Dong Woo Ralph Rhim

Recording and Mixing

Dong Woo Ralph Rhim on SoundBetter

Ralph is a recording and mixing Engineer with a Bachelor's degree in Music Production and Engineering from Berklee College of Music.He has worked with many different people from the industry such as Wiz Khalifa, Raekwon, Melissa Etheridge, Trey Songz, etc...

Ralph stepped into the music industry while going to college at Berklee College of Music. He interned at M plus Studio in Korea as well as Avatar Studios in New York City. He finally found a temporary home at Platinum Sound Studio in New York City as an assistant engineer. He worked closely with Grammy award winning producer, Jerry Wonda, as well as Grammy nominated, Multi Platinum and Gold Certified Mixing/Recording Engineer, Serge Tsai. There, he has found his sound and worked on his craft through sleepless nights. He has assisted/engineered with many different artists in the industry today such as Wiz Khalifa, Raekwon, Melissa Etheridge, Trey Songz, and many more as well as World artists like, T Micky, Klase, Alex Boye, Stephen King, and more. His professionalism and expertise definitely caused his clients to come back and request him as an engineer every time. He will make sure that the mix is above your expectations.

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Interview with Dong Woo Ralph Rhim

  1. Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

  2. A: Chris Laferriere and Andrew Robertson and anyone else who I've worked with at Platinum Sound who signed up.

  3. Q: Analog or digital and why?

  4. A: Digital. Analog is very expensive and very time consuming. Listeners now a days can't tell the difference anyways.

  5. Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

  6. A: I will work and work until we get it right.

  7. Q: What do you like most about your job?

  8. A: I love listening to music 24/7. I also love making a client happy with his or her final product. That "thank you" or "it sounds amazing" is a great feeling.

  9. Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

  10. A: A lot of people think that since I've worked for all these artists I must use tons of gears or whatever. A lot of the artists use very simple setups and I've assisted sessions for a lot of these artists since they have their own engineers. Every once in a while their engineer won't be able to make it and I was able to engineer. But as they say, "less is more"

  11. Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

  12. A: Even though it may seem like all business, at the end of the day, I just want to have a good relationship with clientele and have a fun experience with the music. Freelancing will be different especially online mixing since you aren't with the client and interacting but I want to try to recreate that.

  13. Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

  14. A: A Neve 1073 Pre, LA 2A, 1176, Distressor, GML or Massive Passive EQ

  15. Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

  16. A: I haven't been doing this too long. I graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2013 May. I interned at a studio called M Plus Studio in South Korea, a post production studio in Boston called Soundtrack, Avatar studios in New York City, and I finally found a home at Platinum Sound Studios in NYC for a little over a year. Because of certain circumstances I had to return home but I definitely want to still freelance.

  17. Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

  18. A: Melissa Etheridge: This is ME. This was actually one of my first session as an assistant to my Chief Engineer, Serge Tsai and Jerry Wonda. He was working on an album for Melissa Etheridge, who went to Berklee, same as me, so it was just a lot of pressure. My boss sent me to our Penthouse Studio at Platinum Sound to work with writer, Angela Hunte, for one of the songs. However, Melissa comes upstairs with Jerry and begins singing the song. I thought it was just some scratch vocals that was gonna get re done. But, Jerry tells me to send the session over to Serge to get it ready for mixing. It was just a crazy experience.

  19. Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

  20. A: Hip hop, R&B, usually a lot of underground stuff for Hip hop. Pop and singer songwriter music as well.

  21. Q: What's your strongest skill?

  22. A: I would say I spend most of my time on vocals. To me, once the beat is knocking, the vocals are very important because that is what everyone is going to be listening to at the end of the day.

  23. Q: What do you bring to a song?

  24. A: I always try to keep close to the reference mix a producer gives me, but from there I make the mix pop and add my own flavor to it.

  25. Q: What's your typical work process?

  26. A: It is all about the vibe for me. Once I catch a vibe, I get straight into it. When mixing, I don't have a specific order but I am looking for a specific sound. I try to get what the client wants and make it knock.

  27. Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

  28. A: Right now I have a small little setup at home and everything is ITB. Certain situations caused me to move back home but, I am hoping to expand my home studio.

  29. Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

  30. A: I try to find inspiration everyday, but my last studio I worked at I was very inspired by my boss, Jerry Wonda and the cheif engineer, Serge Tsai.

  31. Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

  32. A: I usually mix records for clients and/or record for them.

Terms Of Service

As many revisions needed to make the mix perfect (usually no additional cost).

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