Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Alexis P Suter

Alexis P. Suter is a three-time Blues Music Award nominee—recognized in major categories including the Koko Taylor Award and Best Soul Blues Female Artist—and one of the most commanding voices in modern blues and soul. Raised in Brooklyn in a musically gifted family, Alexis grew up with the belief that music is not just entertainment—it’s an emotional and spiritual experience. That idea still sits at the center of everything she does on stage.

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Making a Scene Presents - AI-Driven Fan Journeys: Mapping Every Step From First Listen to Lifetime Fan

There is a quiet tragedy happening in the modern music business, and most independent artists have been taught to call it normal.

A stranger hears a song in a playlist. They like it. They tap through to a profile. Maybe they watch a clip. Maybe they save the track. Maybe they even tell a friend. Then the trail goes cold. The artist never learns who that person was, never learns what caught their ear, never learns what city they live in, never learns whether they wanted a vinyl copy, a ticket, a livestream pass, a membership, a behind-the-scenes demo, or just a reason to come back tomorrow. The fan showed up. The system shrugged. The moment passed.

That is the real leak in the independent music economy. It is not just low streaming payouts, though those are part of the problem. It is not just social media reach, though that is rented land and always has been. The bigger problem is that most artists still do not control the road between attention and income. They get discovery, but they do not own the journey. They get a listen, but they do not build a relationship. They get noise, but they do not get memory.

AI changes that if you use it the right way.

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Making a Scene Presents Gerry Casey's Interview with Aleksandra Josic of Here and Everywhere

Fronted by Aleksandra Josic, a vocalist audiences regularly describe as “one of the most powerful and emotional live voices in the world today,” the band has earned a reputation for performances that feel raw, immersive, and unforgettable. There’s a rare kind of honesty in what they do—no posturing, no manufactured drama—just a fearless voice, a band that knows how to build tension and release, and songs that hit like they were written to be felt in a room full of people.

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Compression in Context: Why Soloing Tracks Is Killing Your Mix

There is a little button in every DAW that has wrecked more home studio mixes than bad microphones, cheap headphones, and internet “preset culture” combined. It is the Solo button.

That sounds dramatic, but not by much. Every indie artist knows the move. You are deep in a mix. The vocal feels uneven. The bass feels wild. The snare is jumping out in ugly ways. So you solo the track, pull up a compressor, and start shaping. Suddenly the part sounds bigger, tighter, smoother, richer, louder, more “professional.” You un-solo it, hit play on the full mix, and somehow the whole song feels smaller. The vocal no longer connects. The bass lost its groove. The drums feel choked. The track you “fixed” in solo is now fighting the record instead of serving it.

That is the trap.

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Making a Scene Presents - A Buyer’s Guide to Recording Interfaces
The Box That Decides Whether Your Studio Feels Fast or Feels Broken

There is a certain kind of gear mistake that musicians make all the time. They obsess over microphones, plugins, monitors, and shiny rack toys, then they treat the recording interface like a boring utility purchase. That is backward. Your interface is the center of the studio. It is the box that decides how your microphone gets into the computer, how your speakers get fed, how your headphones behave, how low your latency feels, how your outboard gear connects, and how easy it will be to grow from a simple home setup into a serious project studio. Pick the right one and the whole room feels smooth. Pick the wrong one and everything becomes friction.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with the Avery Set

The Avery Set began in the early 2000s in Frankenmuth, Michigan, growing out of a close friendship between Chris (lead singer) and Jake (drummer). What started as two friends making noise quickly turned into a real band with a shared sense of purpose—writing songs, chasing shows, and building a sound that felt honest and lived-in.

In 2006, the band released their debut record, Wishful Thinking, capturing the early energy of a group finding its voice. A year later, in 2007, The Avery Set relocated to Nashville, a move that pushed the band into new rooms, new influences, and a wider circle of musicians. With an expanded lineup, they released Returning to Steam in 2009, a record that marked a clear step forward in confidence and craft.

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Making a Scene Presents - Subtractive EQ vs Additive EQ: The Secret to Clean Mixes

There is a reason so many home studio mixes sound busy, cloudy, and weirdly tired even when every track is “exciting” on its own. It is not always the mic. It is not always the room. It is not always that you need some expensive boutique plugin blessed by a guy on YouTube wearing a beanie in July. A lot of the time, the problem is simpler and a little more humbling. We boost before we listen. We decorate before we clean. We keep reaching for more when the track is begging for less. That is where subtractive EQ comes in, and it is why this one move can make a mix feel more expensive, more open, and more professional without adding a single new sound. Fender Studio Pro is built on the Studio One platform, and Fender’s current Studio Pro pages describe its Standard EQ as a parametric EQ with dynamic EQ and visual feedback, while the platform also includes broader mix tools like multiband dynamics and a modernized workflow in version 8. That makes it a very good place to learn restraint instead of hype.

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Making a Scene Presents an Interview with Christina Crofts

Christina Crofts is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and slide guitarist—and a true veteran of Australia’s blues and rock scene. Known for her uncompromising bottleneck tone and a “big sound” that far exceeds her small frame, Crofts has spent years building a reputation as one of the country’s most commanding live performers and distinctive slide players.

Born in the coastal town of Coffs Harbour, Christina grew up in a multicultural household with a Norwegian immigrant father and an Australian mother. Her family later moved to Brisbane, where her passion for guitar took hold in her early teens and quickly became central to who she was. As her playing developed, she headed to Sydney, where she met guitarist Steve Crofts. What began as guitar lessons eventually became a lifelong musical partnership, and the two later married.

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