Join us at The Village studios for a masterclass in creative recording techniques with engineer Sylvia Massy! Hosted at Studio A with rock band The Melvins, this in-depth series takes you on the journey from equipment choice and microphone placement to tracking, production, and the rough mix. Using a Neve 8048 console and outboard compression, Massy explains her signal flow and session setup, discusses the source material, and crafts her sound for drums, bass, guitar, strings, and vocals. She records live performances of the band, adds overdubs, and implements a few unconventional ideas of her own to culminate in an exciting rough mix of the song!

Enter the studio of wildly creative musician, songwriter, producer and mixer David Wrench! In this six-part series, Wrench takes you through the process of crafting a record by his electronic duo 'Audiobooks'. The song is called 'Friends In the Bubble Bath', and it is exemplary of the band's quirky, old-school aesthetic. Learn about the unusual approach to songwriting taken by Evangeline Ling and David Wrench, with drummer Stella Mozgawa (of the band 'Warpaint') performing on the record. With a multi-track session, Wrench explores the song's arrangement and reveals his mixing techniques with simple yet effective plug-in chains. He also explains his methods of creating samples and discusses why he has moved to mixing fully 'in the box' while opting for analog synthesis over MIDI. He elaborates on why he avoids parallel processing, mixes with a limiter, and handling the issue of dynamic range with clients requesting more apparent loudness.