On this week’s podcast episode, I talk with author, musician, and lecturer Craig Anderton for Part 2 of our conversation, this time about vocal production, mixing strategy, performance dynamics, and the deeper decisions that separate polished recordings from generic ones.
From gain envelopes and vocal detail work to inside out mixing, minimal plugin philosophy, and DIY creativity in modern production, this conversation is packed with practical music production insight for engineers, producers, and artists who want better sounding records.
Craig is an internationally recognized authority on music technology, an author of more than 50 books, a longtime educator, and a Sweetwater Publishing author whose work spans recording, mixing, dynamics, and music production.
He also shares free educational content at craiganderton.org and continues to engage musicians through his long running forum and YouTube channel.
In This Episode
- Why Craig says what goes into the microphone matters more than any compressor preset.
- How gain envelopes and vocal microsurgery can lift a performance without relying on compression.
- Why a single vocal can sometimes create a stronger listener connection than doubling.
- The Chuck D remix story, and why sometimes the best move is simply bringing up the fader.
- How performance timing, headphone level changes, and psychology affect the final vocal.
- Craig’s inside out mixing approach for balancing the densest section of a song first.
- Why he records vocals completely flat and avoids monitoring through effects.
- What modern DIY production looks like now, from macro controls to creative chain building inside the DAW.
And much more.
You can hear it at bobbyoinnercircle.com, or via Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Mixcloud, Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn Radio, or RadioPublic.
Also, a video version of this podcast is now available on YouTube as well.
