This week on Thinkin’ & Drinkin’ Bart talks with fellow Nebraskaian, Bill Decker. Bill shares how he went from a published songwriter to an engineer, why he made the transition and what he loves most about what he does. Bill is mostly self-taught and prides himself in the speed in which he can mix. Tune in for lots of good information and as always, lots of laughs!
Meet Billy Decker: Billy Decker was born on August 28th, 1967 and raised in Nebraska. He got a BS in criminal justice at the University of Nebraska and then went on to be Salutatorian at Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in 1992. In 1994, Decker moved to Nashville where he’s been working ever since. He’s mixed 14 #1s to date - most recently, Chris Young's "Losing Sleep".Billy Decker has mixed for Kenny Chesney, Darius Rucker, Jason Aldean. Jaime Lynne Spears, and Sam Hunt. Decker also mixed George Jones’s last album before he died. Billy Decker made history in July of 2014 when Sam Hunt became the most added new artist of all time. Decker works in a unique way. “I mix really fast. Most of my mixes are finished in between two and three-and-a-half hours. To be able to do this, I use a lot of templates in Pro Tools. Instead of spending two hours EQing a kick drum, I can do it in 30 seconds, because I’ve set up templates for the album that outline all the basic parameters for each instrument. Then, I can focus on fine-tuning and bringing levels up and down—working on the entire mix, rather than focusing on individual adjustments. It’s a good way to work. It’s real fast, efficient, and, most importantly, it’s fun.
What Bart has to say: He’s a fellow Nebraskan and has mixed around 300-400 of my demos. We also share a love of Runza (if you know, you know).
In this episode, you’ll hear
How a criminal justice major ended up mixing over 25 #1 songs.
How he mixes so fast in comparison to other mixers and his process.
Links to Connect: