Music Insights With Niclas Jeppsson

Lazy J Founder Jesse Hoff - Guitar Amps, Capacitors, Tubes, Resistors, Transformers & More

On the show today we have boutique guitar amp maker, Jesse Hoff. He is the man behind the very popular and sought after Lazy J guitar amps. His amps have been used by guitarist such as Joe Bonamassa, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and has won awards such as Guitar Amp of the Year over £1000 by Guitar Magazine, twice. It’s a killer amp and if you get a chance to try one I can highly recommend that you take the opportunity. It was great spending time with Jesse and really geek o...

Matt Miller & Andrew Perusi - Creating A More Powerful App Than Pro Tools

On the show today we have founder and CEO Matt Miller plus product partnership manager Andrew Perusi from audiobridge. Audiobridge is a mobile recording app which helps artists collaborate remotely. You can do things like multitracking, editing, add audio effects, in-app messaging with your collaborators and more. Also, the goal is to be more powerful than Pro Tools, in portrait mode, which is pretty exciting. In this interview, we spoke about: • Dealing with the slow-moving and slow-ada...

Mark Needham - Developing Artists, Believability & Books

Mark Needham is a producer and engineer who has worked with artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, Shakira and many others. But not only that, but Mark is also an expert when it comes to artists development and has developed artists such as The Killers and Imagine Dragons to name a few. It was a real pleasure talking to Mark and I hope you will enjoy it as well! In this interview, we spoke about: • The common trait the successful bands’ Mark has developed that set them apart • The qu...

Joe Satriani - Expressing Yourself Through Guitar Playing

The guest today doesn’t really need an introduction. He is a guitar virtuoso, songwriter, guitar teacher with past students such as Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett & Charlie Hunter. He has sold over 10-million records and has 15 Grammy Award nominations. Of course, I’m talking about the great Joe Satriani. It was a big pleasure talking to Joe and I hope you will enjoy it as well. In this interview, we spoke about: • His guitar playing on the song Why from The Extremist • The common trait each of...

Mo Pleasure - Being An MD, Touring, Grooving & Dealing With Setbacks

Join The Audio Tribe at https://www.youraudiosolutions.com/exclusive-access Mo Pleasure is a multi-instrumentalist who has played with artists such as Earth Wind & Fire, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, George Duke, Bette Midler and many others. I first met Mo a few years ago when I worked for producer and engineer, Jon Moon. It was a project that unfortunately never got released, however, the musicians that were hired for the project were awesome and Mo was one of them. It was a pleasure ta...

Shaun Letang - How To Make A Living From Your Music

Join The Audio Tribe To Get Exclusive Access To Interviews, Private Q&A’s And Live Streams: https://www.youraudiosolutions.com/exclusive-access Shaun Letang is the founder of Music Industry How To, a website where he teaches independent musicians and artists how to make a living from their music. If this is something you are struggling with, this episode is for you. In this interview, we spoke about: • How to use YouTube to set you apart, grow your fan base and make money • The ben...

Tom Syrowski - Gravedigging, Brendan O’Brien & Making Records

Tom Syrowski is a producer, recording and mixing engineer based in Los Angeles and has worked on records for band such as Mastodon, Pearl Jam, Incubus, Velvet Revolver and many others. Before moving to Los Angeles to work in Henson Recording Studio, Tom lived in Ohio where his job, after attending Full Sail University, was to dig graves. However, he took the chance to move to LA and that’s where he ended up working for producer Brendan O’Brien as his engineer. In this interview, we spoke a...

Michael Beinhorn - The Problems Facing The Music Industry & How To Improve Them

Michael Beinhorn is a music producer who has done records for bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Herbie Hancock, Marilyn Manson to just name a few. Michael is a very passionate man and this interview took quite a different direction than I expected. We spent quite a lot of time talking about: • Everything that’s wrong with the music business and record labels • Why artists need to continue to innovate and take music to the next level • Why we need to demand more excellence...

Leland Sklar - A World-Class Bass Player And Musician

Leland Sklar is a legendary bass player who has played with artists such as James Taylor, Phil Collins, Toto, Carole King and the list of legendary artists continues. Leland also has a very popular YouTube channel where he tells stories from recording sessions and tours. He also shows some of his bass parts from various songs he has recorded on, for example, Ssudio and Another Day In Paradise by Phil Collins. Leland has a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge about playing bass and...

J.J. Blair - Taking Risks, Favourite Moments, Joe Bonamassa & More

J.J. Blair is a Grammy award-winning producer and engineer in Los Angeles. He has worked with artists such as June Carter Cash, Rod Stewart, P. Diddy, Weezer, George Benson and many others. It was a real pleasure talking to JJ and in this interview, we spoke about: • Taking risks, or as J.J. puts it, “Send it and hope you stick the landing” • His journey through the years and how he got to produce and engineer records • How he values his work/life balance • How he get clients and his wo...

Sean Giovanni - An Entrepreneur In The Music Business

Sean Giovanni is the producer, engineer and owner of The Record Shop recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Beyond offering your standard recording packages, Sean also helps artists build their social media presence to take their careers further. Sean is also the co-founder of MindMap, an online training course designed to help artists build a career out of their art. In this interview, we spoke about: •The early struggles Sean faced when starting out in the music industry and how that...

Phil Ek And Brian Lucey On Dealing With Fear And Mistakes

Herb Trawick and Bobby Owsinski On Networking And Entrepreneurship

Gavin Harrison & Aaron Sterling On Recording Drums

Phil Naish, Dave Martin And Bobby Dellarocco From Sweetwater Studios

On today’s show, we have not just 1 but 3 guests. On a first for Your Audio Solutions, we have a roundtable interview, and I’m very thrilled to welcome Phil Naish, Dave Martin and Bobby Dellarocco from Sweetwater Studios. Phil Naish is a grammy award-winning producer and keyboardist from his work with Steven Curtis Chapman and who is now serving as the executive producer of Sweetwater Studios. Dave Martin is a bass player with 40+ years of experience and has worked with artists such as Bo...

The Music Industry: What You Can Learn From Jacquire King's & Vance Powell's Journeys

Ethan Winer - Busting Audio Myths Part II

It’s a pleasure to welcome back Ethan Winer to Your Audio Solutions! Ethan is back to further bust audio myths that can help you save money and to not succumb to placebo effects in your studio or in your favourite listening position (e.i., audiophiles). This interview is partly a continuation of our previous and very popular interview which you can find here: Ethan Winer - Busting Audio Myths And Why Dave Pensado Was Tricked Ethan Winer is well known in the audio industry with his many art...

Using Parallel Compression For Your Mixes

What I Learned From Andrew Scheps's Mixing-On-Headphones Technique

How To Come Out On The Other Side Of Covid-19 As A Winner

Steve Ouimette - How To Make Authentic Re-Recordings For Video Games

Steve Ouimette is a music composer and has worked on games such as Guitar Hero, Ghost Recon Corrido, The Crew 2, Just Dance, Call Of Duty Modern Warfare and many others. Steve also made the popular cover of The Devil Went Down To Georgia by The Charlie Daniels Band which was one of the end-battles in Guitar Hero 3. His cover has over 10 million views on YouTube. Steve has also developed a very cool recording technique he calls forensic re-recording. This is where he digs deep into how a so...

Is A Degree In Audio A Waste Of Money?

Mrs Smith - The Number One Lady In Guitar Shredding

On the show today we have the number one lady in guitar shredding, Mrs Smith. If you don’t know who she is, she was kidnapped by a Norwegian death metal band and it was in her captivity that she developed her fierce guitar skills. Also, not that long ago, she battled Metallica’s lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett, in a Wah-off for the title of the biggest wah-wah abuser. I must say, with Mrs Smith’s operating 4 wah-wah’s at once Kirk didn’t stand a chance. It was a pleasure talking to Mrs Smith...

How To Develop Your Studio's Unique Selling Point

In this episode, we will look at how you can develop your studio’s unique selling point. The reason I want to show you this is that in a crowded marketplace, just like the music industry and with so many home studios around competing for business, it’s important to separate yourself and stand out. That’s why you want to offer your clients’ a result or an advantage that is superior to your competition. I will show you an exercise you can do to start developing your unique selling point and...

Björgvin Benediktsson - Using Ads For Your Online Business

Björgvin Benediktsson is the founder of the very popular, recording and mixing, website audio-issues.com. He is also a best-selling author of books such as Step By Step Mixing: How To Create Great Mixes Using Only 5 Plug-ins and many others. In this interview, we spoke about: - Björgvin’s journey from Iceland to Spain and to Tucson, Arizona, where he now lives - Meeting Tim Ferriss in Spain and the impact he has had on Björgvin’s business and personal life - Why you should change your mi...

5 Tips To Increase Your Client Base

In this 5 part mini-series, we will look at how you can increase your client base for your home studio and/or freelance career. The topics that will be discussed are: 1. How to get clients online 2. How to get your foot in the door of the music industry by shadowing other professionals 3. Diversifying 4. The importance of relationships 5. How to get clients coming back for more You can also watch this mini-series on YouTube (full series available on Friday) Get more clients for your ...

How To Record Drums Whilst Self-Isolating

What You Can Learn From Companies Like Uber, Kapten and Bolt

As producer or engineers, we usually tend to look at how other producer or engineers out there are advertising themselves and how they run their businesses. But there are so many other businesses you can look at for inspiration. This way you can create something unique that will set you apart from your competition. In this episode, we will look at what you can learn from companies like Uber, Kapten, Bolt and how you can implement some of their strategies when advertising your own busines...

Want more clients? Don't Make These 3 Mistakes

Do you want more clients for your home studio or freelance business? Is it not working and you have no idea why? Are you making any of the following 3 mistakes: - Being Desperate - Not Working On Your Business - Making It All About Yourself Watch the full video to learn why you need to avoid these mistakes! Get more clients for your home studio here: https://www.youraudiosolutions.com/3-tested-ways-to-increase-your-client-base

Tomo Fujita - The Master Guitar Teacher

On the show today, we have the revered guitarist Tomo Fujita. Tomo is a professor at Berklee College of Music and has taught some now-famous musicians. For example, John Mayer and Eric Krasno. I had a blast talking to Tomo and he is a fantastic teacher and his approach to teaching guitar really resonated with me, as you will see in the interview, and I hope it does the same for you! In this interview we talked about: - The super funky opening of his song “Crossing” and the similarities to...

The 5 Home Recording Studio Essentials You Need To Make Money

In this episode, we discuss which 5 home recording studio essentials you need to make money. They are: 1. Laptop or desktop 2. Interface 3. DAW (with stock plugins) 4. Good headphones (plus tip from Andrew Scheps) 5. A set of microphones Let me know if you agree or have any other suggestions by emailing me at [email protected] Get more clients for your home studio here, https://www.youraudiosolutions.com/3-tested-ways-to-increase-your-client-base

How To Establish Trust With New Clients

I recently got this great question from a subscriber who asked, “How can you earn the trust of new clients since they might already have a team of people. Even with a solid portfolio?” To help answer that question I brought in my friend Maxime and I hope you will find our discussion helpful. Some of the things we touched upon were: - Being prepared - The human factor - How to think about it in cooking terms - Respect the vulnerability of the artist coming to your studio - How your rat...

Mikey Demus - Fuzz, Record Making & Being In A Band

Mikey Demus is the guitarist from the heavy metal band Skindred. He is also, together with his partner Adrian Thorpe, the man behind Redbeard Effects which are about to release their highly anticipated, Honey Badger Octave Fuzz pedal. I first met Mikey a few years ago and it was a pleasure talking to him and I hope you will enjoy our conversation as well In this interview, we spoke about: - The beginnings of Skindred and touring in the US - How Mikey likes to work in the recording studio...

Is A Grammy Award Worth It?

Is a Grammy award worth it? Will it improve your career and give you more work? Is it too easy to win these days? Has it lost its value? Would you rather win a Pensado’s Award? Taylor Swift’s army of writers and how Billie Eilish and Lizzo have set themselves apart That and more is the topic of my discussion with music producer Maxime Raguedeau-Obadia. Do you agree or not? What are your thoughts about the Grammys? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected] Get more client...

How To Improve Your Self-Esteem

Do you feel like you suck at music production? Or finding new clients? Is your economic situation frustrating you? I’ve been there and sometimes I still find myself there. It can affect your self-esteem and make you quit your work and just give you a generally bad mood. It sucks! However, I have some exercises that I use that gets me out of the funk which I hope they can help you too if you find yourself in this situation. These exercises will hopefully make you feel better about yoursel...

The Best Way To Build Relationships With Bands And Artists

Building relationships with bands and artists can be tricky when you are starting out and looking for new clients. You might think that you need to pitch them your service straight away but then you risk coming off as salesy. That can itself make clients not coming back to you. That’s why in today’s episode, you can learn: - How to start a conversation after a show - How to take an email conversation to the next level - Sending valuable content - How pitching can become less salesy - P...

Maor Appelbaum - Why You Need To Work To Get Work

Maor Appelbaum is a mastering engineer based in Los Angeles. He has worked for artists such as Faith No More, Yes, Eric Gales, Yngwie Malmsteen and many others. In this interview with Maor, we spoke about: - Why you need to work to get work - Using ads to grow your business - Starting his career in the US by working for Syliva Massy - How he built his client base - Pricing - Selling yourself - Making sacrifices to support his career - Investing money to grow your business and studio...

Why You Need To Stop Buying Gear

If you want to increase your client base and be able to do music and audio for a living, you need to stop buying more gear. I know it can be hard to resist, especially when Waves has a sale on every day and their new plugins look cool and interesting. I fall for it sometimes too. However, buying more gear will not bring you more clients. Buying the latest microphone, plugin, or hardware unit will not help you get more clients and earn more money. Gone are the days when clients are looking...

Jacquire King - How To Produce Records

Jacquire King is a Grammy Award-winning record producer, recording and mixer engineer. King has worked with artists such as Kings of Leon, James Bay, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Buddy Guy and the list goes on. Jacquire currently operates from his studio in Nashville and besides from making killer records he also teaches people how to make awesome recordings and mixes on sites like pureMix and Recording Revolution. In this interview with Jacquire King we spoke about: - Working with James Bay a...

Ian Sefchick - All About Compression

Ian Sefchick is a mastering and cutting engineer at Capitol Studios and he has worked on records for artists such as Alabama Shakes, Glass Animals, Kid Cudi and many others. Besides working at Capitol, Ian also builds the very popular Magic Death Eye tube compressors with EQ’s that has been praised by engineers in the business. It’s also available as a plugin from DDMF. In my interview with Ian we spoke about: - Doing direct to lathe sessions - The difference between compressors such as...

How To Promote Your Studio Online And Get More Clients

If you are struggling with how to promote your studio online and get more clients, this episode is for you. In this episode, you can learn how to: - If you should use Facebook or Google Ads - Content Marketing - Using platforms like Instagram or Facebook to add value - Why you need a lead magnet for your studio’s website - What your website should contain And more Stuff mentioned in the episode: Nicholas Di Lorenzo’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/panorama_mastering/ Sara Car...

Sara Carter - A Fearless Career In Music

Sara Carter is a mixing and mastering engineer based in Basingstoke, UK. She worked at the BBC doing either recording or mixing at Maida Vale or live concerts broadcast for BBC Radio One, Radio Two or 6 Music. In her time at the BBC she got to work with artists such as Adele, The Black Keyes, The Raconteurs, Massive Attack and many others. In this interview with Sara, we spoke about: - Making a career change at the age of 34 - Working at the BBC and why she decided to leave - Overcomin...

Why Diversifying Can Be Good For Your Studio

At the beginning of your career you might find yourself with some downtime in your studio. This is nothing bad, instead, it's a great opportunity to grow your skills and develop more relationships with artists and other people in the industry. This is why diversifying can be good for your studio. Check out the video below to learn more and how this can be beneficial for your studio and career. Email me at [email protected] with your comments and if you have any suggestion for an ep...

Stephen Kelly - London, Dave Pensado & Working On Games

Stephen Kelly is an Audio Engineer & Producer working with some of the world’s top AAA games companies. Stephen also runs the website, www.understandingaudio.com where he teaches mixing techniques focused on the Why rather than the How. This is how Stephen puts it, “By understanding the why you get the fundamentals right every time so that they’re embedded in your brain. By having those fundamentals right, you can take giant leaps forward on your audio journey and bypass years of frustratio...

Phil Ek - How To Produce Records & The Importance Of Committing

Phil Ek is a record producer, recording and mixing engineer based in Seattle. He has worked with bands such as Fleet Foxes, Built To Spill, Band of Horses and The Shins. In this interview, we spoke about: - How to produce records - The importance of committing in the studio - Why communication in the studio is key - How to charge clients - Working with bands like Fleet Foxes and Built To Spill - How he works with his management to find more clients - And much more Check out Phil’s w...

How To Write Business Proposals To Bands

You might wonder why you need to send business proposals to bands or artists? Isn’t it enough to agree on a fee and just start recording, mixing or mastering? The quick answer to that is no. With a well-written business proposal you can offer your clients much more value and earn more money for yourself. In this episode, we will talk about what a business proposal is and how to write one for your clients. Enjoy! Is there anything you are struggling with in your home studio or freelance ...

Edwin Cox - CEO & Founder Of West One Music Group

Edwin Cox is the CEO and founder of West One Music Group, one of the leading independent production, broadcast and film music houses in the world. West One Music is the home to over 450 composers and they have offices and production studios in over 42 countries in the world. If you are interested or working as a composer or thinking about starting your own publishing company this interview is for you. In this interview with Edwin, we spoke about: - How he started out in the music industr...

Why You Need To Work On Your Home Studio, Not In It

In today’s episode, we will discuss why you need to work on your home studio and not in it. According to the author of The E-Myth Revisited, Michael E. Gerber, the small business (home studio) owner is usually divided into three different personalities. The entrepreneur, the manager and the technician. However, we spend most of our time in the “technician” personality. This is detrimental to the small business (home studio) owner because we need to involve all three personalities to succeed....

How To Be More Productive

If you are struggling with procrastination and feel like you could be more productive in your day, this episode is for you. In today’s episode we talk about: - The benefits of being more productive - Why restricting time on social media and emails can make you more productive - Tim Ferriss’s suggestion on meditation and asking better questions - Motivation vs discipline - Why we should assume that our “future self” is going to be lazy and have no motivation - And more Download your f...

How To Negotiate A Better Rate For Your Home Studio Or Services

Do you feel like you are not making enough money from your projects in your home studio or when people hire you as a freelancer? In today’s episode, we will be looking at a few ways you can turn this situation around and start negotiating a better rate for your home studio or services as a freelancer. We will talk about how to: * Increase your rate for existing customers * How to offer more value * The espresso machine tactic * Creative ways of getting your full fee * Get everything i...