In this Podcast Short Julian explains his reasons for nominating 5 skills which he thinks every engineer would benefit from learning, and 3 which, while very worthwhile, don't make the list.

The original article can be found here and the article by Damien Kearns referenced in the podcast can be found here.

Welcome to the Production Expert podcast. In this edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Andy Bensley & Marcel Schechter of Genelec. Where they discuss why a great listening environment is the best time saver, and how to get the best setup for our individual needs.

About Our Guests:
Andy Bensley: joined Genelec as Regional Business Development Manager in 2019. Based in the UK, Andy has huge experience in analysing and tuning the in-room performance of loudspeaker systems in a wide range of studios — from the smallest bedroom to the largest post-production studio.

Marcel Schechter: joined Genelec as Customer Experience Specialist in 2021, before that he already spent seven years as a product specialist for the German distributor Audio Pro. He worked for ten years as a sound engineer and uses his practical experience to advise customers on choosing, optimising and calibrating loudspeaker systems. 

Talking Points:

• Why a great listening environment is the best time saver and other benefits.
• What to do about less than ideal rooms.
• Using referencing to improve our mixes. 

Finds of the week:
Julian: Zennor Sounds
Ashea: Hydraulic Press Channel
Marcel: The YouTube channel Audio University
Andy:  Cory Wong - The Sorcerer

In this edition Julian and Ashea are joined by producer & mega musician Mark Thompson, where they discuss new tips, tricks, and things they generally love (or hate) right now.

Talking Points:

• Good advice or cool production tips you´ve learned that you´d like to share.
• Plugins or hardware that people need to know about.

Finds Of The Week:
Julian: Krotos Ambience generator
Ashea: Waves Center
Mark: Orla Gartland

Russ wonders if all this modern recording technology is actually damaging our creativity rather than enabling us?

In this edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Luke Steven Ramsay and Luke Goddard, where they break down songs from the 80s until now and ask, what makes a hit?

Talking Points:

• Pick 2-3 tracks you love from the 80s-today.  
• We compare why. Production, musicality, expression, cultural influences, demographic. 

Ashea´s Tracks:
Back Bone- Chase & Status & Stormzy  

Charlie XCX Sympathy Is A Knife 

Luke R´s Tracks :

The 1975 - Oh Caroline 

Sam Fender - Spit of You 

Luke G’s tracks:

Tears For Fears -Seeds of Love

Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue

Royals - Lorde

Julian’s Tracks

Madonna Vogue

Sabotage Beastie Boys

Get Lucky - Daft Punk

In this podcast short Russ Hughes says; "You are going to come up against all sorts of problems when recording and mixing. Occam’s Razor is an indispensable tool we ignore at our peril."

In this edition Julian and Ashea are joined by Luke Goddard and Paul Maunder, where they discuss tried and tested production rules and ask, does anyone care about that anymore and if so, why?

Talking Points:

• Being in the room with the artist/client, is it still necessary? Does it even matter?
• Have listeners' ears become accustomed to things like Auto tune, heavy compression, would anyone care if we stopped doing these things?
• Loudness Wars- does anyone care anymore?
• Mix Assistants E.g EZ mix, is it cheating?

Finds of the week:

Julian:Using what you already have in the studio (Carbon story, Caldigit Ethernet, audio key on piano)
Ashea: Audio Ease- Speakerphone 3
Paul: BlackMagic UltraStudio Recorder
Luke:  Leaf Audio 

In this podcast short Russ Hughes explores how audio professionals can get ahead in marketing. "I remember being on Zoom call with some of the most respected names in music production some time ago. I was talking about marketing strategies to help them get new clients and to grow their businesses. As we went through the Q&A time and the session drew to a close one of them said; “What we really want is for you to do this for us!” They weren’t joking, they all knew how important marketing is, but all hate the thought of doing it.

If that’s you, then here’s my attempt at helping those of you who want to get ahead in audio when you hate the thought of marketing."

In this edition Julian & Ashea are joined by Miles Fulwider,  Producer, Engineer & Educator working extensively in Immersive formats and CEO of ADK Microphones. where they discuss how to take the simplistic, ‘less is more’ approach by capturing the best sound at source.  

Talking Points:

• You can’t polish a ****, why capturing the best sound in the recording process will make your life easier.
• Mic and recording techniques for a ‘Grammy’ worthy sound. 
• The only gear you’ll ever need. If we could only use a handful of tools for the rest of our careers, what would they be and why
• How might these approaches and philosophies apply to audio education?
• Applications in immersive audio (such as off-axis freq response). 

Finds of the week:
Julian: Airsound
Ashea:Charli XCX Album- Brat
Miles: Maag PreQ2

In this edition Julian is joined by William Wittman & Steve DeMott, where they discuss transparency vs colour.

Talking Points:

• Coloured Vs Transparent gear,(mics, etc)  when, why and how do you use it?
• Arguments for and against.
• Gear recommendations.

Recommended by Steve: Q2 Audio

Finds of the week:

Julian: New IEMs
William: youtube channel : Sorted Food  
Steve: Netflix DocuSeries - Rise of Empires: Ottoman 

In this edition Julian & Ashea are joined by David Barber,  President of the Motion Picture Sound Editors. Reid Caulfield, sound editor, mixer & audio consultant in Los Angeles & Alex Gregson, head of audio & Post Production mentor at 344 Audio, where they discuss how to adapt to the shifting goal posts in Post Production.

Talking Points:

• Post Production, post Covid, How has it changed? Has remote working affected/improved things for you, if so how?
• With so many AI and other new tools, the requirements of audio engineers in Post seem to be changing. What kind of changes are you seeing in your work and how are you adapting to these changes?
• What tools are you adding to your workflow to assist with new demands, or improve the quality in general?
• Scaling your team and business sustainably during challenging times

Finds of the week:

Julian: 1985 Aria Pro II Laser Electric Classic
Ashea: Rule Tec Heritage Pro
David: Matrix 20th anniversary event
Reid: Relab VSR REV6000
Alex: Streamdeck and Auto Hotkey