RSR565 - Jason Lehning - Mixing Vocals, Low-End Decisions, Writers’ Rooms & Keeping It Fun

What happens when you finally stop chasing every plugin and build a mix workflow that actually works?

My guest today is Grammy-winning mixer, producer, and musician Jason Lehning, returning to the show after RSR074. If the name sounds familiar, it should - we’ve also had his brother Jordan (RSR104) and his dad Kyle (RSR094), the legendary producer behind Randy Travis. Jason grew up in studios and learned early on that songwriting, engineering, and mixing all feed the same creative impulse. In this episode, we dig into what it really means to build a mix template that supports musical decisions rather than cluttering your session with endless “maybe” options.

We talk about Jason’s approach to vocal mixing - using parallels, dynamics, and tonal shifts to keep the performance feeling alive without over-processing it. He explains why he often duplicates vocals instead of relying on automation, how he thinks about track folders the way engineers used to think about console returns, and why an SM7 still wins sessions where expensive mics fall apart in a dense arrangement. He breaks down his low-end philosophy too: removing anything that fights the bass, organizing the bottom octave early, and using phase, arrangement, and smart routing to keep kick and bass speaking clearly together. Jason also explains why balancing quietly on NS10s helps him find the real center of a mix without getting fooled by loudness.

We also dive into the Nashville writing world - how titles and wordplay drive sessions, why so many guitars are tuned down or in E-flat, and what it actually looks like to be in a writers’ room where ideas come fast, bad lines get tossed quickly, and everyone is aiming for the same emotional center. Jason talks about working with Luke Dick (“Birthday Suit”), how even great writers have mountains of uncut songs, and why creativity depends more on vibe than perfection. We wrap with thoughts on AI, the future of songwriting, and Jason’s simple advice to his younger self: keep doing it, and keep it fun.

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