Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

My guest today is Nichole Barsalona, who’s the director of Everyday Rebellion Entertainment artist management and the president of the non-profit Women In Music organization. Nichole grew up around music as her father Frank was a pioneering agent later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His clients included The Who, Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tom Petty and U2, among many others. Her mother June was a journalist who traveled from the U.K. at the age of 18 to cover The Beatles’ first U.S. tour and later worked as a music publicist. Nichole started her career at Steven Van Zandt's multi-media company, Renegade Nation, where a week-long temp gig turned into the most formative years of her career. She eventually served as Chief of Staff and Director of Communications at Renegade Nation, and Road Manager to Van Zandt on tours with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. During the interview we spoke about how she observed her father’s influence on the music business as she was growing up, how we’re at a turning point for music promotion, the importance of meet and greets, the most sought-after person on a management team today, her role in Women In Music, and much more. I spoke with Nicole from her office in Boston. On the intro I’ll take a look at the status of claims that the Copyright Claims Board reviewed last month, and big changes in the executive suite of Guitar Center. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 90904524, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest today is country music singer and award winning professional songwriter Drew Ryder Smith, who’s also the owner of Gray Sound Recording in Nashville and Charlotte NC, working as a producer and senior mixing engineer. Drew is also the author of The Before You Record Course, which prepares new artists for their first recording session and walks them through what goes into making a record, imparting knowledge gleaned from 15 years in the business. During the interview we spoke about how songwriting has changed in Nashville, doing remote recording in India, prepping artists for going into the studio, the difference between NYC, LA and Nashville session players, opening for Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium, and much more. I spoke with Drew from his hotel room in Charlotte. On the intro I’ll take a look at the competing bills for radio airplay royalties, and the Las Vegas Sphere’s ground-breaking sound system. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 89361801, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

Over the nearly 500 episodes of the Inner Circle I’ve had some incredible guests. One is the legendary engineer Elliott Scheiner, and this special replay is from way back on Episode 51 in April of 2015. You certainly have heard Elliot's work as he’s been instrumental in the sound of The Eagles, Steely Dan, Eric Clapton, Jackson Browne, Sting, Foo Fighters and too many others to mention. He’s received 27 Grammy award nominations winning 8, four Emmy nominations and winning two, and a host of other awards for excellence in the field of audio recording. During the interview we spoke about the various stages of his studio life, from his early days at A&R Studios in New York City, going from 4 track to 8 track, his mixing method, the difference between working with Steely Dan and The Eagles, and much more. Remember that this interview was done back in 2015 so some of his comments about digital audio workstations and plugins are no doubt different today. I spoke to Elliott via phone, so the quality is a little shaky, but not the content. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 89276221, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

I’ve had so many great guests on the Inner Circle Podcast, and it’s aways great to go back and revisit some of the best interviews. One is with Don Roeser, better known as Buck Dharma, lead guitarist and and one of the founders of the band Blue Oyster Cult, in an interview for podcast 227 back in 2018. Buck wrote and did the lead vocals on the band’s best known hits, including “Don’t Fear The Reaper,” “Godzilla,” and “Burnin’ for You.” During the interview we talked about the early days of the band when it was known as Soft White Underbelly, his best studio experiences, the evolution of his home studio, and much more. I originally spoke with Buck via Skype from his home in New York. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 89209830, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

Over the almost 500 episodes of the Inner Circle podcast I’ve had some excellent guests that are true legends in the music business. One is the late Al Schmitt, who unfortunately left us in 2021. Al won 20 Grammy awards over his long career, recorded and mixed over 150 gold and platinum albums, and even had his own star on Hollywood’s Walk Of Fame appropriately in front of his beloved studio home, Capitol Records Studios. In this replay from November 2018, we talked about his stint as a staff producer for RCA, working with Paul McCartney, his favorite instrument to record, some of his favorite gear and techniques, and much more. I originally spoke with all via phone from his home outside of Los Angeles. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 88753248, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest today is Jesper Skibsby, the CEO and founder of radio monitory service WARM - the first global radio monitoring service focusing on serving the artists and indie segment of the music industry. WARM track and identify music played on radio, globally and in real-time. The vision behind WARM is to make detailed music data available to everyone, especially the long tail segment of artist, producers, managers and record labels. Jesper has established companies like Fandango Music Management, We Make Noise and Kassiopeia Kollektive, has been a board member of DUP (association for independent record labels in Denmark), and has represented MusicDNA as the head of Scandinavia. During the interview we spoke about why radio metrics are overlooked by indie artists yet so important, why radio is still the biggest driver of music consumption worldwide, how the internet has actually boosted radio music listening, and much more. I spoke with Jesper via Zoom from his office in Copenhagen. On the intro I’ll take a look at what the Songtradr acquisition of Bandcamp means, and why super-long albums don't fit with today's music consumers.

My guest today is composer / plug-in developer Sam Fischmann from the plugin company Musik Hack. Musik Hack is the brainchild of both Sam and Grammy-nominated producer and engineer Stan Greene. Their first product is the innovative mastering plugin Master Plan. Sam is a seasoned software developer whose portfolio spans audio/DSP, Web development, and embedded systems. He’s obsessed with building creative, functional, major-label-quality products that don’t look like airplane cockpits. During the interview we spoke about getting the most from the Master Plan plugin, the different audio needs for different music genres, trends in plugins, how Ai will be used in plugins in the future, and much more. I spoke with Sam via Zoom from his office in Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at the latest RIAA mid-year report, and inMusic begins to lay off Moog Music employees. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 88607375, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guests today are Evan Dhillon and James Paston, two of the founders of the Ai voice cloning service Kits Ai. The company has launched tools for artists to safely create, license, and share their own voice models, opening new opportunities for fan engagement and monetization. Kits Ai has amassed over 100,000 users since launching, with their voice cloning technology training more than 80,000 custom voices based on the conversion of over a million audio files. They’re also backed by investments from a number of organizations and artists that include Steve Aoki, Lionel Richie and Wyclef Jean. During the interview we spoke about some unexpected uses for vocal cloning, new revenue opportunities from using the platform, why the user interface is so important, and much more. I spoke with Evan and James via Zoom. On the intro I’ll take a look at how playlist culture is affecting songwriting, and the unseen costs of analog recording. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 88464205, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest today is Los Angeles session guitarist Andrew Synowiec, ,who has recorded for or performed with artists ranging from music industry icons The Who and Alanis Morissette to contemporary trailblazers like Lil Nas X and Meghan Trainor. Other recent collaboration credits include Nick Jonas, Ariana Grande, Michael Bublé, Elton John, Seal, 98 Degrees, Josh Groban, Donna Summer, Bette Midler, and Carole King, among many others. Andrew has performed on projects that have garnered more than 30 Emmy nominations, 25 Grammys, and 20 Oscar nominations. He also boasts a guitar collection of over 100 guitars. Andrew’s latest album entitled FUN, is now available, and he’ll being touring the West Coast soon as well. During the interview we spoke about changing gear to get into session work, the trials of building his home studio, doing online sessions where the client doesn’t attend, how he built his career, and much more. I spoke with Andrew via Zoom from his studio in Hollywood. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the Grammy’s won’t include a popular Ai song, and I’ll answer some common audio questions. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 87523012, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest today is vinyl pressing expert Dustin Blocker, who founded Hand Drawn Records in 2011 and Hand Drawn vinyl pressing in 2014. He’s also been named the first president of the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association, which is comprised of more than 30 companies from every level of vinyl production, including record labels, mastering, lacquer cutting, electroplating, record pressing, printmakers, equipment manufacturers, brokers, raw material suppliers, and even logistic service providers. During the interview we spoke about the unseen steps in vinyl manufacturing, the latest in cutting-edge vinyl, developing quality standards for vinyl pressing, working towards sustainability, and much more. I spoke with Dustin via Zoom from his office in Texas. On the intro I’ll take a look at music videos losing their importance, and Gibson gets its archives back. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 87420141, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };