Master Your Mix Podcast Mike Indovina

Roy Silverstein is the owner and chief engineer at Rarefied Recording in San Diego, CA.
Originally from the Chicago area, Roy started his audio journey as a teenager, playing in basement bands and experimenting with 4 tracks. He quickly became obsessed with record making and the technical aspects of audio. This led him to the University of Miami where he studied Electrical Engineering with an audio emphasis; a special program that combined a full B.S.E.E. with a focus on audio applications. After college, Roy joined the Audio Systems team at Qualcomm, Inc. in San Diego and also started a home recording project studio called The Habitat. 
While working on technical audio challenges for Qualcomm by day, Roy spent his nights and weekends refining his recording and mixing skills for both bands of his own and others. In time, the confines and limitations of the home studio became frustrating so Roy bought a property and began the process of building out a proper recording studio. With the help of studio designer Wes Lachot and in conjunction with master builder, Tony Brett, and wiring guru, Thom Canova, Rarefied Recording was born in June of 2013. 
News of the studio spread very organically in the music community of San Diego and after a couple years, Roy went full time with Rarefied and hasn't looked back. Over the course of nearly 10 years now, Rarefied has been home to a wide assortment of artists and engineers spanning a multitude of genres and styles. Notable acts that have utilized the studio include San Diego's own Slightly Stoopid and Unwritten Law. Rarefied has also hosted some amazing engineers including Darrell Thorp (Foo Fighters, Beck, Radiohead) and Brian Scheuble (Fiona Apple, Tom Petty, Elton John).
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Why it’s important to understand electronics and know how to troubleshoot
Designing audio chips for cell phones
Breaking the golden handcuffs of a comfy day job and transitioning into working in audio full time
Learning the business side of running a studio
Keeping track of your metrics
Marketing your studio
Creating depth in your mixes
The dangers of using reverb
How to dial in the right reverb times
Why you should EQ reverbs
Identifying the main element at every part of the song
Using automation to make your mixes sound exciting
Using parallel processing on your entire mix
Shaping your mix with a Pultec
To learn more about Roy Silverstein, visit: https://rarefiedrecording.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

A broadly acclaimed engineer and producer, Ulrike Schwarz is a trailblazing audio innovator with more than two decades of experience across the film, television, radio, and recording industries. Born and raised in Germany, Schwarz discovered she had perfect pitch at an early age, and as a teenager, she became one of only three students to be accepted into the exclusive Tonmeister program at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin. After earning her degree, Schwarz worked with German public radio and spent more than ten years serving as the senior sound engineer for large orchestral and jazz productions at the famed Bayerischer Rundfunk in Munich, where she broke the mold as a woman in a male-dominated field and garnered numerous honors for her recordings and broadcasts, including multiple Echo Klassik, Diamant D’Opera, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenindustrie, and Diapason d’Or awards. 
In 2015, Schwarz moved to New York full time to team up with her now-husband and production partner Jim Anderson, with whom she’s created a groundbreaking body of work in the field of immersive audio.
As creative technically as she is artistically, Schwarz designed and built her own custom portable recording setup from scratch, and in just the last few years alone, she’s garnered multiple Grammy nominations for her work with artists as diverse as American jazz stalwart Patricia Barber, contemporary Norwegian composer Gisle Kverndokk, and soprano saxophonist Jane Ira Bloom. 
In 2022, Schwarz was named Vice President of the Verband Deutscher Tonmeister (The Association of German Sound Professionals) and received a prestigious grant from the Women’s Fund of the New York Foundation of the Arts for her work on Jane Ira Bloom’s Grammy nominated album (2023) Picturing The Invisible – Focus 1.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Getting into the world of orchestral recording
Why it’s a good idea to join audio associations such as the AES
Mic positions for orchestral recordings
Taking an ambience-first approach to recording
Preparing a game-plan for your sessions
Being selective of the microphones you use to avoid “coloration”
How the German vs American orchestral seating can impact the balance of your mixes
Recording strings to work in a rock music context
Working with reverbs to avoid muddy mixes
Why you shouldn’t have to use EQ or compression in a mix
How sample rates impact the clarity of your recordings
How something as small as a power cable can drastically alter the quality of your recordings
Mixing for stereo vs immersive audio
To learn more about Ulrike Schwarz, visit: http://andersonaudiony.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

Jakob Herrmann works within a lot of different music styles, and has earned a wide reputation for his skills in drum recording and album producing as well as his great ear for song arrangements and pre-production. Jakob has worked as producer, engineer, and drum tech on a large number of albums, and has provided material for plugins and software companies such as Superior Drummer/EZdrummer (Toontrack), Softube, Centipeak, Addictive Drums (XLN), etc.
Jakob Herrmann runs his day-to-day operations from the top floor of Stora Teatern, a mid-17th century building just off one of Gothenburg’s busiest streets. In there, you’ll either find him recording, mixing or producing a new record, maintaining his arsenal of gear or touching up his collection of drums.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Why sounds are different in the room vs. in the recording
Tuning for the mics, not the room
Understanding what artists really mean when they describe the sounds they want
How to mic a china cymbal properly
Mic overhead techniques to achieve width
How to reduce sustain, but preserve overtones
Why ring is actually a good thing
Why “Back In Black” is the best song to soundcheck with
Recording drums after other instruments
The importance of pre-production
To use drum samples or not?
Using programmed drums to blend with natural drums
To learn more about Jakob Herrmann, visit: http://topfloorstudios.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

Danny Reisch a producer, engineer, writer, multi-instrumentalist and studio owner. Originally from Texas, Danny built an incredibly successful recording studio called Good Danny's, where he established himself as a world class producer, mixer and engineer. Since then Danny has moved to LA to pursue more opportunities, including film score mixing. Recently, Danny just finished producing, engineering and mixing the new Local Natives LP, as well as albums for Bayonne and Barns Courtney. Danny also produces and engineers the music for the game “Halo.” In the film scene, Danny has just wrapped score mixing for Disney’s "Peter Pan and Wendy,” A24’s “Smooth World,” as well as AMC's hit show "Interview with the Vampire.”
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Leaning into your decisions
Listening to old demos
Making the process of engineering feel invisible in a production
Working with templates
Creating efficiencies with an analog system
Making the studio a creative environment
Setting expectations about the sonics of an album and the process of creating it
Managing emotions
His #1 question for helping a band define their sound
The disadvantages of attended sessions
To learn more about Danny Reisch, visit: https://www.gooddannys.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

As a professional mixing/recording engineer of over 30 years of experience, music is his life and passion. With numerous Grammy, Billboard Latino and Dove awards and nominations, and record sales in excess of 50 million units, Bob has been the one choice of many artists, project after project. His projects include work with Duran Duran, Collective Soul, Extreme, Black: Guayaba, La Secta All-Star, Dokken, and Bacilos, and in the Latin Christian market, Marcos Vidal, Rene Gonzalez, Julissa, Samuel Hernandez and Roberto Orellana.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Why working in live sound is a great way to get clients
Working with Extreme and Collective Soul
The importance of networking
Understanding your own strengths and weaknesses
Having skills that apply to multiple genres
Finding inspiration to guide your mix decisions
Being open to constructive criticism
Getting great guitar tones
Bob’s go-to mic choices for recording guitars
Getting great guitar tones
Budget mics that sound great
How to avoid “red-light syndrome”
Why home studios can actually produce better results
Why it isn’t always a good idea to use outboard gear
The reason you only need to record guitars with one mic
Understanding phase
Organizing your sessions
How to calibrate your ears to make sure you can analyze your mixes accurately
To learn more about Bob St. John, visit: https://bobstjohn.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!

Susan Rogers holds a doctoral degree in behavioural neuroscience from McGill University (2010). Prior to her science career, Susan was a multi-platinum earning record producer, engineer, and mixer. She is best known for her work with Prince during his peak creative period (1983–1987). Her discography also includes records with David Byrne, Barenaked Ladies, Geggy Tah, Nil Lara, Robben Ford, Tricky, Michael Penn, Jeff Black, and many others. In 2021 she became the first female recipient of the Music Producer’s Guild Award for Outstanding Contributions to U.K. Music. She teaches psychoacoustics and production analysis for Berklee College of Music. Her book on music listening, This Is What It Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You, published by W. W. Norton & Co., is available everywhere.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
Becoming an audio technician
Working with Prince
Working with constraints to aid with creativity
Should you make demos or just jump right into the final recording?
Taking time to develop your creativity
The role of editing in the enjoyment of music
Identifying what your “sound” is
Getting artists to define what they want their music to achieve
Safety in music
How music is like food
Work/life balance: how to define your balance
The 7 dimensions of music that shape your musical tastes
What makes songs catchy
To learn more about Susan Rogers, visit: https://www.thisiswhatitsoundslike.com/
To learn more tips on how to improve your mixes, visit https://masteryourmix.com/
Download your FREE copy of the Ultimate Mixing Blueprint: https://masteryourmix.com/blueprint/
Get your copy of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, The Mixing Mindset – The Step-By-Step Formula For Creating Professional Rock Mixes From Your Home Studio: https://masteryourmix.com/mixingmindsetbook/
Join the FREE MasterYourMix Facebook community: https://links.masteryourmix.com/community
To make sure that you don’t miss an episode, make sure to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or on Android.
Have your questions answered on the show. Send them to questions@masteryourmix.com
Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and review on iTunes!