Kane Churko (Papa Roach, VAMPS, Modern Science)
Multi-platinum Juno award-winning producer and songwriter Kane Churko has worked with leading acts such as Papa Roach, Five Finger Death Punch, In This Moment, Ozzy Osbourne, and VAMPS. Churko became the youngest person to win the Juno Award for Engineer of the Year for his work on In This Moment's ‘Blood’/Five Finger Death Punch's ‘Coming Down’. He is also the frontman and songwriter for the Juno nominated band, Modern Science.
Tell us about your current studio setup.
I have a superb sounding room at The Hideout Recording Studio in Las Vegas. I always run the latest HDX version of ProTools on my Mac Pro, using my Antelope 32HD Orion interface and monitoring through my M&K 2510s & Meyer HD1 Speakers.
I have complete bundles of plugins by Slate, Plugin Alliance, Waves, McDSP, Kush, Soundtoys, Drumforge, STL, Neural Plugins, and hundreds more. I’m a big fan of Kush Audio and have multiple hardware versions of every single thing they make.
I still love my Avalon 737 and EL8 Distressor on vocals, but often use my VMS by Slate for expanded flexibility.
I collect other boutique pieces of equipment such as The Oven by Maor Appelbaum/HendyAmps and my collection of over 60+ guitar pedals by Earthquaker Devices, Third Man Hardware, and Gamechanger Audio.
Having worked on so many songs over the past few years, how do you stay fresh and excited about making music these days?
Every song is a new riddle to solve, so I approach each song I mix with that in mind. While some mixers prefer a more template approach to mixing, I am constantly trying to challenge what I do and what traditionally works using new equipment and finding new hardware and plugin solutions to get innovative results.
I treat each mix as an opportunity to not only make the artist’s music better but to make myself better. Sometimes my biggest discoveries have come via working with some of the most unknown artists, so I’ve learned that every job I take is as important as “the biggest ones”.
How do you typically approach the mixing of a song.
I like to start by listening to the song and making notes for myself in real-time. I find most of what I need to do to a mix comes to light on this first listen as it’s the most objective one.
After executing my initial notes via a rough mix then I start to dig into the small details.
I find mixing is a process of fixing the weakest link, but as you do, the weakest link changes. Therefore it becomes a process of circling around and around until you find yourself running out of things to do or improve.
Once I’m in that zone I know I’m almost done!
AB-ing my mix against some of my best past work or mixes by others I admire is a way of making sure I’m in the ballpark I want to be in. At that point I’m thinking about what the label, artist, or fan will think, but also what peers I look up to most would think.
If I’m confident my results will hold up to the scrutiny of everybody mentioned then I know it's time to deliver the mix!