In our Studio Spotlights series, we shine the spotlight on professionals who are using Bounce Boss in their workflow. They share how they got into music, their career path, setup, skills and the projects they have been working on. They also share production tips and advice for customers.
In this Studio Spotlight, we meet Michael Thomas Silva:
‘Warlungs - Immortal Portal’ comes to mind maybe because it's recent but it was definitely a project where I had to step outside my comfort zone. We recorded guitars first, the final guitars, and then we moved on to drums and so on but again it was I'm proud of that one because it was a good exercise and stepping out of my comfort zone and being able to learn and grow just doing things in a different way.
My career path has been kind of a strange one. I started playing guitar when I was like 10 or 11 and started playing drums and pretty much all your typical instruments. I was always kind of tinkering with the recording stuff, using your sound card and just doing whatever you could with whatever I could get my hands on. I got heavy into playing in bands and I had the opportunity to leave school to tour so I jumped on it. My parents were cool and they let me do it so I did that. Somewhere along the way I got into contact with with a guy who just recently bought a studio a turnkey studio so he was working a normal job didn't have time to actually work in it you know as much as he would like. So he just let me kind of run with it so I learned a lot you know just experimenting had a ton of friends and bands and so I was able to try things out see what works see what didn’t. He taught me a lot I mean he really did when he was available he would come out and just kind of show me the ropes. I did that for a long while, I worked some regular nine-to-five throughout the next few years still playing in bands and stuff and really focusing on my own band recording freelance. Sometimes traveling to record bands and whatnot. I got an opportunity about six or seven years ago, like I was starting up a studio and you needed a chief engineer Blackbeard recording here in Houston and I jumped on it you know is it was a good opportunity for me to to be in the studio 24/7 and it really was 24/7! About a year ago now we decided that you know it's time to go freelance and it's what I've done. I've been freelance for the past year and you know it's it was it was a definite shift from working on your typical studio sessions to more passion projects and things I really AM into and believe in. I wouldn't change it for anything and who knows you know what the next few years will bring but that's kind of where I'm at.
I am currently running a hybrid setup. I do use a ton of plugins but I used my hardware whenever I get the chance for sure. My interface is an Antelope Orion plus. It has all the i/o I could ever want and it's expandable. It has hardware EQ and compressor emulations that are the best I've ever heard. I have various preamps that I record with but also have them set up so that I can basically ramp through them so any signal I can run back through like say the EQ on the 273. Hardware compressors that get used pretty much on every project. For monitors I use the Focal Solo 6B’s. I use the X touch one to control my DAW. After working on a console for so long you know I was missing that tactile feel. I use the SPL 2381 monitor and talkback controller, again replacing some of the features from a console
I think that one of the main reasons my clients like working with me is because I'm very detail-oriented. I leave no stone unturned I often catch things that most people miss. I'm not one to let things slide .
Bounce Boss has integrated into my workflow seamlessly. I'm able to upload a mix the client can then listen to it anywhere and make notes. Bounce Boss keeps them organized and you know it's really just cut so much time from the emailing back and forth and risking sending clients emails having not been paid and this way we don't release anything and they can listen to everything.
My favorite feature besides just being able to use the service in general is ‘level match’. Using level match I'm able to show the client the damage that can be done when we you know participate in the loudness war and try to jack the volume up as much as possible you know we're destroying the sound of the mix for the sake of volume. Nowadays it's not so necessary and we can actually show them you know the tonal difference.
my music production tip would be to set up templates, set up your busses, set up all your tracks, have all your plugins already ready to go. The plugins you know you're gonna use! This can shave off so much time over the long haul it's it's worth all the time put in to set it up properly. A benefit of that is while you're setting it up you really get to think about your process and why you're doing certain things and it'll help you eliminate things that you don't typically use but overall it's just shaving off time you know you'll never get it back and it's it's just wasted if you're you know importing every single plug-in that you know you're gonna use every single time. That’s that's one of the biggest things that I can suggest is to set up templates for you and your workflow
My advice to anyone looking to hire an engineer be it Mix/Master or whatever if they're using Bounce Boss that's already a step in the right direction because you know they've given the process some thought and you know they want things to be convenient to go smoothly. I think the most important thing that you can do is find somebody who has the sonic style that you're looking for someone that you can trust to be basically another member of your team.
My clients have had an overwhelmingly positive response to using Bounce Boss. It's organized and very professional you know to the client the more professional you appear the more they'll trust you in your decisions.
My clients have come to expect professionalism and passion. I treat every project as though as though it’s my own personal project. I carry the weight of that with every decision that I make. We're in it together, we are a team and we're just trying to make the best art that we can.