Working Class Audio

For episode 606, Matt talks with Neil Rogers — recording engineer, owner of Half-ton Studios in Cambridge, and longtime reviewer for Sound on Sound. After a decade of gigging as a drummer with no payoff, Neil found a music tech degree at 26 that rebuilt his confidence, then answered a group email about a ramshackle unit next to a brewery and built a studio there on about £7,000 and favors. Eighteen years on, they talk about the accidental great-sounding drum room, rebuilding bigger during COVID, pricing, being honest with young people about studio careers, and the joy of recording bands live on the floor.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
Meeting Matt Over a Pint in Cambridge
Eighteen Years of Half-ton Studios
Writing for Sound on Sound
Learning Drums When School Friends Started a Band
Why So Many Engineers Are Drummers
A Decade of Gigging Without a Payoff
A Music Tech Degree at 26
Discovering He Could Write
The Group Email and the Unit Next to a Brewery
Starting With £7,000 and Favors
The Accidental Great-Sounding Drum Room
First Gear: a £700 Soundtracs Desk
MySpace, Flyers, and Rehearsal Income
Rebuilding Bigger During COVID
Working With an Acoustician
How the New Room Draws Bands From London
Pricing and the Independent Band Rate
Honest Advice for Young Engineers
Workshops and Taster Sessions
Why He Limits Mixing Work
Recording Bands Live on the Floor

Matt’s RANT!: CLUTTER!
Links and Show Notes:
Half-ton Studios
Neil Rogers at Sound on Sound
Half-ton recording & mixing workshops

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

Chris Mara owns Welcome to 1979, one of the larger recording studios in Nashville, along with his wife Yoli. He joins Matt for episode 605 to talk about moving to Nashville at 20, building Mara Machines and a vinyl mastering department alongside the studio, and running it for 18 years with no partners and almost no borrowed money.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
Growing Up in an 800-Person Wisconsin Town With No Internet and No Roadmap
Community College Recording and Moving to Nashville at 20
"I Am Working Class": No Safety Net, No Umbilical Cord
The Unpaid Internship and the Downtown Bellman Job That Funded It
Trading Every Favor to Pull Studio Shifts
Keys and Alarm Codes to Ten Studios
Seeing the Same Gear Used a Million Different Ways
Working Across Every Format: 2-Inch, RADAR, DAT, and Early Pro Tools
The Nashville Number System and Country-Session Efficiency
Bringing in Rock Bands and Running Them Like Pro Country Dates
Justifying Your Existence When the Guitarist Has Pro Tools at Home
Coming Up With Welcome to 1979 (and the Runner-Up: "Simulated Wood Grain")
Pitching a Studio to His Pregnant Wife for $1,100 a Month
"You Can Break Even As Long As You Want"
Yoli Quitting Her Job to Run the Business Side
How Mara Machines Was Born From a Side Hustle
Multiple Income Streams and Why They Carry the Weight
Watching Your Overhead Before It Sinks You
Is That Gear Going to Make You Money, or Just Sit There?
Renting Rooms Instead of Buying Them
Saying Yes to Everything and Learning on Someone Else's Dime
18 Years, No Partners, Almost No Borrowed Money, Still Married
The Recording Summit, Tape Camps, and Vinyl Camps

Matt's RANT!: A Brain Dump
Links and Show Notes:
Welcome to 1979: https://www.welcometo1979.com/
Mara Machines: https://www.maramachines.com/
Recording Summit: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#recordingsummit
Tape Camp: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#tapecamp
Vinyl Camp: https://welcometo1979.com/events/#vinylcamp
Lij Shaw / Recording Studio Rockstars: https://recordingstudiorockstars.com/

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

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