Chris Collier: Earning Creative Freedom

Chris Collier is a producer, mixer, mastering engineer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Las Vegas, operating as CMC21 Productions. Across nearly three decades in hard rock and metal, he's engineered and produced for Korn, earning a promotion to producer on 2022's Requiem after years behind the board on the band's records, plus Prong, Lynch Mob, KXM, and Whitesnake, whose classic catalog he's remixed. On Mick Mars' 2024 solo debut, The Other Side of Mars, he played bass on every track in addition to mixing and mastering it. He's currently mixing and producing new material for Nonpoint, Society1, and Gunshine.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN:

• Why being a "button pusher" gets you replaced
• The real line between an engineer's input and a producer's input
• Keeping a band's identity intact while still pushing them forward
• What changes in the room the moment a band actually trusts you
• Why quad-tracking guitars usually backfires
• The sidechain trick Chris uses instead of EQ to fix a fighting kick and bass
• Why fewer tracks means fewer decisions later
• Balancing speed vs quality
• A simple pre-record exercise that gets two guitarists playing tight
• How much editing is too much editing on a guitar take

To learn more about Chris Collier, visit: https://www.cmc21productions.com/

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