Award-Winning Analog Mastering

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

A: Paula Arenas "Mis Amores". Which got me two Latin Grammy nominations for "Album of the year" and "Song of the year". Recorded during Covid times, it presented me with several challenges. This one took me to Vegas for the first time (even though I've been nominated before but never had the chance to go to the red carpet and ceremony before this one). Very fond memories!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Hard to say, the pace here is quick. Still doing around 40 singles a week, from all over the world. You can check out any recent releases, and also my verified credits, here: https://credits.muso.ai/profile/db3636e8-29f8-4947-85f6-274c36f8b448/credits

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

A: Yes. https://soundbetter.com/profiles/178532-juan-pablo-guzman

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: It's irrelevant nowadays, but I get a lot more fun out of my mastering-grade analog gear and also from my analog tape machines.

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

A: I promise you this: A big smile on your face.

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Not many. Turnaround, mostly. And yes, I am very time-efficient.

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

A: That this is quick, easy, and must be cheap, right? In the end, anyone can do this on their bedroom with a laptop, huh? I charge for my experience and skills and for the added value I can bring to the table. Are my clients stupid for hiring me when they can do this themselves or hire a much less experienced, cheaper guy? Let's ask them! (Google me).

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Do I mix? No, I don't. Even if the lines between roles are so blurry nowadays and every mixing guy (even bedroom guys) seems to be a "mastering" engineer now, I do believe in the role-separation model for the best possible results. My hundreds of clients and thousands of tracks I master yearly prove so. Even in this kind of age of ever-shrinking budgets and "AI mastering" tools, I'm busier than ever, gladly! Why? Let's ask my customers (just read my reviews).

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

A: Please take your time to look over your options. No rush! Let your prospective engineer's experience and credits do the talking. Budget is not an important consideration in the long run. If your music has value, you won't deny it the expertise it deserves. Especially since it will be out there forever. He / She needs to be a good fit for your project. Remember: Equipment is irrelevant compared to human talent.

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

A: I've been doing this since I've finished high school. I jumped on a console as soon as I could after that. I wanted to be who I am now since I was 13. Of course, I've had luck, but I always prepared to ensure I was worthy when the big chance arrived. I have been doing this in my own mastering room since 2013. :-) And I am getting better each day at it. I could say it has been more than 22-24 years (since I started doing this while in high school, and I'm 41 right now), but I always count 2002 as the year I got my first world-class studio job as a recording/mixing engineer. I've been blessed with winning a couple of Latin Grammys and being nominated 16 times over the years. Four of them are name nominations (when the engineer is nominated by name, just as the artist, that happens on the album, song, and recording of the year). Not that such an award is relevant from an engineering standpoint, but it is nice having them, tho.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My style is a combination of a technically minded but very creative and ever-evolving workflow. It is loud, punchy, and dynamic.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Perspective. Vision, objectivity, specific skills, and a set of experienced fresh ears. I'm not your typical no-credits, no-name, no real-world-experience youtube-educated "mastering" guy. I've done the whole ear-educating process of being a recording and mix engineer for more than a decade. I use all that experience to my client's advantage. Remember this: A mixing engineer who offers mastering (usually as a package and generally doing so in a mixing room that's not designed and optimized for mastering) can get good results quite often, but a true mastering engineer is irreplaceable (Gladly !). We get paid for our experience and objectivity and the ability to apply that experience and objectivity in a specialized, fine-tuned environment.

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

A: More than music production professionals, people like me inspire me: Studio engineers who can build their own equipment or genius designers who influence all our sounds with their designs. People Like Bill Putnam (UA), Rupert Neve (Rupert Neve Designs), George Massenburg (GML)...

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

A: At this time, I'm dedicated exclusively to Mastering.

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

A: 1 - My Barefoot MM26 speakers. 2 - My soldering iron and Hakko desoldering station, so I can modify anything I want !!. 3 - My Herman Miller chair, comfort is paramount. 4 - Cashews. Lots of them. 5 - Good company!

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: Hard one...Every gig is a different journey, fun and rewarding every time but I'd like to get back in time 30-35 years and do some work with such an innovative band as Queen, maybe The Cars, something inventive and technically demanding like that...

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

A: Pretty much everything. Just check out my playlist at https://camilosilvaf.com/index.php#player

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Technical proficiency combined with experienced ears and great people skills. In other words: I'm a total client pleaser.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My workflow is: Get the files, assess them and once I've verified they're fit for the process, I'll let my client know we're good to go then proceed with the mastering! For albums, I do prefer to work a single ahead of the rest but all my decision-making is context-based (For albums or EPs)

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My setup is custom-built primarily or modified gear. I tend to dislike stock gear, so I design and build my own equipment. But it is also complemented by many key "stock" pieces like the BuzzAudio REQ Mastering equalizer or the Pendulum PL2 mastering limiter...For the monitoring, only top-notch will do, and my choice is Barefoot Sound MM26 - it may be an unusual choice for a mastering guy, but believe me, nothing I've ever used comes close for my particular needs and setup. My electro-acoustic setup is perfected using the most sophisticated acoustic correction system known to man : (((acourate))) by AudioVero. This system is so powerful that it runs on its own dedicated computer with an extensive digital i/o card (Lynx AES16) to handle all my digital sources. Acourate effectively perfects my impulse, transient, phase, and frequency response to be as perfect as physically possible, but of course, you need proper room and high-end monitoring to take full advantage of such a system. It is pretty hard to implement and really involved, definitely not plug-and-play - I had to spend a couple of months studying it before I was able to implement and integrate it into my room, but it has paid off tremendously: Decisions are quicker and more confident than ever, clients are happier than ever too! It has to be heard to be believed. This system makes any similar system on the market (Dirac, Trinnov, IK ARC) look like a toy. I built my passive monitoring controller to be superior to any active (amplified, be it discrete, opamp, etc..) monitor controller. Its signal path is the closest you'll get to a wire, and there are no active components anywhere. Also, stereo tracking error is less than 0.1dB worst-case scenario. I made sure of that by matching every part by hand to 0.1% tolerance. My room is rated at NC (noise criterion) 20 with the ventilation system running. It's hushed. Also, I have natural lighting, which is a big plus. Comfort, comfort, comfort! This is paramount!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Trust your instincts. Don't overthink. Don't procrastinate, take quick decisions and commit to them.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: That it doesn't feel like a job anymore.