producing, Zen and the Art of Recording, and his newest book, Mixerman's Ultimate Guide to Producing Records, Music & Songs. I...

What actually happens when you stop isolating everything and just let a band play together in the room?

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Travis Harrison, founder of Serious Business Music, a Brooklyn-based studio known for capturing raw, honest performances from real bands. Travis joined me to talk about how his studio and workflow evolved over time - from early audio-only recordings to embracing video, hybrid setups, and modern tools - while still staying rooted in classic recording approaches.

We talked about recording bands live in...

How do you turn your studio skills into a thriving artist career? Ryan Prewett shares how funk, collaboration, and sync licensing helped him shift from producer-for-hire to full-time artist - and why building assets is the new record deal.

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Ryan Prewett, a Nashville-based artist, producer, and mix engineer known for blending classic funk and soul with modern pop and groove-driven production. Ryan's work spans producing records, mixing, and building sample packs, and he's quickly carving out a name for himself in Nashville's...

How Did Michael Jackson's $98,000 Console Inspire the Ultimate Studio Compressor? What happens when missile-grade engineering meets music?

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

Bill Cheney of Spectra 1964 joins me to reveal how a company born from aerospace tech became the secret sauce behind Stax, Ardent, and The Record Plant - and how that same precision lives on in Spectra's modern C610, STX mic pres, and new designs shaping today's studios. Bill shares the incredible story of the $98,000 Spectra console built for Michael Jackson, how John Lennon, Elton John, ZZ Top, and others...

What happens when you sit down with an engineer who helped define multiple eras of music - from Foreigner to Timbaland - and he tells you the secret is still just listening for what feels good?

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Jimmy Douglass, legendary producer, mixer, and engineer whose career spans more than five decades. Jimmy began as a teenager at Atlantic Records in New York, making tape copies and quietly slipping into the back of sessions, where he learned by watching giants like Tom Dowd, Arif...

What does it take to lead two of the biggest names in pro audio? Phil Wagner shares how he went from NYC engineer to running SSL and Apogee - and why the best technology still starts with listening.

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

My guest today is Phil Wagner, a longtime pro-audio industry leader who's helped shape some of the most respected recording technologies in the world. Phil began his career in New York City at Soundworks Studios, working hands-on as a recording engineer before moving into product development and leadership...

What does a rooftop studio, a cold plunge, and a punk rock heart have in common? Producer Toby Lloyd shares how surrender, discipline, and creative flow helped him build Tiny Triumph Recordings and rediscover joy in making music.

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

Howdy Rockstars, my guest today is Toby Lloyd, a music producer, studio engineer, and mixing engineer who runs Tiny Triumph Recordings, a boutique rooftop recording studio in Wellington, New Zealand. Toby has worked with artists like Shapeshifter, Hollie Smith, Stan Walker, and Nightmares on Wax, and he's contributed...

Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com

Howdy Rockstars, my guest today is Rich Bernett, aka Sound of Machines, a Richmond, Virginia - based sound artist, builder, and experimental musician. Rich designs and performs with his own DIY instruments like the CassetteTone 2 and Rotary Drone, blending circuit bending, contact mics, and field recordings to create wild, organic, and otherworldly soundscapes. With a growing following on YouTube, Patreon, and Instagram, Rich shares his creative process and connects with a community of makers and musicians exploring new sonic frontiers.

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