RSR539 - Phil Wagner - Advancing Sound Quality From Soundworks to Solid State Logic
Recording Studio Rockstars
Lij Shaw
4.8 • 543 Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2026
⏱️ 98 minutes
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Summary
What does it take to lead two of the biggest names in pro audio? Phil Wagner shares how he went from NYC engineer to running SSL and Apogee - and why the best technology still starts with listening.
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My guest today is Phil Wagner, a longtime pro-audio industry leader who's helped shape some of the most respected recording technologies in the world. Phil began his career in New York City at Soundworks Studios, working hands-on as a recording engineer before moving into product development and leadership roles. Over the years he's served as President of Apogee Electronics, U.S. President for Solid State Logic, and has collaborated with legendary studios, artists, and manufacturers across the globe. With decades of perspective bridging the analog and digital eras, Phil shares insights on consoles, converters, immersive mixing, and the business of audio, along with stories from the front lines of pro audio innovation. A big thank - you to Fadi Hayek at SSL for the introduction!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of RSR is brought to you by Isotope Native Instruments, S-A-E-Institute, Adam Audio, Spectra |
| 0:09.8 | 1964, Grace Design, and Picker. These are tools that I use every day in my studio from the Spectra |
| 0:18.0 | 1964 STX-600 and Native instruments complete 15 to isotope ozone and |
| 0:25.7 | RX, atom audio monitoring and headphones, and the central hub for my studio, the Grace Design |
| 0:33.4 | M701 audio interface. Check out my studio profile on the Picker app on iPhone or Android and follow the sponsor |
| 0:42.0 | links in the show notes. |
| 0:43.7 | Grab my free mixing course at mixmasterbundle.com and remember to like this video and subscribe |
| 0:50.1 | on YouTube because it's a great way to help support this show. |
| 0:54.0 | Now get ready to rock. |
| 0:56.4 | Today, you know, you can run a mic cable out there, but Dante interfaces allow you to run |
| 1:00.5 | hundreds of feet on a single piece of Ethernet cable and sound amazing. The focus rate preamps |
| 1:06.8 | that they make in their Dante devices are descendants of the ISA. |
| 1:11.6 | So there's a number of different Dante devices that you can get that are semi-affordable |
| 1:16.6 | that allow you to move audio just anywhere in your house or anywhere in your recording environment |
| 1:21.6 | on a piece of Ethernet cable. |
| 1:23.6 | I still think here, you know, 10, 12 years on, people have a hard time getting their head around the fact that you get 96 channels at 96K, uncompressed on a single piece of Ethernet cable. |
| 1:36.3 | Welcome to Recording Studio Rockstars. |
| 1:50.0 | I'm Lid Shaw, and this is the podcast created to help you become a rock star of the recording studio. |
| 2:09.6 | Rockstars, if you want fresh song ideas, complete 15 from native instruments has the tools to kickstart your creativity. |
| 2:11.6 | With Contact 8's chords tool, you can generate and customize chord progressions instantly for songwriting, |
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| 2:24.7 | With 165 instruments and over 150,000 sounds, Complete 15 helps you turn blank pages into music. |
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