Recording Connection mentor Jimmy Martignetti Interviews Siggi Bemm

In case we haven’t been clear the many, many times we’ve said it—learning is a lifelong pursuit. The people who do well in audio and basically any aspect of the arts, heck just about any career you can think of, are always, always building their skills, reaching out and learning more.

Recording Connection mentor, studio owner and engineer Jimmy Martignetti of Off The Wall Studio in Tyngsboro, MA is one of those pros who is always growing. He recently reached out to a fellow engineer/mixer/producer Siggi Bemm, (known worldwide for his work with ultra-heavy metal group Tiamat among others), to learn what he had to say about working with artists, handling the recording and mix and other insights into the process.

Speaking of what led up to the interview with Siggi, Jimmy says, “Ever since I heard Siggi’s work back in the early 90s I was under his spell with music. You can clearly hear his emotions through the speakers in very fine detail. Ever since then and the 80s Black Sabbath days I was in love with the way the music sounded and how big you can paint a picture with the art of music.”

Art of music indeed! Take a listen to the interview and you’ll see, for Siggi Bemm and a great number of the engineers and producers out there, it is an art, before it’s business or anything else.

So how did Jimmy ultimately connect with someone who’d long been an inspiration to him in his career? Long story short, he reached out and told Siggi Bemm he’d been a “big fan of his work for 18 years.” Jimmy says, “right away we both knew that we both have something in common so we got along very easy. Then I asked him to do the interview on his work and he was delighted to.”

So what did Jimmy, a consummate professional with years in the industry have to learn from his interview with Siggi? Well here’s what he Jimmy himself has to say about the experience:

“I learned how Siggi does his drum set. If anybody listens to his drum sets they all sound absolutely phenomenal. Overheads are crystal-clear, great top end. The guitars are big, huge in the mix. Everything in the mix has its own space and everything works well together. This new drum is huge and you can hear the decay very clearly during a busy mix. This is not an easy thing for most engineers to do and he does it most impressively well!”

See what’s going on here? Learning and connecting, learning and connecting. Do your research and see just how many of today’s top engineers, producers and artists all say they never stop learning, never stop searching (Dave Pensado says this in almost every episode of Pensado’s Place). It never, ever ends for the process is a journey. Embrace it and grow!