Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

My guest this week is Katie Zaccardi, who pivoted from being a wellness coach to a music career coach. Since then she’s helped hundreds of musicians grow their careers, release music, launch Patreons, start coaching businesses, and double their incomes. She has a number of online courses and coaching programs, and is the host of her Out To Be podcast. During the interview we talked about building an audience if you don’t have one, where to find your ideal fan, how to monetize your audience, some tips about putting your music on TikTok, and much more. I spoke with Katie via zoom from her office in the Nashville. On the intro I’ll take a look at why playlists might not be as important as you think, and the reason why proper metadata is essential for your songs. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83600438, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEdit

My guest this week is Nicole Slater, who specializes in helping artists, musicians, and entrepreneurs develop their marketing strategies. Since 2005, Nicole has been focused on helping creative people share their message with the world and make more money. She’s helped artists and pro audio companies like Burl Audio, Barefoot Sound, and IK Multimedia, and studios like Sunset Sound, form roll out plans for new products and music releases, develop marketing materials, create email newsletters, optimize social media, launch marketing events, and develop online ad campaigns. During the interview we talked about her career in radio and streaming, why posting consistency is so important, when to hire a PR person, how to become a podcast guest, and much more. I spoke with Nichole via zoom from her office in the Hollywood Hills. On the intro I’ll take a look at the new Soundcloud user-centric royalties, and the ways that songwriting has recently changed. var podscribeEmbedVars

If you ever wanted a vintage microphone but couldn't afford the super high price, a Heiserman Audio mic has become a top alternative. In fact, many "golden ears" of the audio business have liked them so much that they've sold their vintage mics in favor of a Heiserman version. Eric Heiserman is the man behind the microphone, and that's who's on my latest podcast. During the interview we talked about how Eric discovered that the capsule is the most important part of a microphone, why he built his own CNC machine, why most classic mics sound different from one another, finding the ultimate tom mic, and much more. I spoke with Eric via zoom from his facility in North Carolina. On the intro I’ll take a look at the what may be the end of traditional music genres, and the new Bluetooth LE high-quality wireless audio standard. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83524458, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFont

My guest this week is audio restoration and mastering engineer Michael Graves, who’s a four time Grammy award winner and 12 time nominee. Michael's main focus is saving historical audio that was recorded on deteriorating or obsolete grooved media, as well as more recent recordings where the sound is obscured for various reasons. Michael uses a combination of physical and electronic specialty techniques designed to rescue rare, one of a kind recordings or deteriorating media. This includes old 78 rpm records clouded by surfaces noise and years of neglect, right up to digital recordings that were done on some of the earliest pioneering formats. During the interview we talked about how his hobby became a career, why a high-end turntable is his secret weapon, the surprising styli that he uses to avoid record surface noise, why a stereo needle is preferred even for a mono record, and much more. I spoke with Michael via zoom from his studio in Hollywood. On the intro I’ll take a look at the latest Spoti

My guest this week is producer, songwriter and keyboardist CJ Vanston. CJ Vanston started doing jingles in Chicago where he soon became a first call player, doing as many as six sessions a day. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked with a wide variety of artist like Toto, Def Leppard, Prince, Joe Cocker, Tears For Fears, Spinal Tap Ringo Starr, Bob Seger BB King, Celine Dion Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton among many others. He’s also worked on films like Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, Sweet Home Alabama, A Mighty Wind, Mascots and more. CJ has also written and performed pieces for the Dalai Lama and Muhammad Ali, and most recently y co-wrote, co-produced and performed on Jeff “Skunk” Baxter’s 2022 solo release called Speed of Heat. During the interview we talked about how he got the nickname CJ, getting started in the studio scene, learning to engineer and mix, and much more. I spoke with CJ via zoom from his home in the Hollywood Hills. On the intro I’ll take a look at the ruling th

My guest this week is Jules Standen, who worked as an engineer with groups like The Lemonheads, The Smiths, and Siouxsie and the Banshees before starting an online forum for engineers in 2002. That hobby eventually grew into Gearspace.com, a place for all things audio, from gear forums and classifieds to gear databases and reviews, Q&A sessions with famous producers and engineers, and a worldwide audio community. Gearspace is now celebrating its 20th year serving online audio geeks everywhere, with over one million discussion threads, 13 million posts and 400,000 members. During the interview we talked about Jules engineering secret, how Gearspace got started, the questions most often asked on the forum, the most popular topic right now, and much more. I spoke with Jules via zoom from his office in the U.K. On the intro I’ll take a look at how some music genres that streaming favors more than others, and a new physical music distribution format that’s way better than vinyl but you may never see.

My guest this week is Bob Pomann, who discovered his unique ability to tell a story through sound while doing sound effects for the original Saturday Night Live. He went on to create Pomann Sound, a full-service audio-post and sound design house located in midtown Manhattan on the Penthouse floor, now in its 38th year, going strong since 1984. Bob went on to design sound for Disney’s long-form animated series, Doug, and his specialized sound can be heard on series including Little Einsteins, Kids Next Door for over 800 animated episodes. He’s also worked with all the major ad agencies on campaigns for major brands like Subway, Nicorette, and Verizon Fios, and in 2010 was the Gold Winner in the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival for his work on the Dos Equis “The Most Interesting Man In The World” campaign. During the interview we talked about having a studio in Manhattan, getting client approvals for Atmos mixes, getting started in the business as a high-school intern, some great sto

My guest this week is Andrew Scheps, who’s won 3 Grammy awards and mixed huge hits for Adele, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Beyonce, Jay-Z, U2 and many more. Andrew has also spent quite a lot of time mixing in Dolby Atmos lately, and his tutorials on the subject are some of the best available. He’s also spent a lot of time working on audio apps and plugs, creating  his Scheps 73EQ and Parallel Particles in collaboration with Waves, and most recently, his own Bounce Factory. Bounce Factory is an extension to Pro Tools that allows you to automate every aspect of the bouncing process in order to escape the drudgery of exporting alternate mixes and stems. During the interview we talked about consumer adoption of Atmos, the origins of Bounce Factory, how his mixing has evolved, using less parallel compression, and much more. I spoke with Andrew via zoom from his studio in the UK. On the intro I’ll take a look at trying to change the name of a music genre, and the end of Las Vegas Elvis weddi

My guest this week is Jim Hustwitt, who quit his marketing job in 2011 to work as a music producer and composer.  Since them Jim has produced music for Universal, EMI, BMG WestOne & NinjaTune and has been commissioned to write music for the BBC, Sky 1 and Channel 4. He’s also walked the boards of the National Theatre and London’s West End. During the interview we talked about shifting from being a singer-songwriter to composer, the approach to writing trailer music, battling the temp score, how many composers get fired and no one ever hears about it, and much more. I spoke with Jim via zoom from his studio in the UK. On the intro I’ll take a look at a new approach to artist videos, and the plan to preserve digital music for 10,000 years in the Global Music Vault.

If you're a drummer or regularly work with drums, you're really going to like my guest on the podcast this week since it's filled with things you probably never knew about the instrument. It's Daniel Glass, who’s an award-winning drummer, author, historian and educator based in New York City. He previously appeared on Episode 305. Daniel is widely recognized as an authority on classic American drumming and the evolution of American Popular Music. He's recorded and performed all over the world with a diverse roster of top artists, including Brian Setzer, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Jose Feliciano, the Budapest Jazz Orchestra, and even KISS front man Gene Simmons. Since 2011, he has been the house drummer every Monday night at New York’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club. As an educator, Daniel has published five books and three DVDs, created a curriculum that’s used by hundreds of music educators in schools across the U.S. and Canada, and is a regular contributor to publications like Modern Drummer, DRUM and

My guests this week are director of marketing Nate Baglyos and director of acoustics Charles Sprinkle of the speaker manufacturer Kali Audio. Both held executive positions at JBL before joining forces to start the company. Kali studio monitors are built to offer the best possible value to its customers, while providing high-performance products that fit any budget. During the interview we talked about why opera singers aren’t fun to be around, why designing professional speakers is more rewarding than consumer speakers, the theory behind Kali’s coaxial speaker configuration, why the science of loudspeaker design is so important, fine-tuning loudspeaker DSP, and much more. I spoke with Nate and Charles via zoom from their offices in Burbank. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the social media manager job has evolved, and why Gibson Guitars are now equated to “Dad rock.” var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83226699, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undef

Peter Sinclair, the CEO of BeatBread. BeatBread enables artists and songwriters to get advances from 1k to 2mil based on strength of the catalogs. Unlike other services, the company allows artist to keep 100% ownership of their masters, publishing, touring, merch and synch. You can design the agreement that works for you after the service gathers your data, which only takes a few minutes. It’s a way to stay independent without having to sign a bad deal just to get some working capital. During the interview we spoke about how he accidentally entered the music business, why many artists don’t want label services, how an artist can get access to working capital, and much more. I spoke with Peter via zoom from his office near Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at why there aren’t many hit songs this year, and how vibrations influence our lives in strange ways. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83191290, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefin

If you've ever tried to get an approval on a mix from someone, you know how hard that can get. You want them to hear it in all its glory, yet you don't want to send the high-res file without getting paid first. Plus, getting notes that make sense can be a real chore. That's what my guest on the podcast this week, James Dickerson, has solved with his new service called HitSend. HitSend allows you to share a project with a client, receive timecoded feedback so you know exactly where to make changes, receive final approval and even get paid before the files are released to clients.  HitSend works with files of any audio resolution, and with multiple payment vendors like Stripe, Paypal, Venmo and ApplePay, as well as a number of bookkeeping and invoicing solutions like Freshbooks, Quickbooks and Wave. It even works internationally allowing you to create invoice s with 97 different currencies and accept payment from over 135 countries around the world. During the interview we talked about the difficult

Jason Tonioli has managed to do something that everyone thought was impossible these days, and that’s crack 7 figures of income with only sheet music sales. He’s recorded 8 albums and created more than a dozen piano solo books as well as dozens of individual pieces of sheet music that he’s self-published. One of Jason’s secrets is that he creates music that’s simple and fun to play, yet sounds more complicated and advanced than it really is.  When Jason isn’t playing piano he’s also a well known thought leader in the banking industry, runs a record label, and is one of the founders of the tour company Amazing Vacations Costa Rica and the travel agency Amazing Vacations USA.  During the interview we talked about the how your dream can come later in life, how his sheet music business started, how important playability is, how piano education can be improved, how a great song transcends genres, and much more. I spoke with Jason via zoom from his office in Utah. On the intro I’ll take a look at the

My guest on the podcast this week is Vinny Ribas, who’s the founder and CEO of both Indie Direct and Cartne. Vinny has worked as both an agent and an artist manager, but is also an executive coach and strategic business consultant. He’s also branched out online in creating Indie Connect and his latest venture Cartne. Cartne takes the mystery and guesswork out of being an indie artist by providing the answers to over 250 of the most pressing questions and challenges that artists have. It also exposes over 60 of the scams and rip-offs that plague the industry, and also details hundreds of careers in the industry that go way beyond just artist, musician, engineer and producer. During the interview we talked about the different kinds of agents available, working with the parents of young artists, some current music scams, and much more. I spoke with Vinny via Zoom from his office in Nashville. On the intro I’ll take a look at the truth behind artists and social media, and the difference between a o

My guest this week is Elisa Di Napoli, who’s a holistic life coach, hypnotherapist, author and performer. Elisa specializes in helping professionals and artists overcome creative blocks and beat stage fright so they can better share their gifts with their audience. She’s been a holistic clinical hypnotherapist as well as Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner for two decades, where her approach combines Positive Psychology, Eastern Philosophy, Esoteric Western Practices with Hypnosis (when needed) and Transformational Creative Coaching to provide a Holistic path to better living.  Elisa is also a singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist performing under the name Elyssa Vulpes, and she is the best-selling author of “Dare to Be Seen.”   During the interview we talked about the reasons people get performance anxiety, performance anxiety over social media, the different symptoms that can arise, ways to overcome it, and much more. I spoke with Elisa via Zoom from her studio in New Zealand.

My guest this week is Ron Jones, who’s had a long career writing for some of the biggest hit television shows of our time. Ron has worked a variety of popular prime-time shows like The A-Team, Magnum P.I., Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter, and Star Trek Next Generation, but he may be better known for his work on animated shows. These include The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Disney’s Duck Tales, Fairly Odd Parents, and the ever popular Family Guy and American Dad. During the interview we talked about  why working on animation can be liberating for a composer, why the days before MIDI was actually easier for composers, his battle with categorizing his music on CD Baby, and much more. As you’ll hear, Ron’s a really funny guy with a wealth of knowledge, so we’ll probably come back for a Part 2 to the conversation soon. I spoke with Ron via Zoom from his studio in Washington State. On the intro I’ll take a look at the decline of fandom, and are we on the cusp of a new trend in recording?

My guest this week is journalist Larry Jaffee, who’s going to take us behind the scenes of the biggest vinyl selling day of the year, Record Store Day. Larry has been editor in chief of several magazines and websites covering the media and marketing businesses, including Medialine, which specialized in physical music product. His writing has been published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Adweek, and numerous other publications. He also currently teaches media studies at St. Joseph’s College and New York Institute of Technology, and has been the program director for the Making Vinyl and Replitech conferences, among others. Larry’s latest book Record Store Day: The Most Improbable Comeback of the 21st Century is the inside story on how independent record store owners and musicians managed to revive the vinyl format from oblivion. It’s being published by Rare Bird Books to coincide with Record Store Day’s 15th Anniversary.  During the interview we talked about how Record Store Day st

My guest this week is Gary Lux, who is one of Hollywood’s premier music mixers with literally thousands of projects to his credit. Before stepping out on his own, Gary was the head music mixer for Universal Studios, where he earned two Emmy Award nominations for his work with The Jacksons, and Frank Sinatra.  He has a wide range of music mixing credits including Usher, Sting, Rob Thomas, Britney Spears, Norah Jones, No Doubt, and many more. Gary was also one of the first to delve into 5.1 surround mixing, and has now mixed hundreds of titles in Dolby Atmos. During the interview we spoke about dealing with stereo stems in immersive mixing, mixing for the headphone experience, mixing Van Halen in Atmos, his approach to mastering immersive material, and much more. I spoke with Gary and his studio partner Dominic via Zoom from his studio near Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the promise of NFTs and web3 might not be what artists want, and how the latest revolution in the musical in

She Rocks Awards - 01212016 My guest this week is Laura Whitmore, who started her career in the direct marketing department of CBS Records before a 20 year stint as the marketing director for Korg USA. There she was instrumental in marketing, PR and artist relations for the Korg, Marshall, and VOX brands as well as editor of Korg’s ProView Magazine. Laura then started her own PR and marketing company called Mad Sun Marketing, with clients like Acoustic Amplification, Peavy, Sterling Audio, SIR, Korg, and many more, before signing on as VP of marketing for Positive Grid. In 2012 she founded the Women’s International Music Network™ to create a hub to connect women in all facets of the music industry, and to expose them to role models, events and educational opportunities that focus on women in music.  During the interview we spoke about the difficulties of doing PR in today’s social media world, the idea behind the Women’s International Music Network, musicians as entrepreneurs, and much more. I