#222: From Vocal Prep to Mastering — 7 Standout Moments of 2025 (Part 2)

What if the fastest way to a better mix is caring more about the human, the song, and the signal path than the plugin chain? We pulled seven moments from our 2025 conversations that changed how we write, record, mix, and master, and stitched them into one practical, heart-first guide you can use on your next session.

We start where great records begin: with the singer. Rich Bozic, a professional vocal coach, shares why physical comfort is essential for sound design, encompassing layers, a calm seat, a dialled-in headphone mix, and planned breathers to manage fatigue. Then we zoom out with Dan Giffin, who reminds us that composition beats the perfect kick. His three-touch rule snaps you out of tweak loops and keeps momentum high, while a top-down approach to mixing preserves the vibe you loved in production.

Next we clean up the myths around digital audio with Ian Stewart’s crystal-clear take on sample rate and the Nyquist theorem. You will understand why 48 kHz often hits the sweet spot for modern workflows, how aliasing and imaging appear, and when oversampling actually matters. We carry that clarity into big, emotive mixes with Drum X Wave and Brian Skeel: translate vision to buses first, let guitars and synths complement rather than collide, and make size breathe with arrangement, not brute force.

We also unpack the creative blind spots Michael Oakley calls out, how you can become “noseblind” to your own work and why feedback before the third rewrite can save songs. And we wrap with Eric Mitchell on mastering restraint: distortion as salt, not a main course. A little saturation wakes the record; too much smears it. Forget the viral “crank it” tips and listen for blur as much as for bite.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Listen to E194

Listen to E181

Listen to E203

Listen to E215

Listen to E207

Listen to E188

Listen to E182

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Series Setup
• 1:49 Why Reflecting On 2025 Matters
• 3:01 Moment 1: Prepping Singers For Sessions
• 4:41 Moment 2: Composition Over Mix With Dan Giffen
• 6:11 Moment 3: What Sample Rate Really Means
• 8:11 Moment 4: Top-Down Mixing From Emotion
• 9:52 Moment 5: Don’t Overthink Before The Third Rewrite
• 11:03 Moment 6: From Metal To Synthwave With Andy James
• 12:35 Moment 7: Mastering And Digital Distortion Pitfalls
• 14:20 Listener Shoutouts, Survey, And What’s Next

Transcript

Marc Matthews: 0:01

You're listening to the Inside the Mix podcast with your host, Mark Matthews. Welcome to Inside the Mix, your go-to podcast for music creation and production. Whether you're crafting your first track or refining your mixing skills, join me each week for expert interviews, practical tutorials, and insights to help you level up your music and smash it in the music industry. Let's dive in. Hey folks, welcome to Inside the Mix. A big welcome to new listeners and of course a big welcome back to the returning listeners as well. This episode is part two of my two-part series highlighting my favorite moments from 2025. As I mentioned in part one, do go listen to the episode if you haven't done so already. In 2025, I've had the pleasure of sitting down virtually and chatting with some amazing mixed engineers, mastering engineers, producers, artists, and everything in between as well. Now I wish I could include every guest that I've had on the podcast in 2025 because there's been golden moments in all those conversations. But I just want to extend a thank you to those guests and you, the listener, as well, for being part of the podcast and promoting the podcast, coming back every week and listening to me chat with people from all across the world as well, which is amazing. And I need your feedback, folks. Click the link in the episode description and help me shape the podcast in 2026. It's a two-minute survey. Let me know what's working, maybe what isn't working, what you want to see more of, or you want to see less of, or rather hear rather than see. And you can also share your music win of 2025, and I will share that on episode 227, so you can get a shout out on the podcast, and you'll get links for you and your music put in that episode as well. So people can find you and learn more about you as an artist. So please do click that link you've got until the end of November to submit your win and feature on the podcast at the end of this year in 2025. Now, as I mentioned in part one, the reason this episode matters is because most people, and I do this in particular, like to look back at the previous year and reflect on what went well and maybe what could be improved. And in this episode and the previous one as well, so this two part series, we are unpacking insights that help artists mix and produce songs faster, mix smarter, and stay creative for longer. So let's dive into the first top moment of 2025 in this episode. So this moment comes from episode 194, which is titled I Asked a Pro Vocal Coach How to Prepare a Singer for a Recording Session. And it features Rich Bosic of the Facial Ears podcast. In this episode, we chat about uh tips for remote vocal recording sessions, how to recognize and manage vocal fatigue, microphone selection tips, and how to optimize the headphone mix for singers. And in particular, this moment is where Rich is talking about how singers are high maintenance and uh how he says, let's just get that out the way. So we're talking about singers being high maintenance in this episode. So it may sound like a sweeping statement, but bear with me, have a listen and check out the episode because there are some gold moments for vocal recording. And this is episode 194. Oftentimes singers are high maintenance, all right?

Rich Bozic: 3:24

So, like, well, let's just get that out of the way. Singers are high maintenance. So you want to be like, you want to encourage them, dress in layers. Uh so if you get cold, you can put your jacket on. If you get too hot, you can you can take off some of the layers. Uh, because all of this f physical comfort is a big deal with singers, um, because we carry our instrument with us wherever we go, right? So dressing in layers. So uh having a place for them to set their stuff down and maybe to sit down and relax. Because sometimes uh we gotta gather our thoughts, like we're about to sing, and we gotta gather our thoughts. We need a moment to just chill for a second. So having a comfortable chair nearby or a seating area, having access to a restroom if they need to step uh uh aside and kind of pray in a room by themselves before before the recording, things like that.

Marc Matthews: 4:12

The second top moment of 2025 is taken from episode 181, which is titled Can AI Really Revolutionize Music Production? Music Industry Insights and Tips with Dan Giffen of the Ableton Live or the Ableton Podcast. And uh in this we discuss exploring Ableton's creative workflow, optimizing Ableton Live for live performance, and music career lessons and advice. And in particular, the moment taken from this episode is where Dan is talking about composition beating mix every time, which I'm a fan of, real fan of this. So this is episode 181 with Dan Giffen.

Dan Giffin: 4:52

When it comes to like mixing, things I've really learned is like it's more about how it makes you feel than just trying to get your kick drum perfect or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I've heard some really shitty mixes, and those are some of my favorite songs because the energy's there, because the music just hits, it's a good song. The composition is well made. So I'd say composition beats mixes every time. But I think that if you can have a great composition in a great mix, that's like a that's a big selling point, and that's gonna be a song that hits the hardest. But I'd say, like, in the end of the day, if you're playing with it more than three times and you don't know if it's better or worse, then just like you're fine, move on. Because I've gotten lost in the sauce of just tweaking the same thing over and over. So that's my golden rule. If you touch it more than three times, you still don't know if it's better or worse, it's fine.

Marc Matthews: 5:43

The third top moment is taken from episode 203. What actually happens when you choose a sample rate featuring Ian Stewart? And uh, I love having having Ian on the podcast. He's been on the podcast a few times because his technical knowledge knows no bounds. Um, some really insightful, in-depth stuff here. So we discussed what is audio sample rate and how does it work, understanding the Nyquist theorem, why 48 kHz is the best sample rate for today, and aliasing and imaging in audio and everything in between really. This was a two-parter, so uh episodes 203 and episode 204. And in this particular uh moment, Ian is discussing, or rather telling us, describing what is sample rate. So this is taken from episode 203 with Ian Stewart.

Ian Stewart: 6:32

So when we record digital audio, right, when we want to get something from a microphone, for those of you that are just listening, I'm pointing to my microphone, and we want to get it into a file, we have to do a bunch of conversion. And part of the process is, you know, if back in the old days when we used tape or other mediums, right, that it was just a voltage that came out of the mic, went through a preamp, and that voltage would get stored mad magnetically on a tape. But when we go digital, we have to measure that voltage and store it as a value. And because we can't do that infinitely fast and continuously, we kind of take a sample, we we measure that voltage a bunch of times every second and save that. Then we say, okay, the voltage is this, and we save it as a value, as a digital number, and we move on to the next sample and say, Oh, now the voltage is this, and we save that. And so the sample rate just tells you how many times every second you're taking that sample.

Marc Matthews: 7:26

The fourth moment of 2025 is taken from episode 215, which is titled How to Mix a Wall of Sound That Still Breathes with Drum X Wave and Brian Skiel. So Drum X Wave is Jay Cali. And in this episode, uh we talk about uh translating vision to mix, building big vocals, uh vocoda usage, guitars with synths, synth choices and sound design, top-down workflow, and advice for indie artists as well. There's loads in this episode. And uh the moment taken from this is where Brian is discussing top-down mixing that starts with emotion. So this is taken from episode 215 with Brian Skeel and drum X-Wave, X aka Jay Cali.

Brian Skeele: 8:12

So when Jay and I first started on this track to go back a couple conversations, I would send him like whips. So he asked me, Hey, can can we do extra guitars? Can we do extra production? I was helping him beef up like the drum samples and you know get some more body out of some of these you know synth bases. And so we'd be, you know, sending stuff back and forth, like, hey, how do we like the vibe on this? That's production. I'm not looking for luffs, I'm not looking for everything to really come together. I am mixing a little bit as I go, uh, just to save myself some hassle further down the line. But once I mentally move from production is finished, we're now on to the mix, that's when I start top down. Because I'm mixing as I go, the flavor is already there. We're just getting everything to play nice together.

Marc Matthews: 8:56

The fifth top moment of 2025 is taken from episode 207, which is titled How Many Drafts Does It Take to Finish a Track Featuring Michael Oakley, who's been on the uh podcast a few times now. Always a pleasure chatting with Michael, uh, specifically because he's a fellow Newcastle United fan as well. And in this episode, we discuss drafting songs and getting feedback, how mood affects creativity, reworking without losing the spark, sound selection and reuse tips, and mapping musical ideas in your DAW. And in particular, this moment is where Michael is discussing how don't overthink a song until the third rewrite. Compelling, right? This is episode 207 with Michael Oakley.

Michael Oakley: 9:41

It's a little bit like you know when you spray aftershave and then and then after 15 minutes you can't smell it anymore because you've become noseblind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's like that, it's like you you start to become it's a myopia takes over and uh you can't hear it anymore. And so what you need to do is get someone else. I mean, I I like someone else to come and listen and give me feedback because they usually give me an observation that I haven't considered, or they break that myopia. Like most recently, I was working on a track and I really liked the drums. I thought the drums sounded really nice, and then I took it to John Kunkel, and he said he said, those drums don't work. The kick and the snare do not sound like they they really belong in this world.

Marc Matthews: 10:26

The penultimate moment of 2025 is taken from episode 188, and it's titled All the Damn Vampires, Davy Oberlin. What makes an 80s synthwave cover cover truly authentic? And uh that cover in particular is White Snakes Is This Love, one of my favourite songs of all time, which is the reason, one of the reasons I invited Davy on because I was like, I've got to chat to him about this because it's amazing, and I absolutely, absolutely love it. And in this episode, we talk about from metal to synthwave, musical evolution, breaking down the cover process, vocal production techniques, and working with Andy James on guitar. And the moment I've taken from this is Davey talking about working with Andy James on his tracks. So this is episode 188 with Davey Oberlin, All the Damn Vampires.

Davey Oberlin: 11:14

Andy is on one of my favorite all the damn vampire songs I've ever written called Carolina Lies. So he plays the solo on that song. We were we were actually out on tour together, and he was I hadn't been tracking guitar or anything on cubase. Like I just wasn't confident. And then I saw him working with it, he'd bring his Kemper in and he'd be tracking on Cubase. And I'm like, dude, like what's your process? And so he he helped me get myself set up to uh basically track instruments again in a way I hadn't been doing for years. I came home, I wrote like nine super heavy songs, like very like typo negative, catatonia, like just like you know, moody stuff. I'll send you a I have a private link for that. I'll send you a little bit of a channel. Yeah, yeah, please do. It was like the first thing I did when I got home. So I was like, all right, like this is killer. And Andy also loves synthwave. So if we'd be in the dressing room getting ready, you know, we were doing all this Metallica shows, so we'd be at the stadiums and we'd have like the midnight playing, you know, as as our warm-up music while we're getting ready, just doing push-ups, whatever. Charlie and Andy love synthwave.

Marc Matthews: 12:08

And here it is drum roll, please, the final top moment of 2025. And it's taken from episode 182, which is titled, Are You Using Digital Distortion Wrong in Mastering with Eric Mitchell? Had Eric on the podcast before, always a pleasure chat with Eric because he comes with some great ideas, some amazing stuff, very insightful. And we discuss avoiding distortion, pitfalls in mastering, exploring tools for digital distortion, and analog versus digital mastering and the debate therein. And the moment taken from this is where Eric is discussing and talking about mastering isn't balancing, it's avoiding digital distortion. Again, very intriguing. So this is taken from episode 182 with Eric Mitchell.

Eric Mitchell: 12:54

I feel like saturation and distortion to me is kind of like salt in food, right? Like most food needs a little salt to wake up the flavor, but you can very quickly and very easily over salt your food, right? And so, like the thing with distortion is it's kind of almost like blurring an image, right? So it's like if you have this signal that's very crisp and pristine, the more distortion you add to it, the more smeared and blurry that gets, right? Because it's adding all the harmonics, it's filling in all the space between the the original lines that were so clean. And so we talked about this last time too, like the the in 2025, this abundance of like bad audio advice on the internet, and you know how many Instagram videos you'll be fed where somebody's like, you want huge subs? Throw on the distortion and saturate your whole mix and crank the look, like like there's so much bad advice.

Marc Matthews: 13:52

And that's it. That is the two-parter complete. That is all, well, now 14 top moments of 2025. So seven in this episode and seven in the previous episode. But I want to know what's your favorite podcast moment on Inside the Mix of 2025? Send me a message, click the link in the episode description and send me a message. What is, let me know your favorite podcast moment of 2025, and I'll feature it on episode 227. And whilst we're on that topic, don't forget to click the link in the episode description and share your feedback. What do you want to see more of, or rather hear more of, on the podcast in 2026, and also share your win and feature on the podcast in episode 227, again, like I just mentioned. And you've got until the end of November to share your win of 2025. So click that link, fill in that feedback survey, and at the bottom there, just put your musical win, and I'll feature it in episode 227, as I mentioned. So a big thank you to everybody again who has been part of the podcast. I say again because I mentioned this in part one, who has been part of the podcast, not only in 2025, but also in the years from 2000 and I think it was 2021 I started. Yeah, it was 2021. Everybody who's been part of the podcast, and also, of course, of course, you the listener as well, who keep coming back every week and listening to me chat with some amazing people. You are the reason this podcast podcast keeps going. So a big, big thank you to you. Now, the next few episodes leading up until Christmas, because uh we are approaching the festive season, season, if not in it already, I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite podcasts. So I've reached out to my favorite podcasters and they've kindly allowed me to almost take over their RSS feed, or they're taking over my RSS feed. So they've shared their top episodes with me, and I'm going to be playing those episodes for you. So each week is going to be a new podcast. Uh one of my favorite podcasts. I'm not no spoilers, I'm not going to tell you who or what podcast, but you'll find out starting in the next episode. So join me then.