Jonathan Wyndham on finding himself after The Voice: “Learn how to ride the relevance-to-irrelevance sine wave”

Songwriter. Singer. Nashville ringer. All these talents and more are found in Jonathan Wyndham, who initially lit up the music industry’s radar with a blind audition on singing competition series The Voice in 2014. He originally sought to write songs on Music Row, but soon found his prowess on guitar brought such leading country and pop artists as Colbie Caillat and Jessie James Decker to his door. In 2021, his album Nashville Rock & Soul, Vol. 1 brought him full circle to his performing songwriter roots. In March of this year, his original tune and live show favorite Naïve was captured at the legendary Studio 606, exclusively through AUDIX microphones: the PDX720 and i5 on guitar cabinets, an OM5 dynamic on his vocal, D6 on kick drum and bass guitar cabinet, D2 and D4 on toms, and a pair of high-resolution SCX25A condensers as drum overheads. In this interview, Wyndham speaks about his trajectory through music, how he has come to prefer AUDIX mics, and why you should always record music you intend to perform live.

How did you first become interested in performing music?

We grew up with music all around. My mum’s a pianist, and we had a baby grand in the house. She would always practice just before my sisters and I went to bed. Both my sisters sang exceptionally well growing up. They had this incredible control and delicateness, plus perfect commercial tone and timbre. 

My voice took longer to develop. I had a lot of power and control from growing up singing classically, but I didn’t start learning to control my vibrato or throw tones into my mask to brighten it, the real stuff that takes you from good to great, until I moved to Nashville.

Did you play in bands as a teenager?

I played in church to start. I remember getting kind of cocky, thinking I was the best guitar player in our little town in South Carolina. My dad, who wasn’t a musician but loved music, knew it didn’t matter if I was or not, I needed my world enlarged. So, he took me to this blues jam some buddies he grew up with were playing at. I remember watching these dudes who’ve been gigging and shredding for 30 years and thinking, “Wow, I need to get better or quit!” I got that lesson at, oh, 15. 

Since then, I’ve always believed in seeking out the very best players to play with and learn from. I’ve been chasing that feeling ever since! Play, gig, and jam with players who inspire you, I promise you you’ll get so much better. That’s a big reason I first went to Nashville, to be around all those cats, but also for discovery.

When you come to Nashville there’s the best player from every hometown all over the world, and they’ve got different influences and inspirations that they’ll share with you. The inspiration is endless and you can always find something to unlock that yearning and keep you growing musically. For example, I have a Brazilian buddy in Nashville who got me into Jobim and what a ride that is! Forever changed my right hand for the better, especially on acoustic!

Today you play with Colbie Caillat. Is there a gig or moment in Nashville you’d identify as your big break?

In a way almost every gig I’ve got has felt like that. I certainly felt like I had arrived when I was on The Voice at 22, but before that, auditioning for producers on Music Row. When you’re inside it, you’re always asking yourself, “Is this really it?” But I don’t believe it’s ever one thing, more like a mountain of little moments and opportunities, like stacking rocks up in a stream to dam the water. Plus, there’s a more important lesson to take from that experience.

What lesson is that?

Learn how to ride the relevance-to-irrelevance sine wave, because you’ll do it many times over the course of a music career, whether you’re out in front as a singer-songwriter, or in a supporting role as a touring or session musician. For example, after I was on The Voice, people who I thought never knew I existed and people who didn’t like me in high school all wanted to buy me a beer. 

But they didn’t really care about me, they just wanted to touch the experience, to get something extra no one else got from their access. It’s not a bad thing, but you as the artist have to know that that interest in you isn’t really friendship, it’s more of a “situationship”. Then that fades until the next thing happens, and so on.

People don’t really remember the setlist you play or the accolades you get, they check the internet for that. They remember how you make them feel. The happiest artists I’ve ever worked for were gracious, humble, and kind. That’s the goal, and to focus on keeping the music pure to me. I think then it will reach others and enrich their lives, whether that’s 60 people in a bar or 60,000 in a stadium.

These days, you’re doing more of your own singer-songwriter work than supporting other artists. Is that where you feel home is?

Yes, although both are amazing. For example, I played the O2 Arena in London with Colbie and an amazing musician buddy of mine named Gideon Klein. We’re all singing and there’s around 24,000 people there. Three nights later, I’m playing in my own trio with two Spanish buddies in a rock club in Madrid for 160 beautifully enthusiastic Spanish rock fans. 

If I had to pick only one, I’d choose the club, because there’s nothing like playing your own music, regardless of show size. And, personally I’m a sucker for an intimate set up. A few days after that we had a super full club in Valencia where there were a few fans that knew every word to every song, THAT is a feeling I’ll never forget.

Tell us about the All Access special you filmed with AUDIX at Studio 606.

The way the session came together is a fun story. My manager, Kevin Majorino, is also an amazing audio engineer, stellar in both live sound and studio. We met on a tour, I was playing and he was mixing front of house and production managing. I remember vividly the moment I saw our future, we were sitting together on a flight from Hawaii to Japan. 

We chatted about dreams and game plans for the year then I turned into a classic touring musician, binging Jason Bourne movies like I’m invoicing for it. I look over three hours in and he’s still just working away on his laptop, advancing shows and killing it. I was like, “You’re too good to be working for a day rate, man,” and that was how this part of our relationship began. I spent the next year convincing him he could make the jump and succeed as a manager, and he should start with me.

Fast forward. Kevin is a bigtime AUDIX user and asked me how I felt about their mics. I had used them from time to time and liked them a lot but wasn’t fluent in their lineup. Kevin said, “I think we can do an entire session using only AUDIX mics.” We wound up at Studio 606, because he’s friends with the guys there. It’s not open for public bookings, so it was amazing to be in those hallowed halls! 

They basically remade the Sound City A room, but with such a nonchalant gravitas. They bought the Neve console responsible for Tom Petty’s Damn the Torpedoes, Wildflowers and Southern Accents. I mean, it’s oozing with history and vibe.

In this session, where did you first notice AUDIX mics?

As we were getting guitar sounds, Oliver Roman, the house engineer there, let me use some amps from the studio. I chose a vintage (and modded) Marshall and a mid-’90s Vox AC30 (the mid 90’s ones are super consistent and awesome). Oliver went for the double dynamic mic approach on these amps, using an AUDIX i5 and a PDX720.

What did you think of the results?

I ran stereo, using both amps, with the i5 and PDX pair on each. Normally I’m a fan of pairing a dynamic with a ribbon mic, but they had this dialed in perfectly in-phase and we quickly hit this moment where the tone was just perfect. Just going straight into the amp sounded like early James Gang tones. That made me a believer. Straight into the console we were capturing perfect tones.

What was used on bass guitar?

They ran a DI out and also miked the bass cabinet with an AUDIX D6, the badass kick mic that does a whole lot more than just your kick out. Frank Abraham was the bass player, and he’s a monster. He rocked the entire session without a tuning pedal because he also plays upright bass, and his ear is that good. I can’t even imagine! I don’t even like to play an acoustic, one song guest appearance without a Peterson.

Was AUDIX also used on the drum kit?

Yes, because it was on everything. Beyond what you would expect on drums — i5 on snare, D6 on kick, D2 and D4 on toms — what I really remember blowing me away is the way they used the piano mics as overheads. 

They’re the ones people call lollipops because they have a skinny body and a big round capsule — the SCX25A. When I pulled up the session to mix it, the raw overheads were stellar. The sense of imaging through the SCX25As was just amazing. Which is great, because when the main vocal is in the room like a live show, overheads are everything in the mix.

You also produce other artists. What is your own philosophy about picking microphones?

Engineer legend Al Schmitt once said that a microphone is to an engineer as a lens is to a photographer. He thought if you needed EQ, you had the wrong mic or wrong placement for the source. Granted, that assumes a big enough budget that you have a lot of mics to choose from, but that’s the thing about AUDIX. 

They make so many different mics tailored to different sources, and they’re so good for the money, that you don’t need a huge budget to have something like the options Al was talking about. In a way, choosing mics is like choosing players. If you need a killer B3 organ on a track, you don’t bring in a singer-songwriter who happens to play organ. You bring in a countermelody monster like Carey Frank, who was on this session. Casting is everything.

Speaking of EQ, did you observe how much EQ was required on this session? Or get any info from the engineers about this?

Oh I got info! [laughing] I was checking everything they were doing and taking notes the whole time! We had two world class tracking engineers in a stellar studio, that’s a master class I wasn’t going to miss. Plus, I mixed the session so there are no secrets. Honestly, we didn’t need or use much EQ at all. I can tell you my vocal, tracked through the OM 5 in the room, had none of note in either tracking or mix (just a touch of highpass at like 80 to clean up low end bleed before the squeeze). 

We just had it hitting the bus compressor on the Neve (which is a mic drop move anyway). Then, in the mix I added my favorite UA plugin compression (the 1176) and then, a Fatso (again, the UA plugin) on the vocal bus and a touch of de-esser. Add in some reverb and delay aux’s with automation and that’s the vocal in the mix. The boys were on OM 7’s for the BGV’s, and they sounded great as well.

I should probably mention that for live shows, I’ve carried my own mic since I was a teenager – ever since hearing about how Frank Sinatra would always carry his own and credits that as a reason his sound would stop people in their tracks. It’s funny how we’ll geek out on guitar gear every second but we’ll just show up and sing into a beat up house mic. Today, for me that’s either an OM5 or an OM7, the latter more often for when I need a tighter pickup pattern when the stage is small or we’re running loud. I do love a loud stage.

On that subject, do you find AUDIX mics help you avoid signal bleed?

They definitely do, and that’s super important for me. Even when bleed is unavoidable, I’m rarely going to use any other processing to get rid of it – especially if it introduces artifacts. I also don’t like the way gates sound on lead vocals, I’m a manual automation guy. Not to hate on gates, they can be super helpful for BGV’s (& life savers for toms or your snare reverb bus) but if it pulls the ear then I’m out.

At the end of our recording of Naïve, you certainly hear some cymbals bloom through the vocal bus. To me that’s okay, because it extends the urgent angst and emotion of the song, and I prefer those little eccentricities to something sounding over processed and fake. All of the records I love have charming mistakes.

If you were recommending mics to a newbie engineer or producer, how would you describe AUDIX?

Here is one thing people who know me laugh about. I’m known as something of an enabler, I’ll always encourage you to get that next piece of gear, because what if inspiration is sparked by picking up that guitar or plugging in that mic? I also never recommend true “starter gear”, I don’t really believe in it. Which means when I recommend AUDIX, it’s because it’s not starter gear. You need pro level gear that doesn’t hold you back, so the only limitation you face is your ability and your imagination.

Just like a better guitar makes you want to practice more, a better audio interface and better mics will inspire you to record more and experiment more. The best way to improve your recording skills is by recording, recording with others and learning from them and recording alone and listening back to see what worked and what didn’t. 

Recording myself taught me so much about singing and my voice, I would recommend every singer to record themselves. It’s important to be able to be honest with yourself and find the places where you want to improve or grow without any embarrassment that you might have if it’s in a commercial studio where there are people you admire and the pressure is on.

Vocalists, get yourself an A231 condenser and a good interface and learn your voice. Notice when you are closer to the mic how much breath and low end is added, the low end add is called the “proximity effect”. 

Notice how to vary your intensity as you vary your distance from the mic, this is called “working the mic” in the studio. Learn how to get the sound in your head into the recording, this will eliminate all of your recording anxiety and stress. You’ll become an assassin and your confidence, and therefore your performance, will grow and improve immensely!

The ironic thing about AUDIX, I think, is that the company started out wanting to be known as accessible price wise but keep their quality top shelf. AUDIX cares about “bang for your buck” at a cellular level as a company, which is amazing for us users. People bought them for that reason, and then started really working with them and realizing what they had. I’m now one of those converts who thinks that when it comes to bang for buck — both in terms of performance and just how well the stuff is built — AUDIX is the best open secret on the market.

Can you speak to their durability at all?

I once tested out some guitar cables for a company I endorsed. The first thing I did was carry them, along with a few essential pedals, together in a backpack where they were banging against each other. Not because it was convenient, but because that’s what a kid in a band is going to do. 

They don’t have an extra $150 for a pre-fab’ed pedalboard and the bells and whistles I’m so accustomed to now, they’ve got an overdrive, a distortion, a fuzz, and a delay pedal and they’re out to conquer the world. I wanted to know the kit I was repping could take the abuse. While I can’t say I recommend doing this with any gear you care about outside of necessity, I have no doubt any of my AUDIX mics would survive it just fine. 

They ride everywhere with me in their little pouches, tucked in my backpack or tossed in my checked bag amongst packing cubes of somewhat clean clothes, and they sound as good as when I took them out of their boxes.

So, we won’t expect any Roger Daltrey antics with your OM series mics, then?

Hah! I don’t even have those moves! It’s because I play so much guitar when I sing. I remember when I first did The Voice, I felt so naked for that 90 seconds of music, I had never performed without a guitar before. Also, at that point, I had never practiced so much for something so brief. That’s another great lesson for TV appearances, you can’t get nervous if you’ve rehearsed so much you physically couldn’t mess it up. Also, don’t drink caffeine before or the adrenaline on top of the caffeine will make your hands shake.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Hmm, teenage me…not very coachable. I’m not sure I’d even listen to myself. [Laughs.] I think that if I had achieved success much younger than I am now, I might have gone a bit wild and ruined my life. Honestly, my advice to myself at 17 would be, stop caring about how you look or whether people think you’re cool. My biggest worries on The Voice were looking stupid or fat on camera, what an insignificant thing to worry about, yet it consumed me. As you asked me earlier, the true constant is the honesty of your music and how it makes people feel, I wish I knew that then.

My advice to myself at 23, on the other hand, would be to find your true north artistically and stick with it. The music I’m making now I’ve loved my whole life, and always felt pulled to it, but you tell yourself “no one wants to listen to that” and try to write what you think people want to hear. THAT is the year wasting mistake to me. 

Make what’s truest to you and then go find the audience, don’t try to retrofit art to the audience. Labels try to do this all the time and it’s a lukewarm success at best and more often a failing strategy.

More specifically, I would say, record music that you intend to play live and that you can play live. If a producer pushed you out of your vocal zone, for example, and then used [software] pitch correction, what then? 

What if that song becomes one that your audience always wants to hear at shows? On the other hand, if you make music that feels right in your body, you can always connect with people. When a song feels good on your lips, good in your hands, and people love it - there’s simply no more beautiful feeling.