What happens when a band doesn’t exist… but they chart on Spotify anyway?

In this episode, we dive into The Velvet Sundown—a band that’s racking up serious stream counts, releasing album after album, and might not even be real. Yup, it’s our first deep-dive into AI-generated music as a product, not just a tool.

We break down what makes AI music sound a little too perfect, how platforms like Spotify are involved, and why human imperfection might just be the thing that saves us.

Oh—and we share some old-school gear we still can’t let go of.

🎧 Why The Velvet Sundown might be the first full AI band
📉 What makes AI-generated music sound “off” emotionally
💡 How copyright law is trying (and struggling) to catch up
🤖 The difference between using AI as a tool vs as the artist
📻 Why human imperfections still matter in music

• Kyle's breakfast theory on French-sounding plugin names

• Chris’s 2003 Drummer 1960 preamp (and how he found it on eBay)

• Steve’s emotional duffle bag of old gear

• Why AI music might become its own Spotify genre someday

• The Kiss avatar concert tour (yep… that’s a thing)

• Catching a falling mic mid-recording like Spider-Man
  
  

Shoutout to Jewel (aka Steinway Goat) from MCC! She asked what gear we’re still emotionally attached to—and that kicked off a trip down memory lane with cassette 4-tracks, floppy disk sequencers, and first CD players.

AI music is here—and it’s not going anywhere. But what makes human music valuable might just become its own genre too: one that’s imperfect, emotional, and real.

📩 Submit your question here: Form Link
We’ll answer as many as we can in upcoming shows.

If you could go back in time and give advice to the younger version of yourself—the one just starting out in music production—what would you say?

In this episode, we get honest about the lessons we learned the hard way. From arrangement mistakes to gear addiction, from music theory regrets to what “pro” really means, we’re unpacking the biggest takeaways we’d love to hand off to the past versions of ourselves.

Plus, a few laughs about beard sniffing, beef tallow, and the strange but beautiful journey of the modern home studio musician.

🎯 Why a good arrangement is the real secret to a great mix
🎯 What music theory knowledge we wish we’d learned earlier
🎯 The misunderstood role of gear—and when it actually matters
🎯 How we define being a “professional” in audio (spoiler: it’s not about the Grammys)
🎯 Why mixing is just volume control (seriously)

🔥 The beard-sniffing church guy and the magical beef tallow
🔥 Why both of us feel imposter syndrome as musicians and engineers
🔥 How renting gear helped shape our early careers
🔥 The myth of “the pro”—and why it's time to ignore it
🔥 What makes a mix “mix itself” and how arrangement drives every decision

We tackle a comment from YouTube: “I love when a non-pro tells people what the pros do…” and unpack what it actually means to be a professional in the music industry.

A great song, a smart arrangement, and a confident mix approach beat expensive gear and elusive titles any day. If it moves someone? You’re doing it right.

📩 Submit your question here: Form Link
We’ll answer as many as we can in upcoming shows.

If you’ve ever looked at your DAW session and thought, “Where is everything going?”—you’re not alone. In this episode, we’re untangling the spaghetti of buses, groups, sends, and routing strategies that make up our mix sessions.

We’re walking through how we use group channels, why we (sometimes) skip the drum bus entirely, and when it’s worth creating multiple subgroups for just one instrument family. Plus, we revisit the pitch correction debate with a question from the audience that hits close to home: should you ever slap Auto-Tune on a vocal before even listening?

🎛 Why buses and subgroups are more than just "volume groups"
🎧 How to simplify complex mix templates with nested routing
🥁 Why Chris uses two drum buses—and what that unlocks
🎚 The difference between group channels, FX channels, and VCAs
🎤 When Auto-Tune is a helpful tool… and when it’s a crutch

• The breakfast place that finally shut down (we kinda saw it coming)

• Why Steve stopped using VCAs completely

• Chris’s stereo-only bus rule—and why it makes sense

• How parallel effects routing keeps your mix flexible

• The truth about vocal tuning and why every singer says “fix that”

Shoutout to Rome! We dig into their comment about pitch correction, Billie Eilish, and the art of leaving vocals raw. It sparked a great convo on how (and when) we approach to tuning.

Routing isn’t just about organizing your session—it’s about unlocking creative decisions. Whether you're a minimalist or a template wizard, the key is to make your workflow serve the music.

📩 Submit your question here: Form Link
We’ll answer as many as we can in upcoming shows.