Here are three next steps for you to take:
1. Get our free video training & checklist, "Standout Mixes - The DIY Musician's Guide To Exciting Mixes That Stand Out And Connect":
theselfrecordingband.com/standoutmixes
-
2. Apply for The Self-Recording Syndicate, our personalized coaching program!
It all starts with a free clarity call where we talk about your music, give you feedback and a step-by-step roadmap that you can then implement on your own, or together with us.
Best case: We end up working together and completely transform the sound of your music forever.
Worst case: You get an hour of free coaching, feedback and recommendations for what to do next.
Sounds fair? Cool. Apply now and book your free clarity call:
theselfrecordingband.com/call
-
3. Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community
--
Episode show notes:
Casual NAMM 2024 recap episode from Benedikt's LA hotel room, giving Malcom an update on who he met and what he discovered at the conference.
Also, if you ever go to an event like this (highly recommended!), this episode includes a few mindset-related principles and takeaways, so you'll have an incredible time and make new friends in the industry.
PS: Please join the conversation by leaving a comment, a rating and review, or a post inside our free Facebook community.
--
For links to everything we've mentioned in this episode, as well as full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/209
--
If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: podcast@theselfrecordingband.com
Here are three next steps for you to take:
1. Get our free video training & checklist, "Standout Mixes - The DIY Musician's Guide To Exciting Mixes That Stand Out And Connect":
theselfrecordingband.com/standoutmixes
-
2. Apply for The Self-Recording Syndicate, our personalized coaching program!
It all starts with a free clarity call where we talk about your music, give you feedback and a step-by-step roadmap that you can then implement on your own, or together with us.
Best case: We end up working together and completely transform the sound of your music forever.
Worst case: You get an hour of free coaching, feedback and recommendations for what to do next.
Sounds fair? Cool. Apply now and book your free clarity call:
theselfrecordingband.com/call
-
3. Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community
--
Episode show notes:
Casual NAMM 2024 recap episode from Benedikt's LA hotel room, giving Malcom an update on who he met and what he discovered at the conference.
Also, if you ever go to an event like this (highly recommended!), this episode includes a few mindset-related principles and takeaways, so you'll have an incredible time and make new friends in the industry.
PS: Please join the conversation by leaving a comment, a rating and review, or a post inside our free Facebook community.
--
For links to everything we've mentioned in this episode, as well as full show notes go to: https://theselfrecordingband.com/209
--
If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: podcast@theselfrecordingband.com
So this time I really couldn't wait to start new conversations. It wasn't like I'm afraid of it, and so so it's okay if it's like hard for you to do this, but just still keep doing it and at some point you get comfortable with it and then even enjoy it. Anyway, let's get to it, because I have this long list that I want to share with people of things that happened, exciting gear that I checked out and and conversations I had. I can't share everything, of course, but there's like a lot of things that I can share and I want to give you the update as well. Now Come.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, can't wait, can't wait. This has already been a crazy different episode and I'm kind of loving it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is the Self Recording Band Podcast, the show where we help you make exciting records on your own wherever you are, diy style, let's go. Hello and welcome to the Self Recording Band Podcast. I am your host, benedict Hein. If you're new to the show, welcome. So stoked to have you. If you're already a listener, welcome back. Glad to have you again Today.
Speaker 1:I am, for the first time in the history of this podcast, I'm in the same time zone as Malcolm when we're recording this, I think. So it's it's 7am in the morning, which is not the usual time for me to record podcasts. And because I'm here in California, actually and I'm, I was just attending the NAMM show, which was awesome, and I'm about to spend a few days here and then move on like a flight to Arkansas, make a record there, then back to LA and then home to Germany, and so I'm now in my hotel room doing this podcast with Malcolm. That's why, if it sounds like different, that's why you know it's probably not sounding as good, but it will work. So, malcolm, I'm very excited to be doing this like early morning episode and we're going to do a casual sort of NAMM recap episode, I think, because I have this long, long list of things that happened at NAMM that I really want to share with our audience and with you because, it's been a fantastic time.
Speaker 1:Like I can't believe what happened these last couple of days. It was awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this episode is mostly to satisfy my FOMO. I'm not being a NAMM. I'm so jealous now that you've gone and gotten all the updates from you. Benny was just sending me updates, texting me, and was just like ah, I literally googled how long it would take me to drive down there to see if I could just make it for the last day.
Speaker 1:It's so funny. Yeah, totally, and I would have loved to have you there. You'd enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Next time I'll be there. Man, Next time I'll be there.
Speaker 1:Now I finally get to experience how you feel every single morning when we do this podcast.
Speaker 2:Benny and I are both coffee snobs and when I first signed on I saw him hold up this yellow Styrofoam hotel cup Exactly.
Speaker 1:It just looks terrible, but it's like 24-7 free coffee down there, so I don't complain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, welcome North America. Coffee's just flowing Exactly. Yeah, absolutely, that's funny so yeah, man real quick.
Speaker 2:I gotta tell you I had the worst dream last night about us agreeing to play a gig together but we didn't get to rehearse and it was kind of like this it sounds terrible. You were over here and we were playing with tracks from our laptop, but neither of us had looked at the session in advance, oh god, and we assumed it would be easy. And then we had these Kemper rigs we needed to pull out that we didn't prepare. It was just like a train wreck and we were both realizing at the same time that we were screwed and wouldn't be able to pull this off. I don't know where that came from, but I literally woke up like an hour before. This podcast was like oh, god.
Speaker 1:No, that sounds like I get anxiety just listening to that.
Speaker 2:No. So if we ever play live music together, let's make sure we're on it, yeah let's rehearse and prepare Dude.
Speaker 1:No, oh god, like I wonder. What triggered that I? Don't know man, I don't know. Yeah, yeah, talking about being prepared, we're not really prepared for this episode, but that's kind of on purpose. Like you suggested yesterday, let's just do a conversation type of thing and not really structured teaching, which I really am happy about because, like I'm so tired now I gotta be honest, like this wasn't very exhausting weekend and also there's so much stuff that I can just talk to without preparation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a lot to go through. I think that this whole conference is relevant to our audience. Yes, yeah, and if you haven't been to one of these, you have no idea how exhausting they are. Even if you just like literally go and don't do anything else, so you just walk around, you'll be exhausted, yeah.
Speaker 1:Like every single day. I got between 20 and 25,000 steps.
Speaker 2:Like every single day of these days, yeah, yeah, you'll be physically exhausted. You'll be exhausted just from the noise, and then your social battery will be non-existent by the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally, but it's also in a good way though. So it's like you're exhausted but totally happy at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, networking at the yin and yang and, if we're honest, there's probably a party battery that's also depleted.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally, although I got to the hotel pretty early every day just because like there was nothing left in me anymore and I wanted to make the most of the next day, so I kind of yeah responsible Benny Well done.
Speaker 1:Absolutely totally All right. So the only and the other thing is I was working all night too, so I was like at NAMM morning till like all day, every day basically. Then I got back to my hotel, then I worked for like three to four hours or so catching up with other stuff that's going on in the studio and like the coaching and emails and whatnot, and then I crashed and so there wasn't really time for partying, but I still just slept like three or four hours. So yeah, that's why I'm pretty tired.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, let's get to it. So let's start by telling people what NAMM is actually, I think, because not everyone knows what that even means. So the NAMM show is a convention. It's like the one of the biggest, if not the biggest sort of convention for the music industry, a conference, convention, trade show type thing. It's got to be the biggest.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, everybody knows about it Exactly, and NAMM stands for National Association of Music Merchants, and so, yeah, there's the trade show part of it where, like, all the brands are there and show up their gear. And then there's also the networking part of it where there is, like you know, you can connect with members or attendees before and schedule meetings, and there's meeting rooms, there's seminars, there's like a whole. You know all of it basically. So I think there's two aspects, two sides to this. The one is like the whole buyer or seller relationship, and then there's the whole networking and meeting people aspect of it, which is, to me, the most important and exciting one.
Speaker 1:So, as much as I like gear, I'm really here for the people, because everyone in the industry is there for like four days, and this is the one chance where you can, in one go, basically meet all the people and get all the introductions and introduce other people to like you can do so much there if you're doing it correctly, and so that's what I'm really all about, and the only requirement to be there is you got to be some kind of professional musician or audio person.
Speaker 1:Like it's not really hard to get in, like people used to say, like you can't get into NAMM. It's like invitation only or whatever. It's not like you can apply and the requirement is basically you got to be a producer or a musician or a buyer, like working at a music store or something like that. But it's not really hard to get in. So you just have to prove that you're actually doing it. Like if you release songs as a musician, like that will qualify. If you are a producer working with others, that qualifies you as well. So you just have to apply and tell them what you do and as long as you're not just somebody who just wants to be there and is no, like there's nothing in music.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is genius, because it means that everybody there is somehow on the same level of like. Maybe they're all everybody's there for the same reason. In a way, you know they've got that common tie which really makes it. Yeah, the network can even better and the busy bodies are actually have a purpose, so it's good.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. However, let's say like I made the mistake in the past where I went to two shows and conferences like this where I got all excited. I got there and all I did was like walk around, check out the gear and like not really doing anything or kind of waiting for people to talk to me, which doesn't happen, especially if people don't know you. And so this time it was completely different, for two reasons. First of all, surprisingly, or like maybe not so surprisingly, but it's still new to me and kind of wild.
Speaker 1:First of all, some people knew me and like approached me and invited me to meetings and like walked up to me and recognized my face or me and like knew what we, what we were doing, which was really flattering and exciting. And the other part is that I actively, in advance, reached out to many people, made a whole list of like brands. I wanted to meet people. I want to meet people, I want to get like introduced to, and I actively made sure that this happened. So I really managed to get this long list of people and brands and I managed to get introduced to each and every one of them, like all of them.
Speaker 1:I checked all the boxes and it just worked, and so some of them we already had, or most of them I had already some kind of connection to, like a mutual friend or someone, or maybe I even knew them already personally because we weren't in touch online.
Speaker 1:So most of the people I met were not total strangers, but some of them were, but I managed to meet all of them and get appointments with all of them, and many of them even invited me, and so I really made an effort this time to make it about the people and I checked out a lot of gear, but that was kind of only in between, when I didn't have any meetings, and that is exactly the right approach, like if you want to use an event like this to just build relationships and to do something for your career, that's the way to do it. And I've talked to many people who do the exact opposite. They're shy and introverted and they don't walk up to people and they just they are there but they're not really there. And that was me in the past, right, and this time it was the exact opposite, and it's so good, so cool.
Speaker 1:And it's just a starting point, right. So now you have these, you've either nurtured the online connections and took them a step further, because now you had a face-to-face conversation or you built new relationships. But it's not about, you know, doing something right there or offering something right there or making a deal or whatever. It's about starting that relationship so that you can then nurture its day in contact and down the road Things happen usually. This is also another takeaway that if you do that, don't assume that on that show you're going to do a bunch of deals. I did in some cases with the people I already have a connection with, but the new people it's all about just you know, getting to know each other and like very low pressure and just you know taking it from there. But now you kind of have a good reason to reach out again and you can, you know, further, nurture that relationship.
Speaker 2:So Absolutely Cool. I mean, benny and I are both going through this thing, with the podcast growing over time, and we're like it's very surprising, but sometimes we just meet people that already know who we are and it's just like this instant connection. It's so cool. So thank you everyone for listening and watching. I love that. But Benny's advice here is like you might not even realize that he's giving you advice. If you're listening, you might just think this is an experience, but he's giving you advice on when you go to these things. Or if you're just a musician and you're at a show. You should have this mindset and be proactive about making connections, not for any kind of like you can't be going in with, give me attitude or energy. It's just got to be like a desire to connect and network, and these things naturally turn into stuff down the road Not all of them, of course, but some of them will and I've had the total same experience.
Speaker 2:I went to a recording summit in Vegas when was that 2019, I think? Wow, yeah, and a good mutual friend of both of ours, diego, came up to me at one point. So I was just hanging out, kind of talking to this fellow that I had connected with early on and was hanging out with him for quite a while, just like wasn't really spreading my wings beyond this one person, and he was like, hey, man, glad you're having a good time, but I really encourage you to go and talk to other people. That's why you're here. And it was just like right I got to not be an introvert. Yes, yes, yeah, he was looking out for me and it was really good advice and it paid off and totally it was essential. So, yeah, and I'm the exact same way go to concerts. I'm like back to the room just watching the band and say, yeah, man, I should probably go talk to the band when they're done.
Speaker 1:You should. You should Totally. Yeah, that's exactly it, and yeah, I mean, and it also helps if you have something to offer or like a good conversation starter. If you have a platform like this, obviously it's easier. But I think that's also something that a lot of musicians can think about.
Speaker 1:If you have some, if you not only make music but you put yourself out there and you build some sort of online presence, that you don't have to start a full podcast and platform like we did or whatever, but like any kind of community around you as an artist that you can build online has value, and not just for you as an artist and not just because of the fact that it's just great to have a community of people that you can connect with and interact with, but it's also a valuable thing that is interesting to others, because the moment you have an audience and people following you, you have something to offer to other people as well, and if you don't have that, it's really hard.
Speaker 1:I feel like to start a conversation, because you are always going to be the one who wants something out of it and the other person doesn't really get anything from it, and I mean you can be creative about that there's multiple ways to add value. You can also just be a very nice person, and you know that works too Like you'd be surprised how well that works actually, if you're just being nice to people 100%. But I think it really helps if you have some kind of anything, anything really just to offer, so that it's not like, oh, one of those people who just want to take a picture, and and you know, yeah, it's important to actually tell your story a little bit so people know who and what.
Speaker 2:you are right, and this feels really uncomfortable to a lot of musicians. They tend to not want to share that information but like to try and tie this into a band's perspective. But if you're at a concert, you get the chance to meet the band that you just saw play, that packed the house, and you don't mention that you're also in a band in their area. Maybe they're looking for another band to collaborate with. Maybe they're looking for another band to open up their show. They're not happy with the band they hired for the show you're at to open it up and they didn't sell any tickets or promoter or anything you know. So maybe they're looking for that connection. Or maybe you mentioned that, hey, I'm in the studio with XYZ producer and they're like, oh, we've always wanted to work with that producer, you know. Or maybe they don't want any of that. But then they check you out online later and they're like, man, this stuff sounds good.
Speaker 2:Who produced this? You know who makes this Like you have value in ways that you can't always tell and just by being upfront and saying, hey, this is who we are and this is what we do. You might not realize that you're providing value. So it's really important to kind of like communicate your resume. I get shit for this all the time in the TV world I meet a camera, people and stuff. I'm like, oh cool, nice to meet you. And then my buddy's, like Malcolm works on the amazing race. Like I guess I should have said that Like you know that's a really good resume. Leader, like I work on big shows and you can trust me with your audio. Right, it's super important. But I'm terrible at it and you know it's uncomfortable because it can feel like bragging. But you're actually just kind of like giving people context. So you know there's a good and a bad way to do it. So just keep that in mind, I guess. But figure out a way to confidently communicate who you are without bragging.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And if you do it right, by the way, like if you get introduced to someone, you're just just open up, you're nice, you say hello, you shake their hands, whatever, and then you start a casual conversation, usually people will ask what you do. They will be like, hey, who are you, where are you from, what are you doing? And then that's your chance to just tell them. If they don't ask, maybe it's not the best idea to just start and like, tell them the whole life story of what you do. But like usually if you're just cool, then at some point they will want to know what you do and then just don't be afraid to tell them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. I mean we could go through a whole psychology of communication kind of episode. But yeah, there's certain people that like to talk about themselves and certain people that really hate talking about themselves and would much rather talk about you. So you need to give them ammo. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Otherwise they're just like what do I do with my hands?
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally. I'm just saying all of this, by the way, because like I had really had to learn this and I remember the first time I went to a show like this, it was the Musikmesse in Frankfurt, which was like the second biggest, I think, thing, like very similar to Namibus in Germany. It doesn't exist anymore and I went to this like I don't know 12 years ago or so, I think, and at least 10 years ago, and I was completely pointless that I was there, because I did nothing and I was too afraid to approach people, and back then I didn't have an audience or any records that anyone would know of, but I still could have made connections, but I just was too afraid to interpret it, didn't know how it all works, and then when I got to talk to someone I was kind of shy and being weird. So this was the exact opposite of that. But it took me like really years and years of like really training that, building that muscle, and it feels natural and I'm even excited about it.
Speaker 1:So this time I really I couldn't wait to start new conversations. It wasn't like I'm afraid of it, and so it's okay if it's like hard for you to do this, but just still keep doing it and at some point you get comfortable with it and then even enjoy it. Anyway, let's get to it, because I have this long list that I want to share with people of things that happened, exciting gear that I checked out and conversations I had. I can't share everything, of course, but there's like a lot of things that I can share and I want to give you the update as well, malcolm.
Speaker 2:Yes, I can't wait. I can't wait. This has already been a crazy different episode and I'm kind of loving it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, also, yeah, me too. So one quick thing I want to say before I get into like, especially the gear, because I've discovered quite a few exciting pieces and checked out a few things. I'm not getting paid to promote any of these things, right? So I made a bunch of posts or like stories on Instagram and I made this highlight. By the way, if you go to Instagram and you follow me at Benedictine, which is my name one word, I'm going to put it in the show notes as well You're going to see a highlight.
Speaker 1:You know, on the, if you go to my profile, the story highlights and I made one for them, which is all the stories that I posted and I shared a lot of gear in there. But I got I don't get paid for any of that. I just do it because I will only share the gear that I either use and or am excited about, or that I, where I really and or where I really believe in, like the people behind it and I want to support them, and stuff that I find truly interesting and want to check out, and in that case, I'm just going to say, like, I don't know if it's really good, but it looks exciting.
Speaker 1:So I'm just sharing things that really interest me and not things that I get paid to share, because and the reason why I do this is I made some pricey mistakes in the past where I bought stuff that I wasn't really really good or really serving me well and I got some some things that really served me well and I have some brands and some pieces of equipment that I really believe in and I want to help you avoid, like, making bad purchases, and so that's why I share the stuff that I really believe in, and it's also cool to just support people who do great work as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is just me sharing, without any sort of bunnies on the field. I will say that there's some partnerships that we have with these companies, but so far nobody's paid me for that and, like, if we do any deals and partnerships with people, I always try to pay it forward to the community and our listeners as much as possible. So I'm not really like our business model here is not like affiliate deals or making you know money from, from selling gear. I would rather make sure that there's some value in it for our listeners, for our community, and like a win-win-win sort of scenario. And I just want to say that, because I will never be one of those influencers who just push whatever they get paid for.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so I was going to say the one. The one thing that will get you to mention gear that you didn't just mention in your list of why you're mentioning gear is that you also mentioned gear that you think is valuable for our audience. Demographic of self-recording musicians. Yes, that's a huge one.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely All of it actually, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's a bunch of gear that I recommend that I don't own. That is the gear that I think is perfect for self-recording musicians, right, and yeah. So that's another category Plus. If we're honest, even though we told the preach that gear isn't that important in the recording process, like we're definitely proponents of, don't get distracted by the gear. Benny and I are both total gear heads.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. Now I'm not going to lie, it's very exciting. And, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's like it's purely a hobby Really. Yes, gear is an obsession. That's fun for us. Yes.
Speaker 1:You'll see, though, on that list there's some stuff, and it's not just gear. On that list there's mainly people actually, but there is some stuff on there that is like that is not just because it's a hobby and I like it, but it actually it's workflow improvement things, or like it's very.
Speaker 1:There's a reason for a lot of the things for why, why I like them, but then there's other things that, like I absolutely don't need but I just definitely want, and so we'll see those categories, all right, so let's start. So when I got there on so the show went from Thursday till Sunday, four days it started like 10am till and then went till 6pm, and then there's, like, of course, dinner afterwards with, like you know, the connections you make and like all these outside of the event things, and I was all there all day. Every day there had meetings all the time, and this is really nothing. Chronological order. This is just some of the things that I've experienced. It was I can't even remember when which thing happened.
Speaker 2:That doesn't matter, as when. No, no exactly.
Speaker 1:So, one exciting person that I met and this is like just just purely one of those relationship things where I don't have any agenda. I don't know why, like I don't know what if and what will happen with this, but it's just super exciting to be in the, to be talking to someone like that, whereas I met Greg White, who is working at Shangri-La and Boulevard recording, which is the Boulevard is one of the most legendary sort of recording studios in Los Angeles history, and the other one and the other one is Rick Rubin's studio, right. So this is pretty, pretty, pretty crazy. And and what was so exciting about this conversation is that Greg, who I met there, is like one of the, you know, nicest, most humble people that I've met. He's like if I was introduced to him and someone told me what he does and Greg didn't mention it even once Like if, if, if I, like I wouldn't have known.
Speaker 1:He's just a very humble, very nice guy that I talked to. We, you know, we nerded out about like making records and whatnot and and like not not once bragging about anything, and that was just really cool, because there's so many people out there who are really loud on the internet and they don't really make anything that people would care about, or like they don't really make records. And then there's this guy working with the biggest artists in the world in these legendary places and he's just hanging out being a super nice dude, very quiet, very humble, and you wouldn't know what he does if nobody told you so just making the biggest records in the world.
Speaker 1:Exactly, exactly it's such a nice, such a nice conversation, yeah. And also he immediately like followed us and checked out the podcast and stuff and I saw him like some of our things that we posted, which is which is cool, like, yeah, I like that, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let me be a fascinating guy to talk to because, like I mean, Rick Rubin's process is legendary and becoming more public than ever, as Rick Rubin's really taken to sharing his creative insights over the last few years and his books out now and stuff like that. So being the engineer that has to be the technical side of Rick Rubin's mastermind brain is just like. What does that look like? That'd be fascinating to hear about.
Speaker 1:Totally and to be fully like to be fair, I didn't pick his brain on any of these things because a lot of it was like they can't talk about, it's confidential, and I also don't want to do it. So I have no idea which exact records he's worked like, rick has worked on, or how his relationship is with Rick Rubin, or if they even personally know each other or whatever. I don't know anything about this. Just to be clear, I just met Greg. I know the places he works at, that's all, and I know that he's a very, very, very nice guy and I really enjoyed the conversation. So, greg, if you're listening to this, really enjoyed hanging out with you and but I'm not going to pretend like he shared any any kind of wild stories or I know anything about this, so you know. But I'd be absolutely down to have him on the podcast for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll have to get it from him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, greg, if you're up for it, like let's go, let's do this. So then, another thing that I can say is I talked to you, know, you know, you know cloud microphones right they're that company and they are the company who makes the Cloudlifter.
Speaker 1:You know the device that you use. If you're using a mic like this, like the SM7, the noisy, the sort of dynamic mic, you add the Cloudlifter in between the preamp and the mic to add some clean gain. You know that's what everybody knows. There's other devices too, but the Cloudlifter is one of them and of course they make really great sounding mics. And yeah, and I had a conversation with Roger Cloud, like the founder owner of this company, and I was checking out one of like I don't know, that was one of those things Like someone said, hey, you got to check out this, this piece of gear, and I was like, okay, and then I went there and it is also a preamp that you put, you know, after the microphone, in between like your mic and the input of your interface, and it has a variable impedance knob where it's like not just switches but like a gradual sort of knob where you can go like with a very broad range of like different impedances.
Speaker 1:And so they said I should check this out and I was like, yeah, that's like a utility sort of thing, cool but not really exciting. And that first thing. You know that I thought that I tried it with different mics and it was so cool how you could drastically, like just by changing the impedance, change the sound of the mic and how you could adapt any mic basically to a voice of a singer. Like, if you just have one mic and not an entire mic locker, you can just make sure that you can shift where, like the how the sibilant sounds, you can make it darker without making it dull. In a way you can sort of make your own, like the one mic you have, much more versatile with that thing.
Speaker 1:Anyway, I'm saying this because I talked to Roger Cloud and he explained that to me and then he I was like how would you explain impedance and all of that and those technical things and why that matters or how we use it? How would you explain that to like a DIY musician who is not necessarily, you know, technical and Literally, mike?
Speaker 2:I was going to ask you that. I was like how do we explain impedance and how it affects things?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then he started and he was super nice, and then he started explaining it to me right away. Like I said this and like half a second later he started explaining it in the best way that I've ever heard. And I'm not going to try and say that now, because I immediately said would you mind saying that exact thing on our podcast and telling people how that were like, why that matters and how that works and all the other things you know? Because he's such a knowledgeable, like such a genius, and he's a great, he has a great way of explaining things. And he was like yeah, for sure, absolutely, and so we're going to have him on the podcast and explain that Fantastic.
Speaker 2:That's great news. I didn't know this. There's going to be a bunch of stuff in here that's all new to me as well. I'm so excited. That's fantastic.
Speaker 1:Totally, and it's really cool to have these kind of people on, because they can explain things in a better way than we can, and so you're not only hearing it from us, but from the people actually making the gear, the ones who are truly experts at this, and he's one of those geniuses. Then I had a great meeting with.
Speaker 1:You know there's I mean I have to be careful, like there's some things here that I can't say Yet Yet. Yes, exactly, but I had a great meeting with a management company, state-side management. They managed, like friends of mine, for example, jay Moss, our mutual buddy John McLucas and, I think, fluff as well, ryan Bruce.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I think you're right, yeah.
Speaker 1:And they, so I had a meeting with them. Jay Moss introduced me Thanks, jay, for doing that. So I met with them. We just walked around and they were super busy so we didn't even have time to like sit down somewhere. We were just. I was just joining them, walking to their next appointment, basically, and having you know talking on the way, which was awesome, though. We had a great conversation. We'll be in touch.
Speaker 1:There's no concrete thing that we're going to be doing, but I know that they have a lot of cool people that they work with and that we could potentially get on the podcast, and then there's other opportunities maybe, but I was just saying that that was one of those things that I didn't really know would happen. Like Jay just said, hey, you should meet these people, and I'm like, yeah, for sure, couldn't be in touch until then it happened. Then I got to hang out with Dom Rivenius. Again, he's from Germany. We met him at studios in October in Hamburg and also one of those people where he just approached me at studios scene and said hey you know who are you, what are you doing?
Speaker 1:Like I saw your podcast there. And then he introduced himself as like a pop producer and I hadn't heard of him. And I was like, cool, yeah, also, producer, we get to talk. And then he was like, yeah, I have this plugin company. Maybe you would like to try the plugins. I'm going to send you a license. And I'm like, yeah, sure, absolutely. And I had no idea who I was talking to. And then I did some research and I talked to him more and then we messaged online.
Speaker 1:Now I met him again at NAMM. Turns out he was playing drums on a Taylor Swift record and he's now in LA for the Grammys. And the company the plugin company he has is not just like with someone or something, like he does it with Ken Lewis, who's worked on some of the biggest records in the world. If you look up Ken Lewis, it's insane. And so they have this plugin company together called Mixing Night Audio. And he gave me these licenses and I opened up the plugins and I was like, what am I looking at here? Because they look like it's different.
Speaker 1:Like they don't have the typical controls. It's like this gamify sort of user interface with like emojis and weird graphics, and they have a compressor that's called the Lollcom, like LOL, and it doesn't have any of the normal parameters. You just tweak weird emoji knobs and like things happen and you have to even figure out which things you can click. And it's like this gaming experience almost, and I was kind of hesitant to try it because it looked a little gimmicky and then when I tried it, finally I regret it not doing it earlier, because it sounds so amazing and it is so much fun to use and it's such a great learning tool, because what they're all about is like making tools that allow you to just really only use your ears and not pay attention to anything that's going on under the hood.
Speaker 1:You don't see any curves. You don't even know what exactly is going on, because it's not just a compressor. There's saturation, there's filters, there's all kinds of things built into it. It's a whole plug-in chain and it's so flexible, like you can do so many things with it. And the funny thing is, although you don't really know what you're controlling, it's very intuitive. In a way it's after a few minutes it's really clear what you're actually doing. You just don't see the exact values. And I found it so exciting, like I was planning to like check it out for like 10 minutes or so and I ended up playing around with it for three hours at night here in the hotel Because it was so much fun, and so, yeah, I told him about this and he obviously liked that. I was excited that I liked it, and so we'll be in touch as well and we're gonna I can't say what, but we're gonna do something for the community here too, because I want you to check out these plugins, because they are really awesome.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome, yeah, excited for whatever comes from that. But it seems like a trend for you, benny, cause, like I know that you've got your SSL controller on your desk and that again takes you out of looking at Yep Analyzers and stuff. Like you know, it's just you're.
Speaker 1:You seem really drawn towards the tools that force you to use your years and it's because, yeah, and I think it's you're right, and I think it's because I'm naturally drawn to the numbers and the analyzers and that's the. I'm such a, like structure logical sort of guy that I, if you put it in front of me, I will pay attention and I will look at the numbers and I can't help but, like, make decisions based on that, and so, especially for me, it's really helpful to not have that sometimes and I can always open up an analyzer and see what I'm doing or whatever. But, like, especially if you type that type of person, it really helps to use tools that, yeah, you get you in a different sort of perspective, and so I appreciate that. Yeah, so check it all out, I'll check it out, you all. Like I put it in the show notes, it's called mixing night audio and we'll do something there in the near future. Again, most of those things is just building relationships. I'm not, you know, going into any agenda and so I can't say details about, like any, any things we're going to be doing.
Speaker 1:Then I met Andrew Shepes. Like, andrew Shepes is one of the, you know, biggest mixing engineers on the planet. You know he's worked. He's one of the people who has worked with on records with Rick Rubin, for example, and mixed records for him. And he's done Jay-Z, adele, retard, chili Peppers, metallica, like you name it all the giant records. And I didn't just meet him or talk to him just because I'm a fan, but I met him because he's involved in a company called Soundflow, and Soundflow is something that I'm absolutely excited about.
Speaker 1:It's a productivity kind of tool that is like macros on steroids. They started with Pro Tools, now they integrate with Logic and but, honestly, as much as I love Cubase and I will stay a Cubase user but if there's one thing that will make me switch jobs is the it's Soundflow. Like. It's so crazy because what they built is a tool where, with a click of a button, you can like do so many cool things that would usually take so much time that it's pretty incredible. And what I got most excited about and that's why I was at one of their presentations was because they announced a new product called Soundflow U, and Soundflow U is an educational sort of education tool that I am so excited about and I can't wait for this to become, you know, available for more. You know systems and DAWs, and I don't know when that will happen, because they told me that it's almost impossible at this point to make it for Windows, like there's certain things about the operating system that it only works on Mac.
Speaker 2:Further explain, because I feel like some people are still like well, what is it?
Speaker 2:It's automation, like it's automated scripts, essentially, so you click a button and it will do whatever the script has been programmed to do, and that could be like go through and solo each track and bounce it out through your mix bus, or it could be like change all the vocal playlists to the one that is labeled radio edit and then print to mix. You know like it'll do all of these things for you without you having to manually do it. And once you've built it, once you should in theory just work forever on all your future products and projects and mixes and stuff like that, so you can automate all of these click extensive tasks just to happen for you, which is really great.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. And the way it is aware of the environment is crazy, because it's not that you have with some of the other tools. You have to have things in the same place for that to work, because for it to automatically click on something, it only works if the button is always in the same spot, you know. But with Soundflow it just knows the environment and the entire app and no matter where your windows are or whatever is open, like, it always clicks the right buttons and knows where to find things and it's just such an intelligent, great tool. And what's so exciting about Soundflow? You and this is the one that I was excited about and why it's relevant for our audience or like our community, or will hopefully become relevant, is they? If that thing becomes available to everyone and it's very early on now, but they had a demo of this and it was crazy then this will close the gap between you know that there's. We can ask as educators and content creators. We can either create videos and sell courses or do YouTube videos or podcasts, or we can teach people one-on-one or in a group setting, like personally. And the problem with this thing is like if you do the video thing, you can only hope that people implement it right. So people watch a bunch of videos, they consume a lot of information, but many of them never really apply it or practice it. Or you watch like an hour-long tutorial and then when you go and actually wanna apply it, you've already forgotten half of it or you'd have to. You know, there's this kind of gap between, like, consuming it and then actually doing it. Or we can do a one-on-one thing, which is better, but you can only help so many people like it's definitely not scalable and it's definitely not something where you can have a big impact on entire community. And so SoundFlow U is taking SoundFlow technology and then you can make a video tutorial that's interactive. So I can give someone like someone can open up their session in Pro Tools, logic, whatever they integrate with, and then, if they have access to SoundFlow U, there will be a window that's popping up and it will tell you there will be. In this pop-up, there will be a window like there would be a video, like a tutorial or something that will tell you what this first step or what this entire tutorial is about. And then there is an action step below it that says now that you've seen this, do it click on this button and he showed an example of like how to prep a mix, for example.
Speaker 1:And so Andrew Shep showed this demo. He opened up Pro Tools. Then the pop-up came. There was a video of Andrew quickly explaining why it's important to prep a mix properly and what the steps are. And then it was like, okay, let's do it, start by creating these types of tracks, and then it would highlight the section in Pro Tools that you have to click. And then you just follow that and click it, and if you click the wrong thing, he would say, nope, that was not it. Click this instead.
Speaker 1:And then, if it's not possible because of some other window that's open, it will say, hey, this doesn't work because you have this other thing open.
Speaker 1:And now, if you check this box, just be aware you can do that, but then this will happen.
Speaker 1:So it's very intelligent. It doesn't do it for you, it doesn't prevent you from doing things, but it will tell you that you know this might not be a good idea and this is what you should do. And then you click it, you follow the steps, you implement it, and only then will the tutorial move to the next step. And then the next step comes and now it's like, okay, let's color code things, but you do this by doing x, y, c, and now you might wanna consider folders and the routing and whatnot, and it walks you through the entire setup of how to prep a session and it doesn't do it for you and you can still go wrong, but it will tell you when you're wrong and what went wrong and it's been so impressive because that closes the gap between the purely the watching videos and doing one-on-one coaching because you can give someone a course, a tutorial that actually walks them through and forces them to do what they just learned, and it works not just for those types of things.
Speaker 1:You could teach how to use a compressor, how to use a certain plugin. You could be like, hey, now, when you print your mixes, please create this type of folder structure, and then it moves to the finder and shows you how to create a folder structure and like browser-based stuff. It could be like go to this website and anything. Really it's so cool, it's really really exciting. And typically use cases would be obviously education platforms. So I wasn't surprised when they did this presentation that I wasn't the only one there. Like the pure mix guys were there and like we're all kind of waiting for tools like that and super excited about it. And the other application would be if you're working with someone, or, in my case, like if you have an assistant, a studio partner, you could train people to do things with you or for you in your studio with that, instead of just giving them a checklist. And it's very exciting tech.
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, we're not at the point where, like, everyone can use it and it's kind of hard to set up as well, like there's some pre-programmed stuff that they did. But if I wanted to customize it and make my own tutorials, I would have to know how to code and I can't do that really, so right now it's not for me, but the plan is that it will be at some point give you a user interface where you can easily create these tutorials and then also give access to your students and on all platforms and stuff. But this is in the future, but I just wanted to share it because I'm really excited about this tech and I will do and I'm in touch with them and I will do whatever I can to help improve this and test it, and whatever we can do is a good thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that sounds like the perfect middle ground. That is really exciting. But for Benny and I that's really exciting as educators and hopefully for our audience. That seems exciting because you'll learn better from a tool like that, so that's the ideal.
Speaker 2:I have messed with SoundFlow a lot. I'm a Pro Tools user. I tried it when it first came out and then I've tried it more recently and it's like developed a lot since then and it sounds like it's developing a lot more already. So, and as listeners probably know by now, I'm hugely excited about the future of AI in DAW integration and I could see there being a good conjunction of all of these things meeting with SoundFlow here eventually as well. So it's exciting. I'm going to keep an eye on it for sure. I encourage Pro users to check it out if you're on a compatible DAW. If you're just getting started, it's probably just going to complicate things for you. So it is a time saving tool, but it takes a huge time investment to figure out as well.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, I totally agree, and I'm just getting excited because I see the value that we can bring to our audience and to our students once this tech becomes available, so that we can actually use it. That's the reason why I'm mentioning it, and I would just want to let you know that I'm very on top of this and I will do whatever I can to be one of the first people to adopt this and use it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. That sounds like the future to me.
Speaker 1:It's very exciting, exactly so. Then the next thing is I just met a bunch of very cool people, of course, that I haven't seen in a while, so a lot of people that I've seen in last time in 2018, at a recording summit in Florida that I've been to. So I met some of those people again, which is awesome. So shout out to David Duarte, for example, or Ben Johnson, who's been. He's worked with Will Putney in the past, was Will Putney's assistant, which is also kind of crazy. Now he's doing his own thing in Florida again, and so I met those guys. I met. Who else was there? Like a couple of those people? Like I'm having a hard time remembering all that.
Speaker 2:Ryan Flare was there. Sorry you saw Ryan Flare.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Ryan, yeah, he's part of the syndicate of our coaching program. I hung out with him a lot so we actually had dinner last night, david Kaplinger, you saw, David Kaplinger, exactly, and yeah, just a lot of, yeah, really cool people and really enjoyed hanging out with them and seeing familiar faces and bumping into them and if I forgot to mention you here, sorry, like that was so so many people just know, that I appreciated every meeting, every single one of you.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, if you go to, like I said, my Instagram and you click on that highlight, then you see all those fine folks as well Then. So this was obviously exciting meeting people. Then we got to I got to meet with Dan Corner finally. So that was really exciting. So Corner is Dan Corner worked with and what are some of the bands he worked with Paramore, Exactly, and like lots of crazy, really cool records. And he's a genius also when it comes to tech Like he builds analog gear, fixes analog gear, makes plugins, taught himself to code Like he's really a genius.
Speaker 1:And I met him and his business partner and former mentor, I think, Luke, and they were just the nicest people. It was so cool to meet them and they we scheduled a meeting and then they were really prepared. They checked out the podcast and knew about Malcolm and like, which is kind of funny, you know you walk up to someone you admire and you have never met in person before, and then they're like, yeah, and your co-host is Malcolm, right, yeah, and you do this thing and I'm like that's correct.
Speaker 2:That is like, that is so crazy to me because, like I'm a huge Dan Corner fan, I was jamming Paramore yesterday Like yeah yeah. It was great work.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, absolutely, absolutely. So that was really exciting and I told them what we were all about and that we both love that. They're tools and use them all the time, and people see me use, for example, their AIP Amplified Instruments Processor. Yeah fantastic All the time.
Speaker 2:you are a big pawnshop fan Yep, and then we both have the L1. Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 1:Exactly. And then I told them like it's funny, because you keep telling me to get the pawnshop and I still don't have it, for whatever reason. And I told them that. And then they were looking at each other and Luke was like, dan, give him a license, give it to me, he needs a license, like like that. And I'm like, yeah, I'll take it. And so, yeah. So this has been really cool meeting them, and now we're going to do we haven't talked specifics yet, but we're going to do something for the community here as well or like definitely share, keep sharing their stuff through our content, because I really believe in the people behind it and in the products. They're great plugins, unique plugins, fun plugins. We both love and use them and they're absolutely great and I can stand behind them. So that's really cool that we're partnering with them in some way shape or form.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they have their favorite plugin companies out there, for sure.
Speaker 1:And there's just such cool people Like even down to their marketing copy the way they are, just as people like. I love it. I've told it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Like they're the only audio newsletter I actually read. It's amazing. It's really really really good Aside from yours, Benny, yeah, but like it is good and they like they have built in customer loyalty right off the bat. Like it's good stuff. I like them.
Speaker 1:If you message them, if you have any issues with their products, or if you message them for any other reason or reply to their emails, it doesn't go to some you know support staff and it never reaches them. Like they see every single message and they will get back to you and they'll take care of it and it's like that's what they're all about and I really love this. And so, yeah, now then I'm out with Addy, or, who we both know. Addy's just such a great guy. Like the energy is amazing, yeah. And so, yeah, addy's been on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're not sure who we're talking about. Like back when we were at studios in October and that probably came out late October and November, I think Great dude, like literally the most positive human being I think I've encountered on this planet.
Speaker 1:Totally Like. Addy's energy is insane. Like his name is Addy Parshantani. He's doing yeah, His thing is called Hit the Road Music Studio, so he's a traveling music producer and he travels to like remote places where you wouldn't expect people to make a record like that, the way he does, and he just brings you know gear, remote, you know recording gear and makes people but like makes cool music in like completely different cultures and he's yeah, it's great, and he's empowering so many people around the world, you know, and helping them make records that they otherwise wouldn't be able to make, and it's really, really exciting seeing what he does.
Speaker 1:It's crazy cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Totally. It's a challenge and it's hard to do, but he's also such a because he's such a great dude. He managed to get great partners that support him with the gear and with everything he does and he's just on this great mission and it's so, so empowering to so many artists and, like I, really I really love what he does and his energy is just unmatched. And the cool thing with Addy with like I, of course I reached out, or he reached out and would like, hey, let's, let's definitely hang at NAMM, and I'm like yeah for sure. And then we tried for three days or so Like the third day was when we finally managed to do it, to finally hang out, or even the fourth day.
Speaker 1:I know it took a while because we saw each other sometimes, but everyone was always busy. And then when we finally scheduled something, I was kind of we were just messaging back and forth and kind of did it on as we went and then I was waiting for him to get a message back. He didn't even see my last message and I was like, well, okay, like this doesn't happen today. And then two hours later he was like dude, I'm so sorry. Like I was on my way there. But then I saw the, the, the Gembe circle, like the drum circle that they said with the Gembe, and then I just had to you know, participate there and I totally got lost in it and like for whatever two hours or so he was drumming with the circle instead of meeting me, like that's Addy.
Speaker 2:I'm not mad at all, just smiling away drumming yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm not mad at all, of course, like because like there was no formal thing or anything, but like I, it was so cool because the message he sent me was like that was exactly what I needed and I could feel that, after all these meetings and talking to so many people, the one thing he really wanted was just to sit in the circle with all these people and just drum for an hour and like. So he did that. That's Addy, and his energy is just amazing. So, but we finally made it and got to hang out. Oh awesome.
Speaker 2:Addy and I have an idea to do a YouTube collaboration video together where he sends me one of his songs that he's produced and I sent him one of mine and we swap mixes essentially. So I work in rock, he works in like world music essentially. So we'd both be way out of our wheelhouse and see what the results are compared to like the you know, the mixes that actually came out. So at some point I think we're going to do that. It'll be fun.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great. That's so cool. Yeah, I'll be looking forward to that. Yeah, we're definitely going to partner with Addy as well Our community. I know that you guys love him because we got very good feedback on our episode with him and I mean what he's all about is really cool for our audience because he's not afraid to experiment. He knows that there are no rules. You can make it work in less than ideal situations. You know you don't have to be afraid to like break things or do it the wrong way, and his approach to making music is and records is different from what you see people in these big studios do just out of necessity, because he works in like some weird place with, like you know, it has to make it work, like yeah.
Speaker 1:And and this is really exciting and very relevant also for our audience, because we are most of us work in, like you know, homes or places that are not meant to be recording studios, and so he's an absolute expert at that and then a very cool guy as well, so we're going to do more with him, for sure. Yeah, then, oh yeah, and then then also what's very funny was like I do you know recording studio rock stars?
Speaker 2:and audio those two podcasts. Yeah, like the OG music recording podcasts.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and I'm a huge fan of the show.
Speaker 1:Such great people I've been a long time, long time listener and big fan of both their podcasts and many of our you know friends have been or like people we know have been on their shows, and including Addy.
Speaker 1:And so Matt Woodrow, the host of working class audio, hosted a coffee and and breakfast kind of thing at the booth of Grace Design yeah, great company as well and so they make microphone preamps and interfaces and really, really, really high quality gear and monitor controllers and like analog, good analog gear, and so he hosted a coffee meetup there, basically, and I went, addy was also there and Lidge was there from the recording studio rock stars, and just a couple of people, not many, like 10 people or so, really cool, like intimate sort of gathering.
Speaker 1:And then it was so funny because Addy managed, without it, without planning, it managed to be on all three of our podcasts, like Lidge's podcast, recording studio rock stars, then working class audio and our podcast, the surf recording band, and Addy was on all three of those podcasts within a month or so, without planning it, like it was totally an accident and nobody, like they said, we never had a guest on our on the two shows like at the same time, like at the same week or month, and now it's like three podcasts doing that and Lidge was like you hit the triple crown, addy, like that's kind of this is.
Speaker 2:PR master.
Speaker 1:Exactly, which was very funny and we all didn't even know, but like, yeah, this happened, and so here we were. The three podcasts is an Addy who managed to be on all of our shows at the same time.
Speaker 2:He wasn't even going to be on our podcast originally. We actually had a cancellation.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Did Warren introduce us?
Speaker 1:No, no no, mark, I think Mark did yes, yeah Sounded and recording yeah totally. So that was great, and I connected with Lidge and Matt, so this was. This was very cool. Very, very cool people, just as nice as you would expect after listening to their podcast, so that was cool. Then what else? Man? So much, we got to do another episode on all the gear because I don't even think we can get to that and I really want to.
Speaker 1:And so I'm not doing this to brag, but like there's, you can be sure that every single one of these people that I met there like I am what I'm, what I'm doing is I'm doing this because I want to make our community more and our thing more valuable, and I want to learn from all these people. I want to bring them into our sort of ecosystem and, like, have them share, you know, their knowledge with you or whatever we, in whatever way we can partner. So I'm just telling you this, guys, that there will be something in it for you, for sure, and that's why I'm saying all of this. Then I met Sylvia Massey, which is also so crazy.
Speaker 1:I love, I just love her, like, love what she does, and she gave me and this is one of my coolest Nam experiences she I have to start with this she was sitting there with Mark, who organizes this studio scene event, and then I was meeting with Mark and he was like, yeah, I'm with Sylvia Massey, you can, you know, just hang out with us, we'll be done in a few minutes. And so I went there, of course, like if someone invites me to get to introduce me to Sylvia Massey I won't say no.
Speaker 1:So I was there. She didn't know who I was, of course. I asked her to come on the podcast and I think I can. I mean, I don't know when it will happen and which format, and so but she immediately said yes, I can already say that, which is amazing. So at some point we're going to talk to Sylvia Massey here, which is kind of my blowing and then, if you don't know her, like, look her up. It's insane. She's one of the biggest microphone collections in the world. Like she has this vintage microphone museum thing. Then she has worked with like so many like really big bands and she's known for like breaking rules all the time, Like she does unconventional recording techniques.
Speaker 1:She has a book called Recording Unhinged that I ran a giveaway you know, giving away this book like three or four years ago and people really loved it and the whole book is about recording things in a way that you typically don't like and like you're recording techniques right. She will do things like putting it whatever sausage between the amp and the cap or something like that. She would plug things into a pickle or sausage or whatever. Or she would like use weird things as microphones. She used on one record she had, like this carbon stick microphone from 1850 or 60 or one of the first or the first microphone that ever existed, something like that, and she actually used that on a rock record and like weird stuff like that and so, and what she saw about is like making exciting, unique stuff and like breaking rules, intentionally breaking stuff and then seeing if you can create anything new from that and like that's and she's just such a nice person and so, yeah, that was really cool.
Speaker 2:She's the coolest Credits. I want to give some credit checkouts because it's all over the map, which is, I think, the sign of like being one of the greats. It's like the ability to jump between genres. But we got, like Taylor Hawkins, all those stuff resting piece. The Melvins, we got Cage, the Elephant, soilwork, heavy Metal Band Some of the downs on there, sublime, with Rome, probably sublime, just lower down, like Power man 5000. Oh my God, I remember them. It's Smashing Pumpkins, just everyone. Bjork, foo Fighters, alanis Morcette, sonic Youth, conaline Crush, deftones, ratatouille Peppers, johnny Cash yes, r-e-m. Tom Petty, like what? Yeah, I got the rules on here, I'm pretty sure. Right, slayer Prince, yeah, bunch of Prince stuff right Of course that's super famous Elton John.
Speaker 2:It's quite the list. It's the most influential musicians from the 80s all the way to present day.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, absolutely, yeah, totally. And then what was totally unexpected is she's also great artist, like a visual artist. She draws, like, creates artwork that looks really great. She illustrated her. She's a book recording unhinged. It's full of like colorful pictures and illustrations that are so funny, so great. There's, I'm sure some people have seen the how to Mic a Chicken picture. You know that where there's the chicken with like how to, with the instructions of how to properly mic a chicken.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I've seen that. I'm gonna Google it right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really funny and she does things like that and is known for that and she's a great artist, like she does great things and very creative, and this is another side of what she does. Did you see?
Speaker 2:it. Yeah, I'm looking at it right now. This is totally, totally hilarious. It's like pointing at the little like what is the top of a chicken's head with the little like a rooster has the little spikes on its head and it says comb filter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Exactly the rubber chicken isolation met below its feet. Like that's it.
Speaker 2:It's like really Tele-clock and microphone.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah and so so she does things like that and she sells her art as well as like posters and whatnot. And so, anyway, I was sitting there and she was talking to Mark, got introduced, got her on the podcast, and then she was pulling out of her bag Like they sold some of her posters at NAMM and they sold out really quickly, and then she just had some left in her bag, basically, and she pulled them out and started, without saying something, like she just started doing pulling three out and signing them, and then just she handed them over, and so I got this.
Speaker 2:It's great.
Speaker 1:A signed piece of art.
Speaker 2:It's like I don't know. Go further away from the camera, keep going, keep going, keep going. There we go, and now hide your face so it'll focus on it. There we go. If you're looking at YouTube, you can actually see this the 2024 NAMM show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's so detailed, like there's I don't know how many hundred thousand people on this. Yeah, all the dots you see, like this is all individual people and it's got the whole area. You know live sound guitars, drums, whatever, pro audio and if you look closely you can see some sorry, I got to get close to the mic again you can see some sort of familiar faces. You know, there's a guy in the pro audio space that looks very much like from Lord RG, from the hair and everything, and you can just spot so many incredible details Like I can't. I don't know like how much time it takes to draw something like that. It's like insane. But anyway, she gave it to me, signed it, and so now this is going to go on the studio wall and I'm really excited about it.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much, sylvia. Wow, that was awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Then another person that I invited to the podcast and again he said, yes, we're going to be there. There's nothing, no appointment for any of these things yet. So but I know I can share some of them not all of them, but I know I can share some of them and if it doesn't happen for whatever reason, sorry but I'm pretty sure it will. Really cool dude, sam Pura.
Speaker 1:Sam Pura is a pop known for a lot of pop, punk stuff and punk rock stuff in his studio in California. Such a cool dude and like he did a talk at our friends and an audio scape, great company making great you know hardware tools and he, yeah, had a talk there. He sat on their couch and just shared his knowledge and gear and building this studio and how he uses it and had a lot of questions about the audioscape here. Very cool and so, yeah, and then I got to talk to him, meet him and the things he shared when he sat there and talked about audio and how passionate he is about everything.
Speaker 1:I just did the same thing that I did with Roger Cloud. I was like, hey, sam, would you mind saying that exact same thing on our podcast, because I want people to hear this. This is so valuable and so cool. He was like I'm so fucking literally right and so, and he's going to be, if we ever censor our podcast and add beeps and stuff, like if we do that with Sam, this is going to be like I don't know 2000 beeps or so, because there's like two or three fucking in every single sentence.
Speaker 2:That's funny, yeah, totally.
Speaker 1:But he's so, he's, so.
Speaker 2:I've never gotten to chat to Sam personally, but I've become aware of some of his recording techniques that are pretty unique and very detail orientated. There's no hiding. When you're making a record with Sam, how good you are is going to be very evident with how he makes things transparent. So, yeah, that'll be very cool to hear from him.
Speaker 1:It's so knowledgeable. Also he's cool and approachable and just funny and like. There was this one situation where he was talking about whatever piece of gear and then he was like, hey yo, there's Steven Tyler, so-and-so is my favorite song, and he was talking about Aerosmith and whatever. And then everybody was looking and there was this dude and I'm really not sure if it was Steven Tyler, I think nobody's.
Speaker 1:like he looked exactly like Steven Tyler, he might have been him I don't know, but like that dude was like shaking his head and like you know, like it wasn't, like it didn't depreciate being called out, and then quickly left. But he looked definitely like Steven Tyler and might have been Steven Tyler, I'm not sure and I think we all are not sure, but Sam was immediately calling him out and people like yo, I like this record and this, you know, this is my favorite part of the song and whatever. And then this guy left very quickly and I'm pretty sure it wasn't even Tyler, but I'm not sure, we were just speculating. But anyway, and so and he's so knowledgeable, he was talking about, you know, getting into like 1176s, and then he was like yo and the ref D and the ref F and the ref whatever and the differences between them, and he gets so passionate about this.
Speaker 1:Details that don't really matter that much, especially if you're starting out. He's he loves making records so much and he loves using the gear. And he's not all about analog gear, he also loves plugins. He makes his own plugins, which are awesome, by the way, but just hearing him talk about this is just infectious, and so that's why I wanted to have him on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Looking forward to that. That'll be great. Oh man, what a trip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's do. Let's do another episode because there's so much more and I feel like there there could be. You know, we could either add this two other episodes or make another one, because I really want to get into some of the gear that's highly relevant for our audience and I got so much more on that list. Let's do another one because I actually have a call in 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got it.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, I just want to say again thank you to everyone that I met and thank you for all the introductions. If you're checking out this podcast, thank you for doing that. All the great people making this great gear and like it's been, it's been wild and I have. I need to sometime to like decompress now and think about all of this and follow up with all people, and I'm beyond excited about this. Yeah, fantastic man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've had interviews and other things that are that are coming as a result of this. I'm so jealous that I wasn't there, but next year, next year, I'm going to be there.
Speaker 1:For sure, yeah, you should, you should be. And oh, shout out and happy belated birthday to Warren Hewart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Happy birthday Warren.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. His birthday was yesterday. We met him again. We met him at studio center for the first time, had him on the podcast before and then, of course, met him at NAM a couple of times, and he's just, he's just also such, a, such a nice guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, warren's the real deal for sure.
Speaker 1:Happy belated birthday to Warren. And happy belated birthday, all right, sorry, malcolm, this was all about me and my experience there, but I just had to share.
Speaker 2:Oh, I wanted to hear about it. I'm pretty much in the audience for this episode. I'm like tell me what happened, yeah.
Speaker 1:There's so much more as well, and again, I'm very careful. I'm only telling you the things that I actually can't talk about. There's much more that I can't, but you'll see it something.
Speaker 2:It'll come.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great, very cool. All right, thank you so much for listening. Go check out. By the way, here's some value Again. If you go to the show notes and you click on my Instagram app, benedictine, and you click on the NAM highlight reel that I have there like highlight story thing that I have there you see all my gear recommendations and also with some details on why I think is it's exciting or what I think is exciting. So if you're into the whole gear thing and want to see some recommendations and also the people behind the gear, go check that out and check out those companies and maybe there's something in it for you. There's no affiliate links. There's no so deals. I'm not getting paid for this. It's just my recommendations, and then also you see the faces of the people that I've just been talking about.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, Perfect, all right, okay, well, we'll see you next week. All right, see you next week. Bye, bye.