Editor’s Note: Speaking Truth on a Magical Day

You never really know how things will go when you wake up on the morning of a big show. You can hold tech run-throughs and host prep calls and go over a thousand details to make sure that everything is aligned, from parking and tickets to audio and video playback. You can have backup generators in place, provide a final guest list to security and start opening up concessions. You can pray for sunshine while stashing umbrellas in a nearby storage room. You can have everything in place, dialed in, with programming timed and fine-tuned down to the second….

Or, you might find yourself waking up on the morning of a massive, yet hastily thrown together, live music broadcast with dozens of major acts at two venues, with no time for rehearsals or soundchecks….

Either way, until doors open and the crowd shows up, you never really know what’s going to happen. And that’s the whole magic of going live, whether it’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals or a Thursday night show at the Bluebird. There is preparation, followed by anticipation, followed by performance and then the payoff, whether good or bad. A few weeks ago in Santa Monica, we hosted the second annual Mix LA: Immersive Music Production event at our host partner UMG’s 21fifteen Studios, and it turned out to be a very good day.

It wasn’t a great day because we had a huge crowd; at 210 attendees, we were down 20 from the previous year. And it wasn’t a great day because we made a lot of money; we ended up slightly under budget. Much of that was expected, as we didn’t make a decision on actually going through with the event until a month prior, holding back out of respect for those who were still living through the devastation of the January wildfires.

No, it was a great day because of the people in the room. The mood in the room. The way the molecules were vibrating in the air. It was because of the sponsors in the studios and the way they interacted with the audience, recognizing that this was something of a coming-out party for the local community. It was because of the engineering team, studio staff and security guards at 21fifteen. It was because of the attendees, a high-achieving and highly engaged group of audio pros who came in the doors with a true desire to be there.

But most of all, it was a great day because of the talent up on the stage. They spoke openly. They spoke honestly. And they spoke truth.

There was plenty of discussion about immersive music, of course, from using parallel compression on vocals so they will pop to unraveling the 40-year-old multitracks for an upcoming Atmos release. But the tone was set in the opening Keynote Conversation, “Rebuilding the Mix,” when Greg Wells and Bob Clearmountain, two of our industry’s giants, spoke candidly about the past two months, as they continue to work and scramble to adapt, all while trying to rebuild their lives following the fires. It was personal, gracious, heartbreaking and inspiring all at the same time. At one point, Bob told the audience he had already started construction on a new studio and was going to name it Mix This! FTA, shorthand for From The Ashes. A touch of self-inflicted gallows humor that hit the perfect note.

We were off to a good start.

Inside Mix LA: Immersive Music Production, Part 1

And then, a few hours later, Linda Perry closed the day and stole the show. Over the past year, the hitmaking producer, songwriter and artist has quietly but furiously written, recorded and produced her first album as an artist in 20 years, and she closed Mix LA alongside engineer Dave Way by debuting two of the songs from the soon-to-be-released Let It Die Here, and talking about her journey through the music industry.

It was the first time she would be hearing the tracks in Atmos, and we quickly set up three chairs in the front row so she and her daughter Rhodes could listen to the title track with the audience before we took the stage. Midway through the panel discussion, we paused and listened to a playback of “Sunday Best.” When Perry returned to the stage, she had a tear in her eye and said quietly, into the mic, “That’s a beautiful song—not because I wrote it, but because of how it made me feel.” Honest and true.

She also talked about her experience as a young artist and called out Jimmy Iovine by name. She challenged the audience, asking, “Where are all the women mic designers, front of house mixers, tour managers, roadies, assistant engineers, educators and record executives?” She spoke openly and honestly about her mother. After 20 years of creating hits for others, she realized that she had never looked at herself. She found an incredible surge of creative energy and expression, and less than a year later, she is ready to release an album. It is largely about her mother.

I’ve been putting on events and hosting panels for 30 years, and I have never seen anything quite like it. I can’t put it in words; I doubt that the tone and feeling inside the room would even translate to YouTube. Everything that came out of her mouth was so genuine and authentic, so true to who she is and how she lives her life, that it was inspiring. I moderated the panel and was three feet away. More than a few times I remember thinking, “She is something special. This is something special.”

All because she spoke truth.

—Tom Kenny, Co-Editor