Production and Recording advice from multi-grammy winning producer/mixer Dave Way
Hey friends, I hope you’re doing marvellously well!
I made the biggest leaps forward in my career by working alongside experienced producers and mixers, copying their techniques and understanding their thought process behind creating music. This kind of training is an essential part of becoming a great engineer, but unfortunately the opportunities for interning, assisting and being around people of this caliber are rare. I started doing studio tour and interviews with some of the greatest engineers in the industry, so we can absorb their knowledge and experience and make it our own – no matter where you live.
Dave Way is one of these greats, his knowledge and insight into music production and mixing are second to none! Dave has won multiple Grammy awards and worked many of the biggest bands and artists of our time: Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Boyz II Men, Pink, The Foofighters and more.
This video is the second part of our interview and studio tour of Dave Way’s home studio “The Waystation”.
If you’ve missed part 1, you can watch it here.
We’ve received a lot of questions from you in our last video, which Dave answers in this interview:
We talked about drum recording and micing techniques, Dave’s favourite vocal recording chain and music production. Dave tears down some of the dogmas about recording and producing of the modern age:
- Dave’s unconventional way of recording vocals to help singers keep pitch more easily & his favourite low budget tube microphone, which only costs $700 and has a “251 top end”!
- How to use microphone bleed creatively to add dimension to your mix.
- How putting limitations on your recording process can spark your creativity and help you to create better arrangements.
- Recording drum overheads in mono for extra depth.
- Mixing and matching different styles of music to create something new and exciting: “Giving it a twist is what keeps things moving forward, otherwise we’re all just transcribing.”
- Dave explains his advanced hybrid studio setup & routing system, shows off his favourite pieces of outboard equipment and explains what he likes to use them on: From compressors, preamps, custom guitar amps to clocks and even his process of backing up his audio files and mixes!
As a bonus, we’re also trying out several electric guitars of Dave’s amazing collection:
- Gibson ES – 330, which is almost identical to the Epiphone Casino, which was played by John Lennon, George Harrison, and Paul McCartney.
- A custom Tele which Dave was given by Val McCallum
- Custom guitar built by Larry Pogreba
I hope you enjoy this interview, lots of gold nuggets in this one!
Ready to take your recordings and mixes to the next level?
Check out Produce Like A Pro Academy for in-depth tutorials, multitracks, mix feedback and more:
Please leave any questions and comments you may have below. How knows, we might go back to talk some more! 😉
Have a marvellous time recording and mixing,
Warren