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What do the No. 1 pop hits ‘Espresso’ by Sabrina Carpenter, and ‘Lose Control’ by Teddy Swims have in common? Two things: Big Family Music and the LEWITT LCT 1040 microphone.
With four analog tube tones, switchable tube/FET circuitry, versatile polar patterns, and a detachable remote control to assist workflow, the LCT 1040 is a large-diaphragm condenser microphone that offers incredible sonic diversity, which is one of the reasons it is a staple at the Los Angeles and Nashville studios of Big Family Music.
At the heart of Big Family is the Bunetta family who have been in the music business for two generations. As a drummer, producer, and songwriter, Peter worked with artists such as Robbie Dupree (‘Steal Away’), Smokey Robinson (‘Just To See Her’), The Temptations, Patti LaBelle (‘New Attitude’), Peabo Bryson, and Matthew Wilder, for whom he produced the Billboard Hot 100 top five hit ‘Break My Stride’. His brother Al managed music icon John Prine for over four decades and started Oh Boy Records.
It’s no surprise then, that Peter’s sons Julian and Damon, who grew up immersed in this life, both work in music today – Julian as a successful songwriter and producer for artists like Teddy Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction, Thomas Rhett, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, and Macklemore, to name a few; and Damon, who found success on the business side of things in management, publishing, and A&R, is now co-CEO of Big Family.
We recently sat down with Peter who took us behind the scenes of their hit-making process, shared why the Big Family team loves LEWITT mics, and gave us his perspective on the key to a good pop vocal. Read on to learn more.
What was your vision for Big Family Music?
Both my sons grew up in the middle of my music career. They were involved in it on a daily basis and were privileged to be around the greatest session musicians from the great Jeff Porcaro, John Robinson, and Vinnie Colaiuta, to Neil Stubenhaus, Dann Huff, and many other amazing musicians and writers that I'm grateful for having worked with throughout my career.
I was very fortunate to have my sons witness my ups and downs in the music business. From an early age, they understood the balance of what I was doing to be successful. I also always told them that we're just making this music stuff up; it's our ideas that we turn into our music reality.
The studio environment became part of Julian and Damon’s lives. From an early age, they loved coming to the studio with me and hanging out for the day. They saw that a studio is basically a place where you gather with your friends, make music, and, hopefully, get a budget. [Laughs]
All of what became Family Affair Productions started in my son Julian's bedroom when he was 13 and we bought him his first Emagic software. Julian and Damon took from what we did in our house and carried that over to what we do now.
They’re old-school souls with an understanding of the new music business. They understand the distribution, and how records are released today. Getting music out in today’s world is difficult because of all the different avenues you have to walk down.
I know that it’s not easy being in business with your dad, and I'm very grateful that my sons have continued to embrace and respect my opinion. They’ve allowed me to always be who I am and at the same time, they know how to push back. It’s important to empower everyone that you work with, and at Big Family, we do that. We give our writers and producers insight into what we know about – the structure of the song’s melody, the lyrics, what the narrative is, does the hook pays off… the real mechanics of songwriting. I always tell writers, don't waste your pain – use it, don't be afraid to share it, and I think at our company, we provide a safe place for writers, artists, and producers.
Big Family Music has always been about the character of the people. My mission statement for our company is “It's not who we know, it's who we avoid that's going to make us successful”. When I had produced hit records with my long-time partner Rick Chudacoff, everybody started wanting to get next to us and it was up to us to choose who to work with. I always tried to choose inspiration over desperation. I believe Julian, Damon, John Ryan, Two Fresh, and AFTERHRS feel the same and I'm so proud of that.
Everyone understands that we're paid to deliver 3 minutes and 10 seconds of greatness. But the real goal is to make sure that when there are no hits, people still want to say hello to you, and they still love picking up your phone call. Relationships are key to success in any business. Everyone should build that into their business model. Big Family Music is only as good as our relationships and the work we do on the craft of songwriting and production.
Big Family and LEWITT go way back – tell us how it all started.
With success came opportunities and one of the great opportunities was getting to endorse LEWITT microphones. We were fortunate to meet Randy Fuchs and his wife Tanya, who introduced LEWITT microphones to us. They loved the songs and productions that Julian and John were making and wanted to see if LEWITT mics could be a part of that process. They respected what Julian had to say about their product.
We were there from the beginning with LEWITT and are proud to say that we’re still here loving and using all the newest products they’ve produced. As Big Family was growing, so was LEWITT. Everything just got better and better. We love their drum mics and have them on every kit. LEWITT microphones have now become a staple in our studios.
What drew you to the LEWITT LCT 1040 microphone system?
When Randy sent us our first LCT 1040, it was nothing that the guys had ever seen in terms of its versatility and its ability to record so many different kinds of voices. We’ve used it on Thomas Rhett in country music, and on Sabrina Carpenter and Teddy Swims in pop. Those are three distinctly different voices and it shows that the 1040 has such a wide range.
If you have to have one mic in your studio, the flexibility of the 1040 makes it one of the most powerful tools that you can have. It's so versatile, with the multiple tube tones that round off the edginess, polar pattern control, and the ability to blend the FET and tube sounds. It’s a matter of which sound you want to use and how quickly.
Their research and development have been stellar because they're trying to improve the elements to capture the characteristics of a singer. Take Teddy Swims’ voice – the first time I heard Teddy, I thought his voice was the voice of a generation. When you get those voices, you hear them and go, “Wow!”, and the 1040 mic captures the minutiae of what's in that voice – the air, the growl, the grit, the soft tones…
You listen to the greats like Sam Cooke, Nat King Cole, or Aretha Franklin – they all had great microphones and great engineers who knew what mic to use and how to capture the essence of the vocalist. I think we can put the LEWITT 1040 in that class of mic for the new generation.
With the 1040, LEWITT has given us a great mic that you can record with anywhere – it also travels well. We have LEWITTs in all of our studios now, and when we only had one, it was moved around. Randy’s so gracious and is a fantastic ambassador for LEWITT. He has such a passion for getting artists what is needed to do their jobs.
The other day, I was doing a percussion overdub and we put a LEWITT mic – might have been an LCT 440 PURE or LCT 640 TS – on the congas. I started playing, and we were ready to go! We trust it.
LEWITT and Big Family Music have been best recording buddies for quite some time now. Last year, some of their engineers came over from Austria and hung with us at the studio and we had a great time! We played all the current music the guys were working on at that time. They actually heard ‘Lose Control’ before it came out!
Amazing! What do you think of the detachable remote control? It’s great to be able to adjust settings from your sweet spot, right?
That is a great feature, and as for the remote itself – its design, craftsmanship, and detail are amazing. The knob feels like a steering wheel; it immediately gives you a comfortable feeling of control. In his first interview with LEWITT, Julian said, “I like your mics because when you hold the mic, it feels like a weapon!” [Laughs] It's great, you feel like you could really do damage with it. You can feel the construction of the mic, and with the remote control, it’s the same thing.
At Julian's studio in Nashville, he's got three stations – a keyboard station, a guitar station, and a drum station – and he can move from one station to the other, so it's very cool to be able to do that and have the mobility feature of that controller. We live in a world of mobility, so I think that's a tremendous asset for the 1040.
LEWITT also always makes their mics look great, so when you're in the studio, it looks like the most important piece of gear in the room and you get the feeling that you should be using the 1040 no matter what you’re doing.
There’s great flexibility in post-production as well because the 1040 allows separate FET and Mix (tube/FET blend) outputs. I see how easy it is for engineers and producers to use the 1040. It was used on the new album that DUCKWRTH is doing with Two Fresh; on Amber Mark’s record, which will be out next year; and also by a new artist we’re working with called Obed Padilla. I'm excited about these records.
As a drummer, what is your perspective on LEWITT mics for capturing drum sounds?
We just redid John Ryan’s studio, The Playpen, and got a whole LEWITT drum package set up there; it sounds incredible. I'm very excited when I listen back – as are the engineers. I recorded a few songs with this Congolese artist called Mermans Mosengo Kenkosenki. We wanted it to sound retro, like the late ‘60s, and early ‘70s, so we had the two overheads to work in some of the room sound, and we also got the direct sound, and it sounded amazing. Jeff Gunnell, who mixed ‘Espresso’, set up all the mics. He worked with Trevor Horn before he came to work with us and he’s a big fan of LEWITT mics.
We're excited about what's coming next from LEWITT. They’re really crushing it right now and as a drummer, I'm loving the drum mics. The records that are coming out of our studios, with live drums, are all LEWITT mics.
What other LEWITT mics have the Big Family Music team used and what do you think of them?
We have the early mics, like the LCT 550 (currently available as the LCT 540 S) and LCT 940, that we still use on acoustic guitar all the time; we also have them on our Yamaha upright piano.
We use LEWITT mics on percussion as well. There’s beautiful air in those mics which is great for when you're doing a shaker or any percussion instrument – you don't want it to be harsh, you want that air.
I'm going back a few years now, but before the 1040, if there were writing sessions, something like the 540 would be used for pretty much everything. If it was the artist writing and we got a good vocal, that might have been kept in the final mix. Its equivalent was the AKG 414, so you could use it in various ways and we did. When you’re moving quickly, you can put up a LEWITT mic and trust that it'll work.
Big Family has mentioned that LEWITT microphones – especially the MTP 740 CM handheld condenser mic (currently available as MTP W950) – are great during writing camps. Tell us more about that.
Yeah, we still use that mic. As a matter of fact, I was in one of the Teddy Swims writing sessions, and Teddy was holding the mic and walking around the control room as the track was being played – he was walking around the studio, and just singing different melodies, which is his process.
Which brings a very different energy than if you were singing in a vocal booth…
No question! You’re in the room with the other writers and that changes the way you write. Like you said, it changes the energy and the connection because you can see people responding to that melody that you just sang. You can go back and refine it, but it's those little gems that you're looking for. At the writing camps, there are usually three rooms and all of the rooms use LEWITT mics.
Can you share any stories from the vocal session for Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Espresso’?
I wasn't privy to that but I was blown away by her voice from the first day that I heard the song. I'm sure when they did those ‘Espresso’ vocals in Julian’s Nashville studio it was magical, and they worked to make sure they got all the nuances they wanted.
When it comes to recording a vocal, you have to have options. Rarely do you get a song recorded in one go – you sing it a bunch of times, you fix things, you change lyrics… The 1040 microphone captured all those nuances and the results of those ‘Espresso’ sessions speak for themselves.
What characterizes the sound of a pop vocal today, and how has it changed over the years?
With pop music, there's a refinement to the vocal sound, but if you cross the line, it can sound too slick. Young kids have gotten used to Auto-Tune as a sound in pop music, but you have to be very careful how much Auto-Tune you're using. Also, are you Melodyning just a note or are you spreading it across the vocal?
I also don't like things to be overly compressed; I like air and space. These days, you’re fighting all digital elements, so you have to create real air and feel it moving. The song has to follow you when it comes out of the speakers. Are you recording it so there is air, with the right microphone for the right voice? Back in the day, we used to test a singer with three or four different mics – just have them sing the same verse with different mics, through the same mic pre.
That’s another element – your mic pre. That chain is always important, now more than ever. It's pretty much about understanding the sonic space and how you fill that space. You want to give every frequency its space so that the picture has got depth, and I think the LEWITT mics give a voice depth and field.
Pop music has always been the same. We’ve got new tools, but the goal is still the same – it's got to hit you in the gut, it's got to give you the chills; you’ve got to feel it and it's got to make you play it again.
Since you mentioned mic pres, are there any, in particular, the team uses at Big Family and would recommend?
We have the BAE, API, and Neve, and I’m sure there are new ones that I don’t know about, but you can’t go wrong with those mic pres. They’re all going to make your mic sound great, depending on the singer, the song, and how you use them. It’s about how you choose to use the tools.
What is a typical day in the studio for you and the Big Family Music team?
There’s a constant production of songs – every day there's a new artist or writer coming in. We've got so many artists that we’re excited about, and we're excited about all the music being made out of our studios with our producers.
We do music camps as well. We have the facilities to accommodate whoever wants to come out and I couldn't be more ecstatic. From where it started, in the bedroom in our house, it has now gotten to be a lot of studios where music happens: artists and writers come in to make music, and you make new friends.
We also have three studios in LA that Jesse Munsat, an artist, engineer, and producer is in charge of. Brendan Civale, also a musician, engineer, and budding producer, takes care of the Playpen studio, and Jeff Gunnell works out of the Perch studio, which is Julian’s main studio when he’s in town.
For me, there is no typical day; each day is different. I visit AFTERHRS, Two Fresh, John Ryan; or Julian might be in town recording… If they need me to play on something, I'll play on it. I always have an opinion and they know they’ll get one, whether they want one or not. We also laugh a lot and I can be the brunt of the joke too, I don’t mind; it might be what the doctor ordered in that moment. I never feel I'm too cool for the room. Don't take yourself that seriously, take your work seriously, and you'll have more fun.
It’s nonstop, Monday through Friday, and that's a great place to be in – to have that much work and the opportunity to do music. Like I said, we're very fortunate.
Looking back, what do you consider personal highlights from your career in music?
Well, the highlight is that I've been able to work with my friends and we're still friends after fifty-plus years. People like Robbie Dupree and Matthew Wilder – we still hang out and talk every day. Both hits with those guys were life-changing; they still play on the radio every day.
And then, one of the great highlights was meeting with, working with, and getting a GRAMMY with Smokey Robinson, who is a writer’s writer, a gentleman, and someone that is so iconic and down to earth. It set a tone and reinforced what I always believed: that you can be a humble guy who is a genius songwriter and doesn't ask for anything but your best. If you don't bring your best, you might as well just stay home.
I know I have to keep being a teacher as well as a student. When I had children, I tried to be present in their lives; I didn't want to miss out on raising them. I would leave a session and say “Guys, I’ve got to coach Little League, I'll be back.” That is what I'm most happy about – that I didn't miss out on being a part of my kids’ lives. We've grown up together. We’ve watched each other evolve. They’ve taught me as much as I’ve taught them. We’ve taught each other about letting go in the creative process and not sweating the small stuff. You might think, “Hey, my idea is better than your idea.” Well, if it’s not, let go of that idea. When you're in the creative process, you've got to let go at the right time.
Big Family is Julian and Damon’s company now. I'm not the decision-maker. When they ask me, I'll give my opinion, but it's their legacy. They love music and want to make the best of their passion and maximize the time they're spending away from their loved ones.
What I'm most proud of, is that both Julian and Damon are balanced men. They know when to turn on the showbiz jets and when to turn them off. I hope this year we’re not just hosting GRAMMY parties, but we're getting GRAMMYs. And if we don't, that's okay too. You let go. Don’t hold on to anything but the love and respect you have for your family and friends and the craft – that's what we, as a family and a business, hold on to.
Our company and our producers are getting their flowers now, but those flowers could wilt next year – that’s a reality. So, we'll tend to our own flowers; we’ll make sure they don't wilt because our flowers are the relationships and the work ethic we have. They're never going to wilt. I'll be 73 soon and I've been doing this since I was seven. What a blessing! And I hope for my children, and everybody in our company, that they have a lengthy run like I have had. That's all I can wish for.
If you entered the music business to find kindness and character, that's not what it's selling. You’re asked to make money for a label first, then yourself. But if you find people who respect character and kindness and are talented, then you have a better chance of sticking around for a while and making a great living as well. I'm proud that all our guys understand that. The team at LEWITT has made it easier for us to deliver quality work; they’re our kind of people and we're doing it for the same reason: “We're in the joy business”.
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