Brian Funk
434 episodes listed below
Brian Funk talks Ableton workflows, mastering, and songwriting with working musicians.
Music Production Podcast is a warm, craft-first series about making music in real life. Brian Funk talks with artists, producers, educators, and songwriters about gear choices, creative blocks, release discipline, and the small decisions that shape a finished record.
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Music Production Podcast is an interview-format show hosted by Brian Funk, a musician, songwriter, and Ableton Certified Trainer who also wrote The 5-Minute Music Producer. Each episode is a long, conversational sit-down, typically 65 to 100 minutes, with a working musician, producer, engineer, or music-business professional. Discussions move between concrete production technique, such as drum layering, stereo width, synth tone choices, mastering chains, and LUFS loudness standards, and the more personal side of making music, including creative consistency, handling rejection, and staying inspired. Recurring subject areas include Ableton Live production workflows, songwriting and co-writing process, mastering and audio engineering, and the business side of music, such as direct-to-fan marketing and digital distribution. Guests have included electronic-duo member David Paul Newell, Better Than Ezra's Kevin Griffin, mastering engineer Oscar Zambrano, music-business educator Amani Roberts, and songwriter John Paul Vest. Funk generally lets guests set the direction of the conversation, prompting and reflecting rather than following a fixed interview script. Episodes reference specific gear, software such as Ableton Live, Pro Tools, and Splice, and real songs or albums as concrete examples. The show also touches on emerging issues like AI's role in music creation and licensing. Listeners get a combination of hands-on technique and first-person accounts of a working music career. It suits musicians, producers, and audio engineers looking for practical detail alongside the lived experience of people making a living in music.
Made for: Musicians, producers, and audio engineers who want practical production and mastering advice alongside real accounts of a working music career.
What sets it apart: Unlike gear-focused or tutorial-only production shows, it pairs technical detail on Ableton and mastering with long, reflective conversations about the creative and business realities of working musicians.
An exploration of music production through informal discussions about technique, philosophy, gear, and creativity. Hosted by Brian Funk, a musician, songwriter, teacher, and Ableton Certified Trainer.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Brian Funk connects detailed production choices with the creative habits, doubts, and decisions behind finished music.
Music Production Podcast lets Brian Funk move easily between studio decisions and the harder question of how musicians keep making work. His interviews connect practical detail with creative life, treating production as a chain of choices rather than a collection of gear…
Here, an 808 surviving phone speakers matters as much as finding the nerve to release your track.
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Kevin Griffin connects songwriting, gratitude, and ethical AI through the working musician's deepest question: why make songs at all?
Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin joins Brian Funk for a conversation that treats songwriting as both craft and calling. Funk introduces Griffin as a Grammy-nominated songwriter whose work has reached well beyond his own band, then follows him into the bigger questions…
A practical producer conversation about authentic sound, layered kicks, stereo bass, and the small choices that give a track personality.
Brian Funk's conversation with David Paul Newell frames authentic sound as something built inside the session, not declared from the outside. Newell, a producer, former Nashville audio engineer, ghostwriter for European house artists, and half of Midnight Mystery Club, talks…
A practical, musician-minded case for treating today's energy as material before it changes.
Brian Funk and Roberts treat creative enthusiasm as something more useful than a mood: it is a window you either use or lose. The conversation circles the hard stretch between making music, finishing it, releasing it, and keeping enough momentum to come back again, but its…
A grounded producer conversation about finishing ideas, sharing more work, and escaping the masterpiece trap.
Creative independence, in this conversation, is less a grand personal brand than a habit: make the thing, finish enough of it to learn from it, and keep putting work into the world.
Mixerman turns Pro Tools, tape, day rates, and studio myth into a grounded argument about when producers should embrace change.
Mixerman and Brian Funk use the new producing book as a way into a sharper conversation about tools, taste, and professional timing. The best stretch is Mixerman explaining why he resisted early Pro Tools without turning digital recording into the villain.
A focused conversation about mastering as restraint, cohesion, spacing, and feel.
Mastering comes through here as a final act of judgment, less about dramatic rescue work than knowing when a mix already has what it needs. Brian Funk gives Oscar Zambrano room to talk through the practical, almost hidden decisions behind a finished record: the "do no harm"…
A reflective songwriting conversation about craft, memory, and the moments when music starts working on a listener.
Brian Funk's conversation with Jean-Paul Vest, songwriter and bandleader of Last Charge of the Light Horse, stays close to the lived work of making songs.
A steady, useful push to finish imperfect tracks instead of waiting to feel ready.
Making music gets harder the more you know, and Music Production Podcast treats that frustration as something practical rather than embarrassing.
Two studio owners test compression, latency, and guitar signal chains on real gear.
Real drum-recording talk from working players.
Music craft, from studio floor to screen.
Producers talking shop, tangents and blunt advice included.
Music craft, traced back to its source.
Studio craft, argued in practical detail.
Outgrowth starts as the common thread.
The Music Production Podcast host Lenny Mac presents a candid self-examination of five psychological obstacles that prevent him — and most music producers — from making music, despite years of experience and equipment: the paralysis of too many directions to choose from, the impossibility of decision-making under infinite options, the comparison trap, the fear of wasting time on something bad, and the deepest challenge, which is that unlike most skills, music production does not get easier with practice but often harder as knowledge and options expand.
Kevin Griffin keeps it plain.
David Paul Newell brings a producer's ear, and Brian Funk gives him space to unpack how Midnight Mystery Club finds its sound.
Brian catches the enthusiasm right away.
Matt Tinkler keeps the chat close to the workbench.
This episode features an interview with Brad Barr of The Barr Brothers discussing songwriting, minimalist production approaches, and embracing human imperfections in their new album Let It Hiss.
This episode provides seven tips for successfully participating in Jamuary, a daily music creation challenge in January, emphasizing showing up and embracing the creative process.
This episode features an interview with Joshua Blum discussing strategies for maintaining creativity and productivity in music production and writing despite busy schedules and creative limitations.
This episode features musician Joseph Holliday discussing his dark synth music project Snakes of Russia, his new record, and his creative process for meeting deadlines and tackling challenges in music production.
This episode features an interview with Tommy Z, who teaches music producers about commercial music success, creativity philosophy, and overcoming creative challenges.
Host Brian Funk interviews Tom Cosm about his work with Ableton Live and Telepathic Instruments' new device Orchid, with a sponsor segment on Baby Audio's Techno drum synthesizer.
This episode features an interview with music producer and software developer Tom Carpenter, discussing his tour with Moon Tower, his Soap Voice Cleaner plugin, and building a multifaceted music career.
Brian Funk shares 10 habits of prolific music producers to overcome writer's block and boost creativity.
Host Brian Funk interviews Ableton Certified Trainer Yuta Benatar about his teaching, new Live tools, and AI in music production.
Host Brian Funk interviews experimental electronic musician Sarah Bell-Reed about her journey from classical trumpet to modular synthesis and her upcoming sound class.
Mixerman comes at record making through experience, not theory.
The host discusses a workflow to overcome self-consciousness and writer's block by working quickly and committing to decisions, treating music as artifacts of personal growth.
Oscar Zambrano starts from restraint.
Host Brian Funk interviews plug-in designer Akil Adam about his musical background, modular synths, and his new sequencer plug-in Waymaker.
Host Brian Funk interviews Julian Ashtrey about creative challenges, content creation, and philosophical concepts in music production.
This episode features an interview with musician TJ Dumpster (Six Missing) discussing his new ambient album release, creative techniques for overcoming self-doubt, and the impact of AI on artistry.
Host Brian Funk interviews Ableton Certified Trainer Jamie Blake about music production, teaching, and creative philosophies.
Brian Funk interviews Lina Tertonin about her new book on overcoming insecurities in music production.
Host Brian Funk interviews Rich Scheibner about his book on the emotional journey of creators and their music production experiences.
Host Brian Funk interviews mixing engineer William Garrett about his career and experiences in music production.
Brian Funk welcomes John Paul Vest, and the chat eases into songwriting, Last Charge of the Light Horse's album In the Wind, and why a room can change the way music lands.
Host Brian Funk interviews film composer Andrew Lockington about his scoring techniques and promotes a music production workshop.
Host Brian Funk discusses the Jamuary creative challenge, its benefits for building music-making habits, and shares personal experiences and tips.
Host Brian Funk interviews the alternative hip-hop band Carpool and demonstrates the Transit 2 plugin for creating transitions in music.
Host Brian Funk interviews songwriter and educator Andrea Stolpe about practical tips and philosophy for songwriting, and promotes the Music Production Club.
Host Brian Funk interviews mixer/producer Dex Green about his new solo album Imaginary War and his production journey.
The host discusses AI-generated music and explores how musicians can maintain relevance and meaning in their work.
Host Brian Funk interviews Ifta about his Max for Live devices and the release of the Performance Pack for Ableton Live 12.
Host Brian Funk interviews Output CEO Greg Learman about running a music plug-in company, AI's impact on musicians, and aligning work with values.
Host Brian Funk interviews Michaela Shiloh and Andre Mullin about their platform Hard Drive and their experiences in the music industry.