RSR535 - Ryan Nasci - Mixing Mastery with Ryan Nasci [Harry Styles, Portugal The Man, Young the Giant]
Recording Studio Rockstars
Lij Shaw
4.8 • 543 Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2025
⏱️ 100 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Get access to FREE mixing mini-course: https://MixMasterBundle.com
What does it take to go from Ohio to LA and start mixing records at the highest level? In this episode, I sat down with mixer and engineer Ryan Nasci to trace his journey from the Midwest to Los Angeles, where he worked alongside the legendary Tony Maserati and began mixing artists like Kingfish, Celeste, and more. Ryan breaks down how he built a hybrid workflow that blends analog gear, plugins, and Atmos into mixes that stay musical, open, and emotionally focused. We dig into Ryan's approach to gain staging, managing headroom, using trim plugins, tightening low end, and shaping vocals for dynamic performers. He shares how he uses tape vs. plugins, when hardware matters, how to set compression strategies that preserve energy, and why understanding the why behind every move is the key to a competitive mix. Ryan also talks about mixing in Atmos, building depth with headphones, creative mic choices in small studios, keeping mixes clean without over-stacking plugins, and how persistence, day-rate pricing, and good communication help engineers build sustainable careers in today's industry. Huge thanks to Michael Estok for connecting us!
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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, |
| 0:06.7 | S-A-E- Institute, Adam Audio, Spectra-1964, and Picker. |
| 0:12.9 | In fact, you're hearing my voice right now, recorded through a Spectra-1964 STX-100 mic-Pree, |
| 0:20.6 | and mixed with Isotope, ozone, and RX on atom audio monitors and headphones. |
| 0:27.4 | Grab my free mixing course at Mixmaster Bundle with the link in the show notes below, |
| 0:33.1 | and please make sure to visit our fantastic sponsors also in the show notes and like and subscribe to our YouTube channel because it's a great way to help support this show. |
| 0:44.1 | Now get ready to rock. |
| 0:47.1 | If you listen to Katie Perry's California girls in Atmos and then switch it to the stereo. The amount of kick drum in the |
| 0:55.8 | Amos mix is crazy. And I think is great. It's super cool. You don't really notice it in the stereo, |
| 1:00.6 | which makes sense because it wasn't mixed for like, it was mixed for car speakers and, you know, |
| 1:05.9 | the mall and stuff like that. So everything needed to be small and to fit in those smaller speakers. |
| 1:11.6 | But Atmos, he could have the full kick drum and have the weight of it. |
| 1:15.6 | I love how that record sounds in Atmos. |
| 1:17.6 | So that is a pretty cool point, you know, that's a good reminder for us too, |
| 1:22.6 | that we can experience new ways to think about how the music goes together with the difference in formats. |
| 1:28.5 | Totally. |
| 1:39.3 | Welcome to Recording Studio Rock Stars. |
| 1:42.3 | I'm Lid Shaw, and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the |
| 1:48.6 | recording studio. |
| 1:53.8 | Dreaming of a career in audio or the entertainment business, SA.E Institute, Nashville, |
| 1:59.6 | in the heart of Music Row, offers hands-on programs where you'll |
| 2:03.6 | learn on professional grade gear with industry pros, learning through real projects, not just |
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