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Max Bernstein

@mostdefinitemax

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Founder Relationl, Airtable development for music moguls

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What is spatial audio and why does it matter? @brad.smalling, the Atmos engineer to the stars, tells all.

In this episode we discuss:
- How spatial audio moves beyond stereo by placing instruments and vocals in a three-dimensional sound field
- Why true spatial mixing differs from upmixing, and where upmixing can compromise the listening experience
- Why preparing music for Atmos can help future-proof catalogs for VR, 3D audio, and other immersive formats
- What engineers need to consider when creating mixes that translate across headphones, phones, studios, and other listening environments
- Why human listening remains essential when evaluating and refining AI-separated audio

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/RUr0nN49Wlo

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction to Brad Smalling and the topic of spatial audio
01:17 - What is spatial audio and object-based mixing
02:52 - Comparison between stereo and spatial mixes; workflow considerations
03:55 - Who is the audience for spatial audio
08:45 - How spatial audio works on headphones and head-tracking
12:06 - Preparing legacy tracks for Atmos from original multi-tracks
14:35 - Source separation techniques and AI use
19:03 - Practical uses for source-separated stems
22:39 - Listening across devices: phones, headphones, and studios

#musicindustry #audioengineer by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"Think about VR. Think about bringing actual 3D to TVs in a way that works. Think about how we're gonna interact with electronics in the next five years."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, making the case that mixing for Atmos is really mixing for the future.

Not every track needs it. A singer and an acoustic guitar, there's only so much you can do spatially without adding effects that don't belong there. But most music benefits from the format, and the real argument goes beyond what sounds good today.

VR is coming. Better 3D displays are coming. The way we interact with media is shifting, and if your music is already mixed in Atmos, you're ready for all of it. Brad's message to independent and major artists: think about where your career is headed relative to these technologies, not just where it is right now.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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1

a month ago

"120,000 tracks are being released a day. 120,000 mix engineers aren't working a day to get that work done."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, putting the bedroom studio revolution into perspective.

Artists recording at home makes total sense. Crazy schedules, late nights, quality of life, all of it. Brad's been in audio long enough to watch this transition happen, and he genuinely supports it.

But here's the gap. Most of those 120,000 daily releases never see a dedicated mix engineer or mastering engineer. The recording happens in bedrooms and basements, and so does everything else. Brad's take: record wherever you want, but hire out mixing and mastering. You need another set of ears on it.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"This artist will listen with their phone from practically across the room."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, sharing the moment that changed how he approaches mastering.

He was working on a record when the artist's manager told him point blank how the artist actually listens. Not on studio monitors. Not on headphones. On a phone speaker, from across the room.

So Brad pulled up Mix2Mobile, broadcast the masters straight to his phone, killed the big speakers, and just sat there listening. A few things needed adjusting. Nothing huge, nothing that should reshape the entire mix, but enough to matter.

The takeaway is simple. We master on fancy speakers, maybe check on headphones, but the majority of listeners are on phones. If you're not at least considering that, you're finishing records for a playback scenario that most of your audience will never use.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"They go back to the original tapes, digitize from the multi-track, put it up on the console, and move that into Atmos. A heavy, heavy, heavy lift."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, explaining what it actually takes to bring classic records into immersive audio.

Those hits from the 60s, 70s, and 80s weren't made with any of this in mind. Nobody in the studio was thinking about spatial audio. But the multi-track tapes from a lot of those sessions still exist, and that's the starting point.

To do it right, you go back to the best source possible. Digitize the original recordings, rebuild the session, and then move the whole thing into Atmos. It's not a quick conversion. It's a full reconstruction of a record that was finished decades ago.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"There have been huge vault fires where originals are lost."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, on the reality of bringing classic albums into Atmos when the source material doesn't exist anymore.

Some of the greatest records ever made, think Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, have been successfully rebuilt for immersive audio. Going back to the original multi-track tapes and recreating the entire thing from scratch. The results can be stunning.

But not every album gets that chance. There have been vault fires that destroyed irreplaceable masters. Projects where two 24-track machines were synced together and one tape is completely missing. At that point, you're working with whatever survived, and the full picture of the original recording is gone.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"That algorithm can't recreate a Taylor Swift vocal. It can't recreate a John Mayer guitar line."

Brad Smalling on Sound Systems, drawing a line between what machine learning actually does and what people are afraid it does.

The technology is identification. You train it to recognize patterns, the same way you and I hear an acoustic guitar and know what it is. Brad broke it down with the simplest analogy possible: sorting jellybeans by color. The algorithm looks at the jar, separates them out, and hands them back to you organized.

That's powerful for workflow. For cataloging, for analysis, for search. But it stops there. The thing it can never do is write the song that made you feel something in the first place.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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a month ago

"It plays a very small role right now."

Jack Bradley on where AI actually sits in music production today. Forget the hype cycle. In practice, the most useful application is making stems and splits from stereo tracks when the original session files are gone.

The technology is impressive and getting better. But the day-to-day reality is more practical than revolutionary. When a client needs an instrumental version or a quick vocal extraction, AI handles it. Everything else still runs through human hands.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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2 months ago

One of my favorite things to do is to listen to live versions of my favorite music from growing up. But what about live recordings of current tours? @rodyancy company @bootleg.live has that figured out.

In this episode we discuss:
- Why bootleg recordings offer a unique antidote to the rise of AI-generated music
- How the authenticity of live, unofficial recordings preserves human creativity
- What the proliferation of AI music means for originality and artistic value
- How bootlegs have historically influenced music culture and fan communities
- Why the imperfections in bootleg recordings matter for music’s future
- What music industry leaders can learn from the bootleg phenomenon

Watch the full episode on YouTube (link in bio)

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
02:15 - Rod’s background and early fascination with bootlegs
07:40 - The rise of AI music and its implications
13:05 - Bootlegs as a response to digital perfection
18:30 - The role of imperfections in music
24:10 - How bootlegs shape fan communities
29:55 - Lessons for music industry leaders
35:20 - Closing thoughts by @mostdefinitemax

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2 months ago

"They primarily do not like AI and they want things that are authentic."

Jack Bradley on the shift happening with younger consumers. Influencers used to be able to sell anything on TikTok. Now every paid promotion needs a label and audiences have gotten extremely good at detecting what's real and what isn't.

Every industry in music is trying to catch up. By the time anyone figures out what's next, something new has already taken over.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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2 months ago

His 13-year-old son Googled the artist playing in the Uber, and the screen said AI artist.

Rod Yancy has been thinking about where music is headed, and one thing is becoming clear. AI generated music is already indistinguishable enough to fool an entire car. Even the driver had no idea.

The question isn't whether AI music floods the market. It already has. The real question is what happens to discovery, trust, and compensation once listeners genuinely can't tell the difference.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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2 months ago

A musician plays 20 bootleg shows and posts all 20 live recordings on Spotify. They don't get 20 times the streams.

Rod Yancy explained why. Fans only have so much listening time. Streaming a live album usually just pulls a stream away from the studio version instead of adding a new one.

That's the gap his model is built to close. No ownership grab on the recording, rights stay with the artist or label, and the goal is creating revenue that's actually new instead of cannibalizing what already exists.

🔊 Sound Systems by @mostdefinitemax

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2 months ago