I grew up around Geneva and St. Charles, Illinois. My wife, Charissa, and I have known each other since 8th grade and have been performing together in bands and school ensembles since high school. She\u2019s an amazing singer and vocal contractor for film, TV and albums. She actually put a group together and sang on the recent Smashing Pumpkins album I recorded and mixed, and has been performing with them live occasionally. So wild! She also got me into composing and mixing music for TV and ads. There\u2019s a Jif peanut butter ad that just came out that features me and Charissa and our 7 year old daughter singing on a doo-wop track I wrote. We have a music-filled household, that\u2019s for sure. Anyway, Charissa and I went to Loyola University in New Orleans, where I was a jazz saxophone major, and then we moved to L. A. in 2000. While I was at school, I got super involved in studio and electronic music classes and totally loved it. I eventually got keys to the school\u2019s studio and started doing sessions there. The school had a state-of-the-art, for the time, Pro Tools Mix Plus system and the Waves Gold bundle of plugins. I realized then that I could get involved in a lot more music than might be traditionally applicable to just being a jazz saxophone player. I had broader tastes in music than just jazz and blues and I worked on productions for a lot of different musical styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I moved to L.A. I started out working at the Hollywood Guitar Center and then Westlake Audio (in their sales department) configuring Pro Tools systems for all these insane clients, like David Foster. I met lots of people that way. I also had a local Music Connection magazine ad that I would run for producing tracks for singers and songwriters. Ultimately one of my first big breaks came through helping put a system together for Colin Hay from Men at Work and then I started working with John Hanlon (engineer\/mixer for Neil Young, Jackson Browne, R.E.M.) and we still work together today. John would teach me the old school engineering ways and I would show him the modern stuff. We still continue to work that way today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n My first project at Rick\u2019s old spot was as an assistant on a Jayhawks live record where John Hanlon needed an extra hand with Pro Tools, and I ended up getting to help him in tiny ways mixing on an analog console that had no automation. He would tell me things like \u201c\u2026in this verse move that fader here and turn off that EQ\u2026\u201d On that job I met Rick and his production assistant, Lindsay [Chase]. Eventually I started getting calls as a second engineer for Rick\u2019s sessions, starting with Neil Diamond\u2019s 12 Songs<\/em> album. We did two albums with Neil at his studio [Archangel]. It was a fortunate and unorthodox route.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know, honestly, that 12 Songs<\/em> album was the first project that I did with [Rick Rubin], Greg Fidelman and Andrew Scheps, who are amazing engineers, mixers and producers. I was second engineer and then there was a snafu on the release that had to do with some Sony anti-piracy issue and it botched the release. I had moved on to working on some other projects and Rick asked me to go back to [Neil Diamond\u2019s] original raw takes for the 12 Songs<\/em> album and and pick alternate takes with no extra overdubs for a new release that would be called 12 Songs Artist Cut<\/em>. The raw tracking was how I remembered the record from the tracking sessions, and I made rough mixes so Rick could hear the original arrangements and I worked really hard on those rough mixes. I had been around Rick a lot, but this was the first time I had a chance to play music for Rick in his listening room, so it was really exciting. After listening to my rough mixes, Rick called Neil [Diamond] and said, \u201cI think we have our guy\u2026\u201d I was like \u201cWhaaaaat!\u201d and he let me mix the record. He later asked me to mix Neil\u2019s subsequent album, \u201cHome Before Dark.\u201d I also spent a lot of time editing productions for Rick, starting with System of a Down Mezmerize<\/em>. During that period of time there were a lot of ups and down, where one day I was mixing and one day I was editing. But really, it was all \u201cups\u201d\u2026such an exciting time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember on Justin Timberlake\u2019s album we were tracking at Archangel studio\u2014and I\u2019m not sure how this came about\u2014but I wound up asking Rick if he minds if I wrote some horn charts for some of Justin\u2019s stuff and Rick was like \u201csure, knock yourself out.\u201d I remember being really excited and feeling really cool about that. Sometimes, like on the new Avett Brothers record, I might add some stuff like keys or percussion\u2014interesting small stuff like that. Being in the right place at the right time is key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I love recording and getting sounds and I get pretty intense during the go-down, getting the right sounds into Pro Tools. It\u2019s fun at Shangri-La on the API board. I\u2019ll use a bunch of Neve preamps and go line-in to the desk for tracking. On a full band session I might use some of the API pres or just use the console for bussing. I like to buss things together so the multitrack is not too overwhelming. Rick gives me free range to work how I see fit. As far as mixing, I\u2019m mostly working in Pro Tools. For some records I\u2019ll mix through my [Roll Music] Folcrom mixer into a pair of Neve pres for that sound. I don\u2019t really sum through the Folcrom, but I use it to knock the signal down into the preamps. Certain projects, like the Santana mixes go through the [Neve] 31102s and that helps me get there faster. I drive the input hard and get some saturation and I can match the console sound that we heard during the tracking sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rick is always there for the main tracking, always for vocals, for overall vibe and shape of the song, he\u2019s there for tempo and key, always guiding the artist or band to find their most natural best performance\u2014that\u2019s his bread and butter, and what he\u2019s a genius at. He might not be there once we\u2019ve picked the take and the band wants to try some overdubs, but Rick is very detailed and I\u2019m always taking notes about his take preferences. He always listens with a very open mind and gives great guidance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have been working a little with a template for things like routing and having effects and inserts loaded and ready, but everything is bypassed when I start. Everything I do, whether I recorded it or not, I like to begin a mix by pulling all the faders down and start all over and rediscover the song. For example, what sounded good at the tracking studio may need to be reassessed for the mix. I have some typical bussing and parallel processing that I almost always use, but I don\u2019t have any hard and fast rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve never been afraid of using reverb, I mean Rick has historically been super anti-reverb, haha, but that\u2019s changed a lot over the last few years. Rick does like things dry as a bone sometimes for that intimate, connected and raw thing, but certainly not always. When I record, I mic pretty direct and close, but I also setup room mics to capture the room sound and ambience. I like stereo room mics so I can use either in mono or both. I\u2019ll get a sound I\u2019m confident with, but then I usually won\u2019t monitor the room mics when Rick is around. Those ambience mics are a goldmine when I\u2019m mixing, though. Even on acoustic guitars I\u2019ll use a close mic and often a spaced pair a little bit back. I\u2019m not sneaky about it\u2014 it\u2019s just fun to have options later. Whatever\u2019s best for the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thinking back to the Avett Brother\u2019s for example, on those guys I have 87\u2019s for guitar and banjo, and I keep them in figure 8 and pointed sideways to keep any vocal bleed off the guitar mics. Vocally I have Seth on a [Telefunken] 251 and Scott on an [Neumann] M49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That switches up a lot, except for [Avid] Reverb One. I\u2019m always on a tear for developers to make AAX DSP plugins for zero latency during recording. I actually emailed Dave Derr and thanked him for creating his Arouser plugin in a DSP version, as well as a native version. I will gladly pay more for the DSP version because I need to run plugins during tracking with no latency. I love TL Space for the chambers and springs and to a lesser degree I\u2019ll use ReVibe. I\u2019ll use Altiverb for the other impulse response stuff. I\u2019m big on the Avid 7-Band EQ, especially for cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were a few things in the room that I was aware of, mostly a resonance in the room around 147 Hz. Certain songs, depending on the key would light up that frequency and I always have just mixed around the problem. For many years I just carved it out through trial and error, then I got the [Sonarworks] software and measured the room many times and you can see it clear as day\u2014what I\u2019ve always heard by ear. So it\u2019s been really great not having to mix around the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll definitely check my mixes and I love listening with headphones so I\u2019ll spend time on \u2018phones, especially with reverb details. I want people to enjoy listening on headphones. I\u2019ve been on these Blue Sadie headphones for a while and I really like them a lot. My studio tracking headphones are the Sennheiser 280s. They are not too hyped, and you can wear them for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-uploads.imgix.net\/2019\/09\/Little-People-Studio-May-2017-1000x750.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow did that work lead to working with Rick Rubin?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
So how did you then make the jump from being an assistant engineer and Pro Tools tech to being a mixer on these huge projects?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Do you feel like analog gear has a strong place for you or are you mostly working in-the-box?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
There is a lot of mystery around working with Rick Rubin. How much time does Rick spend in the studio with you and the band during tracking sessions?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Do you have any tricks that make your mix workflow more consistent or ways that you always work?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How do you feel about reverb these days?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Do you have your go-to mics for acoustic guitar and vocal?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog-uploads.imgix.net\/2019\/09\/IMG_1394-1000x503.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat about your favorite plugins, like reverb?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
How did you get into using Sonarworks room calibration software?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
I know you love your ATC\u2019s, but do you do any mixing in headphones?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n