People & Music Industry

Cameron Craig of the Music Producers Guild and Chris Cooke of CMU discuss the new MPG Producer Deals Guide, explaining how producer agreements are changing and what producers need to understand about points, royalties, expenses and publishing. They explore the issues facing both established and unsigned artists, and why agreeing terms clearly and putting them in writing is essential.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:18 - Who are CMU?
01:03 - The Producer Deals Guide
03:51 - The Changing Industry
09:35 - The Producer Contribution
18:45 - Unsigned Artists
21:02 - Addressing The Matter Early
25:00 - When To Get A Publisher
26:31 - Managing Multiple Works
33:04 - Covering Expenses
38:17 - PPD And Net Receipt Deals
44:55 - Written Agreements
Music Producers Guild
The Music Producers Guild is a not for profit organisation that was started by producers, mixers, recording engineers, re-mixers and programmers and is run by volunteers from within the industry. Their aim is to support members in their careers, campaign for the rights of music industry workers, promote diversity within the industry and to celebrate the achievements of members via the annual MPG Awards.
https://mpg.org.uk/dealsguide
Cameron Craig Biog
Cameron is a two time Grammy award-winning Producer-Mixer-Engineer. A hugely impressive credit list notably also includes several albums with U.N.K.L.E., along with names like Adele, Annie Lennox, Bjork, Tina Turner, Baxter Dury, Grace Jones, Joe Strummer, Duffy, Amy Winehouse and many more.

His work has encompasses an enormous spectrum of musical styles including indie, dance, film soundtrack and orchestral recording, picking up a Grammy award for "Album of the Year" for his part in recording Adele's 25 and collecting another Grammy award for "Best Engineered - Non classical” in 2008 for his contribution to the Suzanne Vega album Beauty and Crime also recording the orchestra on Duffy's Grammy and Brit award-winning Rockferry album.
 
Other notable accolades are Grammy nominations for Annie Lennox’s Nostalgia album that he mixed, Bjork’s Biophilia album that he recorded a track on, a nomination for MPG’s Recording Engineer of the Year 2015.

Having started out in his native Australia he achieved great success with many multi-platinum albums and a nomination for ARIA Engineer of the year in 1995 to his name. It is then Cameron decided to move to the UK to further his career.

Cameron is an Executive Director of the MPG and sits on the board of UK music representing the MPG to the wider music community.
https://www.cameroncraig.info
https://www.instagram.com/cameroncraig77
https://twitter.com/strangesounds
https://www.facebook.com/cameron.craig.7161

Chris Cooke Biog
Chris Cooke is co-Founder and MD of CMU, a company that helps people navigate and understand the music business through journalism, training, consultancy and events.

Chris regularly writes, talks, teaches and consults about the music industry. He wrote the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ book and ‘Music Copyright Explained’ guide, advises the Council Of Music Makers, and co-leads Pathways Into Music, which builds connections between the music industry and music education.

Chris also pursues other projects via UnLimited Media, through which he publishes ThisWeek Culture and ThreeWeeks at the Edinburgh Festival; and helped launch PR training charity the Taylor Bennett Foundation.
https://mynameischriscooke.com
https://www.instagram.com/chriscookeunlimited
https://x.com/chrisunlimited
https://www.facebook.com/chrisunlimited
https://www.threads.com/@chriscookeunlimited
Sam Inglis Biog
Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).
Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

Michael J. Morgan joins Sam Inglis to discuss the practical challenges of working freelance in the audio industry, from setting rates and finding clients to building relationships and developing a sustainable business.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:28 - Business Mentoring For Freelancers
07:43 - Modern Career Paths For Audio Engineers
09:51 - The Right Time To Go Freelance
13:19 - The Benefits Of Specialising
16:30 - The Role Of A Manager
21:24 - The Importance Of Networking
26:44 - Utilising Social Media Wisely
32:25 - Setting The Right Price
40:53 - Streamlining Your Workflow
Michael J. Morgan Biog
Michael J. Morgan is a business coach for audio engineers and founder of The Business of Mixing, where he helps mixers, mastering engineers, producers, and other audio professionals build stronger, more sustainable freelance businesses. He has worked with approximately 500 audio professionals, including engineers behind records by Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa, Tame Impala, and others.
His work focuses on understanding the market, positioning, pricing, client relationships, and the business systems behind a long-term career in audio. Michael has also led research and strategy work with pro-audio companies including PMC Speakers, oeksound, and OHMA Microphones, and has shared his work with audiences through Sweetwater, Mix With The Masters, Sound On Sound, and a number of industry podcasts.
https://mixing.biz
https://www.instagram.com/mixing.biz
Sam Inglis Biog
Editor In Chief Sam Inglis has been with Sound On Sound for more than 20 years. He is a recording engineer, producer, songwriter and folk musician who studies the traditional songs of England and Scotland, and the author of Neil Young's Harvest (Bloomsbury, 2003) and Teach Yourself Songwriting (Hodder, 2006).
Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

Gérard Assayag talks to Nick Rothwell about his pioneering work in creative AI and computer music at IRCAM, exploring co-creativity, computer-aided composition, musician–machine interaction and the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence and musical performance.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:51 - Background Story
03:18 - Working at IRCAM
05:33 - Computer Science
09:26 - Music Presentation Software
13:13 - Co-creativity with OMax and Somax
16:37 - Exploring Creative AI with REACH
23:45 - Generating Symbolic Scores
28:34 - Music As A Prompt
31:23 - Improtech Workshop Festival
#ircam #openmusic #OMax #Somax #Improtech
Gérard Assayag Biog
Gérard Assayag is Research Director at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM) in Paris, where he founded the internationally recognised Music Representations team. He also directed IRCAM's Sciences and Technologies of Music and Sound (STMS) laboratory, and led the development of influential computer music software including OpenMusic, Antescofo, Orchidea, OMax and Somax.
Assayag is a co-founder of the Sorbonne University Institute for Music Sciences, the Sorbonne Institute for Artificial Intelligence, the French Society for Computer Music, the International Society for Mathematics and Computation in Music, and the Journal of Mathematics and Music.
His research focuses on computer languages and algorithms for music, computer-aided composition, and creative AI for musician–machine interaction. He is the recipient of a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant for REACH (Raising Co-Creativity in Cyber-Human Musicianship), an international project exploring creative AI for music. He also performs live as a generative electronic musician using the AI tools he has developed.
https://www.ircam.fr/en/people/grard-assayag
https://www.facebook.com/iIRCAM
https://www.ircam.fr/www.instagram.com/ircam_paris
Nick Rothwell Biog
Nick Rothwell is a composer, performer, software architect, coder and visual artist. He has built media performance systems for projects with Ballett Frankfurt and Vienna Volksoper, composed sound scores for Aydın Teker (Istanbul / Kapadokya), Shobana Jeyasingh, AWA Dance, Luz&Mannion Dance (Flamenco) and Undercurrent Theatre, programmed physical media sculptures with Simeon Nelson and Rob Godman, live coded in Mexico and in Berlin with sitar player Shama Rahman, collaborated with the body>data>space collective in Prague, Paris and Dresden, written software for Studio Wayne McGregor, Beinghuman in Kathmandu, the Pina Bausch Foundation and Nesta's FutureFest, consulted for Tate Modern, and developed algorithmic visuals for large-scale outdoor projections in Poland, Estonia, the Cambridge Music Festival and Lumiere (London / Durham). He has taught design at CODE Berlin and currently runs the Computer Science undergraduate course at University of the Arts London.

Nick Rothwell - Project Cassiel - https://cassiel.com

Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts

Tony Platt talks with Paul White about his career highlights, developing his recording techniques and memorable sessions with Bob Marley, AC-DC, Gary Moore and Uriah Heep.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
00:27 - Contacting Studios
06:23 - Learning By Watching
08:59 - Tape Operator At Trident
11:19 - Moving To Island Studios
12:57 - Becoming An Engineer
14:56 - A Different Recording Era
15:58 - Recording Bob Marley
17:25 - Using Spill As An Advantage
20:26 - Recording Techniques
23:04 - Memorable Sessions
26:13 - Taking Time To Develop Bands
28:42 - From Analogue To Digital
33:54 - Incorporating Analogue
35:51 - Analogue Emulations
39:05 - Expanding Into Different Genres
41:56 - Current Music Projects
42:37 - AI In Music

Tony Platt Biog
Tony started as a “tea-boy” at Trident Studios in London before landing a job as tape operator at the now legendary Island Record's Basing Street Studios where he worked as an assistant on sessions with the likes of Traffic, The Who, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
He engineered on sessions with John Martin, Free and many more, leading to him mixing the “Catch A Fire” album for a hitherto unknown Jamaican artist, Bob Marley and then recording and mixing the “Burnin” album, both of which arguably would launch reggae music into the mainstream.
As a freelance he recorded demos that prefaced deals for Thin Lizzy and the Stranglers before becoming engineer for Mutt Lange and working on the AC/DC albums “Highway to Hell” and “Back in Black”, Foreigner – “4”, Boomtown Rats – “Fine Art of Surfacing’ and Broken Home.
He produced and engineered the work of artists such as Samson (with Bruce Dickenson singing), Krokus, Motorhead, Gary Moore, Cheap Trick, Ronnie Dio, The Cult and Marillion and recorded two albums for Buddy Guy - the Grammy winning “Damn Right I Got the Blues” and the follow up “Feels Like Rain”. He developed a close involvement with the well-respected “boutique” Jazz label, Dune Records, working with all their artists including Mercury nominated Soweto Kinch, Denys Baptiste, and Abram Wilson.
Many other productions in the Jazz genre have followed and Tony still undertakes mixing projects in his own studio.
He is a member of the steering group for the education initiative J.A.M.E.S. (Joint Audio Media Education Support), whilst occasionally providing guest lectures, master-classes and workshops for several universities running music industry courses worldwide.
www.platinumtones.com
www.jamesonline.org.uk
Paul White Biog
Paul White initially trained in electronics at The Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern then went on to work with Malvern Instruments, a company specialising in laser analysis equipment, before moving into technical writing. 

He joined the Sound On Sound team in 1991 where he became Editor In Chief, a position he held for many years before recently becoming Executive Editor. Paul has written more than 20 recording and music technology textbooks, the latest being The Producer’s Manual.

Having established his own multitrack home studio in the 1980s he’s worked with many notable names including Bert Jansch and Gordon Giltrap. He’s played in various bands over the years and currently collaborates with Malvern musician Mark Soden, under the name of Cydonia Collective. Paul still performs live claiming that as he has suffered for his music he doesn’t see why everyone else shouldn’t too!
http://www.cydoniacollective.co.uk/

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Music producer Ben Hillier reflects on his journey from orchestral percussionist to studio producer, from assisting on recordings to working with Elbow, Blur, Depeche Mode and Nadine Shah, sharing insights on feel, creativity and making records from his distinctive straw-built studio.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
02:36 - The Studio Design
03:56 - Recording Orchestras
08:51 - From College to Assisting
16:03 - Being A Good Engineer
20:08 - Recording Elbow
28:40 - Working With Blur
35:19 - Encouraging Creativity
40:35 - Engineering Depeche Mode
43:36 - Getting Feel Into Electronic Music
50:12 - Collaborating With Nadine Shah
57:46 - Being A Good Producer
59:20 - Creating A Good Studio Environment
1:01:13 - Choosing Which Projects To Work On
1:07:34 - Preferred Tools And Workflows

Ben Hillier Biog
Ben Hillier has been working in the recording industry for nearly 40 years. He spent the 90’s engineering and programming for various producers including Steve Osborne, Steven Street, Gil Norton and Nelly Hooper around London and internationally. In the 2000’s he moved into production making albums with bands like Elbow, Doves, Blur and three albums with Depeche Mode. In 2010’s he also began writing music, co-writing and producing five albums with Nadine Shah. In 2007 he set-up The Pool Studios with Nick Young at Miloco and was a partner in that studio for about 17 years. Ben continues to write and produce, most recently producing The Howling Bells, Sandhouse, Highschool and Dominie Hooper and writing with Shadowman, Storm Franklin and Nuha Ruby Ra. He currently lives near Brighton, UK, and has a studio (Agricultural Audio) made out of straw bales on working farm.
Instagram: @agriculturalaudio
Kevin Paul Biog
Kevin Paul started his career as a DJ but quickly found his passion was sound engineering. His first audio job was at Soho Studios in 1991, moving to Konk Studios six months later, where he worked alongside successful producers and engineers such as Bob Clearmountain, Adam Mosley, Pascal Gabriel and Gil Norton, as well as bands such as The Kinks, Galliano, Terrorvision, UFO and Elastica.
 
After working on archiving the Depeche Mode back catalogue in 1994, he was offered an engineering role at Mute Records’ in-house studio, which eventually lead to a position as Head Engineer, which gave him access to the entire Mute Records roster. Highlights include mixing Goldfrapp’s 'Felt Mountain', David Bowie’s 'Hours' and Nick Cave’s 'No More Shall We Part'. He also worked in 5:1, mixing Moby’s 'Hotel', Goldfrapp’s 'Black Cherry' and more for DVD.

In 2004 Kevin went freelance and re-mixed the entire Depeche Mode and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds back catalogues for SACD/DVD. Since 2008, Kevin Paul has been in charge of mixing and remixing performances at the iTunes Festivals in the UK and Germany. He has mixed over 100 artists to date, including Adele, Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The XX, Calvin Harris, Foo Fighters, Jack White, Linkin Park, Florence & The Machine, Deadmau5, David Guetta, Jessie J., Norah Jones, Oasis, Mumford & Sons, N.E.R.D., Lykke Li, James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Hot Chip, Paul Weller and many more.

He continues to record, engineer, produce and mix many projects in music and film, runs the mixing and surround mixing modules for the Masters Degree course at UK’s Westminster University and divides his time between London and Berlin. Recent works include the International selling new album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and mixing the latest album of Denmark’s “Dúné” with the first single premiering at the Danish Music Awards, plus the latest iTunes Music Festival.

http://www.kevin-paul.com/

Catch more shows on our other podcast channels: https://www.soundonsound.com/sos-podcasts