Mix Engineer

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

A: Shoot... a ton. Beatles, Dave Grohl, Bleechers, Adele, Twenty One Pilots... there are too many

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

A: Mixing. I carve and polish sound to fit the style of the song. I also mix in Dolby Atmos and Spacial Audio

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I have a mix room in the countryside of Nashville, TN. A well tuned room with monitoring you can trust cuts out the guess work of what you're hearing, and I'm glad to have it. The gear is secondary; if you don't know how your room sounds, you're limited in perfecting a mix. Beyond the room, I use ProTools going through Grace monitoring into Dutch&Dutch 8c. My tools are my tools and that gets it done.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Mmmmm... the answer is whatever is best for the situation

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

A: Foo Fighters because Foo Fighters. Also Bleechers or 21 Pilots, because I just love the creativity.

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Beyond having a great attitude, practice, practice, practice. Know the limits of your tools, what they offer, what they can do. And know things that you never know that you will use... I'm talking the depths of DAW shortcuts, functions, computer and system troubleshooting, etc.

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

A: A lot of pop, pop rock, rock, country, worship

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Service! It's a service industry; from serving the needs of the artist, producer, A&R, the song itself, my colleagues, the listeners, its all about how you serve. Having a good attitude, humility, gratefulness, and passion is primary. After that, just being able to hear what needs to be done and executing that. I've been at it full time since 2008, so I've built that 10,000 hours and then some.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: Skills... I'm not looking to impart my own sound on a song. Yes, I have preferences, sonically, and I can interpret sound, but my goal is just to present the song in the best light possible. The song already has an identity when I get it, I'm just polishing it up and letting it "be itself." But... I also love to make drums punch and vocals cut

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: The songs may change, but the formula doesn't. I don't approach things with a template, or just start slapping on my favorite things. 1) Listen to the rough mix, analyze how things are put together... the producer and artist have probably spent weeks or more shaping the sound already, it would be foolish of me to just haphazardly strip everything down and think I can make it better in 1 day. I'll take a few notes about what needs to change, what needs to be featured, etc. 2) I work on the 2buss. 70% of the sound you'll get from a mix is the 2Buss. Finding the right chain for the situation is key. And on top of it, knowing a couple different chains really well and knowing how tweaking those will impact the sound makes the process so much faster. 3) Once I'm happy with the broad feel and vibe of the song and 2buss, I'll start being surgical: fixing glaring problems, shaping things. But honestly, less is more. Level, automation, and panning will take you farther than having a channel strip on EVERY TRACK. What's important? What's needed? What already sits nicely? 4) Vocal: trying to get the right vocal chain and ride the level. Then, I'll incorporate effects 5) Fine tuning with automation to let things speak, take out misc frequencies, or do last minute editing to clean up tracks. I may also do some fine tuning to the 2buss again. 6) Print that sucker