1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,280 A gentleman whose name has come up on this show so many times. Eric 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,839 Sotter of a black Heart sound this here? Hello, Eric, hey man, 3 00:00:07,879 --> 00:00:10,640 that's going. Am I saying your last name correctly? As the Solder? 4 00:00:10,679 --> 00:00:14,560 You got it right? Okay? People say like Soute or so right 5 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,079 right now. The reason your name has come up so much on the show 6 00:00:18,199 --> 00:00:22,079 is a lot of the artists that we've had on the show that I've interviewed 7 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:26,320 over the years have mentioned you and recording with you at Blackhart Sound. Yeah. 8 00:00:26,359 --> 00:00:30,920 I know, Slim Volume been on here recently, the Night Blinders, 9 00:00:31,079 --> 00:00:35,039 to name a few. I mean even today Conduit's going to be on, 10 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:39,000 yes, which is kind of a coincidence. There was not even planned. 11 00:00:40,359 --> 00:00:43,640 Julia was telling me about that. Yeah, we just we had finished up 12 00:00:43,679 --> 00:00:45,920 some stuff, I want to say, last year and they're putting out a 13 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,320 single seon and so yeah yeah yeah, looking with some people in Manchester for 14 00:00:50,359 --> 00:00:54,000 a little bit, that's for sure. Yeah, Dank Sinatra right uh yeah. 15 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:58,439 In fact, I yes, pictures of Fredo on uh. I think 16 00:00:58,439 --> 00:01:03,000 it was on the Facebook page for the studio. I think Fredo and there 17 00:01:03,159 --> 00:01:07,359 playing guitar. Oh yeah, yeah, Jesse came in the friend Jesse took 18 00:01:07,359 --> 00:01:08,599 a bunch of pictures and some great ones. Yeah. Yeah, see Fredo 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,640 all over there. Yeah yeah, absolutely. How long How long has Blackheart 20 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:17,319 Sound been open? It's been, it's been in the location it's been in, 21 00:01:17,799 --> 00:01:21,799 which is on Elm Street behind the Music Mill for I want to say, 22 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,560 we're going on five years at this point. I think I did my 23 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,159 first session in twenty nineteen, like April or May. Okay, so, 24 00:01:30,439 --> 00:01:34,439 but I've been operating, you know, working with bands for quite a bit 25 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:40,079 longer than that. I grabbed a bunch of equipment when I was I want 26 00:01:40,120 --> 00:01:42,400 to say, probably around like twenty sixteen, and just started like doing it 27 00:01:42,439 --> 00:01:47,359 from there. And it's a long story, but yeah, it's been going 28 00:01:47,359 --> 00:01:51,640 on for a little bit, but officially about five years. Excellent, excellent. 29 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:53,519 We should mention too before we go any further than that opening song. 30 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:00,439 That's your band Magnetar in a track called Event Horizon and really good stuff. 31 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:02,120 I listened to that whole album crushed. I listened to that yesterday and just 32 00:02:02,159 --> 00:02:05,680 loved it. Yeah, we did a record. We put it out with 33 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,439 this label, Seeing Red Records in twenty twenty two. Yeah, in June. 34 00:02:10,759 --> 00:02:15,199 It's a great album. It's a great for you know, fans of 35 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:16,840 like like heavy metal stuff. It's like I was saying, you know, 36 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,759 definitely like adjacent to like post metal stuff, masted On. If you're a 37 00:02:23,759 --> 00:02:24,919 fan of Macedonia, you like it, Yeah, yeah, stuff like that. 38 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,439 Yeah, yeah, really good, really good. Yeah. I I 39 00:02:28,439 --> 00:02:30,800 think i'd mentioned this u off air before the show. I've been aware of 40 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:32,800 Magnetar for a while, but I hadn't made the connection that that you were 41 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:38,039 in the band, And I assume you recorded everything yourself, right, you 42 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,039 were the engineer and pre did it all there. I did the I did 43 00:02:40,039 --> 00:02:44,199 the recording, I did the mixing. I had it mastered by my friend 44 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,520 Zach who works in Salem at God City. Did a great job with it. 45 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:52,000 So yeah, yeah, uh, do you have any plans for more 46 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:55,840 more, almost said masted On, for more Magnetar coming? Yeah, you 47 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:01,039 know, we uh, we didn't do a lot between like twenty twenty two 48 00:03:01,199 --> 00:03:06,479 and and now, but I'm just getting back and starting to write some more 49 00:03:06,599 --> 00:03:09,120 music with with the you know, a couple of the couple of the members, 50 00:03:09,159 --> 00:03:13,840 and we've got some stuff brewing. It's not like nearly the same sort 51 00:03:13,879 --> 00:03:17,080 of music it's definitely gotten to be a little bit more tame really not not 52 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:20,400 as heavy. Yeah, not as heavy as you know. I'm just kind 53 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:23,840 of feeling something a little bit different these days. Yeah. Yeah, this 54 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:29,039 the last album, Crushed, is a very very heavy, oppressive, but 55 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,039 like kind of beautiful album. Yeah, I want to go in a little 56 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,879 bit more of like a rock direction while still keeping those sorts of elements. 57 00:03:34,879 --> 00:03:38,400 So we're kind of feeling that out, figuring out how that's gonna materialize. 58 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:40,919 And we got like, I think we're like halfway through an album right now. 59 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,400 Oh really in regards to like, you know, just demoing it out, 60 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:46,479 Yeah yeah, and getting the songs ready. So yeah, hopefully later 61 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:51,159 this year we'll we'll start you know, getting those down and hopefully have an 62 00:03:51,159 --> 00:03:54,280 album again soon. Excellent. Does magnetar ever play out? The last time 63 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:59,639 we played out was the was the release show that we did for that LP. 64 00:04:00,439 --> 00:04:02,919 We did it as a benefit show over at the the Alpine Club on 65 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,719 the West Side. Yeah, oh okay, I mean I want to say, 66 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:09,439 like a lot of the shows we've done of the generally around like some 67 00:04:09,479 --> 00:04:13,439 sort of like fundraiser benefit show. So yeah, that was the That was 68 00:04:13,439 --> 00:04:15,439 the last one we did, and we we haven't really been been doing much 69 00:04:15,519 --> 00:04:18,920 since. I would imagine a Magnetar show is pretty intense. It's a lot. 70 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:23,120 Yeah. I mean, like we we have from like the get go, 71 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,920 we were known as like this the band that just like brought out like 72 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,800 all these ridiculous amps and cabs. I remember I would literally just collect like 73 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,800 as many amps and like high wise jams and cabinets as I could and just 74 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,000 play out. It was a for a while, it was a two piece. 75 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:42,000 It was me and a drummer, Johnny Funk, and yeah, I 76 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:45,680 would just show up with like a split a line splitter plug into as many 77 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:46,759 like you know, one hundred two of the watt heads as I could, 78 00:04:46,759 --> 00:04:49,920 and just like make this like really oppressive live sound. That was kind of 79 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:54,879 our reputation, and it's not to that degree anymore. We actually have like 80 00:04:54,879 --> 00:04:58,399 a dedicated bass player, second guitar player, so you know, we we 81 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:00,720 toned it down a little bit, but it's still to bring out, you 82 00:05:00,759 --> 00:05:03,399 know, playing with like full stacks and you know, big six twelve guitar 83 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:06,759 cabinets. So it's like it's a lot yea to fan in order to do 84 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:11,399 that. That's that's really cool. I respect that a lot. That's great. 85 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:15,759 Now as far as you had posted something on social media recently and congratulations, 86 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,879 you're you're doing uh producing and doing Black Hearts sound more as like a 87 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,920 full time I mean, I imagine you're already working a lot of hours doing 88 00:05:24,959 --> 00:05:27,959 that, but you're you're really going to the next level with it, right 89 00:05:28,120 --> 00:05:31,319 yep. You know, for uh, for the first uh, first few 90 00:05:31,399 --> 00:05:34,319 years of uh of this venture, it was just like it was kind of 91 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,959 I did this in between my full time job, yeah, which you know, 92 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,839 uh it was, uh it's pretty taxing, you know, having to 93 00:05:41,879 --> 00:05:44,360 do that because you know, I'd be taking you know, my weekends and 94 00:05:44,399 --> 00:05:46,759 then like working with bands. Yeah, it was great. It was a 95 00:05:46,399 --> 00:05:48,600 you know, I wouldn't take it back at all. But there's a certain 96 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:53,360 point where you know, you gotta you gotta like really have some free time 97 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:55,480 in your life. Because I was sure like you know, doing things like 98 00:05:55,519 --> 00:06:00,360 having like between two to four days off a month, which is sustaining in 99 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:02,639 the long run, that's for sure. So yeah, I made the decision 100 00:06:02,639 --> 00:06:08,040 to go full on into uh uh and kind of like just have a have 101 00:06:08,079 --> 00:06:11,199 a part time job. I saw I do work at the Manchester Music Mill. 102 00:06:11,319 --> 00:06:14,959 Yeah, currently, but just uh it needed more of my attention in 103 00:06:15,079 --> 00:06:17,439 order to grow. Yeah. Yeah, No, that's a great place. 104 00:06:17,519 --> 00:06:23,399 I wanted to work there, but I didn't get the call. No, 105 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,000 but it is a great place. How long have you worked there, I've 106 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:30,480 worked. I've been working for Joe since twenty thirteen. Oh do. I 107 00:06:30,519 --> 00:06:36,199 moved to Manchester, like I want to say, late twenty twelve. Yeah, 108 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:42,279 and I I think I was like working pizza delivery then, and one 109 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,720 day I just decided I wanted to work at that store. Yeah, And 110 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,560 so I went in and you know, I knew who Joe was. I 111 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,480 had shot there for a while. Yeah, And I went up to him 112 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,920 and asked him, Hey, do you got any openings. He's like, 113 00:06:55,439 --> 00:06:57,920 yeah, maybe go shoot me a resume. So I shot him a resume. 114 00:06:58,079 --> 00:06:59,920 Yeah, and I went in like a couple of days later, Hey, 115 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:01,680 look at the resume. No, I haven't. And then I went 116 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:03,800 in, like, you know, a few days later, and a few 117 00:07:03,879 --> 00:07:08,959 days later I bugged him heavily and then he to the point where he was 118 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,399 just like, dude, just okay, yeah, come in come in next 119 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,240 tuesday. Yeah, excellent, excellent. What did you start out doing there 120 00:07:16,279 --> 00:07:19,079 just sales on the It was just sales, yeah, I mean it was 121 00:07:19,279 --> 00:07:24,399 the It was a pretty small staff at that point. It's grown exponentially since 122 00:07:24,399 --> 00:07:28,319 they started to like a wild operation. I mean it was just that one 123 00:07:28,360 --> 00:07:30,519 building. We had all of our storage for everything inside of there. All 124 00:07:30,519 --> 00:07:34,199 of our backstock was in that one building. Yeah, and it was like 125 00:07:34,319 --> 00:07:39,040 me, him, another manager, and like maybe one other sales guy. 126 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,399 So it was pretty small. I was kind of just did everything there. 127 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:46,399 Yeah, at that point, you had your hands in a little bit of 128 00:07:46,399 --> 00:07:49,560 all that sort of stuff. So and uh, you know, when you're 129 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:53,959 in a small staff, eventually you just start getting more and more responsibility to 130 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,199 you, whether you need you're you're ready for it or not. Right right 131 00:07:57,279 --> 00:08:00,680 stile by fire at that point. Yeah, very small, small place, 132 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,079 so you know, eventually I'm holding keys. Eventually, like you know, 133 00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:05,360 I'm doing like trade deals, quoting out like you know, prices with people, 134 00:08:05,439 --> 00:08:07,959 and that just kind of like grew from there, and I was a 135 00:08:09,399 --> 00:08:13,160 I think I was managing, like had some sort of like manager role, 136 00:08:13,199 --> 00:08:16,160 but like like a couple of years after that, so and I've been doing 137 00:08:16,199 --> 00:08:20,079 that ever since. It's a great place. I love working there. It's 138 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:24,199 it's a fantastic organization and Joe is an amazing guy to work for. Well, 139 00:08:24,199 --> 00:08:28,240 when you talk about how it's grown too, I I because I remember 140 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:31,600 going in there years ago and it was much smaller. And when I when 141 00:08:31,639 --> 00:08:35,240 I went there for my interview, Craig gave me a tour of the whole 142 00:08:35,279 --> 00:08:41,960 place and it's I I was stunned actually at how how huge it is. 143 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:46,679 That warehouse building. Yeah, we put that's that's the building of the studio 144 00:08:46,759 --> 00:08:50,519 is in. Joe purchased that in twenty eighteen and completely renovated it and that 145 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,519 really allowed us to like take our stock to a certain degree, have a 146 00:08:54,519 --> 00:09:01,720 dedicated shipping department, have a dedicated receiving area. So it really allowed us 147 00:09:01,759 --> 00:09:05,799 to uh to grow even further. Yeah, so yeah, it's uh, 148 00:09:05,799 --> 00:09:09,919 it's unbelievable. Uh Joe is Uh. I I don't think I would have 149 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:13,679 I would be able to do what I'm doing right now if I didn't work 150 00:09:13,759 --> 00:09:16,759 under someone like him, because he is just such a hard worker. He 151 00:09:16,799 --> 00:09:20,000 knows what to do and with a business and just so dedicated to uh you 152 00:09:20,039 --> 00:09:24,639 know, seeing that growth, making the business succeed and also taking care of 153 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:28,559 his employees. It's it's uh uh. You don't get many bosses like him 154 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:35,840 in this life. And then so when you started Blackheart Sound officially, did 155 00:09:35,919 --> 00:09:41,039 you start recording there or were you recording at home at first? So yeah, 156 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:45,720 I started by I had a spot down in Morgan self storage, and 157 00:09:46,039 --> 00:09:50,679 I think there we go. I was there for a while actually, and 158 00:09:52,159 --> 00:09:58,320 I had I think I wanted to record like demos for uh for my band 159 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,639 at the time, and U So I got myself, like I think I 160 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,519 had like a small little like two track interface and I had like a barringer 161 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,039 mixer that I would run the mix down and two tracks into that. So 162 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:13,480 I would start by doing that sort of stuff. And then word got out 163 00:10:13,519 --> 00:10:16,639 that, oh Eric can record stuff. So bands I would, like, 164 00:10:16,679 --> 00:10:20,120 you know, start working with like punk bands and doing stuff. And I 165 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,360 didn't really know what I was doing, but like you know, they come 166 00:10:22,399 --> 00:10:24,919 over, Hey, here's twenty bucks and a six pack. Let's go for 167 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,519 a few hours and see what we can get. So that started, and 168 00:10:28,559 --> 00:10:31,320 I'm and uh. Then I got like a like an eight track setup, 169 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,159 like some sort of like personas thing, and I was like, wow, 170 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,360 I really like this I want to I want to learn how to actually do 171 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,720 this. Yeah, so I just went full in, not really knowing what 172 00:10:41,759 --> 00:10:46,039 I was doing. I went out and bought a bunch of equipment, took 173 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:50,279 out when went and got like a personal loan which sounds crazy, and bought 174 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:52,600 a bunch of like nice mics, like you know, some decent preamps. 175 00:10:54,159 --> 00:10:56,759 And I was just like, I'm gonna learn how to do this. I'm 176 00:10:56,759 --> 00:11:01,919 gonna try and uh find spaces in which I can do this. The second 177 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:05,440 space I had was in the Verick buildings, the buildings that they tore down 178 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,000 across from the market basket and oh, okay, yeah, you're familiar with 179 00:11:09,039 --> 00:11:13,639 those. I mean a lot of people had studios in there, a lot 180 00:11:13,639 --> 00:11:16,799 of people had practice spaces, and I had a practice space in there at 181 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,279 one time before before Morgan's, before I had a practice space at Morgan's. 182 00:11:20,720 --> 00:11:24,039 Yeah, so I know exactly the spot. Yeah, I got in there 183 00:11:24,039 --> 00:11:28,200 and I was I ended up taking over this like giant space that was uh 184 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:33,000 it was called the fuzz Hut. It was it was like a DIY venue 185 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,240 that a bunch of people I know had run and they ended up getting out 186 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:39,399 of there, and I took it over and it was like three thousand square 187 00:11:39,399 --> 00:11:43,799 feet. It was huge. Wow. And I just started, uh like 188 00:11:43,879 --> 00:11:46,919 you know, doing more bands out of there and kind of like cutting my 189 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:50,120 teeth there and learning how to do this. I think one of the uh 190 00:11:50,879 --> 00:11:54,919 one of the first records I did was for Mike and the night Blinders. 191 00:11:56,279 --> 00:11:58,320 I'd known myked and you know, I'd from like the shafskiing and everything, 192 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,440 and me, hey, can you can do my band? I was like 193 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:05,840 sure, gave him, like you know, I was recording for basically nothing 194 00:12:05,879 --> 00:12:09,200 then, and he's like, okay, day of He's like, all right, 195 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:11,360 we want to do it live. And I'm like, I've never done 196 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,759 this before, Like I've never recorded a live folks circle. So I'm literally, 197 00:12:13,919 --> 00:12:16,159 you know, they're an hour to coming in and I'm sitting there on 198 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,600 Google. How do you make up a folk circle? Like that's where I 199 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:22,240 was. I had all this equipment. I'm just like learning how to do 200 00:12:22,279 --> 00:12:26,000 it practically. I never went to school for any of this stuff, so 201 00:12:26,039 --> 00:12:30,799 I just threw myself in there. Yeah, and you know, I I 202 00:12:31,480 --> 00:12:33,279 love that record still. It's a it's a great one. It's very uh, 203 00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:37,480 very raw, but yeah, that's that's really where I started. So 204 00:12:39,240 --> 00:12:43,559 at a certain point that that space become became kind of like unusable. I 205 00:12:43,600 --> 00:12:46,840 wanted to find a place where I could put money into. It was a 206 00:12:46,879 --> 00:12:50,120 spot that only would give me a month to month lease, which I'm looking 207 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,879 at putting twenty five to forty grand into a spot to build it out. 208 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:56,879 You don't want to do that, right, Yeah, no kidding? Yeah, 209 00:12:56,919 --> 00:13:01,639 So I started moving around. I ended up finding a place over at 210 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:05,440 Candya Road, right next to Candy Road Brewing, and rented from them for 211 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,799 a while. I know, I know all those people really well, they're 212 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:11,960 they're great, and uh, operated out of there for a little bit, 213 00:13:13,039 --> 00:13:16,600 did some shows there, tried to you know, kind of foster a little 214 00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:22,080 bit of that uh that that DIY space for for shows with people that that 215 00:13:22,159 --> 00:13:26,799 was fun. And then when Joe bought the building behind the music, Millie's 216 00:13:26,879 --> 00:13:28,720 like, hey, I'll give you a whole quadrant of this place. Do 217 00:13:28,759 --> 00:13:31,639 you want it? And it was like it was perfect, I can rent 218 00:13:31,639 --> 00:13:35,240 from my boss. I can uh, I'll have like a full it was. 219 00:13:35,279 --> 00:13:37,799 It was just like a full blank rectangle to build from the ground up. 220 00:13:37,879 --> 00:13:41,120 Wow, And that was like the golden opportunity. It was like, 221 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,039 yep, do it. Wow, So and uh yeah, that's where I've 222 00:13:45,039 --> 00:13:48,840 been for uh for the past the past five years. Yeah, really really 223 00:13:50,159 --> 00:13:52,840 struck. Good luck to get in there, because I'll tell you, finding 224 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:56,360 spaces to do this it's extremely difficult. I have bounced around. I have 225 00:13:56,480 --> 00:14:01,600 done It's not easier either finding places where you uh you know that that are 226 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:05,559 like somewhat affordable, but like you have to deal with people around you being 227 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,879 noisy or like them being upset with you or that was that was probably a 228 00:14:09,919 --> 00:14:11,919 problem with Morgan's right, Yeah, that was That's why I like, as 229 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:13,960 soon as I started, like, you know, being like, hey, 230 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:18,000 I'm gonna charge bands, even though it wasn't much like I'm gonna charge people 231 00:14:18,279 --> 00:14:20,240 a little bit, I had to get out of there because, you know, 232 00:14:20,279 --> 00:14:24,799 I'd start doing stuff and then suddenly a band next to you's rehearsing exactly, 233 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:26,799 it's a rehearsal space. Of course, I can't get upset about that, 234 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:30,039 but you got to know where you're at. Yeah, so I had 235 00:14:30,039 --> 00:14:33,960 to find find places. So yeah, or you're just like doing you know, 236 00:14:33,600 --> 00:14:37,600 really expensive commercial space and you know that that'll allow you to do that 237 00:14:37,639 --> 00:14:41,039 and it's it's uh, it's tough. Yeah yeah, yeah, No, 238 00:14:41,159 --> 00:14:43,759 you're in a You're in a great situation. And uh yeah that couldn't have 239 00:14:43,759 --> 00:14:46,600 worked out any better. Huh. I say, yeah, that's that's amazing. 240 00:14:46,639 --> 00:14:48,720 It was just it was a no brainer. Yeah, get in there. 241 00:14:48,919 --> 00:14:52,120 Yeah. How long how long did it take you to get to a 242 00:14:52,159 --> 00:14:56,320 point where where you felt like, you know, really because you talked about 243 00:14:56,639 --> 00:14:58,559 when you were starting and kind of learning on the fly, you know, 244 00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:03,240 which is it was a really good way to do it because obviously it works. 245 00:15:03,879 --> 00:15:05,679 How long did it take you to get to a point where you felt 246 00:15:05,679 --> 00:15:09,519 like, Okay, I've really got this, Like I'm I'm I'm a legitimate 247 00:15:09,159 --> 00:15:13,399 engineer and producer. And I think it was like about the time I had 248 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:18,919 gotten into that space, maybe like you know, right around there, because 249 00:15:18,919 --> 00:15:22,840 it was having the space where I knew how to get the sounds I wanted 250 00:15:22,879 --> 00:15:24,480 to, I knew what I was able to do. I was able to 251 00:15:24,519 --> 00:15:26,919 have much much more of a controlled environment because I was kind of flying by 252 00:15:26,919 --> 00:15:31,519 the seat in my pants and most of the places, you know, anyone 253 00:15:31,559 --> 00:15:33,759 I know had seen any of the places I was at before and be like, 254 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:37,919 yeah, these places were these were whack eric Like, you know, 255 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:43,559 I wasn't dealing with like great sound isolation, and you know, I didn't 256 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,320 have like ISO rooms. I didn't have like well treated places to mix. 257 00:15:46,799 --> 00:15:50,360 So being able to have a good control room that was that was specked out 258 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,879 and designed to mix in having a live room that I could work in and 259 00:15:54,960 --> 00:16:00,000 kind of just like learning how that space worked. That that really got me 260 00:16:00,039 --> 00:16:03,519 to where I was at. And you know, learning this by yourself is 261 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:08,480 a hard thing to do because you always have there's always the sense of like 262 00:16:08,559 --> 00:16:12,120 imposter syndrome where you're like am I doing? Am I good at this? 263 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,080 Yeah? Like through that the whole way, and then but like at a 264 00:16:15,159 --> 00:16:18,960 certain point it takes a long time. You just the silence that you got 265 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,960 to be like listen, I'm working with people, they're coming back, you 266 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:25,600 know, we're doing records time and time again. The business is going good. 267 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:27,759 Like, yeah, you know what you're doing. Yeah, that's interesting 268 00:16:27,799 --> 00:16:30,200 what you said about doing it by yourself, because it sounds like, you 269 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,200 know, because a lot of people who I talk to who do what you 270 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,679 do, they had kind of a mentor who who helped them and kind of 271 00:16:36,679 --> 00:16:38,960 taught them, But it sounds like you didn't have that necessarily. I wouldn't 272 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:44,600 necessarily say that I didn't have any mentors. I would say that I definitely 273 00:16:44,639 --> 00:16:48,879 did have some people who were like decent resources. Yeah. Biggest one my 274 00:16:49,039 --> 00:16:55,000 good friend Derek Blackburn, who runs a mixing and mastering studio out of Bedford, 275 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:59,000 mass From the time I was like from the Morgan storage times, I 276 00:16:59,039 --> 00:17:02,679 was like, I kind of found him on Instagram. He was a mastering 277 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:03,480 engineer, and I was like, cool, you know, I'm gonna follow 278 00:17:03,559 --> 00:17:07,880 these people, and we would always have dialogue and I remember like he was 279 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:11,400 always a great resource for me. I remember when I first did like the 280 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:15,000 first, like one of the first mag guitar demos back in like twenty fifteen. 281 00:17:15,039 --> 00:17:17,839 I had sent him a track to master and like, I didn't know 282 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:19,160 what I was doing then, and I was like it was very loud, 283 00:17:19,279 --> 00:17:22,839 and he instead of you know, coming to me and being like, hey, 284 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:25,960 idiot, turn it down, like he explained to me why, like 285 00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:27,839 here, this is too loud. Here's what you should do, you know, 286 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:33,640 blah blah blah, and and he was always super helpful, so I 287 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,880 could always go to him with any if I ever had a question, Hey, 288 00:17:37,119 --> 00:17:40,880 Derek, I'm running into this problem. What can you give me some 289 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:45,039 advice? Yeah? And I love that because you know, he was just 290 00:17:45,079 --> 00:17:48,880 so humble, had no problem giving me any sort of information that I needed. 291 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:51,759 And you know, we still we have a working relationship to this day. 292 00:17:51,279 --> 00:17:56,440 I send a lot of people his way from Mastering. We just worked 293 00:17:56,440 --> 00:18:00,359 on a really great record together by this band playing Alcoholism, and it's it's 294 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:04,599 a fantastic record. And you never know what those relationships are going to turn 295 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,759 into eight years, ten years down the line. You have no idea how 296 00:18:08,799 --> 00:18:12,680 that's gonna have it's gonna work, And I'm really lucky to have someone like 297 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,200 that. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. Oh that's cool, that's 298 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:22,039 cool. What is uh? Is there a particular project that you've recorded there 299 00:18:22,079 --> 00:18:27,759 that was especially challenging or just really unique and kind of outside of your comfort 300 00:18:27,839 --> 00:18:30,599 zone? Is there anybody like that? I wouldn't say that there's much outside 301 00:18:30,599 --> 00:18:33,599 of my comfort zone. There's definitely projects that, like, you know, 302 00:18:33,799 --> 00:18:37,960 really put me to the test in regards to, like, you know, 303 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,640 to how far am i'd like, how far can I take my skills? 304 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:45,920 And actually the project I just mentioned this band, Crippling Alcoholism out of Boston. 305 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:51,279 We did a record together. They're very, uh, it's very avant 306 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:56,920 garde, kind of like poppy, dark music kind of in their vocalist is 307 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,160 kind of in the vein of like Peter Steele, very like. Yeah, 308 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:04,880 they sound a lot like like Swans or like you know, early like you 309 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:11,279 know, like new wave, kind of like dark gothic stuff. And they 310 00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:15,759 also mix like these interesting elements of like kind of like off metered, like 311 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,920 they call it like math rock, or we call it mathcore. Yeah. 312 00:19:19,839 --> 00:19:26,960 So this record was really really unbelievable. They it's it's about an hour long, 313 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,160 and there's all these ridiculous elements in it. There's probably, i want 314 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:36,599 to say there's in each song there's probably like three or four guitar parts, 315 00:19:36,599 --> 00:19:41,960 individual guitar parts on top of like a few layers of guitar synthesizer with keyboard 316 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,200 synthesizer, and then all these other ambient elements. So I think by the 317 00:19:45,319 --> 00:19:49,279 end of the session when we started to mix, we were looking at like 318 00:19:49,559 --> 00:19:55,480 probably two hundred and fifty individual tracks. Oh my god, yes, yeah, 319 00:19:56,000 --> 00:19:59,440 you know it was it was not like individual songs, but just like 320 00:19:59,519 --> 00:20:04,799 tracks yeah, we're mixing and that is like, yeah, it's doing that. 321 00:20:04,839 --> 00:20:10,200 It was almost like like like mixing and like an orchestral piece or mixing 322 00:20:11,279 --> 00:20:14,920 like a score. Yeah. Uh so that was really cool. We were 323 00:20:15,000 --> 00:20:18,119 and the uh what helped out is they had a really great idea as to 324 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,039 what they were going for for the vibe and what the end product was. 325 00:20:22,279 --> 00:20:27,559 Yeah, the the vocalist and I want to say main songwriter, Tony you 326 00:20:27,599 --> 00:20:32,680 know from them, He came in with full pre produced tracks like here, 327 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:33,839 we have like the sound down, we know what we want to do, 328 00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,839 and uh yeah, mixing stuff like that is uh. I had done a 329 00:20:38,839 --> 00:20:41,359 couple of projects like that before, and the first time it was like, 330 00:20:42,519 --> 00:20:45,759 man, that was tough. But once you do a couple of those, 331 00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,359 you kind of get in the method of here, you know, I I 332 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:52,720 know how to approach this. I'm not gonna get overwhelmed by this ridiculous track 333 00:20:52,759 --> 00:20:56,519 count. Yeah, because I did a I did like a post rock band 334 00:20:56,559 --> 00:21:00,680 like that one time. We remember they were like import like I think it 335 00:21:00,759 --> 00:21:04,079 was like thirty to the twenty five to thirty synthesizer tracks per song. Yeah, 336 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:06,880 and I remember that was the first time I'd ever done that, and 337 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:08,759 I was like, oh my god, this is wild. But after you 338 00:21:08,799 --> 00:21:12,319 do stuff like that, it becomes very very easy, you know how to 339 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,839 manage it. Yeah, and it makes the stuff like the other stuff, 340 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,319 like the more simple stuff just like that much easier. Like wow, yeah, 341 00:21:19,359 --> 00:21:22,079 this is we're just doing dealing with like guitar, drums and bass, 342 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,559 right, I know how to mix this right, right right? Yeah? 343 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:29,680 Yeah, yeah, because I I have a little bit of recording experience and 344 00:21:29,839 --> 00:21:33,400 just just hearing about that, all those tracks, it makes me feel anxious, 345 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:33,880 just the idea of it. You know, it's like, oh my 346 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:37,839 god. Wow. Have you ever been in a position where you've had to 347 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,240 kind of say to somebody, I think you're doing too much, Not because 348 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:45,559 you don't want to do it, because you're obviously up for the challenge, 349 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:48,359 but just do you ever as a producer, do you ever have to say 350 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:52,279 to somebody, I think, you know, sometimes less is more and you're 351 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:56,119 trying to put it more into this than you need to. It really depends. 352 00:21:56,240 --> 00:22:00,799 I am a I'm a big fan of excess. I love a bunch 353 00:22:00,839 --> 00:22:03,519 of elements. Yeah, and if people are down to do that, then 354 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,039 like, let's go for it. I'm going to try and and figure out 355 00:22:07,039 --> 00:22:11,319 how we can make the space in the mix for this. You know, 356 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,680 if it's something that's like obviously jumbling up the song, where like we're getting 357 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:19,000 too many elements, like this piano part sounds disjointed in this rock song, 358 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,000 like what are we doing here? It's like offre Then there's like there's things 359 00:22:22,039 --> 00:22:25,400 where I'll be like, I don't know if this fits really well. But 360 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:29,559 you know, I'm always willing to entertain the idea of excess because I think 361 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,759 that that's what helps in like producing a track and making something interesting, Like 362 00:22:33,839 --> 00:22:38,160 I want people to add in elements, and I want to foster that creativity 363 00:22:38,279 --> 00:22:41,720 and that that desire to add more, right, because the worst thing is 364 00:22:41,759 --> 00:22:45,400 we try it out and it doesn't work. You know, hey this sounds 365 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:51,920 bad, let's not use this, or hey this the synthesizer part sounds great, 366 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:56,279 let's get let's keep it in here. I think that is what helps 367 00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:02,920 make songs progress and have movement and uh and be uh be like very very 368 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:08,720 accessible to people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Interesting. I I'm always 369 00:23:08,759 --> 00:23:14,480 asking people about their influences, but usually it's uh, I'm asking about musical 370 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,039 influences. Which which I'm happy to ask you about too. But I'm also 371 00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,720 very curious about a producer influences. Is there is there anybody who is really 372 00:23:22,799 --> 00:23:26,279 who you kind of look to as I mean, obviously, you know you've 373 00:23:26,279 --> 00:23:32,400 made connections like with I Frida's name now from Bedford, mass Derek Derek Blackburn, 374 00:23:32,559 --> 00:23:36,119 So he's Derek Blackburn. So he's obviously an influence of yours. But 375 00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:40,599 are are there any producers kind of legends in the business who you really look 376 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,160 up to or take inspiration from. I'm gonna go I mean, my initial 377 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,400 one, one of my first ones was was definitely Steve Albini. I love 378 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:53,240 his approach to getting sounds in his studio. His studio is just very interesting 379 00:23:53,279 --> 00:23:59,079 and like astonishing. It's it's seriously a wonder in regards like recording studios, 380 00:23:59,079 --> 00:24:02,400 electrical audio. It's it's so cool. It's just such a legendary place. 381 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:07,720 And what his approach to his approach to recording is a little bit more hands 382 00:24:07,759 --> 00:24:12,880 off than I like to be, but because his his approach is, Hey, 383 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,079 you come in here, we're gonna record your music. I'm not gonna 384 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:18,319 do anything to you know, I'm gonna mix it I'm gonna make it sound 385 00:24:18,319 --> 00:24:22,680 as good as possible. I like to be a little bit more involved, 386 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:26,039 but I just I love his approach and like how like well thought out his 387 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:32,319 approaches to tracking music in the sounds that he gets. So he was he 388 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:37,000 was a big one for me for sure. I find that like a lot 389 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,319 of the music that I listened to like influences what I like to do or 390 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:44,319 like like how I like to get sounds as well. So h you know, 391 00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,519 I like to find influence in the in the music as well. Yeah. 392 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,640 Yeah, well, so let's talk about musical influences. Who who does 393 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:56,799 influence you? Oh jeez, my musical background. I mean there's like there's 394 00:24:56,799 --> 00:25:00,880 so much. I definitely kind of I have a pretty eclectic taste of music. 395 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,000 My and uh, I gotta, uh, you know, give some 396 00:25:04,039 --> 00:25:10,160 credit to my parents that my parents. My dad grew up in Long Island 397 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,960 in the in like the sixties, and he had seen like a lot of 398 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:18,480 rock concerts. He went to the place called the Philmore East, so seeing 399 00:25:18,519 --> 00:25:22,400 like you know, all the all the classic rock bands, Zeppelin, you 400 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,680 know, Hendrix, the Who, they were all playing there. The playbills. 401 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:29,039 You should see that he has you would you would die. They're they're 402 00:25:29,079 --> 00:25:30,920 unbelievable. What a great place to grow up in the sixties. Yes, 403 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,079 good for him taught me about like taking his U his four horse power boat 404 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:41,000 out to Manhattan and just like going to see these shows. So I definitely 405 00:25:41,039 --> 00:25:45,359 had that sort of background there. And my dad was also like really uh, 406 00:25:45,519 --> 00:25:49,920 really into new music as well. He's always listening to stuff, stuff 407 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:52,839 that was fresh, like and I remember when I was when I was younger, 408 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:56,480 he would like throw on like the Offspring so and stuff like that. 409 00:25:56,880 --> 00:26:02,000 So like he always like he kept this music taste evolving. Yeah, so 410 00:26:02,039 --> 00:26:04,000 that's like the rock portion of things like that. I would blame him from 411 00:26:04,079 --> 00:26:08,079 getting me into like rock and metal. My mom, definitely, uh, 412 00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:11,680 is the reason why I love pop music. She was you know in the 413 00:26:11,759 --> 00:26:15,759 nineties. Car rides with her were like a lot of you know, nineties 414 00:26:15,759 --> 00:26:21,160 catalog Madonna share things like you know, I remember like hearing a lot of 415 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:25,680 like Alana's more Set. Uh, there was a there was a sting solo 416 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:30,640 album that was like pretty pretty big that your Car. So like she she 417 00:26:30,759 --> 00:26:34,079 gave me the love for pop music and you know those hooks, those those 418 00:26:34,599 --> 00:26:38,759 songs that kind of rely on that that songwriting and then making hits. So 419 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:45,160 I've always kind of drifted between those realms, never really trying to get myself 420 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,079 all stuck in one in one thing that I'm listening to all the time. 421 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,160 So I would say I I, yeah, I listened to like an eclectic 422 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:59,039 mix of like you know, pop rock, metal stuff, electronica, lots 423 00:26:59,079 --> 00:27:02,200 of things. Yeah, it's interesting to what you said about your dad, 424 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:04,720 because Jenny probably already knows where I'm going with this. But my father, 425 00:27:06,279 --> 00:27:08,519 he lives on the Sea Coast and he's in his seventies and he still listens 426 00:27:08,519 --> 00:27:12,559 to new music, and it's just it's it's really cool because like he listens 427 00:27:12,599 --> 00:27:17,920 to w U n H, which is which is such a great station on 428 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,319 the Sea Coast. And it's just interesting because it's been a topic on the 429 00:27:22,319 --> 00:27:26,039 show on many occasions. How so many people they get to a certain point, 430 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:27,680 I don't I don't know what the average cutoff is, maybe thirty, 431 00:27:27,759 --> 00:27:32,880 maybe maybe younger. I think there's twenty five. Yeah, yeah, where 432 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:37,640 they just stop, where they just kind of decide, not consciously but subconsciously 433 00:27:37,680 --> 00:27:40,839 they just kind of decide, Okay, I've I've heard all the music I 434 00:27:40,839 --> 00:27:45,519 ever want to hear and anything after this point. I don't like the seventies. 435 00:27:45,519 --> 00:27:48,599 You're just like Leonard Skinner. Yeah, yeah, it's like you live 436 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:51,480 and die by that. But it's uh, which is fine. But you 437 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:52,880 know, there's so much out there. There's so much to discover. I 438 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,880 feel like I'm discovering new bands all the time. Yeah, and well, 439 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:00,119 that's the thing. There's more music than ever and it's easier to find than 440 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,400 ever. So there's no reason for anybody to be getting stuck. But people 441 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,359 just do. Yeah, you know, which is totally fine. You know, 442 00:28:07,759 --> 00:28:08,880 if you have if you have bands you love and you yeah, and 443 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,200 you have a genre music you like, go ahead. There's so but you 444 00:28:12,279 --> 00:28:15,440 know, there is so much to discover. There's so And as as someone 445 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:22,359 who's recording music, I want to be able to to appeal to what someone 446 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:23,960 wants to produce. I want to be able to be well rounded. I 447 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:26,799 don't want someone to come in and be like, hey, I have this, 448 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:27,720 this, this hip hop track, and I'm just like, whoa, 449 00:28:27,759 --> 00:28:30,759 I don't know any of that, right right, Yeah. I like to 450 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:36,880 keep up with that, with the individual sorts of culture that are surrounded in 451 00:28:37,079 --> 00:28:40,440 each genre of music and like what's relevant there? Yeah, but you know 452 00:28:40,519 --> 00:28:42,799 what's relevant and pop what's relevant? And hip hop these days, what's relevant? 453 00:28:42,839 --> 00:28:45,200 And like you know, have you metal? What what are we doing? 454 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,559 Yeah? Because so many people from all sorts of different walks of music 455 00:28:49,599 --> 00:28:55,000 come to me. Yeah, and it's I want to be accessible to all 456 00:28:55,039 --> 00:29:00,720 of that. Yeah. Yeah. Do people typically bring you demo or I 457 00:29:00,759 --> 00:29:03,640 mean or do you have artists who come to you to record and they're just 458 00:29:03,720 --> 00:29:07,680 they're sort of just coming in cold and that they don't have anything recorded, 459 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:10,720 but they know what they want to do. Obviously they know their songs, 460 00:29:10,759 --> 00:29:15,720 but but they're not they're not necessarily providing anything for you prior to that, 461 00:29:15,759 --> 00:29:18,359 so you're just kind of starting from scratch. Does that ever happen, It's 462 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:22,119 like it's fifty to fifty. Yeah, a lot of people come in with 463 00:29:22,359 --> 00:29:26,079 pre produced tracks. Yeah, these days, it's it's really easy thing to 464 00:29:26,119 --> 00:29:32,359 do. Everyone has access to an interface. Everyone's got access to like at 465 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,720 least a couple of microphones or even the ability to plug into an interface and 466 00:29:34,799 --> 00:29:38,519 use like AMP simulators. Oh yeah, they have for doing that sort of 467 00:29:38,519 --> 00:29:41,839 stuff. So yeah, a lot of times I get the people who come 468 00:29:41,839 --> 00:29:45,400 in with like you know, fully produced like kind of like demos or like 469 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:49,119 pre product. I call it pre production, yeah, which is so important 470 00:29:49,279 --> 00:29:53,720 because it gives me an idea of what they're looking to do for their sound. 471 00:29:53,880 --> 00:30:03,240 Right, the aforementioned Crippling Alcoholism band, it came in with individual tracks 472 00:30:03,279 --> 00:30:07,359 for like drums, guitars, and vocals during the pre production process, and 473 00:30:07,480 --> 00:30:11,039 so I had a full on idea as like to what they were going for, 474 00:30:11,079 --> 00:30:15,079 what the progressions were going to be in these songs, what we were 475 00:30:15,119 --> 00:30:18,920 doing like somewhat roughly in the vocals. And that was great because we were 476 00:30:18,960 --> 00:30:22,759 able to to kind of like sit down and be like, okay, let's 477 00:30:22,759 --> 00:30:26,880 look at the song. Okay, maybe this is too long here, maybe 478 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:30,960 this this bridge goes on for too long. Let's chop this up. It 479 00:30:30,079 --> 00:30:33,599 was also like a grid, so we could just like it was so easy 480 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:37,640 to do, so I would say that's a huge thing for bands to do. 481 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,240 It's really important to when you go in to have an idea, like 482 00:30:41,279 --> 00:30:45,519 at least somewhat of an idea, comprehensive idea as to what you're going to 483 00:30:45,839 --> 00:30:49,079 lay down there. It's the most important thing. It saves a lot of 484 00:30:49,079 --> 00:30:53,359 time. You know what. I's expensive, Yeah, exactly, it's not 485 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:56,720 cheap. And if you're and if you're sitting there like you know, it's 486 00:30:56,759 --> 00:30:57,559 like you know, I always like, like I said, you know, 487 00:30:57,599 --> 00:31:00,839 I love when we're sitting there trying out stuff and trying out things, but 488 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:07,160 it's it's better for their time if you try those things out beforehand, you 489 00:31:07,279 --> 00:31:12,039 see what fits. So yeah, I I could not suggest more to bands 490 00:31:12,039 --> 00:31:15,839 to be doing that sort of stuff and trying to tackle as much of the 491 00:31:15,839 --> 00:31:19,440 pre production process as possible. No, I do it every time when I'm 492 00:31:19,519 --> 00:31:22,039 even me, I'm you know, and I've I've have a studio at my 493 00:31:22,039 --> 00:31:26,680 disposal where like I said, for the new Magnetar stuff, we're doing pre 494 00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:30,440 production tracks. We're demoing things out, so that way, I'm not spending 495 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:34,720 all the all of my time in the studio trying out these vocal things before 496 00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:40,519 I've you know, were we go in. I'm doing this stuff now so 497 00:31:40,559 --> 00:31:41,599 I can figure out what we're gonna do, and then when we go to 498 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:45,880 record the record, I know exactly what we're doing, what the harmonies are, 499 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,720 all that stuff. It's super helpful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, 500 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:53,039 Now what's the process. Like as far as UH bands or or solo artists 501 00:31:53,079 --> 00:31:57,359 or whomever approaching you, do they because obviously, I mean, you don't 502 00:31:57,400 --> 00:32:00,960 just work with everybody, right because you're time is limited. You know, 503 00:32:00,039 --> 00:32:05,519 you can't just work. I mean, I'm sure there's there's probably some people 504 00:32:05,519 --> 00:32:07,640 who maybe approach you who aren't ready, you know, and you have to 505 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:09,839 kind of tell them, well, I don't know if you're ready to to 506 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:14,119 record. I mean is that something you run into you? Yeah, sometimes 507 00:32:14,119 --> 00:32:16,759 you can tell that with when when people come in if like maybe they need 508 00:32:16,759 --> 00:32:20,200 to like coach their vocals a little bit more. I do it a lot 509 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:22,359 with like I see it a lot with like hip hop stuff. You know, 510 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:25,400 sometimes people will come in and you know, they they might need some 511 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:30,279 vocal coaching or something like that, or need to work on the on their 512 00:32:30,319 --> 00:32:32,640 rhythm. UH And you know, I'll be honest with people. I'll tell 513 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,359 them like, hey, this these are things that you should probably work on 514 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:38,079 before we come back in here and do that, and it can show up 515 00:32:38,079 --> 00:32:43,599 and like that's sort of what we're realm or like maybe a like if a 516 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:46,240 band's trying out apart and we're doing you know, like the guitar player just 517 00:32:46,279 --> 00:32:50,519 wrote like a lead in this section or something like that, and they're trying 518 00:32:50,519 --> 00:32:52,839 it out, we're not getting the right take of it or something. I'll 519 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:57,960 be like, hey, how about next week's session, Well, can you 520 00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,640 rehearse this lead and then next week's session will come in we'll do that. 521 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:04,960 Yeah. It's good to uh, it's good to pump the brakes on things 522 00:33:05,000 --> 00:33:07,799 when you're like pushing, uh, when you're running up against the wall. 523 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,680 Yeah, that can be very uh, very defeating on the on the morale 524 00:33:10,839 --> 00:33:15,759 when you're you know, on take number twenty and you're not like, there's 525 00:33:15,799 --> 00:33:19,359 nothing worse than that. When you're when you're just trying something out, trying 526 00:33:19,359 --> 00:33:22,200 something out, it's just like you know, you're just going at it and 527 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,759 uh yeah, so I I I will like, you know, tell Avance, 528 00:33:24,759 --> 00:33:29,079 Hey, let's rehearse this, let's try it next time. We'll get 529 00:33:29,079 --> 00:33:30,920 it in like three takes next time. Yeah, okay, yeah, so 530 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:35,559 uh yeah, that definitely happens. Yeah, definitely happens because you could just 531 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:37,839 I mean, and and some some people would you know, you could just 532 00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,599 take their money and just and just go with it and not say anything. 533 00:33:40,599 --> 00:33:44,119 But in the end. It doesn't help them to do it that way, 534 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:45,839 and it doesn't help you either, because you want anything with your name on 535 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:49,400 it that goes out there, you want it to be of quality to exactly. 536 00:33:49,559 --> 00:33:52,759 I'm I try to be as much of a buffer on that end as 537 00:33:52,799 --> 00:33:55,440 possible. You know, I've never I've heard so many stories of people go 538 00:33:55,559 --> 00:34:00,000 like, you know, recording with people who are just like, yeah, 539 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:01,839 that sounds great. Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah, great, take 540 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:07,079 there, and you never you never on hear that stuff. So when people 541 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,239 say something doesn't sound right, I'm like, let's let's redo it. Let's 542 00:34:10,519 --> 00:34:13,760 if it doesn't sound right to you, You're going to hear this forever. 543 00:34:14,960 --> 00:34:19,320 That Magnetar record, there's like a part where I you'd never notice this, 544 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:22,320 but there's like a part where I like hit a different note than I wanted 545 00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:24,920 to, and I was like, you know what, this is fine, 546 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,119 it's in key, it's right where where it should be. You know, 547 00:34:30,159 --> 00:34:32,920 I'll just send it. I kind of like how it sounds a little bit, 548 00:34:34,599 --> 00:34:37,559 uh, And I hear that one note every time. Yeah, Like 549 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,039 dang, should have just done that, Uh, should have just done that 550 00:34:42,119 --> 00:34:45,800 quick edit. You've got to live with it now. Yeah. Yeah, 551 00:34:45,840 --> 00:34:47,280 Well, like once you put it out, it's out there exactly, can't 552 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:53,000 there's no going back right right exactly. Yeah, what's uh, is there 553 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:58,880 a particular project that's been what's the longest project you've done, the most involved 554 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,880 as far as I, I suspect it might be that crippling Alcoholism? Man, 555 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:06,280 I'm working with the band. Uh. One of the members is from 556 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,239 here. In one of them, a couple of are from Tucson called Through 557 00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:15,960 a Glass Darkly. It's uh, it's very I feel like I've heard that 558 00:35:15,039 --> 00:35:17,480 name I want to I want to call. I think it's a I think 559 00:35:17,519 --> 00:35:22,800 it's in reference to like a book, Oh, okay, familiar. Yeah, 560 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:24,119 I I haven't read it, but I think that's it. Uh. 561 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:30,199 They're they're kind of they call it, uh zimmer Gaze, very very uh 562 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,199 the theatrical, not not theatrical, but it's like, what do you call 563 00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:37,559 it's like almost like a movie score. Yeah, very cinematic the word I 564 00:35:37,599 --> 00:35:42,239 was looking for. Yeah, and that was uh, that was one of 565 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:45,400 the like the mixing process was like very very Uh. That one took a 566 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:49,039 while because we were going, you know, we're going back and forth on 567 00:35:49,199 --> 00:35:52,719 unbounced out mixes and they were very particular in regards to what they There was 568 00:35:52,800 --> 00:35:59,000 no nothing spared in regards to like any note. He even thinks as minors 569 00:35:59,079 --> 00:36:01,880 like oh the based and the size of down just a hair like and we 570 00:36:02,079 --> 00:36:06,159 did like all these steps of that. Yeah, it sounds amazing. We 571 00:36:06,159 --> 00:36:09,599 have a record that that is. Uh. I think they're they haven't talked 572 00:36:09,599 --> 00:36:12,880 about it yet, but I think they're they're planning on putting it out in 573 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:15,559 the next year or two. It sounds amazing. It sounds unbelievable. You 574 00:36:15,559 --> 00:36:19,920 could just like sit back and listen to this and just like it's it's an 575 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:23,159 unbelievable record. That one. That one was like about a year, year 576 00:36:23,159 --> 00:36:28,119 and a half. Wow, you know, I I'm working right now. 577 00:36:28,159 --> 00:36:32,239 I just finished a record with a Boston based band called Coffin Salesman and yeah, 578 00:36:34,119 --> 00:36:37,639 oh I love it. They're uh main songwriters. Uh this this guy 579 00:36:37,719 --> 00:36:44,960 named Aria great great songwriter and uh, you know that that process was about 580 00:36:45,159 --> 00:36:47,719 a year year and a half. You know what we're doing is you know. 581 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:51,639 But but I think they had like a UK tour they were doing like 582 00:36:51,679 --> 00:36:52,880 a bunch of shows they were doing. But we were just kind of splitting 583 00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:58,360 the production duties between myself and them. So they were doing like overdubs, 584 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,880 like piano overdubs at their practice spot, you know, adding in all this 585 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:05,559 stuff, which is a very common thing to do. Uh. You know 586 00:37:05,559 --> 00:37:07,599 a lot of people have like decent recording setups at their house, so they 587 00:37:07,639 --> 00:37:10,719 will they'll they'll get stuff recorded, send it out, I'll mix in the 588 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:15,800 stems. It saves them time in the studio they can kind of especially for 589 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:17,800 like overdub stuff, because that's where you spend a lot of time just like 590 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:22,599 trying things out and seeing what sticks and like throwing things and seeing what sticks 591 00:37:22,599 --> 00:37:27,840 on the wall. And it enabled them to kind of keep the budget a 592 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,239 little bit lower. Instead of spending like three days like doing this stuff, 593 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,480 they could do it on their own time and uh and send it out. 594 00:37:35,519 --> 00:37:38,199 So that was uh that one. Uh yeah, about about year year and 595 00:37:38,199 --> 00:37:44,679 a half, which is pretty typical for a record. I would say a 596 00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:46,760 record can take depending on like, you know, how complex it is, 597 00:37:46,800 --> 00:37:52,559 anywhere between like four months to a year in the process, depends on like 598 00:37:52,559 --> 00:37:57,119 everyone's schedule because everyone's busy, you know, unless you're like a full time 599 00:37:57,599 --> 00:38:00,320 touring band, being able to like the time to that, it's like, 600 00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:04,440 uh, you know you got you gotta carve it out. Yeah, is 601 00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:07,800 there a project that you're particularly is there one that you're I know, I'm 602 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,559 sure you don't want to play favorites with your clients, but is there is 603 00:38:10,599 --> 00:38:14,639 there any one project that you're you're especially proud of where if you were to 604 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:19,639 listen to it today, you'd go, damn, I gotta say, you 605 00:38:19,679 --> 00:38:22,760 know, I've dropped a bunch of times, but that that The Crippling Alcoholism 606 00:38:22,199 --> 00:38:27,400 was like, uh, what was uh, fantastic record. I really want 607 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,599 to hear that now. It's great. I think it's called is it out? 608 00:38:30,679 --> 00:38:35,199 Is it already available? Uh? With love from a padded room, 609 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,480 Yeah, it's outright now it is Okay, I'm gonna listen to that today. 610 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,480 It's really near it now. And I feel like it was because I 611 00:38:40,519 --> 00:38:44,599 was able to I was giving a lot more freedom to be the producer role 612 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:47,079 in that one. Yeah, it was great. You know, I was 613 00:38:47,119 --> 00:38:51,320 able to make calls and like here's how long, here's like how these structures 614 00:38:51,320 --> 00:38:53,280 of these songs should be. Let's let's cut out like this stuff, Let's 615 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:58,679 remove this part, Let's add this part and Uh, they really trust me 616 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:00,920 with that, and it feels good when you're with a band like that. 617 00:39:00,079 --> 00:39:04,320 Yeah, I think you'd like it. It's it's it's very very earwormy. 618 00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:07,320 It's a very dark sounding record. It's some Uh it is the story of 619 00:39:08,559 --> 00:39:14,039 I think it's like ten songs and each song is about a uh it's like 620 00:39:14,119 --> 00:39:17,360 a you're walking down a solitary confinement and you look inside of one room and 621 00:39:17,400 --> 00:39:21,079 it's like a story about this person. Yeah. And it goes from all 622 00:39:21,119 --> 00:39:23,519 this stuff from like you know, these really sinister like murderers to like, 623 00:39:23,639 --> 00:39:29,119 you know, some some guy who's like you know, addicted to pills, 624 00:39:29,159 --> 00:39:34,079 who who's goes to like a boxing gym. It's like it's it's everything, 625 00:39:34,199 --> 00:39:37,599 yes, yeah, and uh there's all these wonderful lyrics and it's uh, 626 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,320 very dark but catchy. Yeah, all right, Jenny and I will listen 627 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,840 to that today. Absolutely, definitely. Definitely. The time goes so fast 628 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:51,360 before we uh because we're we're gonna play another song by the way too out 629 00:39:51,559 --> 00:39:53,559 at the end of the segment and I'm gonna play, Uh, I'm gonna 630 00:39:53,559 --> 00:39:58,639 play a magnetar track Loving You is killing Me. Okay. It's like seven 631 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,199 minutes. But I don't care because I it it's so good. So so 632 00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:06,719 we'll we'll play that in a in a moment. But Eric, what should 633 00:40:06,719 --> 00:40:09,920 people know about getting in touch with you keeping up on everything that you're doing. 634 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:13,239 I'm sure we have you know, a lot of musicians listen to the 635 00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:15,280 show. I'm sure there's people who want to work with you, either because 636 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,440 uh, they know of your work, or they're learning of you for the 637 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:22,119 first time, or whatever it may be. So, how how should people 638 00:40:22,199 --> 00:40:23,719 reach out to you, submit music to you, et CETERA best way to 639 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:28,760 do it is through my website, blackheart andh dot com. I have a 640 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:32,880 whole contact form there and you can email me on there, my emails on 641 00:40:32,960 --> 00:40:37,000 there, my phone numbers there, text me, call me like I'm I'm 642 00:40:37,119 --> 00:40:40,280 I'm usually available to answer. Yeah. So I love I love talking with 643 00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:44,360 people about their music and like what they're looking to do. So yeah, 644 00:40:44,719 --> 00:40:46,679 I can be Uh, I can be reached out through there at any point. 645 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,119 Excellent, excellent. Hey, By the way, where does the name 646 00:40:50,159 --> 00:40:53,400 come from? Blackhart Sound? Is there any significance to the name or there? 647 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:58,440 No. I I remember thinking of coming up with it one one day 648 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:00,639 and I was like, I like how this sound. Yeah, And that 649 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:06,119 was probably around like twenty sixteen. There's no there's no romantic story about the 650 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:08,119 about the name on that one. Yeah, I just liked it. It 651 00:41:08,519 --> 00:41:10,840 rolled off the tongue for me. So yeah, I figured, hey, 652 00:41:10,960 --> 00:41:14,280 let's go for it. Oh, by the way, you're getting some love 653 00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:16,239 in the chat room, like Casey Darren just popped in and said love Eric. 654 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:20,119 Yeah, we had uh what was that two weeks ago? Yeah, 655 00:41:20,199 --> 00:41:23,360 yeah, two weeks ago. Casey was here played live for US Acoustic. 656 00:41:23,440 --> 00:41:25,639 It was really really good. Case is great. Yeah. Yeah, oh 657 00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:29,840 that's right. You did the afterimage stuff, right, I know, Or 658 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:35,960 did you? Brandon Brendon Curtio engineers all their stuff. They did, They 659 00:41:36,039 --> 00:41:38,519 did some they recorded some stuff out of my studio. Oh okay. Brendon 660 00:41:38,519 --> 00:41:42,000 Curtier is a good friend of mine. Okay, he'll come in for some 661 00:41:42,079 --> 00:41:45,280 sessions and he'll rent the studio for me some oh I gotcha. Okay, 662 00:41:45,519 --> 00:41:47,519 okay, So that Brandon actually did a lot of work on the on that 663 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:51,280 that Dank Sinatra record. Yeah, oh he did. I would say, 664 00:41:51,360 --> 00:41:53,719 yeah, he did a big portion of the tracking and mixing on that one. 665 00:41:53,840 --> 00:41:58,679 Oh okay, that's that's great too. I love that there's a particular 666 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:04,440 dank Sinatra song said air between Us. Was that recorded there? Yeah, 667 00:42:04,480 --> 00:42:08,280 yeah, yeah, yeah, because I remember Fredo, he's one of the 668 00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,920 guests who has mentioned your name. Like I said, it's it's great to 669 00:42:10,960 --> 00:42:14,519 finally have you on because your name comes up quite a bit here, which 670 00:42:14,559 --> 00:42:16,039 is wonderful, and we have con to it coming in the in the third 671 00:42:16,079 --> 00:42:21,320 hour and they recorded with you, and so yeah, really they're great. 672 00:42:21,679 --> 00:42:23,119 I can't wait to get the get those tracks out of me. I think 673 00:42:23,119 --> 00:42:25,679 we worked on those a little while ago. So yeah, yeah, here's 674 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,440 yeah. They they sent us a bunch of stuff and uh, I had 675 00:42:30,480 --> 00:42:35,599 to make some radio edits. Yep. Didn't have to do that with Magnetar 676 00:42:35,679 --> 00:42:39,800 though. No, I mean there's much you tell. I'm not sure. 677 00:42:39,800 --> 00:42:43,199 I'm not sure what he's saying here, but whatever it is, he definitely 678 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:47,239 means it. Eric Sotter, thank you so much, my friend. This 679 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,039 has been wonderful. We'll we'll definitely have to do this again in the future. 680 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,039 Uh. Like I said, this is and I like this whole album. 681 00:42:54,199 --> 00:42:59,559 It's a crush from the band Magnetar, but this is my personal favorite 682 00:42:59,599 --> 00:43:01,239 so sell. Officially, we're going to end with this one. Oh I 683 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:04,639 was wrong. It's actually it's eight and a half minutes. This is a 684 00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:07,360 long song, but I don't care because I love it, so we're going 685 00:43:07,440 --> 00:43:12,719 to play it. This is Loving You was killing Me from magnetar Eric. 686 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:13,760 Thank you again, Thank you.