What if immersive audio is not about the future at all, but about going back to how music was always meant to be heard?

In this episode of Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, Bobby sits down with Adrian Weidmann, CEO and founder of Immersive Design Labs, to unpack why Dolby Atmos and immersive audio have left so many engineers scrambling, and how the real breakthrough is not technology, but clarity. Adrian shares how his background in test and measurement, studio microphones, and live capture shaped a radically simple philosophy, accuracy over novelty.

From designing a preamp to be “the electrical equivalent of effectively a 12 inch piece of copper wire” with no coloration, to building a 7.1.4 array that mirrors Dolby’s speaker layout, Adrian explains why immersive audio should feel natural, not futuristic.

If you care about sound, space, and the emotional impact of music, this conversation will challenge the way you think about recording.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Dolby Atmos came out of cinema and now engineers are scrambling to figure out what to do with it
• The biggest challenge with immersive audio is clarity, not technology
• The preamp was designed to be the electrical equivalent of a 12 inch piece of copper wire with no coloration
• Immersive audio should capture musicians playing in a space, not chase novelty
• The IDL array replicates the positioning of a 7.1.4 Dolby speaker configuration
• Embrace the bleed, the room itself should become an active instrument
• Each song should be affiliated with its appropriate acoustic space
• A microphone is a transducer, and anything other than an omni is a compromise
• Focus on the song, capture the emotions associated with the interaction with the musicians
• Success advice from outside the studio, I show up

Connect with Adrian Weidmann and Immersive Design Labs:

Adrian's LinkedIn

Immersive Design Labs Website

Immersive Design Labs Facebook

Immersive Design Labs LinkedIn

Immersive Design Labs Instagram

Immersive Design Labs YouTube

Ad link: Explore The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook (6th Edition), the go-to guide for modern mixing.

Thank you for tuning in to Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, the podcast that takes you deep inside the music industry. Each week, Bobby shares insights, news, analysis, and conversations with the movers and shakers shaping today’s music world.

🎧 Free Magic Frequencies mini-course, learn the EQ secrets behind pro mixes

📌 Explore Bobby’s best-selling books

🎙️ Nail that pro vocal sound: clear, upfront, and mix-ready. Learn how in Bobby’s Vocal Mixing Mini-Course

🎧 Discover more mixing and production courses

📲 Follow Bobby for more tips, insights, and updates:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Bluesky

🎙️ New episodes release every Tuesday at 9AM Pacific on YouTube and your favorite podcast app.

Music. Business. Creativity. Straight from the Inner Circle.

Produced by APodcastGeek
https://apodcastgeek.com/

What if the biggest thing holding musicians back is not talent, but mindset?

In this episode of Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, Bobby sits down with DJ Bander, Zach Schnall, CEO of Bander Productions, to explore how artists can build real career momentum in today’s music business. From jazz roots to electronic dance music success, Zach shares how he transitioned genres, built a brand, invested in marketing, and developed the business skills most musicians ignore.

This is a deep dive into branding, social media strategy, financial literacy, EDM production standards, and why waiting to be discovered is no longer a viable strategy in the modern music industry. If you want to learn something about the music business that you never knew before, this conversation delivers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Musicians struggle because they are waiting to be discovered instead of building leverage
• Labels want to see that you are already basically on the 80 yard line
• Investing in your brand is essential, trying to find the cheapest way can hurt your career
• Dance music requires concise structure, professional edits, and release ready production
• Downtempo allows more compositional freedom, EDM demands technical precision and relevance
• Marketing success depends on long term commitment, not short timelines
• Bringing in an audience is only part of the equation, artists must actively engage
• Financial literacy is critical, advances are often debt and poor management can derail careers
• Mentorship accelerates growth in ways YouTube and AI alone cannot
• The best artists trust the love they have for their own sound while being their most honest critic

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Coming up...
00:01:15 - From jazz piano to electronic music
00:03:15 - Becoming DJ Bander and learning to DJ
00:04:54 - Why EDM is technically harder than it sounds
00:06:52 - Release-ready production and commercial standards
00:08:56 - Edit justifications and structure in long tracks
00:11:24 - Staying relevant in a competitive EDM market
00:14:11 - Building capital, investing in brand and ads
00:16:58 - Waiting to be discovered vs building leverage
00:19:01 - Financial literacy and managing advances
00:22:40 - Branding your name with intention
00:25:08 - The mentorship mistake young artists make
00:26:53 - The best advice he ever received
00:28:28 - How to connect with DJ Bander

Ad link: Explore The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook (6th Edition), the go-to guide for modern mixing.

Thank you for tuning in to Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, the podcast that takes you deep inside the music industry. Each week, Bobby shares insights, news, analysis, and conversations with the movers and shakers shaping today’s music world.

📌 Explore Bobby’s best-selling books

🎙️ Nail that pro vocal sound: clear, upfront, and mix-ready. Learn how in Bobby’s Vocal Mixing Mini-Course

🎧 Discover more mixing and production courses

📲 Follow Bobby for more tips, insights, and updates:

Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Bluesky

🎙️ New episodes release every Tuesday at 9AM Pacific on YouTube and your favorite podcast app.

Music. Business. Creativity. Straight from the Inner Circle.

Produced by APodcastGeek
https://apodcastgeek.com/

Is the gig economy really built to support musicians and freelancers, or is it setting them up to fail?

In this episode of Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle Podcast, Bobby talks with Ben Ikwaugwu, CEO of SoundCheck Live, about why the freelance economy is growing faster than the tools designed to support it. Drawing from his background as a professional vocalist and supply chain professional, Ben explains why fragmented communication, lack of systems, and one time execution pressure make it harder than ever for musicians and gig operators to run a sustainable business.

Ben also shares how SoundCheck Live is being built as an operating system for the gig economy, and why understanding people, workflows, and relationships matters more than technology alone.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• “Companies are operating more and more with freelancers, but they want to act like they’re enterprises.”
• “The number one pain that we’re eliminating right now is the fragmentation of managing gigs and freelancers.”
• “You don’t get a performance review in the gig economy. You have one time maybe to just screw it up.”
• “Musicians turned business owners are some of the best negotiators, but some of the worst at building systems.”
• “We’re building an operating system for on demand teams.”
• “You have to be really good at your job to keep getting jobs.”
• “More than half of the US economy will be freelance.”
• “We don’t have infrastructure built for people who don’t operate nine to five.”
• “The world is built on relationships and how you treat people.”

Ad link: Explore The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook (6th Edition), the go-to guide for modern mixing: https://sholink.to/themixingengineershandbook

Thank you for tuning in to Bobby Owsinski’s Inner Circle, the podcast that takes you deep inside the music industry. Each week, Bobby shares insights, news, analysis, and conversations with the movers and shakers shaping today’s music world.

📌 Explore Bobby’s best-selling books:
https://sholink.to/bobbyowsinskibooks

🎧 Free “Magic Frequencies” mini-course, learn the EQ secrets behind pro mixes: https://sholink.to/bobbyowsinskieqcourse

🎙️Nail that pro vocal sound: clear, upfront, and mix-ready.
Learn how in Bobby’s Vocal Mixing Mini-Course: https://sholink.to/vocalmixingcourse

🎧 Discover more mixing and production courses:
https://sholink.to/bobbyowsinski

📲 Follow Bobby for more tips, insights, and updates:
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobbyOwsinskiBiz/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbyo/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bobbyowsinski/
• Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/bobbyowsinski.bsky.social

🎙️ New episodes release every Tuesday at 9AM Pacific on YouTube and your favorite podcast app.

Music. Business. Creativity. Straight from the Inner Circle.

Produced by APodcastGeek
https://apodcastgeek.com/