Mix, Master, Produce, Cello

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

A: Ambient Jazz Ensemble album AJE mixing - great musicianship, beautifully recorded - which made my job easy! Everyone who hears it loves it!!

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Frank Turner live album mixing and mastering

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. Some analogue sonics and some ease of digital editing and processing.

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

A: You'll love it!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: It's my passion, my hobby, I love doing it, and I love having satisfied customers

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

A: When can you get the mix done. Next few days.

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

A: I'm too expensive or too busy

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: Tell me your favourite 5 songs, whether or not they relate to the current project

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

A: Label your tracks the way I ask you to please!

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

A: Guitar, bass, piano, drum kit, iphone

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

A: I started at Livingston Studios in London at the end of 1984. In 1988 I engineered the biggest selling UK Number 1 "The Only Way Is Up" which topped the chart for 5 weeks. As a freelance engineer and producer I have worked in many studios around the world and have been lucky enough to work with a number of famous artists.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Musical

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

A: Someone new that no one has heard of yet, so that I can share in the journey and the glory - hopefully!

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Don't panic, it will all turn out okay, whatever it takes!

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

A: All kinds, but I particularly like songs with great chord progressions!

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: I have a strong musical background as a trained cellist, but I also trained as an engineer with the best, e.g. Grammy-winning ex-Abbey Road and Olympic engineer Jerry Boys. I like to be very thorough, but on the other hand sometimes it can be the right thing to do not to try too hard or over-work something!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Hopefully a musically enjoyable mix that captures and enhances the spirit of the recording. I want people to be singing along!

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: I'll ask you for influences and references and check the demo or rough mix carefully. I'll firstly do any necessary housekeeping like tidying up, bouncing, timing corrections, tuning - if needed. Then I get stuck into building up the mix, taking plenty of breaks and reaching out to check things if I'm not clear of the intentions.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a custom built mixing and mastering room with a massive pair of ATC SCM100As with a subwoofer. I run the latest version of Pro Tools and have a massive collection of plugins, including all Waves and UAD, plus Kush, McDSP, SoundToys, Softube etc. I also use some analogue gear, especially my AnaMod ATS-1 tape simulator.

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

A: I like all kinds of genres. I started working in the 1980s when Trevor Horn was the king of production. I have been lucky enough to work alongside many great producers as their engineer - Trevor Horn, John Leckie, Gil Norton, Brendan Lynch, Mike Hedges etc.

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

A: Mixing and mastering - either individually or together!