Mix & Mastering Engineer

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

A: The Alone Together album, where I executive produced, wrote, played, produced and mixed to contribute towards a charity album that comprised the exquisite work of 38 indie artists.

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

A: That - providing they communicate openly and availably with me - we will always achieve, and hopefully exceed, the outcome and vision they wish to realise.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Analogue! Digital editing for convenience, but analogue - every time - for sonics. Nothing touches it. I always say that digital is fast, economical, convenient and brilliant. Whereas analogue is time-consuming, quirky, unreliable, and takes far more patience, commitment and skill. But the net product is almost always far superior - every single time.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm currently working closely with three artists to finish music for their EPs, and have scheduled a re-master of another artist's whole album for an anniversary vinyl release, with a special edition bonus track for mix and master, too.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love hearing music in its finished, most professional and final state. I love that - as a mixing engineer - I'm essentially the last step in the process to someone's music being in its finished state. I also love pleasing my clients, and having them feel like they're re-hearing the song for the very first time.

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

A: That I just adjust volumes of all the elements of a song, until they sound right. This is honestly about 10% of what I do as a mix engineer.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: I'm always interested in what they like, and what sonically inspired their music. So I'll always ask for at least one reference track of a famous song whose sonics they'd like me to try and channel, when we work together.

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

A: Record everything a well as you can, and submit the stems to me dry, and without processing, if possible! Any ambience or key sounds that make up the record would be much appreciated to be left printed separately, to give me maximum control over a mix.

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

A: My console, first and foremost. My NS-10s. One of my AML compressors, my 1073 and tape machine.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I'd say I aim for an open sound that's rich and deep - not just spectrally, but spatially. Nothing inspires me more than a mix that has a very audibly expansive, balanced vertical and horizontal soundstage.

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

A: I have few limits. I love working on music that's creative - stuff in the vein of Radiohead, Bon Iver, Ethan Gruska or Coldplay. But I also have a soft spot and deep love for soul music - such as much of what The Daptones or Mark Ronson would often work with. I love everything from dripping wet sonics, through to tight and dry. It's all a joy to mix.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Record your vocals well! They carry the mix - get it right, from the start. Make sure you're in a dead room or space, gain-stage correctly, use a decent mic, preamp and pop shield. And then give me the dry vocal! So much can be done with a superbly delivered and recorded vocal, but little can be done to correct issues such as an imposing room, overbearing plosives or clipping!

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

A: I have no restrictions. I've worked on pop, alternative, R'n'B, ambient - all sorts. I'm open to everything. At the time of writing, much of the music I've received has been in the vein of alternative singer-songwriter-type stuff, and I have very much enjoyed working on it.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Refining and making a sound balanced, but also feel classy and 'expensive'. Learning - across the years - to really dial in the sonics of a mix on the smallest possible level, to bring it to the point where it not only sounds great across multiple systems, but delivers the correct emotional intention that the music was written to communicate.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Hopefully, a degree of creativity that is beyond that of a simple mix. Fixing the sonics of what I'm presented with, but also taking it to a further level, and creatively adding elements to the mix - with the approval and guidance of the artist - that can elevate their vision of their music.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: My typical work process involves firstly getting to know the song and the session. Labelling and organising stems - into groups where possible - and loading these groups onto the console, one at a time. I often start with important elements like the drum kit first, and begin running each individual track through hardware, as required, and dialling in a sound that I'm happy with. This then gets summed down to two mono faders, and I tackle the next group in the session, until I've moved through everything. Then it's a matter of setting broad levels and sonics for the whole song, sorting out ambience in the form of delays and reverbs, and then moving onto careful automation rides, to get levels of everything across the song's sections, in the most musical way. I often do the level check on a small pair of Auratone monitors, in mono.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run a hybrid setup, driven on the digital backend by a complete Pro Tools setup. I use Avid hardware control surfaces, and all this runs 32 simultaneous channels of conversion into my analogue mixing console. A selection of pairs of unique, but superb-sounding, analogue hardware compressors, EQs, preamps and ambient effects such as rackmount delays and reverbs are also in my arsenal, together with my beloved 1/2" tape machine, which I use for everything from high fidelity finishing of a track, to hard slamming and sonic colouration. Between all this gear, and summing everything within an analogue console, I find myself to really dial in sonics of tracks very carefully, with the result being highly organic and dynamic in a way that is often lost in mixes, today. Another tool I use to really make sure the sonics are balanced and translate well, is I monitor across several systems. I'll use my main monitors - a pair of Yamaha NS-10M Pros, with a subwoofer, and constantly A/B against a pair of Munro Egg 150 speakers, in combination with earphones, auratones and headphones, for checking that I'm not missing anything.

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

A: There are so many - and its genre dependent. I really love the mixing styles of Tom Elmhirst, Chris Lord-Alge, and producers the like of Mark Ronson and Shawn Everett, but definitely don't see myself as confined to any one style. Whatever I'm brought and asked to work on; chasing the client's desired end product is what I enjoy doing the most.

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

A: Typically, I'm asked to provide a mix and final master of produced tracks, that need to be taken to the final, professional-sounding stage. I've done simple sonic adjustments on some projects or - where required - collaborated in more depth with the artist on a co-production level, to really take their music to the next sonic level.