Recording, Mixing & Mastering

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

A: I'm especially proud of the Citizen Sunshine album. I produced this fully from tracking, mixing and mastering and it was a blast. The way it turned out was really satisfying to us all as the band are great musicians, but also really great guys to have hang out in the studio. Hardcore punk wasn't something I'd done that much of and it was a great project to work on. Also, in places there were quite a few genre crossovers with funk type parts in a song. I described it later as "If the Red Hot Chili Peppers played Metallica." That's probably as good a descriptive as any. Great fun, great people, great material and a great result for everyone. Probably my most enjoyable project.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm working on various metal band projects, a couple of bands that I'm in as well writing a solo album.

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

A: There are plenty of people who I recognise their names and reputation as they're very famous.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: I tend to favour digital because analogue gear needs servicing which can quite often prove incredibly expensive.

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

A: I always promise that as long as they've prepared, they can relax and enjoy the session if they're recording and always make an effort to have fun with them during it as most people give better performances when relaxed. If it's mixing, I alway promise to give them the best mix I'm capable of doing with the source tracks at hand.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love meeting new people.

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

A: Mostly, the questions I get are how to achieve certain effects or styles in songs. My answer depends on what the effect is. Other than pricing which is the main question. All pricing is bespoke as obviously a 5 piece metal band with long songs is going to take a lot longer to produce than a singer songwriter, so the price has to reflect that.

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

A: People often think that you can fix anything. That no matter how bad a performance is, it can be salvaged and made to sound great. It's not true.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I always ask do they know what they want to sound like and ask them to provide references to what they might want to sound like or production style. Have they got songs already released? Do they have a recording of a gig or rehearsal of the song(s) I'd be recording before we start so I can listen to them and become familiar with them?

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

A: Always listen to what each other is doing in rehearsals. Drop instruments out of songs so the rest of the band can listen to the songs without only listening to themselves. Be clear on what you want to sound like as it helps immensely with the whole process.

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

A: A bass guitar, piano, microphone, headphones and a recording rig.

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

A: I've been a full time producer for 10 years, though I had been doing mixing and mastering for bands for about 5 years before that.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: My own style of mixing tries to bring as much energy and excitement to a song as I can whilst maintainin clarity.

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

A: Tool as I think they're just a fantastic band who always put out interesting and complex material.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: If you can get good source tracks, the chances of you having to do lots of work to them later is minimised. I tend to spend more time getting good sounds and performances as I know it'll make everything easier when it comes to mixing later.

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

A: I usually work on rock and various genres of metal.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Having an ear to what tones work in combination for the best result for a song. Sometimes musicians get hung up on how they sound more than how the band sounds overall because of it. Sometimes small tweaks are necessary.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Objectivity and attention to detail.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: If recording, I would record a guide guitar first, then once that was done, probably drums next. This sometimes depends on the band and material as sometimes it works better to record the drums last after everything. I would have discussed this with the band prior to recording. For mixing, I have various workflows depending on what the material involves. Some vary in terms of the type of material it is and also whether I tracked it or not. However, I have various templates I refer myself towards and once I've listened to the song a few times and checked for any edits that may still need to be done, I'd start processing the tracks to get a static balance. After that I'd mix the song.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run Cubase Pro and tend to mix in the box as a whole. I can record 16 channels at 96kHz sample rates which is generally enough for a large drum kit. As an interface I use RME gear as the drivers are always rock solid.

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

A: As a bass guitarist, I've been inspired by John Enwistle of The Who, Justin Chancellor of Tool amongst many others. I find Nolly Getgood and Brendan O'Brien inspiring in the metal world of production as well as Flood for his work with PJ Harvey, Smashing Pumpkins and others.

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

A: Mostly I track full bands and take them through the entire journey to a finished product. I also do quite a lot of mixing and mastering work for clients taking their raw tracks and working with them to interpret how they want to sound as a cohesive whole.