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Grammy-nominated mastering engineer and owner of Infrasonic Mastering, Pete Lyman (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile) speaks on the raw power of Chris Stapleton’s debut solo album ‘Traveller’.

Now a certified classic, ‘Traveller’ was recorded at RCA Studio A and Blackbird, with fellow veterans of the Nashville scene, producer Dave Cobb and engineer Vance Powell, who would also mix the record. It won Album of the Year at the 2015 CMA Awards, where Stapleton performed album track ‘Tennessee Whiskey’ as a duet with Justin Timberlake, a dramatic moment that shot the album and Stapleton’s career from industry recognition to genuine mainstream superstardom.

#TilYouMakeIt is a collection of stories chronicling those moments and capturing wisdom from the game’s most esteemed producers, mixers and engineers.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code TILYOUMAKEIT at checkout.

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Honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this in an interview. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I’m gonna say it anyways. Like I heard the record and I’m like, this record is amazing. No one is gonna listen to it. Because it was just too good.

When I mastered Traveler, the first Chris Stapleton record, I remember getting that record and just sitting down and listening to it and it was like, wow, this is amazing. We mastered the record. It came out. And none of us had any idea what was gonna happen, and it just kind of sat there for a while, and then the Justin Timberlake thing happened and then all of a sudden, The roof blew off of it and it’s just been runaway train since that record. Couldn’t happen to nicer people and more talented people.

Dave Cobb is amazing and Vance Powell’s amazing mix mixes on these records. There are quite a few of the tracks on Traveler that are pretty much just flat transfers with no eq. They agonized over those mixes. But it’s been so fun to see this happen ’cause it, it, it just gives me a lot of faith, like, oh, people like good music.

It doesn’t have to just be all of this, like really manicured pop stuff. And not that that’s bad, but it’s cool to see someone get up there and just do something wrong
Having recently reached the coveted number one spot on Billboard’s Top 100 Chart with Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That In A Small Town’, as well as a number one on the Country Radio chart with Jelly Roll’s ‘Need a Favor’, Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling mixing engineer Jeff Braun (Jason Aldean, Kane Brown, Jelly Roll, The Band CAMINO, Nelly) shares his unique insight into the key components necessary to turn a great song into a number-one selling hit – from the original song, to the production, to marketing and everything in between.

#TilYouMakeIt is a collection of stories chronicling those moments and capturing wisdom from the game’s most esteemed producers, mixers and engineers.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code TILYOUMAKEIT at checkout.

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TRANSCRIPT

I feel like I’m lucky ’cause I hear all these songs before everybody else does. Sometimes it’s like a year before, like we’re mixing something and it comes out a year later and then it’s like, Okay. That one feels big. That one feels special.

A number one song takes a lot of things to make it work. The song has to be there. I mean, it all starts with a song. There’s a lot of stuff that can be production driven. Maybe the song is being supported by the production more than. The song is actually very strong. You know, a good test is like, can you play it on a piano and just sing it, or a guitar vocal, and if it still feels like a hit, like.

That it needs to have that. So the song itself has to be great. And then the production should enhance and support the emotion coming from the song. And then we hopefully stay out of the way. And what we do, and we just add ideas, delay throws, spins, effects moments that like amplify and sweeten.

And then it’s the business side, the radio team, promotion management, coming up with cool marketing ideas, and then just getting that snowball to really take off.

It’s a lot of stages that have to click for a song to really work. Anytime a session comes in from Jordan Schmidt, Dan Huff, Josh Kerr, all these guys, it’s gonna sound great and it’s gonna be a great song.
In this episode of #NerdingOut, we are back at Blackbird Studios to speak with the iconic studios’ former operations manager and resident drum tech Paul Simmons as he shares what gear he would use to piece together a thrash metal kit.

From Blackbird’s modern custom titanium kits to their hardwood options, Blackbird comes equipped with everything you need to translate your vision and achieve your desired sound.

#NerdingOut is where we visit studios around the globe to ask producers, engineers and artists about their favorite tools of the trade.

The plugins that never leave their chain, the gear they would save from a burning building, or the instruments they bring to every session.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code NERDINGOUT at checkout.

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We have fifty drum kits at, at our disposal, and then another twenty five in storage. So if a producer or an artist calls me and they have a thing they’re looking for, I know the drum kit.

If I were gonna build a thrash metal kit, oh man, my mind goes to Metallica. There’s a lot of attack, a lot of 4K snap on a bass drum, a lot of that, um, kind of pinpointed drum sound. So I would probably go for more modern kit. And we do have a kit that’s titanium. It’s unbelievable. It’s a custom kit that John (Mc Bride) had made that would work well.

They’re really loud, very bombastic. That’s comes to mind. But I have another kit that TOMA placed here for us. It’s really hardwood, bubinga wood would be fantastic for that. Tuning wise, there’s so many directions we could go put on some clear 2 ply drum heads, tight snare, but kind of dead, ’cause there’s a lot of that, this kind of stuff.

For me, I just really love to help them get the sound, get what they want. That’s the fulfillment for me.
In this #WhereIWork, the esteemed, five-time Grammy Award-winning mixer, engineer and producer F. Reid Shippen (Kenny Chesney, Ingrid Michaelson, Gloria Gaynor) shares what it’s like working in Nashville at Infrasonic Mastering and how the collaborative environment fosters a strong sense of community and a willingness to push creative boundaries.

#WhereIWork is where we flash our VIP passes and gain access to the sacred spaces, the hallowed grounds where some of the best producers, songwriters, engineers and artists call home, and explore some of the amazing projects that took shape there.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code WHEREIWORK at checkout.

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I walked out and it was Kenny Chesney and Sturgill Simpson having coffee in the kitchen, which was trippy.

We used to be in studios and people were collaborating and you see people in the hall and you grab ’em and bring ’em in to listen to stuff, and there’s like this give and take and it kind of makes you feel like a community and also helps you challenge your perceptions and break outta ruts and habits.

So I just love having people around the studio that we have, it’s not unusual for me to walk out into the lounge and see somebody like sitting on the couch and just having people around where I can run down the hall. Sit down and have a therapy session with Pete, like, go get somebody’s opinion. Ask him if I’m crazy on something like back and forth. Like that. Energy, I think is, is conducive to good art.

People flow through here all the time and it’s fascinating. I love that energy. Being in a place where you just hear people laughing all the time, just makes everything feel better.
While recording with Jack White with just eight tracks of 2” tape at seven inches per second, it became clear to seven-time Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer and mixer, Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Elle King, The White Stripes) that working with limitations needn’t stifle creativity; if anything, having fewer options at your disposal means you don’t record what you don’t need – you’re that much more intentional with your recording.

#NerdingOut is where we visit studios around the globe to ask producers, engineers and artists about their favorite tools of the trade.

The plugins that never leave their chain, the gear they would save from a burning building, or the instruments they bring to every session.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code NERD at checkout.

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

There’s this great joke around Nashville. It’s uh, yeah, that takes sucked. Come on in. We’ve got Pro Tools. Unfortunately, that’s how a lot of people make records now, but you know, I can tell you there’s a lot of people who don’t.

I spent about eight years working with Jack White and there was tons of things that we were doing that were relatively, what I would say you would think unachievable these days where people have a DAW based workflow. We didn’t have that. We had a two inch eight track running at seven inches per second.

We had one drum track. You know, one track of bass, one track of guitar, you know, you start running out of tracks, so you have to make a really great sounding record in eight tracks. And a lot of people would say that’s unachievable, but it’s not. You can do it. The Beatles did it in four. You know, that’s, that’s amazing how great those records sound.

So the limitations made them choose what things to pick and play. And part of what happens today is it’s easy to record more than we need. Do we really need these tom mics? Maybe. Do we need a snare drum? Well, maybe. But the kick drum, the room, the overhead. That’s, that’s pretty great. Cool. Well, what else can we take away and try to work from the subtraction sort of concept?

Limitations always drive creativity
This time on #PinchYourself, Grammy-nominated mastering engineer and owner of Infrasonic Mastering Pete Lyman (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile) reflects on getting the gig remastering some of his favorite records with Tom Waits.

We’re uncovering the biggest pinch-me-moments that the world’s most esteemed artists, producers, engineers and mixers have experienced, from working with childhood heroes to winning awards or landing their first hit record, hear the stories that make you #PinchYourself.

Create your own once-in-a-lifetime moments with an extended one-month trial of LISTENTO when you use the code PINCH at checkout.

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One of the weirdest times in my life was getting parenting advice from Tom Waits.

I’m a huge fan of Tom Waits. I’ve remastered all of his records except for the Island Records. We did that when I was still in LA 2016.

It was about a year and a half project. We did a lot of it remote, but he did attend a couple of the sessions and very, very involved. Tom and Kathleen are very involved in all that.

So it, it was very much a collaborative effort. It’s. Amazing to be able to work on these records that I’m a fan of. Tom waits the God it’s crazy to work with him.

It’s like, okay, I can get hit by a bus tomorrow and everything’s cool. That’s the, that’s as good as it gets.
#TilYouMakeIt is a collection of stories chronicling those moments and capturing wisdom from the game’s most esteemed producers, mixers, and engineers.

Next up, we are joined by esteemed, five-time Grammy Award-winning mixer, engineer, and producer F. Reid Shippen (Kenny Chesney, Ingrid Michaelson, Gloria Gaynor) at Nashville’s Infrasonic Studios as he shares his take on the always looming and ever-present imposter syndrome.

Is it a sure-fire way to count yourself out of the race or an unconventional method of motivation? You decide.

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If you’re not getting fired, you’re not trying hard enough. The best art comes out of really great people collaborating and taking chances.

If you play it safe, you don’t find the best stuff, but if you don’t play it safe every once in a while, people are like, oh, no, no, no. That was like way off. And it’s, that’s a risk you have to take, but I think the benefits outweigh the risk.

To be honest, with every creative, it actually feels like your career is gonna end. And when you like look at your schedule and there’s nothing on it, you’re like, okay, that’s it. My career’s over. It’s all done. They figured out, I don’t know what I’m doing.

We all feel that, right? Imposter syndrome is just a part of the business, but as it turns out, I’ve been feeling that for 20 plus years and I’m still here.

So maybe it’s not a correct perception. If you are a baseball player and you fail 60% of the time you are in the Hall of Fame.

What was it, Mandela, right? Like I never fail. I either win or I learn. That is totally true. One of the secrets to life is fall down seven times, get up eight. Right? You just try and do the best work you can.

You try and be a good person and be good to other people, and generally it works out.
#TheMakingOf is where producers, engineers and mixers lift the lid on their processes by dissecting past projects, revealing the secrets behind the stems.

Nashville-based producer, engineer and music production advocate Jeff Balding (Eagles, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift) reveals how he approached opening up the stems for the immersive mix of Blake Shelton’s triple platinum-certified hit ‘Boys ‘Round Here’.

As well as being behind the boards on many Grammy-nominated projects, Jeff is a proud member of METAlliance and a key figure on the National Steering Committee for the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy, where Jeff dedicates a lot of time to establishing best practices for music creation, as well as leading on advocacy, educational and technical initiatives. Now frequently mixing in Dolby Atmos (and streaming his mixes to clients with Audiomovers), he harnesses cutting-edge technology to bridge the gap between fans and the songs they love.

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code MAKINGOF at checkout.

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A movement isn’t necessarily theatrical going, you know, over your head, it’s something that’s adding to the groove, so it’s making you bob your head more than you would on the stereo mix.

I was working on Blake Shelton, Boys ‘Round Here doing the immersive version of that single. That production to that song actually had a lot of great elements for an immersive mix. I was able to cut some of the hook, redneck, redneck hook stuff up and put that in different speakers. So it’s bouncing around.

There’s a lot of other elements that I could move around in the room, and the whole idea of we wanted, with that immersive mix, working with Scott Hendricks on it, was to make sure it’s. It not only kept the song intact, but it had an entertainment value to it. It was entertaining to listen to, and that’s not necessarily flying stuff around, but that’s going, oh, where the sounds come out.

It moves you, it keeps your attention, but it doesn’t distract you from the vocal. We’ve worked hard on it to get that out of it. You know, finding elements and where to put ’em and being very specific and intentional. That song really turned out great. Not only do you hear more space around things, but you’re getting a movement that you can’t get any other way.
In this episode of #WhereIWork, seven-time Grammy Award-winning producer, engineer and mixer Vance Powell (Chris Stapleton, Elle King, The White Stripes) talks about his role in helping build two of the most well-equipped and storied studios in the world – John McBride’s Blackbird and Vance’s own Sputnik.

#WhereIWork is where we flash our VIP passes and gain access to the sacred spaces, the hallowed grounds where some of the best producers, songwriters, engineers and artists call home, and explore some of the amazing projects that took shape there.

WATCH VIDEO

LISTENTO is the industry standard for remote audio. Get an extended free trial when you use the code WHEREIWORK at checkout.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Blackbird is a kind of a, it’s a, it’s a unicorn in the business.

I was sort of basically hired onto Blackbird because I had just built a studio for this band for Jars of Clay that we’d won this Grammy award for.

It’s a studio that didn’t, uh, I mean it had a budget. It’s just nobody paid attention to it. If John wanted it, it got done. 2000 microphones, you know, 800 tube mics, you know, I mean, just craziness.

There are things that Blackbird has that I don’t think anyone’s ever used. There are MIDI tie-lines between buildings. I don’t think anybody’s ever used that.

So all these different things, what you kinda learn is what works and what doesn’t work. So we moved over here to Sputnik. This is my studio, my half of the studio that I share with my partner, Mitch Dane.

I came after Mitch did. Mitch’s side got done first. I knew what I needed. I knew where it needed to go, and I knew that we needed it fast.

They put the console in here, then they painted, and then we put these tiles up on the day before the session, and then a band came in the next day and we started recording.

And it’s evolved tremendously since.
#MixTricks is where the very best mixers, engineers, producers, and musicians let us in on some of the best secrets tips and tricks they’ve picked up on their way to the top.

In this episode of #MixTricks Grammy-nominated mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering Pete Lyman (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile) speaks about the power of EQ and why it is every mastering engineer’s best friend.

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My name’s Pete Lyman, and my mix trick, which is actually a mastering trick, is how to use EQ to raise the apparent level of a track.

Most mastering engineers don’t pay attention to meters or numbers. It’s all about EQ. In mastering, I think there’s a misconception that we’re just using a ton of compression and limiting.

To get a track to sound louder reality, I would say 90% of it is EQ, getting the mid shaped and, and getting the areas that your ears hear immediately.

You know, really working on that midrange. Oftentimes a midrange boost, maybe a boost around like somewhere in between one or two k.

A nice broad boost will make the track sound louder than just pushing it into a limiter, especially if your mix already has a lot of low end.

You can push it into a limiter and you can get a reading on a meter that says minus 6 LUFS or whatever.

But that song could still sound significantly quieter than a well mastered song that was, metering, lower controlling the sub frequencies, tailoring the mid-range properly. That’s really the trick to loudness.

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