In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Paul Maunder, where they discuss some of the best advice, tips and tricks they've learned during their careers to date.

Talking Points:

Workflow tips, shortcuts and things you’ve discovered along the way

Recording, production and mixing tricks.

Things you wish you knew when you first started out

Mindset tips

How has your approach changed since entering into this industry?

Who were your mentors, inspiration and reasons for adopting a different approach, workflow or mindset?

Must have plugins or gear.

Finds of the week:
Julian: DX7 Podcast On SOS
Ashea: PSP Bin Amp
Paul: Beyer DT700 Pro X

In this week’s edition Ashea is joined by Dallas Taylor from Defacto Sound & Twenty Thousand Hertz Podcast, where they discuss the sound design process behind some of the world's most famous brands.

Talking Points:

Working to a brief: What is your process for capturing the mood and creating an experience that complements the visual storytelling?

Sound choice, inspiration, foley etc.

What makes a sound instantly recognizable, e.g Netflix. What is the process like getting to that point?

Optimising workflow: Tools, gear, deadlines. 

Emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities facing sound designers in an ever-evolving industry.

Finds of the week:

Ashea: Waves Stream
Dallas: Buy Back Your Time- Dan Martell

In this week’s edition Julian and  Ashea joined by Anna Bulakh of Respeecher, where they discuss the importance of ethics in AI and how to proceed with caution.

Talking Points:

• What are some of the current threats AI poses in society/the audio and music industry today?
• Synthetic media, voice cloning software and other tools are still in their early stages but are incredibly powerful tools that can all be really useful if used wisely, however there needs to be ethical principles in place. 
• The dangers of Deepfakes
• Provenance.
• Please tell us about Respeecher, what this tool offers and how you are putting ethical practices and policies at the forefront of your company.

Damian’s article On Respeecher 

Finds of the week:
Julian: Now TV has ads
Ashea: Notion App
Anna: Brief History Of AI - Michael Aldridge, Chip War Michael Phillips

In this week's edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Steve DeMott, where they discuss the music industry Gatekeepers of today, who are they and are they worse?

Talking Points:

• Social Media age and the “democratization” of the industry.
• Labels vs the new A.I/Digital gatekeepers
• Youtube, Google and artist revenue

Finds of the week:
Julian: High Strung/Nashville Strings
Ashea: MCenter
Steve: Pulsar 1178 

In this week’s edition Julian and  Ashea are joined by Reid Caulfield, where they discuss a recent article from the LA Times and ask ‘Is AI coming for our jobs, and should we be worried?’

Talking Points:

LA Times Article:
https://www.latimes.com/.../ai-artificial-intelligence...

From the article:

"In the music and sound-recording industry, the tasks most likely to  be affected by AI are voice generation and cloning, music generation and  recording and lyrics composition,  followed by mastering, mixing and  tools programming, according to the study.

More than 50% of survey  participants anticipated that AI would displace sound designers in the  next three years, while more than 40% saw AI coming for music editors,  audio technicians and sound engineers. Roughly a third of respondents  predicted a similar fate for songwriters, composers and studio  engineers."

Our thoughts on the survey

Bearing this in mind how should audio professional go about keeping themselves valuable (better than A.I)?

How can we use A.I to our advantage?

Finds of the week:
Julian: PSI Audio A17-M
Ashea: Landscape With Invisible Hand
Reid: Altiverb 8, Arrival

On request of our listeners. In this week's episode Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes and Paul Maunder where they give tried and tested advice on  how to make a living in today's audio industry.


Talking Points:

• What was your first pro gig and how did that come about?
• Getting work in a traditional studio setting
• Freelancing
• Types of clients and how to deal with them
• Balancing a day job
• When/how to transition into full time

Finds of the week:

Ashea: All You Need To Know About The Music Business
Russ: Criminal Record Show , i73 Pro
Paul: Deity Theos digital radio mics

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Oliver Thomas and Maurice Patist from PMC.

Talking Points:

PMC & its history - background of company

Relationship with UGM/Dolby

PMC and suitability for Immersive - any particular features which you think make them particularly suitable?

How does an ATL differ from a ported or band pass cabinet in performance?

PMC and DSP, Network Control

What, if anything, can you share about future developments at PMC?

Finds of the week:
Julian: Focusrite Vocaster Two
Ashea: Crumple Pop Plosive Remover
Maurice: Voyage Audio Spatial Mic, Julia Holter Something In The Room She Moves
Oliver: Audient Oria

Talking Points:

In this episode Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Lexie Morgan of HHB London and formerly iZotope, to give three different perspectives on the recent UK government report about the obstacles women are met with while pursuing a career in the music industry.

Summary of the UK Government report:

The Report:

Production Expert Article:

Let’s briefly discuss how we feel about this report and how our experiences correspond with the data from the report.

Sexual Harassment & Safety Issues:
What safety & other measures do studios and workplaces need to put into place? What desperately needs changing?

Dismantling The Bias:
Change needs to take place from within. As well as the wonderful work that women (and men) are already doing to improve things, we also need to get more help from our male colleagues, bosses, fellow artists etc. What can men do to be better ‘allies’?

Mentioned In This Podcast:
https://www.production-expert.com/home-page/2017/7/31/pro-tools-expert-podcast-episode-280

Finds of the week:
Ashea: Quickbooks App
Russ: Billy Joel - Turn The Lights Back On
Lexie: Poor Things Movie

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Eli Krantzberg where they discuss some of the stand out gear and plugins from NAMM 2024.

Talking Points:
Wolff Audio Console
Heritage Audio i73
SSL 360
Blue Cat Audio
Yamaha- Seq track
Raven MTi2
Beyerdynamic -DT-770-pro
ACE Studio - AI vocal synthesizer

Finds Of The Week:
Julian: Kii SEVEN
Ashea: Solodome
Eli: The red plastic water flask my wife got me for NAMM

In this week's edition Julian & Ashea are joined by audio engineer and current student James Watts, where they discuss ​​whether music education is adapting to meet the evolving needs of students and the industry.

Talking Points:

How much emphasis is placed on the following?

• Hands on experience, using hardware, navigating a mixing desk and traditional studio setups.
• A.I and one knob plugins: How granular are you taught to get with plugins?:
• Career Goals & Prospects: Training for commercial studio vs freelancer.
• The role of entrepreneurship, how the industry,networking and career advancement is changing.

Finds of the week:
Julian:  Avid NAMM Tech Preview
Ashea: VEA
James: Pythogorean Tuning

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by  Steve DeMott where they discuss the importance and power of saying 'no' in a music production environment. 

Talking Points:

‘The Power of No’ in music production, recording & mixing.
 Expanding on William Wittmans article:

Finds of the week:
Julian: PMC 6-2
Ashea: Sketch Casette 2
Steve: Zoom H6 field recorder

 In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by James Richmond where they discuss some of the stand out developments of last year.

In the final edition of 2023, Ashea is joined by Russ Hughes & Reid Caulfield.  Where they discuss the important topic of managing mental health, particularly in the audio industry.

Talking Points:

• Dealing with anxiety and other mental health issues that plague freelancers and audio professionals. 
  
  
• The stigma attached to mental health issues.
  
  
• The role of social media and how it can affect our mental health.
  
  
• Coping and good practices to reduce stress etc.

Finds of the week:

Russ: A Therapeutic Journey Book
Ashea: Contact- Movie
Reid: The Demon- Haunted World , Blink, McDSP SA3

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Ary Maudit, where they discuss studio roles, terminology and definitions, are they changing, if so how?

Talking Points

• As an engineer at Strongroom, what is your role, and what are the main things you get asked to do? Have you witnessed people’s role changing/morphing over time, if so how?
• Producer, beatmaker, songwriter let’s discuss our interpretations of those roles and how they have developed/changed.
• Stems,multitracks. Any definitions that are commonly confused?
• Our thoughts on Russ’ article. https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/its-none-of-your-business-how-people-choose-to-make-music

Finds of the week:
Julian: PSP Auralcomp
Ashea: Nutribullet Blender
Ary: Amedeo Modigliani

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Nathaniel Reichman, where they discuss the things they loved in the month of November. 

Talking Points:

•  Universal Audio Opens LUNA to All Mac Users in Inclusive Software Update
•  Avid Now A Private Company As STG Completes Acquisition
•  Apple Logic Pro For Mac And iPad Updated - Includes Mastering Assistant And More
•  Serato Unexpectedly Announce Native Apple Silicon Support For Pitch 'n Time  Plugin
•  Steinberg Nuendo 13 Announced : A Comprehensive Update for Post-Production Professionals
• Slate and SSL Gobbler
•  Universal Audio Sound City Plugin Announced
•  Spatial Audio And Using Audiomovers Binaural Renderer For Apple Music 
• Ginger Audio iRender Spatial Released
•  SSL E 4K released
  
  

Finds of the week:

Julian: Loudspeakers For Music Recording And Reproduction
Ashea: Fletcher & Mills Studio Desk 
Nathaniel: ChatGPT 3.5’s new voice conversation feature 

In this week's episode Julian and Ashea are joined by Graham Kirkman, where they discuss the gear and software that they wouldn't want to live without.

Talking Points:

• Let’s discuss some of the gear/software that we find ourselves relying on and why that is.
• Open Back Headphones, 
• Sit Stand Desk, 
• Macbook Pro,
• VisLM, 
• Celemony Melodyne. 
• Neve 1073 Mic Pre, 
• Neumann U87. 
• Logic Pro

Finds of the week:

Julian: Caldigit TS3 Plus -

Ashea: Waves Silk Vocal 

Graham: Supperware Bridgehead 

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Eli Krantzberg, where they dissect the meaning of the commonly used term 'Sounds Like A Record'.

Talking Points:

• We hear the terms ‘radio ready’ and ‘sounds like a record’ used a lot in this industry, so let’s break down the elements that make a song worthy of that statement, and why do some songs fail to sound like this?
  
  
• Music is constantly changing, and so the definition of a ‘record’ surely has too. Let's compare some hits of yesteryear and how they match up to those of today.
  
  
• Can a  great production/mix make an average song sound like a record?
  
  
• Gear and tools used on many of the great records. 
  
  
• Eli, as we have you on, let’s discuss the new Logic Pro updates.  

Finds Of The Week:

Julian: Sonos Era 300
Ashea: Witness For The Prosecution Play
Eli: Model N Channel 

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Steve DeMott, where they discuss the future of music production and emerging trends in the world of audio.

Talking Points:

• Let’s discuss some of the new trends and practices we are seeing pop up in the industry in general.
  
  
• Steve, you mentioned a few days ago that you’ve noticed a trend in audio plugins, how they seem to be geared towards improving subpar recording techniques- Let’s discuss this point.
  
  
• Are there any areas that need more attention in terms of technological development?
  
  
• Are there areas that we feel would be best left to traditional practices and can’t/shouldn’t be solved by a plugin?
  
  

Finds of the week:

Julian: McDSP SA3
Ashea: Miloco Gear's Pro Audio Showcase Returns
Steve: KiiveAudio Complexx

In this week’s edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Luke Steven Ramsay, where they discuss how to revive and make use of old material, that’s currently collecting dust on our hard drives. 

Talking Points

• Do you have a lot of unfinished material sitting around on your hard drive? If so, why do you think that is?
  
  
• Let’s discuss some useful ways as producers we can make use of the old unfinished material.
  
  
• Are there some good tools you know of to speed up & help the process of finishing songs?
  
  
• Platforms that allow us to put our work to good use, e.g beatstars, sample libraries etc

Finds of the week:

Julian: Live From Daryl’s House Glenn Tilbrook
Ashea: New Logic Pro Updates
Luke: Middle Kids Dramamine

In this week’s edition Julian & Ashea are joined by William Wittman, where they discuss the things they loved in October.

Talking Points:

• Supertone- Clear Voice Separator (Goyo)
• Gik Acoustic- SlatFusor 4S
• Harrison Audio Mixing Console
• Landr Mastering Plugin,*
• Presonus- Open Source DAW Collaboration
• Maag Audio Pre Q2

Finds Of The Week:
Julian - New Macbook Pro
Ashea- New Super Atomic Material
William - Eventide MicroPitch Immersive 

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Siobhan Anderson. Where they compare 3 of the most well known DAWs and ask, ´Does your DAW do this?´

Talking Points:

• What first attracted you to your DAW of choice?
• Let’s briefly discuss platform compatibility for Logic X, Pro Tools & Ableton
• What do you like about your DAWs user interface? Have you tried other DAWs, what didn’t you like about them?
• MIDI, Virtual Instruments and samplers: What is this like with the DAW you use, is there room for improvement?
• Audio Recording and Editing.
• How does your DAW of choice fit into your workflow?
  
  
  Finds Of The Week:
  
  
• Julian - 32 Classic Mixing Console
• Ashea-LANDR Mastering Plugin
• Siobhan - Natural Symphony

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea & Marcel Schechter from Genelec , where they discuss  ‘Solving Room Acoustics For Better Mixes ’

Talking Points

• What are some common acoustic problems in recording studios, and how can they be solved?
  
  
• How can room size and shape impact the acoustics of a recording space?
  
  
• Are there specific materials or treatments that are essential for improving room acoustics in a studio?
  
  
• .What role does speaker placement play in achieving optimal room acoustics for mixing and monitoring?
  
  
• What advice do you have for home studio owners on a budget who want to improve their room acoustics for better audio quality?
  
  
• Are there any myths or misconceptions about room acoustics that you'd like to debunk?
  
  
• What are some common mistakes that recording engineers make when dealing with room acoustics, and how can they be avoided?
  
  
• Let's Talk SAM, GLM, GRADE Reporting etc
  
  
• How can the UNIO Audio Monitoring Platform help with the points we’ve just discussed?

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian -  Lola Young Conceited
• Ashea- UAD Free Plugin LA 2A
• Marcel - Jacob Collier Little Blue

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea, Paul Maunder and Roger Guerin, where they discuss the pros and cons of an education in audio. 

Talking Points:

• How has education helped you in terms of knowledge and your career?
• There’s a plethora of free material online, on Youtube etc, how valuable is learning via this method?
• The value of structured courses. ‘You don’t know what you don’t know’
• Should we learn from the very beginning? Can learning backwards be a thing?
• Online vs attended courses.
• How important is studying audio engineering in the era of A.I & assisted mixing etc. Can you still be a good producer/engineer without this knowledge?

Finds Of The Week:

• Julian - Shure SM7dB
• Ashea-Antares- Spanish Language
• Paul - Soundly Cloud libraries
• Roger-Amie (by Meyer)

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and Steve DeMott. Where they discuss the ‘Things We Loved In September  ’

Talking Points:

• Export Selection In Pro Tools 2023.9
• Autobounce
• Pro Tools Sketch
• DX Revive 
• Nugen AB Assist
• Sontec MES-439-D9D
• Mixland Vac Attack Vacuum Tube Limiter
  
  Finds Of The Week:
• Julian - Kii Seven
• Ashea- Encounters- Docuseries Netflix
• Steve-  Sontec MES-439-D9D

In this week’s edition Julian is joined by Ashea and James Richmond, where they discuss Perpetual Licences vs Subscription Models.

Talking Points

Pro Tools Perpetual Licences are now available for sale exclusively through authorised Avid resellers, they will not be sold via the Avid Web Store, thoughts on this?

Pros and cons of perpetual licences vs subscription-based models from both the consumer and companies perspective.

Compatibility issues-  Operating Systems- Backwards forwards compatibility- legacy versions. 

What considerations should audio professionals keep in mind when deciding between perpetual licenses and subscription-based access for their software tools?

How do perpetual licenses affect software updates and support? Are there potential drawbacks in terms of staying up-to-date with technology? (Avids announcement re updates).

Are there specific scenarios or types of users for whom perpetual licenses make more sense, and conversely, situations where subscription models might be preferable?

In the ever-evolving world of audio technology, how do perpetual licenses impact the long-term sustainability and compatibility of software tools?

 With the rise of cloud-based services and remote collaboration, how do perpetual licenses fit into the changing landscape of audio production and software accessibility?

 What advice would you give to audio professionals looking to make informed decisions about licensing models and software access in today's market?

How do licensing models impact the relationship between software developers and users? Are there community and support differences between perpetual and subscription models?

Finds of the week:
Julian - Blue Cat Audio Axiom
Ashea- Slate Digital- Infinity Bass
James- Razer Basilisk V3 Pro mouse and SteerMouse