John Goodmanson (Wolf Parade, Gossip, Pavement)

John Goodmanson is a Seattle-based record producer, recording engineer, and mixer. His stellar reputation was made as an excellent engineer and producer of the finest indie bands. The list of bands he's worked with includes Blonde Redhead, Nada Surf, Death Cab for Cutie, Blood Brothers, Jaguar Love, Sleater-Kinney, Wu-Tang Clan, Gossip, and more. Recently, Goodmanson produced and mixed Wolf Parade’s LP, Cry Cry Cry, for Sub Pop Records.

How do you stay fresh and excited about mixing music and do you miss the days of working predominantly out of big studios as opposed to your own studio space?

I LOVE working on music every day. I'm lucky in that for the most part, I get to work on stuff that I really like. Sometimes, though, sitting down at the computer is tough. When it was all big consoles and fancy control rooms it was easier to imagine it was a glamorous process - even when it wasn't.

Now that it feels more like a computer gig, I find that I need new challenges to stay pumped up. Sometimes it's working on something a little out of my wheelhouse artistically, sometimes it's a new processor or pedal, and sometimes it's just a new color scheme or a new trackball (we're all trying to manage our carpal-tunnel these days, amiright?)

Tell us about your current studio setup.

I've recently moved my studio and put most of my hardware in storage. Although I am looking at setting up a new tracking room somewhere around town as the world opens back up.

I'm Pro Tools for mixing, leaning pretty heavily on the UAD plugs. I got into them early on. They really made moving into the box possible for what I do. They're still the best plug-ins to my ears, but many of the other plug-in designers are catching up fast.

I have a fair amount of outboard that I use while tracking but, except for the occasional re-amp or special chain on the mix bus, once it's a file, I tend to keep it digital.

I've got a Crane Song Avocet that I've had forever for monitor control. I listen on NS10s and some PMCs that I picked up a while back.

Moving into a new room has been a challenge, but I'm slowly figuring this one out. I've had to lean into checking everything on headphones. I've got a fair amount of acoustic treatment - most homebuilt, but some Real Traps as well. You don't need to spend a ton to treat a room. It takes forever to get a listening space tweaked to where you can really be comfortable, so I also lean heavily on referencing other material - a habit leftover from mixing in different rooms from project to project

How do you typically approach a mix: what's your process for setting it up? How often are you making big editing decisions in your mixing? And how long does a mix typically take you these days?

If I've produced something, I usually wind up mixing it, and I really try to make all of the editing and production decisions before I start a proper mix.

On the mix side, I hope to be able to focus on making it sound as good as it possibly can, as well as giving it appropriate dynamics and impact. That being said, I do at some point try to take a step back during the mix and think creatively about where a special effect or a mute or some event can happen to keep things interesting.

I set the sessions up in a consistent way so that I can find everything quickly. I've got a checklist for how to move through a typical song/session so that I don't forget a step and wind up working in circles - stuff like when to make notes on the rough mix, and when to step back to check the overall sonic picture.

Tell us a little about how the mixing work comes to you these days and do you have suggestions for young mixers looking to get the word out about what they can do?

Gosh, I guess you just have to work as much as possible. People usually find me by word of mouth or they take the time to find out who mixed a record that they like.

I try imagine it from the other side - it's a big decision for the artist. These days most bands are spending their own money, so they need to be pretty sure you're not going to waste their time, money, and energy.

Having some kind of track record shows that you can get the job done, but also lets them know that you're on their team and looking to make something spectacular and unique.

Having nifty gear listed on your website is great and all, but the credits are what matter. And not necessarily credits on records with big numbers. Credits on records that bands and artists are into will get you way more work.

Word of mouth is gold, so try to leave every project with the client psyched.

What advice would you give independent mixers and producers looking to get better at their craft?

Load up a bunch of songs that you know all sound great when played in a variety of environments and match their levels against whatever you're working on with a VU meter (Klanghelm makes a good software VU for cheap). Listen and compare. Work on yours until it hangs in there!