Jacob “Biz” Morris has been making music professionally since 2006. He’s recorded and mixed albums that have won Grammy and Dove Awards. He has built GetMXD, a mixing platform. We started our friendship with Biz at the start of the pandemic, when he suddenly had a very timely need for a home studio.
Jacob “Biz” Morris has been making music professionally since 2006. He’s recorded and mixed albums that have won Grammy and Dove Awards. He has built GetMXD, a mixing platform. We started our friendship with Biz at the start of the pandemic, when he suddenly had a very timely need for a home studio.
Jacob “Biz” Morris has been making music professionally since 2006. He’s recorded and mixed albums that have won Grammy and Dove Awards. He has built GetMXD, a mixing platform. We started our friendship with Biz at the start of the pandemic, when he suddenly had a very timely need for a home studio.
BIZ: Our studio, Reach Records said, “Okay, everyone, go home now.” So I was like, well, crap, I don’t have a mixing room anymore. I called Gavin Haverstick at Haverstick Designs —“What do I do? Tell me what I need to do and know that it’s gotta happen like next week. I have records I need to finish.” The only room “available” in the house was our baby daughter’s nursery, so I stole her room. Gavin suggested your Fulfill 3-Packs, both for acoustical performance and because they ship quickly. We got them in and the room sounded really good. I was in the middle of getting a lot of records turned in, so I was very thankful for how quickly we were able to put the room together.
AF: Did you experience any surprises working from your “home” studio?
Yeah. Do you want to know what it was? I realized I’d been working way too much. I didn’t get to see my family enough. So, having my kids around while I work, as annoying as it sometimes was, was a huge blessing—I’m in the middle of a session or in a meeting, and my little girls knock on the door and say, can you take a break? I’m like, yep, this record can be mixed later. That was really good. I had about six months working full time from home before I went back to the studio at Reach Records.
One of the artists I worked with at the home studio was Lecrae. He’s a good friend. I’ve worked with him for over 10 years. He was featured on the soundtrack for the Spider-Man: Miles Morales video game, so I did the remote recording. Lecrae was in his basement, and I was at home tracking into my gear. I mixed those songs in that room, and they are pretty big songs. (“Where We Come From”, “This is My Time”) We also did the Coming in Hot remixes at my home studio.
“Get your room right acoustically. If the room is right, you can trust yourself more.”
“Get your room right acoustically. If the room is right, you can trust yourself more.”
AF: As an engineer, working on some really successful projects and a variety of artists, what would your advice be to an artist looking to be successful creating music?
The most successful people that I can think of had their teams together from the beginning. And they truly value their team and understand they didn’t do it all by themselves. I think that’s a huge, huge thing for artists. Being successful is knowing that you didn’t do this alone. It wasn’t because you wrote a song and it went viral. That’s a rare thing. I think if an artist could establish a team and really just trust them—when you win, they win. And then you’ll highlight them as a team thing.
AF: There aren’t that many engineers mixing 250 songs a year. What’s your secret sauce for that kind of productivity?
I do think that I’m good at what I do. But I care about the person, not the song. I think that’s a bigger deal. I don’t care about the check. I don’t care about the credit. You can look at my Instagram—I don’t promote what I do. I really don’t care about the music trends of the day; I care about the person and what’s going on. I care about the person first; the music can come second. If I can’t go to dinner with you and hang out with you… if we don’t get along, I don’t want to mix your stuff. If all we’re here to do is work, I don’t want to mix your stuff. ‘Cause I really love people, and I love the people that I work with. I think that’s why I get away with doing many songs, you know, and I have a fantastic team. I’m not gonna lie; I’m not here alone. I have a great team that assists in a lot of different ways. And we celebrate.
AF: What does your team look like?
I have an assistant engineer, a mixing engineer, and a couple of people that help build out and prep.
AF: What’s your favorite part of the process?
My favorite part of the relationship with an artist is going to dinner, going to Topgolf. Just hanging out. Like, yeah, knowing what’s going on in their lives or if they know mine, or if they’re going through something, we’re there. That’s my favorite part. I’m not crazy about transactional relationships. The record label stuff—that can be very transactional. So if I can be around the people I really enjoy, which are my family and friends, it’s a win-win.
AF: Is there anything upcoming that you want to share?
Yeah, I’ve started a mixing company, GetMXD. I’m building a team of engineers geared to provide accessible and affordable mixes for indie artists. It’s in beta right now. The goal is to provide good-paying jobs and a healthy work-life balance for engineers, which is not the norm.
AF: Life balance seems to be a recurring theme for you
I try. I have my flaws, for sure. Because I enjoyed mixing so much. I’ll look up, and oh, my goodness, I missed dinner, and my wife is going to be mad. But yeah, I think if you ask any up-and-coming or even seasoned engineers, it wouldn’t be normal if they weren’t working 16 hours a day. But that’s just not healthy—not good for your mental state, not good for your relationships. So if I can figure out a way to build something that supports engineers to let them live decently and work on doing things that they love, I’m gonna do it.
AF: Do you have any tips you can share on maximizing your time when you’re mixing?
Yeah, trust your first instinct. Don’t dive in too much. And this is key: get your room right acoustically. If the room is right, you can trust yourself more. Then move on to monitors, good speakers that you can trust and you actually enjoy listening to.
AF: Do you have any tips you can share on maximizing your time when you’re mixing?
Yeah, trust your first instinct. Don’t dive in too much. And this is key: get your room right acoustically. If the room is right, you can trust yourself more. Then move on to monitors, good speakers that you can trust and you actually enjoy listening to.
AF: Do you have any tips you can share on maximizing your time when you’re mixing?
Yeah, trust your first instinct. Don’t dive in too much. And this is key: get your room right acoustically. If the room is right, you can trust yourself more. Then move on to monitors, good speakers that you can trust and you actually enjoy listening to.
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