2022 Round-Up and JMJ Update

[jmjbassplayer]

Hey friends,

Been a while since I posted a more general missive here. Thought it might be time.

2022 was pretty cool...here's what I did:

ST. VINCENT:
I did a solid amount of sporadic touring with her in my second year acting as bassist/synth player/MD. We started off in Feb at Innings Fest in Tempe, AZ with the Foos. Nice to hang with them again, and sadly my last time having quality time with Taylor. Very bittersweet in hindsight. He really was a lovely guy.

Next was a month in Europe June-July. It was super intense yet fun, and very cool to get back to playing fests over there again along with some headline gigs - it had been a while. At the last one in Portugal (NOS Alive w/ Metallica) I got the gnaaaarliest COVID that took me out for about two weeks. The flight home via Toronto was murder.

In August we headed over to Japan for Summersonic...I hadn't been there in over a decade, believe it or not! Surreal and fun as always. Great to catch up with lots of old friends.

September was our tour opening for Roxy Music around the US. Very low-impact, all arenas, with a "hit it and quit it" vibe of 45-60 minute opening set that suited me just fine. Roxy was okay...as a mega-fan, I had hoped for a bit more but your heroes can't always be perfect. At the end of that run we dovetailed in some headlining shows in the Southwest, culminating in an appearance at Eddie Vedder's Ohana Fest down in the OC. GREAT GREAT gig, with us and Broken Social Scene and Pink as the headliner. Eddie was the coolest, as always. He's a fan of mine, if you can believe it!

We also did some recording in various locations while touring, so that was a bonus.

BECK:
We've begun work on an eventual new LP, so it was cool to get back in the studio for some days here and there with him.

JIMMY EAT WORLD:
I produced and mixed two standalone singles for them which I'm very proud of that came out at different times during '22.

OTHER:
I also did a bunch of bass sessions, both remote and in person. So great to get back into that flow. I really miss it, frankly. One that was a real pleasure was working again with film composer Tyler Bates on a new one of his scores...we hadn't worked together in years.

Let's see, I mixed a few singles for various artists, as well as an EP for an LA indie band called Hot As Sun.

Finished producing an LP that I can't announce yet.

Earlier in the year I guested on a YouTube channel called Professional Musicians React that was fun. I did two episodes, one on M83 and another one on Beck. The M83 one is more general and I get into some more historical anecdotes re: NIN and other stuff. The Beck one was pulled I guess due to copyright issues for a few months but it seems to be back up there now.

Recorded more music for myself this year. Nothing consequential (yet) but an exercise in fun.

Went on TWO vacations, which was pretty awesome!

I think that's about it. I hope everyone has excellent, relaxing Holidays and happy new year!
J

 

[remigiozampa]

Hey Justin,

I'm glad you had such a good year! Very well deserved sir.

I have to say that I really liked how you developed your new role as a mix engineer. Listening to both Jimmy Eat World singles was a nice surprise! I think those mixes are really awesome and on par with all your past work mixed by masters like Ken Andrews, Tony Hoffer or Darrell Thorp. It's not an easy task mix something with such high level standards. I'm listening them on my ATC's SCM25, which are the most ruthless monitors I know, and both sound great.
I'd really like to know more about your approach to mixing, if you want to discuss that on this forum. Techniques and gear used, inspiration and advice from all the great mixers related to your career, how and why you decided to start mixing etc... I think it's very interesting stuff

I have another question for JMJ producer about your Soyuz 017 (I think you had one if my memory serves me well) Do you still love it? How it compares with other high end usual suspects like U47, U67 etc...

Thanks!!

 

[jmjbassplayer]

Thanks for the note, I appreciate it very much.

Deciding to put on a mixing hat for me just comes from years and years of working on roughs just like any producer, and eventually realizing that sometimes the roughs can be subjectively superior to a mix that I get from a 3rd party i.e. the hired outside mixer. And that hasn't been just me coming to that occasional realization about my roughs...it has been the artist, label or management. Because of that recurring theme, I decided in about 2018 that it was important to start to teach myself how to follow-through and get pieces of music to a more final and ultimate position to my ears. However I must say I do prefer mixing other people's productions rather than my own, as I can lack some perspective if I'm working on my own stuff. And having a Tony Hoffer/Darrell Thorp/Ken Andrews/Billy Bush/Manny Maroquin/Tom Elmhurst has been very advantageous and helpful. Those guys are always worth involving in my work and they certainly bring that "extra 20%" that we need. In the case of Jimmy Eat World, I didn't feel any lack of clarity when it came to a mix vision and we just wanted to get it done without another cook in the kitchen for various creative reasons. Plus, always at my right hand was Jim Adkins, and excellent producer/engineer/mixer in his own right. So the vision was there, and the checks and balances were there. But yes, in the main, I would usually opt for having a separate mixer taking care of my productions.

In terms of answering your more general question about my approach to mixing, that's not something I could never answer in a single post but yes: if you have a more specific and narrow question(s), please feel free to post them as new threads in this form and I'll do my best to reply.

Regarding my Soyuz, it hasn't been out of its box for a few years. My vintage '67, 251, Chandler REDD have been my three main go-to mics in recent times when a hi-fi LDC sound is required for things like vox, mono rooms, overheads, perc, or acoustics. Otherwise, I'm using an SM7, SM58, Beyer M88, Beyer M160 or one of my beloved CAD E-100 FET mics for a slightly less hi-fi approach in those types of roles. Then I've got a whole other set of things like old condensers, ribbons, or much more stylized/dirty mics for a further level downward in fidelity. I'd also be trying my recently acquired FET 47 in the LDC job, but that is almost permanently in use on bass cabs so I tend to just leave it there.

Hope that's helpful.

Justin

Hey Justin,

I'm glad you had such a good year! Very well deserved sir.

I have to say that I really liked how you developed your new role as a mix engineer. Listening to both Jimmy Eat World singles was a nice surprise! I think those mixes are really awesome and on par with all your past work mixed by masters like Ken Andrews, Tony Hoffer or Darrell Thorp. It's not an easy task mix something with such high level standards. I'm listening them on my ATC's SCM25, which are the most ruthless monitors I know, and both sound great.
I'd really like to know more about your approach to mixing, if you want to discuss that on this forum. Techniques and gear used, inspiration and advice from all the great mixers related to your career, how and why you decided to start mixing etc... I think it's very interesting stuff

I have another question for JMJ producer about your Soyuz 017 (I think you had one if my memory serves me well) Do you still love it? How it compares with other high end usual suspects like U47, U67 etc...

Thanks!!

 

[letsgethandsome]

one of my beloved CAD E-100 FET mics

Do you use this mic on a bass cab? I have one of these, never thought to put it on the bass cab...

***Random memory. Not sure if you were playing in the touring band at this point or not. Maybe? Probably? Lollapalooza 1995. Cincinnati Riverbend. Me and a handful of friends went to Lolla and were super psyched to see Beck (and a few others). We had wristband/pit passes so we were right in front. It was like a year before Odelay came out and apparently (and surprisingly to us) the regular Lolla crowd could mostly give 2 f's about Beck at that point bc the pavillion basically half-emptied out. But.... there were me and my 6 idiot friends rocking out, singing songs back to Beck, just basically acting fools and having a good 'ol time. I remember at one point we made him laugh during a song and he said something to us. A year later he's selling out huge venues. Long time ago, but awesome memory

 

[jmjbassplayer]

Do you use this mic on a bass cab? I have one of these, never thought to put it on the bass cab...

***Random memory. Not sure if you were playing in the touring band at this point or not. Maybe? Probably? Lollapalooza 1995. Cincinnati Riverbend. Me and a handful of friends went to Lolla and were super psyched to see Beck (and a few others). We had wristband/pit passes so we were right in front. It was like a year before Odelay came out and apparently (and surprisingly to us) the regular Lolla crowd could mostly give 2 f's about Beck at that point bc the pavillion basically half-emptied out. But.... there were me and my 6 idiot friends rocking out, singing songs back to Beck, just basically acting fools and having a good 'ol time. I remember at one point we made him laugh during a song and he said something to us. A year later he's selling out huge venues. Long time ago, but awesome memory

I have used that mic on bass cabs yeah, and it rips. They're good on anything really. Best cheap condenser value there is, IMHO.

Sounds like Beck circa '95 for sure lol. They tell me that Lolla was a sh*tshow, and it was hot as hell all summer playing sheds in the early to mid afternoon every day. Anyway, that was not me, that was the esteemed Abby Travis on bass during that part of the Mellow Gold tour cycle. I was around, but didn't join up for good until early '96.

 

[Downsman]

I've not checked in for a while so only just saw this. Can I ask, you mentioned doing bits of recording on the St Vincent tour. Do you mean of your live shows, or were you getting into studios for new material? Either way looking forward to some new releases.

 

[the_stone]

I got the gnaaaarliest COVID that took me out for about two weeks.

First of all - that stinks and hope your recovery went well!

I've always been curious about how a situation like this (a band member gets ill or injured) is handled at your level. Does management/the MD just start calling players, do they have to use multiple subs, are there rehearsals or is the sub expected to just jump in and learn stuff, especially if there's a lot of production elements?

Also - thank you for taking the time you do to answer questions on this forum. I've been a long-time reader and enjoy the insights you have from someone in your position in the scene.

 

[jmjbassplayer]

First of all - that stinks and hope your recovery went well!

I've always been curious about how a situation like this (a band member gets ill or injured) is handled at your level. Does management/the MD just start calling players, do they have to use multiple subs, are there rehearsals or is the sub expected to just jump in and learn stuff, especially if there's a lot of production elements?

Also - thank you for taking the time you do to answer questions on this forum. I've been a long-time reader and enjoy the insights you have from someone in your position in the scene.

There's never a solid backup plan in place. It's a scramble. And it happened during the pandemic to stuff I was involved in and many other touring scenarios. It's just a matter of how fast we can get a sub on a plane. It's been pretty crazy, industry-wide. Thanks for the validation re: this forum, I appreciate it and I appreciate being able to do it.