Working Class Audio

For episode 604, Matt talks with Alec Ness, a mastering engineer in Minneapolis and the owner of Ness Mastering. Alec joins to tell an unusual origin story: born with partially amputated fingers, he was steered from guitar to drums, caught the recording bug on Cakewalk in a Dakotas high school, and chased music through a now-defunct college (McNally Smith), the San Francisco and LA beat scenes as an Ableton Certified Trainer, and years touring as a producer and artist — before pivoting fully into mastering as the pandemic hit. He learned the craft by badgering his way into Greg Reierson's Rare Form Mastering and trading questions with Mandy Parnell, then sold his entire modular synth rig to buy the speakers for his own room. They get into the "Should everything sound the same?" note on his desk, resisting the loudness game, controlling your space, putting the art before the money, and the health toll of going too hard.

In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Growing Up in the Dakotas and “Flyover” Music Culture
- A Coffee Shop, a Venue, and Touring Bands Passing Through
- Born With Half His Fingers: From Guitar to Drums
- Catching the Recording Bug on Cakewalk in High School
- The Guitar Shop That Introduced Him to Ableton
- McNally Smith, Composition, and Dropping Out
- San Francisco, the LA Beat Scene, and Becoming an Ableton Certified Trainer
- From Producer and Artist to Mixing and Mastering
- A Studio in the Back of a South Dakota Guitar Shop
- Old Tools, Limitations, and Learning Phase and Mics the Hard Way
- The Dua Saleh Remix Album That Tipped Him Into Mastering
- Backing Off Touring Right as the Pandemic Hit
- Learning From Greg Reierson at Rare Form Mastering
- Badgering Mandy Parnell for Lessons
- "Should Everything Sound the Same?" Resisting Homogenization
- Why He Won’t Master to the Loudness of a Reference
- Controlling Your Space and Reducing Variables
- Selling His Modular Synths to Buy His Speakers
- Empathy, the Artist’s Vision, and Serving the Music
- Art First, Money Second, and Time as the Real Currency
- Health, Overwork, and Backing Off Before It Broke Him

Links and Show Notes:
Alec Ness / Ness Mastering
Rare Form Mastering (Greg Reierson)
WCA #599 with Alex Newport
Mandy Parnell
Michael Beinhorn on WCA

Credits:
- Guest: Alec Ness
- Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
- WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
- The Voice: Chuck Smith

For episode 603, Matt talks with Lorenzo Wolff — a Grammy-winning engineer, producer, musician, and owner of Restoration Sound in Brooklyn. Lorenzo joins on a Saturday from New York to trace a path from a hip-hop-obsessed kid in Nyack, chasing the basslines on Fugees and Wyclef records, to a session bassist, to interning under engineer Scott Lehrer at Second Story Sound, to building one of Brooklyn's most community-minded studios over eleven years. Along the way his string session with violinist Bobby Hawk turned out to be a Taylor Swift record, which led to Ye's Donda, which led to his ongoing work with Ms. Lauryn Hill. They get into the two tiers of gigs (community vs. famous), funding a studio build with a patron's retainer, why he treats generosity and conflict de-escalation as business strategy, and the honesty it takes to work with visionary artists. Enjoy!

In This Episode, We Discuss:
- Growing Up in Nyack, New York, in an Integrated Music Town
- From Hip-Hop and Turntables to Hunting Down the Bass
- The Fugees, Wyclef, Jerry Wonda, and Outkast as a Way In
- Becoming a Session Bass Player to Live in Studios
- Interning at Second Story Sound Under Scott Lehrer
- Being Sent to the Library to Read the Dry Theory First
- Why He Left to Start His Own Shops and Chase Creativity
- Building a Brooklyn Studio Over Eleven Years
- Winning Over Landlords: "Your Success Is Our Success" (and Cookies)
- The Patron Who Funded a Studio by Commissioning a Musical
- Survival Economics: Production Suites That Pay the Rent
- Community as a Business Model
- The Two Tiers of Gigs: Community vs. Famous
- The Bobby Hawk String Session That Became a Taylor Swift Record
- One Credit Leading to the Next: Folklore to Donda
- Working for Ms. Lauryn Hill
- Telling the Truth in the Room With Visionary Artists
- What "He's Gonna Be Okay" Really Means at That Level
- Why High-Profile Credits Do (and Don’t) Create More Work
- Generosity and De-escalation as Studio Strategy
- Why He Struggles With Interns

Links and Show Notes:
- Restoration Sound
- Lorenzo Wolff (Instagram)

Credits:
- Guest: Lorenzo Wolff
- Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
- WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
- The Voice: Chuck Smith

For episode 602, Matt talks with London mix engineer Luke Burgoyne, who joins from his room at Pony Studios in East London. Luke grew up in Winchester with two violinist parents, fell for the studio side of music at sixteen, and studied performance and recording at the University of West London before spending the last seven years assisting one of the UK's busiest mixers, Dan Grech-Marguerat (Lana Del Rey, The Killers, Liam Gallagher, George Ezra). Now he's transitioning into his own career as a mixer and producer. They get into the realities of high-level mix prep, what seven years of assisting actually teaches you, why UK managers tend to bring in work in a way American managers often don't, sharing expensive London rooms, his skeptical take on Atmos, and the differences between the UK and US recording ecosystems.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
Growing Up in Winchester With Two Violinist Parents
From the Beatles and Guitar to the Pull of the Studio
Why It Was Always About the Music, Not the Technology
Studying Performance and Recording at the University of West London
Realizing He'd Rather Record Great Players Than Compete With Them
Cold-Emailing Abbey Road, RAK, and Getting No Replies
Landing the Assistant Job With Dan Grech-Marguerat (on the Second Try)
Seven Years Assisting One of the UK's Busiest Mixers
The Soft Skills: Managing Clients, Files, and Spinning Plates
Mixing in the Box: Pro Tools, Recall, and Multiple Machines
Deep Mix Prep: Rebuilding Logic and Ableton Sessions in Pro Tools
Learning a Mixer's Quirks So They Never Leave the Creative Space
Transitioning From Assistant to Mixer and Producer
Getting Management and Why UK Managers Bring in Work
How UK and US Managers Differ
Building a Network While Assisting Five or Six Days a Week
Studio Identity: Staff Engineer vs. Independent Freelancer
The London Studio Ecosystem: Abbey Road, AIR, RAK, and Metropolis
Renting a Room at Pony Studios and Sharing Space in Expensive London
Neumanns, Genelec 1031s, and Working on Headphones
His Take on Atmos: Right for "Dark Side of the Moon," Wrong for AC/DC
Camaraderie Over Competition in London

Matt's RANT!: Technology Prices
Links and Show Notes:
Luke Burgoyne
Dan Grech-Marguerat
WCA #600 with Andrew Scheps
WCA #102 with Frank McDonough

Credits:
Guest: Luke Burgoyne
Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
The Voice: Chuck Smith

For episode 601, Matt sits down with Belgian musician, mastering engineer, and sociologist of music Gert Keunen — recommended to the show by past guest John Greenham. Gert has spent 35 years saying yes to nearly everything music: seven albums of his own, the nu-jazz project Briskey, a PhD in the sociology of music, four books on pop history, stints as a record-label staffer and newspaper critic, teaching at conservatories in Ghent, and most recently a deep dive into immersive audio that produced his book STEREO – Was a Nice Try. He joins from the Flemish countryside — where he also runs a 200-liter brewery and grows his own hops — to talk about how he manages time across all of it, why he learns best by teaching, how ADHD and dyslexia shaped an offline, notebook-driven discipline, and why he believes the future of immersive music is composing in 3D from the very first note rather than up mixing stereo.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
Living a Passion-Driven Life Across Music, Academia, and Beer
Managing Time When You Do a Dozen Things (and Cycling to Clear the Mind)
Growing Up in Flanders: Flute, Pink Floyd, and a Cracked Cubase on an Atari
Why He'd Rather Create Music Than Perform It
A PhD in the Sociology of Music and Four Books on Pop History
Teaching Music History, Sociology, and Production in Ghent
Going All-In on Mastering for a Year with Friedemann Tischmeyer and Ian Shepherd
How ADHD and Dyslexia Shaped His Offline, Notebook-Driven Learning
Why Teaching Is How He Actually Learns
Discovering Immersive Audio Through Apple Spatial Audio on Earbuds
Why a Good Immersive Mix Makes the Headphone Experience Better
Writing STEREO – Was a Nice Try Because No Good Handbook Existed
"13 Reasons Why Dolby Atmos Sucks" — and His Rebuttals
Creating Immersive From the Ground Up vs. Upmixing Stereo
A Format-Agnostic Workflow: Object, Channel, and Scene-Based, Then Choose Atmos or Auro-3D Later
Teaching Immersive at a Conservatory With a Dolby Atmos Room
Translating Student Tracks to a Live Immersive System at Ghent's Winter Circus
Pricing Mastering, Student Discounts, and Treating Gear as the Real Payment
Gear Acquisition, Buy-and-Return, and "a Hobby That Pays for Itself"
Finding Community Online Through Chris Salim's MCC
Running a 200-Liter Brewery, Growing His Own Hops, and Why Beer Is Like Making Music

Matt's RANT!: Time
Links and Show Notes:
Gert Keunen
STEREO – Was a Nice Try (book)
Briskey
Ian Shepherd on WCA
Friedemann Tischmeyer / Mastering Academy
Nuendo (Steinberg)
Chris Selim on WCA

Credits:
Guest: Gert Keunen
Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
The Voice: Chuck Smith

Matt celebrates episode 600 of Working Class Audio with a guest who's been there since the beginning — mixer and producer Andrew Scheps, who first appeared back on episodes 009 300 & 477. Andrew joins from his home in rural England to talk about winning MPG Atmos Mixer of the Year for his work on Low Roar, how he approaches Dolby Atmos delivery and client approval, why he switched from Sony headphones to the Audeze LCD-MX4, and what he's learned about training your brain to externalize binaural audio. The conversation also covers writing his own plugins with Claude and the JUCE framework, why he quit drinking four years ago and found rock climbing instead, breaking his foot, the realities of working with a manager, what "retirement" even means when no one tells you you're done, and why — 600 episodes in — Working Class Audio still matters in a way that's different from everything else.

In This Episode, We Discuss:
600 Episodes In — Andrew's Long History with the Show
Winning MPG Atmos Mixer of the Year for the Low Roar Catalog
The MPG vs. a US Equivalent: Advocacy, VAT, and Saving Studios
Being an American Honored Inside a UK Organization
Why the Low Roar "House in the Woods" Atmos Mix May Be His Best Work
The Pressure of Paid Work vs. Unpaid Passion Projects
Still Battling Imposter Syndrome After Decades at the Top
Why He Hates Sending Mixes Out
Atmos Delivery Workflow: Binaural, MP4, ADM, and the Two-Page PDF
Training Your Brain to Externalize Binaural Audio
Why He Starts Atmos Mixes in Headphones, Not Speakers
Switching from Sony Headphones to the Audeze LCD-MX4
Steven Wilson and Staying True to the Music in Atmos
Discovering Rock Climbing as Moving Meditation
Breaking His Foot — and Five Weeks on the Sidelines
Alex Honnold, Free Solo, and the Idea of Minimizing Risk
Quitting Drinking Four Years Ago and Stepping Away from Pub Culture
Is There a Calculation Behind a Career? Building Extra Income Streams
The Retirement Question: "They'll Just Stop Hiring Us"
Writing Plugins with Claude and the JUCE Framework
Why You Need an Idea — Not Just AI — to Build a Plugin
AI as a "Knowledgeable but Completely Blinkered Friend"
AAX, PACE Code Signing, and the Nightmare of Plugin UI
Board Games, Astronomy, and Life in Rural England
Why He Can't Imagine Living in LA Anymore
Working with Manager Frank McDonough — and What a Manager Actually Does
The Reality of Getting Paid by Major Labels (180-Day Cycles)

Matt's RANT!: 600 Episodes!
Links and Show Notes:
Andrew Scheps
Low Roar
WCA interview with manager Frank McDonough
JUCE framework
Audio Developer Conference
Audeze LCD-MX4
Free Solo (Alex Honnold)
Bounce Factory

Credits:
Guest: Andrew Scheps
Host/Engineer/Producer: Matt Boudreau
WCA Theme Music: Cliff Truesdell
The Voice: Chuck Smith