The MikeDrop Podcast

9 | What Are We Up To?

Mike C and Mike T see how well they REALLY know one another glimpse into each others’ creative minds and personal approaches to spending time developing ideas both big and small.
 
Thank you, Rebecca Moore, for the wonderful work fixing our audio!

8 | Ryan Streber (Oktaven Audio)

http://www.oktavenaudio.com/
 
MikeDrop calls in reinforcements from a classical music heavy hitter: Ryan Streber, composer and engineer at Oktaven Audio, one of the leading recording studios for contemporary and classical repertoire. Ryan’s razor-sharp ears, gentle demeanor, and insightful sonic choices have had the Mikes returning time and time again to Oktaven for recording projects, and we were delighted to have some time to turn the microphone the other direction and learn more about Ryan’s life in music. Topics in this mega-episode include:
Ryan’s musical background
Developing home recording studios
Working with difficult artists
Being a gear-head and how to make tech transparent in the studio
Preparing for recording sessions
The importance of curiosity
File management and Ryan as a topic of future dissertations
Starting a record label
How composition informs his work as an engineer and producer
Ryan’s workflow as a “classical” engineer
Vintage microphones and facsimile scores
 
Thank you, Rebecca Moore, for your audio magic!

7 | Practice Pad Shootout

Get ready to tap that! The Mikes bounce like a hovercraft over contentious (but bouncy) waters to debate using practice pads for good and evil in one’s musical development. The Duo discusses pad selection, and setup, and makes some recommendations for pads in several categories. Pads mentioned, in no particular order:
Ikea bath towels
Tom’s Pad
The Billy Hyde
Vic Firth Stock Pad
The Remo Practice Pad
Remo Silentstroke Heads
Sabian Quiet Tone
Timpani practice pad
Vic Firth Chop-Out Practice Sticks
Dragonfly Practice Mallets
Mike C endorses Vic Firth pads and sticks, Beetle Pads, and Remo drumheads.
 
 
Rebecca Moore is our wonderful audio editor.

6 | What's Exciting Us Now?

When is now? It doesn’t matter! The Mikes share their excitement and joy for the details in the world with a short episode covering:
Cognitive Neurology
Mike’s summer of museums
Rituals in sporting events
The running style of Wimbledon ball boys
Marathon training
 
Thanks to Rebecca Moore for the amazing work on our audio!

5 | How To Take A Lesson

There is an skill to maximizing individual music lessons. In this episode, the teachers become the students: the Mikes learn how to learn, covering preparation before, during, and after lessons. Topics covered include articulating the roles of the teacher and student, lesson preparation strategies, planning for multiple lessons, the importance of reflection, and more.
 
Rebecca Moore should be teaching us lessons!  She is the magician behind making us sound our absolute best.

4 | Marking Up Your Music

The Mikes’ go head to head on their alliterative strategies for music-making, marking, and mastering for before, during, and after rehearsals and practice sessions. There’s nothing like describing visual practices in an audio-only medium, so buckle up!
Topics include
Why write in your music?
What can/should one mark?
Reading from scores vs parts
Marking and part-making gear
Cheat sheets, memoization, and everything in between
 
Thank you to Rebecca Moore for all of the magical audio work with this episode!

3 | Preparing for a Rehearsal

What does it mean to be “ready”? Mike C’s longtime duo partner and jedi-level chamber music Hannah Collins says “ 99% of ensemble issues can be solved with good personal preparation.” From study to practice to logistics to showing up on time, great preparation allows for flexible and joyous music-making in rehearsals. Mikes T and C sound off on their go-to pre-rehearsal strategies to making the most of chamber and large ensemble rehearsal time.
 
Thanks to Rebecca Moore for optimizing the audio and editing!

2 | Top 10 Tech Tools

The Mikes compare notes (written on paper) on their favorite technologies for music-making, productivity, and…getting away from technology. But first, what IS technology?
While the Mikes agree that less is more, apps and tools mentioned include:
Transcribe!
Earplugs
Headphones (both noise cancelling and monitor headphones)
Focus/Airplane/Do not disturb mode
Forscore
Mindnode
Notion
Omnigraffle
Scrivener
Dropbox
Text Expander
Keyboard Maestro
Toggl
Magnet
Rhodia Pens
Colored Pencils
Dictation mode
(MikeDrop is not sponsored by any of the above, although they’d like to be!)
 
Special thanks to the technology EXPERT, Rebecca Moore, for her expert skills and ears. She made us sound the best we could!