Our guest this week is the kind of person who knows pretty much everybody, and pretty much everybody knows him. He has worked with household name artists from Miles Davis to Dave Matthews, and he’s spent a lifetime studying music and passing it along.

John D’earth is a performer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and educator, and he’s got a nearly 40 year run playing a weekly gig at Miller’s in Charlottesville, Virginia — presumably some kind of world record. And we’re in luck because he brought his trumpet and his piano to our chat, and sometimes plays them both at the same time, explaining some of his theories and concepts. Wait until you hear him compare and contrast, by trumpet, the “academic blues scale” versus what he calls, the “grand” blues scale.

We talk about Sonny Rollins, who John says is the greatest improvisor of all time. We learn a new phrase about what it means to “humpty dumpty” a tune in jazz. And we learn about John’s inspirations, from Charles Mingus to Jimmy Hendrix.

John believes “what the audience really wants is to see something authentic go down.” I think we’ve captured that here, but you judge for yourself. Enjoy these moments, with John D’earth.

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JOHN D'EARTH
- Website: https://music.virginia.edu/faculty/jdearth
- Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D%27earth

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
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- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

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SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
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LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
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If the music business is an automobile our next guest is a mechanic, and we’re going to take a look under the hood. That means getting into the nitty gritty, so hunker down.

Edwin Cox is the global CEO of West One Music Group, a production music company with offices and clients all over the world. He lives in Los Angeles but he grew up and started his career in the UK. So we’ll talk all about the UK licensing collectives and play the acronym game where we’ll have Edwin discuss what PRS, MCPS and PPL are. We’ll talk about other foreign societies, income collection issues for publishers and production music catalogs, and the competitive landscape the defines the production music space.

Edwin started his musical journey as a DJ, wearing out his LP records, and working his way into music engineering and producing, finding himself involved in a number of hit records in the UK.

He then learned the publishing ropes at Boosey and Hawkes, and was elected to the Board of PRS for Music in the UK.

From the hustle of getting noticed to running his own company, this is a pen and paper episode! And now, Edwin Cox…

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EDWIN COX / WEST ONE MUSIC
- Website: https://www.westonemusic.com/
- Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_One_Music_Group
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwincox/

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLlcyy_X-wYW8MrQLt6JDkg/featured
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

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SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

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LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

Thank you Jim Dudukovich!

In this episode we talk about cool bands and stories, like how our guest sat in on drums with the Circle Jerks in New York because Chuck Biscuits, the drummer, wasn't able to play and our guest knew all their songs.

Jack Rabid is the publisher and creative genius behind "The Big Takeover," a bi-annual music magazine published out of New York City, going on 42 years now. It reads like a music encyclopedia or mix tape guidebook, including 60-80 pages of album reviews written by Jack himself. Jack’s a drummer and vocalist and has played in a number of bands. And he’s a veteran of the “punk era,” emanating from New York City. But mostly, he’s a music lover.

This interview kicks right in, mid conversation, with us talking about Jack’s softball game that he just got home from. I ended up just hitting record, 86’ing the formalities of a “hello,” and rolling tape.

No one talks about music like Jack Rabid. Here we go…

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BAND REFERENCES IN THIS
EPISODE!
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Talking Heads, XTC, Ramones, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Tony Bennett, Sinatra, Xavier Cugat, Death Cab for Cutie, Deep Sea Diver, Wire, Springhouse (Jack’s band), Leaving Trains (Jack played with them), Chills, Nirvana, Belly, Velocity Girl, Throwing Muses, REM, Even Worse (Jack’s Band), Last Burning Embers (Jack’s Band), Beatles, Circle Jerks, Legal Weapon, Saccharin Trust, Naked Ray Gun, Big Black, The Effigies, Blood Sport, Fastbacks, Hüsker Dü, The Screamers, The Dells, Engelbert Humperdinck, Glen Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, Television, Strawberry Alarm Clock, Velvet Underground, Mothers of Invention, MC5, The Cars, The Police, Bad Brains, Henry Rollins, Ian MacKaye, James Brown, The Who, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Killers, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, The Undertones, X, The Mutants, The Zeros, DOA, The Subhumans, The Dead Kennedys, The Stimulators, Mad, Iggy Pop, the Cramps, Link Wray, Professor Longhair, The Ruts, Sham 69, The Damned, Dead Boys, Buzzcocks, Justin Sullivan, New Model Army, The Neats, Wipers, Catherine Wheel, Radiohead, Louis Armstrong, Jimmy Rogers, Gene Autry, Max Romeo, Stooges, Heartbreakers, New York Dolls, The Adverts, The Everly Brothers, Love, Carl Perkins, Oscar Peterson, Hank Williams, Stephen Foster, Blasters, The Undertones, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Joy Formidable, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Cheetah Chrome, John Lydon, Captain Beefheart, Ruts DC, The Gas, Joe Pernice, Bevis Frond, The Who, The Byrds, Bo Diddley, Ike and Tina Turner, Lesley Gore, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Billy Bragg, Colin Hay, Connie Smith, and George Jones.

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THE BIG TAKEOVER
- Website: https://bigtakeover.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BigTakeover/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bigtakeovermag/?hl=en
- Radio Show: https://bigtakeover.com/radio/

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/

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SOCIAL MEDIA BY: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
LOGO DESIGN BY: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

OK, buckle up. We’re about to find out how being a music lawyer is like being a NASCAR driver. And we’ll learn how, in music law, “your adversaries are your friends and your friends can sometimes be your adversaries.”

Our guest in this episode is Kenny Steinthal. He’s a 40 year veteran music lawyer, specializing in music and media on both the litigation and deal making sides. His clients include household name companies like Google, Netflix, Pandora, Viacom, ESPN, Peloton, and many others.

Ken is a Senior Partner in the Intellectual Property Group at King and Spalding in San Francisco. He was the Managing Partner at Greenberg Traurig before that. And before that he was Co-Head of the IP and Media Practice Group at Weil Gotshal in New York. Among other national legal accolades he's received, Law 360 dubbed him a Media and Entertainment MVP, putting him in an elite class of five, and the National Law Journal named him an “IP Trailblazer.”

In this episode Ken gives us a crash course in music law, simplifying the complex, and educating us on public performance rights, music synchronization rights, distribution rights, and explaining everything from compulsory licensing to ASCAP and BMI. Kenny also tells us his secrets to success, what motivates him, and how he got into music law .

Without further ado, Ken Steinthal!

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KEN STEINTHAL
- Lawfirm Bio: https://www.kslaw.com/people/Kenneth-Steinthal
- LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/kenneth-steinthal-1840919

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLlcyy_X-wYW8MrQLt6JDkg/featured
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

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SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

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LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

Our next guest accepts that he has become “The Loudness Guy.” So buckle up! This is an audiophile master course where we’ll discuss everything from what the heck is “U-matic” to did Metallica make the loudest record ever?

Ian Shepherd is a professional mastering engineer, owner of Mastering Media Ltd., and host of “The Mastering Show” podcast. Over twenty some years he’s worked on thousands of CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays for all of the major record labels, TV stations and independents. He’s worked on number one singles and award winning albums, with clients from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to Deep Purple, Keane to Culture Club. Ian also runs the Production Advice Website with over 50,000 readers each month.

Ian and I take a deep dive into such topics as: lossless vs. lossy audio; compression, limiting and EQ; LUFS; the Loudness War in music; correcting the misunderstanding that a “picture disc” is NOT a Blu-ray; and we’ll even discuss whether D&D is cool again.

He describes the art of mastering as a weird mix of arrogance and humility, and there’s no one better to simplify these concepts and get us up to speed, than Ian Shepherd.

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IAN SHEPHERD
- Mastering Media Ltd: https://mastering-media.co.uk/
- Production Advice Website: https://productionadvice.co.uk/
- Dynamic Range Day Website: https://dynamicrangeday.co.uk/
- Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianshepherd
- "The Mastering Show" Podcast: https://themasteringshow.com/
- Meter Plugs (Ian's Recording Plugins): https://www.meterplugs.com/

SHOW REFERENCES
- Endlesss app: https://endlesss.fm/
- "You Are Not So Smart" Podcast: https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/
- Ian's "Wired" Article About Metallica's "Death Magnetic" (9.16.2008): https://www.wired.com/2008/09/does-metallicas/

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

========================
SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

========================
LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

Today’s guest has rubbed elbows with some of the greats, from Clapton to Neil Young. He started with an unpaid internship at the famous Criteria Recording Studios in the 70s and would eventually become CEO of his own successful A&R music company.

Michael Laskow is no stranger to hard work. And he’s got a sixth sense for recognizing an opportunity and going for it. His stint at Criteria would become life changing, informing the person he is, and his work ethic. He regales us with some hilarious stories, like the time he did something totally crazy to break the tension between him and Ron Albert, a famous engineer. Or running into Barry Gibb in the hallway, as a 20-year-old, and asking him: “excuse me, how do you write a hit song?”

Then, in 1992, after almost 15 years in recording business, Michael founded Taxi. 30 years later Taxi is still the leading independent A&R company in the world, helping independent songwriters and artists get their music to labels, publishers, and music supervisors. He’s been through ups and downs, artist complaints, death threats, and tearful phone calls from ecstatic members.

From the basics of EQ and compression to his advice for artists, let’s dig in with Michael Laskow.

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MICHAEL LASKOW
- Website: https://www.taxi.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/taximusic/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaxiIndependentAR/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-laskow-a708199/

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

=================================
SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

=================================
LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

Our next guest has a super power. He can take 100 eleven-year-old kids who have never played music, give them instruments, and transform them from squawking, off key, off rhythm noise makers into award winning orchestras.

Gary Fagan is a legend in my life. He was my band teacher at J.T. Henley Middle School in Crozet, Virginia. He taught me how to read and play music, and started me on my musical journey. And over his 32 years at Henley, he passed on his love of music to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of students.

But Gary is a drummer at heart, and his first dreams were of playing drums professionally. He grew up watching his dad play in jazz bands, and eventually played drums in his dad’s band. He’s also a vocalist and a composer, and in his spare time he has composed and published over a hundred pieces of music for orchestra.

We’ll talk about his idols, from Count Basie to Buddy Rich, and he’ll give us a master class on rhythms and musical concepts, from dissecting paradiddles to explaining what playing in “concert F” means.

So how did he do it? How did he make band the coolest class in middle school? Let’s find out. Without further ado, it is my honor to introduce Gary Fagan.

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GARY FAGAN
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.fagan.54

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BRENTON HUND PODCAST
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- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

=================================
SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

=================================
LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia

Let’s pull the curtain back and take a look at what happens behind the scenes in the production music business. Cue the alien action sequence, insert epic music, and watch the magic happen.

In this episode we’re talking with Brian Brasher, CEO of of Pitch Hammer Music, a high-end film and television music company. Pitch Hammer specializes in music for motion picture advertising, and has provided music for iconic film and TV franchises such as Star Wars, Black Panther, Alien, Game of Thrones, Westworld, and many others.

Brian is also a musician and songwriter, collaborating on hit songs, and getting his music placed in some of your guilty pleasure TV shows. For example, if cooking shows are your jam, you may already have heard some of Brian’s handiwork. We’ll talk about the unlikely brilliance in the combination of Brian’s hard rock music in the background on HGTV while someone cuts carrots.

Of course, prior to all of this, Brian helped form the multi, multi-platinum selling band Creed in the 1990s at Florida State University. He was part of the meteoric rise of the band, though he left Creed after college for a job in the record business.

There’s a lot to talk about. So let’s roll with Brian Brasher.

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PITCH HAMMER
- Website: www.pitchhammermusic.com
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Mxs3BABRohMLP8ZM6SRg2?si=IteKtBUfRuq7ZIBHA-1awg
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bbrasher
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pitchhammermusic/
- Press: https://www.artsatl.org/brian-brasher-former-creed-guitarist-now-making-music-for-hollywood-blockbusters/

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ANNIHILATION POWERED BY PITCH HAMMER
- Website: https://www.annihilationtracks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annihilation.by.pitchhammer/

=================================
BRENTON HUND PODCAST
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brentonhundpodcast
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brentonhundpodcast/
- Email: brentonhundpodcast@gmail.com

=================================
SOCIAL MEDIA BY: The Social Sweetheart
- Website: https://www.socialsweetheart.co
- Email: thesocialsweetheart@gmail.com

=================================
LOGO DESIGN BY: Taylor Hembree
- Website: https://taylorhembree1993.wixsite.com/ohokmedia