We were lucky to catch up with Rob Heskin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rob, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

After being a guitarist for many years I was always fascinated with how records ended up sounding the way that they did. In order to do that I found the songs/sounds I most wanted to bring in to my own productions so I researched who made them and how they were made.

The biggest leap for me personally was seeing that my favorite mixer at the time (Jack Joseph Puig) was doing a one-of-a-kind master class where you would live in the south of France with 13 other engineers and learn from the man himself. I did that in 2013 and it completely re-calibrated and prepared me with the tools necessary to apply all those techniques to my own mixes and productions.

The skills that I learned most was that the thing that separates all of us are our instincts and tastes. No one can teach you how to feel. It’s unique to you and you alone. Also the things I may have thought to be the most important things turned out to be the most irrelevant. Mixing was all about finding the three elements that make this song what it is… without them the song would be different. Take everything else in the song out and make those three things work together and then use all the other elements to paint around them.

Another “Ah-Ha” moment was how to switch genres when mixing. I learned to sit in my mixing position before I do any listening that day and go to iTunes. Go to the genre you are about to work on and listen to the top 10 songs that are selling right now. What you’ve now done is calibrated your ears in your listening environment to be competitive and palpable to your respective audience.

Critical listening and being ruthless is an incredibly important skill. A song may take 60,000 mouse clicks to get to a finished final mix so I always have a philosophy that I got from Puig was if you ever have a question about whether something should stay in or get taken out it’s simple. Create what he called an “emotional meter” and when playing the track does that meter move more with it in or with it out, DONE! Move on!

The biggest obstacle were always the people saying you’d get opportunities and then don’t follow through. Finding someone who’s going to blow up and attach yourself to them can be a good strategy to create your own “place at the table.” With Spotify and everything streaming there’s less taking chances on new people so unless you already have an in to an opportunity you have to create your own. Also it seems like anyone with a laptop can now call themselves a mixer but a good mixer sonic-ally enhances the emotion of the song.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Pretty simple, most people take their music/art as far as they can go and there becomes a threshold where they’ve gotten it AS FAR as they can go but they know it’s still missing the last few pieces. Squeezing out the last 5-20% of something is always 5-20% further along than where you were! I have great access to my emotions so I can tell very quickly the compass of where the artist/song is heading and I can put the rest of the pieces together to sonic-ally enhance the emotion of the song!! For example if I just say the words, “I love cookies.” There’s a million different ways you can bring those words to life, HOW you do that are your tastes and your instincts and no one can be just like you. That’s why no one can be better than you if you’re being yourself.

I am particularly known for massive low end and clarity around all the instruments and having them combine to create a unique vibe and tonal pallet. A kick drum in a country song often plays a different role than kick/bass drum in an EDM track. Getting all the elements right should compliment each other and not distract. Every track should be a work of art.

I mostly am producing custom music for artists and projects/mixing modern hybrid (multi-genre) music and producing vocals. I have a pretty insane vocal tracking setup and hybrid mix setup. Outside of whatever mic you choose I hit about 3-5 pieces of analog gear before entering the digital domain. This imparts a unique character to all of your source material. I find that anyone can offer recording services. If you want someone pushing buttons than I’m a waste of time really. It’s more about what it the seed of your song and how can we grow that seed in to a beautiful sonic harvest. I’ve done everything from writing songs with Marshmallows camp to indie punk bands out of Texas/Colorado/Sweden/Germany/France… music is music. Making people FEEL more when they hear your music is the whole goal. I’ve learned as I get close to finishing the mix that I can put my forearms on the mixing desk and close my eyes and I can feel the sonic journey rather than just hearing it.

Making people feel your music with all their senses instead of just their auditory sense is a good place to have your head at. I’ve been told a lot of what I’m talking about is synesthesia. Whenever I play or am mixing I see colors and see the song existing in a lucid dream. Applying that to every mix trick in the book you’re really speaking poetry now rather than just saying words. I hope that makes sense… That’s how I think about it.

I’m always looking for new artists and music to mix and am always open to exploring a whole new sonic pallet whenever anyone is ready for something like that! I do have a website but no one really uses those anymore.

I love doing music for commercials and live shows as well as all the usual Spotify/Apple Music etc. Some artists that have come through over the past few years are Dvniel, Palco, SWTLDS, Andre Comeau, The Disasters, Kiki T, Particle Tree, Wing Stop, Checkers and Rally’s off the top of my head.

Kind of a funny story but one of my favorite moments of this past year was being commissioned to do the “walk-out” music for comedians tv special. The assignment was if Dr Dre made the theme song form Rocky and it was an absolute HOME RUN! I’ve been getting messages about it from audience members as well as the TV producers. It’s not out yet but should be in the next few months. It’s called “Greg Wilson, ‘Everything is a Lie.” Again that should be released early 2025 sometime but I have no control over that. It was really challenging and totally unique.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Here are a list of some “Ah-Ha” moments that I’ve learned along that way that revert back to when I need some help. I do not know where some of these quotes came from but they always stick with me. So in no particular order.

“There are things that will happen to you in this life that aren’t your fault. But it is your RESPONSIBILITY to make sure that those things don’t define you.”

“If you find yourself caring too much about the small things you made have already lost the plot.”

“We suffer more in our imagination than we do in reality.”

“Fear is the poison of dreams.”

“There is no right time do something or start something. There never is that is why some people never start.”

“Don’t put off to tomorrow what can be done today.”

“What separates you from everyone else are your instincts and taste.”

“The best revenge is to NOT be like your enemies.”

“If it is humanly possible than it is possible for you.”

“You can’t climb a mountain in a single step. It’s a series of steps put together, just keep going.”

“Quitting is the only thing that makes something permanent.”

Some great books that really benefited me was “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Atomic Habits” for anyone wanting to re-think some of their life long narratives and beliefs.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

That being talented was what separated people from making it or not. Making music in LA for 20 some years I’ve seen a million talented people that have everything in the world to make it talent wise. They just could never pair it with all the other elements you need in today’s world. It’s sadly almost the opposite. Of course you need SOME talent but where some people are best at is figuring out social media and exploiting their algorithms.

It used to be you would have to conquer the sunset strip and have tons of fans but now anyone with a cellphone/laptop can become world famous. Sometimes for doing almost nothing of talent. There’s no record deals like their once was, A&R agents have been replaced with social media. Your social media IS your A&R agent now. Sometimes singers and songwriters don’t want to make tik toks all day or don’t enjoy creating content or that isn’t their passion get absolutely leapfrogged by the people who crave doing that work. Finding a niche and being the best at it in the world is a great way you can navigate this. I’ll give two real world examples.

My duet partner in college goes by the name Clouchord. Watching him navigate playlists and algorithms is like a master class. He did an entire surf album, YES SURF in the style of different bands that are household names. For example he did one for Metallica and Metallica themselves re-posted it on their official account. Just think of all the new people you expose yourself to and now multiply that bay as many bands and genres you want to cover. No one else is doing that!! Become the best at something no one else is doing.

My second example is a childhood friend that I moved out here with. We became a stop-animation specialist and his company became the best in the world at it and now they’re winning Emmy’s and may be nominated for an Oscar this year. He had absolutely no background in stop animation when he moved out here and just figured it out like everyone else.

So I guess the moral of this story is be able to adapt and seek out what people aren’t doing and be the best at it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robheskin.com
• Instagram: @robheskin
• Facebook: RobHeskin
• Twitter: Robheskin
• Youtube: @robheskin
• Soundcloud: Robheskin

Image Credits

One picture with the watermark is by Anna DeVicariis.