Inside The Album: The Lemonheads’ It’s A Shame About Ray with Bruce Robb
In the world of music, some albums stand as timeless testaments to an era, encapsulating the spirit of their time while also retaining the power to resonate with new generations. One such album is The Lemonheads' "It's a Shame About…
Songs That Changed Music: Mr Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
Written by Paul Tingen Mr. Blue Sky is inarguably one of the most instantly recognizable songs of all time. It is also the most upbeat song ever released. A cognitive neuroscientist has delivered a scientific foundation for Mr. Blue Sky…
Mixing Rock with Hunt Sales & Manny Nieto
This week, we not only shared our interview with Hunt Sales that has a truly touching sentiment to it, yesterday, we put out our weekly video on Songs That Changed Musicthat Hunt played drums on, Lust For Life by Iggy…
Lust For Life – Iggy Pop: Songs That Changed Music
From a simple recording of David Bowie on the Ukulele, “Lust for Life” was extrapolated into the instantly-recognizable song we know today. Rolling Stone placed it in The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004—and yet again in 2021—when…
Roxy Music’s Magnum Opus, “Avalon” – Albums That Changed Music
Roxy Music have been called “the greatest art rock group Britain has produced this side of The Beatles,” and “the most influential British group after The Beatles.” Formed in 1971, Roxy Music reached its musical high point in 1982 with…
Producing Modern Pop with John McLucas
Over 6 days and 30 hours, we've captured the entire process of creating a catchy, modern Pop tune from scratch. Literally. No preconceived song ideas, no lyrics, no loops. A clean slate. You'll get to witness producer John McLucas get…
Banned and Topping the Charts: “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos  In 1984, Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s debut single was dominating the charts, while simultaneously banned from the airwaves by the BBC. The song was a synth-pop masterpiece, and took its time to get there.  Producer…
From Child Star to Music Legend: Stevie Wonder and “Superstition”
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos and Kieran Vaughn  At the start of the seventies, Stevie Wonder moved from child star to a full-fledged, adult creative artist. His success and musical prowess, along with expansions to Motown’s operations, offered him a…
How Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads Rose from the Ashes and Charted the Future of Metal in “Crazy Train” and the Blizzard of Ozz.
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos   Ozzy Osbourne has been at the forefront of metal since its inception. A founding member of Black Sabbath, Osbourne helped transform the world of hard rock music into what would be later understood as Heavy…
Albums That Changed Music: Breakfast In America by Supertramp
Breakfast in America is one of the most important rock albums of all time. With an estimated 20 million worldwide sales, Supertramp’s sixth album is in the top three of best-selling prog rock albums, only superseded by Pink Floyd’s Dark…
“Pump It Up”: How Elvis Costello and the Attractions turned Punk into New Wave 
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos      Rock and Roll is often associated with excess; and by the end of the seventies, this image was clearly in the air. Even the outsider, cool young artists of Stiff Records found themselves lured…
“Tell Mama”: How an escape to Fame studios Reignited Etta James
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos In 1967, Etta James’s career was in a slump, as the legendary singer faced personal struggles. Looking for a hit and an escape for his struggling singer, away from the temptations of the city, Leonard…
Aretha at FAME: Where The Queen of Soul Found Her Voice
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos  When Aretha Franklin entered Fame studios in 1967, she was undoubtedly a prodigious talent, but she hadn’t yet found the voice that would crown her the Queen of Soul.   While the sessions have gone…
Artists Who Changed Music: Duane Allman
Duane Allman is widely regarded as one of the greatest guitarists who has ever lived. He can regularly be found in the top 10 of lists of greatest guitarists of all time, sometimes as high as number two, with only…
The Legendary FAME Studios Part Two
We've been diving into the historic studio, FAME in Muscle Shoals during the past week. We kicked off our FAME Studios Series with the infamous recording, Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett - one of the most important vocalists in RnB…
The Legendary FAME Studios Part One
We kicked off our FAME Studios Series with the infamous recording, Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett - one of the most important vocalists in RnB history. In today's episode, we take a look through the whole history right up to…
“Mustang Sally” and Wilson Pickett at FAME Studios
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos     In 1966, Wilson Pickett entered FAME studios in Muscle Shoals to record some of his most famous songs of all time, including the now legendary - “Mustang Sally.” Originally written by Pickett’s former Falcons…
Rewriting to Perfection: “Slave to the Rhythm”
In 1985, producer Stephen Lipson teamed up with  Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow and Trevor Horn to create one of the decade’s most influential dance music tracks - “Slave to the Rhythm.” Originally intended for Frankie goes to Hollywood, the song…
Bob Clearmountain Demos His Plugins
After being schooled by Bob Clearmountain himself whilst demonstrating the incredible Clearmountain Phases by Apogee, Warren took a visit to Clearmountain's home studio to find out all about his plugins and the things Warren may have missed during his initial…
Recording, Editing & Mixing Rock With Matt McQueen
Have you written a fantastic new song that your band is excited about? Maybe you’ve already performed it live – and your audience went nuts! Then, it’s time to take the next step:Turn it into a full-blown, professional production, ready…
SubMission Audio DoubleTap – The Low End Solution
Today, we're checking out SubMission Audio's DoubleTap Bass Dynamic Compressor alongside Adam Steel, Matt Lange, Mel Torres and Conor Nelson! You can buy the DoubleTap plugin here! They've also got some incredible We have heard a lot of great reviews…
Turning Classic Literature to Classic Rock: Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”
Across the seventies, Rush established themselves as leaders of the progressive rock sound, writing expansive songs with complex lyrics and musical explorations. But at the start of the 80s, the band encapsulated their complex musical ideas and progressive sounds into…
Artists That Changed Music: Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters is widely regarded as the most important blues artist of the second half of the 20th century. He was not only a prime exponent of the delta blues and the Father of electric and Chicago Blues, but he…
“New Rose” and The Damned: The Story of UK Punk’s First Single
In 1976, Punk music (although it was not yet called that) was a vibrant and underground movement making some powerful noise in the London Music scene. But what had emerged as a live music experience was first captured on tape…
Three Creative Drum Mic Techniques
Three Creative Microphone Techniques With Manny Nieto Today we're back with our incredible friend, Manny Nieto at his studio to learn more about creative microphone techniques no matter how many microphones you have got. Download the Mulittracks here Drum engineering…
Radio Ready Vocals Using Stock Plugins
Radio Ready Vocals Using Stock Plugins With Emiliano Caballero   Today we're using only ProTools' stock plugins on the vocals. Emiliano has joined us again today to share how he creates stereo separation, ambiance, and depth using only ProTools' stock…
“Billie Jean” and the Hypnotic Power of A Singular Bassline
By the early 80s, Michael Jackson was already a household name as the youngest brother of the popular singing group the Jackson 5. But it was the second release from his 6th solo album Thriller, which catapulted the performer into…
How the Buggles Predicted the Future of Popular Music with “Video Killed the Radio Star”
At 12:01am on August 1, 1981 - MTV opened its debut broadcast with the perfectly titled “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Written several years earlier in 1978, Buggles co-founders Geoff Downes, and Trevor Horn, along with former bandmate Bruce Wooley…
Blur’s “Modern Life is Rubbish”: Album Breakdown with Graham Coxon
Modern Life is Rubbish, released in May 1993, is the second studio album by English alternative rock band Blur. The album was a moderate chart success in the UK, peaking at number 15, while the singles from the album charted…
The Beatles – Let It Be: Album Breakdown with Jerry Hammack
Jerry Hammack has devoted 8 years of his life to research every tiny detail of the Beatles career and recoding process he could find. He wanted to ‘Write the book, that [he] didn’t have‘. Jerry has collected over 5700 Beatles…
Van Halen: How a Los Angeles Bar Band Turned into Legends
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos On February 10, 1978, one minute and forty-two seconds of mind-blowing guitar playing changed the sonic landscape of rock and roll guitar forever by introducing the world to Eddie Van Halen. That would have been…
“Ace of Spades” and the Legacy of Motörhead,  40 Years Later
Written by Caitlin Vaughn Carlos On October 27, 1980, Motörhead released their latest single, “Ace of Spades” in anticipation of their fourth studio album of the same name. At its release, Gary Bushnell wrote for Sounds magazine: “The new single…
Satisfy by Vedera | Inside the Song
"Satisfy" by Vedera is a fantastic song that was recorded in 2008, in Bloomington Indiana at Echo Park Studios. The evolution of this song is actually quite interesting because it came from the bridge of another song the band had…
Inside the Song: “Song 2” by Blur with Graham Coxon
Blur is an English rock band formed in 1988, consisting of vocalist Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James, and drummer Dave Rowntree. The band was central to the 1990s Britpop movement. They achieved mass popularity in the UK,…
Working with Ace Frehley on Origins, Vol. 1: Untold Stories
A little while ago, I had the incredible opportunity to play guitar for Ace Frehley on his album "Origins, Vol. 1". Ace Frehley is a musician that I have looked up to for many years, so this was an amazing…
Jellyfish’s ‘Spilt Milk’: Inside the Album with Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. is an American power pop and electronic rock musician, singer, and songwriter with a prolific career in the industry. Roger’s musical career began as early as 1989, when he started arranging string, brass, wind, and vocal…
Soundgarden’s “Spoonman”: Inside the Song with Michael Beinhorn
We're back again with Mr. Michael Beinhorn, this time talking about the iconic Soundgarden track, "Spoonman." This song should be familiar to almost everybody watching, as it was the first single from Superunknown and often gets credit for launching Soundgarden into the…
Jellyfish’s ‘Bellybutton’: Inside the Album with Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. is an American power pop and electronic rock musician, singer, and songwriter with a prolific career in the industry. Roger's musical career began as early as 1989, when he started arranging string, brass, wind, and vocal…
John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s ‘Double Fantasy’: Inside the Album w/ Jack Douglas
We've spent a lot of time with the amazing Jack Douglas over the past several weeks! He told us how he got Cheap Trick signed to their first record deal, what it was like working with Aerosmith throughout the '70s,…
Augustana’s “Sweet and Low”: Inside the Song with Warren Huart
Augustana is a rock band perhaps best known for the song "Boston" off their debut album, All the Stars and Boulevards. They also had a tremendous hit with "Sweet and Low" from their follow-up record Can't Love, Can't Hurt, which Warren co-produced and…
Kings of Leon “Use Somebody”: Inside the Song w/ Jacquire King
Jacquire King is an immensely talented producer, engineer, and mixer based near Nashville, Tennessee. Over the course of his career he's worked with some amazing artists: Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, James Bay, Kaleo, Modest Mouse, You Me At Six, Buddy…
John Lennon’s “Imagine”: Inside the Song with Jack Douglas
Jack Douglas has worked on countless incredible tracks throughout his career with a long list of music legends. Today, Jack Douglas is back with us once again to talk to us about working with John Lennon and Yoko Ono to…
Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and “Sweet Emotion”: Inside the Songs w/ Jack Douglas
Jack Douglas has worked on so much incredible music over the years! We're back once again to talk to him about producing two Aerosmith smash hits, "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion"! About Jack Douglas Jack got his start in…
John Lennon’s “How Do You Sleep?”: Inside the Song w/ Jack Douglas

This week we’re back again with a very dear friend and mentor, Mr. Jack Douglas! Jack and I have spent countless hours working together over the years—even as much as 9 months at a time while we were doing an…

Marilyn Manson’s “Coma White”: Inside the Song w/ Michael Beinhorn
The last time we sat down with Michael Beinhorn we took a look at "The Dope Show" by Marilyn Manson which he produced! Now we're breaking down "Coma White," which was the promo single from Marilyn Manson's third album, Mechanical Animals. Throughout…
Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic”: Inside the Song w/ Francis Buckley
Francis Buckley is a GRAMMY-winning recording and mixing engineer with a broad range of studio experience with breakout bands, well established chart-toppers, and Hollywood films. Francis started his career working at W.E. Studios in Redondo Beach in 1979. He eventually…