We recently connected with Steve Greene and have shared our conversation below.

Steve, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

In the beginning, it would be watching other recording engineers work as my bands would record at studios. I’d be the band member sitting up at the console, with the engineer, and occasionally asking questions but always watching. The more I’d be in that environment, the more knowledge I picked up, put together in my head and started to think in that mode.

The moment I decided that I could do this, too, I remember buying a little Protools M-Box rig from Guitar Center and just diving in. I recorded some demos for the band I was in at the time and I still asked a lot of questions from friends that were more knowledgeable than me. It was an on going evolution to learn and hone the art and science of recording and mixing. My best advice to someone who really wants to get into recording and mixing world is to just do it. I feel like I should have jumped in sooner. My obstacle would have been me thinking I wasn’t ready yet. I feel like you truly learn and grow when you’re in the trenches and doing the work.

Steve, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Steve Greene and I’ve been a musician since I was in high school and slowly added the hat of recording and mixing engineer. I am in the band Voyag3r and we release album, score films and play live as much as possible. I also release solo music. I own and operate the Battle Chamber Studio in the Detroit area of Michigan.

I absolutely love all kinds of music and have worked on all kinds of different projects. From rock bands to electronic and synth music to film scores, jazz, blues and even some country. I try to present the song in the best possible light. I often contribute instrumentation to some of the tracks I mix, too. There are all types of situations out there, and I welcome them. Sometimes I just do a straight mix and master and on the other side of the coin, I’ve gotten a vocal and a chord sheet and I constructed an entire song around that original vocal. You never know what you’ll be getting into.

The most important elect of this business, to me, is to just listen. That goes for the song as well as the client. I really take time to hear what the artist is trying to communicate in their song and help to focus that as much as possible and sometimes that means I do very little. Whatever it takes to get the song or songs as good as they can be.

Some of the work I am most proud of is the film score to New York Ninja, which my band composed and performed and I produced, mixed and mastered it. It is a lost ninja movie from 1984 that never got finished because The original production company went out of business. So the film reels sat on a pallet for 30+ years until Vinegar Syndrome purchased it.

It was eventually decided that Vinegar Syndrome wanted to try to release the film. Upon inspection of all the elements, it was discovered that there was no script, no call sheets and no audio of any kind… just reels of silent picture. After much time and through the pandemic, it was edited together. Dialog was interpreted and written for it and voice actors were hired to perform the dialog, along to the picture. Around that time, my band, Voyag3r, was hired to score the film. We wrote the score to silent picture. When I produced the score, I made sure to keep the 1984 timeframe in mind, so I used synths and electronic instruments from the era for maximum authenticity and to do as much justice to the film as possible. It was one of the most exciting and challenging projects I’ve been involved in but I am a fan of those 80’s ninja films and its also the closest I’ll ever get to time travel.

What I would say to any future clients is, that same level of dedication is put toward every project. My main focus is to get the song to reach it’s best possible potential. I always encourage clients to give me as much detail as possible as well as references of what they are hearing in their head. That way, I am at a starting point that is most likely aiming toward the desired direction.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I would say probably two main goals that, at times, intertwine are easy for me to define. The first being that, I love writing, recording and performing music. I have been doing it since I was in high school. I’ve been in a handful of bands and we’ve always released albums and played concerts.

The second, is that I love to record and mix music. Wether that is my own or someone else’s. It’s like an almost infinite possibility of what kind fo song or production I’ll get. Each one is a unique puzzle that I tinker with for a bit to figure out and craft the best possible presentation of that song. It’s an amazing job and a very cool responsibility that I take seriously, but always remember to have fun with it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

This question sort of revolves around the previous one. It is absolutely amazing to create a song, record it and then release it. Sometimes, when it goes a step further and that song resonates with people, I cannot think of a more rewarding result than that. Some songs can really help get people through time periods in their life or marks them in some way. Music is a really magical art form.

Take that concept one step further. If I can help facilitate someone else’s song to do what I just mentioned, that is also an incredible situation. I believe that humans are meant to be social, collaborative and helpful toward each other. This is just one example of that concept.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://battlechamber.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/battlechamberstudio
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/battlechamberstudio
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/stevegreene
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/battlechamber