My guest this week is Ryan Schwabe who’s a two-time Grammy nominated, platinum certified mixing and mastering engineer. In 2020, he was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album for Baauer’s "Planet’s Mad," and in 2023 he was nominated for Best Sound Engineered Album, Non-Classical for mixing and mastering Baynk’s "Adolescence."  Ryan is a former professor of recording arts and music production at Drexel University's Music Industry Program. He’s also owner of the music production and engineering company Xcoustic Sound, the music technology company Schwabe Digital, and co-owner of the digital record label Rare MP3s.  And he's also the developer of the new Gold Clip mixing and mastering plugin. During the interview we spoke about learning the art of mastering, his philosophy on mixing, not being tied to certain mixing techniques, developing his own plugin, and much more. I spoke with Ryan via Zoom from his studio in Philadelphia. On the intro I’ll take a look at how labels may become outdated due to localization, and Avid is reportedly up for sale. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 86404695, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Tony Simerman, who as a kid would go to work with his Dad, who was the manager of The Kennedy Center Concert Hall in Washington, D.C. There he’d hang out backstage where he was lucky enough to see every major hard rock and metal show in the 70s and 80s, and make many musical friends over the years. Fast forward to 2023, and Tony’s company KnuckleBonz has been recognized worldwide for the past two decades as the leading creators of high-end and hand-crafted collectibles that feature iconic moments in rock history as well as music legends.  KnuckleBonz creates licensed memorabilia for Pink Floyd, Queen, Alice Cooper, Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, KISS, Scorpions, Black Sabbath, and Guns N’ Roses – just to name a few. The company’s commitment to fine craftsmanship is showcased in the artistry and detail of each hand-crafted limited edition statue created for collectors of licensed properties. Think of it as rock meets art. During the interview we spoke about growing up backstage during rock concerts, his background in 3D animation, the problem with distributing custom beverages, 3D vinyl, and much more. I spoke with Tony via Zoom from his office in California. By the way, use the BOICpc8kbz coupon code for a 10% discount from Knucklebonz for the next 2 weeks! On the intro I’ll take a look at how payola is still with us and a look at software and plugin subscriptions. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 86345967, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Josh Rogosin, who stumbled into NPR headquarters in 1999 on his way to mixing shows at The Shakespeare Theatre in downtown DC. Since then, he has been at the controls for all of NPR's flagship newsmagazines and gathered sound in far flung places like Togo, Cambodia and Greece for the Radio Expeditions series.  Josh has engineered at both NPR West and NPR NY, and spent two years as Technical Director at Marketplace Productions in Los Angeles. He’s also served as Senior Broadcast Engineer for New York Public Radio and Studio 360, and was an originating producer and sound designer for NPR's Ask Me Another. In his current role, Josh is the Technical Director for NPR Music and has recorded and mixed over 500 Tiny Desk Concerts. During the interview we spoke about learning audio for the theater, recording Congressional hearings, using audio to tell stories, behind the scenes at Tiny Desk Concerts, working with U2 and David Crosby, 3and much more. I spoke with Josh via Zoom from his office in Washington. On the intro I’ll take a look at labels with covert Spotify accounts, and bacteria that play drums. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 86290111, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Temima Shames, who’s the CEO of Next Step Talent, a full service talent management and digital brand agency that’s home to more than 20 music artists, influencers and actors. While in college, Temema worked for Atlantic Records, and Visionary Music Group before jumping into her own management company. Since then her clients have achieved 5B+ YouTube views, a #7 debut Spotify Album, highlights in Youtube’s Black Creator Class of 2023, TikTok’s biggest POV star, and one of NYFW’s creators with the highest brand return of 2023.  Not only that, songs, records, and projects Temima has been a part of have garnered 25 million streams and viral campaigns with more than 2 million recreates on TikTok. Her company has also partnered with top brands including YouTube, Meta, Disney Music Group, BOSS, Neutrogena, HBO, Netflix, Target, Universal Music Group, and NYX Cosmetics.  During the interview we spoke about how she got started managing social influencers, the strategy behind short form and long form content, branding as story-telling, artist mental health, experiential marketing, and much more. I spoke with Temima via Zoom from her office in Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at music platforms taking steps against AI-generated songs, and a study about vocal levels in different genres. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 86235468, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is composer and producer Dren McDonald who has done everything from experimental indie rock to video game music to string quartet chamber music to film and VR animation soundtracks. He has worked with game studios and publishers such as Valve Corporation, Ubisoft, Glu Mobile, DeNA/Hasbro, Romero Games, Zynga, Tapulous, and others, and he’s been nominated for awards for his soundtrack, music and sound design work 16 times and has won 5 times. Dren also created music and audio designs for AR and VR experiences at Facebook, and taught at University of California, Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has released several original game soundtrack releases on Nerdtracks Recordings, as well as instrumental recordings for Appearing Records. During the interview we spoke about how he got into video games, directing voice overs for games, how sound design is different for games than film, working on AR audio for Facebook, his new album built around hundreds of guitar tracks, and much more. Find out more about Dren and his new album at DrenMcDonald.com. I spoke with Dren via Zoom from his studio in the Bay area. On the intro I’ll take a look at the 5 things that musicians should know about the brain, and an AI for music primer. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 86177374, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };