JACK JOSEPH PUIG: Depends on what you're talking about. If you're talking about material coming to the mixer in a makeshift way, that happens all the time because records are being made increasingly in non-professional environments. I'm working on a record right now that was made in an office space, and so it's gonna have its issues and it does. Now, you can fight those issues or you can be smart about it and go along with them because you can't change it. So, the best analogy I can give you is if you wake up and that day you're going to the Grammies, and you have a big pimple on your face, you're not going to be able to cover it. So, rather than get all emotional about it, I'll grab like a little black marker and make it like a mole. Make it look like it's on purpose. That's what you have to do in those situations.

JOE WALLACE: And now we're talking about this because one of my last questions is when you're at the mixing desk and the panel that you are in talked about recording to specific formats or trying to record the strengths and weakness of specific formats. If you're hearing a big hole in the sound that wouldn't be a problem necessarily on a home stereo but might really suck on an MP3, you know, in terms of all this frequency is going to leap out on an MP3 the way it's not gonna leap out on a home stereo, what do you do to correct that? Do you find yourself wanting to make a separate mix for that, or, you know, or do you just say, "Let's, you know, rain a bit and make it a little bit more generic?

JACK JOSEPH PUIG: No. One mix should be able to satisfy all formats. Look at it as - If you imagine in your mind a piano, when you're mixing, it's the same thing. You have some sounds that belong at C3, which is middle C, and then you have maybe a tambourine, which is kind of up high, and you might have a sub-bass, which is real low, and all you're doing is organizing the arrangement from that Sonic Stand point from all the different frequencies so that all the frequencies are properly represented, and most important thing (which I've said in a million times) is the mid range. But you get that right because it's the only thin that's in common to every speaker system.

JOE WALLACE: And just one last question.

JACK JOSEPH PUIG: Sure.

JOE WALLACE: Again, for new bands who are working, you know, maybe they're producing themselves against your advice, obviously, but how would you recommend somebody approach material, written for MP3 distribution. If you're encoding at 192 and you're going to throw it up on iTunes. Is there anything that you would tell a band to do to keep it sounding good and to keep it from sounding a little bit too tinny especially when you're using synthesized hi-hats and things like that.

JACK JOSEPH PUIG: Well, I think that people are too focused on that actually. I think what you do is you make it the best it can be. You don't think about the lowest resolution, you imagine the highest resolution that there is. You made it for the absolute highest resolution, and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and you let the chain decide. You don't decide for the chain. It's the fourth link or the five-link, the chain tells you what it is. And as far as, I want to make sure that you all understand that when I say you shouldn't produce yourselves. These are all general feelings because the truth of the matter is that I can tell you the sky is blue, and right now it's gray outside? But so which one is it? So, we're only talking in general terms. I'm just emphatic about people spending the time to put them around the right team. When you have the right team, it's a walk in the park.

JOE WALLACE: Thanks very much. This is Gearwire.Com.