Mixing/Mastering Engineer

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

A: macbook pro with a DAW, my Apollo Twin, 2 condenser mics, Guitar, Bass, power plant? i already went pass 5, how sad

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

A: i recorded and produced Letanias Del Jardin by the band Margarita Siempre Viva, by far one of my favourites i would say, very Eclectic

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

A: i would love to work with TOY, DIIV, Mac Demarco, or Arctic monkeys, i like the way they refresh their sound in each production without loosing their essence

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: i like things to breath, i like songs with character and personality, things need to be magical , and leaving the impression, and pressing the energy of a good performance into a record is the most important aspect i can add to a song

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: i run on a hybrid setup, big fan of analogue equipment, i own myself a few compressors and rack units like the 1176, i have a analogue summing mixer, a DBX, which is a rare one, i have a roland 201 space echo i have a big collection of the UAD plugins, and all the Waves Suite

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

A: i studied music production, and audio engineering, i run a studio called SØNICA STUDIOS, and im starting a record label called SØNICA RECORDS, i record, mix and master most of the clients and bands related to SØNICA, i also very much enjoy doing live sound, and touring with the bands i work with

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Hybrid, best of both domains

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

A: people think musicians and producers are just hopeless drug addicts, we are drug addicts but we still have hope, music keeps us alive

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Classic vintage lively sound

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

A: i promise i'll do my best to get a satisfying result for both of us

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: getting to vibe closer to musicians composition and trying to understand the artist and human behind them

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

A: how did i ended up with this job? pandemic, gotta be in the digital era nowadays, adapt

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: paint a mental picture of what you want this to sound like, even if its surreal, describe colors, moods, anything, and why you relate sounds to them, music is art, not a formula, and should take our imagination elsewhere

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

A: find someone who enjoys your music as much as you do, but dont be afraid to have someone challenge you to hear from a different perspective, get out of your confort zone

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

A: i studied at SAE institute London, did my BSc Degree in Music Production and Audio Engineering, graduated in 2013, been working in studios and as a live sound engineer since then

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: mix as if there was no master, a lot of people think they can fix and save things in the mastering stage, but capturing is the most important one, mixing comes next, mastering is just polishing and paint mix with low levels, dont get your ears tired, give songs a rest, they are like good wine, sometimes they need some time in the shadows, to get some flavour, and your ears need to refresh in order to asses the needs of the song

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

A: i don't encase myself in an specific genre i work with everything to gain more experience, i like to listen to everything as well, but im more of a rockanrolla, i love distortion, guitars, walls of sound, and reverb, drums that make my heart race

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: i understand error, and even in the digital domain, if i can understand what creates a certain texture in the analogue domain, i can try a replicate it in the digital one.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: i think every single detail makes the difference, from the strings you use on guitar, to the drumstick tip type, the drumheads, the guitar pick, everything makes a difference, pre production is a important step when aiming for a good recording, what mics to use, how the song should be recorded, in session, or blocks, etc capturing is the most important stage, mixing comes next, scanning every track in order to catch every detail, and then listening to everything together is key, not everything has to be perfect, error adds character to the final result

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

A: im very much inspired by Jack White, Josh Homme, James Ford and musicians who also work as producers and engineers, RIck Rubin is also one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to variety of genres he has woked with