02 - Brian Lee White Pt1

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Brian Lee White Podcast


This is a great interview with Brian White. It's a little long, and stream of consciousness (because we haven't talked for several years). Brian shares valuable insights as a composer, producer, teacher and business owner in the content creation industry. At the time of this interview, Pro Tools 11 was just released. It's amazing we are now at Pro Tools 12, and how fast technology evolves. Brian also hits on some very important soft skills that are applicable to all of us, regardless what year it is.

Links Mentioned in this Interview

Notes from Brian - 2013

These are the plug-ins I use regularly. (I don't really use the Sonnox stuff anymore. It just fell off my radar when my NFRs expired :) I also agree about the Avid Console Strip. It sounds alright but the GUI is a piece of shit, so I never ever use it. Workflow is king for me. If a GUI shits the bed then it's not for me. A good example of that is the Nebula system. A lot of bros like that thing, for me it is just a big pain in the dick to use, so even if it sounds like unicorns shitting golden nuggets, I just don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

EQ
Dynamics (compressors)
Dynamics (limiters)
  • Massey L2007
  • Waves L1 (This is still my go to track insert limiter for controlling transients)
  • Fab Filter Pro L (this limiter is amazing, the fact that it can also do * A/D style "pure clip" limiting is super useful for certain applications)
  • Slate FG-X (good for stuff that doesn't have a ton of 808 bass, if I have a ton of low sub I use Fab Filter)
Dynamics (other)
Harmonic
Reverb
Delay
Other

I recently purchased the Plug & Mix VIP bundle when it was on sale for $99 (it's 40 plug-ins of all types) in anticipation of Pro Tools 11 (since they are AAX64 ready). I haven't installed them yet but I am really excited to start using them because I think it represents an amazing value for students who are looking to get a nice collection of plug-ins without a lot of cash. That bundle goes on sale in a group buy once in awhile and you can get it for super cheap. Also planning on getting Nomad Factory Magma, which let's you host VST plug-ins inside of of Pro Tools (their method of "wrapping" is official approved by avid), there are so many sleeper VSTs out there that are either free or dirt cheap, like the TDL feedback comp and the AOE transparent limiter, the sKnote stuff too is really cool.

Check out this album I mixed earlier this year iTunes Mong Manh Tinh Ve that's 100% in the box and the entire album was mixed in a single weekend (2 days, crazy), I think it sounds beautiful. It's mostly ballads with hella reverb, but tastefully done I think.

The reality is I could mix with a quarter of those plug-ins, or even just with a specific bundle (like just the plug-ins that come with Komplete Ultimate are fucking crazy, their softube designed EQs and Comps sound amazing, and the Lexicon style reverbs they just did, killer). It's more about knowing what you want, but having a certain set of tools is just a faster/easier way of getting where you want to go because you know if you use "X" tool then you will consistently get "Y" result. If I have to use a set of tools I'm not familiar with, I'd need to spend more time figuring out how to translate the sound in my head, but it could be done. I could probably figure out how to use Sans Amp for console emulation if I had enough time, haha. So many kids (adults) think they need some specific plug-in or outboard piece to get a good mix, when the reality is they don't even know what they want the mix to sound like in the first place. You gotta have the mix/song/whatever in your head before you can even fuck with technique or tools. In other words, you can know every scale and chord, play them until your fingers bleed on the best guitar ever built, but it doesn't make you John Lennon.

To that end, the whole "do you even know what you want?" thing has me really off the idea of mixing other people's projects lately. You get so much shit that is just like "what where you doing/thinking during writing/recording/arranging stage?" that you ask yourself why would I even try to lend my vision to this nightmare? So many people think "all I am missing is a good mix, so let's bring this to a pro mixer" and the reality is that 90% of them are missing way more than a good mix, it is really kind of a disease in this hobby recording world we live in. I've actually just started having my assistants tasked with the turd polishing, I can put a little money in their pocket and they get to learn some life lessons about tactfully dealing with irrational expectations. I'd rather just produce and mix my own music within my own camp of people, where we have a consistent vision and esthetic and are all on the same page. But that is a whole other 3 hour interview in itself :)

Additional Notes from Brian

Here are some of the tools I use:

  • I use Google Apps for all my email, calendar, groups, etc. management, it's great.
  • Google Analytics for web analytics to my sites.
  • I recently switched on of my WordPress sites (the finishingmoveinc.com site) over to BlueHost, they are FAR SUPERIOR to Go Daddy. Rolling wordpress databases over to a new server is a real cock punch so I gotta do it in stages when I have the patience to switch.
  • I use my iPhone a lot, the MOG app and the Hype Machine app are my go to for new music.
  • I use a free program called XLD for all mp3 encoding.
  • Told you about Snapper. Use that everyday.
  • Carbon Copy Cloner for cloning drives and local backups.
  • Crash Plan unlimited for cloud backups.
  • I use TouchOSC on my iphone and ipad to set up custom MIDI instruments. This is so cool
  • Dropbox (mega space plan of course) for all collaboration. Drop box is so good.
  • I set up my own link shortening service at blw.ms using a PHP software called YOURLS. That is how I make cool little links to my courses like blw.ms/lynda or blw.ms/brml to post on twitter, then I can track those links discretely (outside of general site analytics) to see how effective any given marketing blast was.
  • Logmein for remote desktop stuff.
  • I run a Hackintosh server in the garage that serves all my media to the house, it doesn't have a monitor or keyboard, so i have to remote desktop into it to configure stuff.
Some albums I've been listening to lately

Final Comments

That new Music Therapy program at Foothill College sounds cool. Wish I got some hippy degree when I was in school instead of busting my ass in a boring business program that didn't teach me shit about owning, running or being employed by any type of business (seriously, I learned way more from my parents growing up). I get students asking me what degree/training they should pursue for a career in music engineering or production, generally I tell them, "If you like something half as much as this, do that instead" but when they insist, I usually tell them that a science engineering degree (if they have the aptitude) is going to give them the biggest edge because at least they could go to work as a software developer at a plug-in company or design hardware somewhere. The reality it takes time to fully develop an esthetic identity, having a degree in something employable will at least give you a shot early on, because you wont have any cash worthy "taste making" skills in the first 5 years of your career. I mean if there is one tip I would give any aspiring producer/engineer/whatever it's that. It's a simple fact that it takes time to develop your ear and form a unique voice as an artist, there is no fast tracking or getting around that time, so you best have some other employable skills to help you survive and put some money in your pocket while you develop those skills. For example, one of our interns is actually on summer break from a computer engineering program back east, this mofo codes custom plug-ins and shit, he is our little code pig and we have him exploring/learning all this difficult command line sound design software for us, he also make really decent music with tons of vibe and good taste, he's definitely got a future in the industry (if he doesn't get picked up by some Facebook style startup and become a millionaire first).

The weird thing is that we have developed this culture in america that says we have to encourage everyone with open arms, regardless of talent or common sense, to pursue whatever they THINK they want to do. Honestly, most people would be better served keeping music/sound as a hobby, and focus on having fun and enriching themselves and others, not because 99% of people don't have what it takes from a talent/excellence/pure luck stand point, but because the burden, stress and compromise caused by trying to earn a paycheck from this shrinking industry is so hard on every other aspect of your life, relationships, mental health, etc. Not to sound like a totally jaded bro, I wouldn't want to do anything else, but you gotta be a serious glutton for financial, emotional, and mental punishment to want to be in this business :)

Brian's Spring 2015 Update

I don't care what people think I look like, I'd wear a lucha libre mask as long as the checks cleared :) I wonder if the royalties will get bigger now that Linked In bought Lynda for 1.6 Billion, or maybe they will just fire everyone and keep only MS office toots, hopefully they don't screw it up.

Same EQ, DMG Equilibrium, still what I use 95% of the time, the Fab Filter Pro-Q2 is also very good. I recently wanted to buy some hardware EQs for 2-bus stuff, but a mastering engineer friend of mine convinced me otherwise, he said the only reason he doesn't use the DMG eq exclusively is because he needs the tactile control of HW to work quickly, otherwise it can do all the curves you'd ever need. Obviously it doesn't color the signal with transformers or tubes or any harmonic distortion, but you can use other stuff for that. When I want colored EQs, I like the 1073 and SSL emulations from Slate (Virtual Mix Rack stuff) or UAD. Compression is mostly the same stuff, guarantee that I will still use at least a couple Waves L1 in every mix, but that new TDR Kotelnikov is like free gain reduction with no penalty, reminds me of the cranesong STC8 in that regard, great for leveling vocals or a 2-bus without the stressed out compressor sound. I've been using a combo of TDR Kotelnikov and Goodhertz Faraday on vocals a lot.

As for multitracks to share, 95% of our work is in games now and that's mostly buyout/work for hire, so it's either in the category of "not out yet" and can't be shared at all, or "we don't own the content" and can't be shared because we want to get hired again :) The only thing I would have would be artist stuff i'm writing for fun, which may have limited appeal.

Brian's New Plug-ins Spring 2015

as for new plug-ins:

Boz Digital +10 dB (this is a good replacement for people who don't have UAD DBX160 and need to put a ton of weight on a snare drum, also does that Led Zeppelin room sound well.) http://www.bozdigitallabs.com/product/10db-bundle/

All the Free TDR (Tokyo Dawn Records) Plug-ins, there is absolutely no reason people shouldn't have these installed on their system, they are free and sound amazing. http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/

Goodhertz Faraday Limiter (free), all of their plug-ins are cool actually. https://goodhertz.co/faraday-lim

Sonarworks Reference (Correction filter for Headphones, so like room correction EQ but for your headphones, pretty amazing). http://sonarworks.com/headphones/overview/

I use Bluecat Patchwork A LOT to run VST and AU plugins, most importantly Acustica's Nebula system. If that's a rabbit hole you are willing to go down, their is stuff out there that kills anything else available, especially in the saturation, console emu and reverb department. Nebula is a real pain to use until you figure out a workflow and the learning curve is very steep, so it's not something I would recommend to beginners or people who aren't use to solving their own problems with software.

I no longer use the Focal Solo monitors, sold those. I now use Amphion One18s paired with their custom amp. The only Focal's I'd even consider these days are the SM9s, everything else sounds phasey and sloppy to me now that I've worked on the Amphions, I know you're a speaker geek, you have to get a pair up to demo (Vintage King and Pro Audio LA are dealers). http://www.amphion.fi/en/create/

I also bought a few hardware 2-bus compressors, more D/A and 24 channels of summing. I'm using a Metric Halo ULN8 as the main interface with some Apogee DA for extra outputs, that all runs into a Dangerous 2-bus and Dangerous D-box. I only use the hardware on personal projects that don't require a ton of revisions or recall, but I do enjoy using it when I can.

Also I am now using PT12 HD and I gotta say, even though there are a ton of haters, this shit is super stable for me, solved a lot of stability issues I was having with 11. Does it suck that I had to pay $600 for stability? Of course, but I don't have time to whine about that shit. Hopefully they get on those new features soon though, I'm still not ready to give up and move to cubase or reaper or whatever.

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