Meet Bryce Roberts | Recording & Mixing Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bryce Roberts and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bryce, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
As a recording and mixing engineer, I am musically inspired by a lot of the same core artists that have inspired most of us in the music world. However, the music that made me obsessed with music at a young age is metal music. Not the modern drum trigger and Neural amp simulator stuff…My friends and I were meticulously analyzing old thrash albums and early death or black metal recordings, or going to see local sludge metal bands in central Arkansas where I grew up. Most of it sounded awful in the best way. My goal was to create our own sound as heavy and disgusting as theirs. My musical tastes soon progressed, as did my recording abilities, and by the time I had the skill to make something sound as heavy as the bands I admired as a kid, I was making quiet acoustic folk music. But I took with me an appreciation for things that are sonically ugly and imperfect.

I think that’s helped give me a more three-dimensional perspective when it comes to engineering and producing. I’m inspired by imperfection, because that’s where the character is. That’s what keeps music human, despite all of all the tech designed to eliminate those perfections. I’m inspired by vocals that aren’t perfectly tuned, drums that sit a little behind the beat, ribbon mics that lack detail, old recordings with tape hiss, even DIY recordings with weird room sounds. Don’t get me wrong…I’m glad we have the technology to make things sound almost perfect, but it’s genuineness and raw passion that inspires me musically, sonically, and also in other forms of art.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
While I am a music creator myself, it’s other people’s art that pays my bills as an engineer & producer. What I love about my work is that I can equally use both sides of my brain. It’s very rewarding. There is so much science and technique that goes into placing microphones properly, choosing the best equipment for the source, choosing the right acoustical environment, and so forth. I love that side of recording, and how it melds with creativity to turn sound waves into 1’s and 0’s that eventually push speaker cones. We take it for granted now, but it’s so bizarre and abstract. There are engineers that are truly “engineers” by definition – they can open up a piece of gear and quickly identify a malfunctioning component and solder in a replacement. Many years ago, I was working on a session with Eric Valentine, and we needed an additional audio interface for something. We had one sitting in the shop without a power supply, and he found some random parts laying around and soldered them together to create a working power supply within 10 minutes. Admittedly, I don’t possess that wizardry. But I do think I approach recording and mixing with a unique focus on musicality. (Valentine does that too, by the way)…I almost never finish a mix without finding something in it that inspires me, or reminds me of music I like or I would make. Finding that emotional connection to each song is imperative – it’s what drives me to finish the mix. I think that every minute decision in my mix is guided by my own subjective emotional feelings, more so than loudness meters or spectrographs. Having an eclectic mix of musical inspirations allows me to find morsels of inspiration in any song to keep me going. I hope this perspective sets me apart during the AI mixing takeover!

Everyone in the music business will tell you that it’s not easy to make a career for yourself. I studied audio engineering at MTSU, and I worked hard to keep my GPA high. After interviewing for internships I quickly learned that recording studios don’t care so much about your grades. They want to know that you can listen and learn quickly, not break expensive things, have social skills, and be flexible with your time. I dedicated months to being the best studio intern I could; learning how to use the rooms and learning every engineer’s picky setup details and workflows. I was the guy that they’d call at midnight if they needed an extra pair of hands to turn the room over. When the need came for an assistant engineer, I was almost ready for the gig. I did my best and acted confident and they kept hiring me. One of the first sessions I was on was the last vocal session for the legendary Ray Price. Quad Studios eventually closed to change hands, and I hustled for a few months before landing a full-time job as the staff engineer at The Tracking Room, where I found bigger opportunities and made connections that helped foster my future freelance career. After working there nonstop for five years, The Tracking Room also closed its doors. As cliche as it is, every time one door closed, another opened. It took some resilience, but I eventually gained enough experience and connections to (hopefully) keep the ship above water.

Every week is different in this line of work. I’ll go from mixing alone at home one week, to recording a 40 piece orchestra the next week. My mixing clients are growing, for which I’m incredibly grateful. At the same time, I had some exciting random recent opportunities, including recording a Super Bowl commercial, recording orchestra for the Troll’s movie, and recording tracks for some massive world tours. Every now and then a gig pops up where I realize that millions of people will unknowingly hear my work, which is pretty awesome. However, my favorite projects are often still the independent artists who aren’t jaded and are so excited to hear their ideas come to fruition.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I’m almost exclusively an East Nashville dweller these days, but I will venture to Germantown any chance I get for Rolf and Daughters. It’s so consistently delicious. East Nashville has had a recent influx of amazing Asian restaurants. If I’m hosting a friend, we’d definitely have lunch at Kisser one day, followed by dinner and drinks at Kore. Next day…lunch at Xiao Bao followed by dinner at Bite A Bit. Village Pub is nearby and reminds me of my early East Nashville days. Might as well grab a drink before dinner and reminisce about backyard shows at Fond Object.

If you are hosting guests in Nashville, you obviously have to take them to see some live music. The only itinerary that involves me going near lower Broadway is a good show at the Ryman followed by some OG honky-tonkin at Robert’s. So many artists that I love play at Basement East, and I’m here for that. A show at the “Beast” followed by some karaoke at the new Low Bar underneath makes for a fun night. I’d swing by Duke’s for a late night 2:17 Special, which is low-key the best sandwich in town.

Most of my friends don’t wanna see the normal touristy stuff – they wanna get weird. DRKMTTR is a great hole in the wall to see interesting underground music, and it reminds me of the Little Rock clubs I used to frequent. If we really wanted to keep up the weird vibes, we could take the Dickerson-Gallatin Uber to Cobra. I don’t know how many more Cobra (Foobar) nights my body can handle, but MAYBE I could be convinced. Across the street is East Room. I love seeing some free standup comedy there on Tuesdays! Other fun dives for local music are Vinyl Tap, Dee’s in Madison, or the Underdog, where you might see some badass studio musicians jamming.

On a summer day, I like to get out of town with friends and kayak the Piney river. It’s less sporty than it sounds…you just float and drink beer and laugh with friends.

Saturday morning coffee at Elegy. Fancy cocktails at The Fox. Pizza at Frankie’s or 5 Points. Late night ice cream at Sips. BBQ at Shotgun Willies. Watching a ball game at Beyond the Edge. That’s my quick East Nashville hit list. Man, I miss Edgefield.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
It’s taken a hefty support system for me to carve a small place for myself in the competitive world of music production. First of all, my parents never discouraged me from pursuing music or music production professionally, and they did everything in their power to provide me with the tools and guidance I needed to make it a reality. I know how rare that is, I can’t thank them enough. My wife, Katy, is my daily support. She keeps my head right and my frustrations at bay, and I have to thank her for accommodating my sometimes grueling work schedule. That’s why KISS wrote their worst song, “Beth”.

There are so many producers and engineers and studio personnel that deserve a shoutout. I basically spent my entire 20’s at the facility formerly known as Quad Studios and then The Tracking Room studio, where I assisted and engineered for a constant flow of world-class engineers and producers. I owe all of my technical abilities to them, and also to all of “Quad’s children” as we called them, who trained my young, creative, & distracted brain to mind the details. I’m literally only good at music production, parallel parking, and throwing things really far. So, I have no choice but to continue doing this for work. I owe a sincere “thank you” to the producers, artists, and studio personnel who continue to give me a path, and to everyone else who has supported me along the way.

Instagram: BryJRob

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brycerobertsaudio101

Other: View my credits @ https://credits.muso.ai/profile/ec910428-53b9-41a1-bf5e-9271c9e74e17

Hire me on Soundbetter @ https://soundbetter.com/profiles/272551-bryce-roberts

Image Credits
The header and last photo are by photographer, Annie Loughead. Find her work on Instagram @annelisesarah.