Chris Bell Productions

Grammy-Nominated Engineer Chris Bell Launches Mercenary Magnetics: Redefining Remote Recording and Mixing Services Empowering Musicians to Capture Their Creativity Anywhere, Anytime, with Mercenary Magnetics LLC

Tuesday, October 24
4p-4:50p
Beyond Stereo: Exploring Immersive Audio
From classic albums reimagined in immersive audio to the frontiers of music yet to be explored, discover how mastering records in immersive sound is reshaping the musical landscape.

Enjoyed mixing this one in

Lean Into It (30th Anniversary Edition) by Mr. Big Album · 2021 · 24 Songs

Give me a shout if you are interested in having your music mixed in Dolby Atmos. Recently I finished mixing the album "Lean Into It" by the 90's band Mr Big for their 30th Anniversary release. Atmos is a much different listening experience.

Apple Music announces Spatial Audio and Lossless Audio The next generation of sound on Apple Music is coming to subscribers June 2021 at no additional cost.

Throwback to the 90’s when I was locking up a couple 24-track machines and printing to 1/2” without a computer other than on the desk. My daughter found this pic earlier this week.

Signal chain of the day.

Wow, congrats to Erykah Wright on her 20th Anniversary on her baby “Mama’s Gun”. Sorry for the super long post, but I think this one deserves it. I met Erykah engineering her dialogue on the movie “The Cider House Rules”. Back then I was in the grind going from session to session not paying attention. But immediately in her presence I knew she was special. We started talking and I told her I usually recorded bands and not a post/film engineer. But back then I was in a 4 room facility and we recorded what ever came in the door $$$. After a couple winks from Erykah while we were on an ISDN patch to Hollywood she asks if she could bring her band in for a session. Not knowing anything about her previous record I say “sure let’s do it”. The day she brings her band in I had know idea what we would be doing. This was at the studio Dallas Sound Lab. At the time I was working 60-70 hour weeks as most engineers that worked there know how it was. We all did it. It was a grind. A friend of mine Paul Middleton who I met interning at a studio called Sound Logic previously named Autumn Sound. Autumn Sound was most known for Willie recording “Red Headed Stranger” and is still open to this day called “Audio Dallas”. Paul was building a studio south of Dallas called Palmyra Studios. He asks me if I wanted to make a move to the country. Being majorly burned out I immediately said “yes”. I was in the middle of Erykah’s record so asked her if she wanted to check it out. She loved it and we moved the session to Palmyra Studios. We worked super long hours and left no stone unturned. By the way kids this was all on tape on a Studer 800 MKIII. No screens or computers. We comped all vocals bouncing to another open track. There is still nothing better then great songs and great musicians in a room performing. When you listen to this record you hear that. In the music industry we call these very rare moments. I just want to thank Erykah for including me and trusting me with her art.

Last month we went into the studio for the first time in months and now I have an 8-Track in my hand of the recording.