Mixing Music | Music Production, Audio Engineering, & Music Business

What would Dee Kei and Lu actually do if they had to start their music careers completely over today — same age, same responsibilities, but zero industry knowledge, zero connections, and zero credits? That's the question at the center of this episode, and the answers get surprisingly deep.
The conversation starts practical: Lu makes the case for going straight to the top and finding the most credible working professional you can — shadowing, interning, and learning how the industry actually moves before spending a dime on gear. Dee adds his own counterpoint, arguing that hands-on reps with real people, even local ones, build something an internship can't always give you early on. The two go back and forth on the internship vs. DIY debate in a way that's genuinely useful for anyone trying to figure out where to start.
But the episode goes further than tactics. Dee pulls from Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman to break down how self-control, delayed gratification, and the ability to focus attention are more predictive of long-term success than raw intelligence — and what that means for how you show up in the early days of your career. They also get into the fatherhood premium, what motivation looks like when the stakes are real, and why community college might be one of the most underrated networking moves for someone starting over in their 30s.
The episode closes on something more philosophical: the difference between genuinely wanting a career in music and just thinking you should have one — and why knowing that distinction early could save you years of wasted energy or redirect you toward something even more sustainable.
Whether you're 19 with a laptop and a dream or 35 reconsidering your path, this episode will challenge how you think about starting.
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Find Dee Kei and Lu on Social Media:
Instagram: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu @JamesParrishMixes
Twitter: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu
The Mixing Music Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Izotope⁠, ⁠Antares (Auto Tune)⁠, Sweetwater, ⁠Plugin Boutique⁠, ⁠Lauten Audio⁠, ⁠Filepass⁠, & ⁠Canva⁠
The Mixing Music Podcast is a video and audio series on the art of music production and post-production. Dee Kei, Lu, and James are professionals in the Los Angeles music industry having worked with names like Odetari, 6arelyhuman, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole, Benny the Butcher, carolesdaughter, Crying City, Daphne Loves Derby, Natalie Jane, charlieonnafriday, bludnymph, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Ayesha Erotica, ATEEZ, Dizzy Wright, Kanye West, Blackway, The Game, Dylan Espeseth, Tara Yummy, Asteria, Kets4eki, Shaquille O'Neal, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, Position Music, Capital Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music Group, apg, Hive Music, Sony Music, and many others.
This podcast is meant to be used for educational purposes only. This show is filmed and recorded at Dee Kei's private studio in North Hollywood, California. If you would like to sponsor the show, please email us at ⁠deekeimixes@gmail.com⁠.

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In this episode, Dee Kei and Lu sit down with Andrew Rynhard — mastering engineer, developer, and founder of Naturl Audio — for one of the most technical and candid limiter conversations the show has ever had. Naturl Audio's philosophy is "evolution, not emulation," and that mindset runs through every corner of this episode.
They start at the foundation: what's the actual difference between a brick wall limiter and a high-ratio compressor, and does the distinction even matter in practice? Andrew breaks down how the AL-1 takes a fundamentally different approach — abandoning traditional lookahead design in favor of an original zero-latency circuit, and deliberately avoiding the clipping or wave-shaping stage that most limiters rely on to force a hard ceiling. The result, he explains, is a limiter that stays musical and open under pressure rather than mechanical. Dee walks through how he actually uses the AL-1 in his mix sessions — not just as a loudness tool at the end of the chain, but as a creative shaping device — and Andrew digs into the Optimizer section, which uses upward compression and intelligent makeup gain to add loudness without coloration.
The episode also takes some unexpected turns. Andrew opens up about the intense online backlash surrounding the AL-1's launch — including people threatening him over a plugin — and what that toxicity says about tribalism in the audio world. Dee shares a story about being the only engineer in a room full of pros willing to admit he couldn't hear a difference, and why that kind of honest integrity might be the most underrated quality in the business. Andrew echoes it with a lesson he learned from Jiu Jitsu: ego is the single biggest blocker to actually developing your ears, and the engineers who keep growing are the ones who can say "I don't know" out loud.
It wraps with a real conversation about clipping philosophy — when to reach for a clipper vs. lean on the limiter, and what Grammy-winning masters actually look like in terms of true peak and LUFS. The answer might surprise you.
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HIRE DEE KEI
HIRE LU
⁠HIRE JAMES⁠
Find Dee Kei and Lu on Social Media:
Instagram: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu @JamesParrishMixes
Twitter: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu
The Mixing Music Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Izotope⁠, ⁠Antares (Auto Tune)⁠, Sweetwater, ⁠Plugin Boutique⁠, ⁠Lauten Audio⁠, ⁠Filepass⁠, & ⁠Canva⁠
The Mixing Music Podcast is a video and audio series on the art of music production and post-production. Dee Kei, Lu, and James are professionals in the Los Angeles music industry having worked with names like Odetari, 6arelyhuman, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole, Benny the Butcher, carolesdaughter, Crying City, Daphne Loves Derby, Natalie Jane, charlieonnafriday, bludnymph, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Ayesha Erotica, ATEEZ, Dizzy Wright, Kanye West, Blackway, The Game, Dylan Espeseth, Tara Yummy, Asteria, Kets4eki, Shaquille O'Neal, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, Position Music, Capital Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music Group, apg, Hive Music, Sony Music, and many others.
This podcast is meant to be used for educational purposes only. This show is filmed and recorded at Dee Kei's private studio in North Hollywood, California. If you would like to sponsor the show, please email us at ⁠deekeimixes@gmail.com⁠.

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SUBSTACK LINK
In this solo episode, Dee Kei reads and expands on his Substack essay — a thoughtful response to the now-viral Jim Lil preamp video that sent the audio engineering world into a frenzy. If you haven't seen it, Jim Lil tested a Neve 31105 against a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and found the audible difference between the two to be far smaller than most engineers would ever admit. The reactions were loud, emotional, and — according to Dee Kei — largely missing the point.
This episode isn't really about whether preamps matter. It's about why the conversation got so heated, what that reaction reveals about how engineers attach their professional identity to their gear, and what it looks like to hold your preferences with confidence without letting them harden into ego. Dee draws on philosophy — Nietzsche's concept of self-overcoming and Nishitani's idea of emptiness — not to be abstract, but to give language to something engineers feel but rarely articulate: the difference between having taste and needing your taste to be doctrine.
He also calls out the logical fallacies that flooded the reaction videos, breaks down what Jim Lil's test actually proved versus what people claimed it proved, and ends with a distinction that every working engineer should sit with — the difference between a confident engineer and an egoic one.
This is one of the more unique episodes in the show's catalog. Equal parts audio philosophy, industry critique, and professional development — and it's the kind of conversation the mixing world needs more of.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!
⁠SUBSCRIBE TO YOUTUBE⁠
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HIRE DEE KEI
HIRE LU
⁠HIRE JAMES⁠
Find Dee Kei and Lu on Social Media:
Instagram: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu @JamesParrishMixes
Twitter: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu
The Mixing Music Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Izotope⁠, ⁠Antares (Auto Tune)⁠, Sweetwater, ⁠Plugin Boutique⁠, ⁠Lauten Audio⁠, ⁠Filepass⁠, & ⁠Canva⁠
The Mixing Music Podcast is a video and audio series on the art of music production and post-production. Dee Kei, Lu, and James are professionals in the Los Angeles music industry having worked with names like Odetari, 6arelyhuman, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole, Benny the Butcher, carolesdaughter, Crying City, Daphne Loves Derby, Natalie Jane, charlieonnafriday, bludnymph, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Ayesha Erotica, ATEEZ, Dizzy Wright, Kanye West, Blackway, The Game, Dylan Espeseth, Tara Yummy, Asteria, Kets4eki, Shaquille O'Neal, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, Position Music, Capital Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music Group, apg, Hive Music, Sony Music, and many others.
This podcast is meant to be used for educational purposes only. This show is filmed and recorded at Dee Kei's private studio in North Hollywood, California. If you would like to sponsor the show, please email us at ⁠deekeimixes@gmail.com⁠.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A listener-requested episode is back by popular demand! Dee Kei and Lu tackle one of the most common questions in the show's history — what computer should you actually buy for mixing, producing, recording, and video editing in 2026?
They make the case for why Mac has become the default choice for anyone working in a collaborative environment, breaking down file compatibility issues, AirDrop convenience, and why the cost gap with PCs no longer justifies the headache. From there, they go deep on the Mac mini's rise as one of the best value computers ever made, why it became so hard to find, and how the M4 and M5 chip generations have made fan noise, overheating, and lag basically non-issues for audio work.
The conversation also covers RAM and storage decisions that actually matter (versus the ones that don't), why external Thunderbolt drives are now just as fast and far more affordable than maxing out internal storage, and surprising GPU improvements that are changing video editing speeds for producers who dabble in content creation. They wrap with an unexpected but relevant detour into Apple's privacy stance and what that means for engineers handling sensitive, high-value sessions.
If you've been putting off a computer upgrade or just don't know what specs actually matter anymore, this episode cuts through the noise.
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HIRE DEE KEI
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⁠HIRE JAMES⁠
Find Dee Kei and Lu on Social Media:
Instagram: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu @JamesParrishMixes
Twitter: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu
The Mixing Music Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Izotope⁠, ⁠Antares (Auto Tune)⁠, Sweetwater, ⁠Plugin Boutique⁠, ⁠Lauten Audio⁠, ⁠Filepass⁠, & ⁠Canva⁠
The Mixing Music Podcast is a video and audio series on the art of music production and post-production. Dee Kei, Lu, and James are professionals in the Los Angeles music industry having worked with names like Odetari, 6arelyhuman, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole, Benny the Butcher, carolesdaughter, Crying City, Daphne Loves Derby, Natalie Jane, charlieonnafriday, bludnymph, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Ayesha Erotica, ATEEZ, Dizzy Wright, Kanye West, Blackway, The Game, Dylan Espeseth, Tara Yummy, Asteria, Kets4eki, Shaquille O'Neal, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, Position Music, Capital Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music Group, apg, Hive Music, Sony Music, and many others.
This podcast is meant to be used for educational purposes only. This show is filmed and recorded at Dee Kei's private studio in North Hollywood, California. If you would like to sponsor the show, please email us at ⁠deekeimixes@gmail.com⁠.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this solo episode, Dee Kei walks through exactly what a mixing session looks like from the moment he sits down to the moment the file goes out — no guests, no theory, just the real process he uses on every project.
He covers why the very first listen always happens before a single plugin is touched, how he organizes and gain stages a session before anything else, and the order in which he builds a mix and why. He also gets into his philosophy on plugin chains, how he actually uses reference tracks without chasing them, and how he knows when his ears have stopped telling him the truth. The episode wraps with his delivery routine — what the final check looks like, how he communicates with clients on send, and why the follow-up step most engineers skip is more important than they think.
If you've ever wanted to look over Dee Kei's shoulder during a real session, this is the closest thing to it.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON FOR EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!
⁠SUBSCRIBE TO YOUTUBE⁠
Join the ‘Mixing Music Podcast’ Discord!
HIRE DEE KEI
HIRE LU
⁠HIRE JAMES⁠
Find Dee Kei and Lu on Social Media:
Instagram: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu @JamesParrishMixes
Twitter: @DeeKeiMixes @MasteredbyLu
The Mixing Music Podcast is sponsored by ⁠Izotope⁠, ⁠Antares (Auto Tune)⁠, Sweetwater, ⁠Plugin Boutique⁠, ⁠Lauten Audio⁠, ⁠Filepass⁠, & ⁠Canva⁠
The Mixing Music Podcast is a video and audio series on the art of music production and post-production. Dee Kei, Lu, and James are professionals in the Los Angeles music industry having worked with names like Odetari, 6arelyhuman, Trey Songz, Keyshia Cole, Benny the Butcher, carolesdaughter, Crying City, Daphne Loves Derby, Natalie Jane, charlieonnafriday, bludnymph, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Ayesha Erotica, ATEEZ, Dizzy Wright, Kanye West, Blackway, The Game, Dylan Espeseth, Tara Yummy, Asteria, Kets4eki, Shaquille O'Neal, Republic Records, Interscope Records, Arista Records, Position Music, Capital Records, Mercury Records, Universal Music Group, apg, Hive Music, Sony Music, and many others.
This podcast is meant to be used for educational purposes only. This show is filmed and recorded at Dee Kei's private studio in North Hollywood, California. If you would like to sponsor the show, please email us at ⁠deekeimixes@gmail.com⁠.

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy