Category: Season 4 – June

Professor William Chaplin is a professor at the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, and leads the Asteroseismology program of the NASA Kepler Mission.

We’re thrilled to have Professor William Chaplin on the podcast this week to look at audio from the fascinating perspective of someone who focuses on what could be loosely termed the sound of stars. We dive deep with him on some incredibly interesting topics like how sound works in space, how he’s able to measure the resonances of objects that are countless light years away, and how all of that can inform the way we think about sound here on earth.

“Think of the total energy bound up in the sound that’s contained in a star. It’s hugely, hugely, vastly bigger than the energy that you have tied up in someone playing a musical instrument. But it’s the same fundamentals, the same principles.” – William Chaplin

ON THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

3:21 – What drove the professor to study sound in relation to objects in space

7:21 – The basics of exactly how we can measure the sound waves inside a star

11:59 – How light was used to read stars

13:10 – How to map an object or location that’s hundreds of light years away

18:18 – Parallels between sound on Earth and sound in space

20:17 – How the nature of sound changes under extreme conditions 

22:16 – How their work with stars helps them understand more about our own sun

25:24 – The professor’s thoughts on extraterrestrial life

28:09 – Our dependence on technology as a society

33:53 – How the professor got involved with NASA

40:54 – How the professor works with other members of their consortium, including some details on how they share data

51:07 -How to know when you’re approaching a dead end (and it may be time to simply start over)

55:45 – How they work with “fake data”

59:59 – Why so many critical scientific discoveries are essentially happy accidents

1:04:49 – Why the professors work can be its own artform at times

1:07:47 – How to find those “lightbulb moments”

1:14:47 – The professor’s thoughts on the fact that he won’t see the end of the work (since it could continue on for hundreds of years)

1:18:13 – The analytical tools and methods in the professor’s line of work that could be used to produce new kinds of sounds

Thanks for listening! Please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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MIXCRITMONDAY IS THE SHOW WHERE WE CRIT YOUR MIXES!

On today’s episode we crit URM student submitted mixes for Rivers of Nihil’s “Where Owls Know My Name” which was originally mixed by Carson Slovak and Grant McFarland. These mixes are picked at random from our private student only mix crit group on Facebook, The URM Rocktagon.

ON THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

3:26 – How Rivers of Nihil was an interesting pick for MixCritMonday

7:08 – Why you don’t want your snare and toms to stick out in a weird way and why you want the kick under control

13:40 – Why it’s important to figure out the best levels for the drums as a whole

19:17 – Why making the intro too bright isn’t a good thing and when there’s too much guitar in a mix

23:31 – Mixing top-down is a valid way to mix, but not always the right choice

28:30 – What happens when the low end gets out of control and a mix is pushed too hard

33:40 – What it sounds like when a mix is on the right track artistically

40:43 – Why it’s important to get the levels right so that the mix makes logical sense

Thanks for listening! Please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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Chris Kelly is the guitarist in Galactic Empire and Alustrium as well as a producer/engineer.

We’re thrilled to have Chris Kelly on the podcast to talk about how he learned the incredibly intricate Galactic Empire material, how producers create their own competition, our love/hate relationship with the internet, and of course the age old question: do you need an audio degree?

“It seems like with every generation, people become more self-qualified to be critics of whatever form of media they’re consuming and more outspoken about it.” – Chris Kelly

ON THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

5:34 – How multiple takes can save a session

12:30 – Understanding what people are and aren’t capable of in the studio

22:05 – Why it’s important for drummers to be able to have their drums edited and be able to punch in

25:41 – How certain kinds of producers end up creating their own competition

31:51 – Where the line is when finding your own sound vs copying other people

42:56 – How much time Chris spends working on Galactic Empire and the differences between metal and orchestral music

46:43 – What went into learning the songs for Galactic Empire

50:24 – Time management

53:06 – Chris’s guitar warmup and practice routine

57:43 – If Chris ever used visualization when learning new material

1:01:20 – How badly programmed drums sound. Hint: terrible.

1:05:17 – Why chasing perfection is pointless since humans are not perfect

1:14:13 – How we don’t remember a lot of the bad music from other eras because it was before everything lived on the internet

Thanks for listening! Please leave us a 5 star review on iTunes!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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Alex Prieto cut his teeth under Dan Korneff, working with Metalcore’s most elite bands such as The Devil Wears Prada, Motionless In White and Pierce The Veil. He recently transitioned into full time television work on Fox’s Bob’s Burgers.

We’re thrilled to have Alex Prieto on the podcast today to discuss how he went from working in music under greats such as Dan Korneff and Colin Brittain, to working on the hit show, Bob’s Burgers. He walks us through the process for how the show comes together as well as the importance of finding a profession that really works for you and supports your happiness. This is a jam-packed conversation.

“If you’re not getting the same fulfillment that you were from doing something at 30 that you were at 25, that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with you. Don’t be scared of it. Step back, take a look – what is this saying to me? Pull your head up out of the sand.”  – Alex Prieto

ON THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

4:09 – What it’s like talking and working with Dr. Susan Rogers

8:23 – The myth of the lone wolf in the music industry and why you need other people in order to thrive

15:41 – How pride can get in the way of what you want to accomplish

22:45 – Why you should take a look at yourself and your emotional state and evaluate what it is you want to do with your life

36:55 – What it’s like figuring out when it’s time to move on and try something new

48:21 – Alex’s work on Bob’s Burgers and how it was a change in workflow and environment for him

1:01:02 – How it’s hard to have personal time when a band is staying with you while working on a record and setting boundaries when necessary

1:14:26 – The technical side of the process for working on Bob’s Burgers

1:29:23 – Why he was the right person for the job

1:51:05 – How successful people deal with failure

1:55:51 – You can’t always control where the dice land

2:15:01 – Why you need to find out what makes you happy, which may require you to take a step back

Click Here For Alex Prieto’s Website!

Thanks for listening! Please leave us a review on iTunes!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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We’re joined this week by Kevin McCombs (Midnight Oil Recording, Crypteria), as we continue our profiles of URM Academy members.

Kevin charged full speed into his audio production career, and we’re excited to have him on board to see firsthand what he’s doing. We discuss the importance of involvement in your local music scene for gaining clients, how Nail The Mix and the URM Summit have changed his life, and why bands wanting to do pre-production or tracking is a good thing.

“I try to go to at least one show a week in my area, and the return on investment for buying someone a beer is also unbelievable.” – Kevin McCombs

ON THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

2:00 Kevin’s experience building a studio from scratch in an industrial space, transitioning from working at an aerospace company
6:00 Strategies for reaching out to bands
12:00 Facing uncertainty and not being fully booked (get used to it)
17:14 Working with bands that want to do pre-production themselves
25:00 The importance of attention to detail and having a process as part of building trust
30:00 Kevin’s URM Summit experience
37:00 Using Nail The Mix to test your own instincts before seeing what the mixer actually did
41:14 Understanding the needs of your specific market
43:27 Advice for turning audio into a full time job
And much, much more

Links:

Midnight Oil Recording
Crypteria

Thanks for listening!
Sign up to our [cp_modal id=”cp_id_7934d”]mailing list[/cp_modal] to discover more!

Nail The Mix is our online mixing school that gives you REAL multi-tracks from REAL bands, plus a mixing class from the producer who recorded it. Past guests include Periphery, Meshuggah, Gojira, Machine Head, and State Champs. Join now for instant access!

Leave any questions, comments, or feedback in the comment section below.

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