Seven-time GRAMMY Award-winning mixer/engineer Michael Brauer has worked his magic for over four decades on records by music’s best and brightest: The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Luther Vandross, Bob Dylan, John Mayer, Aerosmith, Coldplay, Ben Folds, Bon Jovi, Angelique Kidjo, Melissa Etheridge, James Bay, Grizzly Bear, James Brown, and we’re not even scratching the surface yet!

After working at some of NYC’s best studios over the years, Michael set up his own studio at his home in the Catskills, where he continues to mix for artists at various stages in their careers, while also following his passion for bike racing. He sat down with us recently to talk about his relationship with Vintage King, how he built an eclectic discography in an industry notorious for typecasting people, and the one skill he developed as a mixer/engineer that also helps him be good at bike racing. 

Tell us about your current studio setup – how has it evolved to suit your specific needs? 

When COVID hit, I no longer felt the need to be in New York City anymore; everything had shut down for a while, and I moved to my place up here in the Catskills. My kids had grown up and moved out so I converted what was originally their den into my studio and it turns out that this is a great sounding room; I hardly did anything to it and it's actually one of the best mix rooms I've ever been in. It’s where my record collection is, and I remember listening to my records and thinking, “Oh, it sounds good down here”, but it’s not until you're actually doing something that involves critical listening, like mixing a record, that it all comes together. As an engineer, you have to adapt both sonically and technically. At that point, my workflow was already a hybrid analog-digital situation, and out here, I went from being hybrid to being fully in the box. 

I used to have three or four different mix systems: I had the ATC 50s with three Pro 12 subs in the room when I was at my own studio, after Electric Lady; I also had my original ProAc speakers, which I'd been mixing on for years, and next to them I had the ATC 25s, which I really loved. There's just a sound about those; I don't need a sub, they're just so musical to me, I could crank them up and they would just blossom – it was a great sound and it was very accurate. So when I moved up to the country, I ended up bringing just the ATC 25s. I only had room for one set of speakers and my little Sony boombox that I still have to this day – that was it.

I still have some one-of-a-kind analog gear that I love and use but I'll print it immediately, which makes recalls really easy. Over the years, all the major plug-in companies have done such a great job of emulating the analog gear that I was using, that it not only sounds like it, but it feels like it as well, and has the same kind of vibe. So from the time I started many years ago, when I would call Mike Nehra up for a piece of gear, to today – things have changed completely and I've adapted with the times.

How did you first become aware of Vintage King and what was your first experience working with us?  

I don't remember exactly how I started with Vintage King but it must have been because I was looking for an old piece of gear. I asked around about who sells old gear in really good condition and somebody suggested Mike Nehra.

What was it like working with Vintage King in the early days of the business?

I worked with Mike for the longest time in the beginning, and then, when Mike was running everything and got too busy, I started working with Jeff. It's been great; I don't really buy hardware anymore so it's been a while since we had dealings, but if we ever run into each other, it's always great to see them – I literally started with those guys. 

If I was looking for a certain piece of gear, Mike would go out there, look for it, find it, call me, and say, “Hey, I got it, but first we need to clean it up and make sure it's running really well.” I got a lot of toys from Vintage King; the great thing about them was this very personal customer service – you get to know the salesmen and they'll do whatever they can for you.

What are some of your favorite pieces of gear that you have purchased from Vintage King?

The Culture Vulture – that was such a cool toy! I got it when it first came out, and then I got the red 11th Anniversary Edition version. Another really cool thing I got from Mike was the Bricasti reverb; I was amazed because at this point, we're depending more and more on digital, and accessing great plates was no longer the case.

I love the Retro Instruments 176, the Gates, and the API 2500+ which I got from Mike, and I bought all types of speakers from Vintage King as well. Eventually, I landed on the ATCs and that was it! At that point I got rid of all my other speakers because that was just my favorite speaker. And what makes it my favorite? Well, why are there a hundred different speaker companies, right? [Laughs] Everybody's got different ears; what makes one person happy may not make another person happy. 

How has Vintage King helped you with gear selection, purchasing, and servicing in the past?

I got my Pye compressors from Mike and there were a couple of little problems when they first got hold of them, but Vintage King just made it right before sending them to me – that was one of my greatest acquisitions, I just love them. 

I have bought and gotten rid of so much gear over the years, it's crazy, and if something went wrong, they would say, “Send it back, we'll fix it.” That’s how you run a successful business; that's why Vintage King is still around – because they care. Later, when I first started buying software, my first plug-ins were all from Vintage King, so it's been a great relationship.

How has the industry changed since you first opened your doors and how has your studio adapted to those changes?

Originally it was 100% analog and then digital started being introduced. Going digital and going towards a more hybrid approach was, in part, a result of having to address recalls – you could be mixing a song, in the box, for an hour or two, and then start mixing another one and for revisions, you would just open up the session, make the changes, and send it to them; if they want more, it’s no problem. 

Another thing is, back when I started, the artists and the producer were there at every leg of the process – they were there for the recording, the overdubs, and the mixing. Then, slowly, budgets changed to the point where they wouldn't have time – they'd finish the record and have to go right into rehearsal and go on the road. The ability to sit there for a week and do the mixes started to change, which I found shocking, to begin with. It reached a point where barely anybody would show up and then with COVID, nobody showed up. With the advent of tools like Audiomovers, TeamViewer, and FaceTime or Zoom, the artist could just come on remotely for the mix, listen to what you were doing, and make changes in real time. I would mix, they'd have some notes, and it was just easier to make the changes in real time, which is basically back to what it was like when they'd attend the mixing session at the studio – even though they're on FaceTime with you, you forget that within the first minute; they're present, it’s just that they're present remotely.

I also needed to move away from being dependent on analog, even though I loved the sound of my SSL, primarily because old analog needs to be cared for. The SSL 9000 we had at Electric Lady was beautiful but we were always working on it – buttons would get funky and sometimes if we had a big old brownout, which we have a lot of in New York City, it would blow up a card in the SSL; I just couldn't rely on it. 

Now I use the SSL plug-in from Plugin Alliance – for me it has the best vibe. I get the sound back by putting SSL channel strips across all the tracks and putting SSL across the fader. SSL themselves have also come up with channel strips that sound really good too, and sometimes I'll just switch over to them because it's a bit of a different vibe and a different feel. That's what's great about all the major companies – they’re matching how it feels when you push gear hard. That's what we would always do as mixers, we would always take a piece of gear to its earliest point of saturation, then it would wake up; that would be the sound of that piece of gear and we would stay in that little window. 

Also, when plug-ins began to offer repair tools like de-essers, or tools to clean up distortion or hiss, that's when I started saying, “There's no way you could ever get that in analog.” I replaced the analog desk with a great control surface, the Avid S6, and now I'm completely in the box – that's happened over 44 years; I just keep adapting because I want to keep mixing.

You have a portable mixing setup as well and you mix on headphones – tell us about that.

Over the past year I’ve been traveling a lot because of bike racing, so I wanted to be able to have the freedom to mix anywhere, which is easy to do since I'm all ITB. Friends of mine have been doing this for years – I remember Tony Maserati telling me about mixing a record on an airplane, saying “I just open up the laptop, make the changes, go back home, and maybe I'll open it back up on some of my analog gear.” 

I thought that was unbelievable and I wanted to be like that someday, so I got a fully loaded laptop. I can't bring speakers along when I travel so I needed headphones and I wasn't really comfortable mixing with any headphones until I heard the Audeze MM-500s. I couldn't believe how accurate they were, it sounded like I'm listening to my ATC 25s! I started using them at my home studio to get used to them and get confident mixing on headphones. I always do things very slowly and carefully just to be sure there's no compromise; I just need to gain the confidence to do it and the only way to do that is by putting in the hours. 

I've come a long way from thinking I would never mix on headphones, much less in the box. I mean, I started in 1976 as an intern and became an engineer by ‘78, so I've been doing this since way before there was anything digital out there; it's been pretty amazing. I can go anywhere I want in the world with my rig and my bike. 

What are your plans for the future of your studio?

Well, my studio's here in my house, so I mix for a while, then I go upstairs, have lunch, come back and just continue mixing music that I like. I've been doing some Dolby Atmos mixes with my former assistant, Fernando Reyes, which is fun. I just keep mixing good music; that's what I look forward to, as I did when I first started. 

My love for mixing a great song has not changed – I'm very fortunate that I didn't get jaded. It’s not an easy business, and a lot of parts of the business can genuinely suck but none of that touches me anymore; I dealt with it because it's part of the job. It's not like everything is ideal and beautiful; you have to deal with a lot of stuff that isn't going well. As a mixer, you're not just a mixer, you're a negotiator, a babysitter, a psychiatrist, and you're trying to appease the label, the band, the management, and the marketing team but that comes with the gig and I loved it! I loved it and I did it well. Most importantly, none of that would have lasted if I didn't love mixing a song – I would never have lasted; I would have been out of this game a long, long time ago.

Want to learn more about Michael Brauer? Check out our interview from 2012!

Cole NystromIf you’re interested in purchasing any of the gear mentioned in this blog, contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.