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The Creators Sessions Contest: Meet Producer Mike Beck

Meet the man behind the mixing boards of our Creators Sessions contest.

In case you haven’t heard, we’re holding an awesome new contest now through November 21st called The Creators Sessions. We’re looking for three talented musicians from the United States, United Kingdom and Brazil (one musician from each territory) to fly to New York City and set up in a recording studio for 5 days. The musicians will be collaborating on an EP together under the expert guidance of producer Mike Beck (Owl City, Semi-Precious Weapons, among many others). The winners will also get roundtrip airfare to NYC, 6 nights hotel stay, $5,000, and will be billed on a future The Creators Project event. You can find out more about the contest here and apply here.

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We wanted to take a moment to introduce you to the man behind the mixing boards of this exciting new project: Mike Beck. Check out photos of his Brooklyn loft recording studio above, as well as our Q&A with him and a list of his recording equipment below.

And be sure to get your submission in before 11:59 p.m. ET on November 21 for a chance to win!

The Creators Project: How long have you been making music? How did you get started as a producer?
Mike Beck:My parents made me take piano lessons starting in the first grade. When I was like 12, I got a Tascam Portastudio cassette 4-track for Christmas and decided I was going to re-record Pink Floyd’s The Wall in its entirety, performing every instrument myself. I wish I could say those tapes still represent some of my finest work, but thankfully I think I’ve improved at least a little. Much later on, I played in lots of bands, interned at a bunch of studios, studied production at Berklee, and eventually ended up getting a job at music publishing company in New York. At first I was just interning, answering phones and taking out the trash, but the company had a studio, and soon I was doing demos for all the songs the writers submitted, or re-demoing old songs from the company’s catalog so they could be pitched again. From there, I eventually started producing records.

What’s the most interesting project you’ve worked on so far?
I did a record for Neil Sedaka last year. His first hit was “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” in 1958, followed by like 4 million other huge hits you certainly know. He’s in his seventies now, totally eccentric, and his style might be a little dated, but it was awesome to watch a guy who’s used to cutting records all live in one take in front of a huge orchestra just do his thing. I learned a ton. And you can bet that dude had some amazing stories. I’m going to write a book.

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Which of your projects would you say pushed your technological boundaries the most? How?
Actually, the thing about making records is that every project presents its own set of unique technical challenges, each as demanding as the last. Every time you think you have found a silver bullet—a way to do something that works every time—you realize the next day that it’s not going to work again. Being musical means coming up with new solutions, new answers to the extremely specific questions that each song asks. Because I work a lot as a simultaneous producer and engineer, one constant challenge for me is to keep the technical side of my brain from interfering with the creative side. I have to force myself to stop listening to the release time of that compressor, or the 3db spike at 2kH, and focus on whether or not the guy is playing with the right feel, for example. It’s a constant mediation that I have to work really hard at, and it can start to feel kind of schizophrenic.

What’s the one piece of equipment you can’t live without? Why?
I think for making music, you need to have a very intimate relationship with your speakers. You need to be able to hear exactly what’s going on, or else you’re just guessing. As long as you know your speakers very well, and they feel right to you, you know exactly what you’re making. Then, you can go about making any other gear sound good. I think you have a much better chance of making something sound awesome with really good, accurate speakers and crappy mics and mic pre’s, than with crappy speakers and the best outboard gear in the world. Because if you can’t really hear what’s going on, how will you know when to stop turning the knob on that million-dollar EQ? It’s a totally subjective and personal thing, but I have a pair of Focal Twin 6 Be’s and a Focal CMS Sub that I really feel connected to.

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What is the nerdiest thing in your studio right now? What do you use it for?
It’s all so nerdy, I don’t know. I have this weird little synth called a Stylophone that consists of a tiny metal keyboard that you touch with the tip of a plastic pen to make a tone. It has this really obnoxious, whiny sound, but I somehow use it on everything. Or I have an Optigon, this crazy keyboard that Mattel made for kids in the ’60s that plays these really strange and creepy accompaniment tracks off of plastic “optical discs” for you to play along to. Is that nerdy? A glockenspiel?

What are the challenges and benefits of collaborative songwriting? How does that affect your role as a producer?
I do a lot of co-writing sessions, and it’s like dating. You show up and meet someone for the first time and everyone feels awkward and weird. Then, you might hit it off, or it might be a disaster, and you know you’re never going to work with that person again. Either way, because I’m the guy with the studio, I often end up being the guy who later has to sift through whatever was done that day and figure out how to shine it up into something presentable. Then, I have to try to service everyone’s ideas as best I can and sort of focus them all into a demo that represents what I think we were going for. The other situation I find myself in a lot is working with a singer who may have some song ideas but doesn’t really have any complete tunes. In that case, it’s great because I can guide the song into the sonic territory that I am already imagining. Then, the recording process can be a lot easier, because I already have so many ideas for how I want it to sound. Sometimes the recording can actually happen as the song is being written. The studio becomes kind of instrument to play. I love that.

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Who are your top 5 favorite musicians of the moment?
1. The new Sufjan Stevens record has blown my mind
2. This kid I saw at a punk show in Brooklyn a few months ago playing a hacked Gameboy
3. I saw Prince live in Las Vegas a few years ago and my whole world changed
4. Jon Brion
5. Shooby Taylor, The Human Horn

In Mike’s Recording Studio:

Mac Pro 8-Core Intel
Pro Tools HD3
Avid 192 I/O

Monitoring:
Focal Twin 6 Be
Focal CMS Sub
Avantone Mix Cubes
Dangerous Monitor ST

Mics:
Peluso Labs 22 47
AKG C12 VR
Royer 121
Coles 4038 (2)
Microtech Gefell MV692/M70 (2)
AKG 414 (3)
Shure SM81 (2)
Shure SM7B
AKG D112
Audix i5, D2, D4
Yamaha Subkick
Shure 520 Green Bullet
Shure SM57
Shure SM58

Pre-amps:
1970’s Neve 1061 (8)
API 3124+ (2)
Focusrite ISA 110 Limited Edition
Vintech Audio 273

Dynamics:
Universal Audio 1176LN
Urei/JBL 7110 (2)

Instruments and amps:
Baldwin Acrosonic Upright Piano
Fender Rhodes Mark I Stage piano
Conley Custom Acoustic Guitar
2001 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (Custom Shop)
1995 Fender Strat
1960’s Teisco Del Ray “Checkmate”
Danelectro Hodad
Fender Jazz Bass
Fender Precision Bass
Danelectro Bass
1970’s Silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb
1990’s Marshall JCM 900
Polytone
Fender Hot Rod Deville
Fender Blues Junior

Synths:
Nord Rack
Studio Electronics ATC-1 Tone Chameleon
POD X3 Pro

DI’s:
Retrospec Juice Box Tube DI
Tech 21 SansAmp Paradriver

Plugins:
Waves Diamond, Waves SSL, Abbey Road, Cranesong, NI Komplete, Ivory 2.0, BFD 2, Stylus RMX, Reason, and more…