Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

The world of music is constantly evolving with new inventions and instruments thanks to the innovative minds of people like my guest this week, Alexandra Fierra.Her creation, the Demon Box, is almost indescribable. The device utilizes electromagnetic fields (EMF) to create and manipulate sounds from everyday electronic devices.She found inspiration in her synesthesia. This neurological condition, where senses intertwine, led her to explore the world of electromagnetic fields. We discuss all the technical aspects of the Demon Box, including its three-channel design, multiple outputs, and the ability to manipulate sounds that we may consider as noise from various electronic devices.Her vision is to make this groundbreaking instrument available to everyone, democratizing the creation of unique and experimental sounds.She gave us all the details as well as the background of the device, and who might find the box most useful.Listen in now and learn more about the infinite possibilities of the Demon Box!Key Takeaways:Introduction (00:00)The Demon Box and its use of EMF (00:07)Three-channel design and its significance (03:44)Various ways to activate and use the Demon Box (06:35)Planned Kickstarter launch and pricing details (09:55)Alexandra's background and musical journey (13:52)Evolution of the Demon Box over eight years (16:25)Target audience and potential applications (18:06)Origin and meaning of the name "Demon Box" (21:06)Analog core with digital capabilities (23:17)Alexandra's personal advice for overcoming challenges (25:22)Additional Resources:Learn more about the Demon Box: https://www.eternalresearch.com/--Connect with Bobby:Access our FREE music mixing crash course training: https://www.bobbyowsinskicourses.com/crash-site-registration?utm_source=notes&utm_medium=audio&utm_campaign=podcastFollow Bobby on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobbyOwsinskiBiz/Follow Bobby on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyo/Follow Bobby on X: @bobbyowsinski--In this podcast, music guru Bobby Owsinski shares his personal insights on the music industry, covering news, reviews, analysis, and tips, as well as offering amazing interviews with prominent industry movers and shakers. 

They say we are the sum of our experiences, and as many musicians know, whatever life throws at us, we can take and turn into art. No one knows this better than my guest on the podcast this week, Ray LeVier. Ray is a drummer, composer, producer, author, and motivational speaker who has played and recorded with John Abercrombie, Dave Binney, KJ Denhert, Joe Locke, Francois Moutin, Wayne Krantz, Mike Stern, and Rich Tozzoli. At the age of 12, Ray suffered severe burns all over his body which left him unable to play the drums in a more ‘traditional’ way. As a result, Ray has come up with his own innovative methods to play the drums. Ray’s story is one of hope and resilience and he shares all of it with us in this episode. Listen in as we discuss Ray’s breathing techniques, how to achieve a flow state and optimal performance, how drummers with physical limitations can overcome the challenge and play effectively, why mindfulness is key to creating beautiful art, and more. Let’s dive in. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 106695817, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is producer, musician and remixer Danny Saber. Danny’s worked with musical legends like David Bowie, Sheryl Crow, Marilyn Manson, U2, The Rolling Stones, Public Enemy, Willie Nelson, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, and Madonna, among many others. He’s also contributed to television commercials for McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Coors, and soundtracks for films such as “Blade II,” and “Moulin Rouge!.” Most recently Danny’s been busy working on some recently discovered songs by the late INXS frontman Michael Hutchence, as well as a documentary on the singer’s life. During the interview we spoke about his early band days around Hollywood, getting into remixing, producing the Rolling Stones, why producing a film is way different from composing, hanging with football legend Jim Brown, and much more. I spoke with Danny via Zoom from his studio in Los Angeles. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 106695817, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Morgan Hayduk, who’s the co-founder and co-CEO of Beatdapp, a company that helps artists, labels, performance rights organizations, and streaming platforms detect fraudulent streams. Morgan started his career in music as a lobbyist for the Canadian music industry in the area of copyright protection before starting Beatdapp, although the company’s original mission was as a streaming auditing tool for record labels. After many conversations with record execs, it became clear that just about everyone in the industry was having a problem with streaming manipulation, which led to inconsistencies between sales reports and streaming services’ server logs. As a result, Beatdapp developed a tool to detect fraudulent streams and prevent them from impacting royalty payouts. Industry estimates that anywhere from 10% to 20% of all streams are fraudulent, so Beatdapp’s tool is critical to restoring full payouts to artists everywhere. During our interview, Morgan spoke about the two goals of streaming fraud, why fraud can’t be detected in a royalty statement, why even AI music companies are worried about streaming fraud, the various different types of streaming fraud, and much more. I spoke with Morgan via zoom from his office in Los Angeles. On the intro we look at potential new music delivery format, and some facts about vinyl records. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 106415398, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is mastering engineer Maor Appelbaum, who’s worked with the likes of Faith No More, Yes, Meatloaf, Eric Gales, Walter Trout, Dream Theater, Sepultura, Halford, and many more. Maor has written presets and collaborated with various plugin companies such as Waves, Brainworx/Plugin Alliance, Softube, Arturia, Leapwing Audio, Pulsar Audio and others. He's also guested and lectured at various trade shows and recording schools, and is co-creator of the THE OVEN line of analog hardware which is modeled and emulated by Brainworx. During our interview, Maor spoke about the different mastering requirements for different genres, common mixing problems that he sees, what he asks clients to supply for mastering, the audio gear he’s developed, and so much more. I spoke with Maor via zoom from his studio outside of Los Angeles. On the intro we look at song melodies getting simpler and production more complex, and the quietest places in the U.S. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 106178493, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is mastering engineer Howie Weinberg, who has 20 Grammy Awards and 76 Grammy nominations, 4 TEC awards, 2 Juno awards, 1 Mercury Prize award, 200+ gold and platinum records, an unbelievable 19,000 total credits, and 91 billion streams. Howie started working in the mail room at Masterdisk in New York City but soon became the apprentice of mastering legend Bob Ludwig. Within a few months Howie began mastering tracks for hip hop stars like Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy. Since then he’s mastered projects for legends like U2, Nirvana, Sheryl Crow, The Clash, Madonna, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, John Mellencamp, Ozzy Osbourne - the list goes on. During our interview Howie talked about mastering at the beginning of hip hop, the tremendous volume of work that he does, why he thinks vinyl is a fad, why he creates both an analog and digital master, and so much more. I spoke with Howie via zoom from his home in Santa Monica. On the intro we look at Universal Music’s patent to be able to embed binaural beats in label songs, and a look at the different eras of modern music that show when rock died. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 105931496, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

You've probably wondered how musicians get hired to play on film and television sessions. My guest this week is Deb Chase, who’s a contractor for musicians playing on movies and television scores, and even acting in them as well, and she'll tell us how it all works. Deb came into the business almost accidentally but she found she really had a knack for it as she learned under an old-school mentor before going out on her own. During her time in Hollywood she has contracted musicians for everything from American Idol to the Soul Train Awards to the Grammy telecasts, to orchestral players for live performances with Aretha Franklin and James Brown, among many others. In our interview Deb talked about how she became a contractor, the importance of contractors to professional musicians, how shows sometimes hire based on the look of the musicians, the paperwork required by the Musician’s Union, and so much more. Get ready to learn about a whole musical world that you probably weren’t aware of. I spoke with Deb via zoom from her office in Los Angeles. On the intro we look at the 3 most prevalent lyric themes, and the Moog factory store closes for good. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 105315098, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Marek Stycos, who’s company Audio Alchemist acts as a brand manager for a wide range of pro audio manufacturers. He’s also the president of high end pro audio creators Dangerous Music and Chameleon Labs. Prior to starting Audio Alchemist Marek worked as director of Pro Audio at Guitar Center corporate, where he was responsible for recording, live sound, dj, and lighting curriculum creation, chainwide merchandising and department design for all 213 locations, vendor product line and relationship expansion, and more. During our interview Marek talked about behind the scenes at Guitar Center, the concept behind Audio Alchemist, how brand management for pro audio has changed, gear that feels like making music instead of engineering, and so much more. I spoke with Marek via zoom from his studio outside of NYC. On the intro we look at how artists are releasing in more formats, and tape isn’t dead yet. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 104849547, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is 5 time MPG mastering engineer of the year Katie Tavini, who’s work includes Rudimental, Bloc Party, Ash, We Are Scientists, Nadine Shah, Arlo Parks, Los Bitchos and many more. Since starting in 2014, Katie has grown to become one of the mostin-demand mastering engineers in the UK, who’s at home with everything from the heaviest metal to the lushest orchestral works and everything in between. Katie is also a founding member of Weird Jungle, a collective of independent mastering engineers in the UK dedicated to helping bands, artists and labels release the best possible version of their work. During our interview Katie talked about becoming a mastering engineer, how mastering has changed in the last few years, things that mixers sometimes overlook, starting Weird Jungle, and so much more. I spoke with Katie via zoom from her studio in Liverpool. On the intro we look at how mainstream success isn’t as big as it used to be, and in honor of Fathers Day, ultimate Dad Rock bands. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 104061708, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Erik Himel, who expanded his touring guitar career into hosting the hottest jam night in Hollywood, to producing a Las Vegas show, to custom music programming for private and corporate events. Erik’s credits include Powerman 5000, the Russian supergroup Mumiy Troll, Alan Parsons, Eagles Of Death Metal, Puddle of Mudd, Candlebox, Robby Krieger, Michael des Barres, and many more. He was the longtime host of The Sunset Jam, which was the longest running residency show at the world famous Viper Room in Hollywood, grossing a million+ dollars and showcasing over 1500 performers and numerous sponsorship collaborations. He’s also been a co-producer of 27 - A Musical Adventure, which is retrospective concert honoring the music icons gone too early at the age of 27. The show had a multi-year residency at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas with over 120 performances. During our interview we talked about playing music with lyrics you can’t understand, the hack he used to get his first tour, his unique approach to running a jam night, creating a corporate event music business, moving to Paris and what the music scene is like there, and so much more. I spoke with Erik via zoom from his home in Los Angeles. On the intro I looked at how kids may be losing their love of music, and a new Ai headphone that nails the “cocktail party effect” . var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 102907123, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };