Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

My guest this week is producer, songwriter and keyboardist CJ Vanston. CJ Vanston started doing jingles in Chicago where he soon became a first call player, doing as many as six sessions a day. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked with a wide variety of artist like Toto, Def Leppard, Prince, Joe Cocker, Tears For Fears, Spinal Tap Ringo Starr, Bob Seger BB King, Celine Dion Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton among many others. He’s also worked on films like Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, Sweet Home Alabama, A Mighty Wind, Mascots and more. CJ has also written and performed pieces for the Dalai Lama and Muhammad Ali, and most recently y co-wrote, co-produced and performed on Jeff “Skunk” Baxter’s 2022 solo release called Speed of Heat. During the interview we talked about how he got the nickname CJ, getting started in the studio scene, learning to engineer and mix, and much more. I spoke with CJ via zoom from his home in the Hollywood Hills. On the intro I’ll take a look at the ruling that finally gives songwriters a retroactive raise, and the camera that can see vibrations and record multiple instruments separately. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83459851, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Jules Standen, who worked as an engineer with groups like The Lemonheads, The Smiths, and Siouxsie and the Banshees before starting an online forum for engineers in 2002. That hobby eventually grew into Gearspace.com, a place for all things audio, from gear forums and classifieds to gear databases and reviews, Q&A sessions with famous producers and engineers, and a worldwide audio community. Gearspace is now celebrating its 20th year serving online audio geeks everywhere, with over one million discussion threads, 13 million posts and 400,000 members. During the interview we talked about Jules engineering secret, how Gearspace got started, the questions most often asked on the forum, the most popular topic right now, and much more. I spoke with Jules via zoom from his office in the U.K. On the intro I’ll take a look at how some music genres that streaming favors more than others, and a new physical music distribution format that’s way better than vinyl but you may never see. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83397195, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Bob Pomann, who discovered his unique ability to tell a story through sound while doing sound effects for the original Saturday Night Live. He went on to create Pomann Sound, a full-service audio-post and sound design house located in midtown Manhattan on the Penthouse floor, now in its 38th year, going strong since 1984. Bob went on to design sound for Disney’s long-form animated series, Doug, and his specialized sound can be heard on series including Little Einsteins, Kids Next Door for over 800 animated episodes. He’s also worked with all the major ad agencies on campaigns for major brands like Subway, Nicorette, and Verizon Fios, and in 2010 was the Gold Winner in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his work on the Dos Equis “The Most Interesting Man In The World” campaign. During the interview we talked about having a studio in Manhattan, getting client approvals for Atmos mixes, getting started in the business as a high-school intern, some great stories about the early days of the business in New York, and much more. I spoke with Bob via zoom from his home studio in the New Jersey. On the intro I’ll take a look at the possible end of California’s 7 Year Rule and what that means for artists, and how songwriting is evolving. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83353544, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Andrew Scheps, who’s won 3 Grammy awards and mixed huge hits for Adele, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Beyonce, Jay-Z, U2 and many more. Andrew has also spent quite a lot of time mixing in Dolby Atmos lately, and his tutorials on the subject are some of the best available. He’s also spent a lot of time working on audio apps and plugs, creating his Scheps 73EQ and Parallel Particles in collaboration with Waves, and most recently, his own Bounce Factory. Bounce Factory is an extension to Pro Tools that allows you to automate every aspect of the bouncing process in order to escape the drudgery of exporting alternate mixes and stems. During the interview we talked about consumer adoption of Atmos, the origins of Bounce Factory, how his mixing has evolved, using less parallel compression, and much more. I spoke with Andrew via zoom from his studio in the UK. On the intro I’ll take a look at trying to change the name of a music genre, and the end of Las Vegas Elvis weddings thanks to copyright infringement. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83322876, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Jim Hustwitt, who quit his marketing job in 2011 to work as a music producer and composer. Since them Jim has produced music for Universal, EMI, BMG WestOne & NinjaTune and has been commissioned to write music for the BBC, Sky 1 and Channel 4. He’s also walked the boards of the National Theatre and London’s West End. During the interview we talked about shifting from being a singer-songwriter to composer, the approach to writing trailer music, battling the temp score, how many composers get fired and no one ever hears about it, and much more. I spoke with Jim via zoom from his studio in the UK. On the intro I’ll take a look at a new approach to artist videos, and the plan to preserve digital music for 10,000 years in the Global Music Vault. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83293725, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

If you're a drummer or regularly work with drums, you're really going to like my guest on the podcast this week since it's filled with things you probably never knew about the instrument. It's Daniel Glass, who’s an award-winning drummer, author, historian and educator based in New York City. He previously appeared on Episode 305. Daniel is widely recognized as an authority on classic American drumming and the evolution of American Popular Music. He's recorded and performed all over the world with a diverse roster of top artists, including Brian Setzer, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Jose Feliciano, the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, and even KISS front man Gene Simmons. Since 2011, he has been the house drummer every Monday night at New York’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club. As an educator, Daniel has published five books and three DVDs, created a curriculum that’s used by hundreds of music educators in schools across the U.S. and Canada, and is a regular contributor to publications like Modern Drummer, DRUM and Classic Drummer. During the interview we talked about what caused the drum kit to evolve from marching band, how one of the original duties for a drummer was to provide sound effects, how the high hat got its name, programs for home school students, what it’s like to put out a record in today’s business climate, and much more. Find out more about his latest album BAM here. I spoke with Daniel from his home in Manhattan. On the intro I’ll take a look at Sony Music’s latest expanded unrecoupment program, Gibson winning its trademark infringement case against Dean Guitars. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83254214, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guests this week are director of marketing Nate Baglyos and director of acoustics Charles Sprinkle of the speaker manufacturer Kali Audio. Both held executive positions at JBL before joining forces to start the company. Kali studio monitors are built to offer the best possible value to its customers, while providing high-performance products that fit any budget. During the interview we talked about why opera singers aren’t fun to be around, why designing professional speakers is more rewarding than consumer speakers, the theory behind Kali’s coaxial speaker configuration, why the science of loudspeaker design is so important, fine-tuning loudspeaker DSP, and much more. I spoke with Nate and Charles via zoom from their offices in Burbank. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the social media manager job has evolved, and why Gibson Guitars are now equated to “Dad rock.” var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83226699, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

Peter Sinclair, the CEO of BeatBread. BeatBread enables artists and songwriters to get advances from 1k to 2mil based on strength of the catalogs. Unlike other services, the company allows artist to keep 100% ownership of their masters, publishing, touring, merch and synch. You can design the agreement that works for you after the service gathers your data, which only takes a few minutes. It’s a way to stay independent without having to sign a bad deal just to get some working capital. During the interview we spoke about how he accidentally entered the music business, why many artists don’t want label services, how an artist can get access to working capital, and much more. I spoke with Peter via zoom from his office near Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at why there aren’t many hit songs this year, and how vibrations influence our lives in strange ways. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83191290, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

If you've ever tried to get an approval on a mix from someone, you know how hard that can get. You want them to hear it in all its glory, yet you don't want to send the high-res file without getting paid first. Plus, getting notes that make sense can be a real chore. That's what my guest on the podcast this week, James Dickerson, has solved with his new service called HitSend. HitSend allows you to share a project with a client, receive timecoded feedback so you know exactly where to make changes, receive final approval and even get paid before the files are released to clients. HitSend works with files of any audio resolution, and with multiple payment vendors like Stripe, Paypal, Venmo and ApplePay, as well as a number of bookkeeping and invoicing solutions like Freshbooks, Quickbooks and Wave. It even works internationally allowing you to create invoice s with 97 different currencies and accept payment from over 135 countries around the world. During the interview we talked about the difficulty about asking to get paid, the importance of integrating different payment solutions, making revision notes easier, and much more. I spoke with James via zoom from his office in Salt Lake City. On the intro I’ll take a look at songwriters getting a royalty raise, and a new kind of paper-thin loudspeaker.

Jason Tonioli has managed to do something that everyone thought was impossible these days, and that’s crack 7 figures of income with only sheet music sales. He’s recorded 8 albums and created more than a dozen piano solo books as well as dozens of individual pieces of sheet music that he’s self-published. One of Jason’s secrets is that he creates music that’s simple and fun to play, yet sounds more complicated and advanced than it really is. When Jason isn’t playing piano he’s also a well known thought leader in the banking industry, runs a record label, and is one of the founders of the tour company Amazing Vacations Costa Rica and the travel agency Amazing Vacations USA. During the interview we talked about the how your dream can come later in life, how his sheet music business started, how important playability is, how piano education can be improved, how a great song transcends genres, and much more. I spoke with Jason via zoom from his office in Utah. On the intro I’ll take a look at the real number of songs uploaded daily to Spotify, and a reality check on streaming audio loudness.