58: Music Producer Catharine Wood Talks Mixing, Mastering, and Production

Jen chats with Catharine Wood, owner and producer at Planetwood Productions about working with corporate clients as well as singer-songwriters, what the pre-production phase of recording looks like for her, how she prefers to receive the tracks she is going to mix or master, and tips for prepping to go into the studio. In 2000, she began producing, singing, mixing and writing on projects and, after graduating #1 in her class from Full Sail's Los Angeles Recording School in 2005, added mastering to her professional offering. From 2005-2007 Wood engineered at Play Studios in Santa Monica (national and international commercial campaigns -- including the first iPhone commercial, the Geico "Caveman" campaign, all of the original Apple iPod "Silhouette" commercials, the Priceline "Negotiator" William Shatner campaign, Netflix, and hundreds of other highly visible campaigns -- which included engineering on Voice Over for Keifer Sutherland, William H. Macy, legends like Dick Van Dyke and many more). In Spring of '07 Wood made the full-time shift to freelance engineering, music composition, production and post production. In 2012 Catharine was invited to join the Los Angeles Recording School's Recording Arts Program Advisory Committee. The select committee determines the curriculum of the school and its degree programs. Additionally, Wood was invited by The Recording Academy into the Producers & Engineers Wing as a GRAMMY® Voting Member. She is a Voting Member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the former Hollywood Manager and Director of Southern California for the West Coast Songwriters organization and a proud, professional member of The Society of Composers & Lyricists. In 2016, Catharine Wood was elected to the Board of Directors for the California Copyright Conference. As a songwriter, Wood is the recipient of Nine (9) Honorable Mentions from the BILLBOARD WORLD SONG CONTEST and currently endorses Audio-Technica, A-Designs pro audio and SJC Custom Drums. Wood's custom composition projects include a commissioned theme song for ESPN's "Viernes de Combates" airing on ESPN Deportes. Her original compositions can be heard on NBC, CBS, BBC, CTV and many more. Wood's specialties include: artist producing, music mastering, mixing, vocal recording, drums recording, audio post production, music composition & production for film+tv. Connect with Catharine Wood and learn more at planetwoodstudios.com.