RSR556 – Steve Genewick – The Majesty of Turning Spinal Tap Up to Eleven in Atmos
Recording Studio Rockstars
Lij Shaw
4.8 • 543 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2026
⏱️ 123 minutes
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Summary
What happens when you finally get to mix Spinal Tap in Dubly Atmos? You turn it up to 11, of course!
My guest today is Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer Steve Genewick, joining us from his Atmos room in Los Angeles to walk us through the wild, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt process of capturing and mixing the new "Spinal Tap II: The End Continues" soundtrack and album. In this episode, Steve talks about working directly with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer; recording their live vocals; tracking the band as a real rock group; and assembling a full dubly Atmos experience that honors the original film while pushing the new one into immersive territory.
We dig into the whole workflow - from the Beyerdynamic M500 ribbon mics he labeled as Nigel, David, and Derek… to tracking full songs live at The Village… to mixing the concert sequences for the film… to remixing "Break Like the Wind" in Atmos using the original 1990s analog tapes that had to be transferred from tape box track sheets. Steve also talks about Spinal Tap's actual backstory, the improvised nature of the films, working directly with Rob Reiner, and why the guys are not in character in the studio - except when it's time to sound "more Nigel."
We also go deep into Atmos and orchestral recording, Steve's work on classic jazz records (Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Freddie Hubbard), his remixing of the "Jaws" and "Jaws 2" soundtracks, and how immersive music translates between speakers, earbuds, and soundbars. Steve explains LFE strategy, subwoofer layouts, mixing bass into objects, and why a great Atmos mix is not about flying things around the room — it's about clarity, space, and emotional impact. And yes, we do talk about Stonehenge… the pizza pedal… the cheese guitar… and whether mixing break like the wind is allowed in the control room.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Howdy, Rockstars. Are you working on a project right now or you have one coming up where you could really use some help? |
| 0:05.8 | So I want to let you know about Native Instruments 360. This is over 150 plugins, 24,000 loops and sounds, |
| 0:15.0 | and it gives you everything you need to turn your ideas into release ready tracks. You can explore sampled instruments, powerful synthesizers, |
| 0:23.9 | creative effects, and lots more, all in one place. And right now, you can get one month free |
| 0:30.7 | on the monthly or annual plans over at native instruments.com if you use the special code, Rock 30. |
| 0:39.6 | I don't know how long this is going to be here for, |
| 0:41.3 | so take advantage of it now while it's available. |
| 0:43.7 | And go get your free month and check it out. |
| 0:46.2 | Howdy Rockstars, this episode is dedicated to the memory of the late Rob Reiner, |
| 0:52.3 | the great and visionary film producer who brought us both Spinal Tap 1 and Spinal Tap 2, The End Continues. |
| 0:59.6 | He died tragically shortly after I did this interview with Steve Genoic, |
| 1:04.1 | and I hope you enjoy hearing the story of the making of this incredible film. |
| 1:08.9 | I know that for me, Spinal Tap 1 and 2 have been milestones in my journey and music. |
| 1:15.3 | So thank you for listening, and this episode goes out to you, Rob. |
| 1:19.2 | Cheers. |
| 1:19.9 | This episode of RSR is brought to you by Isotope Native Instruments, S-A-E institute, Spectra-1964, and Grace Design. |
| 1:32.1 | These are tools that I use every day in my studio from the Spectra-1964, STX-600-100-100-100-D, |
| 1:40.9 | and native instruments complete 15, to isotope ozone and RX and the central hub for my studio, |
| 1:49.6 | the Grace Design M701 audio interface. Follow the sponsor links in the show notes. Grab my free |
| 1:56.9 | mixing course at mixmasterbundle.com. And remember to like this video and subscribe on |
| 2:03.1 | YouTube because it's a great way to help support this show. Now, get ready to rock. |
| 2:08.8 | How did Nigel's radio broadcaster for his guitar rig go in the studio? He had all kinds of |
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