Tim Hibbert: Behind The Sound Of The World’s Biggest Artists I Ep. 9

Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Anyway man, so you in what LA right now?
Tim Hibbert: I'm in LA right now. I'm here for work, yeah. So I'm working on the Blue Note show with Lizzo at Lizzo Beating. Yeah, so it's pretty cool.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Are you here for work or just awesome other stuff? EEEE Amazing is that like a condensed a condensed show or is she doing pretty full-on minus the major production side of
Tim Hibbert: It is a condensed show, so it's taking some of her songs and other songs, making it a jazz version to fit the Blue Note model, so to speak. It's pretty cool. It's stripped down. ⁓ It seems like it feels like it would be easy show, but it's really hard show because there's a lot of...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yes.
Tim Hibbert: acoustic instrumentation on the stage and bringing a pop artist from that world into the jazz world is very hard because they have to kind of switch and everybody wants to hear certain things and it's different. It's different. The Blue Note Room is not what you would think it is.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes. No, bro fact, I feel like every show that people think is supposed to be easy. It's never easy. Always. I don't know what that is like stripped stripped on acoustic show. They're like, ⁓ it's fine. It's like. No, no. We need some time. Well, L.A. is kind of sweet, though, like the room itself is fire. Like whoever designed it's it's very different than New York.
Tim Hibbert: It's the hardest show ever. It's the hardest show ever. it's fun. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, no, no. It's dope. It's dope. Yes. Yes. It's definitely, it's very different from New York. It's very different from New York. I kind of wish you had done New York first and then came to LA and we're doing it backwards. We're doing LA first and then going to New York. Well, the stage in New York is smaller. That's for one. And then for two, it's just a different vibe, right? You know, New York is an OG vibe and you know, LA is just, is new. So everything is new. So, ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Really? Yes, much more. Yes. Yeah, I feel like New York's a very eclectic crowd too. You know, and LA is LA.
Tim Hibbert: So eclectic. So eclectic, yeah. LA is LA. Yes, yes, right. You're gonna get the stars out here. People love music, but they're more superstars. They're more fans. New York is musicians for real. it's, you know, and they're real jazzettes too. it's...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yep. Yeah, real. Yep. Massive like you're getting instructors from different universities coming out like it's a it's a lot of that. But have you you've done both so far, right?
Tim Hibbert: For sure. For sure. For sure. For sure. I've done both. Yeah. Yeah. We did, ⁓ I've done it a couple of times, but we, did it with common. The most recently we did common and Pete rock last year and the blue note in New York. And that was, that was really interesting. It was really interesting. He's originally from Chicago and then he's now lives in New York because he's been doing, he's been in New York forever doing that.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Where's common from? Okay. I must say my brain said he's from New York. You know, he does. He does. But like a more sophisticated, you know, vibe, not not the not the harsh East Coast energy that we get so accustomed to. But that's a vibe, man. ⁓ first of all, thanks for being here, Like it means a lot. So for people who don't know who you are, can we give it like a brief history of?
Tim Hibbert: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he got that vibe. He got that vibe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Very, very. Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Go peoples. Thanks for having me.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Who Tim is.
Tim Hibbert: ⁓ man, yikes. Tim is...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: and be arrogant about this please.
Tim Hibbert: ⁓ guys, arrogance. Tim is originally from New York. I grew up in a small town called Newburgh. It's about 60 miles north of the city. It's actually really New York. Okay, so let's get this right. Let's get this right. Okay. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, New Yorkers always arguing this nonsense. You got to explain this after because I don't understand y'all. Yeah, I don't get it. I don't understand why y'all people other New York.
Tim Hibbert: Hahaha It's a beef. It's a beef. It's a beef. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the funny thing is, we'll get back to the question, but the funny thing is, when you say you're from New York, people automatically assume you're part of the Five Burrows, right? And then if you say no, then they automatically take you and put you in Buffalo. And there is five hours or seven hours between Buffalo and New York City.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: It's a real beef though. It's not even on some lighthearted stuff. Y'all will argue people down. Yes. immediately.
Tim Hibbert: There's a lot of land. So soon as you say upstate, they're putting you way past the Bronx and they're throwing you up in Buffalo. Not so, not so. So I'm only about an hour away from the city. So not that far. And then, so I was up there. I was born in Long Island and I, my family moved to Newburgh. I grew up there. I grew up in a church.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yup. That's a fact.
Tim Hibbert: So church kid started playing drums when I was five. And then I moved from that. I I went to a little bit of sound. did some trumpet. played trumpet for about 10 years or so moved from that into, into the sound field, still playing drums. started playing drums full time and that got me on a couple of gospel gigs and I was, it was, it was cool.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Killing by the way. Right.
Tim Hibbert: At that time, I was trying to pivot and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I met one of them. I have, you know, my bigger brother, um, Gordon Campbell, he was growing up and he born and raised in Newburgh moved to LA and you, of course, everybody knows what Gordon has done. His accolades is crazy. And so I would always come out here. And so he was like, man, you just moved to LA. So
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. It's insane.
Tim Hibbert: After a while, I had met another friend of mine, Chris Lee, and he was like, it's time for you to move to LA. So I came out and moved to LA to be a musician, to be a drummer. And I got out here and I started realizing, well, okay, big fish, big fish, small pond out there, big pond, small fish out here.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: To be a musician. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: Everybody out here is playing everybody out here and I was on a fast track. I was, I was a little older and I just, I just had different things I wanted to get done. And I'm looking at it and I was like playing in churches and I'm like, this is not cutting it. If I was in my early twenties, I've been cool. I'd have been happy. I would have been great. But I said, I really need to fast track to make this, to make money. And then everybody knows what LA is at that. When I moved out here, LA was not cheap anymore.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Mm-hmm. Right, yep sure
Tim Hibbert: don't know if it's ever been cheap, but it was really, really, really expensive. It was on the up and up. So I said, my buddy said to me, he said, look, I can't get you drum gigs. I am the drummer. He said, but what I can do is I can get you some sound gigs. I know you do sound. I said, I do sound as well. So I started in that and that became my career. ⁓ It kind of set me to a different area in my life and my brain.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure, yeah. I don't, yeah. Dang. Yeah, for sure.
Tim Hibbert: And I started doing sound and I started the church again, went back to church, started sound. And then I left from there and then started doing more things on the road. And then it just progressed from there. just, it wasn't been fortunate to work with a lot of artists, a lot of big artists. I've worked with a lot of amazing musicians and I feel like my career is kind of, it's kind of unfair because
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: you Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: I've been around a lot of good people. So it's made what I do enjoyable because I'm able to still be close to the stage. I'm able to still talk the lingo. I'm able to still be around, but on the other side. And so I always consider myself the other, wow, I always consider myself the other part of this, the band.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: sure. Yes, Yeah you
Tim Hibbert: You know, if there's four players on the stage, I'm the fifth guy. There's three, I'm the fourth guy. And so I'm always an extension of the stage. So being able to work with great MDs, work with great musicians, great artists, it's been cool. It's been, it's been really cool. Some of the artists that I've worked for, ⁓ common currently with Will Smith, Janet Jackson, Renee Rapp.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yes, sir. Right.
Tim Hibbert: did some stuff for Lizzo, I've done stuff for Earth, & Fire, Mariah Carey. It goes on. It's been great. It's been good. It's been good. I can't complain. I can't complain at all.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Heck yeah. I think you're so dope because you decided early on and maybe later than what most people come out to LA for. But early in your LA experience, you're like, look, drum is cool. And that's what I came out here to do. But I'm here to make this money and get to a real career in life. You know, so pivot into sound full time, you know, even by force or desire, whatever that was, you know, you had you did what you had to do. But I love what you've accomplished because you you decided.
Tim Hibbert: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: to diversify yourself off your instrument. And I think that's something that more people should understand because most musicians don't just do one thing. They might play multiple instruments, but they might dabble in sound, they might dabble in playback, they might do other things. And I think that's one of the things that your testimony is so valuable on. Because you're still seeing the world, you're still being a part of this, but you're also the piece that most people forget about. It doesn't matter what we play.
Tim Hibbert: Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Unless you ⁓ get it out to the audience, you know? Do you think being a musician has really helped your ear being a front of house engineer? Okay.
Tim Hibbert: 100%. 100%. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. You're right. You're right. 100%. 100 % because I know placement really well. I know where things should be. also, funny story, with this current gig that I'm on, there's a piece that she's doing that's a classical piece. we were in rehearsal and the MD, she had asked for certain things to happen in certain points and times in that piece that I needed to do, push some effects and push some things to kind of help. grow the song. And the MD says to me, it tells me what to do, tells me the part, and I'm shaking my head, okay, I got it. And he says, jokingly, he says, I'm going to give you the score so you can read it. I was like, perfect. That's amazing. Give me the score and I'll read it. He looks at me like, are you serious? I was like, yeah, no, give me the score. That'll actually help me. And I was like, what bar, what measure should I?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: do these pushes that he gives me the bars. And so I have the score right by my console and I'm following along and reading. So stuff like that helps because I'm able to go back into my training and, and, and help do my job. And also, it's also helps with, like I said, with placement. also helps with being able to talk to lingo, being able to know what
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, yeah. Absolutely.
Tim Hibbert: what the musicians, what the MD wants before it's even said. It's all that stuff, you know, where I'm going to put band members, where I'm going to... It also helps in the aspect of production management as well. Because it's weird because how people set stages sometimes is they'll put... If the keyboard player is a right-handed, sometimes they'll put them on stage right.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. sir.
Tim Hibbert: which is bad because you naturally want to look this way when you're working, right? And if you are directing the band and you're looking this way, well, now you got to look this way and that's not natural to you. So when you set the stage, want to set, so the drummer, if the drummer's playing, he's right-handed, he wants to look this way. So it's easier. It's easier if the drummer's on stage right as opposed to stage left, because if stage left, he has to turn his whole body.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: ⁓ okay, yeah. Sure. Every time, yeah.
Tim Hibbert: If he's really so it also being able to know how musicians think and things like that is really helpful in my area as front of house and also as as monitor engineer, you know, it's it's you're able to quickly set up mixes in there because you know where the bass should sit, you know where the drum should sit, you should you know the relationship between these two. And those are things that you just don't fight with because you just kind of it's off the top of your head. already it's ingrained in you. So.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Bang. ⁓ Yeah, right. Sorry.
Tim Hibbert: There are certain things that helps in my field, being a musician, that I don't feel like I have the hurdles that other engineers have. They may excel in different areas, but in the area of knowing music, being able to learn the music, being able to learn, that's what I, that's the main thing I do in rehearsals. I don't just sit there and push sound. I also learn the arrangements. If you watch any of my videos, you'll see that. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Yeah, your videos are great.
Tim Hibbert: You'll see that ⁓ I'm learning the arrangements, I'm learning the hits, I'm learning the cuts because that all helps with translating to the artists, I mean to the audience, they're trying to portray. So if I know where the hits are gonna be, it helps clear space for other things because I can keep things back until it's time to push. I don't always have to have everything coming at you. can bring things back, let that vocal shine until, well, there's a guitar solo or there's a key push in this part.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Absolutely. sure.
Tim Hibbert: I know it. I know where it's at. it helps. Being a musician really helps.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. So you don't set it and forget it? Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I'm always moving something. Yeah. There's not, there's very few things that I set and forget, right? Like I'll set my drums, my drums, I'll set and forget that once I, once I get my foundation, once I get my drums and I get my bass, I'm not touching it. I'm not, I'm not moving that stuff during the show because when you walk in, I view a show as an experience. You set the tone at the top of the show, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sorry. None.
Tim Hibbert: You set what the show is going to sound like at the top. I don't like going to shows and you hear things moving in and out. You, I don't like that. And it's, it's unfortunate these days with these consoles and everybody got snapshots that they're, they're actually changing the whole integrity of the show as opposed to giving you pieces of it. I love to mix the record. That's my biggest thing. Mix the record. The record has to sound, the show has to sound like the record, right? So each song has to sound like record, but what I'm not doing is I'm not moving.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes, sir. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: my kick drum up and down. not moving my bass up and down. Those things are the foundation of the show. So it's, it's there. I'll bring in the record elements, but for the most part, everything is, there, but I'm not setting and forgetting and just walking away and just, ⁓ it's cool. You know, no, no, I'm massaging and giving you what you are used to hearing. I'm giving you that. I'm bringing back the nostalgia that you want to have, right? You know, when you're listening to, when you listen to a record, want
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tim Hibbert: when you walk into a show and that in your song comes on, I want you to remember where you were when you first heard the song. I want you to feel that, right? And I think that's what brings the audience joy is when they can come to the show and they're not trying to figure out what song this is because, know, as MDs and musicians, we do the arrangements, right? The arrangements come in and the arrangements are cool, but not everybody understands that. The arrangements are for the...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Sure.
Tim Hibbert: upper echelon of people, right? Right. There are the musicians, the creatives, those are, those are the people that we do an arrangements for, but the, the normal person that listens to music, they're not listening to, they don't know the difference or range. They know certain parts and they know what the song sounds like. So that's my job is to bring balance to everything and, know, give the musicians what they want, but also give the audience what they want to hear. yeah, no setting up for getting.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yep. Yep. Absolutely Nah, love that. No, said and forget. I'm with that. You know, there's something that a lot of audio engineers will do. And you mentioned this was snapshots and you do you don't have any snapshots. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm. I So I have tons of snapshots. There was one band that I worked for that I had about 300 snapshots because it was eight of them on the stage, eight open mics on the stage. And the way they worked were they would rap, but it was every four bars was a different person. So I had to snap that and I had to do that. So I do a lot of snapshots, even in my regular shows there are
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Whoa. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: There are quite a few snapshots, but my snapshots are not, they don't include a lot of things. They'll include effects, some rides, they'll include some kind of, I do different compression for certain songs. Most of the artists that I work for have careers that span over 30 years, right? You know, I don't.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right.
Tim Hibbert: There's the younger pop artists that are coming up. their music is newer, so you can kind of just keep it there. But a lot of the legacy artists, their career spans over 30 years plus. Right. So it's a lot of music to cover and it's a lot of things to to translate. So you got it. You got to be able to. Their records are different, like, you know, anything that's passed.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. It's a lot of music. Enjoy.
Tim Hibbert: early 2000s, sometimes you the producers don't have them. You can't go to the record labels, the record labels ain't got them. So, you know, unfortunately we got to go on Moises stuff and we got to take things out and we got to do stuff. So now you got to really manipulate it to make it fit now, but still give that nostalgic feeling. Right. So I use snapshots, but I use them in a way where it's a more of a creative tool. It's also, it also helps me because it's my. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yup. Yep. So Mm-hmm.
Tim Hibbert: set list. Right. So I don't have to get a paper set list all the time. can, I can see, especially if I'm on tour, I know what's coming up, but it, I'll, I'll run it. I can run a show without a set, without a snapshot. Right. I can sit there because I'm not doing my game structure is correct. And, know, we can get into all that later, but, I, I do things the correct way. So I don't have to do a lot of manipulation, but
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Soren. Okay. Sure. Bye.
Tim Hibbert: for, you know, I use my effects, that would be different. My compression will be different. I'll bring some elements up, things that I can't get to quickly. I'll make sure I do that. My foundation doesn't move, but you know, I always, you know, I'm mutes and things like that. I'll use my snapshots for it. So yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sorry. So you just integrate them a little differently than what most may, but you're still utilizing the resource of having a snapshot.
Tim Hibbert: Yes. Yes. Definitely using having utilized the resource of having a snapshot. Sometimes it just keeps me involved in where I'm at in the show. Yeah. Yeah. Autopilot is a thing and it's, you know, I come from the old school. So, you know, I started mixing on analog consoles and I started in the studio as well. So we didn't have snapshots back then. So you had to learn the show. You had to know the show and you had to know what you were doing. So I still like to
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, it keeps you from checking out sometimes. know what I mean? autopilot is a thing, but yeah. Right. Right.
Tim Hibbert: touch things and I still like tactile surfaces and things like that. I don't really like to not engage. think, know, all my delay throws, I do it myself and I'm really, I've gotten musical my delay throws. you'll always know I'm mixing because you'll hear something in the show that's a delay throw. I got to find it. got to, know, so.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Yes, sir. I think that's amazing. Are you one of those cats that is has figured out a way to integrate the new technology with an old school methodology? OK, I love that.
Tim Hibbert: Absolutely. Absolutely. I believe in it. I believe in it. I think it's all tools that we should use. I don't necessarily feel that we should completely go to it and hands off, but I feel that everything is a tool in the toolbox. If you're a construction worker, you have everything you need to build a house. you are...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: A general contractor, that's what you knew. If you're a roofing guy, if you are an electrician, you have everything in your toolbox to build and do your job. Same thing with audio. All this stuff is there for us as tools. I don't rely on it, but also I've immersed myself in learning what things do so that I use the right tools. You know, I just don't do things for show. I don't just have things up and just don't.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. There you go.
Tim Hibbert: have a bunch of gear up and I'm like, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. It's everything I do is on purpose and by design so that I know where to go when things go wrong because that's the biggest thing is these things fail. That's how it is. And so I don't just put up things to be cool, right? Or look cool or look like I don't want people to, ⁓ man, look what you got. Everything is by design from the way I choose my mics to...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Right. you
Tim Hibbert: the kind of console I use to the outboard gear I use to the plugins that I use. Everything is by design. You know, when I'm doing a, a Jenna Jackson show, I'll order things that they used in the studio, right? You know, the H 3000 things that they use to get the sound that she wants. So that's able, I'm able to recreate that sound. I won't put an H 3000 on a newer artists or a different artists because that doesn't
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mmm. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: apply to that, you know? ⁓ But yeah, I use all kinds of stuff. I use AI stuff now. A lot of the wave stuff is AI and it's quicker than me, right? It's going to hear way faster than I can hear. So why not use that tool and integrate it so that it makes me, makes my job easier, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: sure Dope. Yeah. Yeah, efficiency is key. And at the end of the day, I think people need to understand that getting across the finish line is important. You know, that nothing is up there for the hype. Even even some of the drum stuff I see people doing. I'm like, man, did you need all that? You know, you know, you really did it. But understanding the purpose behind it is something that you're intentional about. And I love that. And it shows, you know, it really shows that you care. Like you mentioned your videos earlier. And I think
Tim Hibbert: Efficiency is Yes. 100%. You didn't need it. You don't need it. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: watch those because they're so entertaining, but they're also amazing. You know, you're entertaining, but the music sounds phenomenal. You know, and that's just amazing. Now there's something you talked about earlier is you are working with the MD that was asking you to do specific things. Now I would love for you to talk about your relationship in general with music directors being at front of the house because you are now translating their vision.
Tim Hibbert: You ⁓ man, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right. Right. Yep.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, you have to bring that to life. So what does that look like for you? Are you having conversations prior to like, what is, what is your process for understanding where they're going and then getting that message out?
Tim Hibbert: Okay, that's, we start off, to answer that, you have to start off with relationships, right? The first thing I do is I always make sure I... connect with people, my band members, my MD, personally, right? When we walk in the room, I'm talking to everybody, greeting everybody, hey, how you doing? I'm Tim. I'm gonna be at front house for you today. Is there anything you would like for me to do? I'm gonna hear the song, but yes, always final, before the artist gives me their approval, I'm always going to the MD. Hey, I want you to listen to this. Come check this out. Listen to what I'm doing. See where we're at. I like to get their input. What do you want to hear? Is there okay? And then also I give them my input. Hey, could we do this? This is going to help. I know where you're going for this. I feel will help translate. I'm not doing their job. I know where my place is, right? You know, I'm not going to do this.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay. sword.
Tim Hibbert: And it depends on the MD. Some MDs like the interaction. Some MDs, you know, would love, likes people to come in and kind of help them out. But then other MDs know what they want and you kind of got to stick to that system or structure. But I also make sure that I talk to them and give them my point of view and get their point of view. On this last tour that was on,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. show.
Tim Hibbert: I had the MD, we went to several shows and I was struggling with getting, the show was loud to me and it was on the louder side of where I like to mix. And I like to mix impactful, my mix sounds loud but it's not. It's just, but I kept on, to me it was just loud. And if it's loud to a front of house guy, it's loud, period.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Hmm. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: And I don't know why people think that it doesn't translate, but it really does. Like if it's loud, it's loud. There's nothing to do about it. It's just loud. So, and you can't enjoy a show that's loud, right? It's like, it's too much. And so I felt that it was loud and I kept on telling the MD, I kept on saying, man, I just feel the show is loud. And he's like, you know, I trust you, I trust you. I was like, I know you do, but I really want you to come out front and listen to it. And he came out and he listened to it he was like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yeah, it's just loud. Sure. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: It's a little loud. And we sat there, we kind of went through every aspect of the song and the show, and we kind of took out things and we found out that we were doubling things and things were getting played. He was playing things and the band was playing things that were already in the tracks. And so we kind of picked and choose what we wanted to use. And we brought the show down. The show came down to a manageable level and it felt good for all of us. But that was
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. Great.
Tim Hibbert: I didn't want to make that those choices without including the MD because some people do that. Like I hear some guys, they'll say, well, I'm going to replace the drums. I'm going to do sound replacement and do things like that. And I'm like, does the drummer know that you're replacing his stuff? Because, you know, these guys choose their things based on, they do the same thing we do, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: ⁓ no.
Tim Hibbert: They know they're getting the show. They're know they're getting the thing. They're choosing the snare drum, the type of snare drum they want based on the records they got to play. They're choosing the symbols based on the records they got to play. So if I just, as a front of house guy, just start replacing their sounds and they don't know what I'm doing, it's, it's not, we're not, we're not working as a team, right? And then you guys are playing something that you think you're playing, but it's not being translated out there. So what I wound up doing was,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yes. Yes.
Tim Hibbert: What I love to do is get the MDs involved. I love to get the band members involved, especially if I'm having a problem with my bass player, say if my bass player is kind of all over the place and he's not really playing, what's the word I want to use? He's not consistent, right? You you have some bass players that are really good. They're amazing, but they don't know, they don't know how to play.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: They can play really good jazz gigs, or they can play really good club gigs, or they can play really good theater gigs. But then when it comes to arenas and stadiums, it's a different type of gig, right? ⁓ You you have some drummers that are really good. You know, they can play a lot of notes and you you'll watch them in the flashes there, the pizzazz is there. But all that stuff doesn't translate when it comes to a bigger room, a bigger space and all that volume, right? And when you're sitting out in front of a PA,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Different beast, yes. Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: 32nd notes and 64th notes and triplets and all that stuff does not translate. Power chimes, know, all that stuff. it's like, you know, yeah, we call it old man playing, right? I love old man playing, right? Because it's great. It's amazing. It's amazing. Feels right. It feels right. It feels right. And then, you know, of course, when they
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Oh, power chops all day. all day. That's it. Me too! It just feels right all the time. That's the thing.
Tim Hibbert: get the space to do what they need to do, then we can create that moment. And it's not in the midst of a lot of other things happening, right? So ⁓ that's one of the things, like if you, the latest video that I put on my page shows the difference of how, right? It shows the progression of a song. It's a ballad that is
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Which was fire by the way. Fire!
Tim Hibbert: vocals and piano that starts off, right? And so I'm using verbs and I'm using delays to kind of grow the song. And then we go from that into a drum solo, right? Takes off, it just goes. And he's playing every note that he could possibly play in this song. But what we're able to do is grow the song and make the song into that and give him his moment that he can play all those notes. But if you listen to the actual record, he's not playing that, you know?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yep. Take off. Take off. Yeah. Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: So it's it. It's a thing, right? It's a thing where I love to talk to musicians and show them, hey, listen, if you do this, I can help you here, right? Or you can help me. This is what I need you to do to help me so that I can make you sound amazing, right? There's just different things. I always want people to walk in and be enamored by the musicianship, right? So I feel like...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: younger musicians coming in, they're talented, they're great. Let me help with my experience, give you what the older guys gave me, right? And how they became great. This is what they did. And this is how they play the stuff. Yes, when you see them at Big Potato or you see them at Gold Diggers, they are going for blood, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: soon. Yeah. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: But when you see them on the road with these artists, they're not going for blood because they're playing the record. They're playing what they need to play. And so that's what makes them great. So it's, yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, no, that's great. I think the way you're approaching that is phenomenal. You're getting everyone involved with no ego involved. know, it's, yo, this is just what we got to do to make this what it needs to be. So how are you having these types of conversations when things are maybe not ideal, right? Because you just described the most ideal situation where everybody's okay. And yeah, no problem. I got you. That's not the reality all the time. You know, you.
Tim Hibbert: Absolutely. No ego. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You get people who are tired, they get emotional and you know, it's our gift. We get attached to the thing. ⁓ so how are you approaching that conversation? You know, when you have someone, maybe let's just use a drummer. I'm a drummer. You had to talk to me and it's like, yo, Jay, that eight inch is getting in the way of whatever. How do you approach that conversation? Cause that is a conversation.
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. you ⁓ Just like you would approach it if you were playing sports. People who are difficult to me, people who don't want to, because not everybody knows what you do, right? Like somebody might walk on, they see me, they don't know what I do. And I don't walk in the room and have all my artists on my shirt and you know, I'm this Mr. Hibbert, da da da. You know, so I walk into the room and they don't know who I am. So the tape doesn't lie though.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay? Sorry. You Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: Right? Tape don't lie. Just like if you're watching sports, you know, you may think that you're killing and it's funny because you see these musicians and they'll play a show and we've done it. You know, we're playing and we think we're killing. And then you go back and you listen to tape and you're like, whoa, tape don't lie. So I record everything. I record everything I record. If I'm on the monitor side, I'm not only recording the show.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yep. Ever. Yeah. Yikes. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: I'm recording each individual band mix, right? So you can hear what you're listening to. So, you know, when the band member says, I can't hear this, okay.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I might be asking for that from now on, just so you know, doc.
Tim Hibbert: But it's good to do because you're able to study what you're playing. And I always go back, I'm like, hey man, I'll never tell you what to play. That's not my job. My job is not to tell you. That's the MD's job. The MD's job is to tell you what to play and how to play it. My job is to place that in the song. So if that eight inch is getting in my way,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. ⁓ There you go.
Tim Hibbert: What I'll do is I'll talk to you. I can definitely talk to a drummer as a drummer, right? So my biggest thing is, and I have a few friends that they can attest to this. I'll tell you my opinions on drumheads. I'll tell you my opinions on cymbals. I'll tell you my opinions, how it fits into the song, how it fits into this. I'm not telling you what to play. That's not my job. But what I'll do is say, hey, man,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Mmm.
Tim Hibbert: for this artist, right? This is, we're something that these songs were in the nineties, right? So I think your tuning is a little too low. You need to come up on the tuning because that's how it was. It was like, that's how ⁓ those songs works. So you can't give me those flat tones or we're playing hip hop, we're playing R &B, we're playing hip hop music, we're playing rap. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mmm. Yeah, 100%.
Tim Hibbert: I don't need those tones. You got to deaden your stuff a little bit. Give me bigger sizes. Give me stuff that translates in this genre. And I'll help give my two cents there, but I always do it off mic, right? You know, I'm not going to embarrass nobody. I'm not going to sit there and go up and, hey, man, you need to do this, do this. No, when we have time, after we develop a relationship, again, relationship.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: There you go. Yes, sir. Hmm.
Tim Hibbert: after we develop a relationship and once cats know, ⁓ he plays or okay, he gets it. Then I can talk about it and then I'll help in that aspect because again,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure.
Tim Hibbert: The artist and the artist management wants to hear the record. They do not want to hear, I've been with artists, they only want to hear the band. So they want to see the band up there. They want the band energy, but they don't want to hear the band. So my job is to balance that because they want to their records. know, some of these artists, they diamond records and platinum records. They don't, and none of that had drums on it. And none of it had guitar on it. And none of it had the stuff that we put in it. It was as bare bones as it was.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's it. Yeah. They gon' have them. Yeah. effect.
Tim Hibbert: and it made it made diamond, right? So why, what makes you think that your drum set's gonna make their record better? They don't care. So what I have to do is, okay, well, it does bring energy. The band does bring energy. It does bring that. So how can we make that fit in this record and make it sound good, make it still sound like the record, make it still sound like something that we need to make it sound like, but not highlight you because...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. There you
Tim Hibbert: You know what, if I highlight you nine times out of 10, you're going to lose your job. I promise you. Right. I promise you because it's not just doing something wrong. It's just that it's not what they want and they're going to def you sound wrong, you know, and if you ain't, if you don't sound right, they're going to be like, well, do we really need drums? Do we really need a guitar player? You know, that's they see a diamond sign and I don't even like it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes, yes and not gonna do something wrong Yeah, you sound wrong. Yep. Every time. Every time, yo. Because all they see is a dollar sign and an inconvenience. That's it. That's it. Yo, that is a fact. ⁓ it's so true.
Tim Hibbert: You know? So it's a hundred percent. Yeah. So let's work together so that I can create space for you so that you can continue getting the check. Cause that's what it's all about for real. Yeah. It's a team sport.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. There you go. You make it a team sport. You know, you're, you're not approaching this like I need you to do this or I want you to do this. It's like, look, if I can also suggestion, you know, and pros in it that way. And that's the least combative way to approach that every time. Where did you, where did you learn that? Was that by experience or, know, were you always kind of a melancholy kind of guy?
Tim Hibbert: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes. No, no, no, I was the complete opposite, right? I had a temper. I had a really bad temper. And it helped me, I think it helped me to slow down a little bit. As I got older, what I started learning was most of it came in the studio. remember we had, I remember when I first went into the studio, we went in, I brought all my drums, I set all my drums up and I was ready to go.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: ⁓ good. Got it. Hmm.
Tim Hibbert: And it just, took me forever to record this song. And the studio engineer was just like, all right, come here and go take a walk, take a break, come back. And then I took the break and I came back and I played it, got the song, got it through and we're finished. And then he sat me down and he kind of told me, he said, listen, these are the things that I see. He's like, you're doing too much. Cause when I came in, I set up my whole entire drum set and I had, I mean, I had. everything, you know, five times, I three snares and cymbals everywhere. He's like, you don't need all that, man. He's like, you got it. You're making a record, right? The record doesn't need all that stuff. You can you can literally play. And so I started learning how to. It really helped me because he brought me in, sat me down, told me some things, and then being around other seasoned.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, it works. Right.
Tim Hibbert: ⁓ engineers and musicians watching how they work with people and seeing what you like and what you don't like, right? Watching how people treat other individuals. You're like, well, I don't want to be like that, you know, and I never wanted to be the sound guy that was the disgruntled sound guy, right? Because it's easy to get like that. Well, the musicians, they're not, they don't want to listen. And I didn't want to do that. It's like, I, I, come from, I come from church.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: time. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: background, right? I was raised in church. My dad was a pastor, so was pastor's kid. teaching has always been around me. So teaching is something that comes very easy for me. So I like to impart and I like to help people be better. And so that's literally what my first thing is to teach someone, is to show someone what I know, because again, I'm not here forever, right? But I do want to leave an impact and I do want to help the next person that's coming into that into this position because you know, you're only hot for so long, right? You're only going to be you're only going to be doing this for so long. And so what you have to do is impart it to other people and teach other people. So I really took a step back from being selfish and saying, ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, facts.
Tim Hibbert: This is what I know and this is what I'm doing to really teaching, simplifying my setup for a reason, for a reason, because if I could simplify my setup, then I can show people that it can be done consistently. Right. And also show people what it takes to do your job consistently and what it takes for people to trust in your abilities and trust in what you say. Right. So.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: I started really learning how to build relationships with people. And that was the biggest thing for me, is to build relationships and talk to guys. mean, be cool on and off the court, right? And when it's go time, it's go time. I'm not playing around when it's go time, it's go time. I don't like unprofessional people. don't like unprofessional musicians. There are a lot of musicians out there that are really, really, really amazing.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, be cool. Yes, sir. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: And when you come to LA, you are in the 95 percentile of great musicians, right? Everybody can play and you can always tell someone who just came because there's just a level that they just haven't hit yet. They may be amazing, they just haven't hit that level yet. And so learning how to deal with those kind of people, but not be frustrated, right? When someone comes in and they're not that level, learning how to say, OK, well,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Straight up. Yeah, yep. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: Let's work it. Let's work through this. Let's, let's see, let's see what we can do. Let's, let's see how we can make you great. Right. You know, because there's, there's a need for it. There's always new artists. There's always new this. So I try to work with musicians and artists. If I can artists are a little harder because they have the management protection. They have the barrier. I'm the artist. Don't talk to me. They got a team that you got to deal with, but even still I, Hey man, this is how you hold the mic. This is what you do. You're.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah, they got a team. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: now going from singing showcases, now we're stepping into an arena. How we're going to do this? How we're going to work with this? So working with artists and working with older legacy acts has also shown me how to deal with people. So that's been, it's been a training ground. I still am learning. I'm still not where I need to be, but you we're getting there. Stay a student.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: There you go. Yeah. Yeah. You stay a student though. Yeah, that's something that at least I picked up on it. You just said is that you were your awareness was you're watching how other people interacted with other people. And I think that is a very valuable trait when people do that. If you look around and you see who can command presence without saying a word, there's something there. And someone can walk into a room and in the room shifts. There's also something there.
Tim Hibbert: You have to. You have to. Yes. Yep. Yep. There's also something there.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, and you have to be you were aware of it and be like, OK, I typically have an attitude. I want but I don't want that. You know, I don't want anyone to see my name come across the email and be like, oh, fuck, Tim's on this. You know, you don't want someone to walk in and then you feel or they feel a way about you. That's not positive. know, so you stay in that space and you decided, OK, I have to adapt this characteristic, but that characteristic is weird. And then decided that that's how you're going to navigate it now. So are there any tools that you use?
Tim Hibbert: Yeah, right, right. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: in those moments to make sure you stay cool. Because I think people forget that when we say we're chill, we're vibey, most of the time. But there's still that person in us that we could go left quick. You know, we could, they could go left if we needed to, but I have things that I do. And I'm sure that you do. I would love to hear those things that you, what do you do to stay poised? ⁓ you do whatever you want. You good. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm We. Yeah. Yeah. is this a PG show? It's a PG show. Okay. So, so, so, so we, right. Okay. but outside of that, if I can't do that, you take a breath, breathe, right? When you work, especially when you work with difficult people, you got, you gotta breathe. You gotta take a step.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: And then you also gotta know. You also have to have your fundamentals, right? There's just certain things that you're just not going to do. There's certain things you're not going to take. There's certain things, no money's worth it. There's no money worth me.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: crossing the line, right? No money is worth me dealing with this certain thing. And you have to have your boundaries. So this is my box, right? And I'm in my box. If somebody crosses that, then I got to make a decision. Am I going to be hood Tim, right? Or am I going to be the bigger person and walk away? some being the bigger person helps you with the next gig, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right?
Tim Hibbert: And you always got to see that. always have to see the biggest thing is what keeps me always working as well is I know where my bread and butter comes from, right? It's not, you got to look past the gig. You have to look past what you're on right now. And you got to see the people that are always going to be working, right? The artist is always going to work for themselves, right? The artist is, that's that. That's the artist.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes, sir. Mmm.
Tim Hibbert: The artist is not going to change and go work on this other gig. You're not going to see them over here. You're not going see them over here. What you, who you will see is the MD, the band members, the crew, the PM, the TM. Those are the people that revolve in the industry. That's the industry. The artist is a cog in the industry, right? They're, they're just, and, but the people that keep it going, those are the people that you, you have to realize and think about.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yes, sir.
Tim Hibbert: when you are on a gig. So that's what keeps me kind of dealing with people that are difficult is knowing who I'm working with, right? I'm always, you know, of course, spirituality is a big thing, right? You got to have a center, whether you're a Christian, whether you're Muslim, whether you're
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: you have to have a center. There has to be a spiritual being or something that you rely on that's bigger than you, right? ⁓ And so prayer is a big thing. Being dedicated to your craft is another thing. And learning that not everybody's, you're not gonna gel with everybody. You're not, you're not. It's just, unfortunately, it's the people industry, right? So not everybody you cool with. People have different political views.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yep. Yes, sir. Yeah. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: People have different, kinds of stuff and you gotta know when to, as the songwriter says, you gotta know when to fold them, when to hold them. You know what saying? You gotta know when to walk away. know, sometimes a gig is not worth it, man. Sometimes you just gotta go. And so I've become very, very, as I've gotten older, I've become very, very quick in making those kinds of decisions, right? And I'll make those decisions on the first phone call.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: There you go. Yes, sir. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: when they call me for a gig, I'll know what I'm walking into. So I set my price for that. also, I also prepare myself and you know how young camp is by just a couple of conversations. Oh, this is going to be that, this is going to be that. And you know, here we go. And which is fine. Yeah. Yeah. And some of the times, some of the times they don't tell you, right? But some of the times because from experience,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah Yep, which is fine. As long as you tell me upfront, we're cool. Yep, I'm with you. I know, yeah.
Tim Hibbert: You kind of know what you're walking into. You hear certain names, you hear some, I got it. know, certain words are not being said and you're like, all right, cool. You know, we're going on a tour and it's, you know, it's 17 shows and 12 days and you're like, okay. It sounds, a little different, right? This sounds like we're doing a couple, two a days and it sounds like we're doing some stuff that's not going to be cool, but you know what?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: or certain words are not being said. Yep. Right. Great! There you go.
Tim Hibbert: You have to, you, you, you have to know how much you're going to take, what you're going to take and where you're going to, where you're going to draw the line. And so for me, that has come with a lot of, I've developed a lot of patience and I've dealt with a lot of artists that are diva-esque or divo-esque. And so you're
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, sure.
Tim Hibbert: You can't take it too personal, right? You gotta leave it on the stage and you walk off the stage, but you also have to have a line that, you know, I'm a person, I'm a human, and you speak your truth. You know, you don't have to be combative, but you just learn, you know, if someone is being difficult, take a step back, you know? All right, cool. You say your piece, and if they don't listen, then it's cool. I'm gonna do my job. And sometimes,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: It's just that sometimes you just going, you're just doing your job, you know? ⁓ And like I said, in the beginning of this thing, I've been very, very, very fortunate in my career to have very few of those just do my job. You know, ⁓ but ⁓ it's, it's, you, gotta, once you, once you get there and you walk in and it's, it's one of those and you just, you kind of just be quiet and it'll, sometimes you've got to let things naturally come. You can't force it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's it.
Tim Hibbert: You can't force, ⁓ you got to let your work speak for itself. And the biggest thing is you got to let people rely on and trust in your work. And once your work speaks for you, you don't have to really say much. Then they'll start realizing, I'm going to, I should really listen to them, you know? And sometimes after that, that, that a barrier will break down. But you know, you can't.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: If you walk into a room and people are not personable, don't force it. Just work. It'll come. It'll come.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, I notice it being quiet kind of works out better sometimes.
Tim Hibbert: Being quiet always works out better. Sometimes it's not, you can't talk. Sometimes talking is not worth it. It's not worth it. So you gotta always.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: Learn when, learn when sometimes it's got to be that person in the room, especially, especially sound, right? Especially audio. They don't really value audio until it's not there. It's that's the biggest, biggest thing. People do not value audio until until it's not around. so and sometimes it's like, you know, it's sometimes it's it's it's the simplest of things, but. You. You don't know your worth when it's not right, right?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: And so you have to kind of step back a little bit and allow for people to trust in, again, your ability to do what you do. Cause we get hired, especially audio and technicians get hired for when things go wrong, not when they go right. Right. And so that's when people start to trust in you. When you have.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yep.
Tim Hibbert: a terrible show or something's going wrong and you are calm under pressure and because you know your stuff, you know where it's going and you know what you're doing and you're able to pull out one of the roughest shows and I look around they're like, ⁓ wow, you really know what you're doing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, there's never been a time where panicking has served me. There's just never been a time where you just panic and then all of a sudden goes right. It's not a thing. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: No, no, no, no. No, no, no, it doesn't. It doesn't because he, you always at that point in time, when things go wrong, the only thing that you can rely on is your training. That's the only thing you can rely on. You can't rely on, well, this guy told me this, you have to rely on what you have put here because that's, that's it. That's it. That's what you fall back on. Those are the notes. Those are the times that you spent.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Exactly. Right. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: you know, learning and learning your craft and learning stuff. mean, as a drummer, know, you're playing, everything is great. And then all of a your snare, snare head breaks. you put a hole through your kick drum. What do you do? Like, you know, and it's experience. You got to know what you got to do. It's experience. And it's like, you know, this is the reason why, you know, I have two and three of these. This is the reason why I do this. It's the reason why I do this. It may seem like it's crazy, but I've been in places where
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. You gotta know what you gotta do. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: I broke a snare head and what do I do? mean, you know, so yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yep. Absolutely. Now you talked about something where they don't value until it's not there, which is it brings you to a question that I know a lot of my front in house engineer friends have been battling social media. You all are up against an impossible task of social media right now, and I would love to hear how you're conquering that, because I know you're getting the feedback from artists. ⁓ I couldn't hear my vocal in this tick tock video.
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: or this wasn't here in this TikTok video and, but you know, in the room that was smacking, you know. So how do you navigate that right now? Because you are up against TikTok videos of 20,000 people in this arena. And how are you dealing with that?
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. 100%. 100%. ⁓ so you make minor adjustments, but then you just leave it where it is, right? Because you can never, you cannot, again, the tape doesn't lie. So if someone tells me, well, I can't hear this or the artist is saying, well, you know, I watched this video and I can't hear this. Here's my two links. You tell me what you think. You like this? Because this is what I'm putting out in the house. I can't battle someone with an iPhone 8 in section 400 at the top, you know, with their hand over the phone recording. I can't battle that. I cannot battle that. I can't battle someone sitting in front of the subs, holding the phone up. I can't battle it. What I can do is here's my two mix, give me notes off this, right? Cause this is what's going out.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yes. Right. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: Again, you have some artists that like it, you have some artists that don't. Some artists will never listen to your two mix, right? And they will always give you notes from based off what someone did. I had an artist that would send me the videos about that. Here it goes, listen to that. Here it goes, listen to that, listen to that. And so, okay, cool. Now I make adjustments. Like my mix, I do make adjustments. Sometimes I'm recording. Sometimes I'll take up my phone.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yep. I've seen it all. Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: and I record, I'll put my phone out so that I can hear what the room is doing. Because a lot of times, again, you get stuck in your bubble as an engineer and you like, no, this is it. No, sometimes you got to really, and so you got to make it translate, right? But you can't fight it. You can't fight social media. You can't fight what people put up and you can't down yourself. The only thing that you can do is when you mix the record, does it sound like the record? And if you can get it to sound like the record, it'll translate everywhere, at least a little bit, right? And then you can make your adjustments off that. And then you just got to just take it and leave it, man. It is what it is. You can't beat it. Can't beat social media. You can't beat the person with the weird iPhone. You can't beat the person holding the phone rare. You can't beat that. just got to just, you got to, hey, it is what it is. We here. We here.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Are you doing anything when it comes down to, there's like, yo, we got to go into arenas and you get to actually design your system. Usually. Are you doing anything? Jesus. Anything like that with like your system tech or anything like that to help prevent that kind of stuff? Okay.
Tim Hibbert: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. So we tune the rigs. I talk to my system tech. I try to know what they're doing. I try to know what they're... I tell them what I'm going for, what I want. I want a balanced system. And we go from there and we just work systematically. And I work with them. Sometimes what I always do, my mix is pretty much done before I leave rehearsal. That's the mix.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tim Hibbert: Once we leave rehearsal, what we're hearing out of those speakers, hey, MD approves it. We're good. Right? Now we go into the arena and now I have to translate that mix every night. I don't remix the show. A lot of guys make that mistake and they get into the arena and then they're to turn faders and do things and no, no, no, no, no, no. Let's you got the mix. Let's deal with the speakers now. Let's deal with the room. Let's see how we can make this translate. And so
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: ⁓ system design, system engineering is a big, is a very vital part. They're my tech, right? ⁓ As I always like in it, I call the techs like a band tech or drum tech or guitar tech or bass tech, they're your caddy, right? You know, they're, they're the people that they could probably play the show. They could, they're probably really good musicians and they could probably do it. You know what saying? But
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Usually they are. Yeah. Yep.
Tim Hibbert: They're there in that position to help you and give you insight that you probably don't know. Same thing with my systems engineer. He may be really good. Or he may suck. Who knows? But I never, again, I don't leave anything up to anybody. I try to know as much as I can. That's not my job, but I try to know so I can talk in his lingo as well. so he helps me. He's the other half of my mix.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Right. sure.
Tim Hibbert: If I'm doing front of house, he's the other half of my mix. You know, he's the guy who's okay. Cool. This is my mix. Now let's make this translate. What do I need to do? Am I, am I sending you too much low end or am I sending you too much? Do I need to shave? What do we need to do? And now, okay, now let's make this go. Do we need to add more speakers? Right. ⁓ we're not adding more speakers to make it louder. We're adding more speakers for coverage so I can bring it down. Right. That's a bigger thing.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Oof. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: Mixing loud is not good, right? Mixing dynamically is great. If you can dynamically mix, you're cool. But mixing loud is not a thing. And so a lot of people miss the dynamics in mixing. It's they, no, just back up and let things grow and let the room speak for itself because there's a thing of letting the room get away from you. And sometimes the room will.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. You win. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: overpower your mix. And then now you start fighting the room. you know, once you start getting, I've been to some concerts, man, it's 115 and you're like, golly, and then you just hear it coming back and it's just in the mics and it's in everything. It's a lot of space and you're trying to push air. So hey, why don't we add more speakers so we can bring the volume down so the coverage is better? Because instead of me trying to get to the back of the room with 12 speakers, let's put 15 and shoot them to the back of the room.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sheesh.
Tim Hibbert: And, you know, or let's do more coverage so that each area has their own coverage. And I don't have to mix so much. So so heavy. So it's just things like that. Yes.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. So what happens when your PM says no because of budget?
Tim Hibbert: ⁓ Your PM says no because of budget, then okay. Let's revisit. Let's go back. Again, now we got to say, what are we going to do? Right? So here's now we're having that conversation. Okay. We're in the budget conversation. Okay. You can't add and it's, you know, we're, we're, we're stressed out. can't do anything else. Okay. So where could we cut things? What could we cut that we can add this? Or if we can't cut anything, I still got to bring it down. Right. So now I got to go back to our mixing. I got to bring it down.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mmm, okay.
Tim Hibbert: and the people in the back ain't going here. I don't know what to tell you, but I'm not going to blast these people to get back there. you know, ⁓ and again, that's where relationships come in because your PM may say, we don't have the budget for it. Okay, cool. Well, let me talk to the sound provider and see what we can do. You know, let's talk to the sound company because I have a relationship with them and they may hook me up. Who knows? Because again, you know, again, everybody, everybody wants that.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: you Yeah. Mmm. All right, may bless it. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: Bottom line, they want that dollar, right? Everybody wants to deal with that. So that's the biggest thing. Yeah, I got a soundtrack I got to put this in.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Respect me. I love that. I know I got to get you out of here because you got a sound check here. But anyway, man, can you tell people what you got coming up? And then also any of your your socials and things like that will also include it in the descriptions in the show notes as well. you can immediately get in contact. But I would love for you to talk about that. And then also any advice that you would have for any sound engineers that are looking to get to your position and work next to you. You're not taking his job. But you'll work next to him.
Tim Hibbert: Yeah. Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Any advice you might have for those younger people who wanted to get into that space?
Tim Hibbert: Yeah, advice first, learn your craft. Learn your craft. Always be a student of the game. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to learn. Learn everything. Don't do things just because someone else is doing it. Learn it for yourself and to see if that even applies to what you're doing. Have your own style. Work at your own pace, right? And don't try to...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mmm.
Tim Hibbert: Don't try to be anybody else, be yourself, right? Be yourself because you're great in who you are. And once you realize that you'll achieve what you're supposed to achieve, right? Your path is your path. So, but always starts off with being a student of the game. Always learning, always striving to be better, figuring out what you can do to be better. How can you deal with things differently? Go back home.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: let it fester, try to work it out and do it, right? What I'm working on now, which is I'm working on, again, I'm teaching. I'll be in the future shortly. be, I have a webinar that I'll be teaching audio, ⁓ but from a production aspect,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: not only just mixing, but the whole thing, the whole production, how you fit into being in a production, how you fit what your job is in the scheme and the big picture, right? So I'm going to be teaching that and I'm going to have some classes coming up. have some master classes coming up. So stay tuned. I got some stuff coming. I got some stuff coming. I have some really cool ideas and I'm to be talking to you about it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow. Yeah. Yeah, yes sir.
Tim Hibbert: I'm gonna have you on there. it's gonna be, be, you know, I feel like now is a time to give back. And especially now that I'm working and I'm still in the industry, I don't wanna be that guy who was like, well, 15 years ago, you know, no, it's like, I'm here now. So this is what we're doing now. I wouldn't like to teach them now.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, sir. It's funny because it seems to be that is the way man, and it's no disrespect to any OG out there
Tim Hibbert: That's no disrespect, but it's like, know, kids don't want that, right? They want what's happening right now. So let's give back now. Now is the time to give back. So that's what I'm doing. then, you know, socials is AudioBuddy Pro on Instagram. That's all I got right now is my AudioBuddy. You will not find me.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yes. Yeah, don't type it as name because you won't find it. We were trying to research and get this do my history before you got on here. I'm like, yo, I yo, Tim is one of my homies. I said this fool, if you don't get something out of here so we can, boy, that's all right. I did my research and got my stuff together anyway, even though you didn't want to help nothing out.
Tim Hibbert: I'm done! Yeah, you know, you did your thing. Well, so let me quickly let me tell you the story about audio buddy, right? Let me tell you how I got it. I was doing the BET Awards with this artist that will remain unnamed. And what they did not listen to me at all. They didn't listen to anything that I was telling them. None of my experience worked. This is speaking about an ⁓ artist that does not. You were saying a difficult artist. This was a difficult artist.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay. Peace.
Tim Hibbert: did not listen to anything that I told them to do. And so they wound up doing their own thing. They wound up bringing in different set of ears that they use for rehearsal. They want a different mic. We had to give them a mic right before the show started, right before they were going to get up to do this, segment in the BET awards. And it was terrible. And they wound up getting up there and they flubbed so bad. Like it was really bad. Like one of the worst performances that I've seen. And
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: be that. Okay.
Tim Hibbert: They get off the stage and as they walk off the stage, his friends have him on Instagram live and he's walking on stage and they're saying, he says, we're audio buddy at, was in a derogatory way, we're audio buddy at, we're audio buddy at. And so the comments started flying, of course, audio buddy get fired, audio buddy this, audio buddy da da da da, and it was just.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, of course. course. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah, all that.
Tim Hibbert: And I'm pissed. I'm so mad, bro. I'm like, so I want to call my boy and I'm like, I'm hot. I am like, yo, this is messed up, you know, and I talked to the management. I was like, he can't do this. This is like my livelihood. And I realized nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew that it was Tim. They just knew audio buddy. And I was like, you know, how can I turn this in my favor? So then what I did was I took that and I went and I went to legal zoom and
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah.
Tim Hibbert: typed in audio buddy and it nothing nothing was populated. So I said, okay, audio buddy productions. And so I created a company called audio buddy productions. So now we train people and we send out audio buddies and it's been great. It's been great. It's been great. So audio buddy pro. Yeah. Yeah, please.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow. Yeah. That's bro. That's genius. I love that, man. Well, definitely put all that stuff in the description. Please reach out. And you say you do train, so it can be.
Tim Hibbert: I do train, I do train. you can definitely hit me at any point in time, we'll talk and we'll get things, we'll get you in a position that you can be great and that you can be working. Cause that's what the key is, right? That we need people in the industry. So for sure, for sure, always hit me.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, absolutely. I love it. Do they have to be just real quick? Do they have to be anything? Do they have to have a baseline? you dealing with it from beginner level or do they need to come to you with?
Tim Hibbert: No, I, ⁓ this seminar is going to be starting at the beginner level, but there's also master classes. There's also going to be, you know, if, if you want just ask questions, if you're just getting into the industry, hit me. If you've been in the industry for a minute, hit me. We have, there's a plethora of information and if I don't know it, I have a whole network of guys that know it. And you know, I asked some really cool, really cool guys and some big hitters man that we all learned from. So.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Love that. There you go.
Tim Hibbert: You know, yeah. Appreciate you, man. Thank you so very much for having me on this. This is great. I couldn't miss this for the world. I'm sorry that we couldn't, that we had to keep rescheduling, but we made it work. Yeah. Yeah. It's dope. It's dope.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's fire, man. Well, Tim, appreciate you being here, man. It means the world to me. Truly, means a lot. That's what I do. That's why everything's gonna be virtual. So people can hop on wherever they are in the world and we can make it happen. Like I was thinking about the idea. I'm like, if I do anything in person, it's not gonna go well because we're never home. Like I'm never home. You're never home. No one's ever home. So this is amazing, man. But thank you, Sam. I appreciate it, man. Have an amazing show tonight.
Tim Hibbert: Never home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely, thank you for having me. Yes, sir, thank you. Thank you so much, man. Yes, sir, take care, y'all.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: My dog, thanks everybody.