Talkin' Rock with Toby Wright
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00:01Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between.
00:04If you're into rock, you've come to the right place.
00:07Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown.
00:11Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:15And now, it's time for today's conversation.
00:18Here's Meltdown.
00:20There he is, T-Dub, as I put on the Zoom.
00:23Toby Wright, how you doing, Toby?
00:25I'm doing all right, Meltdown. How are you, man?
00:27Doing very well.
00:28So, I see you got the Machine Shop Digital Lounge.
00:32Now, first of all, let's talk about how this, well, first of all, let's talk about what it is.
00:36And then we'll talk about how it got started.
00:38So, tell people that don't know what this is, exactly what's going to be happening.
00:42Well, what this is now is just an additional to the Machine Shop.
00:47What we're doing is we're going to be streaming live, as it's being played, sold-out shows from the shop.
00:55So, if a band sells out and they want to earn more money, basically, you know, it has a 550-seat capacity.
01:05And, you know, you can only fit so many people and so many tickets.
01:09So, with sold-out shows, we're going to be streaming live to the world.
01:12And then people can buy their tickets.
01:16And so, the bands will be able to put this up on their website, for example, and say, hey, the show is sold out here in Flint, Michigan.
01:20But somebody in Germany or Australia or California, wherever, they can watch this.
01:25Absolutely.
01:25And they can watch it live as it's going down.
01:28And now, will you be involved with the sound check then, like earlier in the day?
01:33Yes.
01:34I'll be involved with the sound check and then mixing the live stream to the, you know, mixing the live audio to the stream.
01:41So, you're going to be mixing this, you know, worldwide.
01:44It's going to be stereo, the whole thing.
01:46Fans will love this.
01:47Yes, sir.
01:49Now, is it going to be something like it's going to be on demand?
01:51Like, if you miss it live, can you catch it later?
01:54Or how does that work?
01:55Well, right now, it's just going to be live.
01:57And we're trying to figure out how to make it so that we can do a video on demand type of offer as well.
02:04Because I'm sure there's lots of fans out there that like to come and, you know, come back and see their band a few times, you know?
02:11Yeah, exactly.
02:12So, how did this all start?
02:14It started, I was mixing a band called Frame 42 at the shop once.
02:19And I got to be good friends with John.
02:21John Tanner is the house guy for the last 22 years or so.
02:25And so, you know, we got started talking about doing, you know, compilation records and things.
02:32You know, back in the 80s, I think it was, who was it?
02:38It was, pardon me.
02:42Brian Slagle at Metal Blade Records.
02:45He did a bunch of compilation records for all the metal bands in the 80s back then.
02:49Got a lot of bands signed.
02:50So, I figured, all right, well, you know, what do you think, John?
02:53Why don't you do some compilation of all the artists that come through here?
02:56That would be kind of fun.
02:57So, we started doing that.
02:59And then we were like, okay, how else can we offer artists more money?
03:03And so, it came up to, hey, why don't we try and stream sold-out shows?
03:08So, our first one is going to be December 15th and 16th with Nonpoint.
03:12Yeah, I was going to say, yeah, Nonpoint, that's happening.
03:16That's coming up next week as we record this.
03:19And the bands have to sell out in order to use this, I'm assuming, right?
03:23Yes, yes.
03:25All right.
03:25So, did you go to the shows last night or Tuesday night, by the way, with Steel Panther?
03:29I certainly was there.
03:32And it's always a great show with those guys.
03:34I love them.
03:35One of my favorite live bands.
03:37I've seen those guys so many times.
03:39So, you've been working on this project now for several months.
03:42I remember going to see you at Taproot at the end of September.
03:44And you were back there in your built-in studio and stuff.
03:48So, you've been at this for a little while now, kind of trying to pinpoint this, huh?
03:52Yeah.
03:53So, it's been about four or five months now, I think.
03:55And I've done, you know, 45 or 50 shows now.
03:59And, you know, we're just amassing and trying to, you know, work out all the kinks and bugs
04:04before we present it live to the world.
04:05So, hopefully, that's been done.
04:07And, you know, now we go from there.
04:10Now, what do you mean you've done 45 or 50 shows?
04:12You just recorded them.
04:14You haven't streamed them yet.
04:16No, no streaming.
04:17We've just been recording them.
04:18With our, we have a single video camera over the front of house section.
04:23And then we're adding three more cameras.
04:26One left, one right, and one above the drummer.
04:28Okay.
04:29And so, we'll have someone sitting in my little control room with me with a switcher.
04:33And, you know, we'll just be, it'll be a full production video.
04:37And do you know who that person is going to be yet?
04:40His name is Bryce Vada.
04:42Okay.
04:42And he's going to be like the video producer.
04:45Yes.
04:46All right.
04:46You got the audio.
04:47He's got the video.
04:48And people can stream this all around the world.
04:50And they just can punch up themachineshop.com or how do they get, how do they get on this?
04:55Well, you can, there's a, there's links from the, the machineshop.info.
05:00And then we also have our own website, machineshopdigitallounge.com.
05:06I like how you do that.
05:29Like I, I, I've got to see which side I'm on for sure.
05:34I know.
05:34Me too.
05:35I hear you.
05:37So, yeah.
05:38So anyways, you just mentioned a metal blade and one of the bands that came out of those
05:42compilations is Metallica, a band that you're no stranger to.
05:45And I remember talking to you one time and you said, oh yeah, I, I mixed the injustice
05:49for all record.
05:50I said, wait a second.
05:52Cause that's that record is, is, I mean, it's, it's one of the most infamous albums for
05:57just not having bass.
05:58So how does that happen?
06:00Oh, golly dude.
06:02So no, I, I did not mix it.
06:04I was just, I was an assistant engineer and an engineer, a recording engineer during,
06:10during, during the process, uh, James and Lars, um, you know, they had just lost Cliff
06:15Burton, rest his soul.
06:17Um, and so, you know, they, in the control room and, you know, it was when we're doing
06:23playbacks and whatnot, if you could hear the bass, it was two dB too loud.
06:26So it turned that shit down.
06:28Okay.
06:28So we did.
06:29So then they took that same, uh, ideology when they went to, uh, Mike Thompson and Steve,
06:35uh, sorry, Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, uh, who mixed the record.
06:39And that's, that's how it came out the way it did.
06:42Now, have you heard, um, uh, well, well, let me, let me back up.
06:46Then they went to the black record and that, that records obviously, uh, mixed, you know,
06:51produced with Bob rock and whatnot.
06:52And that record there's clearly bass on it.
06:55Right.
06:56Right.
06:56Yeah.
06:57So they kind of changed the way that, that they went along that path.
07:00Agreed.
07:01Yes, they did.
07:02Yeah.
07:02It was a great record.
07:04It sounds amazing.
07:05Yeah.
07:05It really does sound amazing.
07:06How, how does, how does Bob rock gets such great sounding records?
07:11Uses great microphones, great consoles and great engineers.
07:14Yeah.
07:15Is that it?
07:15Yeah.
07:17I think I heard, uh, uh, John Carabi one time was telling me that I think that
07:22Tommy Lee may have done, I don't know.
07:24I, I, I could be way off on this, but he, he, he did the drums for that hooligans
07:28holiday record, the, the Motley Crue album, uh, like, like, like in this, in this, in
07:34this room, like, um, I want to say it was like a loading dock area and it was all like,
07:37you know, concrete all around him.
07:41It's completely possible.
07:42They had those, uh, things up in Vancouver, I know, and they had a big, huge, uh, you
07:47know, back warehouse room where, where they put a bunch of microphones and they
07:50were able to capture, you know, that really deep drum sound from having that concrete
07:55back there.
07:56Yeah.
07:57Uh, what do you, who are some of your favorite producers or mixers that you've listened to?
08:00Maybe someone that you look up to.
08:02Oh God.
08:03Oh, Ron Neveson, Ted Templeman.
08:06Um, obviously Bob Brock is, is one of my faves as well.
08:10Um, I loved his band rock and hide.
08:12That was pretty bad-ass.
08:14Uh, man, there's been so many that I just, you know, I've, I patterned myself.
08:20You know, some of the stuff that I do after, you know, and it, and it's, it's great to
08:25work behind an amazing producer because then you can get to see, you know, what tricks that
08:30you can incorporate into your own stuff.
08:32And then what tricks obviously not to incorporate.
08:35Yeah.
08:35I was going to say, there's got to be a little bit of trickery involved with all this stuff,
08:39right?
08:39You learn as you go along and you figure this works, that doesn't work.
08:42And, and it's just, uh, it's that, that's just how, how it goes, isn't it?
08:46Yeah, absolutely.
08:47And, you know, just like my, you know, microphones, you're talking into the SM7B there, you know,
08:52if you had a 58, it'd be a little, you'd sound a little different, but I sound taller.
08:55That's what we're looking for actually.
08:57So that's right.
08:57That's right.
08:58You sound six foot four right now.
09:01Yeah.
09:01You're giving me a foot there.
09:02Right.
09:03So, uh, and then I, I think I just saw, did you just post on your socials recently that
09:06the Alison chains unplugged record was voted the best sounding or the best unplugged album?
09:11Uh, yeah, we've, I, I have actually, and, uh, you know, we made a little reel about that
09:16and, uh, yeah, somebody, somebody had said it.
09:19It's definitely the best selling or the best sounding, uh, MTV unplugged.
09:23Now, where did you produce that one?
09:26Were you actually in house?
09:28Uh, yeah, that one was done at the Brooklyn Academy of music.
09:31Um, and I was sitting in a, in a, uh, you know, a mobile, uh, studios outside.
09:40And I've run back and forth and, you know, recorded the whole thing and, and then took
09:46it to right track and mixed it.
09:48Now with that, um, with those unplugged shows, I never, uh, was, was present for one of those.
09:52Uh, was that one of those things like, like when they do these comedy specials where they
09:56do a couple of different takes or was that, that just like one, they sit down, they do
09:59them and that's it.
10:00Well, they can, they sit down and do it, but the MTV had, you know, they had rules, but
10:04they're unplugged.
10:05There was no overdubs.
10:06Um, so you weren't allowed to overdub, but you could play the song as many times as you
10:10want until you got the performance that you want.
10:13I got you, but you can't go back and fix anything.
10:16Right.
10:16Exactly.
10:17So it had to be all live.
10:19Um, and that's why, you know, on the unplugged for Alice, you see like four or five different
10:24versions of a song called sludge factory.
10:27So there was just some fun had there.
10:29And, uh, so, yeah, I think that, uh, out of all the songs I've played off that MTV stuff,
10:36I think that, that, that Alice in Chains, uh, no excuses and stuff like that is maybe
10:40some of the most I've played in my career on the radio.
10:43That's excellent.
10:45Yeah.
10:45Yeah.
10:46It seemed to, it seemed to really resonate that one.
10:49The Nirvana one, of course, I never really heard the Queensryche one.
10:52I would have, I'm interested to hear how that one sounded.
10:55Yeah.
10:55That one sounds pretty good too.
10:57I've checked them all out there.
10:58That's pretty cool.
10:59Yeah.
10:59And, uh, um, now of course, uh, KISS just wrapped up their career.
11:03Supposedly, uh, you got to work with them, didn't you?
11:06I did.
11:07I was very blessed to work with them and what an honor, man.
11:11And I wish I had gone to at least the last show at Madison square garden, but couldn't
11:14get away.
11:15Yeah.
11:15What did, what did you end up?
11:16What did you do with KISS?
11:18I produced, uh, their record.
11:21Which one was it?
11:22Um, a carnival of souls.
11:24Oh, carnival of souls.
11:25Okay.
11:25And that was like, oh nine.
11:27Uh, yeah, I think it was, I think it was on nine.
11:32That was like their 12th farewell tour.
11:35I believe so.
11:36Yeah.
11:36Yeah.
11:37I, uh, I, uh, I saw the, uh, farewell show here, you know, the end of the road thing.
11:43What do you think about this, uh, about what they have coming up?
11:46If you, do you know anything about it or given any thought?
11:49Uh, I'm just going to wait to see what happens, you know, cause it looks kind of cool in one
11:54way, but kind of hokey in another way and, you know, we'll see what happens.
11:58It could be kind of cool.
11:59I don't know.
12:00I'm kind of with you on that one because it's like, I don't know.
12:02I haven't seen one of these hologram shows.
12:04Have you seen any of those?
12:06Back in the day, like, you know, when they bought Biggie on stage and, you know, all that
12:10kind of stuff with, with the holograms, but that's about it.
12:14I haven't seen a full hologram type show yet.
12:17Yeah.
12:17I haven't either.
12:18What did you think of that when you saw the, the Biggie one?
12:21It kind of gave me chills all over, dude.
12:23Like, yeah, but it, you know, cause it just appeared, you know what I mean?
12:29So it was like, Whoa.
12:30And there was no screen that came down.
12:32It was just there.
12:33Yeah.
12:34Wow.
12:36That's a, that's interesting.
12:37I I'm a huge Ronnie James deal fan.
12:39I would have liked to have at least went to one of those shows, but I never got a chance.
12:42But, uh, um, I wonder if they would have made the hologram a little bit taller.
12:45Cause he was only five foot nothing too.
12:47So, right.
12:49Stretch him out a little bit.
12:52Remember when, remember when they used to put the, they, they, they post it like the
12:55pictures, like on the back of the albums and Ronnie James deal, be standing like 12 feet
12:58in front of the band.
13:00Absolutely.
13:01Wide angle lens.
13:03It looked a little bit bigger and stuff.
13:05So, well, Toby, I don't want to take up too much of your time, but the Michigan, uh,
13:09shot the, uh, I'm sorry, the machine shot, the digital lounge, and that's going to be
13:13at Flint, Michigan.
13:13And it starts at debuts with non point coming up December 15th and 16th.
13:17Are you planning, do you, are you going to plan to like get together with the bands
13:20beforehand to go over things and do that kind of stuff?
13:24Oh yeah.
13:24We'll have, you know, a full day or so of, of, you know, like pre-production where we'll
13:28do, you know, big sound checks and all that kind of stuff and test some stuff out.
13:32We're going to, you know, I've got another band coming in tomorrow.
13:35We're going to do a test stream and that kind of stuff.
13:37So, you know, everything should be all flushed out.
13:40Um, and you know, with the full video production that we're offering, you know, it certainly
13:44helps everybody, you know, cause we're going to be doing full video production for the,
13:49you know, for the openers as well.
13:51Um, and then they can, you know, turn around and contact our manager and, and, you know,
13:56buy them.
13:57I gotcha.
13:59And I'm super happy that not only a, are you in Michigan and we made this connection, but
14:04that you're also working with Kevin and the guys, the machine shop, uh, Kevin and his staff
14:08are just some of the best people.
14:10They treat me so well, not that they'd have to treat me so well, but I see how they treat
14:14the patrons in there.
14:15It's just a great place to go.
14:17And I'd be lying if I said the bands didn't love playing there.
14:20Right.
14:21Exactly.
14:21Cause they do.
14:22I mean, everybody, you know, who graces the stage on those last 40 some odd shows that
14:26I've done, they've all said what a great place it is.
14:29They thank Kevin, you know, they thank the staff and the, you know, then when they're
14:33walking out the door, they seem to have, you know, really, really had a great time playing
14:37there.
14:37So, you know, it seems to be one of the best venues in the country for sure.
14:41Yeah.
14:41Well, Toby, good luck with everything.
14:43Maybe if I get a chance, I'll take a swing by up there and, uh, and, and, and, uh, bother
14:47you while you're trying to mix the shows.
14:49Please do.
14:49Come on down anytime, my friend.
14:52All right, Toby.
14:53Thank you so much.
14:54And you as well.
14:55Meltdown.