Having had the privilege of working with Bobby Huff, I can tell you that he does indeed practice this method in everything he does! I have never worked with a more positive, enthusiastic, and *patient* engineer than Dr. Bob. His customer service is an inspiration! ❤

What I really like about your videos is exemplified here. Not only do you offer great technical advice, you also help with the art of surviving in this business. One can be the best engineer in the world, but if he or she pisses off the artist, they accomplish nothing! I'll give you 7 minutes any day.

This also applies when you are arguing with yourself in the studio. Another gem Bobby!!

i dont comment on videos much... but i just wanted to say ive learned more from you these last few years than i have any other "studio youtuber"... thanks for sharing and teaching

Bob, good words. Thank you for sharing!

It’s refreshing to hear an engineer use the phrase “turn it down”. Top content sir!

Preach Bobby! Love this approach.

Great tip in the psychology of working in creative environments. Always terrific advice, Bobby!

A friend of mine is producing a song for us and has also offered to mentor us with the rest of the project. He recommended this video so I watched it. This is so great. Feeling valued or even validated is great for anyone creating anything. It brings joy and satisfaction for everyone involved. Thanks for sharing!

As a Studio owner I tell all my clients studio is the canvas I'm the paintbrush they are the artist nothing is finished until everybody is happy don't be afraid to try anything we can always go back to the blank canvas. Your method also applies to live sound when doing monitors. When someone says turn the vocals up I will find myself changing the tone of the keyboards and guitars in the monitors and give the vocals room to come out.

Great content man. Super inspiring. thank you. I agree. We don’t know until we try.

More gold from the Doc! Thanks Bobby.

BOOOOOOOB!!! Another great trick!! I wasn't able to focus on the video so I had to rewind a couple of times because of that frankenstrat and that 5150 amp hahaha Thanks as always Bobby!

Great stuff Dale!

Awesome tips! I just came across your site by luck! I'm looking forward to learning the things you feel are important for the growth of an artist!!!! And all the things you have learned along your way!!! Thanks so much!

I’ve been a solo songwriter for years, but recently formed a writing alliance with a bassist songwriter, which has been an incredible experience to date. As we feel around in the dark how to work together on various projects we are bringing to the table, we have both been very willing to give about anything an opportunity to live on. I believe that the song will let you know if it “fits” or “works”, or it simply sucks! I like the “7 Min rule” analogy because it totally breaks it down for those who have a tendency to over analyze and debate everything. Great video Dr. Bob!

This concept applies in most works settings. In the workplace, some coworkers would take more time and energy arguing why they shouldn't have to do something, meanwhile I already went ahead and just did it 😄. And it's always better to show rather than explain whenever possible.

Great concept to keep in mind!

Great advice! thank you.

Excellent advice thx

You are valuable Bobby🪇!! Thank you

Best audio content on youtube... Hands down

Top advice.

great job as always sir...'less is more'; blessings

Thanks Doc! Bless 🙏🕊️

something i had to learn very quickly when i began engineering for others is that your job is to help an artist realize their vision, not yours. youll get much farther by compromising with artists than by strongarming them into accepting your idea of how the record should sound. and if making a record that has a few decisions youre not totally sure about gets you good word of mouth and repeat business than its worth it. ive already taken this approach in my work but im glad to hear both that Mutt Lange, who is a favorite producer of mine (theres no joke, a picture of him on the wall in my studio lol), did this too, but to have a name for the concept. artists will trust you more if you hear them out, even if you vehemently disagree with the idea. a lot of times if you go down the rabbit hole with them, theyll be more willing to agree with you that its a bad idea than if you argue with them beforehand that its not a good idea. and at the end of the day, if it goes very wrong, most listeners arent paying that close of attention anyway :D

I think this is excellent advice! Thank you…😎

Vocal sounds in the pocket. But the right channel banjo is too hot.

As Bill said below, I enjoy the industry insights and advice as much as the technical wizardry you come up with... Such an enjoyable channel so thank you again Doc! (Should we ask what you did to your finger?)

I was in a studio a few years back producing my own material. Every time I suggested we try something different on a track that the engineering would respond he never does it that way. Because it was fistfight to get him to deviate from his hard and fast rules the finished product was not what I wanted . I wasn’t surprised that he closed the business shortly thereafter

The artist I'm working with right now has that philosophy also, as do I. Lots of ideas, trying stuff neither of us has done before to see if it works. The motto of these recording sessions is "there's one way to find out".

Best advice I’ve heard ever.

Way cool-thank you.

Excellent stuff.

Great tips, thanks! Where'd you get those diffuser panels on the wall? Love 'em!

Great advice. I felt tho when u dropped out the drums completely and it was just acoustic and banjo it suddenly sounded amazing..

Who's the artist and what is the song?

Oh....that right side banjo would be too much for me....

Fabulous

Odd rule for a guy that was famous for spending 16 to 24 months mixing tracks on a single record. Maybe this is more 'Mutt Lange's 7 minute rule for anyone that isn't Mutt Lange.' Really sounds more like a Jack Puig thing.

My favorite doctor!

Do you have a Spotify playlist or a KZfaq playlist of all these songs you’ve worked on / used in your videos? I’d love to find that ELO sounding stuff, and a lot of these videos, I sit and go, man, that’s a killer tune.

Nice!

awesome trick bobby thank you for doing this and what happen to your finger buddy looks bad

Nice thoughts! 😊

Great rule !

For the love of god yes, turn that banjo down.

It’s like magic

The struggle is real.

Great advvice

What song is this? It's great! Also, how much do you charge to produce a song including the session musicians?

Sounds like a they have a hit song

Maybe an exciter for a little top end. Not much but a little top end saturation could help the vocal ride above the mix a little better.

🙌🎉

I only saw one other comment saying this, but holy lead freaking ganjo in the verse! I’d turn that thing waaaaay down. We all got our preferences. Great video though.

Please can you explain why you are adjusting the volume levels by changing the gain and not just using the faders? Liked the 7 min concept though.

Good song. Who is it? When can we hear the whole thing?

I've read that having waveforms with that much gain isn't ideal for running through plugins....that plugins work better when they're fed more headroom. Any truth to that?

Would EQ automation into the chorus also work?

The banjo sounded a little loud to me.

who is the guitarist on lead? amazing just rings out john jorgenson?

Great video, as always. I like the cleaned out verse better, but in this particular case, I think you still may benefit from turning up the lead vocal. ;)

It's obvious that you do not wish to reveal the artist or song at this time. I like the sound of it. Will you reveal it, or where it can be found at a more appropriate time?

The lead git and I think tambourine.... ha ha yes tambourine!

The song needs something like a driven/distorted guitar in the chorus, otherwise it all sounds the same, no build up. Plus I’m dying to hear you play that Frankie 😉

Were the vocals double tracked?

The 7 minute rule: try any and all of your mixing sound ideas in the studio, and give them all at least 7 minutes to value time. Saved you 12 minutes.

7:55

Take care of that finger, Doc!

I love the sound of acoustic guitars but I always remind myself of Brian Eno's admonition of NO strumming acoustic guitars! They chew up all the dang bandwidth. So even if you have to have them, be VERY judicious about it in an ensemble scenario.

Great mix sir. I feel sad that you must contend with generic songs that will be tomorrows supermarket music. You deserve more.

What about using a de-verb on the talking? Would be way less enerving ...

Now do that 225,000 times and you've got a Def Leppard album! ;) Great stuff, thank you for the valuable reminders.

Mistake #1: Listening to the lead vocalist. 🤣

Sounds like typical “singers ego” 😂

turn the drums down. you could have left the other instruments up and just turned down the overly loud kick and snare.

I agree agree with the vocalist: the vocals need to be more pronounced and louder. The vocalist is sounding weak to me over by car stereo. I am a consumer of this music therefore, I win. Also, Vanston came up with the so-called seven minute rule. Not Mutt Lange… the title of this video is kind of Clickbait using Mutt’s name. Not good.

Vocals are too loud.

Yeah right. Lets see your skills on a tascam 4 track. Copy and paste. Blah.