RSR522 - Brendan Duffey - Mixing and Mastering in Atmos for Kendrick Lamar, Bruce Dickinson, and Sheryl Crow

Recording Studio Rockstars

Lij Shaw

Music

4.8 • 543 Ratings

🗓️ 5 September 2025

⏱️ 119 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Surround yourself with people you admire." In this episode of Recording Studio Rockstars, I had the pleasure of talking with Brendan Duffey, a multi-Grammy-nominated mix and mastering engineer with nearly 30 years of experience. Brendan has worked with legends like Kendrick Lamar, Sheryl Crow, Milton Nascimento, and Bruce Dickinson—best known as the iconic lead singer of Iron Maiden and a legendary solo artist in his own right. Brendan brings a deep understanding of both the technical and emotional sides of music production. We talked about everything from his early days teaching audio engineering—where he learned how to explain complex concepts in simple ways—to his approach to mixing and mastering across different genres. Brendan shared what it was like to remix and master much of Bruce Dickinson's solo catalog, how he thinks about low-end in hip-hop, and why sometimes a mistake in the studio can lead to your most exciting creative breakthrough. He also opened up about how vocal production has changed over the years, moving from an auditory process to a more visual one, and why he believes simplicity, emotional connection, and knowing your tools inside and out are what really make a mix come alive. Brendan reminded me that mixing isn't just about the gear or the plugins—it's about bringing out the best in the performance and creating something that moves people. This was a killer episode with tons of great insight, whether you're just starting out or deep in your career.

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My guest today is Brendan Duffey, an award-winning mix and mastering engineer with 21 nominations to his name. Based in Jupiter, Florida, Brendan has nearly three decades of experience delivering world-class sound for artists across genres, including Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, Kendrick Lamar, Milton Nascimento, and Sheryl Crow.

For 10 years, Brendan owned and operated a major recording facility in São Paulo, Brazil, before relocating to California to focus on mixing and mastering. He later moved to Jupiter in search of a better quality of life for his family. Brendan holds a B.A. in Recording Arts from CSU Chico and a Master's degree in Music Business from Berklee College of Music.

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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,
0:06.8	Adam Audio, and S-A-E Institute. You're hearing my voice right now mixed through isotope,
0:13.5	ozone, and velvet on atom audio monitors and headphones. Make sure to get my free mixing course
0:20.1	at Mixmasterbundle.com, and please check out our
0:23.7	awesome sponsors using the links in the show notes. And please like and subscribe to this YouTube
0:29.7	channel because it's a great way to help support this show. Now get ready to rock.
0:34.7	What advice do you feel like you'd like to go back and give yourself?
0:38.7	Um, not to drink my own Kool-Aid. Don't forget how important you are in other people's lives
0:43.3	and how unimportant your career is for other people's lives. And it's not even about engineering.
0:49.1	It's just about you're going to be a much happier person if the people around you are happy with you.
0:53.5	I spent a decent portion of my career when I owned the studio just as a workaholic.
0:59.0	And it accumulated into me selling my studio and making a lot of horrendous mistakes in my life.
1:06.0	That I remember to this day and go, that Homer Simpson feel.
1:10.0	And it was really just drinking my own
1:11.5	Kool-Aid, you know, just like really being too hyper-focused on, on climbing the ladder.
1:27.3	Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars.
1:30.5	I'm Lid Shaw, and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the recording studio.
1:41.9	Dreaming of a career in audio or the entertainment business?
1:46.0	SAE Institute, Nashville, in the heart of Music Row, offers hands-on programs where you'll learn on professional-grade gear with industry pros, learning through real projects, not just lectures.
1:59.4	Explore studio production, live sound, audio for film, and a whole lot more.
2:03.9	Or take the entertainment business program to learn about contracts, promotion, and more.
2:09.6	With Diploma, Associate, and Bachelor's programs, there's a path for you.
	...

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