Brian Vibberts

The silver sedan parked outside has a license plate that read "Dr. Vibb," a nickname I was very familiar with. I knocked on the door and a man — who could've easily been my brother — invited me in while his wife filmed our first meeting. I was welcomed with a hug. His 6-year-old son greeted me with a big expectant smile. Brian Vibberts and I became acquainted with one another 14 years ago. When an internet search of my own last name revealed another "Vibberts." It just so happens that this one had worked on such albums as Michael Jackson's HIStory, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Billy Joel's River of Dreams, and Mariah Carey's Music Box and Daydream.

I was intrigued and sent him an email. We made contact and were surprised to find out we shared a long list of parallel experiences, aside from sharing a an uncommon last name. We both grew up in Connecticut, went to Berklee College of Music within a year of each other, pursued a career in music, moved to California, and eventually we each had one child. We don similar hairstyles by default, love world music, attended the same exact Iron Maiden and Rush concerts in 1985, and strangely even share the same unusual food allergies.

We agreed to meet in person one day, and in the meantime we stayed in contact over the years via emails and holiday cards. Brian's career exploded as he continued to work with many of the world's top artists (such as recently mixing Chick Corea and Bela Fleck's Two album) and garnered himself five Grammy awards. What follows is a conversation 14 years in the making...

The silver sedan parked outside has a license plate that read "Dr. Vibb," a nickname I was very familiar with. I knocked on the door and a man — who could've easily been my brother — invited me in while his wife filmed our first meeting. I was welcomed with a hug. His 6-year-old son greeted me with a big expectant smile. Brian Vibberts and I became acquainted with one another 14 years ago. When an internet search of my own last name revealed another "Vibberts." It just so happens that this one had worked on such albums as Michael Jackson's HIStory , The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill , Billy Joel's River of Dreams , and Mariah Carey's Music Box and Daydream .

What was the spark that got you interested in music?

All throughout high school, I was going to be an astronomer and work for NASA. We had an extended learning program, where selected kids would get chosen to do extra projects for topics that weren't taught in school. I'd been playing drums since I was eight, and I thought I'd go into the studio and record two original songs with a band I was in. After we recorded, we went into the booth. I was looking at the guy doing the engineering and thought, "Wow, this is really fascinating. What's going on?" I could see how he was manipulating the sound and adding delays on the guitar solo. I fell in love with the process right there. My first year of college, I actually went in as an astronomy major with a minor in music.

At UMass?

Yeah, at Amherst. I was taking Physics of Music. It was music based, but it was scientific. My high school advisor was completely against music. He steered me away from it. "Brian, there's no room for you in the music business. Everyone wants to be a rock star." I said, "I don't want to be a rock star. I want to do recording!" When the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up, on January 28, 1986, NASA was closed down for over two years. That's where I wanted to work, but it was closed. I decided to change my focus, so I switched to having music as my major. I went to Berklee for four years. It was extraordinary to get my degree handed to me from my idols Phil Collins and Ahmet Ertegun.

It feels like it was a straight shot for you, from studying at Berklee College of Music to working with some of the world's most successful artists at major studios.

What really helped was being in a bigger studio. The Rolling Stones and Yes had just left Right Track Recording [NYC] when I started. Yes was doing the Union album. Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross were there — it was the place to be. I got groomed and honed in on that level right away. I think that was a huge advantage, even now. With high caliber artists, there can be intense situations. There's high pressure and big expectations.

Trial by fire.

I think that was great. For people who ask me how to get into it, I always say to try to get into a bigger studio instead of going to a small studio in a small town. At a certain point, you reach a ceiling and have to move on to a bigger place. Suddenly, you feel like a nobody again. That's not easy on the ego. It feels like you're starting over again after many years of being the main guy. I ended up assisting at Right Track and then doing a few overdubs. After that I went to the Hit Factory, and that's when I was doing more engineering. I was there for two and a half years. From there I went to Sony Music Studios and became a staff engineer. Along the way I was always in the top level studios. In every one of those studios, they had major clients. After arriving in L.A., I worked at Ocean Way Recording for a bit.

You spent a whole year working with Michael Jackson!

Twenty years ago I started working with Michael Jackson on the HIStory album, and for a month and a half, I couldn't tell anyone who I was working with. They didn't want everyone to know what studio he was at, because all the fans would camp outside 24/7. It didn't take long before the people were there, trust me. He was the only artist where I couldn't even tell my parents who I was working with. I hinted, "Well, think about one of the biggest stars in the world." That's all I could tell them.

What was that like for you? It must have been life-changing.

It was the best session I've ever done, by far. It was also one of the hardest, in that I was working every day. I think that we had seven days off out of the whole year. We went from January right up to Christmas. As each holiday arrived, we would work it. For a whole year, nobody saw me. It's very tough on relationships. But it was by far the best session to be involved with. How many people can say they've worked with Michael Jackson in the studio? Some of the guys I worked with had worked with him on Thriller and Dangerous . He still had those same people on his team. What can I say? Michael's a musical genius. He would hear the whole production in his head. No one else really knew what the final product was going to sound like, except for Michael. He'd go in and beat-box the rhythm of the drums and percussion parts, and then he'd explain some guitar parts. Sometimes it wouldn't be an exact part. He didn't play an instrument, so he wouldn't describe music in technical terms; but he definitely knew what he wanted to hear. It'd be, "I want a guitar part that nobody's ever heard before." Sometimes it would be vague like that, and then the guitarist would say, "Okay!" We had the best of the best in there, like Slash and Nile Rodgers. It was incredible. We had all the guys from Toto there. He would have that vision in his head, and little by little we'd create it. The songs would be mixed as we went along, so Michael would always hear what it was sounding like. Bruce Swedien mixed everything. I was with Bruce the whole time, which was a great education. He's definitely my mentor. Bruce mixed almost everything for Michael, including The Wiz , Off the Wall , Thriller , Bad , and Dangerous . To be with him every single day, learning how he does it — microphone techniques, mixing techniques, and all of that — was really a great education. It was funny, Michael would sing and every single take was almost perfect, but he'd do it six or seven times. We'd think, "Okay, how are we going to comp this? They're all great!" I don't remember anyone ever tuning his vocal. If it wasn't right, he'd sing it again.

What would a typical day be for you?

In the beginning, I worked 20 hour days, every day, for the first three or four weeks. Some days I wouldn't even go home. That was rough. But a typical day would be setting up microphones, preparing for the mix, the console, setting up new gear, helping get sounds, and recording. Before Bruce came in, we'd be getting sounds on different instruments. Sometimes Bruce would say, "We need to extend this song." Or we'd need to extend a chorus to be a double-chorus. We had a whole system of doing that, since everything was on tape. Some was analog tape, but mostly digital tape. We'd record or mix all day, with Michael in the studio. There were always special guests coming in on that album. Janet [Jackson] and Michael did "Scream" together, so Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis were there for that song. David Foster, and many others, were involved.

For vocals, did you tend to use the same signal path and same microphone, or did that get changed around?

No, that got changed around as well. Sometimes it was a [Neumann] U 47 or M 49, sometimes it was a [Shure] SM7 or a Sony C-800G. We always used Bruce's Neve 1084 mic pre. I don't think there was any compression to tape.

Did you end up working on the Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix album?

There were certain tracks, like the song "Blood on the Dance Floor" that we worked on at the same time. For HIStory we worked on about 50 songs, and 15 were released. There are another 35 that are still in the vault, not released yet. I'm sure they will be, like the [more recent] XScape album.

You've worked with Bruce Swedien, Mick Guzauski, Kevin Killen , Phil Ramone , and Al Schmitt, among others. Are there any specific things that you've taken away from those sessions that have really influenced your work?

I learned a lot about microphone technique with Al Schmitt. He gets the sound from the source. Many of those guys do, but Al is definitely the master of getting the sound from the source correct, obviously choosing the right microphone for what he wants it to sound like in the mix. That doesn't mean it's going to be the same microphone each time. He's already thinking of the mix when he's recording, so when he gets to the mix stage, there's not a lot to do because he captured it that way in the recording. I learned that same kind of technique from Bruce Swedien, as well as mixing techniques. Also, knowing how to choose different stereo mic'ing techniques (like DIN, ORTF, Blumlein, Faulkner, X/Y) is really helpful. Different stereo techniques will give you different results. Different types of mics will influence the sound as well. That all came from Bruce. One of the big things I learned from Phil Ramone is how important it is for the artist to hear properly in their headphones while they're recording, whether that's the whole band at the same time, or if the band has already recorded and the vocalist is now adding their part. They need to hear it like it's a real mix, not like something that was slapped together at the last second. To get the best performance from an artist, to me it's crucial that they hear a good headphone mix. For example, if the drummer can't hear the bass player well, then the kick drum and the bass may not be synchronized because they can't hear each other properly. Adding some special effects can be inspirational for the artist. If it takes an extra hour to get that correct before you tell the band you're ready to record, you should do it. I think that's something that a lot of people don't grasp or understand. There will be fewer takes needed to get the choice one. Watching Phil Ramone or Paul Simon produce a session was invaluable. Phil controlled the whole entire session by making sure that things stayed on track without a lot of wasted time. Sometimes the artist would have an idea and Phil didn't really think it was a great idea, but we'd try it. Maybe it was a better direction, but you won't know until you try it. We'd try it, and usually Phil was right. But sometimes some experimentation is needed when the arrangement is not working. I do this with mixing. Guitar players do this with pedals. This experimenting is the creativity that can lead to the magic. I use these concepts in mixing, as well as in production.

It sounds like there are major people skills at play too, in not shutting down the artist.

Of course. The artist has to be very comfortable in the space. Not only the vibe of the room, which is important, but they have to know that it's okay to make a mistake. They should be at ease enough to experiment. They can try to hit that high note that is troublesome. The singer should be comfortable enough to go for it. Phil was the master of making the artist feel comfortable in the studio. Even when he was a couple of months beyond the deadline and getting pressure from the record label, that worried craziness didn't get put onto the artist. That pressure can kill a session. These are the skills that I bring to my sessions.

Were there any of those "ah-ha" moments where these recording veterans turned your world upside down from what you thought you knew, or reinforced what you studied and helped it come together and make sense?

That's a great question. This I really got from Bruce. Always use your ears. Who cares what it looks like on the dial or the knob? If you have to crank it all the way up for it to sound good, then you crank it all the way up. You can't be afraid to do that. Fresh out of college I had the idea that you couldn't do that. Also, it's okay to experiment with sound, even if it's technically wrong. If you're going to have a vocal that's distorted on purpose, it's not technically correct, but it may be right for the song. For me, I always choose the take that has the best emotion, rather than being technically correct. The people who are listening don't care if it's technically correct or not. Obviously it has to sound good, but they don't care about what microphone you used. The listeners care whether they get a feeling from the song or not.

You've recorded with some of the world's most famous and accomplished musicians. Are there some lesser-known acts you've worked with who you're really excited about, either in the past or more recently?

Definitely. For the past six years, Alex Houton and I have been producing artists as Spotlight 87 Entertainment. We both met at Berklee College of Music in 1987, had our own successes, and then joined forces to provide artists with the strongest team possible. Some new artists that we're working with include Blake Adam out of L.A. — a great singer/songwriter. We've done three songs with him, as well as an EDM [Electronic Dance Music] remix coming soon. There's a female artist named Jordan Mericle in North Carolina and also Hannah Gill from New York, who are both in production. Kayla Griffiths is an incredible artist from London. In terms of Americana, Two Cent Revival from New Jersey is a great act. Another artist to watch is Samantha Schultz, who we are in preproduction with. We've produced emerging artists consistently and are always looking for new talent. Alex and I are both musicians, we love music, and we've done that for over 25 years. We've never had any other job besides music since Berklee — so far, so good! Actually, we have several big projects in the works, including an app and a label.

When you're working with these artists, it sounds like there's even a bit of promotion and management involved. How is that structured?

It's based on artist development. Right now I feel like the major labels are looking for other people to do that part of it, which is fine. Spotlight 87 starts with choosing songs with the artist, as well as co-writing if needed. Then Alex and I look at what the artist wants, what their market is, the genre, and the vision the artist has for the product. We're looking at the big picture from the very beginning, through the songwriting, to the recording and production, and then to the final product that's mastered — either an EP or a full album. We want a clear vision of what the artist is about. The photos show that, the cover art shows that, the music shows that. All of the marketing falls into place. When the project is completed, we offer selected artists a separate contract for getting TV and film placements. Sometimes we just help and unofficially manage. We have a network of videographers, photographers, and people who are great at marketing and social media that is also helpful. The end goal is for them to either get signed by a big indie or major label. The finished project is major label quality and radio ready.

What are some of the strangest ways you've used gear in the studio that has been fun?

It's not a new trick at all, because The Beatles did it, but it's getting a fuzz bass sound using compressors. The [Teletronix] LA-2A is amazing for that. Sometimes I'll add some microphones on the drums, in addition to the standard mic setup. Those mics get highly limited, EQ'd strangely, and come in and out of the mix at certain points. One of the things that I think is difficult for engineers who record and mix the same project is having a fresh perspective. Sometimes it's tough when you're in the mixing seat and a guitar part isn't working in the arrangement anymore. If you've spent six hours recording this guitar part, you're probably going to think, "Well, we spent six hours on that. It's definitely going to be in the mix." What you really should do is mute it. In this situation, even if I've recorded it, when I'm mixing, I have a different outlook and approach. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. It doesn't matter how much time was spent on it. That's the way it is. It doesn't work. Sometimes I can hear this struggle in people's music. As an artist, this is another great reason to hire an engineer and get that fresh outlook.

Any favorite magical tricks while you're mixing an album?

I have a whole bag of tricks, but I don't use the same ones over and over. First of all, there are a lot of different genres I'm mixing in, so the techniques differ for rock, pop, country, and jazz. There are definitely a lot of different EQs, limiters, and compressors that I prefer. I love the Universal Audio [UAD-2] plug-ins. Those are some of the best sounding by far, and I use a lot of them. I also use a lot of Waves plug-ins. For corrective EQ, my favorite is the Sonnox Oxford EQ. It's amazing for removing specific unwanted frequencies with tight notches. I use compression or limiting, not just to control level, but to manipulate the sound. I'll add it as another layer to the same source. Like I mentioned with the bass, I may have the normal bass and then the fuzz bass as another layer. I may do something with the drums, where the overheads are duplicated, with one layer having a clean sound and the other duplicated track of the overheads having a wider harmonic- driven sound. I might use that manipulated sound during the bridge, or that might be more of the magical glue that makes the drum set sound good. Again, it's not always the same trick. It's a different experiment each time. That's what makes it fun — experiment and be creative!

Probably the most important part of the mix in popular music is the vocal. A lot of us struggle getting that vocal to sit where it needs to sit... not too loud, not too quiet, blending in. Any advice on that?

I understand why it's tough for a lot of people. The artist usually wants to hear the vocal fairly loud, but they may not understand that if the vocal's too upfront, then the band seems small. It's a tricky balance. The level of the vocal is relative to the rest of the music. If you really want it to sound powerful, tuck the vocal in a little bit level-wise. Obviously, you need to hear every word. At least when I am mixing, I want to have every word intelligible, but still have all the other music be powerful. With this combination I get more emotion out of the piece. With EDM music, that beat needs to be up front and slammin'. Usually the vocal level is lower, because the groove is more important to make people dance. The trouble that people have is when they're putting the vocal in the mix, there are frequencies in the mix that technically aren't right. The vocal frequencies may be interfering with the grand piano, or a harmonic from the bass guitar could be messing with the vocal. Wrongly, instead of fixing the issue, they make the vocal louder to be heard. Really what they should be doing is taking a notch out of the bass guitar to clear up the vocal. Eliminate the frequencies that are messing with each other in a bad way. If you listen to Michael Jackson, you'll be surprised how low the vocal level is. The mix is well sculpted, so there is a proper space for the vocal without elements interfering.

Some of the beats are massive. It feels like the snare drum is ten decibels higher than the vocal.

But you can still hear every word Michael sings. There's a little hole carved out in the center of the mix where his vocal sits, so nothing else is getting in the way. That is a benefit from the stereo mic'ing techniques that were used in the recording. It's wide, and the center is reserved for the vocal. Obviously the bass is there, as well as some other instruments, but the vocal is there too, and it doesn't always have to be necessarily that loud to be heard. When mixing, I'm listening to the lead vocal and getting the vibe of the song in the beginning. The first time I hear the song I'm actually taking notes of ideas that I have. I'll write down moods, or delay ideas, or a lyrical lines that I want distorted, or some other special effect on there. Later, after being in technical mode for a couple of hours, I make sure that I don't forget those original creative concepts that are written in my notes. After listening to the vocal for a while, I mute the vocal and do fader rides on all the other music. Then I'll get the vocal to sit in the track correctly. I'll do further rides on all the other instruments once the vocal is in. I'm still trying to get the power from the band as well and not have it just be vocal-driven. Here are some tricks for getting the proper vocal level: 1) Reference a commercially released (mastered) song in the same genre by putting the song in your session and matching the overall level. A-B between the ref and your mix. 2) Listen at different volumes. 3) Listen at a low level and make sure you can understand every word. Do this by listening straight through, without stopping, and marking which words should go up or down in level on a lyric sheet. By not stopping, you keep your listening perspective for the vocal level.

Besides EQ and compression on a vocal, what else would you possibly put on there?

There might be a small amount of distortion that I put in as an added layer. Delays, reverbs, EQ, compression, and limiting.

If you're using a bigger reverb on the vocal, how do you deal with it so that it doesn't muddy up the mix?

By using a pre-delay on the vocal reverb, the long reverb doesn't get in the way. Of course if it's a higher tempo song, you should stay away from longer vocal reverb times. Don't use a thick, four-second reverb on a 118 BPM song!

What would you set the pre-delay to, typically?

I'll usually set it to a note value, which depends on the genre of music and how complex the rhythms of the other instruments are. It could be an eighth note, depending on tempo, a sixteenth, or dotted eighth. I try to keep it musical. I also do the same with the reverb on the snare to still get the attack and the natural decay of the actual snare on the recording. After that natural decay of the snare drum, the reverb kicks in. The natural tail of the snare is an important part of the sound.

When mixing, do you tend to pan elements pretty hard?

My panning is left and right and everywhere in between. My style is to create a whole soundscape between left- center-right. Some get panned hard left and hard right. Sometimes a sound goes all in one direction, or the other. But I also pan small increments out from the center. I like to have a lot of clarity in the mix so that you can hear every part. For me to do that, I'm really putting it in exact places. In my mixing studio, I have the Acoustic Sciences (ASC) attack wall that allows me to hear things amazingly well. It's unbelievable. When panning, I can exactly pinpoint where I hear it. This clarity from a properly set-up room makes it easier to pan and EQ. For orchestral sections, I will use the typical traditional orchestral panning, which follows the physical location of the musicians in the recording studio. If the orchestral tracks are in pop music, I'll pan the first violins to the left and the second violins to the right to even out the high frequencies in the speakers. Sometimes you can't get away with the traditional orchestral panning in a pop or rock song because it unbalances the mix when added to the rest of the band. In a film score, even if using sample libraries, I use the traditional panning, which mocks up where the woodwinds, French horns, brass, and strings would sit in the orchestra.

You do a lot of research and careful testing of the gear that you use when recording and mixing.

I do A/-B'ing and testing all the time so that I can deliver the best sounding music. This includes testing TDM plug-ins versus RTAS plug-ins, 24-bit versus 32-bit, different summing mixers, converters, clocking, cables, dither, and more. I continually go through these tests to make sure that I'm technically getting it the best I can get it. On Pro Tools 10, I work at 96 kHz, 32-bit, and use 64-bit on Pro Tools 11. The best clocking are definitely the Antelope Audio Isochrone Trinity and 10M atomic clocks. With this combination, the mix is more three-dimensional.

A lot of people don't really understand clocking.

Let's talk 96 kHz, because that's what I use. The audio is split into 96,000 equal samples in a second. Something has to tell the computer how to play those back; not in terms of the sequence, but the timing of playing them back. The external clock is making sure that all of those samples are played back evenly, within exactly one second. What I noticed with better clocking, like with the Antelope Audio clocks, is that the bass is not as flabby — it reproduces tighter bass frequencies. Also, the high frequencies sound more realistic. I don't want to say more "analog," because even analog is not an exact replication of the real world due to the distortion that's added. The audio playback sounds more realistic with the better clocking. Also the imaging is wider. The other thing I've noticed when mixing at 96 kHz, 32-bit, with the external clock, is I can hear the reverb decay very clearly and smoothly.

Do you have a go-to microphone for vocal tracking?

Yes. The Telefunken AR-51, which I found to be useful on so many different voices — male or female. That's usually the first microphone that I use. I always do a shootout between two or three mics, such as a [Neumann] U 47, [Neumann] U 67, [AKG] C 12, and others, with the AR-51. I have the artist sing a verse and a chorus to choose the right microphone for that artist's voice. I'd say that 90 percent of the time, the AR-51 is winning the shootout. It's amazing that it wins against many vintage mics, huh?

A lot of people gravitate toward vintage mics because they have a certain magical sonic character. "Warmth" is the word used a lot of times. What does that mic have that you like about it so much?

The Telefunken AR-51 has a low-body fullness to it, a beautiful upper midrange (around 680 Hz or so, which I like in a vocal), and a smooth high-end that's open, which makes it very clear to understand the words. When recording a vocal, I'm looking for that clarity in the high- end, but also the full body-ness in the lows as well, which is the warmth factor. I don't want to be picking up too much of the ultra-lows where you get thuds and bumps. Part of eliminating that is having the proper shock mount on the microphone. Other than that, mic placement is important to avoid plosives from the mouth, or sibilance. Don't be afraid to spend a little time to get the best mic position by trying several different positions or angles. It will make the editing easier later on.

You sometimes use a shotgun mic on a snare. What's the placement for that?

I'm pointing it towards the center of the snare drum and trying to reduce the bleed from an overly loud high-hat.

How far away is the mic? Is it situated at the rim?

Maybe two inches above the rim and pointing towards the center.

How do you approach room mics for drums?

Sometimes I'll have a Faulkner [stereo] pair mid room, with a pair of ribbon microphones, like RCA 44BXs, and then a far room in a pair using Neumann U 67s or M 50s to capture the big space.

When it comes time to mix, are you using those basically as a reverb?

Yeah, it's the natural reverb of the drums; there's nothing added, just the recorded room. I love when I can do it that way. If I need more or less room, I can bring the level up or down with those room mics.

When you're doing a recording or mixing session, is there one piece of gear that you wish you had? Or one that you would bring, if it wasn't there?

Well, I'd be hoping that there was a Neve 8078. That's a pretty big item! For mixing, a Bricasti M7 reverb. That's one of the best reverbs I've found, besides the old classics that I love, like the EMT-250. For mixing it would be something like that, but for recording it would be the mic preamps or the console. And a good room to record in!

What do you feel is the most important thing that you bring to a session?

My ears, because it doesn't really matter to me what gear is available to mix. An engineer can have the best gear, but if they don't know how to use their ears, then it's still not going to be a good mix. Someone with a third of that gear that has really good ears and makes proper decisions can have an incredible mix.

How do you create an exciting mix that grabs people's attention?

I turn everything up! No, I'm joking... A lot of that has to do with the rhythm of the track, but also the emotion that emanates from the mix is important. A connection needs to be made between the song and the listener. I enhance the mood of the song to strengthen this connection.

What advice would you give to those of us trying to develop and refine our mixing chops?

Reading books is good, but the most important thing is experimenting. For example, many people are using plug-ins. When you buy a new plug-in, read about what each parameter actually does. Once you know what it does, then experiment with it. Don't rely on the presets all the time. Also, start listening to music in a different way. Try to map out where the instruments are in the mix. Get a piece of paper and draw out where things are panned. Are they close or far? Do they seem up or down? Are they full-frequency or filtered? Listen to your favorite music in a different way, as a mixing engineer. You're basically reverse- engineering it, pulling it all apart and then figuring out what was done. Then, try to apply some of that to mixes that you're doing. Experiment with different polar patterns and mic positions: close, far, on-axis, and off-axis. There are a lot of different things that you can try. I talk about these things, as well as different techniques, on a new YouTube video series called What's Tracking with Marcel James and Colin Liebich.

What are you currently working on?

Several projects. One that I'm excited about is an Indian classical music project that sounds amazing! I can't wait to share it with you. The album is called Omkara — The Sound of Divine Love and it's based on the chakras, with each song being based on ancient frequencies that heal the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual being. It's conceived and produced by Rupam Sarmah and features one of the most prominent players of the Mohan Veena (Indian slide guitar), Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Besides the Mohan Veena, there's sarangi, tabla, ghatam, flute, sax, piano, viola, madal, voice, and acoustic guitar. This album has some of the best mixes that I've done. I feel I've brought a modern sound to Indian classical music.

We often think of studio work as long, grueling hours throughout the night. How do you balance working in the studio with family life?

I find it easier being freelance and having my own mix studio. I definitely work hard, seven days a week sometimes, but there's always time for family. I build it into the schedule. It's not easy, especially having a younger kid, but I make it work. I love being a dad. It's just as great as working in the studio. There's one thing that made it easier early on in my career working long hours, which is that I love what I do. When I go to the studio, I don't feel like I'm going to work. I'm having fun, helping create music. What better job could there be than that?

At this point in your life, if you weren't involved in music, what would you be doing today?

I guess I'd knock on the door at NASA. I'm still working with stars, they're just a different type of star.

www. brianvibberts. com www. spotlight87. com

Chris Vibberts is a composer/producer who owns The Rabbit Hole Recording in Petaluma, CA, and is half of the pop/rock duo Team Venus, whose new EP, Love On a Faultline, was mixed by Brian Vibberts. www. chrisvibberts. com