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 };

My guest  this week is conductor John Jesensky, who is currently conducting premiere orchestras around the world in fully restored film score performances. Among the shows that he’s conducted include Harry Potter: In Concert, Star Trek: The Ultimate Voyage, Amadeus, as well as The Godfather: Live.   John is also a freelance film composer, scoring short and feature-length films as well as trailer and source music for top production companies. Several of his short scores have made appearances and won awards at film festivals around the world.   During graduate studies at NYU Film School where he studied privately with renowned film orchestrator Sonny Kompanek as well as prolific film composer Ira Newborn, John was awarded the prestigious Elmer Bernstein Award for Film Composition.  During our interview John spoke about the hardest thing a conductor has to learn, the preservation of legendary scores, the differences between the many orchestras he’s conducted, tight film scoring budgets, augmenting scores with samples, and so much more. I spoke with John via zoom from his office in Los Angeles.  On the intro I looked at how music streamers are losing millennials, and a new silk fabric sound isolation in development. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 102532990, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guests this week are Brianna Schwartz and Alexis Schreiber, the dynamic duo behind Schwartz & Schreiber, PLLC. Their innovative approach to entertainment law sets them apart, as they aim to provide a true end-to-end partnership with their clients, becoming a member of their team rather than just a passive or reactive attorney that is only involved when there's an issue. Brianna and Alexis first met on their first day at the University of Miami School of Law, where they were both pursuing a Juris Doctorate and a Master’s in Music Business and Entertainment. After years  of success within the industry, they officially teamed up in 2020 to create Schwartz & Schreiber, PLLC, a modern law firm specializing in music, entertainment, technology, and new media. To date, their firm has supported over 70 clients, including GRAMMY-award winning and nominated artists, producers, songwriters, renowned labels, digital and tech platforms, national festivals, sync houses, and more.  During our interview we spoke about how the new record deals have changed, how having too many writers on a song can inhibit sync opportunities, how AI is affecting copyright law, where the industry stands on TikTok right now, and so much more. I spoke with Brianna and Alexis via zoom from their offices in Miami.  var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 102197352, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week Lara Chapman, who’s an award winning singer/songwriter turned viral vocal coach and the Founder of VoxTape Studios. Born in Switzerland, her aspirations quickly took her to New York City, where she studied Musical Theatre and Acting for Film and Television. After that she moved to Boston to study Music Business, Songwriting and Vocal Performance at Berklee College of Music. While finishing her degree, she was signed to a major management deal and moved to Nashville to write and record her debut album.  After many successful releases, hundreds of shows, and navigating the brutal realities of the music industry, she discovered her true passion: helping others transform from singers into artists. Lara’s coaching videos have reached millions of passionate singers from all over the world helping her build a reputation in the industry as the go-to coach for helping singers find their own voice as an artist. During our interview Lara we learn a lot about singing as she talked about transitioning from performer to vocal coach, how the “good enough” mentality doesn’t work with singing, how singing is more than just hitting the right notes, why traditional singing lessons don’t work anymore, and so much more. I spoke with Lara via zoom from their studio in Indianapolis. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 101933661, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guests this week are Matt Wallace and Will Kennedy, the Grammy-winning immersive mixing team that has done spatial mixes for Dave Matthews Band, Foreigner, The B-52s, Kid Rock, Selena Gomez and many more. Before entering into the spatial mixing world, Matt’s work as a producer includes hits for Maroon 5, Faith No More, The Replacements, 3 Doors Down and O.A.R., while Will’s credits includes One Republic, O.A.R, U2, Michael Franti and Spearhead and others. Matt and Will set up their Dolby-certified mixing studio in the same complex as the legendary Sound City Studio in 2021 and haven’t looked back. During our interview Will and Matt talked about why analog recording experience is so valuable, the track that changed their perception of immersive audio, transitioning their studio to spatial mixing only, why rock is the hardest to mix in spatial audio, tag-team mixing, and so much more. I spoke with Matt and Will via zoom from their studio in Van Nuys, California. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 101474668, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Trevor McShane, the musical alter ego for high-power entertainment attorney Neville Johnson, who has won more than $350 million for actors, writers and musicians who were shortchanged their fair share of royalties from both major film studios and record labels. Called “one of the most feared litigators in Hollywood” by the Los Angeles Times and named a “Legal Legend” by The Hollywood Reporter, Neville began his career working for Yoko Ono on matters related to The Beatles' catalog. He’s gone on to represent many celebrities and/or their estates in a variety of contractual, accounting and intellectual property disputes, including John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Michelle Phillips, Richard Dreyfuss, Rick Nelson, Sylvester Stallone, members of Earth, Wind and Fire, Mitch Ryder, Lloyd Price and others. Neville has also written a number of books, including two about the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, that are available from his Cool Titles publishing company. As Trevor McShane, Neville has released a number of well-regarded releases that have grown his Spotify followers to 100,000 and 150,000 on YouTube. During our interview Neville and I spoke about keeping his music life as Trevor separate from his legal practice, what he learned from the legendary John Wooden, transitioning to being a litigator, AI copyright, and so much more. I spoke with Neville via zoom from his office in Beverly Hills.  On the intro I looked at UMG settling its dispute with TikTok, and how music gear retail is changing before our eyes. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 101025894, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };