The Producer's Philosophy, with Brian Bender

Kirk sits down with producer, composer, and master mixer Brian Bender to talk about the state of the recording art.

Brian Bender has been making records since the early 2000s, from slinging cable at legendary NY spots like Electric Lady and the Hit Factory to running his own studio, The Motherbrain, in Los Angeles. He’s worked with countless artists and worked on dozens of films and TV shows. He’s also the guy who taught Kirk how to play Street Fighter back in grade school.

On this episode, Kirk reunites with his old buddy to talk about the producer’s role in the studio, Al Green's cookies, common mix misconceptions, how to mic drums, and how to get a good handclap sound.

Follow Brian (and check out his studio) on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bdbender/
Brian Bender's (Partial) Discography: https://www.discogs.com/artist/361112-Brian-Bender
Film & TV Credits: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4685996/

REFERENCED ON THIS EPISODE

TERMS

• A/D or D/A: Analog to digital conversion
• “In the Box”: Making music entirely digitally with no outboard gear
• Stems - Submixes of like tracks (e.g. the strings, the guitars) which an engineer can work with instead of individual tracks in order to streamline workflow

MUSIC

• “Stop” by Joe Henry from Scar, 2001
• “A.D. 2000” by Erykah Badu from Mama’s Gun, 2000 (mixed by Russell Elvado)
• “Lay It Down” by Al Green from Lay It Down, 2008
• “Mother Brain” by Minako Mamano from Super Metroid, 1994
• “If You Hear Me,” “Promised Land” by Ben Williams from I Am a Man, 2020
• “Super Bad” by James Brown feat. Jabo Starks on drums, 1970
• “Nobody Knows My Name” by José James feat. Laura Mvala & Kris Bowers from No Beginning No End 2, 2020
• “Church Girl” by Laura Mvula from Pink Noise, 2021
• “Elevator" by Gavin Turek from Madame Gold, 2021
• “Guilty” by Barbra Streisand w/ Barry Gibb, 1980

GEAR DISCUSSED

Drums:

• C&C Custom Drum Set
• Ludwig Supraphonic Snare Drum

Studio Gear:

• Studer 2-inch 24-Track Tape Recorder
• Ampex 602 2-Track 1/2-Inch Tape Recorder
• Otari 2-inch 16-track Multitrack Tape Machine
• Teletronix LA-2A Compressor

Microphones:

• AKG 414 (The OG)
• Shure SM57 (The GOAT)
• Electro-Voice 642 Cardiline Dynamic Shotgun Mic (Kick Batter)
• Neumann U47 FET (Kick Head)
• Inverted Yamaha NS-10 Woofer (Sub Kick Mic)
• Sennheiser 421 (Toms)
• Coles 4038 ribbon (Overheads, the other GOAT)
• Lomo 19a19 tube condenser (Secret Russian mic)

OTHER THINGS

• Tate’s Bake Shop
• George Massenburg explains the GML8200 Parametric EQ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kBFqHo2z9Q
• The movie “Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar,” 2021

Correction: Kirk initially erroneously described Bender as having won multiple Grammys and Emmys, but he has only been nominated (so far). The episode has been edited to remove the error.

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STRONG PLAYLISTS

Kirk has condensed his Strong Songs picks into a single list, which you can find on Spotify and Apple Music, and YouTube Music.

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