0:22

You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast

0:24

with your host , Mark Matthews .

0:27

Hello and welcome to the Inside the Mix podcast

0:29

. I'm Mark Matthews , your host , musician

0:32

, producer and mix and mastering engineer

0:34

. You've come to the right place if you want to know

0:36

more about your favorite synth music artists

0:38

, music engineering and production , songwriting

0:41

and the music industry . I've

0:43

been writing , producing , mixing and mastering music for

0:45

over 15 years and I want to share what

0:47

I've learned with you . Hello

0:50

, folks , and welcome back to the Inside the Mix

0:52

podcast . If you are a new listener

0:54

, please do hit that follow button and

0:56

if you're watching this on YouTube , make sure you hit subscribe

0:59

and that notification bell . And

1:01

to all returning listeners , a big welcome

1:04

back . So this is another Inside

1:06

the Mix podcast interview episode

1:08

and I'm joined by mix engineer

1:11

Brent Hendrick from Nashville

1:13

, who has over 20 years of experience

1:15

in the Nashville music industry . It's a very

1:18

, very interesting episode

1:20

, specifically for those who want to get more

1:23

involved with the organization

1:25

and routine of being a mix engineer a

1:27

professional mix engineer . So in this episode

1:30

we look at the story behind

1:32

Brent's journey as a mix engineer

1:35

, what struggles he may have come across

1:37

along the way and also successes as

1:39

well over the last 20 years . Then we look at

1:41

setting the stage , what has been crucial to

1:43

the organization and ensuring success

1:45

and smooth flow of mixing . Then

1:48

we look at tools of the trade so in

1:50

the ever-evolving world of music production , there are

1:52

countless tools , folks and software designed to aid organization

1:54

and we look at tools or practices that

1:57

can streamline and keep a session tidy

1:59

. We look at the balancing act as well , so

2:01

that's not necessarily working non-stop

2:03

, and how we can strike a balance between taking breaks

2:06

to refresh our ears . We look at collaboration

2:08

and communication and discuss another layer of

2:10

organization and management , and then we have

2:12

a quick look ahead at what we predict

2:14

is going to be the next big thing in organization

2:17

and mixing in general in the music industry , and

2:19

we chat about AI and then we finish by

2:21

debunking some myths and misconceptions

2:24

around organization and productivity

2:26

in the music industry . So , folks , you're

2:28

going to love this episode . There's loads to take away

2:30

that you can then impart into your

2:32

own workflows and then crack on as

2:35

a mix engineer and producer . So

2:37

let's dive into this episode . Hello

2:39

folks , and in this episode

2:41

I'm very excited to welcome our

2:43

guest today , brent Hendritch . Brent

2:45

is an award-winning mix engineer

2:47

with over 20 years of experience in

2:50

the Nashville music industry

2:52

, with a passion for creating captivating

2:54

and impactful mixes and a

2:56

talent for aligning each mix with the artistic

2:58

vision of collaborators , brent has established

3:01

himself as a go-to professional across

3:03

all genres , most notably pop . Brent

3:06

, thanks for joining me today and how are you ?

3:07

I am very well . I'm still on Los

3:10

Angeles time . I just got back yesterday , so

3:12

I'm still adapting , but

3:14

I'm feeling pretty good , considering it's seven in

3:16

the morning in Los Angeles

3:20

.

3:21

So what time is it where you are at the moment ? Because

3:23

you're in Nashville right now it's 9am . I

3:28

always say to people I appreciate when I talk to

3:30

individuals across the Atlantic

3:32

and specifically down in Australia

3:34

and New Zealand as well , and I've got them

3:37

talking to someone later in Singapore and

3:39

it's going to be 3am for them

3:42

. So yeah , I know I do appreciate . Everyone

3:45

works to my schedule rather

3:47

than

3:50

a morning person , I'm most productive in the morning . That's

3:55

kind of a nice segue , actually , because this episode is

3:57

going to be focusing on productivity

3:59

, organization etc . So I think

4:01

it'd be quite cool just to kick off with then this

4:03

question . This is kind of like the behind-the-glass

4:05

question . So your bio-sites as I mentioned

4:07

that you're a mix engineer with over 20 years

4:09

of experience as a working professional in

4:12

Nashville in the Nashville music industry what

4:14

is your memory of your journey ? Can you share

4:16

maybe a memory of your journey with our audience

4:18

and maybe a struggle or some struggles that

4:20

you've encountered along the way ?

4:22

Sure , yeah , it has been a long journey and

4:25

parts of it I've , I think , blocked out and forgotten

4:27

about . But I can kind of do like a real quick

4:29

origin story , just for anyone who hasn't heard that

4:31

before . I was

4:34

passionate about making records

4:36

in high school , you know , when I was 15 or 16 , that's

4:38

kind of when the bug really bit me . I

4:41

was in a band , we went into a studio it was early

4:43

days of Pro Tools and I just was like

4:45

this is super cool , you can record these ideas

4:47

on a computer and then burn them on a CD

4:49

and in plan the next day for your friends at school

4:51

. And I was just enamored by

4:53

that . And so shortly thereafter

4:56

I saved up and bought , you know , a computer

4:59

which at the time wasn't that much it

5:01

was very expensive , but you weren't getting much processing power

5:03

back then and just a simple interface

5:06

in this program called Cakewalk Pro Audio

5:08

9 , and set up a little studio in my

5:10

bedroom in the late 90s

5:12

so it was kind of the early days of home studios

5:14

and it would record all

5:16

the bands in high school . And just the more

5:18

I did it , the more I fell in love with it , the more hungry

5:20

I became and the more I wanted to learn about

5:23

making records . And so , you

5:26

know , I was just . I grew up

5:28

in East Tennessee , which is just like five

5:30

hours from Nashville , and there was an audio

5:32

school here in Nashville called SAE that had just

5:34

opened just a nine month audio school

5:36

. So it just made sense for me to kind of

5:38

ride out of high school 18 , move

5:40

here to Nashville and start

5:42

going to school there . And it was nice because it was just

5:45

nine months . It was just learning like signal flow

5:47

and the basics , the things that kind

5:49

of you need to know , and nothing more

5:51

. And then after that graduated

5:53

there , when I was 19 , started doing

5:55

internships here in Nashville with

5:57

a few different people . One was with a

5:59

composer doing television or

6:01

music for television , for network television , and

6:03

then the other was producing primarily

6:06

like rock records in the Christian

6:08

and gospel music space , and so , yeah

6:11

, I did that for a few years and then I think it was around 23

6:14

is when I decided to go , you know , become

6:16

a freelance producer , engineer , mixer

6:18

, and been doing that

6:20

for the past , you know , 20

6:23

years professionally I guess , here in Nashville

6:25

, and just a few years ago kind of transitioned

6:27

even to become more of a specialist which is mixing

6:30

only , I kind of started kind of giving

6:33

up all the production work and deciding that

6:35

mixing is what I enjoy the most , what I'm best

6:37

at . That's all I want to be doing now . And

6:39

so I've been kind of transitioning

6:42

into hey , I'm a I'm a mixer

6:44

in the pop space and that's what I do now . So

6:46

that's that's kind of the

6:49

quickest version I can give you of the past 20

6:51

some years . And so

6:53

, yeah , there were , you know , there were ups and downs

6:55

. I'm trying to think of some

6:58

memories , you know , I mean some of the struggles along

7:00

the way . I think this is

7:02

pretty common for a lot of people who just trying to figure

7:04

out where the works gonna come from . You know it's time to pay

7:06

, pay rent , how

7:08

am I gonna do that ? You know works

7:10

kind of slow right now , and so you've just

7:12

got to start kind of getting that hustle mentality

7:14

and knocking , knocking on

7:17

doors , trying to figure out where works gonna come from

7:19

. And so it was a lot of you know , chasing

7:21

after you know bands and artists trying to build

7:23

relationships and get work there

7:25

, or you know connecting with you

7:28

know writers or publishers or

7:30

just basically anyone

7:32

that was , you know , recording music . That

7:34

you know , do you need an editor ? Do you need ? You

7:36

know , I was just wearing like a

7:38

lot of hats and kind of a jack of all trades back

7:41

then and saying yes to anything that

7:44

would that would pay , just so , you

7:46

know , can make ends meet . So I know that that was a big

7:48

struggle for me , just being , you know , in

7:50

my early 20s kind of here on my own in

7:52

Nashville and and I

7:54

think that's something a lot of people deal with and it's it's

7:57

never easy , but it is one of those things I tell

7:59

people . You know , you just got to stick with it and it's something that's

8:01

gonna get easier over time and that

8:03

work will start to compound and the few

8:05

clients that you , you know , hustle

8:07

to get , you know you take really great care of them

8:09

and then hopefully they'll stick around and when they

8:12

need something else then they'll come back to you

8:14

again and then that just starts to kind of grow over time

8:16

and that makes it a little bit easier . So , you

8:20

know , that's one of the challenges . I think another one

8:22

that comes to mind is just knowing that

8:24

a mix or something that you

8:27

attract that you've just recorded like isn't right

8:29

, but not knowing why it's

8:31

not right . You know , that was something that I

8:34

remember sitting . This would have been , just

8:36

, you know , maybe when I was about 20 years old , sitting

8:38

in the car listening to , like mixed version I

8:40

think it was like 27 of this song that

8:42

I was working on , you know , and this was like

8:44

before even sending it to the artist or anything

8:46

you know , just being obsessed with it being

8:48

perfect . And you know

8:50

, I think when you're early on in your career it's

8:52

sometimes hard to know . You know , like your

8:55

gut tells you it's not right , but you're not for sure

8:57

what it is . You know , and

8:59

so that was really frustrating for me is just

9:01

knowing that this , that it

9:04

wasn't as good as it could be , but not knowing how

9:06

to get there . You know , and it was , it

9:08

was a lot of just like try and things

9:10

, hoping that like one of those things would , would

9:12

make it work , and so that's

9:14

something that just over time as

9:16

well , starts to , I think , get a little bit better and with

9:18

experience and also just improving

9:21

monitoring and room acoustics and

9:23

in all of those things

9:25

you know , it gets a little bit easier as well

9:27

. So I guess what I'm saying is you just got to . If

9:29

you really want this , you got to play the long game and you got to

9:31

. You know it's . It's that that initial

9:34

journey , the beginning of that journey , is never really going

9:36

to be easy , unless

10:04

for some reason , you're in a band and you wrote some song

10:06

and it blew up and all of a sudden you're just you

10:09

know , the hot new thing . But that's

10:11

usually not the case for most people , and

10:13

so I think the people that really like stick

10:15

around with are the ones that have what

10:18

I say like you can't have a plan B in this industry

10:20

. You kind of you just have to want it so bad

10:22

that you're just going to find a way to make it work .

10:26

Yeah , there's a lot to unpack there , really really cool

10:28

stuff . So you mentioned that , like you started

10:30

with the high school and I've started to a number of

10:33

professional mix engineers , audio engineers and producers

10:36

and I've also listened to other podcasts

10:38

as well and that sort of story of

10:40

you were really interested in it . And

10:42

then you started recording your friends , bands , et cetera

10:44

. And I love that you mentioned cakewalk as well , because I remember using

10:46

cakewalk years ago and I had this old Hewlett

10:49

Packard laptop and I was getting this

10:51

sort of quarter inch oh it was such

10:53

a bodge job plug in my guitar . I didn't even have

10:55

an audio interface . I was recording my

10:57

guitar straight into my laptop . So I remember

10:59

doing that , yeah , and then moving to Nashville

11:01

and you did the the academia route

11:04

as well and it's interesting , you meant about

11:06

internships and the freelancing side

11:08

of things then . So you then you decided to go freelancing

11:10

. When did you know that you wanted

11:13

to go ? What was the catalyst for you going

11:15

all in as a freelance sort of mix engineer

11:17

?

11:17

Well , you know , the second internship that I

11:19

was doing actually kind of turned into more of an assistant

11:21

position . There was some pay there . He

11:24

decided that he was going to move to California

11:26

play in

11:28

a band with some members of I think it was that band , pod

11:31

, if anyone remembers POD , oh , yes

11:33

, a couple of those members like went off and did their own

11:35

band . So he was like

11:37

, joined that band as as like the guitar

11:39

player , and so it's like , okay , well

11:41

, I can either , you know , start to work underneath

11:43

a third person now or it's

11:46

time to make that move . And after a few years

11:48

of doing the intern and the assisting

11:51

thing , I just felt like I knew

11:53

enough to be dangerous , and it was just that time

11:55

. You know , I've always been a bit of like I

11:58

don't know a control freaking , knowing what I want

12:00

, and I think it just made sense . It's like I want

12:02

to work on , like , my own projects

12:05

, I want to make those like final

12:07

calls as to you know , what kind

12:09

of instrumentation we're going to put on this song or how

12:11

it's going to be mixed . And so I was just ready

12:13

to kind of like be the boss

12:15

, you know , and it was a little bit scary , obviously

12:18

, making that move , knowing that , okay

12:20

, I got to get health insurance

12:22

and , like I said , pay , pay for my apartment

12:24

and and have food and all

12:26

those kinds of things . But it

12:28

just , you know , at some point you just kind of have to make that move

12:31

and it's , you know , it can be painful for a

12:33

few months , and then it starts to get a little

12:35

bit better . I mean , it was even painful for me a couple

12:37

years ago to say that I'm no longer a producer , because

12:39

I've been producing for so long and

12:42

enjoyed that as well . But

12:44

you know , when you know where you want to go

12:46

, you just you kind of need to just

12:48

make that move and and sometimes it's nice

12:50

to have some people in your court that can kind

12:53

of cheer you on . I know that when

12:55

I made the transition to the mixing full time

12:57

, that was very helpful , was just having people's . You know , and

12:59

I think your clients just kind of let you know too . It's like when

13:01

they keep hiring you to mix their records . Okay

13:04

, maybe that's what I am , you know , and

13:06

so , yeah , it's , it's . It's never easy to make

13:08

that first step , but but

13:11

I think you really , you really got to . Time is time

13:13

is short , you know , and you got to . If you want to

13:16

, if you want to get there , you just got to start sooner

13:18

than later .

13:19

Yeah , totally , totally agree with that , and you kind

13:21

of want to when you know . You know you got to go all in

13:23

. You know , and you never know . I think I had this conversation

13:25

, probably about this time last year , with an artist

13:28

and it was . It was surrounding the fact that

13:30

, like you , you

13:32

don't want to . Just you never know when

13:34

that break could be . It could just be around the corner

13:36

. And I know what you said earlier about how , like you

13:38

, got to play the long game because it's

13:41

not going to all happen straight away and

13:43

you never know . It's a lot of people do sort

13:45

of give up for want to bet a better way

13:47

of putting it , just when they're at that point

13:49

whereby they could turn that corner and potentially just

13:51

it could all , as you mentioned there about compounding

13:54

and you're treating your clients well and they're coming

13:56

back , et cetera . Really interesting stuff . And

13:58

I love that you mentioned POD as well , that

14:00

song Alive by POD . Yeah , man

14:03

, I binged that song back in the mid-nurse .

14:05

Chris Ford Allergy really , yeah , I remember loving

14:07

that next when it first came out .

14:10

Yeah , absolutely Banger of a song

14:12

. Yeah , I remember that . I'm probably going to go listen to it now . After

14:14

this episode , I'm going to go on a nostalgia

14:16

trip . Yeah , excellent man . So

14:19

yeah , having worked on a range of projects then throughout your

14:21

career , how crucial has organization

14:24

been in ensuring the success and

14:26

smooth flow of your mixes ? Can

14:28

you recall a particular project , maybe , where

14:30

your organization skills proved to

14:33

be I hate to use the term , but a

14:35

game changer ?

14:35

Yeah , I mean that

14:38

question kind of makes me start thinking about like on

14:40

the mix side of things . At least . I mean

14:42

, if you're talking like tracking sessions and things , I think having like multiples

14:45

of things nearby and all those

14:47

kinds of things are helpful . But on the mixing side of things

14:51

, the backup process is the thing

14:53

that comes to mind . For me that's really

14:55

crucial , and can

14:59

I mean like if for some

15:01

reason , you're working on a song and you're

15:03

mixing it and you have hard drive failure

15:05

? I have a lot less of that than I

15:07

did 10 or 15 years ago . Drives seem to be a lot better

15:09

. But if you don't have that

15:12

mix that you've spent whatever 10

15:14

hours working on backed up , then

15:17

it's going to be pretty embarrassing for you to

15:20

let the client know that you've got to start

15:22

all over again , especially if you're on a time crunch and those kind

15:24

of things . So I think in the mixing

15:26

world , backing up is one of those things that it's

15:28

a simple thing to do but that can really

15:30

save the day . Just

15:34

having and also just having multiple

15:36

versions . I do a lot of save as . So

15:39

for some reason I'm on mix

15:41

eight and they say actually

15:43

I like mix two , but I want

15:45

the vocal a little bit louder , knowing that I have a save

15:47

. As from mix

15:49

two I can just open up that , bring the vocal

15:51

up , re export and it's done

15:54

, as opposed to like if I just kept saving

15:56

the same file over and over , I couldn't

15:59

instantly recall the

16:01

project file at mix two . So I think

16:03

just file management is a big

16:05

thing . For me , it's just always knowing

16:07

where everything's at , labeling things properly

16:09

, having real time backups

16:11

going on at the end of every day . Those

16:15

probably are the biggest things

16:18

that I do in my world that are very easy , that

16:20

anyone can do , and I can maybe talk about

16:22

just my backup process really quick

16:24

because it's very simple , very

16:26

cheap and it helps me sleep at night

16:28

the two things that I love . There's

16:30

an app called Chronosync Express I think it's

16:33

like 30 or $40 in the app store

16:35

that just allows me to put in , plug

16:37

in a hard drive and just it looks for anything

16:39

that's working , new files that have been created

16:41

on my audio drive and it just puts , pulls them

16:44

over and puts them on that drive . So that's

16:46

kind of like my onsite backup

16:48

and I try to do that . Maybe it's not every day

16:50

, maybe it's a few times a week . It

16:53

doesn't take but a second . You just have to actually make sure

16:55

to do that . And then I'm the big fan of back plays

16:58

, which is a great application that

17:00

runs in the background and at 10 pm Every

17:02

night it just looks

17:04

for any new files on all of my drives

17:06

on my audio computer and it uploads

17:09

that to the cloud . So that's

17:11

what I would call my off-site backup , and

17:13

that's the one that really helps me sleep at night , knowing that

17:15

at the end of Every day All my files

17:18

or somewhere else . So if my house were to burn

17:20

down or a tornado hit or something

17:22

like that , then I could still

17:24

. You know , they're gonna mail me a drive

17:26

the very next day and in a few days I'll

17:28

have my audio drive back and can be working again

17:30

if I need to . So I

17:33

think between those two applications

17:35

For onsite and off-site

17:38

, that makes a huge difference . That

17:40

change out drives every year , so just

17:42

to keep them fresh as well . But , um , yeah

17:45

, I think , I think , just yeah . Having a good backup

17:47

plan is gonna . You know , that

17:50

ensures that your client never knows

17:52

. You know , if you do have an issue , you don't even

17:54

have to say anything because you got it ready

17:56

to go and can jump right before you left

17:58

off again . So that's the first thing comes to

18:00

mind for me .

18:01

Yeah , and I think it's incredibly important because I

18:03

think I've had my fingers burnt with regards to backups

18:06

, and it wasn't necessarily From the

18:08

client's perspective , it was . It was my own , really

18:10

, because this was using Reaper and

18:12

it doesn't automatically Create

18:15

backups for you . This is not actually

18:17

backing up to the cloud , etc . But just in the actual DAW

18:20

itself and , yeah , and creating backups of what you're doing

18:22

and then it suddenly dies . So I think creating

18:24

backups are you say , off-site in the cloud is incredibly

18:26

important , as is actually in the DAW

18:29

itself . So this is an interesting question actually

18:31

, and this is a bit of a tangent , but so

18:33

you've , you've got the backups . How long are you storing

18:35

a client's project for it ? Do you have like a set

18:37

length ?

18:38

I forever once it's complete , forever . I

18:40

store , I store , store all their mixed versions

18:42

, all their masters and all their stems

18:45

on the cloud and I Can

18:47

go back from 15 years ago . If

18:49

someone randomly hits me up like hey , I'm

18:51

still doing music , they want like

18:54

an instrumental to use on some TV show , it's

18:56

like I can look like a hero because just

18:58

in a matter of minutes I'm sending them a download

19:00

link for that , and so

19:03

I really recommend like printing all

19:05

those versions , all those stems , anything you can possibly

19:07

think of . For me it's like

19:09

, once they've signed off on the mix , I print the main

19:11

mix , the TV , the instrumental and the acapella

19:13

, those four , and then I do stems

19:16

now as well , because I have a very streamlined way to

19:18

do that , because they're always Gonna

19:20

come back at some point saying , oh , for our live show we need

19:22

the stems , you know . So it's just nice to do it do

19:25

everything when you have that

19:27

drive connected . Those plugins

19:29

are currently working on that OS . It's

19:31

just best to always print as

19:33

many versions as you possibly can as early

19:35

on , put those on a cloud somewhere and then

19:38

just keep them there forever , because you

19:40

never know it's . It's so much easier . I

19:42

used to make the mistake of someone hitting

19:44

me up and saying , hey , that thing we did four years ago

19:46

, can you , can I get the stems

19:48

for that ? Well , I wasn't printing stems back then

19:50

, you know . So I've got to . You know , get the

19:52

drive , maybe get some type of adapter to

19:54

even get the drive to work on this . You know New

19:56

computer and then it's like a version

19:59

of you know Q-Base from Fort Versions

20:02

ago and you know , and it's just there's

20:04

so many nightmares and takes so much time

20:06

. It's just so much easier to just do it right

20:08

when you finish the song and once they've signed off on

20:10

the final mix . So , just

20:13

over the years , learned the hard way and and

20:15

that's why I love these podcasts I can share all

20:17

my mistakes and and encourage people to do

20:19

things the right way so they don't have to feel the

20:21

pain that I've felt . And

20:23

so , yeah , that's . I don't

20:25

know if that answers your question . I've kind of gone off

20:27

on a tangent myself , probably , but uh yeah

20:29

, yeah , it does and it makes total sense

20:31

.

20:31

And I think I've done that with my own personal sort

20:34

of projects , because I there's one song

20:36

that I'm releasing , because I've released my music as

20:38

well , as well as mix other people stuff , and

20:40

I'm releasing it . But I started about

20:42

two years ago and I should have finished it then , but

20:44

I let it drag on and on and I did exactly

20:46

what you've had there which , which you've mentioned , which is slightly

20:49

different sort of scenario , but

20:51

it was . I opened logic with the DW

20:53

DAW I was using at the time and

20:56

some of the plugins I no longer have

20:58

because I no longer use them , so I

21:00

should have finished it at the time . So , yeah , I

21:02

know exactly what you mean and it's just easier , isn't it

21:04

, if you just do it all at once and just get it done . Yes

21:06

, yeah , and it and what you know , what you mentioned

21:08

there about from the client's perspective is important

21:10

, I think , as well , in that you were

21:12

able to just do it quickly . Yeah , it's sort

21:14

of like it can be done so quick rather than , like

21:17

you mentioned , you're having to dig around in old files , etc

21:19

, which , yeah , is only gonna help that

21:22

sort of referral process and your

21:24

name , etc . Which I think it's incredibly important for

21:26

the audience listening if they want to get into Mix

21:28

another customer service is a big

21:30

part of my world .

21:31

I want things to be , you know , quick

21:34

, I want to be responsive . It just

21:36

, you know , it's just the pro thing to do . I

21:38

mean you want to stand out . You want

21:40

Someone who's worked with five

21:43

other mixers in the past and then work with you

21:45

and be like , wow , this is an experience unlike

21:47

all the others . This is now my mixer

21:50

, because it was . There was zero friction

21:52

along the way . Everything was Just

21:54

always , you know , just ready

21:57

to go . I mean , you know , for example , I was in LA

21:59

all last week and someone was like , hey , I need the stems

22:01

for this and and I was thinking , oh

22:03

man , I'm got , I don't haven't gotten to that

22:05

yet . But then I was like , no , I actually I did . They're already online . And

22:07

I was able to send that link out while I

22:10

was traveling . You know , I didn't even have to remote

22:12

into my computer to try and do it while I was out of town

22:14

. And and so , yeah , as soon as you can print

22:16

those versions , really just do it , upload

22:18

them and Upload them to service

22:20

to that you're gonna keep forever . I use this application

22:23

or this cloud storage company called

22:25

media fire , which , if they were

22:27

to like Jump on something . Today I probably

22:29

wouldn't use that , but I got on it like

22:31

forever ago , at least 15 years ago

22:34

and it's just where everything's at and

22:36

I've just stuck with it because it's

22:38

all there and it would be a pain to you know whatever

22:40

takes 700 gigs worth of Clients

22:43

content and move it somewhere else , but it actually

22:45

works out . It's a pretty good Application

22:48

because you can just do it like a download

22:50

link and allows them to stream wave files

22:53

in the browser and all that . So it's it's not so bad . It's

22:55

a good price . I like it better than Dropbox , but

22:57

, um , yeah , just you know , when you start

22:59

storing stuff somewhere , just think of

23:01

it as it like your eternal Cloud

23:04

storage drive that you're just gonna keep everything

23:06

on , because I can't imagine having

23:08

to switch to some other service . So once you do decide

23:10

on a service , make sure you get it right too . I keep

23:13

it information .

23:13

I think it's kind of like doing your due

23:15

diligence , isn't it ? In terms of your research , yeah

23:18

, making sure you're picking one because you know you're gonna

23:20

be using it for a while and , as you mentioned

23:22

, it is Changing to something else

23:24

is tricky . I'm going through this process

23:26

now . It's once again . It's slightly tenuous , but

23:28

I use MailChimp for the podcast

23:31

and I email in the podcast mailing

23:33

list and I want to move to a another Platform

23:36

now , but I'm so entrenched in MailChimp

23:38

and I've got these automation setup it's gonna be so

23:41

hard for me to move . So the audience

23:43

listening definitely do your due diligence

23:45

and I think that's fantastic , fantastic advice

23:47

. So you mentioned a

23:49

few sort of sentences ago about streamlining

23:51

the process . So and you've mentioned some tools

23:54

so far so you mentioned just then about

23:56

media fire , you've mentioned the Kronos

23:58

and also backblaze as well . In

24:00

the ever-changing world this is where I was going of music production

24:03

. There are countless tools you've mentioned , if you're ready

24:05

, and software designed to aid our organization

24:07

. So what tools or practices

24:09

do you personally swear by to keep

24:11

your sessions tidy and streamlined ?

24:13

Yeah , I mean the good news is it's not a lot

24:16

of like third-party applications that you

24:18

have to buy , it's a lot of it's just stuff

24:20

that's built into your DAW or built into your

24:22

operating system . I

24:24

think we can start with file structure . I

24:26

mean , for me I have just a standalone

24:28

audio drive and that's all that that drive

24:31

is used for , and when you open that drive

24:33

it's all . The folders are the , the

24:35

bands or the artists , that basically the client's

24:37

name , and then in that folder you

24:39

have a different folder for each

24:42

song . And then I have a folder

24:44

that's called mixes and a folder that's called masters

24:46

and then in those two folders , or the

24:48

songs folders

24:50

, in those folders , you know , in the

24:52

mixes , in the master's , are stored in those folders . And it's just

24:54

always for years of just done

24:56

at that same way . So I always know exactly

24:59

what to expect . So I think just getting like

25:01

some type of creating some type of formula

25:03

, some type of process and just sticking

25:05

with it , I think is just kind of speeds

25:07

. You know the day to day kind

25:09

of stuff up . So I just think starting

25:11

there and just keeping things properly

25:14

Labeled

25:16

and course . We already talked

25:18

about backup and doing lots of save as is

25:20

once you're in your DAW , whatever that is . And

25:25

so then , yeah , with there you have all the mixed version

25:27

, you have all the masters , you have all the Project

25:30

files , all the different save as versions of that and

25:32

it's just all nice and tidy and clean right there

25:34

and then that's kind of the stuff that can be uploaded

25:36

to the cloud . You

25:38

know all of that goes to back plays . Just some of

25:40

that goes to media fire , which is the mixes in the

25:42

master's . So that's

25:45

kind of like on the OS side of things

25:47

on , you know , in the DAW Mix

25:50

template . I know people talk about mixed templates

25:52

all the time , but it is one

25:54

of the biggest things

25:56

in my world . That makes makes me

25:58

more efficient , because I'm

26:01

in version 20 , something of my mixed

26:03

template and it's just , it's been refined and

26:05

refined over many years and I just know where everything's

26:07

at and know when the rough

26:09

mix is going to be . I know where the reference mix is

26:11

going to be . I know where everything's getting routed . I

26:13

know that it's going to be vocals and BGVs

26:15

, then keys , then acoustic and elect . I

26:17

just , I just know the colors and the folders

26:20

and it's all . Just , every

26:22

song is essentially the same . So it's not like

26:24

I'm looking like where's that acoustic

26:26

guitar . I know it's going to be like under the keys and

26:28

above the electrics always , and like this color

26:31

of a folder , you know . So I think just

26:33

just doing that is something that

26:35

anyone can do . It doesn't cost any money

26:37

and it can take . It can save you hours

26:39

a week and that's that's

26:41

a lot of time for me , and

26:44

it's also then you know , if you eventually get to place where

26:46

you have an assistant or someone , come along , you can kind of

26:48

have this formula that they

26:50

can follow as well , and just . I think structure is a good thing

26:52

, and

26:54

so that's that's huge for me having

26:57

my , my mixed template

26:59

and then kind of going

27:02

along with that . I mentioned previously that I'm a Cubase

27:04

user . I've been in Cubase

27:06

, started new window and then switched to Cubase

27:08

and then in the Steinberg

27:10

world for my entire career , basically

27:13

, and just learning key

27:15

commands is huge . Customizing your own key commands is

27:17

a big thing in my world . I've

27:20

had a lot of the same key commands for for

27:23

a long , long time , and then creating macros

27:25

with some of those key commands is huge for

27:27

me , especially when it comes to exporting

27:29

stem mixes . And then taking all

27:31

those key commands and then putting them on to my 32

27:34

button stream deck is really nice

27:36

to like the stuff that I don't use quite as much so

27:39

I'm not having to remember , like what is that crazy

27:41

key command to make it do that one thing . I can just

27:43

press the button and it does it . So that's been A biggie for

27:46

me as well . I'm

27:52

trying to think , yeah , just making sure that your tracks are labeled

27:54

properly is a big thing . You know , if things

27:56

are a little weird when I get them from the client

27:59

, I want to take the time to actually give

28:01

it a better name than just sometimes

28:03

you know , elect , chorus , electric guitar

28:05

. I may actually like go , oh , that's an Ebo

28:08

or something in a right Ebo guitar . So I actually

28:10

know , like when I'm like where's that Ebo

28:12

guitar ? It's not I'm not looking this like not the

28:14

chorus guitar , it's like the Ebo guitar or something

28:17

. So Just getting more specific with track names

28:19

can be helpful as well . There's a few things

28:21

that come to mind .

28:22

Some great stuff . I think false folder structures massive

28:25

and I'm glad you mentioned that because I'm very

28:27

much like that as well . I regularly

28:29

review my folder structure as

28:31

well . I don't go in and change everything , but it's I

28:34

totally with you there in terms of just making organization

28:36

just makes your life so much easier . And

28:38

what you mentioned about the mixed template as well , because

28:40

at the beginning of the year I did a podcast

28:43

episode on the process

28:45

of creating a basic mixed template and logic

28:47

and why it's so important because , as you mentioned

28:49

, that can save , save you so much time

28:52

. And also with I find with songwriting

28:54

as well , and I did another podcast episode on this

28:56

and having a template for

28:58

if you're an artist who's writing music , so

29:00

you can just dive straight in , you've got your instruments

29:02

there and you can start writing and then it

29:04

just does save so much time . And the stream deck

29:06

I need to look at . I've seen so many people mentioned

29:09

stream deck . I need to look at that myself .

29:10

It's been procrastinating yeah , you can

29:12

get a used one at a pretty good price . I bought it . I

29:15

used one for , I think , 150 US dollars

29:17

and it's , it's another

29:19

. I'm always just looking for things to just

29:22

make the this , just streamline things

29:24

a little bit more . You know it , for me it's all about

29:26

efficiency and you know , when the work

29:28

piles up and you gotta move through stuff , you just , you

29:31

know , having consistency . It's like it's almost like coming

29:33

up with a plan and just sticking

29:35

with it and you just start to kind of

29:37

it becomes like you're , you know , flying

29:40

an airplane or something , because everything's always here

29:42

and these buttons are always here , and it's almost like

29:44

you've you turn your like studio

29:46

into something more than just some

29:49

DAW that works . It becomes all

29:51

like encompassing it , or I don't know if that

29:53

makes any sense , but just knowing you know

29:55

everything , the button , everything's in its own

29:57

right little place . That's just me . I'm like kind of OCD

30:00

in a way , I guess , which comes

30:02

in handy when it comes time to mix . But Just

30:04

, yeah , just finding , finding a process

30:07

that works for you and then just sticking

30:09

with it , and then , yeah , I think , I think

30:11

it'll just you'll never be going

30:13

. How do I make that happen , or where's where's

30:16

that file that you always know where everything's going

30:18

to be and just makes for a smooth

30:20

process .

30:21

Yeah , totally agree with that and with you 100%

30:23

that anything I'm always like

30:25

that . I'm always refining my workflow because

30:27

, as you mentioned there , you want to make it streamlined

30:29

as possible . Just make it easy . Which

30:31

kind of moves on next it

30:34

moves on nicely to the to the next question

30:36

. So we mentioned about being productive , about

30:38

streamlining our workflow , but

30:40

that doesn't necessarily mean sort of working

30:42

nonstop . So this is particularly

30:44

I think this is a really good question for the audience as well , and

30:46

you mentioned earlier about iteration 27th

30:49

of a mix , and I have I've had many conversations

30:51

with people about how many mixes they

30:54

go through in the iterations . How do you strike a

30:56

balance between taking breaks

30:58

to refresh your ears and ensuring

31:00

that you remain productive and meet a deadline ?

31:02

Yeah , I've gotten a lot better with this

31:04

as I've gotten older

31:06

and wiser . I think breaks

31:09

are essential for me . I take a lot of breaks

31:11

and I think that if you Take

31:13

some breaks , you can actually get through a mix

31:15

quicker than if you don't . The

31:17

reason that I like breaks isn't even

31:20

as much about resting my

31:22

ears as it is about like resetting

31:24

my perspective . That's that's

31:26

why I take breaks , because you

31:28

can just step away from a mix for just 20

31:31

or 30 minutes and come back to it and

31:33

so many things will be revealed to you

31:35

that Were not

31:37

when you were , you know way in the weeds

31:39

of a two hour you know

31:41

kind of session that

31:43

you were doing , you know earlier on that mix . So

31:46

I mean you can , you can be way

31:48

in the weeds . You can step away 20 minutes , go

31:50

and whatever go for a run or go

31:52

for a walk or you know whatever

31:54

that you know whatever . Listen to a podcast for a second . I

31:57

know a very good one that you can listen to this

32:01

one right here now , and , yes , and

32:04

that's going to be , that's

32:06

going to be your reset . And then you're going to come back and you're like

32:08

, oh my gosh , the bass was 3 dB too

32:10

loud or that vocal is way too wet

32:13

on the verses , or you know those kind of big

32:15

picture things that move the needle a lot . Those

32:19

are the things that are going to stick

32:21

out . And so you know , I'm a big

32:23

fan of , you know , work an hour , work two

32:25

hours , take a break , work a few

32:27

hours , take a break , work few hours , take a break . And

32:29

working from home studio does

32:31

help with that . I can Start

32:33

first thing in the morning when everything super fresh

32:36

, and then Maybe going to run

32:38

and then , while I'm cool and down for my run , like work

32:40

for a little while longer , and then you

32:42

know , take a shower and get ready for the day and then

32:44

work on and come back . And so you're

32:46

almost looking for like Opportunities

32:48

to create these breaks and you're

32:51

still , whatever gonna be mixing this song

32:53

for eight or 10 hours or whatever it takes

32:55

to get that really great mix one . But

32:58

it's just kind of you're kind of breaking it up a little . Maybe

33:00

it's even over two days . If you have that luxury

33:02

and I just think that

33:04

every time you have that new , fresh reset

33:07

, fresh perspective , that it's going to Kind

33:09

of get you where you need to go quicker . You know , because

33:12

when you're in the weeds you're you're not thinking

33:14

, you're not noticing some of the big things

33:16

, and it's just you're like Let

33:18

me turn that up to 10th of a DB hero , let me

33:20

like fine tune this automation right here

33:22

, and it's like well , that that's all important . But

33:24

, like

33:27

I said , taking those breaks allows you to like realize that something is way

33:30

off tonally or you know something's

33:32

way too loud or way too quiet , and so that's

33:34

why I encourage everyone just

33:36

to take breaks . It's also , like you said , good for

33:38

the ears , to just to kind of rest those as

33:41

well . And I , you

33:43

know , when I was in my 20s I worked . My

33:45

hours were a lot different . I worked way

33:48

more hours and just you

33:50

know night , morning and you know

33:52

weekends , all that . But now that I have a wife

33:54

and a couple kids and all that , it does

33:56

a good job of also like kind of creating some

33:59

like hard stops , you know

34:01

, at the end of each day . So I'm pretty much now

34:03

just working more of like the 830

34:05

in the morning till 5 pm , and

34:08

then , if I need to , occasionally in the evening

34:10

or on the weekend if things really start to pile

34:13

up . But you know , most of my projects

34:15

, the there's not like these hard deadlines

34:17

and I usually stay on top of

34:19

things or where nothing gets to To

34:23

backed up , and so it kind

34:25

of works . I really like having that balance . I mean

34:27

, hanging out with my family is another

34:29

like just great way to kind of recharge

34:32

me and and those kind of things

34:34

like do something for me as well

34:36

, that kind of when I come back . I think having just

34:38

that limited time and knowing this

34:41

is like your day and this is all you've got , you almost

34:43

make make more of it than if you just have

34:45

this wide open schedule . I think it's a lot easier

34:47

to go off and do things and

34:49

get distracted and and I kind of

34:51

enjoy having Having a

34:53

set structure now it works , works well

34:55

for me .

34:56

I agree with that . It's it's echo

34:59

something that I heard I don't know if I

35:01

heard this on a podcast recently , I may have what seen

35:03

it on something on TV , but it was all to do about

35:05

organization . So you mentioned there about , like , if

35:07

you have a Block of times you

35:09

mentioned that 830 to 5 , or even

35:11

if you have an hour , if you block out

35:13

, if you , if you know you have an hour to do something

35:15

, you're probably going to be more productive rather

35:17

than if it's just open-ended . So

35:20

if you know you have to , you've got five

35:22

hours to finish a mix and that's

35:24

it , and you've got five hours to work with , whereas if

35:26

you don't have that sort of Deadline

35:28

, as it were , for one of a better way of putting it , you can just go

35:31

on and on . So I Like

35:33

the idea of having those hard stops , as you

35:35

say . That's probably a better way of putting it , rather than a deadline like

35:37

a hard stop and Knowing

35:39

when to take a break , as I think it's

35:41

quite easy to get into

35:43

the or fall into the trap of just Working

35:46

constantly and mixing into the evening , and I

35:48

mean some people are productive into the early hours . I

35:50

personally wouldn't do it , but some , some people are

35:52

. So I think having those hard

35:55

stops is really important . So

35:57

it kind of , in a way , it

35:59

moves on a bit onto the next question , which is kind

36:01

of like looking ahead . As the industry

36:04

changes and the demands of artists and mix engineers

36:06

grow , how do you envision

36:08

the future of organization and productivity

36:10

in music production ? Are there any sort of tools or trends

36:13

that you've seen that you

36:15

are excited about , or something that you're thinking

36:17

about trying in the industry .

36:19

Yeah , I mean , I think the first thing comes to mind for

36:21

me is probably like the use of AI

36:23

as kind of a personal assistant

36:25

. I don't think we're far

36:27

off from having , you know

36:29

, ai be able to Integrate

36:33

with our DAWs . To where I can

36:35

just , you know , get to a point where it , you

36:37

know it's like the files are in this folder

36:40

go and it sees those files , it pulls

36:42

them into your template , it does all the routing

36:44

you know , could clean

36:46

up things , could tune things , could vocal align

36:48

things . I think that's all like not too far

36:50

off , basically using

36:52

AI to do all the non creative tasks

36:55

. That's what I'm really excited about . Then , to

36:57

where I can just , while I'm sleeping , you

37:00

know it's prepped , my mix , I

37:02

wake up , it's all ready to go , I

37:05

mix and then it does , you know

37:07

, prints all the versions , prints all the stems

37:09

, all of that on the kind of all the front end stuff

37:11

and all the back end stuff . That's not fun

37:13

as a mixer . That's what I really I'm

37:16

looking forward to . I

37:18

don't like the idea of AI starting

37:20

to also , you know , mix records , kind

37:22

of like it is in the world of mastering . That's

37:25

a little scarier , but I

37:27

think mixing is a lot safer

37:29

still for a while than mastering

37:32

is , but uh , yes

37:34

, that's kind of the first thing comes to mind is just

37:36

is Is offloading some of that

37:38

stuff that I don't want to be doing

37:41

, and then that allows me to spend more time Doing

37:43

other things outside of the studio as well

37:46

. Or I like the idea of just a mix getting prepped

37:48

while I'm asleep . That's that

37:50

sounds really nice and not paying like anything

37:53

for a small fee , whatever this application

37:55

cost . But I think that that's something that's going

37:57

to be , you know , here fairly soon .

38:00

Yes , I'm excited to see that sort of a client

38:02

uploads their files and then it's uploaded

38:04

, as you say , overnight , and then you in the morning you

38:06

open up your door and it's already color coded

38:09

, labeled , grouped , top

38:11

, detailed , etc . That would be very

38:13

nice . But , as you say that , I think that's where

38:15

it's kind of those repetitive tasks , isn't

38:17

it the ones that , the way you

38:20

would , usually you would get someone

38:22

to do , an assistant engineer or someone to do it for

38:24

you . But I think , yeah , I think it

38:26

needs to stop there rather than go into the actual yeah

38:28

, the mix and side of things , as you mentioned . Even

38:30

vocal lining would be quite nice , though , because I

38:32

found that absolutely . I think that

38:35

that would be good if you could have something coming and do that .

38:37

Oh yeah , I think that'll be pretty doable

38:39

.

38:40

Yeah , yeah , it's probably been done right now . What

38:42

I've noticed is , with having to doing the

38:44

podcast Um over the last year

38:46

, I've I've managed to claw

38:49

back so much time from these

38:51

repetitive tasks purely

38:53

down to AI , which is incredible

38:55

because I think there was that sort of as soon

38:57

as chat , gpt and brought

38:59

generative AI to the forefront of of

39:02

Society for one of a better

39:04

way of putting it you had all these companies

39:06

clamouring to have AI bolted on

39:08

to their application and their service and

39:10

it's only riverside , for example , the platform I'm

39:13

using right now . In the last year They'll love

39:15

me for saying this if you listen

39:17

in the last year , the amount of Um

39:19

AI sort of based adaptations

39:21

they've made to this platform is incredible . It does so

39:24

much for me now compared to when I started the podcast

39:26

. So I I'm

39:28

totally with you there and I had a feeling that's where the

39:30

the the question would go , and yeah . It'd

39:32

be interesting to see where we are in five years

39:34

.

39:35

I know it's gonna be a lot different . I think it's

39:37

moving so fast um , 100%

39:41

definitely .

39:41

What are your thoughts on ? Um ? I think this is

39:44

a way off on a tangent now . So have you heard any

39:46

music that's been created by AI

39:48

, sort of someone saying right or um

39:50

, perform this song in the style of someone

39:52

.

39:52

What are your thoughts on that ? Uh , yeah

39:55

, I haven't really thought about it too much . I have , I think , maybe

39:57

heard a little bit of that . Um , uh

40:00

, you're talking about like , where you kind of like put

40:03

singing a vocal and then it all of a sudden turns it to like

40:05

Drake or something along those lines .

40:08

Yeah , yeah yeah , it's kind of like a deep

40:10

thing .

40:10

Yeah , yeah , it is . I guess . Um , yeah , I

40:13

don't really have any strong feelings about it . I

40:15

mean , I think it's bound to happen . You

40:17

know , as far as the

40:20

uh , the legal side of it

40:22

, you know it . Um , oh

40:25

yeah , yeah I , I don't know

40:28

how , it's not really how someone like drake

40:30

or taylor , swift would feel , you know , knowing

40:32

that some hot new single with their voice

40:34

is not actually their voice ? Um

40:36

, yeah , I don't know it's . It's gonna be a little

40:38

messy for a while , but , um , but yeah

40:41

, I don't know too much about that world

40:43

, I just know that it's happening and

40:45

, uh , it's something that I'm sure we're gonna be dealing with

40:47

more and more . I haven't actually mixed

40:49

any uh any AI tracks

40:52

as far as I know right now , but , but

40:55

I have explored some with the uh

40:57

the new . This is somewhat

40:59

um Related , but

41:01

the the new waves online , online

41:03

mastering , that's all through

41:05

AI , um , similar

41:07

to lander , but I think it's goes a little

41:09

deeper and I've had some decent

41:12

results with that Um for

41:14

six dollars a master , I think if

41:16

there's times especially if people maybe do stuff

41:18

for , like sync world or like a

41:20

lot music library kind of , where

41:23

you need a lot of stuff mastered but you can't

41:25

afford , you know , uh , whatever

41:27

, it is , a hundred , two hundred dollars and more

41:29

for for an actual Person

41:32

to master , you know , I think it's a good way

41:34

to go . You can upload references and it will

41:36

analyze the reference and it's kind

41:38

of the same stuff that you can do with ozone , but

41:40

, um , maybe there's even a little

41:42

bit more um , you

41:45

know computation happening in the background than

41:47

even ozone . So I

41:49

think we're going to see more of that kind of stuff . I

41:51

think it's going to be harder for AI

41:53

to take 70 tracks and make them all

41:55

sound really Music and create

41:57

together , so , but it

41:59

doesn't mean that it can't ever happen .

42:01

That's for sure , yeah , it's um

42:03

the waves . One's interesting because it's

42:06

been on my list of things to try out , as has

42:08

, I know , slate digital . I've got one as well

42:10

virtue . Okay , yeah , yeah

42:12

, I was um looking because I've got the slate digital

42:14

stuff and I was looking at it yesterday and

42:17

, um , I haven't tried that either , um

42:19

, to see what that sounds like . But be , I

42:21

might go through the process of doing an ab . Maybe I'll

42:23

release a video on it and then get people's opinions on which

42:25

. Which one was about that . Actually , thinking off the

42:27

top of my head , that'll probably be quite a good episode .

42:28

Yeah , I think if you had like a real person master

42:31

song and then upload the same thing to a few

42:33

of the online things and do like a blind

42:35

, blind listening . I mean it

42:38

might hurt the mastering engineer if

42:40

there's doesn't .

42:42

Isn't the one that's picked ?

42:43

but I think that would be pretty interesting

42:46

to do something along those lines .

42:47

Yeah , go back to what you said about the , the

42:50

AI and taylor , swift and drake

42:52

I was thinking of , as you were mentioning it then , off

42:54

the top of my head , it would be interesting where record labels

42:56

go with it and whether or not they would , whether they could

42:58

literally own the sound of someone's

43:00

voice . And then if that individual was

43:02

to no longer be part of that label but they owned

43:04

their voice whether they could just then because

43:07

AI is only going to get better , it's only going to improve

43:09

with machine learning and and

43:12

, um , big data and

43:14

stuff Whether or not they'll then just be able

43:16

to say , well , okay , well , you can leave the label , we're going to use

43:18

your voice and we're going to continue release . But then again

43:20

, I'm totally spitballing now , but

43:22

then they would need the name and et cetera . It'd

43:25

be very interesting to see where it goes . Very interesting

43:27

you could go . I mean , that's a whole

43:30

podcast series in itself . With AI , it is

43:32

yeah , and the creative industry

43:34

definitely yeah , interesting

43:36

stuff . We're coming towards

43:39

the end now , brent . I've got one last question . I

43:41

think this is quite an interesting one . Have

43:43

you encountered any sort of myths or

43:45

misconceptions around sort of organization

43:48

and productivity in your

43:50

workflow , in mixing , let's say ?

43:52

Yeah , a couple of things come to mind . One

43:54

is you know

43:56

that you need a lot of gear to make great

43:58

records . I always try to encourage

44:00

new producers and engineers . You

44:02

know you don't really need

44:05

all that much and it's cheaper

44:07

than it's ever been to actually do really , really great

44:09

work . You don't need to go out and get all

44:11

of the . You know 1176s and

44:13

the LA2As and then you know the U47

44:16

. I mean , there's a ton of gear and it's easy

44:18

to get distracted by that and if you don't

44:20

love what you're doing , say , oh , it's just because I don't

44:22

have this piece of outboard gear . That's

44:25

not the way you need

44:27

to think . You know you have the tools

44:29

that you need to make great music and so I

44:32

think for aspiring mixers I

44:34

say you could almost do great

44:36

work with just the stock plugins in your DAW . The

44:39

things that you need to be focusing on more

44:41

are you're monitoring . That is a place

44:43

that I feel like you can do some , you know investing

44:46

, as well as the acoustics of your room . I

44:48

mean , focus more on those two things and

44:50

don't get all plug-in crazy or you

44:52

know hardware crazy

44:54

and just

44:57

kind of like really

44:59

focus more on like learning how compression

45:01

works and what different ones sound like

45:03

, and doing A-B's and just do a lot of critical listening

45:05

, and that's going to go a lot further

45:07

than just buying one thing

45:09

and realizing that that doesn't fix a problem and buying something

45:12

else and trying to fix this problem that

45:15

doesn't even exist . So that's

45:17

one thing . Another maybe is just that

45:20

the longer you mix

45:23

something , the better the mix is going to be . That's not

45:25

always the case either . You know there's

45:27

this thing , the point of diminishing return , and

45:30

you got to know like and

45:32

this is something that takes an experience knowing when

45:34

something is ready to be sent off for

45:38

the artist and the producer to review that . So

45:40

I tell

45:42

most people I think the sweet spot is like

45:44

eight to 12 hours , and if you're like

45:46

messing with something for three days straight , you

45:48

may have gone a little too far and

45:50

started sucking the life

45:53

out of all the content that you've been given . So

45:56

you know , just kind of be aware

45:58

of that and know that the

46:01

longer you spend doesn't mean the better

46:03

it's going to get . And

46:05

I encourage most people to

46:07

. This is just a formula that works well

46:09

. I think just to . If you're going to start a mix

46:11

, start it that morning tell the

46:14

producer or the artist whoever the client is that

46:16

you know the following day at noon

46:18

you're going to deliver mix one like kind of then

46:20

that sets a deadline for you and you

46:23

know that they're going to be expecting that , and so work

46:25

on it that entire day , you know , get

46:27

it to where you feel like it's at least 80 or 90%

46:30

done , and

46:32

then the next morning you can , kind of on fresh years

46:34

, finalize some things , print

46:36

that mix one , deliver it by lunchtime to

46:38

that client and that does a couple

46:40

of things that ensures that you don't live with it too

46:43

long and that you don't just destroy

46:45

it . I know that that's easier

46:48

said than done for maybe someone getting started who

46:50

isn't maybe for sure if it's quite

46:52

ready to send out , but I think

46:54

that's a good goal to work towards

46:56

and that formula works really well for

46:59

me .

46:59

So those are a couple of myths , I

47:01

think that come to mind and they're great

47:03

ones as well because they've been mentioned on the podcast

47:06

before , which is fantastic because

47:08

it kind of compounds the message that we've

47:10

put out previously , which is great , which

47:12

is about the plug-in and the idea of

47:14

a silver bullet that's going to sort of fix your mixing

47:16

. And I've said it before and I think I

47:18

did an episode with another producer and I

47:20

said about monitoring and you need to

47:22

as best you can

47:25

because , I appreciate it , not everyone's got the perfect environment

47:27

, but if you're monitoring in a

47:29

poor environment , then it's a filter

47:31

, isn't it ? It's going to act as a filter on whatever you're hearing

47:33

and it's going to impact on that and also

47:35

learning the fundamentals and

47:38

what you said there about plugins , and not just thinking I

47:40

need to own all these plugins to make my mixing better

47:42

. It's like stock plugins are incredible these

47:44

days , Really really good . I

47:47

use Logic primarily , and Reaper as

47:49

well , but I know many people that use Cubase

47:51

and the stock stuff

47:54

is fantastic . So , audience , don't feel like

47:56

you need to go out and buy the next best thing

47:58

. I know we're being advertised

48:01

All this stuff like

48:03

all the time . I would routinely see it , but that's

48:05

retargeting advertising , isn't it . And time

48:08

equals success is another big one as well

48:10

. I've mentioned that before on the podcast , so it's great to hear

48:12

that also in that just because you spend a

48:14

lot of time on something doesn't mean that

48:16

it's going to reap the rewards

48:19

that it should Diminishing

48:21

returns and everything . So fantastic stuff , Brent

48:23

, Excellent stuff , Love it . Thank you

48:25

for spending the time with me today . I

48:27

appreciate we're approaching the end of the episode

48:29

now . Where can our audience

48:32

sort of find you online ? Where's the best place for them to go

48:34

if they want to learn more about what you do or even work ?

48:35

Yeah , there's two spots . I spend the most time

48:37

on Instagram at Brent Hendritch B-R-E-N-T-H-E-N-D-R-I-C-H

48:42

, and I post about three times

48:44

a week there Quite a bit of rills , some mixed tips

48:47

and things like that . So if you want

48:49

to kind of keep up with me on a weekly basis , that's the

48:51

best place . Dm me , say hey

48:53

, we'll start talking about whatever

48:55

you want . And then I also have my website

48:57

, brenthendritchcom . I try to update

49:00

that on a regular basis . That's a good place to go

49:02

more for hearing other episodes

49:04

or other podcasts . I've been on

49:06

articles , listening to a lot

49:08

of my work . That's kind of where you want to go for

49:11

any of those kinds of things , and there's a great form

49:13

on there that you can just put in

49:15

your info , and that's a great way to get a hold of me

49:17

as well . So , yeah , that's probably the

49:19

two best places to find me .

49:21

Fantastic stuff Audience . Those links

49:23

will be in the episode description , so

49:26

do go and follow Brent on Instagram and

49:28

also check out the website as well

49:30

. It's been a pleasure , brent , and you've got the rest

49:32

of your day to enjoy now . I do Getting

49:34

up nice and early , it's been great talking to you . Thank you , Mark

49:36

.