Recording - December 2015 - 54

really gets me, and it's like, "Oh, that's so good,"
and I'll start writing stuff to that and start generating the song out of just him going off on the mic.
Continued from page 53
[laughter]
T: Exactly.
Audience member, Bruce, from Orange
County: How does somebody get into the Rock
Mafia "family"? In other words, do they come and
you do a session in your studio and pay their studio
time and get to know them and go, wow, this guy is
talented and you go with them? Or is it word of
mouth? How does one get involved in being with
Rock Mafia?
A: There are thousands of people that would want
to come in. But if we hear something that is inspiring or that excites us, it would be our privilege to
say, "Come in-let's try a writing session." I mean,
we're super-busy; we don't even write with really
well-known writing people. But if we hear something that's exciting to us...
T: I wake up every morning, and when I brush my
teeth, I say, "I wanna find the Rolling Stones." I
really believe that that is the attitude I take every
morning. It's gonna happen.
A: Or a great voice or a great songwriter.
T: I say Rolling Stones just because it's ubiquitous
of Rock 'n' Roll; it's ubiquitous of stardom; it's got
everything for you, and it's even a little dangerous,
you know? It's got all the qualifications of what you
would dream to do. I'm still lookin'.
Audience member, Amir Smith, a top-line
songwriter: My question is for Antonina. When
Tim plays, does that inspire you to write a lyric? Do
you just find your way into the song when he plays?
Does is open up something inside of you that
causes you to write?
A: A lot of times it does. What inspires me the
most, honestly, we get to that place sometimes
where I have so many ideas all the time that it can
be annoying, frankly.
T: I've learned to realize that it's just her absolute
incredible prolific ability. And it doesn't stop for
her-she's always in that. It's not annoying
anymore. I'm like wait, wait, wait. It's no longer
annoying. I'm like, keep it coming.
A: And to be honest, sometimes we get in fights
because he tells me to stop, or whatever. When he's
in the booth and he's singing... Sometimes there's a
track going on and he'll just get into a space, I swear
to you-and I wish there was a booth here and you
guys could all witness it-because he is so good
when he sings. Sometimes he'll just go off into
outer space and just start singing ideas. That's what
54

Audience member, Rashid, from South
Africa: Thank you so much for setting such a great
example in so many ways. My question is: Do you
think about things like shortening your intros or
other things you can do to get somebody interested
in your song from the very beginning?
T: I think your best way to look at that is to look at
the power of the tease.
A: The power of the what?
T: The tease. Just find the best part of it and just
give them the thing [that's going to make them ask
for more].
A: But practically speaking, not a long intro. You
know, "Don't bore us, get to the chorus". But you
should feel something right away. It's true, on either
side of it. Like I've been on the side where I'm having someone listening to a song and they'll kind of
go, "Ehh," even before it gets to the chorus, and
then I find myself sort of judging it the same way.
We're all sort of guilty on either side of the fence.
Everyone likes to be on the side of judgment, but
we've been on both sides.
Audience member, Katianne Timko: Well, I
just was trying to think of what I wanted to ask
you, other than can I just work for you guys for
free? [laughter] The indentured helper. But from a
production standpoint, your stuff all sounds-and
you do so many different genres-but they all
sound remarkably still like you guys even though
they are different? Your Pop stuff, your Rock stuff.
What are your favorite tricks that you sneak in that
make you guys have your own sound?
T: Our own sound probably comes from the fact
that I mix all the records. I mean, most producers
have a mixer, and there are a lot of great mixers out
there and they have a sound.

actually work together, you see a picture of you, you
can actually look at it! You have to use your ears,
because looking at it's not going to get you there.
But just start with that idea of like, OK, my attack
on my snare drum and the layer of white noise I
have on top of that, and the kick drum, they're not
working together. Well, a lot of times you'll see it;
you'll see what's not working inside that picture,
and then pay attention and move them. You need
to know where your one is, for sure. But after that,

"If you want to be a writer/producer,
find a star, man. Find somebody that
can translate your songs."
-Antonina Armato
look for the magic, it's there, it's in there. And the
code of those numbers is always random to each
relatable thing you do. Did that make sense?
A: No. [laughter]
T: Okay. Think about that one. [laughter]
I remember when I was reading your bio and it
talked about the science aspect of it. I get it; I'm an
engineer. But what about if you and Antonina were
just doing an acoustic guitar-and-vocal thing, a
nice simple thing? Would you be worrying about
the waveform and the attack even at that point?
T: Yes, I would. But let's say it's an acoustic guitar
vocal thing, right? You want to make it sound
great? Don't try and be the loudest. It's acoustic
guitar and it's a vocal. So be loud enough to where
it's not something people feel like they have to turn
up, but don't over limit, don't over try and make it
sound like it's big, because it should be small. If you
think about how Joni Mitchell's records sounded,
they're not loud-look at them on the waveform-
they are like significantly quieter. So that's
something to think about.
A: And that makes it go back to the vocalist. I keep
saying this.

A: What are some tricks?

T: Get a great vocalist.

T: Oh, you guys want to know mixing tricks?

A: I can't stress that enough. It's really all about
that. And that's why producers when they find
somebody who can really elevate your song. You
can have a great song and say, oh, anyone could
sing that and it would be a hit. Well, that's not necessarily true. If you have someone that when they
sing it, it makes the song better... I can't tell you
how many artists we have had that were just like,
Oh my God.

Oh yeah they do! This is now The TJ Mixing Trick
Hour.
A: Yeah, we all just sit here... We're so great, blahblah-blah. Just give them some tips. We'll tell you
about it, and then we'll have to kill you. [laughter]
T: OK, where do I start? I'll give you one. This is
tedious but it works. Pay attention to your
transients and your waves. And make sure that the
transients on your waveform of your music are in
relation to the other events of attack inside your
record. That's something a lot of people don't think
about, but once you start curating the waveforms to

T: I had a demo of "Love You Like a Love Song."
It's kind of funny; it's me singing, and I think I'm
pretty good, but... So Selena elevated the song to a
whole stratospheric level.
Continued on page 57

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