The Magic Of Analog Gear with Audioscape Engineering

In this episode of The Sonic Truth Podcast, we're joined by the incredible Alberto De Icaza, a seasoned mixing and mastering engineer based in Austin, Texas. Starting his career at The Machine Shop under legendary producer Machine, Alberto has built an impressive discography working with artists like Robert Glasper, Clutch, Megan Thee Stallion, Ne-Yo, DJ Chose, and even King Crimson.

We dive deep into his evolution as a mastering engineer, including his work mastering a record for Timbaland, his insights on the affordability of Audioscape's Buss Comp, and the artistry of using analog gear in today's digital world. Plus, we discuss the importance of gear designed by audio engineers, the role of audio limiters, and his experience mastering music for soundtracks.

🔗 Don't miss this exclusive conversation with one of the industry's top engineers!

0:00 Introduction

3:44 Becoming a Mastering Engineer

10:14 Timbaland

15:13 Affordable Buss Comp

21:38 Slayer Meets Spaghetti Western

27:10 Magic of Analog Gear

32:46 Gear Designed by Audio Engineers

38:25 New Old Stock

44:42 Limiters

50:32 D.I.Y.

54:04 Soundtracks

Follow Alberto at:

https://www.albertomixes.com/

/ albertomixes

Follow AudioScape:

/ audioscapeaudio

https://www.audio-scape.com

Listen On The Go:

https://thesonictruthpodcast.podbean.com

#MixingAndMastering #TheSonicTruthPodcast #AudioEngineering #AnalogGear #MusicProduction #MasteringEngineer #MusicIndustry #BehindTheMix #AustinMusicScene #SoundtrackMastering #PodcastInterview

Transcript:

hey everyone welcome to the Sonic truth

and today we have a special guest with

us mixing and mastering engineer Alberto

deasa welcome my man thank you it's

awesome to be here with you guys hey

thanks for coming on and joining the uh

audio chat that we have here yeah I know

we have a mutual friend uh Steve Shady

uh he he he hit us up he's like you got

to get Alberto on we're like okay we're

gonna do it yeah we have a lot of

friends in common that keep keep talking

me about this like Sam Pura I'm very

close with him same with Cody Simpson he

has a studio that's maybe like 30

minutes away from here um and I keep

making fun that it's like a showroom for

AIO Escape gear because like I think

you're just missing a decm everything

else is here you know oh got to get the

decom yeah yeah like Pokemon right gotta

catch them all but no yeah the deom

seriously that's that's a beast you know

there's nothing like that no that's

awesome it I definitely want to get

one now do you have any current audio

Escape gear yet or have you just been

able to listen to it I don't and and

actually like I I just saw the email

that you guys are doing bundles I'm like

man because I definitely want to get the

260 um I heard it at n um when you know

you guys had like a little demo there

and I was like Blown Away by it so I'm

definitely looking at that and the DM

and the LA 3A it's very close to my

heart just cuz um so I learned mixing

from a producer machine and from will

Putney and so I learn on his ring and

when when he was working at that time um

he was doing la3 for guitars and like a

couple distressors and um so you know he

moved to in the Box ever since and I

kind of went the opposite way I was in

the box when I was not mixing on his rig

and I like little by little started

putting you know New pieces and the LA

3A were that thing they got discontinued

right as I was on that transition and

like prices shoot up and I was never

able to get a pairer that was you know

somewhat affordable I was like I don't I

don't want to just pay the money for an

original one just cuz you know just for

the name like I actually want a nice

unit so when I saw you guys like

recreated it a couple years ago I was

like yes this is awesome and they look

so [ __ ] cool like this is Giller you

know so yeah definitely GNA chat after

this with you guys about that you're in

the market for one man it's funny how

like the d uh the the LA 3s people don't

it's still like they don't realize

they're so good on like on guitars like

some people still gravitate maybe

towards a 160 Vu or something like that

Lloyd Who U runs sound front of house

for Young the Giant he came in our our

room here and he worked on this desk for

like the whole day and he was like just

sold that he was going to go with the

160 Vu and as soon as he heard the the

d3a he got two of them for both guitar

there there's something magical they do

with the mids like there's like little

presents that they add even when you're

just hitting like one or two Debs of

compression it just kind of pushes

everything to the front in a very nice

way you know um yeah and I haven't been

able to find like anything else that

kind of does that in that like magical

way you know everything has their own

flavor but there's just something about

them on guitars that is just like yes

it's familiar this is you know it sits

right sound yeah the mid-range just like

it's rich but it's it's it it almost it

almost brightens without becoming

offensive in a way like is how I

describe it just like it's sort of

livens and brightens everything up and

and in a way that's like how you would

expect you've heard it on million

records like you like you mentioned so

so I got to ask how did you evolve to

become a mastering

engineer um so I started working with a

machine and will Putney this was in 2009

2010 uh we were in New Jersey at the

time you know I started like an intern

started just like a runner um at the

time will used to be machines engineer

and he was getting pretty busy so

machine desperately needed an engineer

and I was there just learning from them

so I kind of made my way into that

opportunity of like okay I can track you

know I'll start getting my own projects

but at the same time I'm working on this

awesome you know PR like we had like

clutch come through and like Miss mayi

We Came as romance like oh nice so

definitely had an amazing learning

experience with talented musicians you

know not a lot of people can say that um

and just having a mentor was great so I

did that with machine for a bit then we

decided to move to uh here to Austin

Texas in

2014 uh we built a Barn Studio it's

right outside of Austin it's a beautiful

place um and I was tracking there at the

time I started doing more my own

projects um and it was a little trickier

to get bands in there for me and I was

kind of like soul searching like what do

I really want to focus in I enjoy mixing

a little bit more um I got married and

you know it's also like just putting all

the time like it's so tough um and I

live somewhat far from the studio too so

it was like I never see my you know my

fiance at the time like it was tough so

I was like you know what I kind of want

to start my own mixing place um and just

figure out life um so I I decided I'm

just going to start with mixing and

mastering that's what I do that's what I

know I enjoy it um and people kept

hiring me for mastering more than mixing

like At first I had a couple mixing

projects and whatnot but then just

through online communities and whatnot I

met a lot of friends that trusted me and

we were like yeah yeah you you know you

finish our records like you know you

know how to make them good um and so

through that and I started working with

some indie artists um and a lot of them

are very um they pretty much do

everything in house and then you're just

just finishing stuff for them right so

you'll just get mixing stem sometimes or

like almost like stem mastering right

like they'll just give you like here's

my drums here's my vocal stem here's

like guitars and like sents and just

finish up the mix and like Master it and

that's that so that kind of just became

a thing too where I was like well I mean

it's technically not mixing but it kind

of is it's it's a weird space um and

that just lend to more mastering stuff

um and then around 2020 I was working

with uh these managers that were doing

some IND the bands and at the time they

started managing um lions gates label um

so they hit me up and they were like you

know we're doing this um YouTube

original show it's hip-hop I don't know

if you work on hip-hop it's just a

mastering gig and I was like I mean sure

I'll give it a shot you know um so they

they were like we'll send you a track um

the producer is going to listen to it if

he likes it you know you get the record

um

and they sent me one track that the

producer made just so that I could kind

of match it like he mastered it and he

was like he's going to be on the record

so we got to make sure that you know

that these two are going to sound okay

and I was like sure fine we'll you know

we'll roll with it so they sent me the

tracks this for a show called stepup um

side note especially at the time I was

completely ignorant to hip-hop right I

grew up with like metal and rock I grew

up in Mexico City so it just kind of

never got to me so like I know some of

the bigger artists but I was not deep in

the in the trench especially with R&B

like they just flew over me right so

they sent me this artist I you know I

mastered the song and I send it on their

way then they tell me yeah the producer

is timola and I was like oh I know that

one you know like it has to be big and

my wife came back from work and I told

her what happened she's like well who

was the artist it's like I have no idea

some dude named Neo she's like wait what

H like look it up pull your Spotify and

look it up I like oh [ __ ] like this is

serious right um and I ended up getting

that record and from there I started

doing a lot of soundtracks for for them

and kind of making a partnership with

Lion gate where I work on a lot of their

soundtracks and that just open mastering

in a completely different level right

because from before being very Niche

with Rock and alternative you know metal

kind of bands now it was like all across

the board it could be hip-hop one day

the next day there's classical music

then the next day is like atmospheric

like horror shows like this is literally

all over the place and that helped me

kind of hone my master in craft a lot

just cuz you you learn little things

from different genres right like we you

know just working in metal you get all

these tricks on like how to control

stuff how to make it loud without it

just being super boomy right and then I

get hipop and I'm like well I I know how

to do this over there if I apply the

same logic these guys might love it

because I can make it sound aggressive

and loud and not just like kind of like

distorted and boomy right like a lot of

the Atlanta Hip Hop is sounding now so I

kind of started doing that crossover and

it worked like people like what I do on

the mastering side um so yeah I just

kind of established myself that way wow

so you were applying the tips and tricks

that you had learned doing heavy rock

metal music and you applied that to the

urban side of music right and it came

out great that's phenomenal because

that's two different ends of the

spectrum especially when you're

approaching it from a mixing perspective

and I imagine from a mastering as well

for sure um and it's it's interesting

because you know when you look at Rock

and especially metal is very dense on

the mids and Hip-Hop is the opposite is

very dense On The Low End there's big

hole in the midst so just being able to

like know how to work how to make space

on certain areas like it just translates

to everything like it's it's pretty

interesting to see the world through

that lens you know once you have to work

on different genres like oh this is this

is more you know there's more

similarities than I thought there would

be here and it's pretty heavy your first

gig was with uh Timberland I mean I

don't think you can get much bigger than

yeah right that in terms of hip-hop yeah

that's that's pretty cool that is cool

and it's cool to switch it up too so you

know and

it's it's great and you brought this up

that's everything sort of it does cross

over and go together you know like we

see we see that with the tools that we

that we make it's you know any genre can

use an la3 like we just spoke about her

like ANL comp it's like across the board

I don't know one one genre that doesn't

have you know a like an SSL style

compressor on Mix B or somewhere in the

chains like that's what makes it

exciting being able to switch it up for

us even just having people reach out

that are you know from that genre or

this genre just all over the place it's

just so general purpose it's it's really

it's you know before I used to just

build guitar pedals back in the day and

that's a very specific market so having

you know to be able to interact and and

and Converse with a bunch of different

people from different backgrounds and

all that it's a lot of fun for us too

you know doing the same thing that's

that's cool you get to switch it up cuz

that way you just it stays fresh for you

you know you don't you're not doing the

same thing every

day oh yeah for sure and it's very

exciting um just working with people in

different you know in different genres

personalities are very different um and

I mean I love it it's it's very

surprising sometimes like um working

with some composers that are you know

I'm like you can manage an entire

Orchestra and make these beautiful

pieces but on the technical side like

there's nothing right there's nothing

there right TR are engineers and it's

like yep you got this

and on metal like there's the complete

opposite right A lot of these guys are

like super Advanced they like

self-produce they know stuff and their

notes will be like yeah I want like0

half DB you know less 2K it's like it's

it's different worlds man it's crazy but

it's a lot of fun now in recent years

I've you know how frequently let me

rephrase that of all the clients that

come in and ask for mastering what

percentage would you say are wanting to

do the stem mastering because that's

something that's been relatively new in

the past five six seven years it's

definitely been less now like I would

say like not even 5% of the last two

years good um yeah I'm getting more but

at the same time I feel like I'm working

with more producers that actually know

how to mix um and it's less those

artists that are just doing their stuff

and just kind of moving from writing

sessions to their demo now it's the

final version and you finish it um now

I'm getting a lot of stuff that's more

developed so I definitely see very few

of it um I'll see more of it too

whenever there's problems to fix um I'm

I'm that guy that you know people just

come with a lot of like I don't know

what to do with this like I have this

problem and I'm like just give it to me

I'll figure it out um so like there was

a record that I had where the singer

wasn't happy with the vocal tuning and

there was a Fallout with a producer so

they gave me stems and they were like

can you like figure out how to tune

these couple words that are bothering me

and like you know match the original mix

like sure I mean we have the stems like

we can you know we can do that and just

master and put it out like U but now so

now usually those stem mixes are more

like there's an issue in there that I

have to figure out and it's just by

theault just falls into stem

mastering yeah cuz there was quite a

while like in 200 1819 a lot of people

came up with this concept of oh just

Master the stems the drums sound great

the guitars sound great just give it to

them in my thought process is like well

how you going to get the summing proper

you know what I mean from that point of

view and I imagine that had to been cuz

you're almost mixing also at that point

in time right when you had the stems it

makes sense for certain bands cuz like

you say how are you going to get the

summon right well that's the beauty of

it because these guys are just tracking

everything on like you know their small

interfaces and they don't really have

anything to sweeten stuff out before it

gets summed so they can give it to me

and I can put you know I'll put their

drums through like maybe through a pair

of distressors and I'll sum everything

through like a dangerous bus and then

have like a nice analog chain um for the

mix so my mix BST is going to sound way

better than what they have in an

untreated bedroom that a lot of times

they just had no idea what they were

doing right so like in those situations

I feel like that's where it's great

um and I feel like also since then since

like 2018 or so um companies like yours

have been really good at allowing people

that don't have you know $44,000 to buy

a compressor like let's say your sslg

right it was so unattainable for a lot

of people that now that's not the case

because you guys have an option that is

very affordable and it's really good A

lot of these guys are like oh I can

start putting stuff on my Mixbook and

make it sound so much better and you

know you can hear the death and you can

hear all this stuff like it's it's

exciting um so yeah I feel like that's

that's also part of it why you know

we're seeing a little bit less of that

except for for Atmos Adam Master an

Atmos but those guys are getting

sessions basically and yeah it's chaotic

to me I can

imagine surround was enough now I got to

bring an Atmos up to what 128 plus

channels right

now how frequently do you have to call a

client back and be like give me more

Headroom

um it it depends I usually work a lot

with the mixers it's it's interesting

with a lot of composers they just trust

you right like they'll send you stuff

and they're like here it is and then

what you what you give back they love it

very rarely they have notes and the

notes that they have usually are little

things that you know it's very tweakable

like like you know can we automate like

maybe this a little bit it's sticking

out too much in this section like kind

of stuff like that that's very you know

doable especially on like classical

stuff um but when it comes to like Punk

for example or um I've been getting a

lot of these Indie artists that are I

don't want to say it's like metal but

it's more like aggressive Indie it's

full of distortion and they like to blow

stuff up right and the way that they mix

it is they mix it loud because it sounds

cool like well that Distortion sounds

great when your track is loud so with

with them like I understand that and a

lot of times like I'll work on the on

the master and I'm like hey dude like

push this back because I can beat it

better than how you're beating it right

now so if you give me more head room we

can do that or from the beginning since

they send me a lot of them send me um

their mixes just to kind of get some

feedback before I get the the finished

mix um so if I hear stuff like that I'm

always like dude just print two of them

give me one how you like it and give me

one with a little more Headroom like

maybe take out um you know

whatever if if you're using like a

limiter at the end or if your

compression is like going insane like

just dial it back in and give me a

version without it and I'll just give

them an AM version I usually never tell

them what they are I'm like Pick A or B

and like let your ears decide um but

yeah I mean and I and I like that I like

working you know a lot of the mixers I

work with have my phone number and I'll

send them some stuff and like listen to

it I'm here here in the studio just text

me call me we can tweak stuff together

you know I I have no problem going 10

times on a song If that's going to make

it better like happy to do that stuff

yeah it's important to have that

communication with the mix engineer I

think a lot of times you know mix

Engineers will ask the client well who

Masters it and then they just give them

the files and then they step away so I

think it's cool that you're you're

embedded with them during the process

yeah that's important

and it's interesting too that happens a

lot with like midlevel producers to I

would say like yeah I would say like

yeah like middle class producer if you

want to call it that right because the

moment you have huge artists the

communication chain is insane it's like

I have to send it to a manager the

manager is going to send it to the

artist the artist might talk with a

mixer and then the mixer's going to come

back and the manager is going to come to

whoever hire me and it's just like an

email chain of five people to say oh

it's fine for stuff that I'll hear right

like oh you know there's been stuff that

I'm like I'm hearing pops and clicks

here like can we can we check on that by

the time that he goes to them and he

comes back to me and it's usually like

it's fine we're not going to the studio

to fix that so I've kind of just a lot

of times I'll just you know go into RX

fix all the stuff that I hear and I'm

like hey here's your version here's my

version with everything I patch if you

want to fix the mix cool do it send it

to me but if not we're not going to wait

waste you know four days in The Ether of

emails to get an

answer yeah I can imagine that can

longate the process when there's that

many people involved yeah too many chefs

it's tough

yeah now is there a a difference you've

done a lot of Television right in terms

of mastering music for

television Master the soundtracks what

okay what they use on the movies and on

the TV a lot of times because they're

doing surround Atmos Etc they'll give

stems to them and so so they just don't

Master they just kind of go for it with

their mixes and whoever is mixing the

movie Just sweetens it up a little I'm

imagining um but it's rare that the

tracks that I master end up on the

actual especially for movies for TV I

think it might not be the case but for

movies it's definitely like it's a

completely different format so they just

like don't don't even bother there's

been one composer that sat down with me

and he was like dude I love what you did

here and I wish this was on the movie

like how can we do that to all the stems

that we send them you know so I'm

waiting for his next movie so we can

kind of experiment with that a little

bit and see if you know we can Master

whatever five or uh I think it's like

six or eight stems that they're giving

um the what's it called the movie mixer

oh that'd be cool wow now is there a

difference in the L's level like when

you're approaching

to send somebody a master that's for

television or for film compared to

somebody who's Distributing it through

music is there a difference in the

master level that you have to send for

sure because when when it comes to like

Atmos especially like their Loops are

like so I think like they want like

negative 18 it's pretty you know it's

pretty pretty tough and that's part of

why I'm like conflicted with that format

um but I mean it's it's all across the

board I always try to make it sound good

by ear and we'll look at the numbers um

with you know some some records like you

just have to slam it like um I did one

with samura where uh it was for spirit

world great band right and it's

aggressive it's like Slayer meets

spaghetti western hell

yeah um but we wanted like his his mixes

were loud and what the band like is like

it's slamed like the thing was insanely

loud um so it's like let's do a master

that sounds that loud but it still feels

somewhat Dynamic and that's like always

a challenge right um and then you get

the complete opposite side on um like

for example I did the Ruby Gilman teish

Kraken soundtrack and on that side the

composer Stephanie economu she's she's

really good at making stuff very Dynamic

and there's space that I have to respect

right so I kind of want to like the way

that I describe what I do with a lot of

the soundtracks is like the difference

between watching a movie in a TV and

like the theater right like you go to

the movies and it's like stuff sounds

super wide and huge it's tall like

there's so much depth and that's kind of

what I'm chasing when I'm mastering a

song like I want the mix to be like what

you saw on your TV and VHS right and by

the time you hear the master it's like

oh [ __ ] like yeah this feels big and

like you know shiny um so with a lot of

that stuff it's like we gotta we gotta

be able to have a lot of a lot of range

and the quiet Parts have to be quiet

like I can just blast stuff right

because especially when there's like a

crescendo or something like we want that

to feel like overwhelming and that part

has to be loud but I don't want that to

be squashed because the rest of the song

was like too quiet so a lot of times now

I'm like I don't care about the loops I

don't care you know I'm not going to

look at the meters until it feels right

to me and then once I hit that I can

look at it and compare it and be like

okay now it's time to go against other

songs and like start checking you know

am I too quiet am I too loud but I know

it feels right here like this pie is

great level here then we'll figure out

how it's going to sit in playlist and

whatnot that's the way to do it yeah

yeah it's got to be all feel you know

you don't want to be we talk about it

too much a visual mixer right looking at

everything and right as Vance pow said

we spoke with him last week he's like

people are listen listening at music now

they're not listening to it so I love

that approach on how you do that oh yeah

for sure Vance is great like the man

will turn knobs you know upside down and

like be like it sounds good like I don't

care what it looks like I mean you guys

are experts at 1176 you know all the

wrong ways to use an 1176 are the best

ways to use an 1176 right yeah and we

also I'm sure you know when it was

designed like if those designers could

like look at what we're doing they'll

have heart attack

but it sounds great when you distort

them it sounds great when you blast all

the buttons and it sounds great when

it's begged you

know it does what it is it's fun yeah

and yeah the Headroom in the analog

domains a whole different ball game too

so you know AB slam these Analog

Devices pretty much as much as you want

for the most part without them you know

taking a crap on you so it's yeah for

yeah extremely and that's that's part of

the charm you know the uh you know it's

funny we we you mentioned knowing

everything about the uses of a 7 1176

but also just knowing just every little

deficiency in the circuit knowing just

you know learning I I even mentioned

like you know the reason why we drop new

products the way we do is like because

we're still it's like taming a wild

horse or something you know like you're

sort of gaining your footing with

everything that it can throw at you at

the you know at the beginning stage so

yeah it's uh because there is a lot

these these C these circus they have a

lot of quirks you know they're not

absolutely that's the charm about them

too so it's like we want to make sure we

you know perfectly replicate those

quirks and you know if there's anything

that's just offensive though we we

really you know we don't go down that

path but yeah it's yeah it's it's

definitely a labor of love just like

what you're doing so absolutely and you

know speaking of that I I've been very

hellbent on this lately but um I feel

like the sentiment on the on the

industry right now is we're very

precious

about you know the way the circuit is

made and what like you have companies

that are like figuring out what wire the

Transformer was W with to make an exact

replica of what it was but then you go

through all these Studios and every 1176

sounds different you know every la2a

sounds different you try to match them

and it's like it's not going to happen

and you know for 40 50 years teex were

just servicing with what they had around

so you know if it if it it's [ __ ] cool

I'll open it up and well maybe this you

know this resistor might be a little

value off but it it's good enough put it

in

there and that may Gear special right

like you talk to all these old guys that

have crazy collections of gear and they

like yeah this one sounds great I never

touch it like that's that's the one and

I've never been able to do that and it's

the same with amps you know there's so

many so many little things that I keep

saying like oh you got to get this and

you got to get this model like dude so

many happy accidents and that's part of

the beauty of analog gear it's never

going to sound the same once you found

one that's magical like that's it you

know there was something in there um

nail on the head like yeah totally like

Embrace those variances you know that's

what that's what we

literally you do because you mentioned

those they why they all sound different

is those tolerances those parts have

wide tolerances so they're just going to

you know yeah they're going to swing

it's going to swing and then you know

over time you know a lot of those parts

they use especially you know the 50 60s

carbon composition resistors they drift

up over time they changed their values

so they didn't sound the same like

something from 1960 does not sound the

same as it did when it came off the line

you know so

was telling me about the la2a that um

the opto cell has a life shelf and a lot

of the vintage ones like that life is

gone right so that's part of why you

can't find two that are the same because

they drifted so much that each one of

them is unique in its own way based on

how much it was used yeah the panels die

that's the first thing that usually

takes a dump in the opto cells the eel

panel like the back of like you know the

light in the like back of your phone or

whatever if you want to think about it

that way right it's hitting those two

photo cells and uh I used to when I

started building like you know Point too

la2 a for myself and that and what

usually what ended up becoming like the

god model for our opto is I started

cracking open those vintage ones and I

would see that oh like oh this panel's

tired or this this one's completely dead

or and I'd see all sorts of weird stuff

they were trying back then that nobody

even talks about like they had like a a

third photo cell tacked on the one that

was doing compression to make it a

little bit faster so it wasn't matching

up between output and meter mode and all

this all this other stuff they just they

didn't give a sh they didn't give a [ __ ]

back then they just you know they went

they extra part throw it in yeah so it

was it was fun to uh to learn all that

and then also see how like the newer

ones people are building how they're

different and like every old one I

cracked open had like a carbon comp

2m2 uh resistor right across the panel

then all the like the newer ones that

like the JBL era we call them when JBL

owned you know your

yeah and they had just had a cap coming

off one of the two pins that's how

everybody makes them just cuz that's

like the the traditional way that people

know now but all the old ones I cracked

open to just have that resistor across

the panel so it's like to me it's common

sense just build it like they did with

the parts that they did and you know

accept that that there's going to be

variances and you know and then mitigate

against whatever anything that's an

outlier in the final QC stage so you can

you train people that have the ear that

go oh no this sucks kick it back you you

know if something's out of spec it's you

know it's just if that's what you're

going for then do it it's just like

vinyl versus like you know some other

sort of Hi-Fi you know way of looking at

it and analog gear like this to me is

like vinyl you know yeah right for sure

um I just did a record with Crobot and

so the guitar player and I are best

friends he you know he comes he lives

like a mile away from my house so he's

here all the time and we're both super

nerds about guitar amps and pedals and

stuff right so this record we kind of

wanted to do something fuzzy and we're

like well let's explore big mths and I

have a I have a Russian black that is

pretty cool um he was like yeah let's

start with that you know and at some

point in the record when we started

tracking guitars we had two black

Russians a green Russian a New York one

and like two or three different brands

like you know cook devices hoofer and we

had a swollen pickle and stuff and we

kind of started going like okay this is

the same circuit in theory right through

all its versions um even the black

Russians that were very close like they

sounded very different and at some point

I opened them up just to Tinker with

stuff and figure out like why right very

different parts um and I looked into the

history of it and even at that factory

when they were doing that before they

came to America they were literally just

going by what they hadn't stuck so the

values are all somewhat around there but

especially with some resistors and some

capacitors are like it could you could

have this one you can have this one or

you can have this one they all sound

different

right but to me that's part of the magic

of analog gear you know knowing like

okay this one sounds cool like awesome I

I got one I got lucky right or buying

the stuff that sounds great like like

you said like if you're G to Mo if

you're GNA like figure out a schematic

yeah figure out one that sounds good and

it was built right and that will make a

huge difference yeah and using those

parts if you if you're going to try and

do that use using the parts that they

use you know you don't have to get as

molecular as the wire and the

Transformer but I mean General Parts

like you know you you know like in a

tube circuit carbon compos composition

resistors sound different than metal

films you know so there's this fear with

designers nowadays to in tube circuits

or they just want everything so precise

yeah that they just they sacrifice in my

opinion what could be a cool tone Box by

just putting that resistor in there or

it is cheaper you know it's a specialty

resistor so I mean there's that too but

it just you you know we it's cool that

everything sounds a little different as

long as it sounds great you know and

then you get that thing that's a little

different that's your own special piece

unique to you so that's cool too there's

also like the big difference between

gear that's been made or designed by um

audio Engineers versus gear that's been

designed by electrical engineers that is

like mathematically right but doesn't

sound right you know sonically it's off

yeah I've i' I've tried to become over

the years more a bridge between those

two worlds is where like you know sort

of taking you know inspiration from Rick

Rubin and how he approaches his you know

producer style right versus you know

with that with this particular area and

and just you know asking yourself honest

questions you know as you you know

prototype something what's the end user

going to like it's important to get

people that can beta test for you as

well but number one you have to put be

able to put your stamp on it and say

that this is you know this is badass

yeah people are going to love this you

know at the end of the day that's that's

everything you know and same goes with

your your Masters and and whatever mixes

you're doing as well so yeah for sure

like people people hire you because of

your work you know like there's

something about it you want the person

and that's that's also why I'm like I'm

looking at all the AI and people are

terrified I'm like it's soulless man

people are you know people are working

with you because of what you do not

because of the program you're using the

tools you're using like it's it's you

yeah and if if that simplifies a

workflow for someone that's going to get

you know be able to give them more of

themselves of of something legit and

real you know though they're going to

recognize you know [ __ ] for [ __ ]

you know at the end of the day so anyone

who's serious about what they're doing

so yeah no that's that's awesome I also

wanted to say I know uh you mentioned

Sam you know Sam I saw you you were

repping uh K audio on your website as

well I love Ed he's the man dud we had

Ed on a while we had Sam on and we had

Edon last year I think yeah we did yeah

yeah such a cool guy and and the the

plugins are awesome and I think there's

no one that's working as hard as Ed in

that game right now I you know in in the

plugins right like he's just if somebody

wants something different he's like he's

like a guy taking

requests he's just he's killing

absolutely yeah and and that's the other

thing about Ed he takes feedback pretty

good like he send it to so many people

like I love testing all his plugins and

he's like okay well you know what do you

like what's not good um

he'll chat with you for a long time

about all the stuff like all the nuances

it's like oh yeah this could use like

maybe a button here to you know like

like his new EQ the [ __ ] is right one

right it's incredible I love it like

this is like something I've wanted for a

while dude um I'm like just I just want

one request I want an in andout button

so I can turn the EQ off and on and hear

what's happening right like we little

changes it's like oh yeah yeah that's a

cool idea I'm like awesome and he

released it and there it is like so

stuff like that that I I love about him

he's so so smart like he's got a great

ear yeah and like you I mean he takes

feedback so well and not not everybody

does you know like he can really like

it's just like yeah

okay you know and that's that's that's

rare to get that today so I yeah it's

it's been the feeling is mutual about Ed

like it's been such a pleasure working

with them you know with how his Etho

lines up with ours with everything uh

you know make something right if it's

not right let's make it right you know

all that you know and I I think he's

knocked it out of the park with all of

the K audio plugins you know he's done

Sam stuff he's done the audio Escape

plugins as well right and uh they're

killer and people really what I like

about them is they're not just there to

be there they're actually there's you

know a point to these plugins that fills

a hole or a void in in any each area you

know yeah for sure his he's interesting

because he's looking at gear that's not

you know it's like it's not everybody's

doing that one right like there's 35

plugins of this one and he's just

looking for like cool stuff that is

somewhat obscure but everybody's like oh

yeah I remember this like this was

awesome like why why is it not like more

you know more available in pluging

world

yeah yeah he'll make it happen yeah no

he will and yeah it's like the Reverb

like you know he's

even the VM that's one where we you know

that's a little bit more modern there's

a few plugins like that but I feel like

the way we did that with the with the

stay level style comp where there's the

way there's a whole story behind it and

the idea with the Dual plugins where you

can switch between one and the other is

like you can it's sort of like there's

an educational aspect about like how the

company evolved with the product and all

that going on where we used original New

Old Stock 6386 is in the VM with the

with the not as attractive meter right

right and um so that one you know we

sent to Ed had that and it had you know

the old meter and it's got like New Old

Stock 6v6 is everything's New Old Stock

in it right so um and then the uh at a

certain point the the the stock just ran

dry of good 6386 they were just you're

spending $170 per for that one tube and

it's micronic it's not usable in a

circuit and being a small Bowe company

is just going to kill you buying 10 of

them or whatever it is you know in a

batch so we moved on to the J the new

production JJ tube which we use a lot of

New Old Stock like 90% New Old Stock and

everything we do but there's a few

things that we have to do use new

production on that's one of them so

almost had to like rework the circuit

around that to make it work and that's

what ended up becoming like the vom plus

after about a year of testing so and to

have that be able like just switch and a

plugin between the two of those I think

it's kind of cool oh yeah that's

awesome especially cuz now a lot of

people are learning uh by themselves

feel like the entry barrier is very low

uh MoneyWise so plugins is a a great way

to learn kind of what gear you like what

character you like and then if you're

interested in the analog world go buy it

you know there's great options for it

but yeah we can try anything anything in

the digital world right now for you know

100 bucks 200 bucks like it's crazy yeah

yeah it is crazy it's a it's a exciting

though like cuz I I feel like it's for

us you know with not charging $4,000 on

a compressor you know that's you know we

you know we charge you know around a

thousand for us it's uh it's really cool

that people could become educated on

those in the digital form and I feel

like more people are learning about say

like you know an la2a LA 3A from these

plugins and then they're going to want

at some point they're you know if you're

making music this is your baby love this

you're going to want the best you can

get for it you know it's just yeah I

definitely compare it to a lot like with

guitars um I don't remember who I was

having this conversation with but you

know everybody was very pissed about

Binger kind of copying the signs and

putting all this stuff out like listen

man the way that I see it is like kids

learning guitar your first guitar is not

going to be a very expensive Les Pole

right you're going to go pick up a $100

Squire or a neone that's like super

cheap and then once you get some love

for it you'll be like okay yeah I get it

this is an intro guitar I can sell it

and then I can go get something nicer

and then keep going up until you know

you either love your Les poll or become

a lawyer or a doctor and buy a $30,000

pis but in that process there's gear you

know for every step of the way and I

love that that's a thing now with gear

right if you're if you're a kid starting

in your bedroom and you're like yeah I

mean I just want to record my demos sure

grab yourself a warm audio like

compressor or like a bearinger

compressor figure out learn what you

like about that and then you're going to

outgrow it at some point you'll be like

I want something more professional

that's when they can look at you guys

and be like Oh yeah this is you know the

parts here are going to be incredible

this is going to be so much better and

kind of keep moving

up no that's an excellent way to put it

and yeah we yeah I I think that's that's

funny that people view that in a

negative way with uh you know but

there's it's good to have entry-level

products like you mentioned you know it

is it's uh at a certain point you know

you can with the entrylevel products you

can make that I think that's almost

sometimes though where the debate

between plugins and

Hardware you know like where people are

like oh the plugins you know can

approximate the hardware but maybe their

only experience with Hardware is that

you know when you hear that going on so

um there's definitely something uh

different you know like it's funny to we

sell a lot of Hardware to people that

have only have experience in plugins and

they're so used to their meter just

going right up there on on on 1176 it's

like no dude it's like it meter drift

it's a discrete meter circuit it's

supposed to just sort of slide up there

that's like part of what it is like you

know but I want it to go to zero not

like my plugin like so we have to you

know there is sometimes with that a

little bit of an education process and

you know we're we've all been there I've

you know I was there you know we we've

all been at that point where you know so

it's important to remember that when you

sometimes get that email and you know

and remind yourself we've all been there

you know so what is your current signal

flow what is your signal chain that you

currently use for mastering so for

mastering I I have to um like I break it

into right depending on how much

character the mix has and

how let's say how much depth it has I

try to either be very transparent or if

the opposite is a case where I feel like

the mix is a little bit stale or it

needs like some help then I'll go into

the analog world and put a lot of color

into it so if I'm going to put some

color into it I have an NTI Q3 um then I

go into a C2 and I'll do a roer Nee the

masterb Transformer that that thing is

killer um and so that's like where I'm

that's like my color section right like

I'm like I'm making this sound good and

then I have a second stage where I want

tools that are extremely transparent and

I'm just going to use them to either

kind of like tilt stuff out balance

maybe my low end if I have to um and

then my I I use two sets of limiters um

one is kind of just to give me volume

and the other one is to move the song

and articulate it in a way that I see it

like a balance if I want to get loud if

I just have a a limiter that gets loud

what it's going to do is whatever is

loudest in the song is going to get

crushed right and it's not going to feel

like the song is moving anymore so I

have a multiband limiter that it's

moving sections independently in a way

like for example my low end is faster

right because I know that loan takes a

lot of space in your mix so if I can dip

it whatever is like going up really fast

it's giving me that much head room where

if I need to get loud I can get louder

and you're not going to feel the

difference of like oh where's my sub

still very present it's still there in

your face but now I can get louder and

it doesn't sound like it's slammed right

it's still moving because you're low in

this moving with me so it's like a

balance of those two things that I do I

try to stay in the Box for that just

because I I literally want to stay as

clean as possible and when it comes to

limiters I feel like the because I want

them to be so fast a lot of the plugins

are better at doing that um and I just

want to be transparent at that stage

so anything before that it's definitely

like I want some color that's why I'm

very interesting on that you know um on

the the comp because that I mean I was

talking with Ed about it and it's like

it's a color box like it's a cool

compressor that has a character so yeah

I'm definitely like very interested in

that yeah the deom yeah the deom there's

yeah I mean there's just nothing like it

on I mean we we have mastering Engineers

using them we have you know obviously

mixers just drummers buy it just cuz

they want to just crush the [ __ ] out of

their drums you know it's just there's

so many I mean we had I remember one of

the first uh groups that bought it they

were actually using it for just an out

mode on on distorting their vocals you

know there's so many cool little uses

for it and I feel like that that's been

one of the toughest products for us over

the years to get right just because it

was not designed to be like a

mass-produced product it was designed

for that one Studio you know and they

you know they just designed it for their

in-house so is the original was

unbalanced so there's all this stuff

going on on the front end of the circuit

that like honestly it kicked my ass for

years just trying to get it just right

where I was like and I feel like right

now we're finally let's just put it this

way for years I didn't even want to sell

the deom because it was so that much of

a pain in the ass so now we're to a

point where I'm like yeah let's sell

them but I think we finally you got them

somewhat figured out you know it's like

but yeah a lot of times it does not take

that long you know five years to get

comfortable with the circuit where it's

like is there going to be another

curveball around the road you know I can

see that because at that at the period

when that was designed like you know

Engineers were just trying to do with

whatever they had around them um I

remember talking with one of the Neeve

reps like this was a long time ago um

and you know the new NE stuff like it

was like the Portico stuff was out and

it was very clean right so it's was like

why why are you guys shifting away from

like the ne character like when you

think of NE you want that you know

harmonic Distortion and like there's

that's the beauty of it that's you know

that goes with the name and he was

saying that basically rer Neeve was kind

of moving with the times as parts were

coming and his goal was always to have

something very transparent and very

clean but at the time that's what he

could get that's what's around them

right and yeah it's it was not ideal but

that's what it was so all these designs

that we absolutely love are just stuff

that you know it was put up just because

that's what they could get and I think

there's something cool about that too

right like yeah all the old KN stuff

I've opened up like the old old NE stuff

is like they like they got like a

circuit board but then they got like a

piece of Arrow board with a bunch of

[ __ ] on it and it's just like they made

it happen they made [ __ ] happen like it

just didn't you know like if there was

something that was like missing that the

circuit needed out like you know in a

summing box or anything like that they

they just literally went and put it on

perfboard or Vero board and and built it

up like right inside the circuit that's

a lot of work it's not just like you

know it's not a prefab circuit board so

oh right you know seem a lot of them

seem like onetime layouts let's put it

that way when you go look at at the

circuit so right

yeah yeah um at some point they sent me

I was working with chameleon Labs um I

have a couple like their X mods and I

have the older ones and I asked them for

because they change owners so I asked

them for the schematics of the original

one because they weren't servicing them

anymore and yeah when I open it and I

look at that schematic I'm like my God

yeah there's no like stuff is just going

everywhere there's cables and wires good

it's like man there's no Rhyme or Reason

like you know the new ones there's like

a PCB and everything's very organized

and label and stuff and this is just

like just get into The Rat's Nest and

figure out how stuff is connected

that's funny yeah but yeah I can imagine

like reverse engineering like a

compressor like that Emi one it's like

man I I commend you for that I'm sure

it's not easy no it's it it was not uh

yeah it just like deciding on you know

the Transformer ratios the the input pad

values all that that was some of the

toughest stuff even though it sounds

simple on but just it just there's so

many different combinations you can do

so on that you know just to get it where

you want it and then I even experimented

with just yeah just different input pad

switches and things like that but yeah I

think I I'm really happy with where it's

at and I think the flexibility of all

the uh you know the release variable

attack release all that all those values

are you know very useful because it can

get the original was really really

grabby so that that was like the one of

the trickiest things and then of course

noise like the the diodes are tied to

noise as opposed to like the 33 so n NE

like diode Bridge

compressor you can pretty much throw

like you know any of that brand diode in

there and it's fine but on the deom you

throw like it's very fickle with noise

that's why we had to get the power

supply outside of the box too yeah very

uh susceptible to RF as well so yeah

tricky tricky signals

yeah that's fun what got you into

building

gear you know uh I I played I actually

uh was more a musician uh playing out a

lot and I got into building pedals and

you know just building stuff I didn't

have any money so I just had to teach

myself about like I would rip Parts off

of boards I would go digging in the

trash for what whatever people threw out

to grab circuit boards and just grab

parts off that and then it just sort of

developed into me learning that way just

sort of by just getting you know getting

my hands dirty and doing it and building

it over and over again making every

mistake you can make and uh I just

wanted this stuff wanted the real gear I

you know I stepped into a boutique

Studio there where they didn't have like

any really they didn't have la2a they

didn't have anything but they had a

bunch of like handbuilt Boutique gear

and got like the best sounding records

out of that that place I was like oh

[ __ ] this is what I want to do you know

right then that was the aha moment I was

like this is what I want to do and uh

then I started building you know things

point to point and I wasn't a afraid to

ask stupid questions you know people

would be like you know you know they

would they would throw shade when I'd

ask questions if I didn't sounded like I

knew what I was talking about I just

didn't care I just kept working I figure

if you just work harder than everybody

else you'll get there you know so uh

that's what I did I just kept building

the stuff and you know learning every

little trick learning that oh you know

on the 1969 schematic there's a one

capacitor that's in there that's not on

the other schematics that'll tank the

side chain after a year and a half who

knew right I guess you know just stupid

[ __ ] like that you you find when you

just get in it and you figure it out and

there's nothing you

know you can't just it's experience you

can't so if you just make yourself

experience over time put the time in

just like with your craft it's going to

eventually come so it's just a passion

I'm I'm like a geek who just wants to

hear this stuff you know or you know see

if I you know what it turns out like I

want it for myself and then I end up not

getting it because it's just like goes

out the door you know

it's yeah that's basically it in a

nutshell as far as my motivation and

then it just sort of I look around after

working doing the same thing every day

and I'm like oh that kind kind of got

out of control here there's a lot of

people here best possible way yeah yeah

that's cool man that's you know it also

talks about how much passion you have

behind this and that's what makes a

company cool in my eyes no thank you

yeah and and same and you know and even

Steve Steve's like the best guy and for

him to reach out and be like yo you got

to talk to Alberto yeah I love man he's

a man he's uh he's been more aing cuz he

uh he moved his uh Studio down here um

so he he's here very often he's I feel

like almost half half the month all the

time so I see him very often now and

it's cool dude he's such a good person

yeah yeah well he was out at Nam last

year as well were you out last year with

him too yeah nice I I saw him at n but

we just ran into each other once

um yeah

but I became closer with him I don't

know maybe like four or five months

ago yeah he's he's such a he's such a

cool dude and he I look like he had a

blast out there like like yeah he was

staying right there next to the next to

the hall so he didn't have to that's the

that's the place man to stay like right

there at the Hilton right there next to

it so you don't have to cuz it's it's

Madness out there during that time of

year but oh it is for

sure so what current projects are you

working on right now Alberto um I'm

working on a soundtrack for a a movie

called bagman it's pretty cool it's like

a horror movie that Lions Gate's putting

out um should come out

September what is it 9th I want to say

maybe um a lot of the stuff I do for

soundtracks is very last minute so

that's fun um I mix a a record for a

band called confess they're such an

incredible band you know band from Iran

that basically had to get out of the

country because the government's after

them oh [ __ ] oh [ __ ] hell yeah they got

dude check out their history is insane

it was such an inspiring thing to work

with them because so these guys were in

Iran and they basically got arrested

because their music they play you know

death metal um and they're very anti- um

Iranian government and they didn't like

that so there's like all these stories

of you know them facing execution and

[ __ ] in Iran and um so they they ended

up moving to Europe and you know they're

there they just made a record that's

super cool um I mixed it and I can wait

for that to come out um Crobot is

putting out a record September 13 and

they have two songs out that's you know

they're some of my best friends like

super fun to make um it was the first

record so they're they're self-releasing

this one they're out of labels um

so it was like the first record where we

had like full creative decisions and we

could just go crazy um so there's a lot

of fun stuff we did a lot of like noise

interludes in between songs we had Neil

Fallon from clutch he did a like an

intro and and kind of like an interlude

um on one of the songs like it's I don't

know it's it's a fun record it's cool

it's all over the place if you're if

you're into guitar Rifts like it's got

everything in there funky stuff heavy

stuff great band

that's awesome what else I'm working

with a guy called obummer um he's kind

of like hip hop alternative rock um so

I'm working on one of his mixes right

now but yeah now you also do production

too right yeah are you also a producer

Alberto you do production very rarely I

will only do it with like certain people

and certain friends um I definitely want

to focus more on like the mastering and

mix inside of it

um but yeah I mean if if it's the right

band the right record I'd love to do it

cool good deal yeah have to twist your

arm yeah just a little

bit well thank you for taking your time

today and joining us yeah than for

inviting me this is super cool of you

guys love your spot too man that's

that's kind of very chill next time you

guys are in Austin you should come

through so I have we'll come through in

the some rig and there's tons of amps

and stuff over there [ __ ] yeah it's a

bunch of guitars it's it's definitely

like a guitar players um what's it

called palace here there's like so many

little stuff to play there's all sorts

of guitars and um pedals there's a wall

full of pedals back

there so yeah have to go to Austin

sometime we'll we'll do the shoulder

Seasons not summer right

yeah you guys come visit us in the

winter yeah come visit us may here and

or yeah even April yeah yeah April's a

good time yeah y exactly awesome well

thanks again my man and uh what is your

social media handles that people come

everywhere as Alberto mixes okay make it

you don't have to remember my last name

I know it's

unpronouncable um so yeah Alberto mixes

nice Alberto mixes I like it yeah go

check out Alberto

mixes all right awesome thanks my man

thanks so guys