Mix Assistant Insider: Six Ways Michael Brauer Made Me Smarter in the Studio

I worked at Electric Lady Studios with Michael Brauer for one year as an Assistant Engineer—it was easily one of the most influential and informative experiences of my life. A lot of the lessons I learned there greatly informed me as an artist and engineer and team member as 1/3 of recording artist Running Lights.

How I Got the Job: This a funny story actually.

At the time it was 2014. I was attending college at SUNY Oneonta sending out resumes to studios in hopes of securing an internship the summer before my senior year. My professor had told me it was nearly impossible to get an internship at Electric Lady Studios because of its status, so naturally I wanted one bad.

I must have sent my resume to Electric Lady three times before I heard back but I was so thrilled when they gave me a date to come in and interview. Long story short, I made it through the interviewing process, secured an internship, and began my time at Electric Lady Studios.

After about a year of interning I sent out an inquiry to the Assistant Manager regarding a position on staff called General Manager or GM (a GM wasn’t necessarily an engineer but did have opportunities to work on sessions in some cases). I was allowed a trial day for the position as acting GM, tasked with the responsibility of setting up Studio A for a session coming in later that evening along with other work around the studio. I worked from 9AM to 9PM and from what I understood the staff was very pleased with my performance that day.

As I was leaving, I actually bumped into Michael’s other assistant, Steve. He was surprised to see me, asked what I was doing there and I said, “Looking for work.” Luckily enough he told me he had work for me.

So instead of heading home after a 12-hour day I began training to become Michael’s Assistant Engineer…that night.

I stayed another 12 hours before I finally went home. Although I left drained and wiped out from lack of sleep I knew that the hard work and dedication I put in while at the studio was finally paying off as I stepped into the next chapter of my career.

Nick Squillante on SSL duty at Electric Lady Studios.

Six Lessons Learned from Michael Brauer That Made Me Better at Making Music

I’ll never forget that during the first conversation I had with Michael he told me, “Nick, you’re not here because of your degree…you’re here because you have common sense.”

At the time I laughed and wondered why I had gone to school in the first place, but after some time I realized what he meant was that it wasn’t about what I already knew, it was about what I was willing to learn… and I learned a lot.

Michael Brauer: “You’re here because you have common sense.”

Most of the lessons I learned at Electric Lady Studios are still lessons I live by to this day. Here are some of my key takeaways:

 1) Attention to detail – Mistakes weren’t an option so everything we did on a daily basis was double and triple checked before it was called done. I keep the same attention to detail when working on any production, mix, master or live performance to this day. If you do it right, you only have to do it once.

2) Never assume anything – This speaks for itself, if ever I wasn’t sure of something I’d try to educate myself and if that wasn’t enough I’d ask for advice. I live by the same rules now: I’ve only ever found myself in bad situations when I assume something, so I quit doing that a long time ago.

3) It all starts with a good song – Since my time at the studio my brother Mike and I started a band with our longtime friend Steve Ranellone called Running Lights. The three of us have always believed that a good song comes first. Productions can be fancy and sound enormous but if it’s a bad song it’s not going to matter.

Michael used to always say that good songs mix themselves. I wasn’t sure I knew what he meant until I really started writing songs with the band. When we write we don’t ever settle for good enough, if it’s not perfect it’s not worth it. You can always tell when you’ve got something special because everyone in the room gets that same feeling.

With mixing it’s the same thing. When I’m working on a good song it’s truly like it mixes itself, you know just how loud that kick should be or just what type of ‘verb to put on the vocal—it’s almost like the faders move you and not the other way around. Anyway, I love this notion because it’s foundational. If you get the song built right it’ll stand tall on its own two feet for a long time.

4) Stay Calm – A lot of the time the music industry can throw you curveballs or even flat out hit you with a few pitches. Working with Michael at Electric Lady Studios came with high profile artists. During my time there I was lucky enough to be on sessions with an eclectic range of artists, anywhere between Bon Jovi and Frank Ocean.

In situations like that anything could happen, good or bad, it was important to keep your cool. When an artist trusts you with their work you don’t want to lose that trust.

5) Preparation is key – Prepping for anything is a must.

Prepping for a session, prepping for a mix, prepping for a meeting, it’s always good to be ready for something before you begin. If you’re a mix engineer then at some point an artist and/or producer decided to trust you with their work, respect it.

Do your research on the production, look through it, understand what they were thinking and/or schedule a call and talk to your client before beginning. Michael would have pre-mix calls all the time just to catch a feel for who he was working with and what they wanted the vibe to be.

6) Respect – Michael always put the client first when mixing.

I mention that because it’s easy to get lazy and take offense when notes come in, but you have to remember that it’s part of the gig—respect the process. Never once did I see Michael complain about notes, and let me tell you, some songs went through a lot of notes. He was always diligent and hardworking when it came to his clientele.

Since my time at Electric Lady, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some big-name producers—GRAMMY-award winning songwriter/producer Shane McAnally and Multi-Platinum award winning songwriter/producer Will Larsen to name just two. I’ve also worked with brand new independent artists putting out their very first record. The reason I mention this is because the process remains the same: Respect the work, respect the artist, respect the song.

These six lessons I learned from my time with Michael Brauer at Electric Lady Studios have been relevant and remain relevant to my everyday life (Editor’s Note: Catch even more wisdom from Brauer via his recent appearance on the SonicScoop podcast). To that I owe the studio and Michael a big thanks. Today I continue to mix and master records as well as produce them with my brother Mike under the name Squillante Productions.

Our band Running Lights dropped our single “Not In Love” this summer and was produced by Will Larsen and mixed by yours truly. We’ve since released the official music video for “Not In Love” on September 9th.

Lastly for anyone entering the music industry keep in mind, it’s not about what you know: It’s what you’re willing to learn that will set you apart.

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