Nolan Thies on SoundBetter

Mixing engineer specializing in dreamy indie pop but experienced in a broad array of styles.

Nolan Thies is a Brooklyn based engineer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. His personal credits range from Blonde Redhead, Deerhunter, and Skrillex to Brad Mehldau, Max Richter, Jon Batiste and Robert Glasper. He's contributed to Grammy award winning records by Brad Mehldau, 8 Bit Big Band, Geoffery Keezer, and Elaine Elias. His technical expertise has led him to a hand in film score engineering/mixing, such as Uncut Gems and Scary of 61st St to providing music for MTV, as well as the 2022 Cannes award winning film Harka.

Nolan has nearly twenty years experience as a freelance engineer, and has worked as a staff engineer at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn, NY for the last 10 years. He has spent that time mainly working on large format consoles, top shelf outboard gear and microphones, and developing a fluency in Pro Tools, Logic Pro X, and analog tape. His skill set extends to producing, songwriting, and arranging, plus in depth vocal and instrument editing/comping, beat correction, vocal tuning, and session organization.

He uses this experience to mix out of his own studio in a hybrid analog/digital format where he's able to spend more time putting detail, care, and personality into tracks than is usually available at larger studios when not working on label budgets.

I'd love to hear about your project and help get your tracks to where they need to be.

Send me a note through the contact button above.

Credits

3 Reviews - 1 Repeat Client

Endorse Nolan Thies

by Joe
Verified
A joy to work with! Great communication, quick, great results - keeping the original identity of the track and giving life and space to the mix.
by Danny Sullivan
Verified
Nolan was incredibly helpful and responsive and I'm extremely happy with the results. He was willing to work with me until I was 100% happy with the mixes, and contributed great ideas and suggestions of his own.
by Danny Sullivan
Verified
Nolan was responsive, quick, and made the track sound great!

Interview with Nolan Thies

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?
A: I've always enjoyed the collaborative process working with a band called Live Footage. I've done many records with them at this point, and it's always an open market place for the most interesting and best ideas. Really great to feel completely free to explore. Roles fade away when everyone is feeling creative together.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: Mixing a record for a great band out of Boston, and mixing a film score for a fantastic composer. Plus perpetually trying to put out my own music when time allows.
Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?
A: Denitia Odigie
Q: Analog or digital and why?
A: Both! These days digital sounds fantastic, but there's definitely still some advantages to getting the 0's and 1's into the real world for some good old fashioned harmonic content. I've worked in great studios on some of the best gear available, and I think I have a pretty good idea what will work, and when. It's nice to romanticize analog, but it's about what actually sounds best for each particular instance.
Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?
A: Getting your music to a place where we're both excited about the finished product
Q: What do you like most about your job?
A: Being creative on a daily basis. Going through the same procedure gets boring, so it's fun to explore.
Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?
A: Q: Can you put my stuff through tape? A: Yep!
Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?
A: Making your music into something it's not. We need to find the best version of what your music can be together.
Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?
A: What can I do to help make your music the best it can be?
Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?
A: Please read my mix guidelines to streamline the process for best results. It's super easy and helps achieve better mixes, and if you have questions, just ask!
Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?
A: Neumann u67, Studer A800 (plus tape and maintenance gear...this all counts as one piece, right?), Jazzmaster, 80's Neve series desk (working perfectly...again, this is kind of a dream scenario I'd assume), Roland 301 Space Echo
Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?
A: After pursuing a Jazz Bass Performance degree at the University of North Texas, I became a session musician at Bass Propulsion Laboratories (BPL) in Dallas, TX, and shortly after one of their chief recording engineers. After working in depth with artists on records at BPL and playing in a wide variety of bands for about 8 years, I moved to NYC. I became a staff Engineer at The Bunker Studio where I've been for the last 10 years, while maintaining a busy freelance schedule mixing bands and music for film, as well as always keeping my own projects alive.
Q: How would you describe your style?
A: Dreamy and lush
Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?
A: Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star) - would really love to get her vocals onto one of my arrangements. Think it could be a nice blend of styles
Q: Can you share one music production tip?
A: It's certainly a platitude, but less is more
Q: What type of music do you usually work on?
A: Dream pop, shoegaze, indie, indie pop, psych rock, psych (in general), rock, jazz, classical...basically after being a session engineer for nearly 20 years, I've kinda dipped my toes into a number of pools...
Q: What's your strongest skill?
A: Incorporating lush textures to add space.
Q: What do you bring to a song?
A: Sophisticated depth, nuance, and making the song function as a whole
Q: What's your typical work process?
A: Once files are delivered and I get my mix organized, I select the best piece of gear to send individual elements through to acquire maximum character to serve the song. Lots of times this involves processing through one of the tape machines to give the part its own special place in the mix. After I feel great about the mix, I send back to you for feedback, and then we get together on via a high quality audio link (ListenTo) to suss out any revisions necessary together.
Q: Tell us about your studio setup.
A: Hybrid analog/digital mix rig. ]16 channel analog summing amp, 24 channels of UA Apollo, Otari 50/50 1/4" tape machine, tape echos (Roland 301 Space Echo, Echoplex EP-3, Multivox MultiEcho), Nagra 4.2 tape machine, Eventide H3000, 1176, API 312 clones, Teac M5 console, Dynamite 430, monitoring (DynAudio BM6a, NS10's, Auratone 5C's, Sennheiser 650 HD headphones), ListenTo (high quality audio streaming), synths (Prophet 600 + Prophet 5, Korg ms20, Roland JU-06, Mellotron Mini, etc...), 1966 Fender P Bass, 1970's Gibson RD Artist bass, Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson LG-1 acoustic, Martin acoustic, ...
Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?
A: Talk Talk, Alan Moulder, Flood, Brian Eno, Shuggie Otis, Nigel Godrich, Kevin Parker
Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.
A: From remote mixing and mastering to in person recording and producing.