Live Q&A with Ken Lewis

Ken has credits on 99 gold & platinum records and close to 30 years experience in the major label music industry. In his free live broadcasts he answers a wide range of questions on music production, mixing, career development and more.

This episode covers:
0:00 - Intro
8:08 - How did you get started? What college did you attend? What change made the biggest difference in your career?
9:30 - What is the most helpful tip you got?
11:14 - What do you do before starting to mix a track?
13:25 - What are the basics on using eq on vocals?
17:52 - I have always sent my lead vocal to a stereo bus, but I sent it to a mono bus and it sounded so much better. Have I been mixing wrong?
18:21 - Is creating buses necessary?
20:59 - As a beginner at producing, I have difficulty vocalizing what I am hearing in my head. Any advice?
22:28 - What track layers do you tend to build a song around?
23:01 - When producing, when do you know when to stop adding sounds?
24:20 - Why choose a mono aux or a stereo aux with vocals?
25:31 - Would you recommend a U87 AI microphone?
26:24 - How do you gain longevity where you can finally feel free pursuing your passions?
27:02 - How do you find people who will help you in your career?
27:45 - What’s the best way to maintain the sounds going into your head? I get music ideas, but never know how to "save" it.
28:45 - When doing subtractive EQ how much should one subtract? What's your thought process when a sampled string instrument has some harmonic ring that won't go away?
29:56 - On the mix bus, what secret sauce are you using and what are your go to plugins?
31:36 - Do you think a good vocal sound looks different in a different frequency spectrum analyzer?
32:41 - What is it like mixing songs when you don't understand the words?
33:43 - Show & Tell - Pre Mastering the Mix Bus
42:09 - What is RMS?
43:17 - How can I get noticed by more artists and work with more people?
46:34 - Ann Mincieli answers "How do I keep inspired?"
53:03 - Analog versus Digital. Do you always mix and track in the box?
55:09 - How to get professional sounding vocals using a home studio set-up?
57:08 - Do you need plugins or an eq or compressor on every channel?
58:12 - How do you deal with panning and getting a full sounding stereo mix?
59:09 - How do you add grit to snares in a very 90s rap snare way? How do you find unique sounds?
1:00:14 - Do you have to tune your kick to your song?
1:01:18 - How is your studio acoustically treated? Your desk position is direct in the sloping roof. According to studio-building literature, this wouldn’t be the optimal place.
1:04:22 - Story Time with Ken - Creating big drums for Alicia Keys for 'Girl On Fire'
1:08:48 - GiveAway - Plugin Alliance Mega Bundle
1:12:04 - How do you get away from caring what people think to share your work?
1:13:25 - How do I talk to industry professionals about my music without having a record deal and huge following?
1:15:39 - How do you go from producing a hit record every 100 beats to more often?
1:16:16 - How do you start promoting a new record?
1:16:35 - How do I get you to mix my music? How much do you charge?
1:17:31 - If your set up was all 'in the box' and you could splurge on one piece of analog gear, what would it be?
1:17:55 - How do I make frequencies relate to each other in terms of mixing?
1:18:49 - What would you say to someone who produces their own music? Is it possible to stay objective?
1:21:57 - What’s the simplest thing I can do from my home studio to create a polish on a track before uploading to streaming services?
1:22:30 - What is your best advice for an upcoming producer that has a quality sound, but hasn't yet gotten a huge placement?
1:23:33 - How do we know if we’ve written a good song, or if it's a bad song, but we just can't see it?
1:23:48 - What if I want to intern for this live show?
1:23:59 - I’m learning so much at school for audio engineering. I don’t have time to absorb anything. Any tips?
1:25:25 - Do you boost fundamental frequencies in tracks, or cut around them?
1:25:57 - Fab Filter Pro 2L vs. Waves L2?
1:26:27 - How do you thicken thin vocals?
1:27:04 - What kind of headphones you have?
1:27:54 - What do you recommend for computer specs?
1:28:20 - What are the differences between N.Y. and L.A. when working in this industry?
1:29:06 - Why Sprint Mix?
1:32:21 - SPRINT MIX
1:42:21 - Outro
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Resources:

Mixing Night Audio:
https://mixingnightaudio.com/

Ken Lewis Mixing Website:
https://kenlewis.com/

Ann Mincieli - Jungle City Studios:
http://www.junglecitystudios.com/top-recording-engineer-nyc-ann-minicelli/