RSR502 - Craig Alvin - Recording in Muscle Shoals

Recording Studio Rockstars

Lij Shaw

Music

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 18 April 2025

⏱️ 110 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"I've never once used MIDI." Craig talked about the evolution of audio engineering, the transition to video podcasting, and the rich musical history of Muscle Shoals. Craig shares insights about his Grammy-winning work and the unique characteristics of his studio, Noble Steed, the unique UA console he acquired, and his current projects, including mixing for country artist Anna Voss. He touches on the evolving sound of country music, highlighting a shift towards more pop and psychedelic influences, and the technical challenges faced in audio engineering.

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My guest today is Craig Alvin, an award-winning audio engineer based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Over 30 years, Craig has worked with many artists, including Hanson, Little Big Town, Amy Grant, Vanessa Carlton, Will Hoge, Andrew Belle, Brittany Howard, and many others. He won two Grammys for his engineering on Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour album in 2019 and has contributed to Musgraves' follow-up albums Star-Crossed and nominated for a Grammy this year for best engineered non-classical for Deeper Well.

Craig's work has earned him a stellar reputation for his ability to capture compelling sounds live in the studio and his sonic aptitude as a mix engineer. He has also been a guest on the show on episodes RSR029 and RSR232.

We also created a free video to show you his ultimate snare-mixing trick, which you can find in the show notes at UltimateMixingMasterclass.com. This helped my mixes tremendously, and we hope it can help yours, too! So please check it out.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Recording Studio Rockstars is brought to you by Isotope, Native Instruments,
0:06.5	Adam Audio, and S-A-E Institute, Nashville.
0:10.4	You're hearing my voice right now mixed through Isotope, R-X, Ozone, and Neutron on atom-audio monitors and headphones.
0:19.7	Please check out our awesome sponsors using the links in the show notes below and like
0:24.6	and subscribe to our YouTube channel and leave us a comment.
0:27.8	It's a great way for you to help support this show.
0:30.3	Now get ready to rock.
0:32.4	You know, give us a little introduction to Muscle Shoals.
0:35.0	Well, first of all, I remember going down there to visit. I was blown away and like doing the studio tours.
0:39.5	It's kind of shocking. I was like, this is awesome. Yeah, it's like, it's sort of like if you mixed Barry Hill here in Nashville with East Nashville and a Hallmark movie, just very small town, very remote, you know, the closest freeway is an hour away.
0:56.8	We have one flight out of the airport. Most days I don't see the plane. I saw the plane day before
1:01.5	yesterday and it had been over a month since I'd seen it. It's crazy. You go outside, you don't
1:05.5	hear a freeway. You don't hear air traffic. It's really peaceful. It's basically farmland
1:10.3	for an hour every direction or more. No's really peaceful. It's basically farmland for an hour, every direction,
1:12.3	or more. No pollution, really. The light just kind of hits different because it's not, you know,
1:17.3	dealing with all the smog.
1:31.4	Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars.
1:39.2	I'm Lid Shaw, and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the recording studio.
1:47.7	At Isatote, mixing just got even smarter.
2:01.9	Introducing the new Isotope Catalyst series, Plasma, Aurora, and Cascadia, designed to transform your sound with intelligent processing for dynamically precise saturation, reverb, and delay.
2:08.2	Plus, Neutron now features three new modules and an upgraded AI-powered mix assistant to help you get killer mixes with ease.
2:11.3	Use the secret code Rock 10 to get 10% off the Catalyst series, Neutron, RX, or any of Isotopes's incredible plugins
	...

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